Beginner’s Build: The Warhammer 40K Rhino

Sometimes in making videos about the hobby, it’s easy to get caught up in things like multi-color chipping, dot filter techniques, color modulation, and so much more. All of those advanced techniques can be great fun to learn and apply.

However, two related events reminded me that the majority of the people in the hobby may not be that interested in all of those things. Sometimes, folks just want to build a simple but satisfying kit. And every day, there are new people coming into the hobby.

My mind started mulling the possibilities of a beginner build video when a patron asked if I had any videos that covered the subject. Just a really simple, beginner level build. While I have plenty of videos, and many do cover the basics, I’d never done one specifically to look at a simple build from opening the box to basic paint and decals.

It was a second prompt that really helped me focus on a purpose, really defining a target audience. I watched a fascinating video interview with former Games Workshop hobby product designer Tom Hibberd. Among the gold mine of cool inside facts, he mentioned two things that I found helpful with regards to my thinking on the Rhino build.

First, he talked about how Games Workshop viewed the market as a “trumpet” funnel. Their focus as a company is towards the wide end of it – newcomers to the hobby, and people who stay at a general level in terms of painting, building, and playing. Those folks make up the majority of their customers, so it makes sense. Go where the money is.

Second, he mentioned that their numbers showed most people only stayed in the hobby a short time. I think I recall him mentioning 18 months, though I may be off on that number. But the point was that most people didn’t stay in the hobby, and did not progress to the advanced stage – those small end of the trumpet using his analogy.

That really helped clarify my thinking of how to approach the build, and even the narrative as I worked. I imagined it being a video that a new modeler, or perhaps a parent helping a youngster, could find helpful in their first (or at least early) model builds.

No fancy techniques, or assumptions of prior knowledge. I tried to keep the tools basic, and the paints confined to products that should be generally available – or at least easy to find equivalents. 

Is the final result basic? Yes, absolutely. Was that my purpose? Yes, absolutely. So I feel like it was mission accomplished.

(Mostly. I’m never fully happy with any video. 🤷‍♂️😉)

Paints Used