Rhino MkII to Pre Heresy MkI Conversion Kit

[DeSnifter]

Hello all,

This is my first post here on BoLS. I noticed the rather large preheresy community that is here and though you might be interested in a project I recently undertook. I love all things preheresy, but it always bugged me that people used the wrong rhinos in their armies. They would use everything else that was correct, but the lowly rhino never got any love. Anyways I set about creating a template to rectify this situation so that anyone who wanted pre heresy rhinos, or simpy missed the old style, could make their own.

My template includes all the components necessary to convert your Mk. II's into Mk. I's. The template has the instructions for where to cut and where to score. Scoring is not necessary, it just aids in even and proper placement of components.

Additionally, the plasticard pieces that go above the tracks are intentionally slightly too wide. This is to allow you to file down the pieces to ensure a smooth edge with no gaps and to make sure you have a nice sharp corner. Lets be honest, no one is going to build their rhinos to the exact same size. Finally, the track pieces that go above the front and rear track openings are intentionally long. This is to also allow you to file them smooth to the plastic kit making a flush edge. Rivet placement has been altered accordingly to accomodate any filing youd need to do. For the 4 tabs that are attached to the rhino door you will want to use a thicker plasticard of your choice.

A final reccomendation is to use my rivet placements to drill tiny holes with your hobby knife while the template is still on the plasticard, this is a life saver when trying to place rivets later on! TRUST ME! If anyone needs it on A4 instead let me know.

Here are some WIP pics, I havent finished building mine yet, but I built enough to make sure the template works.

Comparison to MkII:

http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt55/desnifter/rhino9.jpg

First iteration with door and reduced grills:

http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt55/desnifter/rhino6.jpg

Bolter domes I can post a tutorial for:

http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt55/desnifter/bolterdome5.jpg

Final shot of enlarged grill components which made it into the final template:

http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt55/desnifter/rhino7.jpg

If anyone would like this template, just pm me with your email and I will send it out, or I don't know if an admin would like to add it to the site as a downloadable file for the preheresy stuff. Anyways I look forward to hearing your responses and am glad to have finally joined the BoLS community.

Now go forth and make legions of old school rhino's!

[Exitus Acta Probat]

YOINK!

and I begin the conversions!
Awesome!

(those bolter-domes are teh s#ite!)

honestly though, with all the uber-goob aside...I have 9 Pre-Heresy rhinos I shall now start to convert!

[Lindargo]

Do you know where to get this in England?

[therealjohnny5]

nice work mate.

[Lord Azaghul]

Serioulsy good stuff. I was actually wondering how to do rivits myself.( I'm pretty much learning as I go)

Please sent me the template, I'm always looking for new techniques

[DeSnifter]

Do you know where to get this in England?

This isn't a kit you buy, this is a template I am giving out for free that allows you to convert your rhinos into the older Mk.1 variants.

And just a heads up, I need your email in order to send it to you. I just keep getting pm's that say send it to me and forget to mention where to send it to! haha

[DeSnifter]

My apologies for the double post, but I thought this might interest anyone who does scratchbuilding, not just someone who uses this kit.

Anyways, thanks for the support guys and....

RIVETS!!!!

I was looking for a solution to match the rivets on the gw rhino, knowing that when I put on the plasticard I would lose alot of detail, and also that the old Mk I had rivets in key locations. Well, after 45 minutes at Michaels arts and crafts here in the US I came upon these wonderful things.

http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt55/desnifter/rivet1.jpg

They might make that anniversary scrap book absolutely fabulous, but in the 41st millenium they are the god emperors rivets, bringing devine mechanical solidarity to the heretics. Ahem...

Anyways, to go about making rivets on the rhino template I sent out, first you want to use your hobby knife to drill tiny guide holes WHILE THE TEMPLATE IS STILL ON!!!! I cannot stress this enough! I forgot to do it on part of the other side of my rhino and it was a huge pain in the *** to line em up again. I made the stupid thing and forgot myself! Once you have ALL the guide holes drilled into the piece in question, you can take off the template and then use your pin vice to create a small crater in the plastic.

http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt55/desnifter/rivet4.jpg

When I did this I didnt press down with the pin vice, so much as I let the weight of the vice itself press into the plastic. You dont want an actual pin tunnel, you just want a hemisphere that the little glass bead will sit into about halfway.

