Slepnir Mk 1 APC

When I stumbled upon Scorched Earth's "Slepnir Mk1" on Etsy, I was instantly sold.  The hard sci-fi, Aliens/Blade Runner, industrial style perfectly matched my taste and I ended up grabbing a bundle of THREE, and of course, the railgun won the day for my first build!

This build definitely had its own learning curve! Careful planning is your best friend with MDF, a lesson I learned the hard way. The instructions were really good, it was just a relatively complex model to build.

 

So there was plenty of customisation going on as you can see - some more of it out of necessity too.  Armed with my Dremel, I engraved panels for extra depth, raided my recycling bin for cardboard, bits and pieces, and even old laptop keys!  These additions gave my Slepnir a unique look that just makes for a more interesting and attractive model. MDF can be pretty flat otherwise.

That 28mm mini in the foreground gives you a sense of scale

You can easily see where I've added paper/card to raise some panels.
You might also notice that the edges of the side panels are light - that's because
the laser engraving has been etched away by my Dremel and other tools.

I carved an extra piece of ladder with rounded bards etc
It sits flush over the one that comes in the kit.

This piece on the side didn't do it for me. So I got out my bits box...

And made this "fuel intake"??

The laptop keys come in a variety of sizes. I gave them a light sand
to ensure the paint sticks better to them.

And here's the railgun - a bit boxy, but I decided I can always
make an new one later if I liked.

Putting this metal mesh on the back was a great call.
Kind of like the back of some real tanks. I left the turrewhent such 
that I could swap it out with the communications array whe
I decide to make that too.

When I assembled the back section, I did so out of order. Luckily, that mistake sparked some inspiration – with a few adjustments, I ended up with a fully functional rear hatch! Not only does it add character, but it gives my troops a cool, dramatic exit point.

 

 

After getting advice from fellow hobbyists online (thanks for the PVA sealing tip!), I started layering and experimenting to find the right color scheme. For an extra touch that makes me smile every time I look at it, I used fake gems for glowing headlights and red ones on the railgun – I'd done the same on some of my Eldar a few years back and I'm still surprised that more people don't do it. 

 

All told, building and customising the Slepnir Mk1 was a lot of fun. It's not a simple build and ends up as a beast on the tabletop, packed with detail, and something to be proud of. Now I've got to use it in some games :-)