Imperial Guard Lascannon Battery

As I have been neglecting posting my progress on my projects I thought that I should probably post something other than news/rumors today. After spending the last week commission and eBay painting I fancied a change and so started work on my conversions again. So today I have decided to share my recent work on my WW1 Imperial Guard.

As I didn’t quite fancy filing down the boots of any more guardsmen just yet I decided to begin work on a lascannon battery. As with my autocannon I decided to go for a gun carriage rather than the standard tripod, this was once again taken from the 1:72 German field wagon kit. As the lascannon is larger than the autocannon I chose the rear axle of the wagon as it was a lot beefier. I bent the wagons floor to form a rear foot and use another piece from the 1:72 kit for strength and detailing.   I attached the power pack directly to the lascannon itself as I wanted it to be self-contained, this also had the effect of making the cannon look a lot larger and more imposing. Using copper wire I then ran a few cables from the power pack to the rear of the cannon to give it that experimental technology look.

I then added a ‘Tesla Coil’ to the top of power pack, this was actually a bracelet fastener I bought from a craft store. The blast shield was crafted from a piece of plasticard, I bent the lower section to break up the otherwise bland façade. I then added detailing in the way of plastic rod cut down for rivets and a view port.

It took me nearly two hours to build the prototype cannon. Although most of this time was spent trying out different bits and trying to decide on how to assemble it. Once I had already built one, the second cannon only took about half an hour to complete as no decision making was required.

I’m very pleased with how the lascannons turned out, I think I have remained true to the WW1 theme without compromising on the sci-fi element.  I especially like how large they are as it reflects just how powerful a weapon the lascannon is. Once I have built the final cannon and the bases I will probably be painting these next. I’ll be posting some more pictures once this is done so keep checking back.