Friday, December 31, 2010

Alas, poor Rhino

How many ways can you mis-construct a Rhino? I think the guy who made this considered the instructions to be a threat to his creativity...

I guess I can't complain too much because I picked this one up on Ebay for a few quid, but the list includes doors and hatches fitted inside out, sprue left attached to parts so the hull roof didn't fit, tracks put on wrongly, and one track unit fitted at about 10° to the hull. I thought about turning it into a terrain piece, but eventually decided to try to rescue it.

Given the amount of chopping I had to do (including a quarter of the hull floor to bring the sides back square), I decided I might as well go a step further and convert it to a Mk I Rhino, complete with round side doors and a flat front with twin panels. So here is the 'after bringing back to square but before changing the doors' picture - more to follow over the next couple of days.


And a little later in the day... 

I have removed and replaced the upper doors with a plain version, similar to that on the first Rhino kit, complete with handles from plastic rod. I am considering whether to build a 'climbing frame' in the style of the original.


I have also made blanking plates for the hull sides; they're just propped in place at the moment. I visited WHSmiths for a pair of compasses this afternoon, so I can cut round doors as well. I am considering whether it's worth making just one plate with doors and hinges, and then casting several from resin. If anyone is interested, let me know and we could share costs.

2 comments:

The Independent Characters said...

My favorite is the misplaced headlights!

This would have just become a piece of terrain in my collection.

Colin Hagreen said...

Wow - a comment from podcasting royalty!

Seruoisly though, I probably should have stuck with the 'terrain' idea. But having started it, I'm gonna finish it. I have looked at the Chapterhouse conversion a couple of times, but always backed off when I thought about it - it costs about the same as the kit itself, with shipping...