S-Mars Abrams - WIP

Recently I was given a number of S-Mars kits by a friend. I have slowly been assembling them, but they are all quite awful kits with a great deal of flash and instructions that are quite lacking in any meaningful detail.

Not as advertised.

All of these factors are trumped by the fact that the description on the box doesn't actually contain the kit you get. M-60 with reactive armour? - nope, just a plain ol' M-60. Abrams with Mine Plow? - Nope, just an Abrams.

Post scraping phase.

I've taken a few shots of the assembled kit before painting to show the amount of green stuff needed to fill the gaps in the kit.

And more Green Stuff.

 The amount of trouble I have had with making this and the other S-Mars kits means that I will be avoiding them like the plague .

And yet more.....

While I accept that some kits require more work than others, it galls me that the box doesn't contain the advertised kit. Still I hope to be able to turn them into useful items on the wargaming table.

WIP Cardboard M-113

Cardboard and resin M-113

Many years ago I purchased a pdf of a 172 scale M113 from Paper Tiger Armaments. Naturally, after printing it out, I did absolutely nothing with it. Frank, on the other hand was inspired to make his own cardboard M-113s for his cultist army.

The soft cardboard underbelly of the beast.

I obtained three of his surplus hulls early last year with a view to figuring out a way of making some quick and dirty wheel and track assemblies to use on them. I figured the easiest way of making the assemblies was to create a one piece resin assembly.

A coat of paint and some stowage will make it look better!

Once I made the wheel assembly, I then glued it to the hull and repeated the process on the other side. I then put a black undercoat on the assemblies, and then started putting some Sand grey primer on one side of the model.

Undercoated track and wheel assembly.

Dry brush of sand grey primer over the track and wheel assembly.

So with a little more work, I can finish this model off, repeat the process another two times, and chalk up another project as being finished off.

EKO Set 4508 - Swiss Infantry

A group of not Swiss infantry based up for CD.

While I have been busy of late, I have found time too paint up another set of Eko figures (Click Here to see the PSR article). These were sourced through the good offices of Glenn, and I will admit I enjoyed painting them.

In CD terms this would equate to a strong rifle company of four rifle platoons, a HQ section and a patrol/recon element.

The Swiss Army of the 1970s is not a force that I could see myself getting a great deal of gaming use out of, and while painting them up in their intended scheme would have been quite pleasing, I felt that I would bring out the character of the figures more if I opted for a different scheme. With that in mind, I have gone for a scheme that should let me add them into a number of different factions that I use in my moderns games.

The BUA has lots of CD friendly places to put troops in!

I also found time to finish off two buildings that I have been working on for around two years. I figured it was either finish them, or deep six them. Now that the wife has moved up here and the unpacking has started in earnest, I should be able to set up a proper painting desk again, and get a good size table organised.

Building A: The view from above.

 I have a few more little BUAs planned as I hope by making lots of small ones, I can place them down to cover large amounts of a table in urban sprawl.

Building B: Same-Same but different!.

Perhaps I will even manage to finish off some other projects? - One can but dream!

EKO Set 4515 - Arab Legion

Recently I acquired a couple of sets of EKO figures from Glenn. He picked them up from a seller at the last bring and buy held at the Woolston Club in Christchurch, and figured that given my love of weird types of plastic figures I would be very interested in them.

Plastic Soldier did a feature on EKO figures (click here for more information), goes into the history of the figures in more detail, and over at Small Scale World, there are a number of posts on EKO (click here for more information)

The original factory paint job.

The figures are presumably intended to represent troops of the Arab Legion, but i figured that I could paint them up for use in my ongoing Harad games. I did decide to go with a paint scheme that would capture the feel of the original figures. With this in mind i was able to make three infantry stands for CD, and two command stands.

The flag stand could also be used as a command infantry stand.

 The intent is to paint up some stands of Airfix/Hat Arabs to add to the force with the same patterning on their keffiyeh (or shemagh if you prefer), this should give the force an overall theme to tie it together.

Two command stands

Painting the headdress was a challenge, and I don't think I fully cracked it. The last figure I did (the rifleman on the stand with the grenade thrower) I just painted the head dress red and just put lots of white dots on. I predict I may use the same technique again in the near future!

