Aww, its a 'Cute' King Tiger!

o/

I first saw this model on Inso's World where he's been converting them into Leman Russes of various types. Its adorable and I wanted one to use as a Vanquisher for my 30k Outremar Militia forces. 

Even with shipping, this clocked in at less than 1/3 the price of a Leman Russ!

Its debatable as to whether or not any modifications would be required to 40k it up, though I'm still considering it. Regardless, I'll just downgrade the hull mounted heavy bolter to a heavy stubber, which is already the go-to anti-infantry weapon of my Outremar army. 

That or I could use it for Bolt Action. True, I don't have a Bolt Action anymore...however Tiger II's start at the 500 point mark, which is what my old BA army maxed out at! Barring getting lucky with the one-shot airstrike/artillery barrage, that army would have been all but helpless were a Tiger II to appear across the table from it (epitomizing the Tiger Fear rule).

Given the overlapping running gear, I opted to paint-as-I-go with this tank and thus far, the road wheels and tracks are as far along as I've gotten. Indeed, by going for the multi-colored wheels I made life rather difficult for myself as I had to go all the way up thru the dirtying up phase for them, despite the fact that most of the tank is still on the sprue!

This was far more tedious than it looks...

In hindsight, I've really been kinda spoiled by GW designed tanks, as virtually all of their tanks' running gear is concealed from both view and the paint brush! Next up will be camouflaging the top hull and fenders before attaching it, as I don't want to get paint all over the finished treads (and sloppy as I am, that would happen!). Also, this is a snap-fit kit, so getting glue all over the paint isn't a concern.

Oops. I guess there should have been one more green wheel instead of a reddish one.

There are several other tanks available in this series, and I'm all but certain that I'll eventually get at least one Sherman to use as a grot tank. I've already seen a few good examples around the ol' interwebz used for that purpose and they really do make for a good proxy!

Its just about the right size too!