Eldar Super-super-heavy Grav Tank

My original thought was to build a better grav sled for my Eldar Defense Laser, but it built from there. I got access to a laser cutter and decided to see what I could do with it.

I drew up the basic shapes in Visio and then imported them into SketchUp to see what they'd look like in 3D. Here's one of my test shots:



After spending a few weeks cutting stuff on the laser cutter to pay for my membership to the place, I finally started working on the grav tank. Turns out that MDF is just about the worst possible material to cut on a laser cutter. It is way too dense. Acrylic works fine, but is about 20x as expensive. I finally settled on a core of plywood with acrylic armor plating and a layer of plastic over the exposed plywood.

Here's a picture of the assembly stage:



I took a spare staircase baluster and some wood half-eggs to my band saw and worked on the weapons.





It has the main prism cannon and two coaxial Bright Lance & Pulse Laser turrets plus another turret under the middle, where a Falcon has its twin-linked Shuriken Catapults. It will likely be a Forge World Wave Serpent turret, since I have a few spares.

The story is going to be that this grav tank was originally a science vessel and that the big prism cannon was a type of hyper-sensitive telescope. It was on my personal craftworld during the fall, and has since been retrofitted with weapon systems and the telescope's power supply has been rigged in feedback so it is now used offensively. There is only one known tank of this type in existence, and it has been recommissioned The Deathstalker.

We're thinking six structure points and making it a Fast Super Heavy Skimmer. Of course, at Fast it will only be able to move half of its length and still be able to shoot.

The stats of the big cannon are going to be:
Dispersed: R120", S6, AP4, Ordinance 1, 15" blast
Focused: R120", SD, AP2, Continuous Blast (4)

We're toying with the idea that a regular Fire Prism will be able to contribute to the shot to increase the strength on the Dispersed or the rate of fire on the focused. I'll have to promise not to do it too often, though. Maybe it'll take two Fire Prisms per increase.

(The 15" blast and Continuous Blast templates are part of what I cut on the laser to pay for my membership. Discussion can be found here (link). Continuous Blast Template instructions)

What do you think?

Matt

its well executed, very rarely do we see eldar scratch builds due to the nature of the eldar design

however, the barrel i feel is letting it down so much. it looks out of place and make it appear too off balance i think if you scaled it down a bit or changed it somehow, maybe make a tripple barrell idea or something ?

i think that might work better, that or remove the giant gem at the end as i think thats what making this look really front heavy

but other than just that its a really nice looking vehicle

That is a beautiful design and really unique. I've never seen anything like it. Very cool.

The barrel needs to not be a table leg. It is ok, but it isn't great. The rest of the build is magnificent and if you are going to go to a shop and work a bunch of hours so you can have access to a LAZER cutter to make super cool pieces from, then you can ask around till you find someone good at running a wood lathe and willing to custom cut a barrel out of wood for ya.

It is a great model put together very well. keep it up and keep to the excellent standard you started with.

-Mortis-

Or find you a machine shop that can custom mill you one outta aluminium.

The build looks great so far.

Yeah, I was torn between how it looks now and pulling the barrel back so it doesn't stick out past the end of the tank. I think that might change the perception of it. I should be able to get back onto the band saw this week.

The barrel has always been the trickiest part of this build. It is very hard to find pre-made pieces of that shape around here. They're either too big or too small. I've got so many candlesticks and furniture pieces that it is comical. This one is a staircase baluster. The square part is 1.75", so the round parts are around 1.5" in diameter. If I had gone with the 1" square pieces it would look too skinny.

I'll update when I get the new version of the turret. Thanks!

Matt

Personally I think it looks tremendous. There's nothing wrong with a huge weapon on an eldar tank...afterall the original (slightly smaller) Deathstalker had a very similar profile:



Your super-super heavy version is a very nice homage. Do you have any cockpits anywhere on it?

I would have gone with a more streamlined prism on the top of the cannon. I think the knobby top of the weapon is the only thing disturbing. The rest is excellent

I have to second the feeling that the only thing wrong with it is the doorknob. Otherwise I thought it looked really good, kind of like a souped up Cobra with an even bigger gun

something else that might help make it look less like a 'table leg' (even though I know what you mean about it being a baluster) would be if you could build some kind of crystal over the narrowed parts back at the base of it- the parts that look kind of like )(

If I could find a more streamlined crystal, I certainly would use it. This is as good as my local super craft store had!

