Another completed tank! This time it's the magnetised Manticore/Deathstrike
612 "Marcus ab Morsus" (Hammer of Pain) - EFTC
As promised here is the next completed tank for my EFTC. This tank is designated as 612, 2nd tank of 1st squadron of 6th company, and has been named "Marcus ab Morsus" by her crew. This translates to "Hammer of Pain".
Once again I put my freehand skills to the test on the bottom of the model, to get more practice and for ease of identification.
I'm going to go into a bit more detail about this tank as it hasn't really been covered in any previous posts, other than it's turret. As with the previous tank, 612 got a heavy drybrush all over the model with Bleached Bone. However, I wanted to experiment with mud a little. Now I've read a few articles on doing mud, and I didn't feel ready to jump into using the PVA mixed with static grass mixed with something else method (maybe on another project). So instead I just went with drybrushing a muddy colour onto the lower section of the tank. The left picture shows the tank before this drybrush was applied and the right picture (as well as some of the following pics) show it after the drybrush. I started off with a heavy brush of Calthan Brown to get the initial level of grime, then a lighter drybrush of Graveyard Earth and then a very light brush of Snakebite Leather were applied. Overall I'm very happy with the results so on to the next pics.
As you can see from the picture above on the left, I also applied the mud drybrush over the tracks and tried to apply a heavy amount on the track guards where the tracks pass under. The tracks themselves received a bit more treatment than normal. I started by giving them an undercoat of Chaos Black. This was followed by a drybrush of Boltgun Metal, then Mithril Silver and then Burnished Bronze. The "mud" coat was then I applied. I also used this method for the grills under the sponsons and also the engine cover on the back of the tank. The end of the battle cannon barrel also got some extra treatment, with a heavy drybrush of Chaos Black and a light wash of both Devlan Mud and Badab Black to simulate firing powder burns.
A few more pictues, which show off the extra equipment I placed on the tank a bit better. On the left side of the tank I added a pick axe and shovel to the track guards. The right side got a compact lasgun on the back of the sponson and also a ForgeWorld piece, the tube thing on the back. No idea what this is actually for. Several fuel cans were added in the stowage rack, altough they look a bit too neat. I also aded the fuel drum to bulk the back out a bit. More can be seen of the "mud" effect on the tracks etc. I used the same method for the exhausts that I'd used on the battle cannon. Things were looking a bit too clean on the engine.
These last two pictures are just close ups to show some of the extra detailing I did. The crewman popping out the turret is made up of FW Cadian crew body and the head from the Cadian sentinel kit. I'm really happy with how his goggles turned out and it's probably the best representation of a reflective surface I've done. A bit like the fuel cans in the storage rack, I'm not entirely happy with my placement of the compact lasgun. Although it looks good overall, unless the crewman jumps from the hatch quickly, someone is likely to steal it as the tank is driving along. Oh well.
So that is "Marcus ab Morsus" completed. Hopefully I'll have this squadron finished very soon, only one more tank to do! And then it'll be onto the next three. Thanks for reading and as always comments are welcome.