Imperial Scout Troopers

Just a quick update to prove that this blog is still active! Recently I acquired a set of the Micro Machines Star Wars Scout Troopers collection. This has been a set that I have been hunting for some time.

Worth lots in the box.

 I have seen boxes sets of these on E-Bay go for US$80. Thankfully, I didn't play that much for these, but I did spend more than I would normally on a  Micro Machine figure set. The two main reasons were - A) I hadn't seen the set available for some time (no doubt the market will now be flooded with sets at a cheaper price), and B) The price was reasonable (Although not as reasonable as the sticker price!).

But difficult to use in gaming unless opened!

 Of course I need to open the set to use the miniatures, which will of course lower the value of the  set, but toys are made to be played with. That, and even the loose unboxed figures can go for around $US8 dollars each!

And added to the collection - now I just need some more Jet Bikes!

To the collectors who see this, and are unhappy with my actions in opening a MIB set, I would point out that I have added value to the remaining  MIB sets by opening one, and that by reducing the pool of  unopened sets I am increasing the challenge factor - and thus the enjoyment factor - in finding a MIB set.

Much of the material I use for my gaming could be considered collectors' items, but given the sheer scale of production of these plastic toys, how rare are they?

Hugh Walter, author of the blog "Small Scale World" addresses the subject numerous times in his blog, and raises many interesting points in a manner far better than I could, and with the benefit of considerable knowledge of collecting across several fields. His most recent musing (at the time of writing) is here and can be found part way down the post under the heading "Prices"

Largely I agree with Hugh on this, but would like to add that hobbies should be fun, and not "All about the Rutherfords!"

Loot from Kapiti

Last weekend I took the opportunity to go to the Kapiti Wargaming Club Annual Bring and Buy (click here for details), and met some very nice people. Everyone I spoke to was friendly and very helpful. So I thoroughly recommend attending any of their events if you get the opportunity!

All in a purpose designed cardboard box too!

I also took the opportunity to acquire a rather nice piece of terrain - a pre-painted set of resin dungeon building pieces that can be used for a variety of purposes other than making mazes, but are pretty damn cool!

All the pieces minus the connectors were there.

Naturally, upon return to Palmerston North, I had to get it out and play with it and see how it all connected together.

A large chunk of it laid out together

 The set comes with a booklet of sample layouts that look interesting, but are more geared towards dungeon delving RPGs than for wargaming scenarios. That being said, I do have a couple of ideas on how to employ this rather nice set of terrain.

Top left, one of the two polystyrene trays the pieces go in.

Close up of the pieces.

 I also purchased a number of GW Night Goblins that I plan to use as part of my 20mm Fantasy project. This does feed into one of the ideas I have on using this terrain.

And a resin gun emplacement too.

I also picked up a very nice resin gun emplacement with cast on wicker gabion detailing. It had been designed for use with 25/28mm figures judging from the barrels, but once they are removed and a few other tweaks occur, it should be a very nice 20mm piece for use in 18th century games.

Close up of the emplacement. I have plans for this piece...

Last week also saw the arrival of  some purchases I made over the internet. I bought some 1/144 scale Mig 21s and two packets of the Ultima Ratio Mujahidins (Click here for the PSR review)

Loot unpacked.

Bag inside the box - Three sprues per box.

So I have more stuff to paint, and hopefully I can organise a game of something soon and post an AAR!

Diecast Chieftains

While I have acquired a number of the Matchbox Battle King Chieftains to use in modern games, I have never, until recently, obtained an example of the Playart Chieftain. Playart produced a range of diecast tanks at around the same time Matchbox produced the Battle King range.

Playart Chieftain Tank.

Unlike the Battle Kings Chieftain, the Playart version has a more realistic set of running gear. It does seem to have a turret that seems a little odd, as are some of the angles to the rear of the hull.

And painted up, with figure for scale.

In order for it to match the other Chieftains I have, I decided to give it a repaint using the same techniques I have used on other vehicles - sand coloured paint, followed by a brown wash.

Front view.  This gives a good view of the turret shape around the gun mount.

A side view. Note the length of the gun barrel.

Diecast Chieftains. The metallic green paint has survived rather well on the two Battle Kings.

I also have two Battle King Chieftains to give the same treatment too, of course the large horde of plastic Chieftains (click here for details) that I still have to work on.