Veni Vidi Vici waterslide transfers

All my armoured vehicles are looking rather anonymous, lacking any sort of ID markings.  In order to correct this, I've been looking at various waterslide/dry-rub transfers (or decals if you prefer).  I do have a huge stock of old WWII markings and a few modern vehicles, but most of them look too.. well, too WWII really.  After perusing a range of web sites, I've settled on some Veni Vidi Vici transfers:

Swooping Eagles

I need logos which can be used on a large number of vehicles - this swooping Eagle is just the sort of thing I'm after for my Neo Colonial Commonwealth marines, reflecting how they'll swoop down from orbit onto their enemies.  (OK, so the counter-insurgency fighting they've been involved in on Charity and Gordon's Gamble has made the "swooping" part rather difficult but you get the idea!)

Wolves

I thought these wolves heads are different enough from the standard GW sort that I can use them without people going "Oh, Space Wolves!" when they see them!

Heraldic mythical beasts in 25mm, 15mm, 10mm

Nice heraldic beasts, and this time available in 3 different sizes!  I would have gone with these designs for my NCC marines but I'd have needed so many sheets and would have ended up with so many unused ones that I used the Eagles instead.

Hazard signage

How could I resist adding a set of biohazard/radiation/explosive/poison/electrocution/laser/low temp warning signs to my order?!

Lions and more

Detail of above

 I liked these Lion's heads and the rampant Lion is nice too.  I was very impressed with the service - I ordered Sunday evening, had an e-mail Monday lunchtime to say they were in the post, envelope arrived Tuesday morning - excellent!  All the transfers I've shown above are available in a range of colours but I've mainly gone for simpler designs in plain black so that they'll be easier to see on the vehicles.

So, how do they look on the models?

Claymore APC

Goanna scout car

Lancer APC

Lancer APC

Outrider scouts

Sabre MBT

I'm very pleased with them, now all I need to do is print some ID numbers onto the clear waterslide transfer paper I've bought - no-one had numbers in the font I wanted and because I want 3-part numbers, using ready-printed decals would have involved lots of individual numbers, trying to get them all lined up neatly.  Far easier to print my own - assuming it works!

I have used up a few of my old transfers too...

The Scene armoured boat

This small armoured river boat from The Scene has WWII German tank serial numbers, bow markings from a Hind-D gunship and a red triangle on the roof from a GW Space Marines transfer sheet.

Spartan/Phalanx Destroid / Longbow BattleMech

 My Spartan or Phalanx Destroid / Longbow BattleMech has a range of transfers from WWII German PzIII and an old GW Predator tank from the mid-1990s.  It still needs varnishing to hide the carrier film better!

All these transfers have been applied onto gloss Pledge/Future floor polish with some Humbrol Decalfix and a top coat of Pledge/Future to seal them in.

Mecha in 15mm

2012 is being touted as "the year of 15mm mecha battles", so my entry to the fray comes in the form of these Robotech Destroids released as part of the Exofleet range.  Their first appearance was in the original Macross series but their technical specifications were reworked for the Robotech series.  They were re-worked again to become some of the first BattleMechs of the BattleTech game, though they are now known as the "unseen" due to copyright issues resulting in their disappearance!

These came from e-bay for the princely sum of £8.50, a purchase with which I am extremely pleased!

To add to the confusion,all are known by at least 3 names, the original Macross name, the Robotech name (those given here come from the Palladium Games' Robotech RPG) and the BattleTech name.
 

Phalanx or Spartan Destroid / Longbow BattleMech

 

Defender or Raidar X destroid / Rifleman BattleMech

Tomahawk or Excaliber Destroid / Warhammer BattleMech

I'm thinking about colour schemes, I'll probably go with something similar to the Tomahawk/Excaliber/Warhammer that I've already painted in a UK temperate green/black pattern (see it here).

I'll need to do a little work on them to add some detailing, I'll also need to work out how to add markings.  I don't have any transfers to match the original one I painted so I might try making some stencils so that I can paint them on.

Warhammer or Tomahawk - take your pick!

I've finally got around to painting my giant robot - either a 70-ton BattleTech Warhammer heavy BattleMech or a Robotech Tomahawk Destroid Mecha depending upon your point of view.


It didn't look very impressive when it arrived from e-bay, but I could see the potential...


It's going to join my OUDF forces - see the trooper for scale.


After a spray of dark grey car primer, the base coat is Humbrol acrylic 75 matt bronze green, ighlighted with 86 olive green.


Camo stripes are Humbrol 33 matt black with humbrol 67 panzer grey drybrushing to show up the edges.


A few waterslide transfers finished things off. They're a mix of models & manufacturers; Airfix Sea King, Matchbox Westland Wessex, Italeri King Tiger, GW vehicle markings...


The arms and torso still twist, giving a nice range of poses.


The UK temperate camouflage scheme fist in with my DLD AFVs


It's suitably imposing, but not so big that it's impractical on the tabletop.


A few close-ups of the transfers.


I think they add a nice finishing touch!


Now to try it out in a game...

Robotech wreckage

"Look Sarge, a big robot... but I think it's broken!"


This Robotech VF-1J Veritech fighter in Battloid mode (AKA Macross Valkyrie) has been in the loft for several years, and got rather too hot! Much of the plastic has discoloured from white to a stained yellow colour. The arms and legs are attached by moulded-on plastic pegs which push into PVC bushes, giving articulated joints at the shoulders, elbows, knees, wrists, feet and head. As you can see, the styrene pegs haven't survived very well!

Luckily I still have all the bits, and plan to rebuild it in a fixed pose - this will also enable me to remodel the hands and get it to hold the GU-11 gun pod properly.

This particular model is an Imai kit, and I think it was actually produced as a 1:100 scale, so should be spot-on for use with my 15mm games.

I'll probably paint it in the standard brown/grey/green camo I've been using on most of my vehicles to date, which will also mean that it will match some of my 1:300 scale Stinger and Wasp BattleMechs - time to start re-creating BattleTech in 15mm!