Atenociti's Metro Terminus

I assembled and primed this a while back, but I wasnt satisfied with the poster images supplied with the kit. The downside of speaking Japanese, is that when random text is copied and pasted to make cyberpunk graphics... it bugs me. So today I searched for a some advertising images from the Cyberpunk 2077 video game.

I resized them to the appropriate dimensions in GIMP and printed them on photo paper. The result is a much more appealing bus stop shelter.

Anvil Industries Regiments

I got some bits from the Regiments line at Anvil Industries. These really great folks offer a system of interchangable parts (heads, arms, legs, weapins, torsos, accessories) you can use to construct miniatures of a modern, near-future, or even 40k type. The pieces are very finely sculpted and cast in resin. Stylisticly they are similar to the GW style, or Foundry perhaps; weapons tend to be oversized though. What intriqued me was the well developed line of female parts, having a daughter that plays, I'm always on the look out fr female minis that aren't grossly sexist. Anvil offers a line of very comoetent looking females. definitely goung to get more of these.

Spy-Fi and Modern Military Widget

Came across this little generator today. Very useful in generating codenames for operations and projects, be they espionage, or military actions; think Operation Gothic Serpent, or Project Blue Book... now you can have Operation Field Gazelle and Project Orange Drought.

I give you:

Project Codename.

Five And A Half More...

I finished painting more minis this weekend. I was rather taken by the finished colors on the urban guerrilla pictured at right. I had used two Ceramcoat shades of green on her clothing and they finished rather nicely I thought, so I decided to use those colors as the basis for my trooper schemes. You can see the results here, the male troopers are ex-Grenadier castings by EM-4/Mirlington, the female is from Copplestone Castings.

The troopers were done a bit slap-dash, but they came out well enough. The guerrilla (a Copplestone Castings' Partisan) was painted to a much higher standard, with yellow marking stripe on the grenade and a storied baseball team cap.

At the far left is the other plainclothes cop from Northstar's "Fistful of Kung Fu" line. Probably should have gone for a higher contrast between vest and shirt, but I wanted to try that purple. Sue me.

Trooper Scheme:

Uniform: Ceramcoat "Timberline Green"
Armor: Ceramcoat "Dark Forest Green" with VMC 053 "Chainmail Silver" scratches; with VMC 010 "Bloody Red" optic lens on the helmet.
Boots/Holster/Electronics: Ceramcoat "Charcoal" with VMC 053 "Chainmail Silver" drybruch on the edges of electronic devices.
Firearms: Ceramcoat "Charcoal" barrel/GL/magazine with VMC 053 "Chainmail Silver" drybrush, and VMC 062 "Earth" receiver
Beret: VMC 011 "Gory Red"
Pouches: Army Painter "Army Green"

Urban Bases: Ceramcoat "Hippo Grey", drybrushed in Ceramcoat "Bridgeport Grey" and flocked with Woodland Scenics "Burnt Grass" static grass.

Painting Miniatures of Color

I am a really big fan of diversity - both in life and my gaming table - one of the reasons I prefer Vietnam era wargaming to the segregated army of WW2, for example. However painting miniatures that read on the table as non-white is not as easy as it might seem.

This is a skin tone tests for non-white characters. In all I'm rather pleased with the results... the only disappointment is the dirtiness of the white suit... but the photo accentuates it and it looks better in real life.

All the skintones were Vallejo Model Colors. For the three Asian figures on the left (Yakuza gangster "oyabun leader" painted as a low level chimpira in flamboyant red suit, and a "heroic cop" both from Northstar's Fistful of Kung Fu line; female "citizan militia" painted as a Hong Kong SDU officer) were painted with VMC 036 "Bronze Fleshtone". It is a bit stereotypically yellow, but it reads as "Asian" more than any more nuanced tones I've tried. It shall be my go to Asian skintone.

Next we have a "news team minder" painted as a city detective (from Copplestone Castings's Future Wars line) painted with Valleho Model Color Extra Opaque 140 "Heavy Skintone" which I think will read well for both Hispanic/Latino/Chicano and North African/S.W. Asian characters.

Finally "corporate babe 2" (also Copplestone Castings; Future Wars line) painted as an armed female corp with Vallejo Model Color 044 "Dark Fleshtone"which I fine to be a very attractive, rich black skintone in miniature - the photograph really doesn't do the actual miniature justice... she looks gorgeous in person... with just a hint of dirtiness to the white suit. I will definitely be using this color more often.

So those are my basic skintones for non-white miniatures... I would like to find more shades for each that could offer more variety while still remaining identifiable at scale... I have four or five shades of Caucasian/white fleshtone by comparison. However the fact is that real skintones aren't as defined - my wife and I are nearly the same shade for example... and at scale the slightly cartoonish choices of skintone become more important to distinguish the miniatures intended ethnicity. In my previous batch of minis I had experimented with "Heavy Fleshtone" for a lighter-skinned black woman, and "Elf Skintone" (VMC 004) for Asian characters... the results were a Latina-looking woman and two white-looking women respectively. Indeed the Asian characters skintones (two at center) are hard to distinguish from the the three "white" skintones used on the redhead corporate babe with the sword (VMC 089 "Cadmium Flesh"), the partisan in magenta watchcap (Ceramcoat"Medium Flesh"), and the biker on the end (VMC 100 "Rosy Flesh"),

Hobby Off Run...

After work today I swung by Hobby Off. Basically it's a big second hand shop for all kinds of hobby stuff... games, musical instruments, stereo and computer components, cards, figures, models, trains, toys everything.

I hit the 1/72 scale WW2 aircraft models, and came away with these for ¥630 each. the Thunderbolt will be painted up as an RAF Thunderbolt Mk II to support a future Chindit force in Bolt Action. The P39 and P40 will be painted up as early war USAAF support for my US Platoon in North Africa and the Pacific.

I also picked up another Kotobukiya MSG attack helicopter drone (not pictured) and this gigantic MS Gundam MSN-04 Sazabi in approximately 1/60 scale I believe. You can see it dwarfing those TAG Marines on the 80mm round. Not sure when or where I will be using it... but I have a 28mm scale giant robot now....

I do have a couple 1/48 scale mecha models that remain unbuilt, and a number of LBX kits that stand about 1/3rd as high. The LBXs are a bit too small to make believable cockpits spaces in the torsos... i will probably use them as Sentinel-like robots instead.

The Library Swelleth

Two more for the library... which to read first... okay, we all know I need the Dick first.

Also: who else loves drop down title menus?

Building the Library

My first four purchases from Folio Society. To give my Japan-based library (and the new house) some literary cred.

Mars Attacks Truck Kitbash

Getting ready for a big move. Much packing, few supplies readily available... I did however start kit-bashing one of my Mantic Mars Attacks trucks.

Looking at a wheel swap and covered bed from a Chinese 1/55 diecast of a Russian Kraz 6x6. Think I might magnetize the bed to allow payload swaps (tanker, SAM missile launcher etc.).

I still need to stretch the frame, a bit in the rear wheel well to accommodate the bigger tires, but mostly aft of the mud flaps to align the rear bumper with the tailgate - might slap a spare tire up in that space.

MSG Mechanic 001 Wheeled Command Post Carrier/Missile ADA Vehicle

New vehicles... Watching 'Streets of Fire' and test assembling this MSG snap-fit kit this morning.

The kit, by Kotobukiya, is a good size for 28mm, though I'd like to kitbash a rear drop ramp, and redo the hatches to something slightly bigger. For about 1000 yen it's a pretty nice vehicle, that assembles very quickly, and features swappable command vehicle and ADA roofs.

In command post carrier mode she measures:
Length: 118.4mm
Width: 58.8mm
Height: 54.5mm (roof) / 58.9mm (including gun)

The air defense missile carrier version measures:
Length: 118.4mm
Width: 58.8mm
Height: 71.7mm (top of radome)




Kotobukiya also makes tracked vehicle with armored fighting vehicle (AFV) and engineer recovery vehicle variants... I will be needing several of each.

Police Cars and Taxi Cabs (Happy 100th Post)

I'm still waiting for my shipment of cars from China. However I have not been idle. there has been much GIMPage; I've managed to nail down the designs for the police cruisers and taxis.

First, the Fuzz.



The model is a BMW 7 series (E65), however I am toying with the idea of converting the split grill into a single one, and blending away the trunk-lid halves of the tail light assemblies - leaving the sedan more generic. We'll see when they get here. Aside from that, I'm planning to add Valor-type lightbars, front push bars, and grill-mounted emergency lights (not the headlight modifications seen in the sketch).


After much back and forth, I decided on a conventional black and white scheme, with simple text markings. There are subtle nods to Hill Street Blues and the Blade films, but the design is original.I'd toyed with golden-yellow fender markings, but the sketches look much better with white, perhaps because the design is so simple.


Secondly, a Hack Job.


The taxi design is based on the taxi livery used in Almost Human, albeit made more conventional. I decided to add a hint of checkering to the C-pillars, and the registration text block is taken from the type seen on NYC taxis. I haven't done front or rear elevations yet, aside from "CityCab" and the car number on the trunk lid... I don't think I'll be adding anything else aside from, possibly, an aerial marking on the top surface of the trunk lid.

So, that's what I've been up to this week. I guess I should also mention that this is the 100th post. Woot. What started out years ago as a page to support my Delta Green Realms of Cthulhu game, morphed into a Savage Worlds weapons supplement (subsequently spun off on its own), and now serves as my general hobby journal. Hope you all enjoy what I have put up. I'm hoping the year ahead will lead to more regular projects and posts after we get settled in the new house. Fingers crossed.

All Your Base...

A box from Amazon JP you say? Is it the replacement for my broken under warranty Kindle Fire I've been waiting a week and a half for? No.

Oh... models (and a BluRay of Shaun of the Dead)... specifically Kotobukiya Mechanical Chain Base diorama sets. each has a 6" x 6" footprint, and they clip together. When complete, they will form my miniatures photo backdrop. Need to mount it to something... the floors bow up in the middle, and lots of peg holes to fill.

Basing Revisited

I've reconsidered my basing ideas... I had been using black anodized 1" fender washers, but it was creating a height difference between my slotta-base and cast-on base minis.

I favor Mark Copplestone sculpts, particularly his work on Grenadier's Future Warriors line. The original line (now available from EM4 and Mirlington S.G.) used GW style round "slotta" bases and miniatures with a cast on tab. After the demise of Grenadier, and the Future Warriors line, Mark set up his own company (Copplestone Castings) and resculpted most of the line as Future Wars... with cast on bases. As I mix the two lines (and others), I had been gluing the Copplestone Castings mini straight to the washer, and clipping the tab off of the Grenadier minis; gluing the soles of the feet directly to the washer. This created a height difference in the finished minis... accentuated by the tendency of the Copplestones to be a slight bit taller than the original line.

I basically had three options:

1. Ignore the difference (ha!) 
2. File down the cast on bases to make them paper thin, then glue them on the washer. This is a humongous pain in the ass. 
3. Base them on thicker bases, and recess the cast on bases. 

I realized that between the washer thickness, and the cast on bases, the Copplestones were sitting pretty much as high as a slotta based Grenadier... so I decided to use those. For the Copplestones, I'd carve out a void to fit the cast-on base, then back it with plasticard. I tried it on a couple minis and it seemed feasible... but I needed to order some 25mm slottas.

Backing the Mantic Dead Zone Kickstarter project helped refine the plan; before I could order slottas, I received my first backer shipment... chock full of these 1" plastic bases with a 15mm recess in the middle. I realized that the Mantic recessed plastic bases were a perfect starting point for the Copplestones. Many of the female figures had a small enough base to just be glued in place. Some of the others, with the base carefully trimmed to the soles of the boots, would also fit an unaltered base.Wider stance figures were traced onto the base, and then an X-Acto blade was used to enlarge the recess to accommodate the base.

As the Mantic bases were not tapered like GW style slotta bases, I chose to use MDF rounds to base the tabbed minis. The tab is trimmed to create two small pins, one on each foot, these are plotted on the base and then it is drilled with a bit of roughly the same width as the pins. Apply glue, press into base. I had a supply of Gale Force Nine's MDF bases, which I was a huge fan of, but as they seem to be discontinued, I ordered some rounds from Back 2 Base-ix in Australia, cheap, relatively near, and good bases. They are unfinished, which means I need to paint superglue over the surface before using watery basing materials like Vallejo's pumice compound. But that isn't a big deal.

