The Whirlwind was first discussed in White Dwarf #117 – from the Rogue Trader era – in an article by Rick Priestly with a following article by Tony Cottrell discussing how to convert a Rhino into a Whirlwind, since there was no official model at the time.
The conversion:
In 2nd. Ed. there was an official model:
White Dwarf 185 lists it as a new product for that month, and it also states it’s Tactical marines who perform crew functions.
This kit was released in White Dwarf 231 and upgrades the Rogue Trader Rhino kit to be a Vindicator. This is it without the sides on:
The second release of the Land Raider was on May 24th, 2000 as per WD245, and they ran specialised tank-building classes from that date called Imperious Rex.
This is the classic Rogue Trader Rhino, in it’s 2nd. Ed. box:
A pic from White Dwarf #170:
This is the 2nd. Edition Warhammer 40K Space Marine Predator Annihilator!
Looking back through the White Dwarves to see when it was released, so far back to 196 and it’s shown as an extant model at that point.
The original Predator from Rogue Trader was shown with a 2nd. Ed. datafax in WD167.
WD193 has the RT Predator on the back cover.
I had a crack at painting one some years ago for a Raven Guard army at the time:
Stripped it, ready for rebirthing as an Ultramarines tank:
This is a tank from back in my childhood where I really wanted plasma sponsons… so here it is returned to me many years later.
Partially stripped, ready for more cleaning up and a fresh lease on life:
At the time ordering from overseas was basically unheard of and it was quite the event having a primary school friend’s father use his credit card to put in an order for everyone’s bits from GW UK.
Here are some pics, info and history on the 2nd. Ed. Space Marine Razorback. It was a 1993 sculpt, and credit goes to Norman Swales and Jes Goodwin.
Announced in White Dwarf in June 1994, the article described it as:
The Razorback is a Rhino variant designed to speed into battle escorting other Rhinos and squads of Space Marines. As it smashes through the enemy lines, a turret mounted lascannon blasts apart enemy Dreadnoughts and tanks, while twin plasma guns fire gouts of flaming death. After neutralising hostile armour, the Razorback can then deploy a combat squad of Space Marines to mop up any survivors and secure the area.Ian Pickstock, WD174
Ian Pickstock, WD174
The article then goes to give the tank’s history, describing it as “relatively new” at 5 millennia since rediscovery – having been discovered in the 36th Millennium by Chief Artisan Tilvius during a 300 year quest for a STC databank.
The crew are described as being “drawn from the ranks of training and reserve units, and they bear special insignia in place of their usual tactical badges”.
Heraldry notes from the article:
The datafax:
At 100 more points than a Rhino it was the same cost as a Whirlwind, or a twin-las Predator with heavy bolter sponsons (as shown in Codex: Ultramarines, anyway – the original datafax had it at 180pts with autocannon/las sponsons)… so it had a fair bit of competition for the points. The turret was better protected at the front but less at the rear than the Whirlwind – 22/15 vs. 20/18.
The Predator was more hardy – while it had the same hull armour values, it had 22/22 for the turret.
Designed by Norman Swales and Jes Goodwin! It was first shown in White Dwarf 179 on the back cover and announced in WD180 in December 1994.
The model itself:
Partially assembled (obviously a different one to the new in box one):
Designed by Jes Goodwin. It was announced in White Dwarf 182 (Feb 1995). The example in the WD issue is painted up as the third dreadnought of the 2nd. Company.
The right arm had a Multimelta (0425/3), a Twin Lascannon (0442/22), an Assault Cannon (0427/16) as options. The left a missile launcher (0442/23 with front 0442/24) or a power fist (0425/5 with fingers 0425/6).
A variety of Dreadnoughts were shown in WD205:
