Friday 28 August 2009

Leman Russ Demolisher Turret (Part 1)

Not the update I'd planned, but an update none the less!

I thoguht I'd have this Leman Russ Demolisher turret completely finished by now, but alas it's Aerial and Penant were struck down by cloudy varnish as a result of me rushing and spraying in damp conditions - my own fault. The aerials just come out of the stripper after my failiure to rescue it and is gonna get painted up quickly again to finish the job.



I've really gotta appalud GW's update of this kit, the turret went together lovely and the rest of the tank looks like it'll be just as nice, it's also really been brought upto their current kit standard and quality, something I'm very pleased about as I'm sure everyone who likes and wanted to retain the current Leman Russ design was (though I appreciate thats not everyone). I've also assembled it so as too be swapable, I can remove the Demolisher Cannon and switch it too the Executioner Plasma Cannon and later the Punisher once I've decided if I'm going with the kit version or a conversion. It does'nt need magnets either, though I've chosen too use one anyway, the direction GW is taking in this regard is definately welcome.

1 comment:

CommissarHarris said...

I'm one of the ones that doesn't like the Leman Russ, and I'm saddened to hear GW hasn't taken the opportunity to update the kit more throughly. Aesthetically I find the proportions of the Russ hull all wrong, too high too narrow too small a turret making for an ugly dinky model. I understand that they are going for a low tech WWI look with a turret, but even when compared with a 1/38th 'Mark I Male' tank, the Leman Russ is all wrong. From the point of view of suspense of disbelief I find the The existing Russ hull is too high for a practical MBT, the turret has no room for the breach and the comander let alone recoil of said breach. This Tank cannot have any suspension
, even if it did it has at best a few inches of play before the armoured skirt hits the ground. WWI british tanks could do this because they were lucky to make 12 Mile per hour. If thats
the speed of a Leman Russ then the Emperor has a lot to worry about.
A lot of animations have the tank leaping into the air like a salmon when it fires. Whilst this would take care of the recoil issue It would Kill the crew and shake the tank appart in short order (An effect exacerbated by the lack of suspension). There are vision blocks directly above the breach block. Whos using those? The New turret looks larger I must admit but still too small and poorly laid out imho. They reinvented the Rhino and managed to keep the aesthetic theme while completely re-vamping the model into a far superior modern Kit. Forgeworld has produced some beautiful well thought out tanks for the seige of Vraks, why not let them have a crack at re-inventing the Russ?

Join the Campaign for a better Russ!