HS-120 Science Tank [2]

Hey Internet,

I got a little too carried away 'being all Soviet' in my last Blog Post and neglected to do my usual 'short review' and 'how I did the model' bits.

The HS-120 is a 'Socrates class Bombard' from Spartan Games' Dystopian Wars game. The model is a single piece of resin and really rather nice. Its a CAD design, so as you'd expect, it has perfectly strait lines and plenty of detailing.

I was similarly impressed by the casting. There were no air bubbles or anything, but more importantly, the model appears to have been cast in such a way that it had absolutely no mold lines! Mold lines do my head in, particularly on models with lots of little details, and not having to deal with them was really rather nice. Although I got this one off a friend a fair while ago, new it would only have cost about the same as a GHQ tank, which isn't all too bad.

The model is intended to be a 1/1200^th steampunk tank, but I couldn't find any features on it that tied it irreparably to that scale. With its nice rounded turret, Archimedes screws and silly big gun with lots of cliché steampunk pipes 'n stuff going in and out of it, I thought it'd fit right in as part of my 6mm Soviet faction.

Painting wise, she's the same colours as Nova Streltzy that did the other week. Its mostly drybrushing and edge highlights so didn't take long to get done. I had a bit of fun with the glowy purple bits and the odd brass pipes. Maybe I should have painted more of it red? Still not sure though - the bare green has a nice 60's Soviet tank feel. All in all it only took about 2 hours start to finish, including me arseing around doing some other bits and pieces.

^ I really like how the big cog is responsible for elevating the turret. Very Soviet.