Finished Building a Blood Pact Tank #3

Something had been bothering me about the Mortian tank for a while. The commander's hatch was split down the middle so when it opened one side was propped up against the gubbins next to it. (Air filter?) I just didn't like the way this looked and so I put off building this part until inspiration struck. Some German tanks in WW2 had a swivel hatch. The idea being that the hatch pops up and then swings out to the side in order to maintain a low profile. If an enemy tank sees a hatch open, they know you're vulnerable. Here's a model of the hatch system:



And here is a real one swung open next to the tank commander on the right.


Now here's my beautiful Mortian tank acting as my AT83 Brigand; note the hatch. A chaos marauder gave up his shield, the leman russ sprue gave up a handle, mix some plastic rod and brass rod and simmer until done. I've also magnetized the battlecannon so I can pull it off and leave the short barrel to be an Eradicator nova cannon since the Conqueror cannon is now redundant. The dozer blade is also magnetized.


Close up showing the brown stuff and the bit of plastic rod. The brown stuff is smooth, the picture just makes it look otherwise.


And swung open with the painted commander (who needs to be tapped down into place.)


Top view.


What do you think? Any comments and critiques welcome, you won't hurt my feelings so comment away!

Painted Blood Pact Tanker, Lieutenant and Overseer

Welcome back faithful readers. Since my last post I have graduated University with a Bachelor's in Human Communication! To celebrate I've done virtually nothing all week, but I did manage to paint up these three figures.

First up is the tank commander. He'll be sticking his head out of my AT83 (mentioned last post and in several before that.)

Front: Drat, out of focus! I'm quite proud of the three green lenses.


Back: Also proud of the blending on him.


Blood Pact Lieutenant: Showing off the worn frogging on his uniform.


Nice coat, I wonder who he took it off?


He looks tough, but in the end he's only human.


An overseer for my psyker battle squad. I'd like to get a dog for him at some point so he can sic it on his charges when they roll perils of the warp.

Front: "Blast that or I blast you!"


Side: Whip is from the ork runtherd sprue.


As requested, a shot of the magnets in my Mortian pattern tank. The black is leftover paint from marking which side needed to face out.

Blood Pact Tank Built #2

Some glue, some resin shaving and filing and here the rough draft of the Mortian tank I'll be using as an AT83 Brigand (Leman Russ) for my Blood Pact.


The poll results are in:

AT83 Brigand crew member should be:

The driver.	3 (21%)
The Tank Commander, sitting down low.	8 (57%)
The Tank commander, sitting up high.	1 (7%)
none of the above, you have two more forgeworld tank crew, use them instead!	2 (14%)

Votes: 14

Tank commander sitting low is the winner! That was my favorite as well. I'll be working on him and a modified turret hatch for him later. For now, scroll down to see brass etch and lots of tank pr0n. :)

Much fiddling and wondering where to put the stablight and anti-tank mist (Searchlight and smoke launchers. Terminology from Dan Abnett's books.) I also broke out my Forgeworld brass-etched sheets I picked up a while back to use on the Blood Pact troopers' shoulders. (Ignore the date stamp, it would seem I am not smarter than my camera.)


Here's a side shot so you can see the brass and other extras. Turret is sporting and Eradicator Cannon and storm bolter.


Oh, did I mention I received a little package from www.kjmagnetics.com and magnetized it? Here's the side sponson.


My first go at adding stowage. I'm quite proud of finding a place to put the pick and shovel. The tarps and bags don't look half bad either. Pick pic:


Shovel pic: (I love the way the turret chaos star turned out!)


And swapped for sponson.


Taking a break from the Eradicator loadout, we have a closer look at the turret, this time with the Executioner Plasma Cannon.


Demolisher Cannon.


Exterminator Autocannons.


Battlecannon and Vanquisher cannons still need some magnetizing. I also need to build a lascannon and heavy flamer for the front hull mount, as well as plasma and heavy flamer for the sponsons. It's a good day to play badguys!

Bring it down! Building a Blood Pact Heavy Tank #1

I've spent some time this weekend prepping and assembling my Mortian-pattern tank for use as a Blood Pact AT83 Brigand tank, the Urdeshi forge's equivalent of a Leman Russ. With a little clipping a forgeworld traitor crewman fits nicely. Vote for where you think he looks best over on the right.

What do you think, use him as a driver?


Down low in the commander's cupola like this?


Sitting up high?



Here are some tips for those of you thinking of picking a Mortian for yourself. First off, I could not manage to fit the large bogies between the hull and the outer track guard so I clipped off everything that stuck out and glued it straight to the sides. To make sure I had it level with the road-wheels I assembled these little guys out of order.

#1 tip: use a razor saw, not clippers. Clippers will shatter pieces.


After they're removed from the sprue, saw in a bit and then saw down a bit for a clean cut.


Here are the stages.


When attaching, the road-wheel should be slightly covered by the wheel well.


The two remaining bars on the road-wheel attach to the hull while the rod slots in place.


(Skip the mind-numbing, finger-gluing part where I attach 50 some track links individually.)

Next up is the front mounted hull weapon. The inner barbette swivel had a minor angle on the top of the hull-side, but this allowed only minor swivel due to rubbing against the hull overhang. It was easy enough to take a sharp blade and extend the angle.




Now it swivels freely.


More pictures to come of the assembly stage. I also plan on magnetizing this beast.