The end result, after all of this, are miniatures that appear to all be based the same way. That is good.

Enforcement Droid Series 209

"OmniCorp is proud to present the future of urban pacification..."

Last month, while shopping at Joshin Electronics with the wife, I spotted a Gashapon (like those gumball machines with the cheap toys in the capsules in the States, but way better toys here) with soft plastic models from the 2014 RoboCop film... three of RoboCop himself, maybe 3" tall - too big for gaming. The fourth possibility was ED209... in what looked to be something close to 28mm.

I dropped in my ¥400 and lucked out on the first try. I cracked it open right away and was very pleased with the size; he stands 66mm tall overall, making him just about 1/50 scale. Here he is built, pinned, and based; he's actually a 13 part kit (2 feet, 2 lower legs, 2 upper legs, lower chassis, upper chassis, 2 arms, 2 weapon pods, and the mini gun). The round is an 80mm MDF round I got from Back 2 Base-ix Wargaming Products of Adelaide Australia. Nice quality, inexpensive, and quick shipping to Japan. Gale Force Nine MDF rounds were my favorite, but they seem to be gone for good, it's nice to have a handy replacement. One difference is that these rounds are uncoated MDF, so they can be sensitive to water. This base has been coated in superglue to seal it, so that it will tolerate Vallejo Pumice basing compound, which is quite watery.

Since I was basing a big old robot, I also dug out of it's shipping box an Alpha Forge DemoBot. I picked it up as part of a large Star Mogul order I made when Mega Minis folded; finally had the time, and a big enough base, to put him together.

*Ex-Grenadier Future Warriors biker tossed in for scale.

Gundam Army Men

Filling in some back posts from my time locked out. Originally posted on my supersecret Facebook page.

*******

Spent the day in Toyama, even got out to the Toys R Us near the University. While I was there, I found these: Gundam Army Men. I bought three bags of each faction. Very very cool. They look to be a good match for 1/300th or so.

We'll have to see how they take paint. I hear Army Painter paints stick to softer plastic pretty damn well. Naturally I'm currently stocked with Vallejo.

My New Crew

Filling in some back posts from my time locked out. Originally posted on my supersecret Facebook page.

*******

Introducing SubCommander Z'Keel of the Romulan Republic, and his command crew.

Hobby Off AVP Finds

Today's finds at Hobby Off:
Aliens Action Fleet Narcissis Lifeboat ¥420 ($3.99)
Aliens Action Fleet M577 APC ¥630 ($5.99)
Predator Action Fleet Warrior Transport ¥1680 ($15.96)

All three are about 28mm scale (Narcissis can be used as a smaller craft than actual scale)... and are thus mine, mine, mine, mine, mine!

P.S. Look these bad boys up on Ebay.. they run about $200 and up. Ha ha! I love Hobby Off

LBX Mecha: 10 or 28mm?

Okay, the gaming man-crush post is coming... trying to find a decent picture of Mark Copplestone... But for now lets talk giant robots.

I've picked up a few Danbōru Senki (Cardboard War Story) models over the past few months; got this one, LBX Gunther Yzelphar, and threw it together yesterday. They go together quickly and are molded in various color plastic, could benefit from some deburring with an Xacto blade, but looks okay as is.
They run about 4.5" tall (114mm). I'm trying to decide if I should use them at 10mm scale or 28mm. From the pics you can see how it compares to a Copplestone Casting 28mm. The chest could be used as a cramped cockpit... somewhat along the lines of the Scopedogs from Armored Trooper Votoms. Not all of the models would work in this manner, the female form models (Minerva and Pandora) have rather small upper torsos. The alternative is to use them as 10mm (1:161) scale giant mecha. The data chip compartment under the chest armor could stand in for a cockpit access hatch in that scale.

I haven't decided... I suppose I'll probably try them out in both scales and maybe decide later. I game in both, Heavy Gear and CAV are 10mm games, while most everything else I do is 28mm.

These are rather nice little kits that run about ¥1000 (~$10), but can often be had for about 30% less. They are fairly poseable, equivalent to an 80's GI Joe figure, but for gaming they might be more durable glued/pinned to a static pose.

