Predator Rescue, Part 02

So, I spent the evening filing and gluing where necessary.

The turret has been filed and the autocannon has been glued into a fixed elevation. You will also notice that I have covered the turret ring with a playing card that is glued in place. Originally I thought that the addition of the card would give some much needed friction and help hold the turret in position. Boy did it! However, I was in a magnetic mood and decided to glue a magnet into the interior of the turret directly to the playing card. Now the entire turret will stay in place because of the magnets. See the pictures for details.

Playing cards make pretty decent modeling material

The top panel of the hull just needed some filing and it popped into place as pretty as you please. I also layered some playing cards that I glued together with some super glue. I then glued the card into the turret ring opening and finished that off by gluing a magnet to the underside of the playing card.

I was originally going to paint the interior of the hull and then remembered that a predator has no transport capacity and therefore no reason to open the ramp. So, I will not be painting the interior. The exhaust pipes have been drilled out and opened up.

The Bitz Barn is currently out of stock on Rhino track sets. So, I turned to eBay and found four sets for sale ranging from $10 to $11 (including shipping). I am not ready to spend that kind of money just yet. Remember, I wanted a nice cheap tank in comparison to retail price.

I can see four possible outcomes to the track issue.

1. I run without tracks at all. This smacks of white trash though.

2. I fabricate my own tracks in some manner. Sounds, tedious.

3. I wait for The Bitz Barn to get restocked. The lazy, yet cheap method.

4. I bite the bullet and pay $10-$11 for a complete set off of eBay. The lazy method.

This bears more thinking...

Greeblies for the turret

Predator Rescue, Part 01

Well, 6th edition hit and I could no longer deny my lust for GW, yadda, yadda, yadda. More later.

My latest endeavors have been to run solo 40K skirmishes using the Savage Worlds RPG. More on that later.

As such, I have been on a bit of a terrain building jag lately. I will post more about that in the future.

Needless to say my gaming life has continued and involved the stripping and repainting of my Blood Angels (for the third time!). I have also been working some of my back log as well as picking up the Dark Vengeance starter and going ga-ga over those particular miniatures also.

Basically, my self-imposed exile from GW and 40K failed in the most spectacular fashion.

Anyway, I got the bug to get a Predator tank. I have always liked the look of them and there is something about the symmetry/silhouette that I find elegant. Not wanting to pay the $57.75 to pick one up at the local GW, I bought one off of eBay.

Now, I specifically looked to buy a cheap pre-used/assembled/abused model. I have a fair amount of experience stripping models and rebuilding them. So, I was essentially looking for some one else's piece of junk to make a part of my army. I always figured that I could disguise the most egregious abuse as combat damage.

So, after some judicious bidding I ended up owning a destructor-pattern predator with lascannon sponsons. I got this low-mileage and slightly abused item for $30.99. That's ~47% off of the NIB price.

Fully Convertible

From the pictures you can see I got a model that has no tracks, two broken lascannon sponsons, one mis-glued hatch plug, and no apparent filing down of the mold lines. Oh, and it was covered in dust.

One the plus side I will not have to strip the model as the primer job is quite good.

The turret mount is in good shape and has been glued (correctly) in place. No issues there. One of the hatch plugs is upside down and shows the periscope and mounting cross/indention for mounting the HK missile. As this does not interfere with the functioning of the turret I am not going to mess with it. All this part needs is a filing/trim to correct a bit of a tight fit and it is good to go.

The whole shebang!

The turret is missing the cupola hatch and that will be dealt with out of my bits box. The storm bolter mount has cracked but not yet broken. I am going to use a bit of glue to correct that issue. A general filing and trimming will bring the turret up to snuff. The autocannon elevates and depresses a bit too easily. That will either be frictioned up using some white glue or just plain old glued into the correct elevation.

The sponsons/lascannons needs some filing and to be re-glued into place. Magnetization will also happen.

Worse mounting design ever!

The hull needs very little clean up/filing. The interior is clean and the ramp functions nicely. This might be the first Rhino STC with a painted interior, in my army. The exhaust pipes will be drilled out and some greeblies from my bitz box will finish the overall look of the tank.

The sides are glued into place and appear to have the correct spacing. Complete track sides are available for $1.60 per side from The Bitz Barn. I will be placing my order shortly. Luckily, tracks are not needed during the refurbishing/painting of the said tank.

We threw track, Sarge!