IMEC's latest acquisitions

The Interstellar Mining and Extraction Consortium have two more vehicles to add to their inventory...

These large dump trucks came from the local Poundland, painted in a hideous orange colour that was sprayed on so thickly that most of the detail was completely obscured - but I could see their potential!  After disassembly and 2 lots of paint stripping on the metal parts, the cabs received a grey spray undercoat while the trailer received white.

The body of the vehicle is Vallejo matt black with a Humbrol 32 dark grey drybrush.  The hopper is GW red gore with a Vallejo sepia wash.  The whole thing has been drybrushed with Humbrol 29 dark earth and GW chainmail to give it a suitably worn appearance.  I made a stencil for the IMEC logo and stippled through it with Vallejo black, then hand-painted the yellow slice afterwards.

IMEC would have liked to continue their red/black liveried theme throughout the vehicle, but health and safety law decrees that they must have the guard rails and steps in a bright, contrasting colour.  You can see the wear on the treads and by the door where the driver has been climbing in and out.

Hazard stripes were added to the rear mudguards.  Headlights and reversing lights are GW mithril silver, indicators Vallejo fire orange and GW red gore for the brake lights.  At some point I'll line the hoppers with clingfilm and pour in some plaster & sand to create removable loads for them.

A group shot of the IMEC gang.  They'll make good scenery for a mining colony and I already have a couple of scenario ideas in mind.  I think I need a few more crew though, plus more excavators.  That Mining Droid will have to work hard all on its own!  I'm thinking a 1/43 scale tracked digger should look huge and imposing if I convert it for a 15mm crew.

IMEC Mining Robot

 IMEC often make use of Mining Robots on frontier worlds.  They're able to handle rougher terrain than a wheeled or tracked vehicle, and are more flexible for use in other tasks, able to stand in for a crane or a cargo loading droid without much modification.  Most come equipped with a triple-headed rock drill and a large rock saw (also handy in forest clearance).

 

This robot started life as a Mechwarrior clicky figure.  I ended up with 4 mining 'Mechs from e-bay, so far one has been painted up to see how it looks.  I haven't yet decided whether they are piloted robots or whether they're autonomous/remote controlled droids.  As you can see, this one still has the cockpit canopy, though it wouldn't be too hard to replace it with some sort of robotic head.

 

 Colour scheme is the same as the IMEC ground crew - Humbrol 33 matt black legs, GW blood red arms & torso.  The red is shaded with Vallejo sepia ink and selected areas were drybrushed with GW chainmail to simulate the sort of wear & tear you'd expect on a mining robot.  The whole thing received a light drybrush fo Humbrol 93 desert yellow to achieve a suitably dusty appearance, concentrating more on the lower legs & drill arm.

 

The rock drill arm received an IMEC logo, though I've rather overdone the weathering so you can hardly see that it's there!

 

 Here's a few of the crew with their mining robot & some transport.

 

The transport can also help the robot reach its destination faster than walking...

 ...or maybe not!

 

Some of the mining 'Mechs come with jury-rigged guns instead of the rock drill.  These guns might be useful mounted on something else, as will the missile pods.  I've got a few broken drill-bits, so they will be good replacements for the gun mounts.  I might give one a claw or scoop of some sort too.

IMEC's low-tech approach

The Interstellar Mining & Extraction Consortium does not always use high-tech ways of mining. When you're basically just digging a hole, there's still a place for the humble tipper-truck!


Chassis is Humbrol 33 black drybrushed with dark grey. The bin on the back is GW blood red with a wash of thinned sepia ink. IMEC logo was added using a stencil made using sellotape and a hole punch!


A drybrush of GW chainmail on some areas was followed by a good dusting of humbrol matt 93 desert yellow across much of the vehicle.


Some of the detail... this is the engine.



Here is the cab. Those seats don't look too comfy.


The original vehicle - a Matchbox Atlas tipper truck.



Showing the wear and tear from many happy childhood days playing in the garden!

Interstellar Mining and Extraction Consortium

Employees of the Interstellar Mining and Extraction Consortium wear distinctive red jackets with the IMEC logo on the back, plus black trousers and brown boots. Some also sport a baseball cap in the company colours.

IMEC originated as a smaller concern, the Pleiades Mining and Extraction Consortium, but has expanded into a multiplanetary operation as new partner organisations have joined the consortium. It is currently the largest mining group in human space, involved in a wide range of areas; asteroid mining in the oort clouds, cometary ice mining, HE3 extraction from gas giants and even something as basic as people on the ground with shovels and pick-axes.

Many planetary mining operations have a sizeable security contingent. Their operations on recently colonised world can lead to encounters with unfriendly wildlife or even bandits who suspect that something valuable is being mined.

My IMEC employees are all from GZG in the form of armed civilians/colonists, an unarmed civilian/colonist and a heavy weapons crewman. The heavy weapon crew in baseball caps make very good civilian techs/manual workers.


The IMEC logo is a black circle with a sector cut out (approximately the 1 o'clock to 2 o'clock part) and partially removed. This sector is yellow/gold in colour - the design symbolises IMEC's removal of the valuable resources from the black circle representing a planet.

Trousers are Humbrol 33 matt black with a dark grey drybrush, jackets are GW blood red with Vallejo sepia wash, boots are Vallejo beastly brown with a sepia wash.