Tokyo was not built in a day

Hey all,

This week I've made a start on a small city. Not a big start by any means, just three buildings, but a start all the same. After a little bit of experimenting with wibbly-wobbly paper buildings, I decided that it would be better to just bite the bullet and make my city out of good 'ol resin. However, this is going to cost a bucket-load, so I'm going to chip away on this project a little bit at a time with the plan to make a decent 3'x3' urban layout by the end of the year.

The two smaller buildings are by Scotia and the larger one is by Battletech.

I make a point of not doing 'bad reviews' on this blog out of common courtesy, but recently I ordered a fair few Scotia buildings, after being impressed by their low price and decent looking quality. However, when I got them I was less than pleased. Most of them were not terrible models, but were terribly cast, with nasty flash obscuring their detail, and the bottoms on many of them being 'hollow', as if they had not quite pored enough resin into the mold when they were being cast.

In fact, for the first time ever, I asked for my money back for a few of the buildings that were so bad that I just couldn't see any way of using them!

In a similar trend, the Battletech building was also badly cast, with the same 'hollow bottom' problem that the Scotia buildings had. I've had some Battletech buildings before (that I irritatingly got rid of a few months ago, before starting this project) that were superbly cast with almost nothing in the way of air-bubbles or flash.

I did not buy either variety of building direct from the manufacturer, and what with the bad castings, I am more than a little suspicious that they might be poor quality re-casts, rather than the genuine articles....

In better news, I also painted up a Federation 'Long-Track' AT-T mobile radar recently. Its a GHQ model, and as with everything I've had from them recently, its nothing less than a miniature work of art.

Better luck next time, eh?

MM.

Type-74 Tanks (GHQ)

Hey Internet,

I've done a thing again.

This time its a few NPCs for my 'Monster Movie' games - a couple of 'Type-74' tanks, the mainstay of the Japanese Self Defence Force's armoured corps.

The models are actually AMX-30s (French MBTs), but they look sort of like a Japanese 'Type-74' tanks - well, at least close enough for me not to care. All the important elements are there; the boxy Infa-Red spotlight to the left of the main gun, the rounded turret and the basic dimensions all match the '74 quite well.

These models are by GHQ, and like just about everything that company makes they are nothing less than tiny works of art. The detail on these things is fantastic, easily equal too or better than that on many of my 15mm tanks.

Annoyingly, two of the copulas are missing machine-guns because they were not cast properly. I'm sure that no one would have noticed the missing square-millimetre if I hadn't mentioned it, but its really bugging me that these models are anything less than perfect.

Odin Goldsmith

Hey Internet,

You know when you just have a model on your painting table forever? I think that this one must have been waiting patiently at the back of my desk for the better part of two years - he's Odin Goldsmith, part of the Anima Tactics miniatures range.

I had great fun painting this one up. It was real easy - nothing more than a bit of dry-brushing followed by a good few ink washes and glazes. I felt that the model was really lacking something right at the end of painting it, so decided to add a light purple 'glowing eye-slit' effect to introduce a colour other than green into the frey. I think it looks far better for having done it, but cant escape feeling that it looks a little forced.



I've not especially painted this model up to use as anything in particular, but there are many roles he may well take on. I've based him up like my 'Of Gods and Mortals' collection, mostly because this is my only 'Fantasy' Model Collection. I can see him fitting in well in a game of OGaM though, perhaps as a Jötunn or as any one of a number of Æsir. I've also strayed into the game Warmachine & Hordes recently, and as I don't really care for any of my chosen factions 'Warlocks', so he might well fit the bill for that project.


At just a little over 40mm tall, this model would  make a nice God, particularly with the glowing eyes.



A scale comparison with a 28mm figure.

Mobile Base Command

Hey Internet,

I've not been feeling all-too-hot for the last two weeks, so I've not been getting much done on the hobby front. I actually painted these a few weeks back, but never got round to posting them.

This is 'Mobile Base Command' - a state of-the-art mobile command post belonging to the Self-Defence forces. Packed with high-ranking military personnel and the worlds leading monsterologists, it can drive precariously close to the front line to provide command and scientific support, as well as added jeopardy.

In 'Savage Worlds' Mobile Base Command has some good command effects to help keep his allies in the fight, as well as a jury-rigged 'Sonic Beam' weapon that can be fired from the radar dish to confound and confuse rampaging Kaiju.

The model is a Battletech one, although I cannot recall it's name. Its a very nice casting, but the sculpt itself is a little weird - the details are sharp, but the basic shapes are sort of wonky.

I cant remember what these little thingies are called - they are modern American transports of some kind. The models are by Heroics & Ross, and while not the best sculpts in the world I think they look kind of all-right.