Starting big in 2015- Astra Militarum Stormlord

Its been a while since I have found the time to get on and blog. Although I have been quiet on here, I have still managed to hobby away in the last few months. I finished a squad of 9 Bullgryns, continued testing things out for the new ultramarines force, and even fitted in the odd game.

In real life I have also secured a new job, which will free up a lot more hobby time and I my hobby goal for the year is to manage at least one game a week. 

Anyway, I have been working away this week on my second superheavy. When the baneblade first came out in plastic I bought one right away, however it sat in my shed for years. I always wanted a stormlord, but they werent included in the original baneblade kit and I couldnt justify the price of one. I have eventually built up the stamina to convert my own using the baneblade sprue, an old landspeeder and a truck load of plasticard. I also ebayed the stormlord heavy stubbers a while back, which I had planned to use on my centuars, but it seemed so much more fitting to put them here. 

Anyway, on to the pictures...

 I went for a shorter weapon bay than the original model, as I wanted to create a larger troop platform.

 The weapon was converted from the back of a land speeder turned upside down and plastic piping added as gun barrels. 

 I then added extra armour plates to the side panels.

 you can see the enlarged troop bay above.

 I love using white plasticard as it allows you to draw the shapes of extra panels you want to add before fabricating them. 

 I built another layer of plating around the gun, I love the way each layer adds more detail to a project like this. 

 I sketched out an outline of the detailed pieces I wanted to creat for the top of the tank.

 Although I will probably not use this crew model, it is one of my favourites.

 I added a series of plastic tube and a wheel hub to create the inlet for an air filter.

 I moved the drivers hatch further up the vehicle, using a Leman Russ' drivers view port.

 I started to build up the crew compartment and sealed off the fuel intakes. 

 More detail added to the top of the gun. 

 I added two plasticard grills either side of the targetter. I figured a weapon of this size would produce a lot of excess heat.

 The crew platform was lined with textured plasticard. 

 Again more detail added to the top of the tank.

  I added more strips of plasticard to work the stubber gunshields into the body of the stormlord.

I added a small crane to the back of the crew bay,I built this using the heavy bolter turret, and the wrecking ball chain from an Ork truck. I thought that the Stormlord might be used to lug extra equipment when not in battle. 

I hope to complete this tanks build over the weekend, and get it ready for battle in the coming weeks. More updates very soon.