# Mini Leman Russ Baneblade



## MadCowCrazy (Mar 19, 2009)

Update: I have decided to try and convert a Baneblade or Stormlord into a Leman Russ sized one, dont know yet if it's possible. Doing some measurements and calculations at the moment.


I was searching for alternative Leman Russ models the other day and came across this conversion. As I have too many baneblades and stormlords I got very interested. Does anyone know where this is from? A build blog or similar?
I'd like to know size comparisons to the actual Leman Russ etc etc.

Does anyone have a Baneblade, Leman Russ size comparison picture? Side by side, top down perspective?











Now how the hell do you shrink down a Baneblade to the size of a Leman Russ? The above model is still as wide as a regular Baneblade which makes it useless for regular games in my opinion. The point of a alternative model is for it to be almost the correct size.

So now to shrink this down to Russ size....


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## scscofield (May 23, 2011)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-5-Warha...=682952179445070974&pid=100028&prg=1009&rk=5&


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## MadCowCrazy (Mar 19, 2009)

Guess I can turn this into my Bane Russ build experience to see if it actually works. I will do the math and designing before I start cutting.

I took out some Leman russ pieces from my bits bathtub and a Baneblade/Stormlord side and scanned them in my flatbed to get exact measurements.









This is how I decided to do the photoshop cutting.









From doing some cutting in photoshop I came to this, from what I can tell this is the most efficient way to do it. You can do it the other way around with having the front piece have the side panel but you end up with a bit harder to cut back piece.









The bits line up almost perfectly for cutting and since the 1 part that needs cutting is the exact same as the left bit you can probably cut it without leaving too big a mark.

















This is what you end up with.









This is what the pieces look like side by side, as you can see they are almost identical in size. Once you add tracks the Baneruss will be longer but as that makes it a bit bigger (easier to hit) I dont think your opponent would mind half an inch or so.









Next step will be to compare the main hull and threads, there will have to be some mayor cutting done to these parts to shrink it down to Russ width, if this can be done I believe it's possible to make a Bane Russ that's actually comparable in size to the normal Russ.


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## SGMAlice (Aug 13, 2010)

An interesting experiment. Cutting the tracks down is one thing but what about the Mid-Chassis Sections (Main Body)? I would think that would be somewhat more difficult.

In any case, i look forward to seeing what you do with this 

Alice


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## MadCowCrazy (Mar 19, 2009)

SGMAlice said:


> An interesting experiment. Cutting the tracks down is one thing but what about the Mid-Chassis Sections (Main Body)? I would think that would be somewhat more difficult.
> 
> In any case, i look forward to seeing what you do with this
> 
> Alice


Exactly 
I just compared one of my built baneblades with a semi built russ and the size difference is *HUGE*. I think the stormlord might be a better chassi to use, I have 13 of those (compared to 9 baneblades) so have a bit more wiggle room. If possible I'd like to create a squadron of 3.

The main problem isn't the hull, it's the track guards and tracks. I might have to make some custom ones and will probably need some alternative track wheels. I remember bitsandkits selling some of those, will have a look.


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## Dicrel Seijin (Apr 2, 2011)

When I first saw the OP, I did not understand the intention. Having seen more posts, I find myself very interested in this project. (I don't have Baneblades to convert into LR, but a future project is/are Looted Wagons.)


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## Iron Angel (Aug 2, 2009)

Good luck with your Lemonblade. Keep us posted!


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## lockeF (Feb 18, 2011)

I too did not understand the intention at fist... I guess its hard for me to imagine you would have like 900 dollars worth of IG tanks just lying around while not having enough leman russ's. I understand the goal and think it will look good once it's done... just seems like a very different project to say the least.


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

Wouldnt it be easier to just take your unwanted super heavies to your local GW and swap them for leman russ kits, i can tell you that the conversion really isnt worth the effort, I would be even willing to swap them for you if you had no joy at GW. 
To get a tank with a similar size and profile to a russ from a bane blade your going to need to cut almost everything, the tracks for example are twice as wide on the russ, plus the wheels inside the tracks will need altering etc etc etc. It would be quicker to scratch build them i think. 

PM me if you want to talk about a trade.


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## MadCowCrazy (Mar 19, 2009)

lockeF said:


> I too did not understand the intention at fist... I guess its hard for me to imagine you would have like 900 dollars worth of IG tanks just lying around while not having enough leman russ's. I understand the goal and think it will look good once it's done... just seems like a very different project to say the least.


I found 2 semi built Leman Russes yesterday and another still in bits though I didn't see the hull. I have a bit too much, didn't even know I had some semi built one. I guess I could make a bitsbox video showing you guys how many boxes of bitz I actually have :crazy:



bitsandkits said:


> Wouldnt it be easier to just take your unwanted super heavies to your local GW and swap them for leman russ kits, i can tell you that the conversion really isnt worth the effort, I would be even willing to swap them for you if you had no joy at GW.
> To get a tank with a similar size and profile to a russ from a bane blade your going to need to cut almost everything, the tracks for example are twice as wide on the russ, plus the wheels inside the tracks will need altering etc etc etc. It would be quicker to scratch build them i think.
> 
> PM me if you want to talk about a trade.


None of my kits are in sealed boxes, it's all in small ziplock bags as I got everyone from Ebay on auction. I'm kinda addicted to buying bits spending about £100-200 a month on Ebay on bits alone.

As I plan on turning some of the stormlord hulls into Rhinos for my Sisters of Battle this might be a good experiment.


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

well in that case matey, i say crack on and get cutting, though i have to admit it seems lke false economy spending that much on random bits when you infact need full tanks, dont get me wrong im all for Bitz addicts blowing money on bits, but not when its a fellow heretic who obviously needs some time in bitz rehab.



_*makes mental note to start selling bitz on ebay _


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## MadCowCrazy (Mar 19, 2009)

I actually try to buy whole kits in bits form, bits sellers on ebay usually have the whole kit split into separate auctions. The problem for me is that when I see a baneblade hull for $3 and sides for $5 I bid. I ended up putting bids on things I did not even need because it was so cheap (or so it would seem, when you add it all together it might not be as cheap as you first though). I basically put a very low bid, if I won I won, if I didn't I didn't care as I actually didn't need the bits. This is how I ended up with a bit too much stuff (and that's putting it mildly).

I dont think you can make that much money on Ebay auctions, though it depends on the actual bit. As a bits seller I'm sure you know that some bits are in HIGH demand while others never sell. Same with Ebay, some bits sell for nothing or not at all while others make up for it by selling for really high prices. Most Ebay stores usually have Buy it now options for the same bits they have on auction and I've seen people bid allot more than the BIN price loads of times, heck I've even done this as I haven't been paying attention.

From what I can tell the bits sellers usually split up a kit into enough bits so that if the whole thing sells they at least get back what they paid for the kit. If people bid more they make a small profit.


I'm really starting to doubt if this project is actually doable, at least with the bits from the kits. I might need to make plasticard sides as just the thickness of the baneblade ones are more than the actual tracks on a Leman.

The BB tracks are 2.5 times as wide as the LR ones, I have considered cutting them but it'd be such a waste imo.

I have noticed many design elements of the BB and LR are very similar, turn the LR hull around and you basically have the front of the BB side hull.

Stormlord might be a much better hull for this project.

We know the side can be shrunk down pretty easily, the width on the other hand will be a bigger problem...


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