With my Vostroyan army being built in full swing. I set upon my greatest task to date. My demolisher tank, affectionately known as "the beast". In the process of me developing my army I like to make lots of sketches and to work through the process of my desires vs. reasonable practical application. my desire was to create a tank that was reminiscent of a MKI Tank from WWI, but with a turret on the top. The entire tank was going to be designed with actually having crewmen figures within the vehicle. I wanted to make a tank tha
t was big enough to actually accommodate a "reasonable" amount of space for crew, ammunition, and control mechanisms. Needless to say, IMHO, my demolisher tank was going to be about 50% bigger than a normal Leman Russ Tank. I was comfortable with this design "flaw" as the basic designs in armor philosophy were a bit more basic and not refined to the "sleek" tank most guard players are familiar with. As I began to build out the specifications for my new toy, I decided that I was going to model kneeling Vostroyan gunners in the sponsons, this required the sponsons to be roughly 1 1/4" in height to handle this.
I wanted to create a fully detailed interior, so that meant I was in for a
lot more work! I began working on the engine compartment. The back fitting for the engine was a land raider mounting, the smoke stacks would later be enhanced with the screaming eagle stove pipe toppers from the old metal Imperial Steam Tank. Bits of the engine were from the Dwarf flame cannon, IG sentinel, and snotling pump wagon (all older versions of what is currently available).
With the engine compartment completed I began working on the interior of the vehicle. This is the primary area the tank crew would be working and li
ving during the protracted engagements. This area had to accommodate 5 crewmen, food, fuel, ammunition for heavy bolters and the dreaded demolisher gun. with the height of the interior I felt that the crew would not be able to heft a solid casement round up to the breach (a height over the standing head of a man). So I decided that their rounds and the bags of propellant would be stored separately and thus easier to heft and load into the gun. The wheel house is the elevated compartment on the front right side. a small ladder was built for ease of up and down. The
hull gunners seat is on the front left and space was left in the center of the compartment for the turret ring, gunner station and tank commander seat. A small hatch was added to the floor in the rear near the fuel tank (back left). When I was asked about the "escape hatch", I grinned and said it could be used as that, but it's mostly for washing out the tank when a nasty round spalled out in the interior and the crew had been killed. (like I said earlier, I was building this on a realistic "Russian mentality" life is cheap, equipment costs money, so use it till it falls apart)
The sides of the vehicle were made to look just like a normal Leman Russ tank. I layers several layers of plastic card on the side to build up the features of the original tank, but in a slightly larger scale. Next, two hole punches were used to make 1/4" and 1/8' holes in a thin piece of plastic card. These circular chips were then placed on top of eac
h other to build up the retention plates for the suspension. Rivets of 1/32" plastic rod were cut to give the retention plates the final touch and to help give definition to the riveted plates of the hull. The track tensioners were made from 27 individual parts. (I am glad I only needed to make 4 of them). The Las Cannon was added to its mounting on the front of the hull and I began adding the heavy bolts that would help hold the front of the tank together. (made from hex rod and circular rod). The wheel house received it's name plate and imperial flying skull icon. But the area of greatest debate was the shot traps to the right and left of the Las Cannon mounting. I debated the demerits of these areas and talked with fello
w tread heads about filling those areas with sandbags for additional protection for the crew within. But I decided against this additional protection thinking that the "dress, right, dress" of the army would not allow them to make such uncouth modifications. So the trap door was placed within to help wash out the inevitable gory death of the crew, but the mechanicum decided that the traps would deflect enough of the incoming shots energy
that the equipment should be protected, so that would be good enough. the top hatch was built next with enough access panels for ease of loading and unloading equipment and men. A nice mesh cover was placed over the engine deck and hinged for easy access of repair. Screen panels were added to the interior of the vision slits for the driver, so that he would have better protection from the grenades of assaulting forces. The sponson pieces began taking shape. You should also note that I used two sets of road wheels to accommodate the land raider track links I would be using later on. The land raider tracks were from two land raider kits (it was a lot of tread to cover!). The one change I made to t
he land raider tracks was to remove the imperial eagle from each of the 12th segments. It was replaced with a reworked skull motif to exemplify the sacrifice men made to see it through to the end. the sponsons were set with magnetic inserts to handle heavy bolters or plasma guns (I have since become a fan of multi-melta sponsons now as well!) I next began working on the turret, which is the silliest part of the LR tank kit. There is
no way to feasibly handle anyone being in the turret while the gun was going to be fired. (the tank commander's legs would be smashed by the violent recoil of the main gun) I decided to build a gun mounting that was more reasonable and off set the tank commanders hatch so he could maintain a commanding view of the battlefield while saving his pelvis in the process. To highlight the additional side armor of the Demolisher tank, I incorporated heavy bolt-on plates of armor to the turret. Once again, with practical Russian theory, the turret would be the next most hit location. If a penetrating shot entere
d the turret, the mechanics could replace the armor with a replacement plate and a few bolts to cap it off. Stowage areas were added to the back of the turret to provide additional carrying capacity for spare rations and the crews personal gear. the top hatch was hinged for removal of the commander (if I wanted to button up) and a few final touches were put on the exterior such as sighting instruments, fuel cap, and storage hooks. As a quick point, I modeled the breach in the turret to make sure everything was kept to my scale. A sighting perascope and
communications gear were also placed in the turret. I love this vehicle. the beast has survived many, many more battles than it ever should have, though its big tracks have apparently make it easier to immobilize. This full model was one of a kind, but I do hope to make a newer version of this in the near future so I can resin cast the parts. I really want to see a tank squadron of these babies pushing out across no man's land. Besides if I can make a cool resin version of this tank, maybe I can sell a few... :)
We have a newsletter we have recently reestablished at the Adventurers Guild again. In our letter "this week at the guild" we have begun a "tale of four gamers" series of articles. We have had a great response to our call and a bunch of the guys are committing to doing pre-heresy armies. I had promised to do the Thousand Sons when I got other guys to begin making pre-heresy stuff as well.
So I broke my rhythm with the zeppelins and decided I needed to get the originals sculpted, so I could begin the process of casting resin doors and shoulderpads for my legion. A long time ago I had purchased a ton of 1000 Sons heads back when GW had bitz service. Now this is a WIP photo service, since my camera ran out 
of batteries before I got the last pictures taken. I also did a few chest pieces for my Marines as well. two chests with inset gems and two chests with scarabs set into the plate. All and all I got two shoulder pads completed, a land raider door, a rhino door and the four chest pieces. They will be set into the rotation for me to resin cast them in parts so I can add them to my box of space marines with the 1000 sons heads and some 
tabards from the Dark Angels and Black Templars upgrade sprues. I am really pleased with how the finished pieces look, but I cant post them for another day or two till the rubber sets and I can do my first test pours. now back to the Zeppelins. I have gotten 2 of my wing weapon pylons completed and I am hoping to finish them off tomorrow night. (4 to go). I also managed to get the last of the 12 havoc missile launchers I needed for the multiple launch rocket pods. I will begin working on my zeppelin air bags this weekend while I am at Regulator Con. *** here is a pict 
of the completed doors. I got them out of the mold and got a picture for you guys. - Bossman
