Scratch Built Space Marine Drop Pod That Looks Good

My goal for this project is to build a simple , cool looking , cheap Space Marine Drop Pod .

Forge World models are super cool , but they cost 80 bucks and I want a bunch , so I will try to make them with out spending much $.

I have decided to go with a dreadnought Drop Pod , as it has fewer doors and I think it is silly that so many troops are supposed to fit in the 5 door version , also it is slightly larger , so it will take up more space on the table to use as cover .

First is the Forge world one ......



and then the Website plan do it yourselfer....



Using 5mm foam core and 1mm card stock I traced out all the pieces and cut them all out with scissors and a craft blade.





started with glueing the wings together , and then the base .



the doors have proven to be a bit of a pain i think I will try something different here , and I am having a hard time glueing it all together , the PVA glue is taking forever.



the card stock was just not working for the doors the different layers were separating , so I went to poly styrene sheet , still pretty cheap and easy to work , I also want to glue plastic bits to it for the details , so it should work well.

here is the assembled pod with none of the detail work , next to a small Forge World 5 Door Space Marine Pod , with a miniature for scale.



you can see that the foot print of the 3 door Dred Pod is a bit bigger.





next up is the detail bits and then paint.



I added some card stock details from the recycle bin, and hand painted some primer paint to cover the foam core edges , then black spray primer , there is still lots to do , more small details , and I want to do some gap filling, but it is getting there , and all in just a few hours work , and just $12 in materials , and I have bareley used any of it yet . I will definitely be making more , but I think I will try to make one that has opening doors.



added PVA glue rivets,



Chapter icons and Dark Angels Green ( Tamiya British Green ) and testors Dullcote.




All that's left to do is the detail painting and weathering.



and we're done , or close enough for this model . The side bye side comparison;

Forge World
$110.00 + shipping ( not cheap )

Scratch built
almost free + about two days work.

I spent about $12.00 in material , (Enough to make ten more ) , and used some stuff from the recycle bin.

The Forge World kit also opens and has lots of cool details , and if I had tons of money to blow I would love to have a bunch of them, I imagine the plastic kits will be coming out soon and I would guess they would sell for about $45.00, so until then , I think I will make a few more.

Here is the link to the PDF templates.

And a fancy outside pic



DROP POD UPDATE


I got a good deal on a Forge World Dred Drop Pod , but I did discover some differences in the size, mainly the Forge World model is taller and a bit bigger over all.



Here is the side by side




and from above



so I have decided to take some measurements from the Forge world model so you can resize the patterns as needed if you like .


over all hight 7 1/2 inches, from base to top of door , 5 1/4 inches, base from flat side to side 4 inches.


It has also come to my attention that the new rules for Marine drop pods = 5 space marines per pod not the previous 10 , and Terminators do not fit in a 5 man pod , so I can only guess that they will ride 5 in a dred sized pod, I am sure the new planet fall rules will have more info. and hopefully some new plastic pod kits.

Here are some jpegs of the templates, just click to open them, save them to your computer and print them to 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper.


Comments

  1. my oh my, that is some productivity mister. What a beautiful job! Let's scan the plan and throw it on for people to download/print
    excellent work!

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  2. I love the design and construction. I'm going to have to steal it for my own DA drop pods. Thanks much for the post!

    One question: "PVA rivets"
    How's you make 'em? They look really impressive and I loathe cutting tiny styrene to make tiny plastic bits that are more likely to roll away than actually get on the model. What's the technique?

    Love the site. Just found it via weetoysoldier. Looking forward to reading up on the rest of you posts!

