I'm about to start working on a Loth, and before painting it, I'd like to do some small, simple custom jobs to give it an original look.

I'd like to have an overall effect geared towards the "prototype/older version" of the Medium Panzer chassis - if there's any Gundam lover out there, the same difference that there is between the MS05 and the notorious MS06 - so I was planning to remove the bars on the side of the machine-gun ring mount and access hatch, and the smaller stepping bar on the front plate.

Another weird idea was to remove the armored cables on the two Kampfzange arms and replace them with a bundle of unprotected cables (like the ones sported by the LaserGrenadiers).

However, right now I'm stumped on ideas on what else to remove and mostly on what else to add to the walker to give it a rougher, unrefined look, while keeping it simple.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

You could easily remove the shoulder armor, that would drastically change the look of the walker.

add rivets to the front of the pilots pod.

I dont know how easy it would be, but if you removed the knee armor plates, it would look more "utility", less "battle".

You could also add riveted, square plates to the outside of the forearms, and maybe add exuast pipes to the back, representing an early, less efficient VK/deisel hybrid.

Or you could just paint it to look like its made from wood! The Davinci walker!

Just some ideas ( pay no attention to that last one, its silly!)

Have fun blow'n stuff up!!.....old school!

If you want to do something super intense you could try to convert it to an open cockpit. other then that i would say get thin copper wire (the lacquer insulated kind would probably work best) twist them up to make power cords and run them from the engine exhaust area to the arms. or make an external generator and have a big heavy power cable running to the walker.

Thanks for the ideas. I think I'll try to add some rivets to the front plate, a couple of exhaust pipes on the back/upper plate area (removing the round exhaust near the antenna), and some extra cabling connected to the arms, which I feel will work fine with the unrefined prototype concept I have in mind.

Right now I've experimented with removing the armored cable from one kampfzange, and subsituted it with twin thick wires, slightly intertwined. I've also removed the two bars on the side of the hatch/machine gun ring, and the small stepping bar on the front plate. I'm a bit wary to remove the shoulder armor plates - while it sounds like a fine idea - only because I've just finished swapping them with a 5cm cannon arm (which I'll use on a Light Panzer Walker chassis to make a Helmut variant), but probably I'll go for it.

Removing the knee plates is way too much work, unfortunately - I'd have to fully remodel the front of the knee articulation.

As for the paintscheme, I think I'll make it a dark, grime encrusted bare metal with a lot of yellow-black stripes (like you'd expect from something hastily removed from the testing facilities and rushed to the front), likely on the arms and on the "chin" of the pilot's pod.

Making any progress yet? I'd love to see a WIP pic or two if you don't mind.

Very little progress, unfortunately - day job kicked up two notches at once and went all the way up to eleven.

I removed the two "roll bars" on the sides of the upper access hatch, plus the front plate smaller stepping bar, and sealed the gaps with green stuff - I need to sand off carefully the excess, but the job is easily done.

Still thinking if I should also remove the smaller hardpoints (three per side), but I'm leaning towards leaving them in place.

I also removed the armored cables on the underside of the kampfzanges and replaced them with custom built loose, unprotected cables made from green stuff: just two pieces of rolled up thin cable slightly twisted together and glued in place - like the power cords connecting the backpacks to the weapons on the LaserGrenadiers.

It's a very easy job to do, and the (still unpainted) result looks promising, so I'm quite satisfied.

As for the exhaust pipes, I didn't find anything satisfying in my bits box, so I'm waiting for the two Light Panzer Walkers boxes I ordered to arrive: I intend to use the Hermann's capacitors (the Laserkanone will go to another custom project of mine) as and extra engine part/thing on the back of the walker.

Regarding the paintjob, I had this weird idea of finding a KriegMarine paintscheme of sorts - I can see the older design that's been tinkered with, being loaded on a ship/submarine used for special ops that don't necessarily involve the might of the BlutKreutz Korps.

You can use this as a "powerloader" for either kriegmarine or Luftwaffe. You can use it in a defending mission when allies attack an axis facility.