Space Marine Rhino Chassis part 3

Welcome back everyone for the final part in the 3 part Rhino scratch built tutorial.  When this is finished you will be able to see how we plan to make this a completely modular vehicle which can be easily changed to weapon load outs that represent Razorbacks and Predators (which will be for future tutorials).  This is where we left off in Tutorial 2-

Materials:
Tank bits:  Tank wheels (3/4", 19.050mm) OR posterboard, tank tread (3/8" wide, 9.525mm) OR plasticard, top hatches
Stick pins
1/16" (1.588mm) x 1/32" (.74mm) Neodymium Magnets
Plasticard (For Sale signs)
2 part Resin (optional)

Tools:
Pin Vice
1/16" drill bit
Hobby Knife
Sand paper
InstaMold (optional)

Next we will work on the wheels for our Rhino.  For the more detailed wheels, take a GW Rhino wheel rim piece and carefully trim the top until it can sit in the wheel well with about 5/16" (7.938mm) exposed.  Take your InstaMold and form around the detailed half of the wheel rim.  Duplicate the wheel rim 20 times, keeping in mind you only need each rim to be 3/16" (4.762) wide (the width of the open wheel well).

Taking the two halves, glue them back to back so the straight top parts are even.  Do this for the other 9 sets and begin by placing one directly in the center of the wheel well on either side.  At the front angle and back angle, place yet another set of wheels.  Evenly space the rest as it appears in the image below.

If you aren't using the resin/InstaMold, you can make your wheels with 3/4" (19.05mm) circles cut from the posterboard.  Cut 20 out, split into pairs, and as above trim the tops to allow for about 5/16" (7.938mm) to be exposed at the bottom of the tank.  Place these as suggested above.

Now that the wheels have been placed, it's time to add our side doors.  If you haven't cut out the doors found in the template here, do so now.  Sand the edges down slightly to remove the hobby knife bumps and place on the side of the tank directly centered between the two exhaust pieces.  Using your pin vice, drill two holes 3/8" (9.525mm) from the top and sides just enough to make a dent into the side of the tank.  Place your magnets into the side of the tank and the doors.

Next, cut out the top door hatches from the same template if you haven't already.  Again, sand the edges down a little to remove where the hobby knife caused the plastic to raise.  Measure 1/2" (12.7mm) each of the straight sides to determine where to drill with the pin vice.  Do the same with the other hatch.

Place the doors on the top of the tank and line up the edge 5/8" (15.875mm)  from the rear of the tank.  Using the holes you already created, drill slightly into the tank through each of the 4 holes.  Add your magnets in the same fashion as you did for the side doors.

Taking your tank tread bit, remove the bumps from the bottom section and make a mold of the tank tread using your InstaMold.  Pour the 2 part resin into the mold and allow it to cure.

Rubber mold I had already made previously

After it cures but is still a little soft, remove the tank tread and begin by dabbing glue on the center wheel and the two wheels that go to the back.  Trim any excess quickly and starting in the center drape the piece across the tank wheels, carefully curving the back half up to the top of the wheel.  Cut the excess tank tread to allow for the rest to be tucked nicely into the opening just above the front wheel.

After the tank tread cures fully, repeat this process with the remaining 3 sections where the tank treads go.  After these all cure, you may remove any side flash from the tank treads with a hobby knife.  Alternatively, you may cut a long strip of plasticard which is 3/8" (9.525mm) wide.  Score (not cut through) along the strip every 1/4" (6.35mm) on one side and place onto the wheels so the scored side is showing.  Bend the plasticard so that it forms around the front wheel up into the wheel well all the way back to the rear wheel.

With your pin vice, Drill holes in all the places where there are rivets showing in the images below.  After completing this, cut the stick pins so there is just the head and a little bit of pin left.  Safely discard the other half or keep somewhere safe to use for pinning other models.  Glue the pins into the holes and your rivets will be completed.

Either duplicate the top hatches using InstaMold and resin or find these bits from another source (as they are super hard to duplicate and look good doing so).  Add these to the top of the tank so they line up with the front view ports.

For a finishing touch, take a stick pin and place it at the rear corner of the tank to represent an antenna.  Remove the side doors and place a hole direction between the magnets on the tank's side using your pin vice.  At the top, do the same directly between the 2 sets of magnets.  This won't make much sense now, but in future tutorials it will allow for adding side sponsons and weapon load outs above to convert into Predators and Razorbacks.

Well, that finishes up the SB40k Rhino tutorial.  As always, if something doesn't seem to be adding up or seems off, leave a comment below and I'll do my best to explain or fix the error (which does happen, of course).  Good luck with your scratch building and for the next conversion I'll be looking at adding some interesting bits to our little tank!