I picked up the Baneblade kit late last year at the Modelzona competition in Mesa, AZ. I knew I wanted a lot of firepower so I opted for the Stormlord build and ordered a second pair of sponsons from Games Workshop. I built this as an addition to my Pardus 8th Armored regiment.
I based out the model in the same Tamiya acrylics I've been using on all my Pardus armor. All the metallics were primed in black and brushed with graphite as outlined in this tutorial.
I wanted to make use of the rear deck. I stuffed five guardsmen in the back in various firing positions.
I wanted a couple of guys stepping up or taking a knee. To do this I cut one leg off a standing pair of legs and cut one off a kneeling pair and then swapped them. I cleaned up the edges with liquid greenstuff. It came out great!
I wanted the tank to have a real lived in feeling. To accomplish this I applied a bunch of bits to the model including a great deal of storage from Value Gear Details.
I also added a bunch of sandbags around the rear deck and top hatch. Laying down a layer of plastic wrap first allows you to work greenstuff into position but still remove it after it sets for painting.
Once all initial details were painted I applied a layer of shipping using the sponge technique, then applied a gloss layer before laying down decals.
After some oil washes a layer of dullcote was applied. That was followed up by additional weathering. The tracks were painted with GW Typhus Corrosion followed by another pass of graphite and a layer of Secret Weapon Miniature powders.
I sculpted the power cells directly into a Value Gear Details crate and made the spent power cells out of styrene.
The spent shell casings are piles of styrene rod cut to size.
I airbrushed some soot around each vent using a light coat of flat black.
Razor wire and rope helped to tie together the storage.
I added jewelry chain to the front and back tow hooks.
