Venturing into the Wasteland

[Terry37]

In pursuit of my new venture into the post apocalyptic world of the likes of  Mad Max, and I Am Legend, to name a few I am planning on 4 armies – Road Warriors = bad gangs with monster vehicles, The Law = the Police to protect the Wasteland, The Survivors = the compounds of civilized people trying to rebuild after the apocalypse and The Creepers = wild crazed city dwellers who rely on simple hand weapons, claws and teeth (think of the baddies in I Am Legend). These will be for the HOTT rules and by having 4 armies I can accommodate multi-player big games.

It is going to require some fun conversions of figures and vehicles so I thought I would document them here in case others wanted ideas to venture into the genre.

My first vehicle is going to be also the easiest conversion – A SWAT van for the Law army. For now I am just sharing the real vehicle I am using as a guide, and the Pendraken parts and basic conversion.


Here is the guide I am using, and mine will also have an abundance of police type decals on it (derived from studying numerous pictures of SWAT vehicles on the net).


Here are the basic Pendraken parts I will be using for the model, and the indicated changes. Again, this will be a very basic conversion of just removing the shade curtains and supporting poles from the truck model. The turret is from a WW2 German  armored car and looks appropriate for a SWAT vehicle.


Here's the proposed layout with the turret added.

That's all I have for now, but will continue to post updates as I am able to make them.

Terry

[sunjester]

Nice idea, I'm looking forward to seeing the finished conversion.

[fsn]

Original thought when reading this was "oooh, someone's going to Middle Borough".

Like your idea - innovative and great fun. I would also add if you bump it into the future a bit more, it could serve as the Cursed Earth from Judge Dredd.

BTW, did you see the contraptions in the last Mad Max film?  Plenty of scope there for all sorts of wierdness!

[Terry37]

Thank you gentlemen. Today I am hoping to do the removing of the bits process, and I should mention that will also include removing the forward hatch cover on the roof to allow the turret to fit properly.

Painting should be pretty quick since it is just a black vehicle, however, I seldom use true black. I use a hobby store paint by CreamCoat called "Charcoal". It is a very dark black gray, but allows me to use true black for shadows, and a medium gray does nicely for highlights. Also, it does not give the same dead color look to something in true black.

Then it will be decal time and I expect that to take some length of time as they will be on the sides, front and rear, with some being only 3 MM in size. FYI, I get my custom decals from Kevin Hammond at Miscellaneous Miniatures, and he does fantastic work!

https://www.miscmini.com/

Milard, Oh yes, am a BIG fan of the Mad Max movies, ever since I saw the first one when it was first released. Have all 4 plus bonus discs in my movie library. And you will see many of the vehicle ideas when I start doing the Road Warrior vehicles. And, I actually have a Judge Dredd army yet to paint and may add it to this effort.

Most of my figures are Rebel Minis, except the Creepers who will be Splintered Light, and for several armies - a few Khurasan figures.

I have wanted to do a post apoc army for years, but wasn't sure how I wanted to go about it. So with a bit of restriction to my activities due to an injury, I did a marathon of watching Mad Max and other Post Apoc movies and the ideas came easily. I am still very dedicated to Weird War but this is equally as much fun with equal opportunities for creativity and conversion work.

OK, let's see how much I can get done today?

Terry

[mart678]

Check out some of the Matchbox toy cars there are some usable ones there found some in Poundland Tesco etc

[d_Guy]

Continue to like the careful planing you do for your mods, fun to watch as the work evolves.

BTW, did you see the contraptions in the last Mad Max film?  Plenty of scope there for all sorts of wierdness!

+1 The "regimental band" is worth the price of admission. 

[Terry37]

I did manage a little more work on the SWAT van today - removing all of the unwanted bits. I also drilled the hole for the turret so you can better see how it will look. Later after I took the picture I puttied gaps and nicks from removing the awnings. Next will be to smooth the puttied areas and then if all looks right to sand the entire vehicle and prime for painting.


The bit of red is just a reflection of a table near the model where I took the picture.

Bill, Being honest, I too look forward to seeing the progress of some of my efforts, because what one sees in the mind may not be the same as what one actually creates!

Mart, Appreciate the suggestion, and I would love to use some of the Matchbox cars as they could be very cool. But I am shying away from them for two main reasons. First I love the Pendraken models and feel I can create enough vehicles from what they offer. And also that way all my vehicles will fit on the base sizes for HOTT comfortably, and all models will be the same scale. I'm also not sure I'd like working much with die cast metal as opposed to the metal of the Pendraken models. I'm used to the latter and know how it can be worked, but I'm not sure die cast would allow much beyond gluing a few bits on and I have way greater plans than that.

More to follow,

Terry

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

I must reinforce the comment on Matchbox, they are no particular scale, but I've managed to accumulate 4 x 15mm Oshkosh 4 wheeled APC's, and converted the Assault Breaker to an PCE, amongst others.  Some of the larger vehicles will do for 10mm, and smaller ones for 20mm, the  expeditionary Landrover does for that.

IanS

[Terry37]

Ian, I appreciate the additional nudge, however, from what I've seen of Hot Wheels cars they exceed the size needed to fit the bases. The models for cars need to be only 30 MM long or less, and I am not aware of any that do. However, the two Land Rover models Leon offers do fit, and with some chopping and hacking to make them more road warrior looking they should do even better. Plus I have some 15 MM chassis with the wheel which I can reduce the length of and build a dune buggy type from scratch, which is also an option. For the army lists I've worked up I am only needing a couple of road warrior cars, and one road warrior war rig truck and fuel pod trailer, so I think I will be covered.

I am also going to use a Land Rover for the Law patrol car, but haven't decided how I want to have it look, but lots of possibilities. Looking at making a fast back rear body section to make it look more "Interceptor" like. You know with a trunk wing and a big blower on the front. That's the thought for now anyway.

None of the other armies get vehicles. However, I am always open and welcome to suggestions so thanks for the nudge.

Terry

[Womble67]

Very interesting i shall follow this with interest

Take care

Andy

[Terry37]

OK, the van is puttied, sanded and glued to the painting stick. I should be able to prime it tonight and start painting it tomorrow.

I did create a set of police lights for the upper front roof so that plus the decals will be the real color of it, but a little shading and highlighting may help keep it from looking so dull and drab.

Thanks all for your interest!

More soon,

Terry

[Techno]

Looking forward to the next stage, Terry.

Cheers - Phil

[Terry37]

Got the base coats on the van, and took a picture to keep the steps going. This is after two coats of the black gray I use, so looking closely you can still see some of the gray primer showing through. That's because I use very thin coats when I can and would rather do several than have a bunch of brush strokes show. After I took this picture I applied a third coat of the black gray and also painted the undercoat of white for the police light bar at the front of the roof. Looks kind of blah right now doesn't it!



Next step will be to paint the tires true black, and do any shading and detailing I want to do with black, and then hit the highlights, finish the light bar and it should be ready for the gloss coat so I can apply the decals. Tomorrow may be limited on hobby time but I'll see what I can get done.

More soon,

Terry

[Steve J]

Looking good so far Terry

[Terry37]

Sorry, but no pictures this post as I was only able to get some brush time in tonight and I need daylight to get decent pictures .... and even then it's doubtful with my camera skills!!!

However, I was able to finish adding the  police lights, and doing the shading and outlining of doors and such. Tomorrow I hope to do the highlights and it should be ready for the gloss coat and then the decals. I'll get a picture tomorrow regardless of what progress I make.

Terry