40K SHOWCASE: Imperial Fists Fellblade
As some of you may know from my past article or from my blog here on BoLS I’ve taken on the insane task of building a Fellblade for every loyal Space Marine Legion that may have commanded one during the Horus Heresy. Today lets look at the Imperial Fists.
By Tom McBride
Fellblades of Renown: The Imperial Fists Iron Breaker
First up were the Blood Angels and their Sanctimonia Cruoris, a blood red monster that belched forth flames and had enough high velocity rounds to bring down a herd of Grox (or so I’m told). My plan after that was to move on to a simpler Fellblade, perhaps an Ultramarine or Dark Angels but that was not meant to be. There was one everyone wanted to see more than any other, and that Fellblade was from the Imperial Fists.
Now when I planned out the Fellblade for The Fists I envisioned a machine bristling with siege weapons and loads of short range firepower. Reflecting on this thought I was drawn back to an image from my youth of a super heavy tank from the old Epic Space Marine days that was so over the top, so ridiculous in the amount of weapons it carried that it screamed Imperial Fists. I am, of course, referring to the Stormhammer. We’re talking two main turrets each with twin-linked cannons and four, yes four, fully loaded sponsons. It’s enough dakka to make Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka green with envy…or at least greener.
And so the project began. First up I needed to make another turret that was big enough to accommodate two large cannons but was also small enough that I could fit two on a single Baneblade chassis. I kept the same multi-faceted theme I had with the Blood Angels Fellblade and ended up with something about the same size as the current Baneblade turret. Next using my drill as a makeshift lathe I turned out a single cannon barrel that I duplicated along with the turret by making a silicone mold and casting it in resin. Now with all the components the building could begin!
Next was laying out the chassis in such a way that I could mount both turrets and have them be able to fire over each other. In the end I had to extend the front part of the hull (previously occupied by the Demolisher cannon) all the way to the front of the tank while pushing back and raising the rear turret platform about half an inch. The rest was filled in with plastic card and various Space Marine and Imperial Guard bits (and let’s not forget a multitude of Fists icons). I also raised up the rear sponsons about a quarter of an inch so that they blended in better with the higher turret platform. After adding a set of twin-linked multi-meltas as the second set of sponson weapons the Iron Breaker was ready for paint.
The first layer was a base coat of Iyanden Darksun over flat back primer. After a couple of coats to get an even color I started to do a mix of Iyanden Darksun and Golden Yellow adding a little Sunburst Yellow and Skull White for the highlight. Next I wanted to give it a realistic finish that made it look every bit of 10,000 years old. First was a very thinned out coat of Badab Black followed by a couple of coats of Devlan Mud. Next patches of Scorched Earth and Bestial Brown were added to show the layers of mud and rust that had accumulated on the beast. The rust patches were further highlighted along the lower edge with a mix of the base coat and Skull White to give it the look of peeling paint. Finally all the window blocks, sensor eyes, and targetters were painted with Enchanted Blue to give them a striking contrast against the yellow. The Fellblade was now complete….
So I give to you Rogal Dorn’s very own mega taxi of death: The Iron Breaker!
Now onto the Dark Angels….
