Sicaran battle Tank - impressions and magnetising

Hi guys,

One of the fruits of my recent commission labours is this Sicaran battle tank. I fell in love with the model as soon as I saw it and the rules are fittingly brutal given its predator (no pun intended) nature. The accelerator autocannon makes it deadly and even suitable vs airborne targets. As my whitescars only has one form of AA and the Sicaran is a fast tank, it made sense for them to inherit it.

Assembling the main hull was relatively easy due to the quality of the cast and the fact it only came in 6 pieces. The guns were similarly easy but came in a lot more pieces. I sprayed it white and am now in the process of adding darker details, shading and ultimately weathering. Overall a quality kit that I would recommend to everyone.

As with most of my tank I magnetised the Sicaran also. The turret was done as an afterthought and involved cutting up an old vallejo paint pot and putting it upside down in the turret before adding a large magnet (see scale picture) to the upturned pot and the underside of the turret.

I also added the same magnets to the sponson mounts making it easier to represent a bare-bones or damaged sicaran.

The sponson guns were a bit trickier as they are rather complex. I started by cutting off all the attachment points from the underneath cables and the targetters as these would be either glued or replaced by magnets. Widening the holes in both the guns and the mounts slightly with a hobby drill, I added medium magnets which fit snugly in each. This allowed the guns to be interchanged freely. Now that the magnets on the mounts were in place, I glued the targetter to the top. This means it cannot be rotated freely with the guns but something had to give.

To attach the cables to the bottom, I simply drilled a magnet into the centre which was then the right polarity to attach to the magnet already in the mount. The other end of the cable pops snugly into the hole without the need for a magnet.

Lastly, the lascannons have a second cable which needs freedom of movement from rotation of the gun and also is at 90 degrees from the other cable. I simply popped a small rod magnet into the mount and square fixing of the cable and let the other end just sit in place in the other cable mount, therefore allowing it freedom of movement.

These things might sound like nonsense but should make sense with the pictures and model in front of you. CHeers.