OMWB: M1120A2 HEMTT LHS

I've wanted a model to represent the truck that appears in several important scenes in my novel Strike Dog. It's the main vehicle used by the team to explore Two Moons. My original plan was to convert a 1/64th scale Matchbox toy.

But, when I saw that Butlers' Printed Models now offered models of the Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck, I couldn't resist buying them. I got two M1120A2 LHS HEMMTs, one soft skin A kit cab, and one armored B-kit cab.

Comparing both HEMMTs, Matchbox's model is quite a bit longer than the 1/100th scale model, which is not really a problem. But, being wider than the smaller trucks container, is a problem.

 

It's a problem, because I need a bunch of Conex boxes to represent the off world Alpha site base. Getting more containers from Butlers' Printed Models is easy.

Getting more Matchbox HEMMT containers, not so much. 

I plan  to convert the HEMMT to represent a 10 x 10 M2184 HUHMTT PLS (Heavy Utility High-Mobility Tactical Truck with a palletized loading system), described as having a cabin that seats four people. 

So, either way, I have to extend the cab, and lengthen the chassis.

Anyway that's all for now. Catch you all on the bounce.

OMWB: Russian 15mm Armour

I bought a few Team Yankee sprues off eBay. These are easy enough to glue together if you have the assembly instructions. As the sprues didn't come with any, I had to hunt around the Battlefront website.

Above, left to right, are a TOS-1, a T-70B, a BMP-3, and a T80U.

The TOS-1 and T-70B are for my near future modern insurgent's force. I'll probably go for a dessert scheme for these.

I got the T80U and BMP-3 to use as near future Russian reserves. I have also got a T-90MC awaiting assembly too. With the Kurganets I got earlier I think I have more than enough armour to meet my future needs.

Catch you all on the bounce. 

Not Dead; Just Resting

Okay, it has been (time-wise) a country mile, since I've posted anything on a regular basis. What can I say, life sucks!? That, and setbacks. First was the unfinished mini-gun arm for one of the previous batch of CASE-2X Dogs.

Second being the missile pod mounts. The problem was the cast metal pods drooped.

Can't have one's missile pods drooping so, after much procrastination, I came up with another way of mounting them with magnets, which involved order some more parts too. I need to add Milliput to fare the pods to the magnets to finish them, but the end is in sight.

Hence the delay in getting around to doing the work. I've also started a couple more combat armour Ape suits conversions.

And, there's more to come. Ive been beavering away, and have a bunch of stuff I need to take glamour shots of. This includes some NAC laser towers and turrets, the finished Russian quad mechs with decals, and more.

 So, watch this blog. Catch you all on the bounce. 

Still Alive!

Catching shingles for the New Year is not the kind of present that anyone wants. A surprising amount of pain is utterly discombobulating. A lack of sleep has rather cramped my hobbies, and not wanting to move my arms much because to do so causes stabbing pain.

Anyway, still recovering, but managed to apply some decals to these models.

Now I just need to matt varnish them, and then I can all them done. Well, almost done. The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed one the mecha is missing an arm.

Yeah that was an oopsie.

Forgot I needed to rebuild the arm, modify the minigun casting to feed from so the ammo belt would hang properly, and lost track of it while I was prepping the rest of the models.

I still have some other models I finished, or have managed to finish that I need to take pictures of, but shingles. Just saying, shingles takes the fun out of everything.

Catch you all later.

OMWB: Subatduku Alien Mecha

This is RattapoomK Gorgon Frame (Lancer RPG Mech) Machinegun and Grenade Launcher. Printed by my beloved, her first resin print. Woot!

Took a while to clean up supports, and while the arms detached, everything came out looking pretty spiffing.

Okay, so what's this all about?

Well, you might remember I had a short story in this collection, Clash of Steel, an anthology with a number of much better known writers. This model is going to represent those alien mecha that Sargent Jones unit faced.

You can buy the anthology here and at other good retail outlets.

Amazon US

Amazon UK

OMWB: Laser Towers for Ogre/GEV

I received the Combine laser tower set as a gift, and like lots of projects, it has taken me more time getting around to them than I would've liked. I ran out of spoons, but it is what it is.

Anyway, I decided to base them, and I took the opportunity to base my two original Pan Euro ones at the same time.

I also magnetize the new towers allowing the turrets to swivel, but skipped doing the same to the old models, because I didn't want to damage the paint and touch up any damage.

Far too much faff.

The Combine towers are primed so now all I have to do is figure out how to apply the colour scheme I use to these buildings.

Desert Oasis and Ruins

Ta da... three oasis bases completed. Look at the reflections on the acrylic liquid water. Pretty pleased with how these bits of terrain turned out.

Below the fallen pillar.

The ruined head of some ancient god. Could pass as a very stylized Anubis or Khnum I guess. Let me know what you think?

And, the next project. The bases for my forest/jungle. 

The one in the center/bottom has had its edges beveled, which I should've done before painting. However, it was only after assembling them and priming did I realize that I needed to do so.

As they say, things are obvious in hindsight.

An Interlude: Trees

Here's where I am so far with painting the palm trees and the oasis bases from Charlie Foxtrot. This small little project that was just meant to be a quickie has turned into a monster made of trees.

As I said I have a whole bunch of trees, so many trees to finish working on. First up, evergreen pine trees.

Followed by deciduous trees of various sizes. All built from Woodland Scenics sprues I assembled many years ago that have sat in a box languishing ever since.

