Not much progress today, work night and all. I think any progress is a good thing though. Today I've gotten the basic 'H' hull piece done, so the dimensions are now more or less locked

I'll have more tomorrow.

Test fitting weapons again. I know what I want, but I don't know if it will look good when its done. Does that make sense?

Possible weapons fits include twin-linked Avenger Bolt cannons in sponsons, and Tri and Quad lascannons as tertiary hull weapons:

Primary hull mount will probably be the Blood and Skulls Industries Thermal Cannon or Flame Cannon:

Or the Nova cannon:

Next I went to work on the side hull pieces. I made these with more foamboard cut to shape and lined with 0.25mm plastic-card. Several plastic strips act as spacers here.

At this point I revisited the sketchbook and drew up a new plan for the side detail. I'm looking for detail quite close to the Land Raider to tie this kit into the Space Marine aesthetic.

As you can see this kit should have enormous sponsons, mounted on a heavy slab of armour to take the weight. There will be a standard side door behind that.

The side panels already add some weight to the machine. I've selected some well matured ten year old 0.5mm plastic-card for the side detail. I am using 1mm card to space out the layers.

The 0.5mm plasticard is very easy to cut, but has no strength to it (0.25mm is like paper, its amazing stuff) so I've used lots of 1mm card behind the 0.5mm stuff for this next bit. Then I added more detail - rivets! I cheated here and used Wave rivets sprues, I also cut out the cog-tooth sections (sand channels?) and added extraneous details.

Now I just have to finish it off and do the other hull side. *Sigh* I'll leave it here until the next update, which may take a couple of days. I'll see if I can find something more interesting to show too. Engine exhausts? Sponson mountings? Weapons?

Mycenaean Assault Tank

So you know that one project you've been thinking about and putting off for years? This is mine and its been around quite a while. I think I first planned this out about ten years ago.

The thing I found is that there were no Space Marine superheavy tanks. There are now of course, but at the time the Forgeworld IG Baneblades were it. I'd looked up heavy Land Raiders and found only kitbashed monsters made of two or four Land Raiders glued together. I didn't want that. I had in mind a genuine Heavy Land Raider model, scaled up by 150% to 200% over the regular pattern. 

I hesitated for years because of the work involved in scratch-building the tracks. Happily Blood and Skulls Industries have since produced the Liberator pattern tracks, so I've no excuses left. In fact I should have started this years ago. I almost did when the Spartan Assault Tank came out and I was distracted with the idea of one of those instead. But the Spartan, while cool, isn't quite ambitious enough.

So, no more putting this off. I've got tracks, weapons, plasticard, foamboard, rivets. I've even sort of got a plan. What I'm hoping you all can help me with is some support and encouragement, so I don't let this thing linger for years again. Here we go.

I have started with the track assembly. I've dusted off an old sketch I made some years back and measured it against the Liberator tracks. I've estimated a scale of around 1.65/1 or "plus two thirds" over the existing Land Raider model. 

Then it was simply a matter of cutting some foamboard to match the outline.

I then tested the fit and discovered that the Liberator tracks fit neatly between the two sheets of foamboard with another two sheets between as spacers. Just as planned!

I glue these pieces together and then get to work on the tracks. each track section has a 1mm plasticard strip added to it so the assembly is slightly raised from the hull it is wrapped around. I'm not sure this is necessary, but it felt right. I then break out some PVA/woodworking glue and attach the full track assembly - and waste some time trying to get an idea how big the sponson weapons will be...

A quick size comparison - it will be pretty big:

I've gotten a good ways further than this, but I have to sleep. Thanks for your time.