Fellblades of Renown: The Ancient Super Heavies of the Space Marines

[Machinator]

Greetings everyone! As some of you may know I've started on a rather ambitious project of building a Fellblade for each of the loyal Space Marine Legions from the time of the Horus Heresy. The first one up was the Blood Angels' Sactimonia Cruoris (previously known as the Sanctimonia of Cruor before someone corrected my Latin ). Here's the fluff on it along with the BoLS article:

The Fellblade is one of the most ancient war machines available to the forces of the Imperium. Much like its other heavily armed brethren the Fellblade bristles with potent weapons capable of laying low the most powerful of foes. However, what makes the Fellblade most dangerous is not its formidable guns or massive treads, it is that this hammer of mankind lies within the hands of the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines.

Once a common site along side the elite of the Emperor during the Great Crusades there are but a scant handful remaining amongst the original Legions. Yet in the midst of these few are the Fellblades of Renown, artifacts of a thousand wars that rise up like gods above the titans. One such as this is the Fellblade of the Blood Angels known in antiquity as the Sactimonia Cruoris, the Purity of the Blood.

As old as the Chapter itself, the Sactimonia Cruoris was used as the test bed for many of the new technologies and weapons discovered by the Blood Angels during the Great Crusade. Although not always in the same configuration, the Sactimonia Cruoris was forever at the forefront of battle and has the great distinction of being one of the few recorded vehicle to have participated in the Battle of Terra during the Horus Heresy and survived to this day. Even though its current pattern has not changed in nearly three thousand years the tomes of Master of the Forge still identifies its present form as “Experimental.”

Now a treasured relic, the Sactimonia Cruoris is only awoken from its slumber when the call to arms is so great that the entire Blood Angels Chapter is mobilized. It last took to the fields of war during the Second Battle for Armageddon. During the initial bombardment outside the Hive of Hades the Blood Angel performed a daring move deploying the Sactimonia Cruoris and a squadron of Baal class predators by rapid insertion into the heart of the ork horde. In less than a minute the sheer firepower of the Sanctimonia of Cruor and its comrades massacred the xenos within a half a kilometer of their drop zone in all directions. By the time the orks could regroup the void had been filled with the entire 3rd company and elements of the 1st. The Blood Angels had established their beach head allowing the rest of the angelic host to descent from the heavens and wage war against the invaders.

[url]http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/09/40k-showcase-blood-angel-fellblade.html[/url]







Even though I've already started on #2, the Imperial Fist Iron Breaker, I thought it would be good to give you some history as to how the model came about. Over the next couple of days I'll be update this thread until I've caught up with where I am now with this project. So without further ado, here...we...go....

[Machinator]

Let's start with the main turret. I wanted the Fellblades to have a unique looked from the Baneblade so one of the first projects was redesigning the turret. The Visions of Heresy shows the old bubble top design like the old predator tank from eons ago. I decided to use that as a base but make it multi-faceted so that it blended in better with the overall sharp angled look of the tank.

First I built the basic form out of plasticard, filled in the gaps, and sanded it smooth until I had a nice base to work with.



Next up were all the plastic bits and wire that made it look more like something you'd see on a tank. Oh, and rivets...lots and lots of rivets. I got these from a company called Tichy Train Group that makes rivets, nuts, and bolts in all different sized. The ones I used here are the 0.040 and 0.050 inch diameter:





Finally I cast the whole thing up in a silicone mold so that I could make turrets for all the Fellblades to come....

[Duke]

Awesome x 1,000,000! When I saw this on the moan site I was hoping I could see a tutorial (in case I eveer cider to get crazy and do one myself, lol). Keep posting, I love it!

Duke

[BlackKnight15624]

Any chance that turret will show up on Blood and Skulls Industry? I'm already considering ordering those Liberator tank treads for my fellblade...

[DrWobbles]

you should sell those molds

[Mr.Pickelz]

so I'm curious at what would the Space wolves would have, if they had one...being that their a smaller legion and Leman was a fan of up in your face action.

[Machinator]

so I'm curious at what would the Space wolves would have, if they had one...being that their a smaller legion and Leman was a fan of up in your face action.

Oh I have something very special planned for the Sons of Russ It will fit very well with their Legion's character and even includes a story on its creation. But it's #4 on my list so it may be a bit....

[Machinator]

Next were the secondary turrets that were to replace the side turrets on the sponsons and the main hull. As I planned to move the heavy bolters up from the lower sponson to the turret I needed something a little taller and wider. Also the original turrets didn't match the look of my new main turret.

I built the turret from plasticard much like the larger one. It too has a removable weapon mount that rotates up and down. I also added a targetting box up top that looks space mariney but a little older and bulkier. Kind of like the predecessors of today's targetters, this thing is 10,000 years old after all



Front:


Back:

[Machinator]

Next up are the less than sexy fuel system and engines. The fuel drums on the Baneblade look great and give it a sense of scale but I wanted something that has a more integral look for the Fellblade, kind of like today's modern tanks and APC. As such, I came up with this angular thing of pipes, bolts, and rivets:





Then there is the engine. I was really happy how this turned out. Very space mariney and it fits well with the overall model. Also the back plate has a cutout in the center for the shrine. Like its counterparts it's all made of plasticard, strips, and tubes. It was a bit of a challenge to assemble but I think it turned out rather good.

[Machinator]

Finally came the assembly, which was also the most fun part of this project. Given all the new Blood Angels bitz that have been released there was a real plethora of parts to use on the Sactimonia Cruoris.

Starting with the Baneblade kit I cut out the old main turret section and added my new base plate that move the main turret more to the center. The rear engine portion was replaced with the new one along with the engines and exhaust. I also carefully cut out the shrine from the old piece and added it to the new. The rear tread covers were replaced by my new fuel tanks, which matched up nicely with the fuel ports on the Baneblade model. The Baneblade's twin-linked heavy bolters were trimmed to fit onto the new side turrets and a Baal Predator twin-link assault cannon was added to the new one mounted on the main hull. As for the sponsons I modified a Land Raider Redeemer flamestorm cannon to fit on either side. Finally the Baneblade treads were replaced with my Liberator Pattern 1.0 treads available from my eBay store.

Once all the resin pieces had been fitted I went to town gluing on all the extra plastic bitz. The teeth along the side armor skirts were replaced with the Blood Angels icons from the Drop Pods. The high mounted headlights are from the IG Valkyrie. The machine spirit and radar dish on the main turret are from the command upgrade sprue from Apocalypse. Everything else are bitz from other kits and Forgeworld. It was quite the conglomeration.









Then came the buckets of primer, paint, and washes. The end results you can see at the beginning of this thread or in the BoLS article. I'm quite happy how it all turned out. My goal was to create something that looked old but had enough design elements from the Space Marines to really distinguish it from just a Baneblade painted in Blood Angel colors. Overall I think it worked out pretty well.

So one down, seven to go....