One of the things I enjoy most about Warhammer 40,000, table top wargaming in general and being a “Hobbyist” is that it’s fun and that I get crazy ideas because of it!
Sometimes these ideas are triggered by my own imagination and creativeness, others by a games awesome fluff and background. The latest army theme that I’m using to create an army, my next unneeded (but wanted) purchase or something that just plain pops into my head as an experiment to be undertaken.
In the case of this article, the original idea was inspired by a random thought that I had during a game with my Grey Knights army at the “Rolling Thunder” tournament a few years back. When one of my Land Raider Redeemers had suffered a large amount of damage and been blown up, my opponent and I used dice to mark out where the Land Raider had been. I thought, “It’d look way cooler if I’d a wrecked and blown up Land Raider to place on the table instead!”
Thus I became rather obsessed with this idea; and since then I’ve created both a wrecked and blown up Land Raider to use during my games. I thought I’d share with my fellow hobbyists how I actually created them, so that anyone who wished to, could create their own.
Making a Wrecked Land Raider
Materials that you’ll need are:
A set of Citadel Moonscape, an old Land Raider you no longer use and which can be cut up (or if making your own version the vehicle your army uses) sand, a marker pen, cutting mat, eye protection such as woodworking or decorating goggles, masking tape, PVA glue, superglue (both thin and thick solutions), a selection of crystal shards (available from aromatherapy or alternative type shop), a selection of Warhammer 40,000 bitz such as skulls, parts of marines etc, hot glue gun, a Dremel type tool, wire mesh (Halfords sell this for car body repairs), wooden tongue depressors or lollipop sticks and a premixed rough finish wall filler such as Polyfilla.
It’s also important to note that you’ll need to be working in a well-ventilated area for cutting up the Land Raider or using large quantities of super glue, due to the fumes you get from superglue or the smell of cut plastic.
Step 1 – Mark on your Land Raider where you plan to cut it using a marker pen or masking tape.
Step 2 – Making sure you’re working in a ventilated area and wearing eye protection, then carefully use your Dremel tool to cut the Land Raider into two large pieces. ( I found that the easiest way to do this was to use a cutting disc on the Dremel set to a medium speed and to cut through a couple of inches of the Land Raider at a time.)
Step 3 – Now that you have your two pieces of Land Raider, select a piece of Citadel Moonscape and which piece of Land Raider will be used for your “Wreck” and place it onto the piece of Moonscape. You need to decide where it’s going to be glued down and mark this using your marker pen.
Steps 4 and 5 – Cut a rectangular slot into the moonscape where the edge of the Land Raider will be placed. (Note to reader: it’s important to do this carefully with the Moonscape on a cutting mat, wearing eye protection and keeping your fingers away from the Dremel!)
Once you have a rectangular slot on one side of your piece of Moonscape, place the section of Land Raider into the slot and ensure its sitting how you want it to on the crater. Once you’re happy with the positioning, carefully glue the Land Raider into place using your hot glue gun. (Note to reader: hot glue guns can get really hot, please be careful when using them as they can burn you!)
Step 6 – Next take a sheet of wire mesh and cut strips from it. Carefully glue the strips into all the major gaps between the Land Raider and the piece of Citadel Moonscape that it’s now glued to, using your hot glue gun. (Make sure you take your time with this and leave no gaps uncovered by wire mesh.)
Step 7 - When the gaps you’ve filled with wire mesh and hot glue are dry and secure it’s time to cover the wire mesh.
Take your pot of ready mixed rough Polyfilla and stir gently with a wooden tongue depressor/lollipop stick. Then carefully place Polyfilla all around the Land Raider on top of the wire mesh. This does not have to be smooth, nor do you need to worry about getting any onto the vehicle as it will add to the final effect. Once all the mesh is covered in a coat of Polyfilla, leave your wreck to dry (according to the Polyfilla’s instructions).
Steps 8 and 9 – Now that the Polyfilla is dry, you can add a layer of modelling sand and other final details, such as skulls, dead bodies, crystals and so on.
To add the modelling sand, paint a layer of PVA glue randomly around the wreck, choosing where you want sand to be. You should also glue detail pieces onto the ground around the wreck, or wreck itself, such as dead bodies and crystals while choosing where the sand will be glued. Not only can these extra details make your wreck look more inspiring and like it belongs on a battlefield, but it can also tie it to your army’s theme; in my case this was done by adding a dead Grey Knight to my wreck, piles of bones and crystals which link to my Grey Knight objective markers. While you’re doing this you can also add further detail to the wreck by drilling and cutting bullet holes and weapon impacts to its hull using your Dremel tool and craft knife.
Once the detail pieces are glued down and you've applied a layer of PVA, pour sand onto the glue on the wreck. (This is the point where you’ll need to hold the wreck above a large box or lid to catch spare sand in).
Then leave the sand and details to dry. Once dry paint over the sand with watered down PVA or use liquid super glue and drip it slowly and carefully all over the sand (wearing a face mask and working in a well-ventilated room is essential if you choose to use liquid super glue). Once the sand is covered, leave the wreck to dry.
And finally – there you have it, a wrecked Land Raider to use on the table top.
A "Blown Up" Land Raider can also be created using the second piece of your Land Raider and following the same stages you’ve used to create the wreck.
Once you have your wrecked or blown up Land Raider, all you’ll need to do is paint them (the subject of my next article, me thinks!) and of course make use of them in your games.
The methods used in this article are not simply techniques just to be used with Land Raiders, you can easily transfer these techniques to create other wrecked vehicles such as wrecked Rhinos, Devilfish, Wave Serpents and Leman Russ Battle Tanks. The choice, quite simply is yours…
That makes me sad
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