OK, what we have next are a pair of original RT era plastic Predator tanks. This kit was discontinued in the early days of 2nd edition along with with the Land Raider ( and for no real good reason that I ever heard). The Predator tank was eventually re released as a plastic/metal hybrid kit, but I never thought it 'felt' right.
As with the vindicator, I have hand painted the scroll work and used a technical pen for the lettering. 'Embrace Death" was a random line from one of the rule books and it seemed simple and threatening enough to put on a tank. The twin-linked bolters on top (admittedly, a poor man's attempt at a Storm Bolter) are just that: two Rhino tank bolters stuck together. The original RT era rules had only a single gun on the top, but it's been a Storm Bolter in the rules since 2nd edition.
A good side view here of the mighty lascannons. I have always preferred this incarnation of the lascannon over all that followed it. It just looks like a mean piece of sci-fi weaponry to me. The sponsons themselves are quite a bit wonky, and serve more of a toy function (i.e. the cannon moves) then a true 'model' function. Not long after it was pulled, the Imperial Guard Leman Russ hit the market with it's very much more awesome sponson design.
This particular tank was a bit lighter, again using elf grey in parts, which I later chose to move away from. With this next tank you can see that I have gone to a darker, more dabbled effect for the paint scheme.
Although the Grey Hunter pack markings are still there, they aren't nearly as flamboyant as they were on the Vindicator or the previous Predator. This tank was something special. Back in the '90s there was a 40K mailing list that was all the rage and a member of it was constantly hosting auctions. When I won this tank it arrived on the day my younger brother graduated High School. I opened the box to find that it was busted all to hell. It was painted olivedrab and had a few decals on it. I did not clean off the paint, but just painted straight over it. It was a single layer and spray-painted on, so I saw no harm in just using it as a primer. However I was careful to paint around the decals on the turret, which were from the very rare original RT era decal sheet, not the 2nd edition one.
Again, I turned the Rhino bolters into a Storm Bolter. The light to dark tone works marvelous well on this kit, especially the turret. The side sponson I took from a 2nd ed era Predator Annihilator kit, as by this time it was 3rd ed and side sponsons were just a bad idea (the Annihilator is still not built, let alone painted. It's on the short list! LOL). However, I really like these metal sponsons, even though they don't join up to the model as well as they should. The original sponsons were just ruined by the previous owner (probably why I used these) and the lascannons got used on another model (which I'll share with you next time).
Again I repeated the scroll work, although at this point I had discovered Microns, which are a lot more user friendly then my old technical pens. Also my battle damage was a bit more bold, however, still not to the level I'd like it to be at. (Reminds me of those bullet hole stickers I've seen on the back of cars locally.) You can also see the dabbling in full effect, which still appeals to me quite a bit.
By the time I finished this model, it was damn near the dawn of 4th edition. I was not a big fan of 4th edition, and maybe only played a few games of it, and this tank was used in those games.
Hope you enjoyed this gallery,
-Joel
3 comments:
You could probably use the Thudd Gun as a SM sentry gun, FW has rules for it (possibly as a free download).
I have thought of that. I have a bunch of Rapier Laser Defenders too, which I think I'll use as Quad-Guns for Planet Strike.
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