Coming straight off my Rhino project, I wanted to model up my favorite 40k vehicle: The Vindicator. Nothing really encapsulates the setting better than a tiny tank with a giant short range cannon that can devastate anything. Also paper thin armor along the sides and a tendency to spend most games destroyed.

I wasn’t a big fan of the original model or the Forgeworld ‘altertative’ (which reminds me of Thomas the Engine, you know, a train) so I decided to go with Puppets War’s big momma cannon– an aftermarket kit which truly exemplifies the qualities I love about the Vindicator.

As with most of my projects, it began life as a pair of ebay salvage Rhinos that I chopped up after melting off their old terrible paint jobs.

As you can see form the pictures, the kit didn’t fit very well. I had to spend considerable amounts of time filling in the gaps between the kit and the Rhinos the were mated to. Despite the amount of work, it was rather fun. As with my rhino I added armor plates on the sides after taking the side engines and moving them to the rear. I got more creative with the engine on these ones too. I figure a tank like this requires a big ol’ engine to push it forward. Here they are after I’ve undercoated them with my chipping color and applied a Zenithal Prime. In total I probably spent 30-40 hours getting them to this stage.

…and here they are after a their basecoats and some washes:

I have a LOT of work ahead of me, but its going to be great. I really love these models. It’s also a great opportunity for me to write up some weathering tutorials since its becoming a defining characteristic of my style.