Friday 28 December 2012

The Rhino of Rottenness

"Honour the wargear of the dead" - thus it is written in the Codex Astartes. And so the ruinious powers will take every opportunity to do the opposite.

The Rhino Of Rottenness represents a fallen mechanical beast of the Grey Knights, turned now to the production of noisome and nocent plagues by the followers of Nurgle.

The motor in the drive compartment now pumps liquids in and out of the brew tank (the crew compartment). The still outside brews the secret ingredient that has to be handled with copper buckets on account of it being so dangerous.

The sandbags were added late in the project as the piece was looking a little sparse. They will justify giving anyone inside the area terrain a cover save.


  • The rhino is made from cardboard. 
  • The base is a piece of expanded polystyrene covered with white glue and then sand. 
  • The barrels, buckets and jerry cans are from a Tamiya set. 
  • The wooden bucket is scratch built, as is the still (from a Guiness widget). 
  • All piping are flexi straws. 
  • The valve control wheels are press studs. 
  • The sandbags are Milliput.  

The original version








The updated version

I got some feedback on the original version from friends on Terragenesis and so decided to make this a tad more nurgly



Here you can see the extra goo that has been added:
  • top left... added resin inside the bucket on the top
  • top right... added overflow from both sides of the barrel
  • bottom left... tipped over barrel creating a new puddle
  • bottom right... spilled bucket creating other puddle








WIP shots

I started with a cardboard rhino that I had never finished and had lost interest in finishing.

I found an old sheet of expanded polystyrene  and hacked an oval into it. I also dug out a shallow hole for the rhino to sit in so that it would look like it had been there for ages.

I then covered the whole piece with watered down white glue and sprinkled it with fine sand and potting soil.

While this was drying I did a Google image search for portable whisky stills and found this image over at


I made my own version from some thin strips of balsa glued to the plastic tub that comes with an aerosol can and wrapped insulation tape around it to represent the copper binding. The still itself was the widget from inside a can of Guiness, plus a drinking straw.

I made a cross brace from some card that I had lying around.

After that, the whole thing was assembled. I used the Tamiya kit for barrels, buckets and jerrycans. All the piping was made from drinking straws.

For detailing, I added rivets made from plastic rod and rust made from superglue and baking soda.

The still was painted up separately as it will not be attached to the model (it will make it easier to store)

The sandbags were made from Milliput. The seams were made with a craft knife and the texture added by pressing a piece of cotton onto it once it was starting to harden.

I think my Nurgle table is just about finished :)



5 comments:

  1. Wow, for a cardboard rhino that was damm good!

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    1. Thanks mate. The rhino (and I want you to read nothing into this) was laser cut :)

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  2. styx is right the cardboard Rhino is immense, in the smaller pics I had no idea. Whenever I see people do this I think 'what a waste of a good Rhino' but it's card! Also for once the bendy straws don't scream 'bendy straws' I see copper pipes first and straws second. Awesome all round!

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  3. Wow, I've seen these scratchbuilt Rhinos before but I honestly thought it was a regular plastic one until I re-read your post! The still thingy looks very useful. Now I have a reason (escuse?) to start buying some Guiness...

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