# Shadowsword Conversion



## johno (Jan 3, 2007)

Just after the release of Games Workshop's Apocalypse supplement for large battles, a friend came to me and asked if I could convert one of his newly-acquired Baneblade super-heavy tanks into the Shadowsword Titan-Killer variant. The main difference between this and the Baneblade is the lack of a turret, and a HUGE main gun, which is some sort of plasma weapon. 

I was a bit daunted by the task, and was on the point of saying no, when he revealed that he had an old Armorcast resin Shadowsword hull that he thought would fit into the Baneblade chassis. Having examined it, and decided that it would fit, I agreed to give it a go, and here are the results. 

There are no real Work in Progress pictures, because I was so focused on getting it built that I didn't think to get my camera out!

_The pictures here are thumbnails: click on them to see a larger picture in a new window_

Once I'd had a good look at the pictures in the relevant Forge World Imperial Armour book, I could see that the Armorcast version did not quite match the current design, but was clearly recognisable as a Shadowsword. 

The first problem encountered was that the resin hull was a bit wider than the Baneblade chassis. Since I didn't fancy trying to shave 2mm off each side of the resin hull, I opted to add spacers to the Baneblade chassis, instead. 




Next was the glacis plate: the current Forge World design has a stepped shape, but the Armorcast version is effectively a single continuous slope. Making a stepped front hull would have required sawing off large bits of the resin hull, which I wasn't prepared to do. Annoyingly, the glacis plate was too short to reach the front of the chassis, even with most of the Baneblade front deck as an extension. So I made a new glacis plate in the continuous slope style of the Armorcast version 




Next was an engine deck. This should have been simple, but cutting around the cathedral window style details on the Baneblade turned out to be a real pain, and I ended up having to fill some gaps. Of course, the original engine hatches wouldn't fit in quite the way they were intended, and so had to be adapted. 




Here are some shots of the model with major construction complete. There are still a few small details to add, and some cleaning up to do, but the rest of the standard kit construction will be finished off by the bloke I built it for. 

  

I'm worried it may need more rivets...

johno


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## Bloodhound (Feb 8, 2007)

:shok: AHMIGAWD!!!!!!!! That's awesome. When your friend paints it, try to get some pics. Really wanna see it.


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

That's pretty awesome. I'd definately add more rivets though, considering how studded the hull is


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## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

Absolutely fantastic! That is a huge amount of work and it shows.


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## Hespithe (Dec 26, 2006)

It looks very smooth, and an excellent way to meld the two generations of superheavies together.


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## johno (Jan 3, 2007)

Thanks for the comments, guys

The whole thing added up to about 12 hours work, spread over five days - that was just the conversion, because the Baneblade's owner supplied it with the track sections already built, and then finished the rest of the build when I gave it back to him. 

A lot of the time was used up shaving a bit here and a bit there to get the resin hull to fit reasonably neatly. It took a while to figure out the best way of making the glacis plate. Cutting the side panels of the engine deck around the side pointy-arch shapes took longer than making the rest of the deck! 

I won't even mention applying rivets...

johno


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

I might be stealing that idea for _TitanJaegr II_. Looks great! Kind of a "Old and Busted" meets "New Hotness."

-Dirge


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## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

Very nice job on this Johno,
bet your friend is well chuffed with it.

Get him to post some pictures when he has the paint on as i would love to see the final piece.

Oh and i understand your rivet pain as i have scratch built a fair few Ork vehicles.


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## darklightknight448 (Nov 9, 2007)

Cool, very cool. My rating:
8.6/10 :grin:


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## johno (Jan 3, 2007)

Greetings all:

Thanks for the nice comments: here's a small update

_The pictures are thumbnails: click on them for larger pictures in a new window_

Here are some pictures of the early stages of painting. 

The Shadowsword and its companion Baneblade have been primed white and then given a basecoat of the sand/khaki that is the main colour of their camouflage scheme. 

  


  


johno


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## FrozenOrb (Dec 23, 2006)

Looking good johno. It's nice seeing the various miniatures side by side like that to show the sheer size of these bad boys.


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## Ordo Xeno Commander (Jan 17, 2007)

wow, thats looks amazing. now i want one!


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## zenfarr (Nov 25, 2007)

Looks bitchin


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## Ezekial Lightning (Oct 30, 2007)

Awesome i want one it should certainly kill some titans.


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## WarEagle (Dec 22, 2006)

sweet conversion


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## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

Damn nice. Can't wait to see the final product.


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## johno (Jan 3, 2007)

Thanks for the comments, guys.

Both the Baneblade and the Shadowsword have to be ready for our club Christmas game on the 16th December, so I hope to have pictures of them completely painted before then.

The Russ and Basilisk in the pictures show the eventual camouflage scheme, which he uses for all his vehicles.

johno


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## Logain_85 (Nov 27, 2007)

good conversion, nice work


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## craigus (Oct 4, 2007)

EEEP i am scared:shok:


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## casanova (Nov 1, 2007)

that is absoulotly amazing well done it looks great and when u finish it completely
itll looki fricking gorgeus


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