Custom Tantalus Project

Sooo... given my disappointment with FW models' quality I have set out to make my own Tantalus. Thanks to the fellow denizens of this fair city I got dimensions and so I have set to the phase one - planning.

The plan is simple - make a mostly-GW Tantalus that will be within milimetres tolerance of the FW model size and have majority parts from GW so it is allowed on tourneys.

This is my first drawing. Inspiration with the original model is obvious, but I wanted the ship to be beefier.

Front section and back section are obviously parts of 2 raiders. Mid section I have yet to come up with a detailed plan.

So what do you think of the shape and the idea? Concerned with the allowance of it on tourneys ofc, thats why I didnt get that much inventive. :-)

I like it! Its very sleek.
Particularly I appreciate the way you've kept that sort of dais platform at the back for a warlord. Where do reckon the guns would be? Hull-mounted or underneath the front where those pointy bits are?

And I think it's Tantalus-y enough that it's recognizable, so I don't see why people wouldn't allow it - dunno about tourneys though

Easily enough like a Tantalus to be accepted. I would accept it (but then I'm remarkably lenient on this things).

Looks like a goodd esgin and I'll be watching with interest. I'll always support a ridiculous building project like this.

Having tried to build one myself, I will offer this advice - make sure to use strong materials. It would be very easy and temtping to try to match the thickness of the Raider hulls you're using, but you need to be sure that the front and back sections are secured together. If the middle starts to bend - bad times.
I strongly recommend strong metal rods running prow to stern to take the load and keep everything straight (easily hideable once you add some hull).

Also, do you plan to add the sail?

Looks really nice and would be acceptable in pretty much any tournament outside of a GW store/Warhammer World.

Thanks all. :-) Problem with accepting this on tourneys around here is that it is being seen as cheap cheese. Meaning that I dont buy the 97-pound model from FW but still want to use the rules. That is... understandable, but I believe the amount of work I will have to put into it is nothing to be dismissed and just the two raiders alone that will be used for the hull are what? 50 pounds? I have to say that a Land Raider converted to Achilles would probably never pass... since it is not an Achilles even though it has some more bells and whistles on it. I fear this may be the case too. However I already have two raiders that I don't need so I will probably build it anyway. :-D

PartZebra wrote:

I like it! Its very sleek.
Particularly I appreciate the way you've kept that sort of dais platform at the back for a warlord. Where do reckon the guns would be? Hull-mounted or underneath the front where those pointy bits are?

And I think it's Tantalus-y enough that it's recognizable, so I don't see why people wouldn't allow it - dunno about tourneys though

Guns will be above the shock prows as they are on current Raiders. However I will need to come up with some distinct design for them.

Quote :

Having tried to build one myself, I will offer this advice - make sure to use strong materials. It would be very easy and temtping to try to match the thickness of the Raider hulls you're using, but you need to be sure that the front and back sections are secured together. If the middle starts to bend - bad times.
I strongly recommend strong metal rods running prow to stern to take the load and keep everything straight (easily hideable once you add some hull).

Yes, good advice. I planned on plastic reinforcements, but I can see how that could be insufficient. I have plenty of small stell tubes so will probably use those.

To be honest I don't think you'll have much of a problem at official GW events at all. Not if you're using official models as the base and just enlarging them.

If you can cut them (are they;re already the right length) I'd say steel tubes are the better idea. One of the troubles I had in early building was the middle starting to bend under the weight. But I was also using a Raider for the front and back parts, so I think the materials I used (styrene/plasticard) for the middle section might have been too thin.


Out of curiousity, if you're planning to use the Raider floor plates at front and aft, what do you plan to put on the floor in the expanded middle section? I looked for ages to find a decent pattern, but eventuallu gave up and went for a basic metal mesh.

Neither resin nor plastic can support much if it is not strenghtened by vertical supports. Actually they cannot support their own weight beyond certain limit. Since I will be cutting the self-supporting Raider in half, I will have to reinforce with something that has much higher tensile strength - steel tubes. :-)

As for floor plating - I am considering two options.
1 - Make it look totally different - like plates (plasticard). Similar to outer Raider hull.
2 - Taking a mesh from old Raider and venom, cut the rims, strengthening it with a plate and make a sort of a stamp from it. Then take a few mm thick soft Green Stuff (or other non-shrinking material) and press the pattern into it on as large area as I will need. Let it harden, spray with non-stick spray, pour in resin, let cure, take out and cut as needed. :-D Since it is pattern, it does not need to be super precise or superlevel and much of it can be remedied by sanding.