So many trees that need finishing. Above small and medium trees. Below large trees.

Hear the lament of the tree maker for she has bitten off more than she thought.

Catch you all on the bounce (probably while crashing into some trees on landing).

Ma.K Acquisitions

Look what arrived from Slave 2 Gaming in Australia, 15mm Ma.K miniatures. Arrived super quick. Totally Bonzer service.

What arrived in the packaget is six of each of their SDR Schwarzer Hund and Kradenvogel.

I plan to convert the Schwarzer Hund into power armor for my Subatduku.,The Kradenvogel were acquired for parts when I start building some Chinese Fatties.

I acquired two walking and four flying poses of the Hunds, which are multiple part models that require assembly.

These are not generally available for purchase from the website, but Drew Edney very kindly let me have these on the understanding that they're likely to be revised to make assembly easier before general release.

I may have some thoughts on what could be done to make them less fiddly.

However, given he's a pattern maker, and has a professional mould maker working for him to produce this range, my input, thoughts, idle musings etc. are probably unwanted.

That's all for now. Catch you on the bounce.

Palm Trees

This is where I'm up to on getting these palm trees, though actually it's a mix of coconut and palm, and other stuff tree bases.

Desert Oasis

While this stage of the project has pretty good contrast, it still feels like the miniatures appear a bit flat. It might as well be monochrome, despite all the different shades of brown, tan, and sand used.

And while painting the desert ruins I assembled the Charlie Foxtrot Oasis bases I acquired in 2021. Amazing how times flies?

So currently the project looks like this. More work to do.

Newten Town Trees

  

An just like that, after a long drought, eight posts in one month, here are some glamour shots of the finished town boards with added trees.

Close up overhead above, full pan below to show the whole of both boards.

And below, a close-up, side on shot of the buildings showing how it looks as a setting for taking  pictures of my work.

And panoramic shot showing the full glory of the completed town boards. Click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Catch you all on the bounce.

Desert Terrain

I bought this set of terrain so long ago I can't remember when I bought it. Probably pre-covid. The box got put somewhere safe, and then it kept slipping out of 'what I intend to paint next' list, or more truthfully, I forgot about it.

Something about getting older and being forgetful.

So, Gale Force 9 market this as pre-painted, ready to plop down on your table and go, but it all looked a bit flat to me. Hence this repaint.

So first off, paint a brown-black enamel wash (my own recipe: just a mix of left over Mig Ammo brown and black wash into one pot).

While people rave about enamel washes, and they do have their uses, on the whole I'd rather mix my own enamel washes using old pots of left over Humbrol paint when I feel the need for them.

Got to let these dry, which is my main complaint as they seem to take forever to do so properly.

Then I painted black on the edges and in the cracks to increase the contrast.

 And finally I add more texture to the bases.

Still more to do, but now I have to let the texture paint dry. It's a sad life, but it's my life. And I love my life.

Refurbishing Terrain 2

I have finished the refurbishment of the Chopper terrain, and decided that I needed to make the ruined factory match, so I've made a start as can be seen above. Still a fair way to go, but I'm pleased, and more importantly, enjoying doing this project.

Not seen here are the trees, which I'll shoot pictures of when I finish.

I'm noodling what to do next? Do I re-base and refinish some old 6mm building, or start on my new 15mm buildings that were lost, but now found?

Start on that jungle I've been wanting to make, but got distracted from starting.

Refurbishing Terrain 1

Decided I'm going to need another piece of terrain to pose models on and decided to refurbish this town board from my Newten project from years ago.

Loving how it looks. Doing this has renewed my enthusiasm for doing more terrain.

I'm thinking about plans for: forest/jungle bases (waited for far too long to do); refurbish some 6mm buildings (for play-testing); and; redo my current 15mm building to be more flexible (taking them off terrain boards and basing them instead).

A New Year

Having survived another year around the sun it's that time for resolutions, except I don't do them because the reality is that it is very hard indeed to keep to resolutions that require substantial change.

So, as I posted on my other blog, I'm going to wing it as usual.

Above is the current state of affairs on my workbench, sadly mostly neglected over the holidays, though I did do a small amount of painting to make some older models painted yellow pop a bit more.

Which means paint some miniatures, and keep doing because they're fun things I enjoy doing.

So, Happy New Year.

Big Buster Mostly Finished

I've mostly finished the rebuild CAS-4CP model. It still needs a coat of gloss varnish before adding decals, and then afterwards I will need to spray matt varnish.

I'm so glad I've finished this rebuild because this rebuild has been a bit of a slog.

I think the added bulk really adds to the feel that the Buster is big, much bigger than the conventionally sized Ape and Dog combat armour suits that the Army and Marines use.

Kneeling Combat Armor Suit Mostly Finished

Mostly finished meaning that I need to spray some gloss varnish and then add decals and then spray again with some matt varnish.

So, this is the third Special Forces CAS-3-Mod-1 mech finished for my Combat Armor Suit Detachment Alpha  that appeared in my second novel, Strike Dog.

The remaining three mech models for my Special Forces unit are waiting some TLC on my workbench. As they say, watch this space.

OMWB: Kurganets-25

I recently acquired from Badger 3D a lovely resin printed Kurganets-25. I need to clean some minor flash off before painting, but the quality of the resin print is outstanding.

You may be asking why I bought this? Well, I reckon that this IFV will be around for the foreseeable future and is therefore perfect for games in my SF setting.

Besides which, I mention the Kurganets-25 in my World of Drei series of short stories.