30mm scale HISS tank (for wargaming)

[rogue_artist]

Ive spent about 14 hours on this so far. I have been scratch building by hand a HISS tank to the scale of 25 - 30mm. For use on tabletop war gaming like Warhammer 40K.

Here are some picks of it so far. It is nearing the half-way point.













The only thing Im not going to hand build are the treads and wheels. Im going to just use a model kit or some other source.

Im not sure if I will make the canopy clear and sculpt a driver, or if I will make it opaque and just paint it to look like glass or mirror it. Im kind of leaning toward the mirrored/chrome idea for the canopy.

The turret is another I will cross when I come to it. Do I want to make it traverse-able? Guns elevate? I dunno. Lets see how long Ive spent on it when I get there.

Any thoughts or comments?

-Banditt

[wild weasel tank buster]

Looking cool! Are you scribing the panel lines, or popping the panels to the basic structure? I would Alclad chrome the glass if you have an airbrush. I'm also not familiar with gaming, but I build 1/35th tanks. If this is close enough in scale, it would be cool if you used friul white metal workable track pieces(maybe T-34 tracks and Mig productions or other aftermarket roadwheels). It would be cool if you had a viper standing on the back of it hitching a ride. Just some of the possibilites.

[rogue_artist]

Thanks Wild Weasel. The panel lines are made the hard way. I actually cut out each individual panel with an exacto knife and glue them to the base skin.

Its sad, Ive run an art studio for 12 years and have never used an airbrush Just one of those expenses I never indulged in. So I dont know what Alclad chrome is but now I want to do it lol

I was thinking the 1/35th treads as well. There is a fellow who makes custom tracks for super-heavy tanks that made a set that look *really* close to the HISS treads that Im considering going with. He has a full wheel assembly set as well that looks dead-on. If his set up is too expensive I might just get a replacement T34 set or some other thing. Im on a low budget.

Im not too worried about having fully working tracks. This is pretty small and light weight. If I were customing a 3.75" figure scale HISS, I would do that. But this little guy is only about half the size of the original HISS toy vehicle for normal JOE figures. The expense factor is outweighing the cool factor on that

Im going to have a COBRA trooper in the turret for sure. I was considering having at least one figure hitching a ride on the back. Maybe try to replicate the box artwork a little bit.

Ive been considering sculpting minis of Cobra troops as well. COBRA soldiers and officers as your standard line troops and Vipers as the heavy assault troopers. Ive been kicking around the idea of making a Stinger 4WD, Trouble Bubble, FANG copter or CLAW glider. The trouble bubble might be problematic because of the clear canopy and rounded fuselage. The rest are nice and easy right-angled shapes.

In the end Im hoping to sport a nice little strike force I can use for the fun of it. The Warhammer 40K tabletop game as the army "Imperial Guard" which people love customs and converting models. I can put my COBRA force theme to that without much trouble.

But again thats the grand scheme of things and I dont have much free time. Ive enlisted in the Army and over the next four years Ill only get to work on this stuff off and on sporadically. So we'll see what I can come up with.

[wild weasel tank buster]

these are the roadwheels the hiss uses exactly: Verlinden 1:35 T55/T62 Damaged Roadwheels, item #1746 | eBay

And I would personally use these tracks(they may need to be worked on to fit the t-55/62 roadwheels)
:Bronco AB3531 1/35 Matilda 2 T.D.5910 Type Track Link | eBay


Welcome To Alclad II Home

Thanks Wild Weasel. The panel lines are made the hard way. I actually cut out each individual panel with an exacto knife and glue them to the base skin.

Its sad, Ive run an art studio for 12 years and have never used an airbrush Just one of those expenses I never indulged in. So I dont know what Alclad chrome is but now I want to do it lol

I was thinking the 1/35th treads as well. There is a fellow who makes custom tracks for super-heavy tanks that made a set that look *really* close to the HISS treads that Im considering going with. He has a full wheel assembly set as well that looks dead-on. If his set up is too expensive I might just get a replacement T34 set or some other thing. Im on a low budget.

