Constructing the Legion Deimos Pattern Rhino

I pre-ordered the Horus Heresy Deimos Pattern Rhino and having picked it from my local FLGS I did think, would I leave it on the shelf for a few months (or years) before I started on it. Well I even surprised myself and actually started it a day or so after picking it up.

The model has many more parts and is a more detailed kit than the original plastic Rhino kit that came out in the 1980s.

It does go together quite easily, though I found some parts challenging.

I did think the rear door ramp was hard to attach. Also ensuring there are no gaps with the top superstructure was a bit of a challenge.

I decided not to paint the interior, though I am tempted to get another kit and do the interior on that one.

I added the final parts to the model.

I went with a simplistic version, single bolters.

I have left the tracks off and will be painting those separately.

The next stage will be a white undercoat.

What kind of Legion Deimos Pattern Rhino?

Having pre-ordered the Horus Heresy Deimos Pattern Rhino though I don’t pick it up until next week I have been thinking about how to paint it.

When I ordered it I did think initially about following the paint scheme on my other Imperial armoured vehicles, which is a desert brown colour.

Reflecting on my purchase I did think if I should follow one of the original Rhino colour schemes. Or even paint it as an Imperial Guard Rhino.

Then I thought about going or legit on the fluff and actually paint it as a Legion Rhino, if so which Legion? Well I do like the Imperial Fists colour scheme (as seen here on this Golden Demon winning entry of the “modern” Rhino).

Decisions, decisions.

 

Pre-ordered the Plastic Deimos Pattern Rhino

I was pleased to see that one of the new Horus Heresy released announced at Warhammer Fest today was the Plastic Deimos-pattern Rhino.

I was pleased to see one of the new Horus Heresy releases announced at Warhammer Fest was the Plastic Deimos Pattern Rhino. So when it was available today for pre-order I clicked through and ordered the kit from my local FLGS.

Looking at the sprues (on the GW site) there are a lot of parts, a lot more parts than when the original plastic Rhino kit came out in the 1980s.

I like the kit and retro yet modern look they have achieved with the kit. Well Forge World did do that ten years ago… This is of course a plastic version of that Forge World resin and plastic hybrid kit.

I did think about ordering the big £180 Age of Darkness boxed set, but decided I would probably never paint all that plastic.

 

 

Plastic Deimos Pattern Rhino

I was pleased to see that one of the new Horus Heresy releases announced at Warhammer Fest today was the Plastic Deimos Pattern Rhino.

Hot on the heels of the RTB01-esque Mark VI Space Marines comes the classic look of the Deimos Pattern Rhino. It will be easier than ever before to roll out a fully mechanised army for Warhammer: The Horus Heresy.

I like the kit and retro yet modern look they have achieved with the kit. Well Forge World did do that ten years ago… This is of course a plastic version of that Forge World resin kit.

This release of the new plastic kit really feels like Games Workshop going full circle. The Plastic Deimos Pattern Rhino is of course a homage to the original plastic Rhino from the 1980s, which was Games Workshop’s first tank kit for Warhammer 40000 Rogue Trader. This will be a different kind of kit though.

Of course that kit when released the fluff allowed the Rhino to be used by the Imperial Guard. You can see this in this camouflage schemes for the then plastic Rhino kit, which was published to help people paint their new models.

So wonder how many people will buy the plastic Deimos Pattern Rhino for their Imperial Guard armies?

Some more variations. I do like the way that (back then) Space Marine chapters used camouflage on their vehicles.

So will we see a plastic Land Raider Proteus as some point in the future? Well it wouldn’t surprise me if we did.

Designing the Land Raider Proteus and Deimos Rhino

The original Rogue Trader plastic Land Raider boxed set is a true classic, treasured by many veteran gamers, and the process of updating it to create the Proteus Land Raiders has been a suitably reverent one. To give you an insight into how we designed the various ‘old style’ Space Marine kits we’ve been working on recently, Tony Cottrell, Phil Stutcinskas and Daren Parrwood have recorded a video looking into the development of the Land Raider Proteus model.

I like how the video shows you the different sizes of the different Land Raider models now available.

I did buy the original plastic Rhino and thought (at the time) what a clever plastic model kit it was. No idea where they are now, probably languishing in the bottom of a box somewhere in the garage.

Blast from the past…

First is was the Land Raider…

Now it’s the turn of the Rhino.

Forge World have made a new version of the Rhino which echoes back the first plastic Rhino kit that Games Workshop made.

The ubiquitous Rhino Armoured Personnel Carrier is a mainstay of the Space Marine Chapters, and has been in continuous use for ten thousand years. Its true origins are more distant still, and ancient records mention the RH1-N-0 Tracked Exploration and Multi-Purpose Defence Vehicle STC accompanying explorator missions during Mankind’s Golden Age. Re-armed and re-purposed for military use, the Rhino has remained a mainstay of the Imperium’s might over the millennia since.

There are many known patterns and designs of this robust vehicle, and the MkIc Deimos Pattern Rhino is among the oldest variants, first issued en-masse to the Astartes Legions of the Great Crusade. This pattern is armed with two turret-mounted bolters, slaved to the target-logis systems of the Rhino’s machine spirit rather than the more common pintle-mounted storm bolter seen on both the earlier MkIb Mars Pattern vehicle and the later MkIIc design that became more common after the Horus Heresy.

The MkIc Deimos Pattern Rhino, designed by Daren Parrwood, is a complete resin and plastic kit, containing a standard Games Workshop Rhino kit as well as sufficient resin conversion components to construct the MkIc Deimos Pattern variant. Priced at £33.

I do quite like the kit and find it amusing that they have based it on the newer plastic kit. It certainly captures the character of the original plastic model but with a lot more detail than we had back then. Obviously a lot more expensive too, the original price of the plastic Rhino was three for £10, so now priced at £33 for one nearly ten times the cost.