Old School Leman Russ Demolisher - Pressed into Cult Service!

Games Workshop first produced their plastic Leman Russ kit way back in 1994. At the time it was a major breakthrough for Guard players, and given the capricious scatter mechanics of the day, the Russ was an absolute beast on the table as battle cannon shells could bend and curve like the Matrix and blast vehicles from the side and rear with near impunity. They also started producing alternate variants of the Russ either through Imperial Armour (later Forgeworld) or through the addition of white metal parts to the standard kit. I had one of these vintage beauties lying around that had never been fully painted, so I decided to "requisition" it for the cult.

This one I'd built in ages past with a rather unusual mixed armament of the Demolisher Cannon, one Heavy Bolter, and two Plasma Cannon. As the Demolisher variant isn't in the normal Genestealer Cult codex, this will purely be a Brood Brother Astra Militarum detachment addition to the force, which is perfectly fine with me. It will give the Baneblade company!

This example has been painted in keeping with my current pattern of Soviet Green using the black and white pre-shading method. The only major addition here is the fact that I went ahead and powered up the Plasma Cannons with some blue. You'll also not the (very) old school Storm Bolter on the turret.

I also went ahead and added some rifling to the inside of the barrel of the gun. Unfortunately as this is a vintage white metal gun, it wasn't perfectly round on the inside. I think the end effect came out okay, though.

The way the tracks worked on these older kits is different than the current version of the Russ kit. These old ones have a series of roadwheels that form the frame of the track assemblies, and the tracks are installed over those. I honestly prefer the engineering on the new ones, but you can get a good result with a bit of patience!