Matilda MkIII as Leman Russ?

[Armfelt]

Hi everyone, I am new to Imperial Guard, have a Imperial Fist force but am using cadians as an allied force and later as an alternate army.

I really like almost every model in the codex, except the great tank itself, the Leman. Hence, my search for an alternative model.

Painting my guards as cadians, and with the mindset that they are a future version of the Commonwealth or even Canadians, I am wondering if the Matilda tank from Tamiya would due as a replacement (and perhaps using it in casual gaming and friendly tournament)? It got some similarities to the Leman Russ, and look more armoured than a 1/48 Sherman M4A1.



The model is in 1/48 scale, 12,7 cm long 5,4 cm wide and 5,4 cm high.
A Leman Russ is 11 cm long, 8 cm wide and 7,5 cm high.

Would an appropriate basing make the proportions better (atleast wider and higher)?

I am thinking of adding a Demolisher siege cannon or a Battle cannon to the tank.

[treadiculous]

Personally I like the Female MkI from WW1 as the Russ stand-in, but the matilda looks cool too...

You are getting a smaller target and I'm not sure how basing would work since you're going to have to use the hull for determining whether there is a cover save or not.

Try looking at 1:35 or 1:32 scale as this can give reasonable results.

The matilda looks a lot like a chimera with more curves!

I'm interested to see where you go with this.

[RedsandRoyals]

Certainly replace the main gun, since most 1/48th scale weapons look a bit puny compared to 40k, and that wussy little 2lbr on the Matilda wasn't great to start with. If the russ barrel proves too large for the turret mounting, try using a cheap pen and cutting it down to an appropriate length for the barrel. If it has the hull BESA MG, consider replacing that too with a heavy stubber barrel.

Reds

[AshotNINJA]

lenght wouldnt be a problem, but at 5.3 cm the 1/48 scale tank would ber a bit skinny... id go with a 1/35 scale matilda...

i just picked up a wlaker bulldog at 1/35 scale and its pretty much perfect size... although i intend it to be a ragnarok.

[Bryant]

Mar 6, 2013 17:24:13 GMT -5 AshotNINJA said:

i just picked up a wlaker bulldog at 1/35 scale and its pretty much perfect size... although i intend it to be a ragnarok.

Picks in the EDF topic now!

[vegna]

I'd say a KV-1 or KV-2 would be a better fit for the ragnarok...

also HERESY!

[Armfelt]

A 1/35 Matilda MkIII would be 17,2 cm long, 7,2 cm wide and 7,1cm high. Thats 6,2 cm too long, 0,8 cm too thin, and 0,4 cm too low.

Crew members would be a bit larger than GWs, but the don't have helmets atleast and are just showing the upper half of their bodies. Perhaps Forgeworlds cadian tank crew would due.


Link to tamiyas model: www.tamiya.com/english/products/35300matilda/index.htm

The larger tank model will make a battle cannon look more natural, perhaps it will work on this turret. And there will be more details on the tank, which is nice of course.

The KV-1 or 2 tanks look very "imperiumish", but sadly ain't my cup of tea.

It may be heresy and I might get purged, but atleast other tanks are more aerodynamic and mobile than the Leman Russ. ^^

Edit:
The Matilda will be about this size.

[commissarbob]

I would have no problem with it. The extra length would balance out by being harder for the tank to get cover but would give your infantry a bit more cover. It is a wash in my book.

[ColGravis]

I'm just gonna leave this here, and say something about waiting a few more months.

[commissarbob]

*DROOL*

[wulfric]

I'm using 1/48 KV2 as Leman Russ substitutes. Basic battle cannon are easy to make from styrene tubing, while the other weapons can be picked up quite cheaply from bits sellers.



Sent from my GT-N8000 using proboards

[Adkenpachi]

I like your scenery

[wulfric]

Thank you! It's a mix of GW and Pegasus buildings with aquarium plants and blue foam.

[vegna]

yeah i love the aquarium plants, i use some of my dads old fishtank ones (well cleaned!)

what kit was that? I find most ww2 minis have terrible tracks but those dont look too bad?

[that1guy]

Could we have a picture comparison along side a Lemans Russ?

[RedsandRoyals]

Last post in this thread was almost five years ago. Please check the date of the last post before commenting, unless you're looking to resurrect it for projects you're working on.

[that1guy]

Jan 18, 2018 13:07:17 GMT -5 RedsandRoyals said:

Last post in this thread was almost five years ago. Please check the date of the last post before commenting, unless you're looking to resurrect it for projects you're working on.

