Zombie Kill Team Alpha

Hazmat Team, to take on the encroaching Zombie Hordes. But are they there to destroy the undead or kill the living?!

Another project! Well yes and no. Had these figures for about three years, and decided a few months back to get my Zombie Project off the ground. The plan was paint one of these a week, so about four months later finally finished them today.

Figures are Hasslefree and base toppers from Fenris.

Despite their militaristic type appearance, I decided on good 'ole Hazmat yellow (or ochre in this case) for the suit. Plus I'm painting enough camo on 20mm figures. The visor had to be green. This was a nod to Gerry Anderson's UFO series. Those of a certain age will recall that the aliens had green visors on their space helmets (the helmet contained green fluid?). This hid the face, which I always found slightly sinister at the time (though I would have been six or seven when I first watched it!).

The plan is to add more Survivors at a steady pace and of course Zombies. The 20mm Modern will still take precedence at the moment.

That's it for now more to follow......

Father and Son

These are from the 'Star Wars; Imperial Assault' board game. First up, Father. Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith.

The son; Luke Skywalker, farm boy.

The figures which come with the game are quite nicely detailed, and are what I would call heroic scale 32mm.  I have not gone to town on them, really just painted them as a bit of fun to use in the game. The painting is a bit heavy handed and I was not too over zealous when cleaning them up either. The bases will be left black.

Actually have not played the game yet, had a quick read of the rules but reviews are very favourable so looking forward to jumping in blasting away at the minions of the Empire or the rebel scum!

Speaking of minions. Also completed this icon of the Empire.

An Imperial Stormtrooper.

 
I was going to add weathering to the armour but decided against it. Partly to save time and partly because I thought I would leave them in the pure white armour so associated with the original, first and best trilogy (unless you were stationed on Tatooine!). In fact I've just used Foundry's Artic Grey triad using the base greys to give shadow and contrast.

I will do more of these on and off. Must admit I quite enjoyed painting these models.

May the Force be with you......

Thats it for now more to follow.......

Technical with ZPU-1

So I took this.....

A 1/72 scale Cararama Ford F150 pick up truck and turned it into this.....

A 'technical' mounting a ZPU-1 14.5mm AA HMG. The gun and crewman are from Elhiem and can be found in the 'Weapon Sets' and 'Insurgent' ranges respectively.

Took the diecast vehicle apart and and airbrushed the body and rear bed black. Then painted and weathered it all before reassembling into the completed model. The wheels, front and rear bumpers have not been painted only weathered and I left the interior alone. The plastic windows were weathered buy airbrushing AK Interactive Dust Effects, after masking off the windscreen to represent the movement of the wipers, and then sealed with Johnsons Klear.

After the painting etc., was finished I applied the final coat of varnish to the separate pieces before putting all back together. The windscreen was not varnished again to avoid any fogging.

I had not originally intended to use the ZPU gun on a pick up. I was going to mount it on a base to be used as a fixed emplacement, to engage air and ground targets. As described by Bing West in his book 'The March Up' when flying over Al Budayr and the helicopter is targeted by heavy MG's hidden amongst residential buildings.

The beauty of these diecast models over the resin pick-ups which are available, is that the rear tail gate can be lowered. The pick up had been purchased to use as a civilian vehicle to add another piece of terrain but after test fitting the tripod gun stand and it fitted then rear bed, the two had to become one.

There are plenty of photo's on the web of these weapons being used on pick ups. Though I used Meng Models 1/35th scale Technical with ZPU-1 as inspiration. Of course there are the photos of the Texas City plumbers truck which was sold three years ago and turned up in Syria still displaying the company logo.

Have not based this one yet, not sure if a will. The wheels have not been glued in place so still turn like they do on all good diecast models!

That's it for now more to follow..........

USMC Fireteam and BIG Bins

Finally completed another fireteam to represent USMC in MOPP gear.

These are once again from the excellent Elhiem range. I should now be able to field two full squads of USMC in NBC suits (part of). One more squad for a full platoon and then onto USMC/US Army in three colour camo DCU's.

Also added couple of terrain features. These are large waste/recycling bins.

