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.
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