Yeah, I'm really interested in converting non-GW tanks.  I am starting to think we all get interested in converting non-GW tanks once we've bought 5-7 Lemans Russ kits.  Not to mention like 10 Chimera's.  So many chimeras.

[RedCuffs]

I’ve a mate (I should try to get him to join the board now he’s doing some Astra Guard) who’s going to build a company of something that looks like these Georgeous beasts.







His versions won’t have any of the Gothic vibe though which personally I think is a good thing.
The weapons will be standard 40k Astra Guard bits but the hulls and turrets will be largely scratch built.
And hopefully be very close to the Height, Width, Length of a Russ.

The 8 wheeled Pumas will proxy the Hellhound variants.
And a motorcycle sidecar combo to proxy sentinels.

I actually think a PzVI Tiger would be perfect as a Guard tank but there’s a lot of WWII armour to choose from.
And from any nationality too.

Matilda if you like British stuff and I think a 1:35 Churchill would be perfect as a Baneblade variant.
T28 if you like Soviet era stuff isn’t a bad choice in my opinion.
Not sure about the Japanese kit ... I don’t think any of their tanks were substantial enough to pass as Guard armour.

[that1guy]

excuse me while I change my shorts, got a little excited thanks to Red Cuff.

[RedCuffs]

The best “real tank” to proxy a Guard tank is this Churchill Crocodile



It was surely the inspiration for the Malcador Infernus



And can be easily produced from this kit

[that1guy]

Intriguing. Tell me, in your opinion what is the best "real armored personel carrier" to chimera conversion?

[RedCuffs]

Soviet BMP,
German Marder,

Bradley or Warrior at a push

[that1guy]

I will be picking up both a BMP & a Marder I believe. But back to the Matilda, that main turret would look sweet with a pair of auto canon's.  Anybody got a picture of a lamans russ next to a malcador infernus for scale?

[RedCuffs]

You can probably use any model of an existing military vehicle as a proxy for some Guard vehicle.
It’ll be cheaper cash wise that’s for sure but there’s one reason I haven’t done it yet and probably won’t.

My armies have to have something like a “unifying vibe” that gives them asthaetic cohesion.
And obviously each model has to be able to represent the Guard model in game play.

So that’s why I stick to GW because I think a Sentinel still looks was designed by the same people who designed the Baneblade and every vehicle in between.

Now you could get of say soviet era vehicles that will have that unifying aesthetic but I think it would be too difficult to get them to represent Guard stuff.
Role wise you could equate BMP=Chimera, BRDM=Hellhound, T54=Leman Russ but they can’t represent those same Guard vehicles in the game.
A T64 with sponsons and a big ar$e las-cannon poking out the front would look hideous and if I ever saw one in the flesh I’d be compelled to stamp on it.

Alternately you could get a Universal Carrier=Sentinel, Bradley=Chimera, Saladin=Hellhound and Char B=Leman Russ.
They could possibly represent Guard vehicles but there’s no “common aesthetic vibe”.

Therefore I stick to GW models. And if I decide I don’t like the look of them I just kit-bash them to within an inch of their lives.

I’m sure there is a formal term for “common, unifying, aesthetic vibe” ... will someone please tell me what it is.

[that1guy]

Well luckily for me, playing a bits'n'pieces regiment, the common, unifying aesthetic vibe is that nothing looks the same. I've got 2nd generation Cadian's in the same squad with Valhallan's & Jungle fighter's. Steel Legion mixed in with my Moridian's and free guild hand gunners. So when I get too many things that look uniform it doesn't doesn't fit the common, unifying aesthetic vibe of everything looking different.

  So, an update.  I'm about dremmel deep into a bargain bin M1 abrams because it was too recognizable.  My comrades and I are splicing it closer to the Malcador chassis scale, or at least what we can guestimate given the helpful resources provided in this thread.  
  Emperor willing & with some extra armor skirts to conceal the sides we are going to mount a spare set of leman's Russ sponson's which will probably get laz cannons because I need more of those.  Who doesn't need more LC's in their list? 

For the infurnus cannon I was experimenting with a few heavy flame thrower's maybe just mounted side by side, but was disappointed with the finale result.  It was just a little too small for my tastes.  Then I was looking at GW's Goliath kit from the Genestealer cult's line up & it has a very heavy bit that I believe will fit the bill.  And I don't know if you can mount a rock grinder shield on the front of a Malcador infernus but we are probably going to do it anyway.   (Plus I can still build the goliath as a labor truck & give it loyalist markings for more illegal models in my collection...  Because that's how we roll.

...still need to find a fuel trailer, probably modify one from a church hill kit.

 Stand by, pictures to come.