Eisenkern Guard build pt2

Heavy Weapons mods, or why I couldn't leave well enough alone...

   Okay, so it should come as no surprise that I was going to modify the heavy weapons in the Eisenkern boxed set, right?

   I know it sounds strange to have a need to make the miniatures for a game set in the 41st Millenium "More Realistic", but I just couldn't see the basic Heavy Weapons emplacements as "2-man portable" So off to the drawing board I went to modify these weapons to fit my view of what the future should hold!



   First to be modified was the Autocannon, with its cool gun shield.  I'll eventually have a custom lascannon and heavy bolter to drop into the frame, but in the meantime I needed to give it a wheeled frame and magnetize the cannon.  The wheels are the small tires from Blood and Skulls Industry off of eBay.  Very clean molds and one easy clip to clear off some sprue and they were ready for a dry-fit to the autocannon's frame.

Eisenkern Autocannon with Blood and Skulls Industry wheels

   Well, as you can see, from the dry fit I learned that there was not much clearance to the front of the blast shield and NO clearance for the rear stabilizer legs.  Plus, the tires ended up slightly canted inward which isn't too visible in that photo, but was unacceptable in my opinion.  The narrow fit is a bit more visible in the image below.

Modified and Magnetized Autocannon frame

So instead of making it look like there was just barely enough clearance for this cannon to operate, I decided to extend the frame (with the forward foot I cut off the tripod frame.)  Of course having to extend the frame meant that the round mount for the gun cradle and shield had to be placed over the axle independent from the stabilizing legs.  That quick fix turned into a lot of greenstuff add-ons, which can be seen here before being sanded down.  You can see the magnetization as well underneath the gun mount for the autocannon.  I chose to not magnetize the mounting of the gun shield into the wheeled chassis as I felt that would be too many magnets in a small space and didn't want to mess with success! (i.e. the fact that the autocannon still fit the gun cradle and shield frame!

Autocannon assembled

   Now for the "Missile Launcher". What Missile Launcher, you ask?  There isn't one of those in the Eisenkern Heavy Weapons kit!  Okay, so I really didn't have a need under the 40K rules for their quad MG-42, so I figured why not make it a missile-launching emplacement.  With plenty of the Panzerfaust-like weapons from the squad boxed kit, I figured I had the makings of a new heavy weapon mod.  With the ability to take Flakk missiles for an extra 10 points, I realized I needed to have some sort of indicator that a specific launcher had anti-air capability.  The sensor dome from the mortar part of the kit made a perfect anti-air sensor mod for such a purpose!  Here is the completed system with and without the sensor dome.

All in all, I think they turned out decent and definitely MORE "2-man-portable than before.  When I get these completed and based, I'll consider buying a second set so I can build versions of each of these that are "in transit" as some of the Forge World IG Heavy Weapons teams are modeled as being.  But that is the subject of another post...