So I got myself some bargains on eBay the other week. Two Rhinos for £14. Which if you know eBay's usual prices, was a bargain! Unfortunately, both of the Rhinos in question were battered and knackered. But I like a challenge and they seemed to be a worthwhile project. Plus, my Imperial Guard need some transport, and as much as I like Chimeras, I want my Guard to be a bit more Rogue Trader.
As you can see from the images. Both Rhinos are in need of love, particularly the red one.
I decided to use a Dettol soak on the red Rhino and a Biostrip soak for the dark green. I’ve been keen to try Biostrip for awhile and this seemed a good time to do a comparison. I left the red in the Dettol overnight, but the green I only left In the Biostrip for 5 hours.
The results were quite different. Although I think this may be partly due to the paints these Rhinos had on them. I don't think they were water based, as neither the Dettol or Biostrip completely removed everything, and both required extra attention to get off the straggling paint. The green Rhino in particular was also heavily stained with the paint having damaged the plastic.
Looking at the Dettol vs Biostrip results though, I think the Biostrip did a much better job overall. So I think this will now become my choice of stripper...ooer. The red Rhino was very heavily damaged under the thick paint. Lots of glue, which had melted the plastic, gouges and warped plastic components. With this in mind, I decided to break down the model as much as I could, and try and repair or replace the worst pieces. However, even after this, I knew I’d have to paint this particular Rhino up a certain way and use the damage as a feature.
Once I’d cleaned and repaired the Rhinos as much as I could. I decided that the heavily damaged red Rhino wouldn’t stand up to being a standard Rhino. The damage was just too substantial. So I decided to make this one a ‘special’. A bit like the ‘Hobart Funnies’ from WWII. I’m thinking the extra details will take your eye off the damage.
Luckily I have kids and this means I’m surrounded by copious amounts of cheap toys, several of which the kids forget they even have. For an oldschool hobbiest like me, these sort of resources are mana from heaven. (Let’s take a moment to remember all those poor Zoids, harnessed for parts back in the 80s!)
I did some experimenting before I committed myself with glue. Different combinations and ideas, until I settled on what looked the best.
Once I had a clear idea. I built up the rear of the ‘red’ Rhino with some card to help ground the new additions. This Rhino was going to become some sort of electronic warfare vehicle. I had an idea of lots of antennas and listening devices, Vox transmitters and such. Plus I found a lovely search lamp on the side of a Paw Patrol vehicle, that I knew the kids never played with anymore. This was perfect for the Rhino, and I loved the idea of a electronic reconnaissance Rhino, that can also light up an area to highlight hidden enemies.
Finally, I added a spare heavy bolter from the bits box. Once all the McGuffins and extras were glued. I started on the ‘green’ Rhino. The ‘green’ Rhino was less damaged and didn't need nearly as much work to tidy up. This is going to be a standard, traditional Rhino. I added a new ram and used an RTB01 bolter which I clipped to shape, to replace the missing roof mounted bolter.
Once I was happy, I fitted the handrails to both Rhinos. Yes. Handrails. I was very fortunate to have these sent to me by a friend. They're the one rarity you’ll find with older Rhinos. Most that are this age have lost the handrails long ago, as they were notoriously brittle.
Last but not least, the other item nearly always missing from old Rhinos. The right angles exhausts. I had some ideas how to fix these, ranging from Lego to brass tubing. I decided that the right angle was just too difficult and I do quite like the modern exhausts, which pop straight up. So the plan was to make some like that, and probably use brass tubing. But Brass tube was £5.50 a pack...and I prefer a bargain...a visit to my local grocery shop solved my issue and did so in an incredibly cheap way...
Can you guess what I used?
Chupa Chups sticks!! Not only the right diameter and cheap. But you get a treat too!
Once these exhausts and the little extras like handles and flag antennae were affixed. It was time to base coat both Rhinos with Mechanicus Standard Grey.
Painting
I started on the electronic Warfare Rhino first. It’s the most damaged and therefore the one to experiment with to get the process right.
Both these Rhinos will serve with my Trazior Talons. So the plan is to keep the colours consistent with my Guard force. Therefore, grey and black. I think the best bet was to have some sort of camouflage pattern and in my mind, I pictured the way ships were camouflaged in WWII.
I started with a dry brush of Dawnstone grey and I slowly built this up, using lighter and lighter shades. Until I did a final dry brush with Administratum grey.
I then added in the darker stripes using
Black Templar Contrast. I kept these stripes as large V shapes just to break up the lines of the hull.
Once I was happy with these (And it took awhile of repainting and tidying up with grey). I added in the chipped paint. First using Administratum grey to pick out the areas I wanted to appear damaged and then by adding in Gore-Grunta Fur contrast to fill in the chips.
This is a great little technique and really creates the illusion of chipped and damaged paint. I used this on all the actual damage on the model, hiding it by making the damage itself more obvious!
Once I was done here, I used some weathering paint to add in some dirt in the recesses.
Quite a simple paintjob on this and done within a few hours.
Once it was dry I added some decals and also some homemade decals. As this is for my Guard, it needed the Regiment markings and I knocked these up on Photoshop and then printed them out. They were then cut out and stuck on! That's right! Stuck on paper! Works though! :)
Finally, I had grabbed an image of a military grade search light from the internet. I had printed this too, ensuring it was the same diameter as the lamp on the mini. I then stuck this into place too, and that was done! One Imperial Guard, Trazior Talon Rhino, all ready for battle. Now I just need to paint the other in the same way!
