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.....