Necromunda Speeder - Part 1

As I mentioned before,  Necromunda conversions and vehicle conversions in particular never left my mind for the 15+ years I've been playing it on and off.

 The Necromunda Ash Wastes fan extension have rules for vehicles wich include tracked, wheeled walker and skimmer vehicles. Lots of optionnal equipment offer extra conversions possibilities with incentive for swappable conversions.

I started this a while back using a Space marine scout skimmer.  I imagined a fully enclosed speeder to endure the punishing sand-laden windstorms on the Necromunda surface..

   In typical zeal, I planned on interior detail wich meant opening and closing doors. I opted for 2 full gull-wing doors so I' would not need to have interior space for it to slide in. The pivoting mechanism (seen here) is a plastene rod sliding free in a cylinder wich also constitutes part of the fuselage directly aft of the cockpit. Notice also the twin cup-holders, a reminder of my daily commute :)

I initially though the scout skimmer to be large enough but ended up slicing it up and doing the limo thing... You can see here basically where I cut it up. Some IG track guard fit perfectly to extend the keel of the craft.

 

I planned on wings from the start. When I stumbled onto my unused Tau scout skimmer I jumped on the opportunity to use the drone well as the housing for a lifting fan. I imaged the complex anti-grav plates too hard to maintain on Necromunda and to be replaced by ground-effect wings and ducted fans...
I used some really old LEGO train weels for the fans and pinned them with some steel wire to give the impression they are gimbaled in the housing.


At first I wanted the whole wings to pivot VTOL-style but could not find a suitable mechanism. I also wanted to keep the interior free for detailing so I didn't want some axle to cross the interior space. Perhaps I will include that in a smaller 2 seater version...

In Necromunda, skimmers aren't that fast. I wanted to decrease the "speed demon" look of the Space marine scout. I removed the 2 top engines and installed various bits. My tiled plastene boards were as usefull as always.








  I will post some further pictures soon including the undercarriage and enclosed cockpit... Further down the line, an article on airbrushing of the craft..

I've decided to start a blog for my humble conversions of warhammer 40K vehicles that I've made over the years.  When fishing for ideas on google, I would often end up on richly detailed blogs with pictures of in-progress work ; a wonderful source of inspiration. Making a small blog of my own,  I can give back to the community and hopefully give out some ideas to other guys looking for ideas themselves...

Most of my vehicle modifications endeavours arose of the wish to modify G-W`s base kits. 1- to have something different and 2- To improve on all those mass-produced cost-effective plastic models... The basic Leman Russ particularly, I din't like.

  The oldest wish for my own conversions come form my days playing Necromunda. One of the books, me and my brother bought, "Battle in the underhive" had a wonderfull arbites 6-weeled vehicle based on an imperial Chimera complete with dozer blade (to bulldoze people!) and grilled driver viewing port. I did eventually make my own altough it was a bit different.

I'll start by showing one of my "Bradly" Chimera. I'v always liked the look of the real world American M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle Badley images. I've made 2 of these for my renegade Imperial guard. I've used the older kits that include a sprue with tank accessories like the track guards I used as side armor. I managed to use almost exclusively stuff from the kit, not going much in my bits bin... Like most convertors, I use lots and lots of styrene plasticard,  mostly the evergreen brand http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com/ and of course, I use green stuff a lot!!

I've omited the outer-most side armour plate so that the wheels and tracks are clearly visible and made the track not loop up all the way "WW1 style".

I've always hated that mostly all G.W. Imperial tanks have that side armor skirt that goes down almost to the ground. I know it`s for that "WW1" look again, but not only does it hide the wheels and tracks, the tanks most distinctive feature, but also, I can't imagine a tank with a suspension system with barely 2-3 inches of travel doing any kind of off-roading...  Sadly with the newest Chimera plastic kits, I couldn't do that conversion anymore because the tracks now glue directly to the side units and no wheels are included in the kit.

I've lots of stowage on the exterior as to represent my tank crews placing all their gear on the outside. The tank accessory sprue is perfect for this.  Like the Bradley, it has an Autocanon and missile system on an off-center turret. The chimera is ideal for this conversion. The stowage on the turret comes from a Leman Russ. I think it would look great even on an almost-stock chimera.

 I've used the inside of the back door as the engine grill. I sanded the bottom of a cupola for the driver`s hatch. That way I could place it real flush on the right side of hull That I think gives a more credible and modern look to the chimera. I've always loved slightly asymmetric designs like the bradley and indeed the chimera

Part of one of the side arrmor (containing the engine exhaust).

Again, stowage near the back door like the Bradley.

With the door opened... I used steel wire and drilled holes in plastic to allow the door to open and close... I like to add interior detail when I can. There's not much inside though ; just some side benches.








So there you have. It`s one of my chimeras. I hope you like it. It`s not a hard conversion to make  (if you have an older style chimera kit)

I will shortly add more pictures of other vehicles from my renegade Imperial guard.. I also have in-progress work of some vehicles for Necromunda Ash Wastes. This will give a more interesting look with the unpainted green stuff and plasticard.