I've cut up another baluster and moved it back Here's the new version. Let me know what you think.



I'm still planning on using the crystal on the end. I'm just not going to add it until I'm sure I'm using this version. Also, you can see that I've put in a canopy on the hull just under the turret. It looks pretty good, if possibly a little uncomfortable for the driver.

Matt

I quite like the table leg. and while acrylic maybe to expensive, you can cut styrene fine on a LASER cutter. And it's cheap as chips.

Are you suggesting to cut it out of thin styrene and build it as a box? I certainly don't have the talent required for something like that. I'm cutting it out of big 0.25" thick pieces and stacking them up from there.

If you are thinking of some other method, I'd like to hear more. Thanks!

Matt

Actually, do that, then add Fimo for the smooth shape and then cut the styrene for armour on top of the Fimo.

Fimo?

Don't you have to bake Fimo to get it to set?

I would think miliput would be much better for that kind of filling.

Do not use fimo or any other poly clay for filling wooden frameworks. covering a wooden armerature is great, but polyclay shrinks and will cause signifcant gapping on a model that size. a light weight alternative would be a wood filler paste. its air dry, little shrinkage and leaves just as friendly of a finish.

As for the focus prism, i think its way to blunt. If you have a Hobby Lobby near by (or even a christmas store) shop the christmas ornament aisle for a good shape. i think you'll find something much more sleek.

This is probably the last update before the priming. Sorry for the blurry pictures, but I'm not feeling 100% today.

Notice the twin-linked Fire Pike below it, for another project of mine.


Fun with flashbulbs! You may also notice some laser-cut Eldar wraith gates. Purely my own design, these are 9.25" tall and available for a reasonable price. I can do anything up to 18" tall.


The other weapons. I've made a twin-linked Starcannon for the under hull mount. It's made from the same wooden knob that the Firepike one is made from.


The pulse lasers are on the outside in this version. I'm starting to think I like them being on the inside better. Also, a better shot at the Starcannons.


A shot from the back with a Wave Serpent for scale.


Cake frosting couplers for engines. I had some nice ones designed using the laser cutter, but I think this is easier for the time being.


I'm probably going with my standard paint scheme in varrying black and silver panels. I think the barrel will be silver, though, since it is a Prism Cannon, not a Pulsar/Pulse Laser/Bright Lance.

Thoughts?

Matt

Looking great - do you have a layer of perspex sitting as the top layer of the super-heavy?

When do you plan to field it?

The top layer is either basic styrene sheet (from a For Sale sign) or 1/8" acrylic.

Our mega battle is November 7th

I'm going to keep the prism as removable, in case I find a better crystal in the future.

Matt

Got it about 90% finished, which is more than enough to take to a mega battle.





More pictures here (link)

Matt

I looked at the venue, and suddenly all of your recent projects make much more sense.

I completely understand your frustrations with the lathed-wood parts for Eldar builds. The only suggestion I can make is to try sawing them up into sections and rearranging them. Sometimes that makes the shapes look different enough to work.

- H8

movement trays for apoc i was just discussing that with my local group does it work well?

oh and bravo to the dude using starwars walkers for sentinels and super sentinels

OT Sorry for the stupid question, how tall and wide is your Phantom?

It is basically essential in our games. Anything that makes the game go faster is encouraged. Look at our rules here (link) down towards the bottom.

The Phantom is a standard Armorcast model. 17" or so to the top of his head, 10" wide stance.

We love the Star Wars stuff too.

Thanks!

Matt

Would you be netter off looking at somewhere like this

http://www.cristalier.com/Articles.asp?ID=129

who have an enormous range of pendants to get something slleker for the prism at the end

Thanks for the link. After spending a while looking through the store, I really can't find anything close to as big. To get something sleeker, it would need to be at least 1.5" wide and over 3" long. I'm holding out hopes that I'll find something cool in the Christmas decorations this year.

On a related note, we have the full results (link) from our mega battle posted. Let me know what you think!

Matt

Wow that is cool.
Well done