These are from Hornby. Which I managed to pick up cheaply. Repainted and weathered them accordingly. To give an idea of size here they are next to a 20mm figure.

Should provide cover in those desperate firefights!

If you notice a slightly different green poking through on the green bin, perfectly reasonable explanation. The first colour I used I decided was not too my taste so I dabbed it off while still wet,with a old rag, trying not to remove the hairspray applied underneath to aid with the chipping effect. Not all the paint came off straight away So I was left with a mottled effect, which I quite liked and sprayed the new colour over the top. Then chipped away, which left the older colour showing through in parts. (Riveting wasn't it!?)

Thats it for now more to follow.....

     

Four Boards

Added three more 2'x2' boards to use for my modern games. I've kept them simple, primarily since FoF tends to be urban based. So added a crossroads, T-junction and  another straight but with the road passing over a culvert. The culvert was to break up the flatness of the boards and add an interesting feature.  

All are mounted an 15 MDF base with a surround of 25mm MDF off cut and Styrofoam inner of 600x600x25mm. Had to cut the Styrofoam to fit the frame so it is more 570x600x25mm. The roads are made from 1mm MDF and the culvert pipes are made from the hollow metal circle tubing. The type used to provide a hanging rail in certain wardrobes. Cut off about four 1.5" lengths and sprayed black. Dug a hole into the side of the banks and pushed in the tube. The water is made from Vallejo Still Water mixed with Vallejo Model Air Light Brown to give a mucky appearance.

 

I've placed what terrain I have at the moment to give me an idea of what they look like and what needs to added. At the moment it may appear sparse but useable I believe.

Despite working on this project for some 15 months still a lot to do. More buildings to be completed, fields, junk(?) etc.. Of course none of vehicles or figures I have painted are on the board and I have some 1/72 diecast cars to add which will add another feature when placed in the village/town.

Hopefully this will give an idea of the sort of appearance I'm trying to create for my games set in the Middle East. I've kept the boards sand coloured and not added grass since the intention is to add more terrain. But I am considering adding small clumps of grass to break up the dull brown colour! But the juries still out at the moment.

With the impending release of the modern supplement for Chain of Command I will be intrigued how the game play will compare to Force on Force/Ambush Alley.

That's it for now more to follow......  

LAV-25

The latest addition to support the USMC. A LAV-25 (LAV=Light Armoured Vehicle)*

                                     
                                                   *For a long time I thought it stood for Light Amphibious Vehicle                                                          

1/72nd scale Trumpter kit. Stowage is from Black Dog, CMK, 20mm Zone and home made. 

That's it for now more to follow....

It doesn't get any more exciting than......

Telegraph poles! A selection for your viewing pleasure.....

These have all been placed on old MDF gaming bases, with the edges bevelled. The actual poles are from Ratio in HO scale. The pieces on them are from Bachmann, Modelscene, Knightwing Models, 20mm Zone and Sgt's Mess. So a mix of railway (HO scale) and wargaming scenery.

The bases vary in size from 25x25mm to about 80x40mm. The dog is from Dart Castings, the bin from Bachmann and the sheep from Pegasus Hobbies.  The sheep have been painted to represent Awassi sheep, a breed native to the region.

The skip is from The Scene again. The rubbish inside is home made from off cuts of balsa wood and wire spears. The chair is from Faller and is OOscale so comes out a little small. But one of the legs have been cut off and with a bit of weathering it looks okay. The stool with the dog is also from Faller but that looks more in scale than the chair. All non-animal pieces have been weathered.

The idea behind these was to make the telegraph pole bases more interesting. To add a bit of character to the gaming board and where appropriate provide some cover. The Ratio pack comes with two sprues of eight poles. The next batch will be done similar but I may just base a few with foliage around the base, so nothing to fancy or time consuming. The only thing I would do different is place some of poles centrally on the bases. I got a bit drill happy when placing the holes and it was only after the poles had been placed did I realise I should have varied the positions.

Next up is a break from terrain. I have another USMC fireteam to complete, some more 1/285th FV432's and a plastic kit to build which I'm hoping will turn out well.

That's it for now more to follow........soon-ish.....