Once I finished getting the turret modified, I set to cleaning up all the resin gates and mould lines on the parts.There are a couple that will require filler to get settled properly, but that's no problem, ya?
Right. This build has me excited. I keep saying it and it keeps being true XD
After I had all the pieces trimmed and ready, I gave them a dry fit to make sure all the lines were straight and joints flush. All the parts fit nicely.
The next step was to give everything a scrub in warm soapy water. I use mild dish soap and a soft toothbrush. After scrubbing the pieces are rinsed, bathed in clean water, and finally set out on paper towels to dry. Once everything was dry I set to work getting it assembled. The major converting on the turret weapons before washing the parts so that I could wash off the residue of the super glue accelerant I use.
First I built the box of the main hull, then glued each side in place. Exhausts, intakes, and hull mounted heavy bolter quickly followed. I clipped all the resin handles off and replaced them with handles made of floral wire. I did the same for the handles on the turret.
And here she is. One of the first twenty hulls to roll off the line at the Mad Robot's forge.
Here are a couple more comparison shots with the Leman Russ. The Gideon is longer, but both tanks are about the same width.
Now one thing that isn't included with this kit are side sponsons. That's fine, they are a point sink anymore if you ask the internet... :P I happen to like em for the aesthetic if nothing else. Having all these variants though makes me think that a pair of heavy bolter sponsons wouldn't be amiss to pair with the gatling cannon or the autocannons. What self respecting guardsman has ever bitched about having more dakka to point at the Enemies of Mankind?
So stay tuned for paint, for sure. On the maybe list is a dozer blade and heavy bolter sponsons.
Cheers,
CJ
One can see in the above images the contrast the extra painting step added to the model. In the end I decided I liked it (after about two days chewing on it) and will paint the other Gideons similarly. Iunno about the next few Russes but eventually everything will use the updated recipe.
Once the hull colour was sorted I went back and painted all the bits and rivets with black to provide a good base for the metallics... which I am in the process of doing at the time of this post going live.
