Deodorant Gravtank

Back in the ’80s, Rogue Trader magazine featured a gravtank made from a used-up deodorant, a plastic spoon, and some bits (Fig.1). The first time I heard of it I knew it was something I wanted to make. It’s the perfect step into kitbashing.

Fig.1 Rogue Trader gravtank

My idea of this vehicle was a piece of ancient technology. The Rogue Trader gravtank is a piece of Warhammer history from before my time, and so would this gravtank be an ancient artefact from the early days of the Empire. It’s dug up somewhere in the desert of a long-forgotten planet and made operational. I wanted to try some “distressing” from the Nightshift modeler, Martin Kovac [1], and this seemed a perfect opportunity for heavier weathering. Please subscribe to the man, his tutorials are gold. The paint scheme was inspired by u/Twisted-Nightmare’s transport walker on reddit [2].

Fig.2 u/Twisted-Nightmare’s transport walker

After waiting until my Old Spice was up, I removed all the residue, labels, and cleaned it thoroughly. The plastic was quite shiny, and I was worried the paint wouldn’t stick. So, I sanded it with some 800-grid sandpaper. Assembly was done with greenstuff, some bits I had lying around, and wings made from styrene (which later broke off).

Now, during the painting, I used masking tape to get the stripe right and while removing it, I pulled all the paint off with it, down to the plastic. I decided to strip it in multi-purpose cleaner and shelved it, as I was also moving to a new place. It was then that the wings came off.

Here is how it was painted properly. I started with a matt coat right onto the plastic for some more texture, followed up by a darker red base with an airbrush, then another matt coat. Following Martin’s tutorial, I applied chipping medium through an airbrush and let it dry. On top, the lighter red was applied by airbrush and after letting it dry it was chipped away with a rough, wet brush. All was locked in place by another matt coat. Now the masking tape was put on, and a layer of chipping medium applied where the black stripe would go. After it dried, the stripe was applied. Then came the moment of truth as I pulled the tape away. It worked! Locking in place every layer of paint with a matt coat was worth it. The tape came clean off. Afterwards the black stripe was chipped using the same technique as earlier. The rest of the model was painted by brush using the standard techniques found on WarhammerTV.

Here it is: the Archeo-tech vehicle: D.E.O. speeder

Fig.3 Speeder front

Fig.4 Backplate

Fig.5 Speeder back

Fig.6 Speeder with retinue