Grumpy's shopping trip

Time for a trip to the shops! And being environmentally aware, Grumpy the colonist, his missus and their friend have decided to take the bus. (OK, actually it's because his survivalist motor-caravan isn't yet finished so he hasn't got any other transport - one more reason to look grumpy...)

This bus is from French manufacturer Majorette - hence the Parisian route information & advertising on the side. As always, disassembly followed by paint stripping (metal parts only!) and re-painting will provide the colony world with another useful item of scenery. It could even form part of a scenario - rescue the helpless colonists from the evil alien invasion.

I'm thinking that with a couple of magnets concealed in the roof, I could also build a clip-on armoured shell for more post-apocalyptic adventures.

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!

Medic!!

The future is a dangerous place - which is why efficient medical aid is essential.

Enter the colony ambulance...


This being a grotty colony world, they're stuck with a low-tech wheeled ambulance rather than an expensive grav vehicle. Yes, I know it's a little over-scale, but hopefully that won't be quite so noticeable in the midst of a battle (especially if it's only background scenery). I have a couple of these old Matchbox ambulances, one more battered than the other. When I get the chance, they will be stripped & re-painted in a different colour scheme, possibly white and a pale surgical green. I have a couple of civilians who will be painted as med-techs in pale surgical green jumpsuits, so that should tie them together neatly.

As a bonus, this ambulance has opening rear doors, which... Hey, that doesn't look like a medical droid! Better hope no colonists require first aid until we get a proper doctor!

Old Crow Models - Sabre Heavy Tank

The Sabre heavy tank was another lovely model to paint, with plenty of raised detail on the hull and turret to reward careful drybrushing.


I really must get around to gluing the gun barrel on!


Photographs of the Old Crow vehicles in action to follow in the next couple of weeks...

Old Crow Models - Glaive APC

Next up we have the Glaive APC...

As you can see, it's a nice simple design with lots of nice moulded-in detail. A real pleasure to paint, enough features to make it interesting to work on, but not so much that gets cluttered - although with all those flat spaces, there is plenty of scope to add your own stowage as desired.

The only thing which would have been a nice addition would have been a separate hatch, so there was the option of showing it open - but that would have involved lost of scratch-building of the interior, and I don't expect many people would require that anyway.

Old Crow Models - Gladius Medium Tank

Work continues on my Old Crow vehicles - first we have the Gladius medium tank.



This is painted in Humbrol enamels - matt 33 black undercoat followed by rough base coat of matt 29 dark earth (heavy drybrush so that the black shadows still show through round the hatches, panels, grilles etc.) with blotchy 86 light olive green and 27 sea grey camouflage. The driver's vision panel and turret targeting optics are painted with Humbrol acrylics, 104 oxford blue base with a 25 blue highlight along the top half.

Transport vehicle

A matchbox transport vehicle. I have another one in NASA colours which originally had some sort of rocket on the back. I don't know what this rescue vehicle had on the back, possibly a small 'plane?

This is one of the few Matchbox toys that I've seen which actually has a scale noted underneath. This one is 1:150 scale, but I think it looks OK with the 15mm figures (in this case GZG light vacc-suits).