Scratchbuilt mixed-media Land Raider

gorb

gorb

New member
Hi everyone,
I started working on a scratchbuilt mixed-media Land Raider a couple of months ago, using Eli Patoroch's "Land_Raider II 2009" template.
It is built using paper, cardboard, plastic tubes (from popsicles and cotton swabs), perfect cast, sculpy, apoxie sculpt and a couple of other things.
I've made some mods to the build, for example I designed the sponson-mounted meltas and scratchbuilt the thunderfire cannon.

It is a bit of a bastard, in that it uses the thunderfire from the Achilles Land Raider, but it is clearly a standard Phobos Land Raider.
I am painting it in the colors of the Blood Ravens, so I guess you can say they "acquired" it from somewhere...

The build is complete; at this stage I am painting it. The original forum build log is over at papermodelers.com
but I want to post a slightly cleaned up and condensed log on this and other sites.

In the attached photos you can see the internal construction of the track housings, the plating on the sides, and the main body.
 
gorb

gorb

New member
Tracks

To make the tacks, I decided to build a couple of track masters out of card and plastic rod.

I then made a mold of these with caulking silicone.
 
gorb

gorb

New member
Casting the tracks

Next I cast a bunch of tracks using Skullduggery Perfect Cast, and attached them to the track housings.
 
gorb

gorb

New member
Engines & Headlights

I built some iconography using Apoxie Sculpt, added the engine, cowling and smoke stacks, and added the headlights.
The cages around the headlights were made with some thin-gauge electric wire.
 
gorb

gorb

New member
Hatches etc.

Built the hatches (a slight deviation from the Patoroch design), added the Mechanicus symbol. Added the radar dish.
 
gorb

gorb

New member
Multi-Meltas

I opted for multi-meltas, instead of the original lascannons, but I had to build these from scratch.

So I designed the body in OpenSCAD and unfolded it with Pepakura. The barrels are from popsicle sticks, I added some
vinyl tubing, and the skulls are Apoxie Sculpt, made from a press mold I constructed from a master.

The armour over the meltas were also designed in OpenSCAD + Pepakura.
 
gorb

gorb

New member
Thunderfire main gun

The Thunderfire cannon is next; I made a housing for it, built the barrels from rolled up paper and added the barrel spacers.
There are some auxiliary tubing around the barrels, I added cotton swab tubes for these.

BTW all the rivets on the model are made from either cardboard punchouts or Sculpey, which I press fit into a piece of board with punched out holes.
 
gorb

gorb

New member
Rear engine vents

The engine vents are made from pieces of index card and cardboard, glued to a printout of the pattern, then cut and glued to the body.
 
gorb

gorb

New member
Hardener

Next I applied some wood hardener to the entire model. This penetrates the paper and adds some strength to the softer pieces of the model, and
smooths the surfaces a bit. It stays shiny, but this will be covered by the primer and paint job.

I also added some purity seals, all made from Apoxie Sculpt.
 
N

Nostromo

New member
Very nice and clean!
I think i will give casting the tracks a try on my next tank as well.
It may seem trivial - but the vents turned out nice! Much better than the ones i do.
And... nothing against cardboard. I make paper tanks (with plastic components) as well - but of my own design.
Pepakura is my tool of choice as well, but i am still looking for a better 3d modeling tool. If it runs on a mac, i may give openSCAD a try.
 
gorb

gorb

New member
Nostromo said:
Very nice and clean!
I think i will give casting the tracks a try on my next tank as well.
It may seem trivial - but the vents turned out nice! Much better than the ones i do.
And... nothing against cardboard. I make paper tanks (with plastic components) as well - but of my own design.
Pepakura is my tool of choice as well, but i am still looking for a better 3d modeling tool. If it runs on a mac, i may give openSCAD a try.
Click to expand...

Thanks Nostromo!

Definitely try casting the tracks - Even just cutting out the couple of parts I needed for the master was getting to me.
Mostly because they have to be thick, and cutting cardboard into the smaller shapes is just hard.

The vents were much easier, since I made them from index card, so easier to get thin strips of detail. Building them up
separately and then gluing the complete structure to the tank (instead of trying to build the entire thing on the tank directly)
turned out to be a good idea - If I messed it up I could just start again :)

OpenSCAD is a simple enough 3d modelling tool, although more suited if you have some programming skill. Check it out!
 
gorb

gorb

New member
Primer + basecoat

Primed with gray spray paint, then pre-shaded with airbrushed black, followed by a basecoat of red.
The tracks got a brushed-on coating of black.
 
gorb

gorb

New member
Paint

I realized that parts of the paper/card were visible in the crevasses between the tracks and the body, so I masked the tracks off
and airbrushed them black (making sure to hit the crevasses), then brushed on gunmetal, and washed it with several coats
of dark and strong tone wash.

I then went and painted a bunch of detail, and gave it all a clear coat of varnish.
This is where I am at now. The plan is to paint all the doors (masking, airbrushing, etc), and the smaller details.
Then some weathering, and finally a dull coat.

Stay tuned!
 
Foxtail

Foxtail

New member
Really impressive stuff Gorb. The strength at which you’ve replicated the production model is outstanding
 
gorb

gorb

New member
Painting update

Slowly getting somewhere on the painting. I want to post this update otherwise it feels like I'm stagnating :)

Some of the fine details (the aquilla, sensors and windows) are done, as well as the burnt-metal on the multi-meltas,
and the blood gem on the main gun's raven. I've started on (a beginner's attempt at) OSL on the front headlights, these will have a bluish tint to them.
I still need to do a bunch of highlighting on the main body, and a bit of weathering. And of course the whole thing is still shiny from the
gloss coat I put on before this step - it'll get a good matte varnish coat after.

The main sore-thumb however: the two doors on the side. I got sick of the bleached bone / orangey color, so I re-based them
dark blue, and then added a brushed-on pre-shade. I'm layering this with lighter coats of grey-white now, Then I have to
do the details. Same for the top cover on the thunderfire cannon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back To Top
Top