Once you have all your rivet craters, you want to take some super glue, squirt it somewhere useful like on a spare piece of plastic, and keep it handy. You then want to use a pin or needle to transfer a tiny bit of super glue from your puddle to the rivet crater.

http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt55/desnifter/rivet3.jpg

Personally, I use zap a gap for this because it flows very easily into the rivet craters and doesnt dry too quick. Once you have the zap a gap in your crater, you want to take some of your scrap book rivets, push you finger into them so you get a few to stick onto your finger, and you want to roll your finger so that the rivet "falls" into the rivet crater.

http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt55/desnifter/rivet2.jpg

You dont want to just stick it in, because you will get glue on you and create a mess. Just sort of roll your finger off into the crater. Once the rivet is in the proper hole, just use the other side of your fingernail, or the flat end of a hobby knife to press it into the crater to ensure a nice strong bond.

And there you have it, rivets that will last you 500 years both in quantity and quality! I got sick of my PVA rivets falling off. They come in all sorts of colors, I just happened to buy christmas ones. No idea if they have them in the UK or elsewhere around the world but I'm sure a large craft store would have something similar.

Until the next update, take care everyone and I want to see peoples own rhinos that used this to see how theirs came out!

[Aldramelech]

Thats some serious dedication there. Nice conversion.

[nurglespuss]

Fantastic stuff!!!

I made the same mistake : [email protected]

please can you send me the template? Now i'm off to try and find somewhere that sells those beads in the UK!

[miteyheroes]

My apologies for the double post, but I thought this might interest anyone who does scratchbuilding, not just someone who uses this kit.

Anyways, thanks for the support guys and....

RIVETS!!!!

I was looking for a solution to match the rivets on the gw rhino, knowing that when I put on the plasticard I would lose alot of detail, and also that the old Mk I had rivets in key locations. Well, after 45 minutes at Michaels arts and crafts here in the US I came upon these wonderful things.

Genius idea!

I'm definitely going to experiment with this.

People in the UK who also want to experiement- try searching ebay for "Micro Beads": http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m38.l1311&_nkw=micro+beads&_sacat=See-All-Categories

[Lord Azaghul]

AH, that explains they the rivets are red alrigthy!

Thanks again lad - I alreayd have a trip planned to hobby lobby tomorrow (failing that I'll head on over the michaels, just down the street)

[DeSnifter]

Emailed the template out to all who pm'ed me. No need to ask for the templates, just send along your email and I will send you the file as soon as possible.

And yes those glass beads are a life saver. Another possible source of them is the inside of a brita filter or something similar. They also contain tons of little plastic beads.

Thanks again for the support guys, and I will get some more work done today when I get home.

[Akkon Sek]

A very elegant conversion. Excellent and straightforward way to "upscale" (actual size) the Mk.I to 28mm-ish.

As much as I love converting, I think I would rather slam my manhood in a car door than try to place those glass beads into drilled holes with my shaky claws.

Good stuff.

-A

[Brass Scorpion]

Excellent work. I've seen this method of riveting done with small metal ball bearings, but never with glass beads before. The MKI conversion is terrific.

Personally, I've been sticking with using styrene rod slices for my scratch riveting simply because I want to stick purely with plastic for these kinds of conversions. Plastic holds paint better than other materials like metal or glass and of course I can use the same plastic cement on the rivets as on the rest of the model by sticking with styrene plastic rods. However, I do really like the look that the metal or glass balls provide, so my next goal is to find plastic beads that will look as good as the ball bearings or glass beads for doing this method of scratch rivet building.

[Lord Azaghul]

As much as I love converting, I think I would rather slam my manhood in a car door than try to place those glass beads into drilled holes with my shaky claws.


-A

Not me! Im not so willing to sacrfice so much...or in such a way:p

[MarshalAdamar]

Awesome, I love them, I think the rivet idea is genius! I'm going to "borrow" that idea for rivets for my ork vehicles!

Thanks for posting!

[Jiggs]

nice work

[DeSnifter]

Well they are glass beads, but they are coated with an externail plastic or paint coating of some sort, so its not glass on plastic. If you want a plastic on plastic connection you can use the beads that come in a brita filter if you crack it open

[Lerra]

Thanks for the brilliant suggestion about the beads. I'm going to have to try that!

By the way, does anyone know a cheap place to get plasticard (or any sort of plastic sheet?). The "official" stuff is hugely expensive.

[DeSnifter]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback. If theres one thing I'm good at its not finishing what I started. In fact the black templar rhino that you all have seen was the last army I've finished. Yes, I've painted a bunch since then, but sadly I have been unsuccessful in completing even two troops and an HQ for another army. But I've come close!

That is one of the reasons I wanted to go through with this project. More than likely my iron warrior army will get distraced by some new shiny gw thing, but I figured I might as well produce something that others can use, especially others that can manage to finish projects.