The hands are rather simple, so I've taken to swapping them out with Ganpura (Gundam plastic model) detailed hand kits to provide more variety and dynamic poses. Weapon kits are available for the LBX line, and 1/44 scale Ganpura weapons work nicely too. And the best part is that the LBX models use standard connectors allowing you to mix and match torsos, legs, heads, arms, and such. Good deal.

Super Dimentional Fortress Macross

When I was a kid, I watched Robotech. It was one of the early anime influences on me. In junior high school, I rediscovered Robotech through a friend who had the Palladium game books. It was at this time that I discovered that Robotech was a bastard creation of the late Carl Macek, who took three unrelated series and slapped them together. As offensive as I found the concept of changing someone elses work, I came to love Super Dimentional Fortress Macross and Genesis Climber MOSPEADA in their original form. Soon after that I discovered how incredibly awful Palladium's game system was, and the search for better modern rules lead me to Cyberpunk and Mekton.

So there is a silver lining to the incredible pile of crap that the Palladium Robotech game represents.

Macross gaming holds a special place for me, but has been stunted by very limited miniature availability. I have a couple of the lead Battletech knockoff Valkyries... but not enough to really do anything with. I've also picked up a several soft plastic Valkyries from Japanese vending machines over the years - but Zentran mecha have been notably absent - so again, little utility in gaming.

Imagine my suprise at finding something on Kickstarter. Imagine my mixed feelings at it having both the Palladium and Robotech names attatched.

I decided to back it anyway. The rules have nothing to do with Palladium's percentile system, and they seem to realize that by keeping the three eras of Robotech distinct, Macross fans like myself will show interest.

So at the end of the year it looks like I'll be getting a good number of (round about a dozen) Valkyries and tons of Regults and such. Gotta start thinking of squadron colors. The Macross Compedium has a breakdown of a Valkyrie group being:

Group        Squadron     Team         Tactical
Commander     Commander    Leader       Fighter
                                   --- VF-1A
                      --- VF-1J --|
                     |             --- VF-1A
         --- VF-1J --|     
        |            |             --- VF-1A
        |             --- VF-1J --|
        |                          --- VF-1A
VF-1S --|          
        |                          --- VF-1A
        |             --- VF-1J --|
        |            |             --- VF-1A
         --- VF-1J --|
                     |             --- VF-1A     
                      --- VF-1J --|
                                   --- VF-1A
Type
S            J            J            A

I'll probably bastardize that down by removing the group commander level and upgrading the squadron commanders to S variants. Even with that I'm looking at fielding two squadrons, thus two paint schemes. I might do that, especially if the models can be clearly numbered. Otherwise I might make groups of four (S, J, and two As) in 3 or 4 different squadron schemes. Yeah, I actually like the sound of that better. One will be the tan scheme cannon fodder squadron, a Skull squadron (possibly of the movie scheme rather than the series), the Blue Impulse inspired scheme Max flew with... and something else yet to be determined.

Dust Tactics Ideas

So Amazon Japan sells a number of Dust Tactics products. I've ordered a bunch... it's pretty reasonable and perhaps I can get some gaming happening eventually.

Another benefit is the extreme cheapness of Tamiya 1/48 models here. I've snagged a number of them so far. They are assembled into modules, but I haven't finished them, as I'm waiting to secure some decent paint for that. I do not like Japanese acrylic paints. At all. So until I'm rolling in Vallejo, I'm going to delay final assembly to ease the job of painting.

Anyway, in putting the Type 82E together I had this great idea for a 4-door, 3 axel variant. I snapped a pick of the box side art and Gimped up a couple quick sketches.  I will have to revisit this idea latter, with a couple more of the kits.



I also put an M8 Greyhound together... I left off the fenders, which was common among French operated units. I think it completely changes the look of the vehicle... leaner, meaner, more modern. I'd like to mate a MCW Hot Dog turret to it when I can get my hands on a spare one. Think I'll call it a Hellhound.

I have to decide as well on a paint scheme for the Axis. I'm tempted to do 3-color camo schemes on the German equipment, which is more accurate, but Panzer grey is pretty stereotypical. I guess I have some time to think.