Blackadder's Early Scratchbuilt Projects

Because the superstructure was longer than the Forgeworld genera I had to elongate the engine compartment for esthetics if nothing else. I was beginning to see why the Forgeworld designers made their superstruture so boxy. Re-designing the basic Baneblade hull wouldn't be cost effective. As I was just going for a one shot deal I had the latitude to make lavish changes which gave a more streamline and futuristic profile to the upper hull.

Streamlining being very important for a vehicle that moves at the dizzying pace of 10kph.

More of the same. Construction of the basic hull.

Yeah I know I am spending a lot of time with the preliminaries but a good foundation eliminates a lot of rebuilding and repairing later on.

This framework is strong enough to stand on............ well if you aren't 110 kilos as I am but you get my drift.

Most of the subsequent work will be just detail so getting the basics right is essential.

The superstructure gave a bit of a problem. What looked good on paper did not translate well into an actual model. The angles were all wrong. It took a couple of tries to get the facets to intersect properly.

Below is the beginnings of the superstructure note the concessions to the rear turret hatch to have it fair into the engine compartment:

Thus ends the preliminary structure, coming next the fine detail............

In my typical unstructured way I neglected to document the building of the superstructure and engine compartment but suffice it to say that it was made entirely of plastic from a printer cartridge. I ran into the same problems that Mr Silva did as the angles and contours did not conform to faceted panels. Where he had gaps in the joints in his construction I used Met-all A4 epoxy resin to give a finished look.

It's amusing that what I was most proud of about this model was the simulated hand made front bumper nuts. I looked all over trying to purchase nuts of the correct size and scale but ultimately cut them by hand.

And it was easy........ which goes to show you that you never know what you can do until you try.

xD

I endeavored to make my own of bits of cartridge, epoxy resin, styrene rods, and styrene sheets.

The contoured front housing required a bit of sculpting which came out rather satisfactory but unfortunately the build proceeded too quick to document.

All I have is the finished product with the rear view showing the layered construction.

One of the unfortunate things about this early work is my inability to render the fine detail on the Plasma cannon nose.

Some day when I have the time I want to redo this area.

I changed the title of this thread from ''Chopping up the Armorcast Baneblade or The Blackadder's Heresy.'' to ''Blackadder's Early Scratchbuilt Projects '' a more general title reflecting all my early scratch work FYI.

EB

Well thats it, I don't have any more WIP images.

I cannibalized a defunct Landraider for the dual lascannons and made castings of the treads and bogie wheels from a Shadowsword.

Well here it is the finished product of course this is a picture from about 4 years ago and I have done virtually nothing on this model since then. I really need to get a theme for these Superheavies because dispite my protestations that gray is a colour I have been badgered to accentuate the colouration of my 'Heavies'

And incidentally I just remembered I planned to make aux Primary weapons for this model that didn't happen either.

Just a few more images to finish up with. I'm especially happy about the way the detail on the roof came out. Just odds and ends from my son's bitz box and conduit made from styrene rods of various diameters. The only thing left is a Chin whisker whip antenna from a paint brush and one of these days I'll work up enough courage to drill the holes in the tread skirting access cover panels which will give more character to that rather bland area.

Thanks for the reply Butch, inspiring scratchbuilding is a prime motivation for my threads. There are few things more satisfying than executing a detailed model from a pile of plastic sheets. (Well of course if you're a modeling geek that is.)

A few more closeups of the superstructure.

The square hatch and the main gun elevation top shield were scratch built as was the main gun itself. The square hatch bumper was a piece of sprue.

The BX conduit to the lights and flare launchers is just twisted fine copper wire.

A funny thing about the driver's view port hatch. I scratch built the one pictured and then found out my son had a few in his bitz box. Oh well a little practice never hurts.

Now to my next project,

A scratch build Lucius Pattern Warhound Titan for which I'll start a new thread.

Blackadder's Lucius Pattern Warhound

I hope to be more thorough in my documentation.