Speaking of finished projects, the rhino is awaiting going into the painting assembly line. I'm debating adding the leman russ dozer blade, but if I do that It will go on in the end. Without further ado, here are the pictures of the finished product. (pre paint)

Front Angle:

http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt55/desnifter/rhino_final_3.jpg

Rear Angle:

http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt55/desnifter/rhino_final_4.jpg

Old School Comparison:

http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt55/desnifter/rhino_final_1.jpg

New School Comparison:

http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt55/desnifter/rhino_final_2.jpg

Again, thank you everyone for the support, I really appreciate it, and it has been a HUGE motivator to get this project finished. I hope everyone has enjoyed it, and I have some interesting ideas for future projects, that hopefully everyone will enjoy. One of these being how to convert this into an old style predator. Look for updates on the paint scheme, and I will post a tutorial if anyone is interested.

[AoM]

What bit did you use for the domed cupola parts the bolters are attached to?

[DeSnifter]

What bit did you use for the domed cupola parts the bolters are attached to?

I used the cupola harches that come in the rhino kit. I just shaved of the tabs and half of the interior teeth to fit the bolter into it. You can see a tutorial for it on my thread on warseer here:

bolter dome tutorial (http://www.warseer.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4057627&postcount=14)

Without further ado, I give you pics or the finished kit in all its glory, or horror, depending on how you think it came out!

http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt55/desnifter/a100_1533.jpg

http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt55/desnifter/a100_1534.jpg

http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt55/desnifter/a100_1535.jpg

http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt55/desnifter/a100_1536.jpg

The dozerblade is a shortened leman russ dozer blade. I figured since it was Iron Warriors, any self respecting siege legion wouldn't leave home without one. It also gave me a chance to add some of their famous hazard chevrons. Overall, I'm very happy with how the conversion kit came out, and definitely know that future ones will look that much better. Thank you everyone for the support. If anyone has suggestions for improvement I would love to hear it.

[Aldramelech]

Very nice. The chevrons are particularly nice, you see so many half assed attempts..............

[Jay Biga]

Looking good there!
In fact, you made the Mark I cooler than the original Mark I.

The use of the little glass pieces made me smile. It's a cheap way to get bolts done and although it's labour intensive, it works well. To be honest, there is no non labour intensive way to do rivets. I often use one of these:

http://images.google.nl/imgres?imgurl=http://www.historexagents.com/images/punch2.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.historexagents.com/shop/tips_punch.php&usg=__Be6oKwk9WEZIZSep1zIKR4BKcFw=&h=450&w=527&sz=6&hl=nl&start=5&um=1&tbnid=nHNJbbZiRL0mwM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=132&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpunch%2Band%2Bdie%26hl%3Dnl%26safe%3D off%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

While these work great and the rivets made can simply be fixed with liquid poly, it is an expensive set to buy and as such may very well not be worth it if you don't do many conversions or scratch builds. So I think you have come up with a very good solution for builders on a budget, or people that only do occasional scratch work.

Fantastic idea, I take my hat off!

[Lord Inquisitor]

Really good. Looks exactly like a pre-heresy rhino should look like.

[gorepants]

When I first saw it I got all nostalgic and it made me wish I'd bought one of the old three rhino packs. Then you stuck yours next to the old one and I was glad I didn't. Yours is hela better. Good work!

[miteyheroes]

Thanks so much for the beads-as-rivets idea. I've been making some Mk 5/6 shoulder pads, and this way of making rivets has been amazingly successful!

[DJ TKO]

Frankly, I found this thread riveting. (excuse the pun :P)

This is an awesome job you've done here. I'm copverting Nocturne's Hammer for my Salamander army, and this is a great starting point.

Thanks, DeSnifter!!!

[Wulfric]

If you're looking for alternative rivets, there are always the cheap punches that appear around this time of year; I got a set that had a small (rivet sized) round, a holly leaf and a fir tree for £9.99 in my local crafting-type store...

[theHman]

Dude, AWESOME!

Love it.

[Duke]

I actually like that better than the original... I really like your model and thought I would never see someone actually convert up this old school rhino (I personally like the newer ones better).

In short, great job!

Duke

[sketchesofpayne]

Just have to say this is an excellent conversion!

Of course, with all that extra plasticard on it it should be 12 12 10 now! lol

[Shadow Queen]

thanks for the pdf's

[GGryphon]

This is a great conversion! Desnifter has not been on in awhile, does anyone else have a copy of the template that he made?

[Tynskel]

What do you call it when you mix Old Skool with New Skool? Middle Skool!

heheh, superb conversion. The beads complete it, going the extra mile for authenticity. If it wasn't larger than the old model, I wouldn't have realized it was MKII.

You should work on Las Plas conversions!

[Gitsplitta]

Great little tut on the rivets DeSnifter... thank you! Your timing is impeccable. I need to put campaign studs in a shouder pad and I bet I could use the same process.

[jerbat123]

I've always like the look of the MKI my self Great job on the conversion I'm going to borrow the beads idea.