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True Calibre Leman Russ

There's plenty of folks around making 'true-scale' space marines, where you make an astartes look even bigger so he towers over the other wee men on the table. Well I've headed in the opposite direction, in that I've massively reduced the bore on my Russ' battlecannon.


Why would I mess with such an iconic design? Because I find the calibre of the standard tank to be immersion-breaking in its hugeness. It looks like it's designed to shoot beer kegs, not shells.

Kegs away!
[image taken from GW.com for illustrative purposes only]

This preposterous barrel width looks fine on the Baneblade, because the rest of the tank is huge enough that it looks mostly in-proportion, that is, like a battleship cannon on a land vehicle. On a Russ? Not to my tastes. Once I swapped the barrel for one of the four long-barreled autocannons you get with the Hydra/Wyvern kit, I was surprised at how much it changes the look of the tank.


In case you're wondering, yes, there was some conversion work. Here's a pre-paint closeup of the turret following some careful plasticard slicing and green stuffing:


Oh and here the tank is chillin' with members of the 2nd platoon of Echo Company, the 107th Ankran Mechanised Infantry. More of them to come. Mmmmm, basic-ass paint jobs.

Blatantly took this photo before I finished the weathering on the Russ.
Wot a nob.

Finally, since it doesn't really deserve a post all on its own, here's a photo showing almost all of my three thousand point ork fleet what I done finished the other week (there's a few squadrons of escorts not pictured that were in the other photos, but the other photos sucked too hard to use here, which is saying something).

~Charlie

No, they didn't get rusty in space. I imagine most ork ships are cobbled together
from reclaimed metal and built mainly planetside, which means they're rusty before
they've even had their first flight.

p.s. You may have noticed the astonishing rarity of posts these days. All I can say is that the hobby bug comes in unpredictable waves, and those waves can be few and far between when your brain meats en't treating you well. If this wasn't a hobby blog I'd talk about it, but I don't think anyone's come here for some deep insights into how depression makes you less interested in the things you love. If for some bizarre reason you do want to know how my faltering mind and my hobby intersect, or if you wish to share your own experiences, you're very welcome to say/do so below, and I shall respond.

Comments

  1. Looks a lot more like a normal tank now! I think if you had the extender section (I think FW made it once), that makes the russ a bit longer as well, it would be a perfect tank!

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    1. You make a good point, and a longer hull would mean I'd actually be tempted to add sponsons; for me the russ looks too dumpy with sponsons given the hull's current shortness.

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  2. It certainly does change the look of the tank - I'm on the fence as to wether I like it or not if I'm honest!!

    I recently recovered from a bout of mental illness myself earlier in the year, and if it wasn't for my models I may not have got back to normal! I focused on them so intensely while I was off work, my mind managed to fix itself! Ultimate distraction!

    Your hobby will return my friend

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    1. Heh, yeah, I suspect it will be rather Marmitey as conversions go :D

      Normally hobby would be my go-to distraction, but after falling out of love with the 40K ruleset, and with Age of Sigmar bringing everything that made me fall out of love with 40K to Fantasy, I've been playing a LOT of videogames (wargames' less productive escapist cousin).

      You are right though, my hobby will return. If anything, the fact of its return seems to be indicative of an upswing. I'm sure there's an essay in hobby activity as a psychological health metric :D

      Also, I'm glad to hear it fixed you! You're certainly not alone, I know a good few people who needed to do something distracting, creative and rewarding to fix their bonces :)

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    2. Yep, it helps me not to slip too far down the slope, too.

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  3. Love the 'truescale 'Russ'. Fantastic idea.

    Misfortunately, I did not think of this first. Instead I fitted 40K scale weapons to proper AFVs. Oh well....

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    1. Oddly enough it was Charlie seeing Maisey and I's Bolt Action stuff that inspired the musings that made the model happen, yay for circular inspiration, you from the hulls, us from the guns :)

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  4. Nice work on the conversion. The smaller barrel looks far more "to scale" than the regular cannon. If you make another, besides the longer hull that Greg suggests, you could do the flat front that some of the FW versions have, I think it looks better with the hull gun.

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    1. Definitely! Not sure if I'm willing to suck up the price tag, but it would look cooler...

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  5. Reminds me of a Sherman now, very nice!

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  6. I like it, but now it highlights how massive and boxlike the heavy bolter is. But you've got to stop somewhere...

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    1. Yeah that was occurring to me as I was assembling it. I've had to console myself with remembering that a heavy bolter is basically a fully automatic armour piercing rocket launcher. With, one can only imagine, an absolutely pathetic supply of over-sized ammunition :D

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  7. This is the perfect conversion! I think it makes it look far less goofy and much more threatening. It opens up the idea as to what the other weapon varieties would look like too!

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    1. Thanks! Yeah at least the executioner looks OK, since it's a plasma gun, so I figure caliber isn't an issue there. Also the exterminator looks ok, because autocannons. :P

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