Horus Heresy: Sicaran Battle Tank Arrives!

Both infantry and armoured reinforcements arrived this morning and just in the nick of time, as I really need a (short) break from infantry to prevent a long burnout. I have had my eyes on the Sicaran Battle Tank since release, but it was only with the resurrection of my Iron Hands army that I decided to take the plunge and drop some coin. Not only does this vehicle have a great aesthetic to it, but it also has a fantastic build quality that took me completely by surprise.

The first thing that is apparent, is the lack of separate track links. I am big fan of this as it stops all sorts of problems such as broken or mis-aligned tracks, but the biggest bonus? It is so much easier to paint! As I learnt with my Proteus Land Raider build, having the tracks as separate pieces creates a lot of problems if you pre-build, as it leaves areas of resin which can't be reached by brush or airbrush; and worse of all; is quite visible from certain viewing angles, the only recourse is to either rip the tracks off, paint and re-glue - a sizable task as I had to greenstuff broken track parts - or leave the bare areas of resin be.

Because the chassis is comprised of fewer but larger pieces of resin, there is less susceptibility to warping, so I was able to get stuck in with the building. Despite the increase in plastic technologies complicated model kits are actually an issue when faced with creating larger armies, in my opinion there needs to be a balance of finely detailed model and ease of construction in order to build impressive large forces and for me the changes in construction design; by Forge World; show a leaning towards this ideology. Of course to I will have to get my hands on more 'modern' kits to prove my point ^^

The chassis is currently only pinned into place, once I have given the kits a wash with warm water and soap, I will glue them into place before applying liquid greenstuff (and then sand) on the more rough areas - namely at the back where the huge sprue trees were connected. I will be painting the track units and chassis as three separate parts, in order to get maximum coverage of the tracks and wheels before gluing. Having dry fitted the parts, there are no major gaps to worry about once the tank is fully stuck together, so I will be able to save time, but not at the expense of losing paint coverage

This was a very fast build for me, having gotten this far i.e cleaning, pinning and washing in under two hours, even the turret build is proving to be very quick in comparison to other tank kits I have put together. At this pace I will be ready to start painting from tomorrow morning - I would like to start it tonight, but the missus gets bad coughs from the paint fumes, so I will be going back to the infantry until the morning.

So a great purchase in my eyes! I am already making plans to get a second one in my collection due to how much I am enjoying this one. I have to say that this has been a far more enjoyable kit than some of the recent GW plastics, which I have found have too many tiny plastic pieces that easily break. However all good things must come to an end (well for this evening anyways!). This Iron Hands project is really starting to shape up nicely, and more importantly has kept me consistently interested. And with such a wide variety of units nearing completion, I cannot wait to start photographing and sharing them here on the blog.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion