Predator - Converted

Wow, talk about get sucked into a project - I was meaning to post every week until this predator. Every single change I made created another problem that needed modification.

This is my first big build, and my first attempt to make anything substantial that needs to stand up to tabletop viewing and it was both frustrating and time consuming. However using the forgeworld renegade etched brass was the highlight for me, a small sprue packed with amazing pieces.
Ultimately I have managed to turn a tank i dislike (the predator just feels like a fat box with a tiny gun on it), into a tank I like, but don't love.

On the front I decided to have two magnetized panels that could be swapped out for various pieces of wargear, such as dirge casters and combi meltas. The spikes on the front came with the forge world spaced armor, however I had no idea where I was supposed to put them so i decided on the front, where I will later weave razor wire between them.

Up top I needed to move the turret forward because with the side skirting on the gun it could no longer fully rotate - a problem I needed to fix.

As I mentioned at the beginning - every change created a new one. After moving the turret forward it suddenly started getting stuck on the hatches at the front. So I had to raise it up to avoid that. I also cut the panel in half to keep the vent detailing visible at the back.

For the back of the predator I decided to remove the door studs (why would a predator have a rear hatch when the internals are supposedly very different from a rhino). I went for a more traditional tank approach, and put a spare armor panel from a stormblade kit on it, finished with a tow bar I made from various parts on the chaos spikey sprue.

The side skirts on the turret were made based on the ones used on real world tanks, specifically the Panzer IV. I decided to greenstuff welding lines connecting the skirts with the turret, and add a few little plasticard tubes to make it look like the havok launchers had some cabling connecting them to the turret. After these pictures were taken, I did some work with files and liquid greenstuff to fix up imperfections and even them out, and overall I am pretty happy with the result. I also am happy with my simple co-axial combi bolter, although I wish my greenstuff work was smoother.

The havok launchers also recieved the greenstuff treatment to fix the holes and neaten out the join between plastic and plasticard.

Thanks for reading! As usual any feedback would be great, and next week I aim to post something painted - although I can't promise it will be the predator.
Cheers!
David