Warhammer 40,000 – Tank Wrecks Pt 2

After stripping the Leman Russ in the last article, it was time for the next step.

I needed inspiration for a tank wreck, and gathering ideas wasn’t all that easy. Since Warhammer tanks are much closer to World War II-era vehicles than to modern combat tanks, I looked for inspiration there. That led me to a Panzer IV wreck in Normandy and a Sherman wreck, this one was used in Lebanon in the 1980s, but in terms of design it is still very much a 1940s tank.

The question was how to transfer this kind of damage onto the Leman Russ while still keeping it retro. I found a great reference on DakkaDakka by NeoxRonin: an excellent burned-out wreck. As you can see when comparing it to the model from the last article, the version is much more modernized and a little too grimdark for the colourful tables of retrohammer but it is still an amazing paint job and conversion. He also used Death Korps trench rails and air filters on the model, along with replacing the sprocket and wheels with parts from a model kit.

I found the pose inspiring and wanted to recreate part of it. I marked the area I wanted to remove and used my hobby saw to cut it out. Obviously, this would have been easier with an unbuilt kit, but we have to work with what we have.

Since we are using the 1994 core model of the Leman Russ, we still have individual wheels instead of just combined track sections. I decided not to cut the wheels out and keep them as spare bits, as they may come in handy for further detailing of the wreck.

Now we have an angled tank hull that looks as if it has dug itself into the ground. We could leave it like this, or add the turret. I did a quick mock-up, but I felt the tank would look more defeated if the cannon were lowered.

To achieve this, I cut away a bit of the plastic on the turret base, since the bottom plate of the turret limits its movement and prevents the barrel from lowering further. That allowed me to angle the battle cannon downward even more.

I wanted to create a lascannon malfunction, so I heated the plastic and warped the barrel, while also removing the front track section. One advantage of the older kit is that it has more of the individual track links instead of larger combined sections. I cut into the plastic track links so I could move them more freely and have them roll off or shift away from the wheels.

There are a few more parts that can be added to the tank. I considered blowing out the engine cover and recreating the engine, like I did with my SolAux Valdor, but I took the easier route and simply bent the cover. I did the same with the rear compartment: I bent the hatch and added some scratches.

Now for the turret. The hatch that came attached to the turret was the modern variant from the 2003 sprue, so I replaced it with a classic part. The Leman Russ had two hatch options: a single-piece hatch that opened toward the rear, and a two-part split hatch. Since I had more spares of the latter, I used that one and added it to the turret.

I had a few other options, such as adding a dead tank commander or mounting the storm bolter, but I thought that would be too much. I also wanted to keep the option of simply adding a smoke marker into the turret.

This is the current state of the Leman Russ wreck, with damaged parts all over the model. If this were for 3rd edition onward, I would add bullet holes or heavier weapon impacts, but strong weathering was not used all that often in this era.

The next steps will be adding a base, including earthworks to support the idea of a half-sunken tank, and deciding on a paint scheme.