Im not too worried about having fully working tracks. This is pretty small and light weight. If I were customing a 3.75" figure scale HISS, I would do that. But this little guy is only about half the size of the original HISS toy vehicle for normal JOE figures. The expense factor is outweighing the cool factor on that

Im going to have a COBRA trooper in the turret for sure. I was considering having at least one figure hitching a ride on the back. Maybe try to replicate the box artwork a little bit.

Ive been considering sculpting minis of Cobra troops as well. COBRA soldiers and officers as your standard line troops and Vipers as the heavy assault troopers. Ive been kicking around the idea of making a Stinger 4WD, Trouble Bubble, FANG copter or CLAW glider. The trouble bubble might be problematic because of the clear canopy and rounded fuselage. The rest are nice and easy right-angled shapes.

In the end Im hoping to sport a nice little strike force I can use for the fun of it. The Warhammer 40K tabletop game as the army "Imperial Guard" which people love customs and converting models. I can put my COBRA force theme to that without much trouble.

But again thats the grand scheme of things and I dont have much free time. Ive enlisted in the Army and over the next four years Ill only get to work on this stuff off and on sporadically. So we'll see what I can come up with.

[rogue_artist]

Very cool! Thank you for those links Wild Weasel

[Net-Viper X]

Oh man, that is totally awesome, and I am so glad to see someone actually did it!! For the window on that Hiss I would definately suggest vaccuum forming a clear window so you can put a little Hiss Driver in there, you wouldnt want to miss a chance to use him, hes too cool a figure to not be used. I cant wait to see the thing complete, thats gonna look so awesome tearing up the battlefields of the 41st millenium. As a Imperial Guard vehicle what are you going to use to represent it? Is it going to be a Hellhound or Leman Russ without sponsons, or did you make some house rules for it?

Over the years I have made several complete Cobra army lists for Warhammer 40k, and even went so far as to sculpt a multi-part Viper just like the plastic Cadian troops that has seperate arms, legs, torso, and head, so they can be posed in a variety of ways, but I never got around to making any vehicles, and seeing that Hiss tank is making my mouth water big time!!!

I will run over to the shop and pick up those Viper parts and put some pics here so you can see them. I actually have a torso and head that are first pulls from the molds that I can do a rush paint job on and show you part of a finished Viper. The arms and legs I haven't made molds for yet, so I will just show pics of the original sculpted parts for that. If I ever get this whole thing finished, I planned on selling them as squads of 10, then making other troops to act as special weapons: Sludge-Viper as a Melta-gun, Incinerator as Flamer, Techno-Viper as a Tech Priest, Officer for Veteran Sergeants, Heat-Viper as missile launcher etc., but havent gotten around to it yet. Thats the problem with having dozens of projects running at once, things get shuffled so much sometimes years go by before a half finished project is completed.

[rogue_artist]

I totally know what you mean! Ive got my hands so full its hard to keep everything situated! LOL

I would love to see pics of your sculpts! Ive only done a few successful 25mm miniature figure sculpts and Im out of practice. But I went and got some grey stuff, so having some proper epoxy clay helps. Though the grey is a bit harder than Im comfortable with. I need to get some green.

[Net-Viper X]

Heres the Viper Warhammer miniature I have been working on. The painted demo Viper is just a head and torso since I havent had time to finish making molds for the other parts, I placed him next to a Space Marine to show scale. Below them are some more heads and torsos, and to the right are the original hard copies of the arms, head, and torso.

The originals are made from Kneadatite "green stuff" putty, though most of it was actually the white and gray variety of the same brand. The final parts where made from two part resin and cast in molds made of silicone rubber. The legs I have for the moment are just modified Jungle Fighter legs so I didnt bother to picture them. The actual legs will be a newly sculped design when I get around to them.



EDIT: I updated the pic with some better angles along the bottom.

[rogue_artist]

WELL DONE!! I like him a lot Once I get my HISS done, maybe we should do some trading

[Net-Viper X]

WELL DONE!! I like him a lot Once I get my HISS done, maybe we should do some trading

Thanks! I wouldnt be opposed to letting go of some Vipers once I get the casting into full swing. This project got shelved when I ran out of mold making rubber and then casting plastic, and couldnt find a good deal on any. I finally located some for a decent price, now Im just waiting on a shipping quote and hopefully things will be back in gear soon.

I added an updated picture to the last post with some better angles of the painted Viper torso.