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  3. Pedro, the rivets are made by sqeezing tiny drops of pva glue in perfect order and symmetry. You might have to do all of them twice, to get good elevation. On the squiggoth I used a hole punch with 18 '' diameter, a little too big for my taste but still. FInd smaller hole punchers and let us know where!
    greetings
    mike

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  4. Bel article


    Merci pour le plan en francais

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  5. Well me...i LOVE it i am makeing one NOW!! a Blood Angels drop pod =) tyvm (thank you very much) =P it rocks man

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  6. Hello,

    I am mass producing the drop pods! Using combination of photocopying layouts and cardboard as well as card stock. The materials are cheaper! (I found card stock sitting the garage as well as used cardboard boxes!) You make cut outs of the card stock and glue them to the cardboard, presto! instant foam board!
    -Jon Buzan

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  7. Hi Jon, show us your work and we will post a follow up on this.
    Make sure to add to how to pics if you can manage that
    Mike at SCW

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  8. me and a frind are going to field a whole marine battle company supported by an armored company, we were planning to mass produce these droppods for the marines so we could drop a whole battle company in there in one go

    Will be sweet hehehe. also thinking of the posobility of somehow making a plaster of paris mould, have done similar things in the past. will be cool if it works

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  9. Again, Show us your stuff!
    Mike at SCW

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  10. i'm so gonna try the drop pod with my dad when he gets homeit looks totaly awesome

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  11. can you please email me all the plans/patterns for the space marine drop pod at catchup111@hotmail.com

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  12. hi

    it looks really good and i wass thinkin of making one any idea on how to incorpate a gun inisde i.e deathwind launcher ? also any plans for where the inidividual bits and bobs go?
    thanks

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  13. The drop pods that we make are devoid of any details on the inside. The doors are shut so there is no worry about detail inside. Next up would be a drop pod that does open up so you can peek inside.
    Mike at SCW

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  14. would it be possible for you to send me the template, sir?

    joespeak@hotmail.co.uk

    thanks in advance :]

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  15. can i use the pics for a how to

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  16. if you can here is my email


    puffm098@hotmail.com

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  17. can u print in A4 would it still work

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  18. Here's probably the best looking drop pod templates on the web. The are realy detailed and yet quite simple to put together:

    http://feanor007.free.fr/warhammer_forum/tutos/drop_pod/Dp2.gif

    http://feanor007.free.fr/warhammer_forum/tutos/drop_pod/Dp1.gif?

    Print the first link 5 times, and the second once

    ReplyDelete
  19. John,

    Are there any more directions for these plans other than how many times to print each?


    And... in the current GW plastic drop pod model rules, are there two different models with a difference in size for terminators, troops, and dreadnought, or do you just pretend that they would all fit in the same one?

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  20. well, by looking at the plans you should be able to work out what goes were, and if you look hard enough, you might be able to find some.But i made it and it looked awsome

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  21. this is what it looks like when its finished http://feanor007.free.fr/warhammer_forum/drop_pod_fini.jpg

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  22. omg!!!! this is great, i need 2 pods for my DA army
    big thank you form holland

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  23. prima! een groet uit Santa Cruz van een oud hollander!
    Mike
    Santa Cruz Warhammer

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  24. lol
    een nederlander
    check
    http://www.gwhobby.net/forum/index.php?wwwRedirect

    is het nederlandse gw forum

    grz

    ReplyDelete
  25. Thank you very much!
    I just spared a lot of dollars ;)

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  26. Rtard here,
    what do you mean by 8.5x11?

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  27. 8.5 x 11 inches sheet of paper, which is the standard printer size

    John
    SCW

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  28. They look amazing. Great job and fantastic tutorial!

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  29. super merci pour le plan en fr !
    parce que bon forgeworld c'est un peu abusé les tarifs

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  30. that is very impressive!

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  31. I usually steer clear of conversions and building my own stuff (for fear of messing stuff up and wasting loads of time) but i might just make an exception for this! Drummun needs to enter in style >:D

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  32. very fine work I'll try it .Thanks for sharing that with us.

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  33. I m working on mine now and so far looking great. Thanks for posting this you just saved me a lot of money my friend

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  34. Awesome work! I'm gonna print these out and start creating some Blood Angels drop pods tomorrow!

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  35. Great work, Drop pod is really well done.
    Especially thank you for sharing templates.

    ReplyDelete

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