Ogre Mk4 Reborn

Between working on my Ogre conversion, I've had an ultra rare prototype Ogre Mark 4, rejected by Steve Jackson Games that has been sitting, waiting to be finished. I began working on in April 2016, and thought I can do better than that.

So, I stripped it.Yes, this is me being distracted!

Reassembled, primed, and given a wash to bring out the panel lines.

I painted for about an hour a day during the week before and after Easter, which makes this a labour of love. So, here is the repaint.

 

The eagle eyed will notice the camo pattern is not exactly the same as the first version. 

The eagle eyed will notice the camo pattern is not exactly the same as the first version, but I think everyone will agree this looks sharp?

Or, at least I hope so. 

Currently, I'm in the groove painting so, finishing the MK5 conversion will happen when I've cleared my painting table.

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

Nihon Mark 4 Ogre WIP

I need to finish this off but here's a work in progress shot. This is another 16 megapixel focus stack shot, which gets everything into focus and shows up every bit of dirt and defect of the work in progress.

One problem of not keeping on top of projects is that paints dry out, and in this case the blue I was using had. I tried getting a matching colour from Vallejo in their dropper bottles but it's not quite right. So, there will have to be an order made over the internet as my local shop no longer stocks the full range of the Miniature Paints brand.

Also, since I was given those lovely sets with more Ogre/GEV miniatures I thought a Mark 3 in the same colours to match my Mark 4 would be good. Proving once gain, that tendency of wargamers to paint more armies.

Perhaps we should start Wargamers Anonymous: I am an toy soldier addict and it's been three weeks since I started a new army etc.

Next Wave of Ogre Painting

Having finished the North American Combine models for Dragonmeet I need to think about starting work on the next wave. I have three trays worth of miniatures that need assembling and painting.

The first tray is the next lot of Pan European Federation models.  I acquired an early lead Mark 5 Ogre and later pewter Mark 3 from eBay.  Both will be modified to distinguish them as Pan European variants. The Mark 3 by shortening the tower, while the Mark 5 will have its secondary batteries replaced with Doppelsoldner castings that I bought as spares, back when you could.

I also bought three more Jagers and four light tanks to make up the numbers I need for my renamed French inspired armoured force – 7ème Brigade Blindée Force et Audace.

I still have a largish amount of Pan Euro miniatures, mostly GEVs, maturing in my shoebox while they wait to be assembled and then painted once I've finished the current tray.

The next tray is most of my remaining Combine Ogre miniatures with just a handful of extras sitting in the shoebox maturing. The unidentified casting center-rear is an old Stan Johanson vehicle that I'm repurposing as a Mobile GEV Command Post.

Finally, I sorted out the models I want to paint up to go with my Mark 4 Ogre that will represent my Nihon force (I have no idea what I'm calling this force yet, but the title will probably have the words Self Defence Force in it somewhere).  

These are largely old BattleTech miniatures from Ral-Partha with the mobile howitzers converted using turrets from other sources.  I had a bunch of the old Battledroid Pegasus GEVs that are lovely looking models that will be perfect with the Mark 4 raiding scenario.  One of my old Pegasus miniatures had been a victim of a conversion to a command variant and my intent is now to rebuild it as a GEV-MCP – mobile command post (it's the one front and centre in the picture above or not as I might change my mind).

Some of you may remember seeing a bunch of other Ral-Partha BattleTech miniatures I had painted up, but stripped the paint off of when I decided to use official miniatures for both the main protagonists for my Ogre games.  Well I'm thinking about putting all the wheeled vehicles and tanks together and use them for a Chinese force.  Also my two custom home-made Ogres will in due course be stripped and repainted as independent cybertanks.

So all very exciting.

This afternoon I may well be playing my first game of X-Wing.