Hey folks.

A couple months ago I posted pics of my MK1 Rhino/Razorback conversion, and had calls to show how I made it. Well I suck at WiP or tutorials. But I am working on another and have taken alot more pics.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

First of all I have to say the way I made the Grills is different from the first time. But I was able to get them made in 1/4 of the time.

I noticed that the interior of the rear hatch to the Rhino kit has a nice Grill patern. So I used Greenstuff to make 4 positive molds of the patern. Its inportnant to try an keep the green stuff about 1mm thick. (Thicker will mean more work on the next stage as I found out)



Then I cut 4 pieces of plasticard to the shape of the grills including the surounding colars. (I first did it with paper till I got the desired size.) Then I did the same with the Green Stuff moldings making them so you can see about 4mm of the Plasticard all around the edges.



Next I mixed up some miliput, altho I would imagin what ever medium you prefer will do. and I rolled it out to about 3 mm think. (Again thicker will add more work after.) I then pressed the moldings I made into the soft Miliput making sure to press it evenly so it comes out flat.
Also while it is still soft, I used the plasticard template to cut away the excess miliput so that I would have the right shape once it had set.



I carefully removed the molds I made while the miliput was still soft. If you are wondering. I used Sunflour Oil as a release agent so the molds wouldn't stick to the miliput. I find it works great and it cleans of easily.



Once they had set I use a file and sandpaper to make sure the pieces were the right size, shape and all the edges were nice and sharp. I dry placed them on the side of the tank to make sure they would look ok.



Using a mini hacksaw blade I cut off the existing exausts and used a hobby knife to trim off all the raised detail. I then cut the side pieces out of plasticard and glued them on so the sides are smooth. I also smoothed out the armour levels at the front and back of the drive sections again using plasticard.



Next I cut out the front plate. The main piece was 43mm by 30mm usuing 2mm plasticard. The Doors are 14mm x 25mm and the view holes are 5mm x 10mm with a 3mm x 8 mm cutout. Both the doors and the view slits a 0.5mm plasticard. I also cut a small circle of plasticard about the size of a 5 pence piece to place into left copolar hole as it is slightly deeper.





The Side doors are 30mm circles made from 2mm Plasticard with a verticle line scored on them from top to bottom. The Hinges are 20mm of 1/16 tube. The Brackets are 15mm x 5mm x 0.5mm plasticard. It is easier to stick the brackets to the tube before sticking the assembly to the door.




For the exausts I first got some 3mm plastic tubing, heated it up with a hair drier and made 4 x 90 degree bends. Don't make them too long, but also give yourself some rome for adjustment later.





Next cut 4 pieces of 6mm plastic tubing at 35mm and 4 pieces of 7mm plastic tubing at 30mm. I drilled holes into the 7mm x 30mm to look like the old style exausts. (but only on the visible sides) Believe me, it is a pain in the butt to do. But it looks much better for it.
Next I glued the 7mm tubes over the 6mm tubes, with 1mm showing at the bottom and 4mm showing at the top. Then I took the 3mm tubes with the bends and I glued them to the inside front edge of the 6mm tubes.




After sticking the Vent Grills, side doors and the exausts to the side of the tank, I cut 2 pieces of 1/16 aluminium tubing approximatly 80mm long for the hold rails. I say approximately because it can vary. You need it to fit around the exausts. I don't glue the hand rails until after I have painted the model or they will get in the way.
I also made 2 foot boards by cutting 2 pieces of 2mm plasticard 65mm x 14mm clipping the ends at a slight angle (yeah I go by rule of eye alot.) These are glued under the sides of the tank.



For the MK1 style 'storm' bolter(s) I got the regular hatches and trimed them like the picutes show.




They are then glued into place and modeling putty is used to fill in the gaps to make them smooth.



I think that covers everything. The Razorback options are simply the turret from the Stormraven kit.

Here are a couple more weapon options I am working on.




Comments, Critisms and Questions are all welcome.

Nathanael

Dammit man, quit being so awesome.

Awesome sauce!

Im glad you are so good at this stuff, it makes me jealous enough to keep painting

Lol, thanks guys. I'm not awesome, but obviosly have a nak for this kinda thing. And I am happy to share with y'all and I am glad it inspires you to carry on.

Hey folks. Just a couple pics to add on the subject.

Here is my MK1 conversion Predator. All the weapons are magnetised so I have all the options.



I've also made a regular predator model of the Mk2 variant. Again with all the weapon options. (The actual turret weapons are shared between both Predators until i can get hold of some more.)



Nathanael

I'd highly recommend getting some Oynamaru, it's great for creating moulds and nothing seems to stick to it, so you don't even need a release agent. You could make moulds of your final pieces and then cast as many as you need all the same size, and when you don't need the moulds any more simply dump in very hot water and then mould something else.

Hmm. I haven't heard of that stuff. I'll have to google it. But I only plan on doing one more Mk1 chasis. So it wouldn't do me any good now unless I make more to put on ebay.
Thanks anyway bud

Excellent stuff.

I've gone a nostalgic!