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Dark Mechanicus project – The StuG!

Deadlines are fast approaching - the Age of the Emperor campaign is less than 80 days away and my army is in serious need of attention. Typically, I chose to start a new army from scratch and in this case, one that requires a lot more custom work than most - Dark Mechanicus.

Combining several aspects of the 40k (30k!) background, this force will be an amalgamation of Adeptus mechanicus, daemons,  robots and heretics.  As such, I am looking to make almost every model unique.

The first experiment I'd like to share with you is 40k spin on a StuG, as a proxy Thunderer/Sabre. At the time of conception I had been playing a lot of Flames of War with my German tanks and felt the urge to bring them to 40k.

Inspired by the brilliant StuG tutorial by Kasrkin (take a look), I followed his guide for building exposed tracks. The gun barrel is perhaps a bit large, but true to 40k - taken from a Baneblade.

As for the paint job, Dave Taylor gifted us with a very nifty way to paint chaotic symbols onto tanks. I went the whole hog and replicated the paint scheme:

As ever, cursed by my poor photography skills! I've at the weathering stage and looking for further ideas for accessories and iconography to finish off the model - perhaps some Shruzen sideskirts to break up the large blank areas inside the tracks.