Horus Heresy – Mechanicum Triaros Armoured Conveyor

And last but not least, we want to take a look upon the Triaros Armoured Conveyor. The largest model from the newly released Mechanicum Battle Group and another huge improvement for the range, as the former resin kits of this size provide a serious challenge for the hobbyist.

Among the vast range of walkers and robots within the Mechanicum, there are still tanks and tracked vehicles available for roles like tanks, self-propelled guns or transporters. There are multiple patterns and vehicles, where the Triaros Armoured Conveyor with its transport capacity of up to 22 models (for example tech thralls or light automata) shares his chassis with the Karacnos Assault Tank. Other tracked vehicles, like the Krios use a different chassis, but a similar design.

The Triaros itself is made from a STC (Standard Template Construct), and was formerly available as a massive resin kit, with no predecessors. So there is little to talk about generations of the model, as we usually do.

Similar to the Spartan of the Legiones Astartes it is build from four massive sprues. The side tracks are identical and build from two sets of sprue A, while the main body is build from sprue B and C, included once each. The casting captures the details properly, while some of the larger pieces have visible mould lines, in a moderate amount, but those will be visible if you don't remove them prior to assembly. Yet, the Mechanicum does not have a vehicle accessory sprue.

As usual with tank builds, we start with the tracks. In this case you build the sides twice, with mirrored interior. The Triaros has open side panels, where you can see the interior and working transmission / drive train. The mid parts are quite sturdy, yet the outer tips are a bit flimsy at this moment, but that will be taken core of once we add the tracks to the sides.

Preparation of these parts was done quickly and you already get a feeling for the size of this rather long kit.

Each side now receives the track sections, which come in 5 different lengths. We have single tracks for the curved sections and longer parts for the flat areas. Cleaning the mould lines from the sides of the tracks was rather time consuming, but surely worth it, as these are very visible in the final build - so take your time for a clean finish.

We put the tracks aside and start buildin the main hull. There is a long floor piece, where the prow and lower engine cover is added. Games Workshop uses struts to support the cornered parts to strengthen the connection, and not only create a bond on the thin connecting section.

The sides add similar pieces, to provide a sub structure and support beams for the curved roof. Interesting building technique. This is mirrored on both sides and closed to provide a strong hull.

After that the details to the rear are added. An upper plate for the engine cover, along with two drive wheels of the track sections.

Further details are added to the hull, with the tips of the prow along with the cover of the engine compartment.

Next up the roof. This piece has curved sides and once again uses "dowel" pins to support the connection between the sides and roof.

The iconic upper prow is added, along with a supporting half-frame to the underside of the roof. Depending on what you want to do, you could just put this in place instead of glueing it, in case you want to access the interior (which is mostly unsculpted).

Now for the shield generator, this is a larger piece with two parts that elevate it above the main body.

For the pen-ultimate step, we add the weapon systems and smaller bits and pieces to the Triaros. In this step we see the only optional piece(s) in the entire build, two hunter-killer missiles, everything else is stock - meaning the volkite calivers and twin-linked mauler bolt-cannons. The volkites can be elevated, while the bolt-cannons can be rotated.

Now we only have to add the side doors to the side panels. Unfortunately these are fixed as well. You could modify them to be open, but that would be an elaborate conversion, as the hinges and such are all fixed in place. That would have been a nice gadget.

As this vehicle has quite a lot of detail and I wanted to ensure that I can access everything while painting, I left them in various sub-assemblies that will be glued together AFTER I painted them.

The Triaros Armoured Conveyor is quite the beast, as you can see in comparison with the Land Raider, it is even longer than a Spartan tank. And it certainly provides some cover on the table, as you can see with the other units from the mechanicum battle group.

As a final step, a few shots from different angles of the new plastic kit.

Conclusion

Wow, this is certainly a beast. And a well designed one for sure. I hade the "pleasure" to build some larger resin kits, and if you have bend or warped track sections, even if it is just slightly, that is pain to work with. Something that is such a more pleasant building experience with plastic kit. And this is such a huge improvement, to have this available in plastic, as this does make Mechanicum not only more accessible for gamers / model builders, as it is less of challenge, but cheaper as well.

Just like the other kits, this one is very uniform. There is no mechanicum vehicle accessoires sprue, no tank commanders or optional pintle mounted weapons. The entire kit has two optional bits and both of them are the hunter-killer missiles. As unfamiliar as this might seem, it simply isn't very Mechanicum to have stowage, yet some optional parts like a sensor array or antennas would have been an interesting addition.

We don't have a price yet, but I assume we're in the range of a Dracosan or Land Raider (which currently sits at 72,50 EUR), as the Spartan tank covers more sprues. Yet, it is very likely that we will see the Karacnos Assault Tank as a variant of this kit, as all you need is another sprue, covering the weapon systems, just like we saw it on other kits like the Dracosan/Malcador or Land Raider/Spartan multi kits in the recent past.

Warhammer 40,000 and The Horus Heresy are brands by Games Workshop.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.