Cherno Alpha

"That tank, last of the T-90s, Cherno Alpha. First generation Mark 1. Heaviest, oldest Jaeger in the service. But make no mistake Mr. Becket, its a brutal war machine. And those two, Sasha and Aleksis Kaidanovsky."

"Yeah, I've heard of them, perimiter patrol, siberian wall." 

"On their watch it stayed unbreached for six years. Six. years."

***

Hey Internet,

As some of you might have noticed, I am a real sucker for modelling things that I see in films or games or books. Never has this been more so than with Cherno Alpha from Pacific Rim.

I can very clearly remember sitting in the cinema and letting out an audible "gwwah!" as Idris Elba's character introduces the machine.

My Cherno is a fairly simple re-paint of a Japanese Gashapon ("collectable candy toy") that I picked up on Ebay for a few quid.

The detail is pretty good, considering that it was never designed to be a display piece. My only major criticism would be that it was made out of some kind of god-awful rubbery substance that flaked off when it was filed, which made taking off the mold lines a right old pain.

The only photo I took of the figure before painting. It's being held by a 7" action figure, for gauging scale.

I went for 'washed out green colour' to better match the figure to some of the fantastic concept art - and to tie it in with my other 6mm Soviet Armour.

Concept Art.

Concept Art.

A few of the details have been brought up with a nice contrasting red, but fewer than I would have liked. Ideally he'd have some red lines on the head and arms, like he does in the film, but freehand really isn't my thing, and I was too happy with how the figure turned out to risk ruining it with wiggly lines all over the place.

In the end it took far longer than I had expected to get this one painted up. Although it was mostly a single colour, the edge highlights still took ages simply due to the seer size of the piece.

Like him?

MM.

***

The Lead Tally - 2015

Acquired: +12       Painted: +2          Total: -10

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. 

HM-120 Science Tank [1]

* * *

Greetings Comrades,

Today we unveil the latest weapon in our great Union's struggle against the Capitalist menace: The HM-120 (Hayka Mashina; Scientific Vehicle).

The HM-120 is the culmination of many years of thought and labour. Armed with the new 'Brainial Beam' it insures our military supremacy for many decades to come.

Developed by the great minds of the Moscow State University, the 'Brainial Beam' is a new and formidable weapon that renders even the most opulent Western war machines inoperable.

Although its workings are of course secret, it is known that the weapon functions by attacking the very minds of its target, drawing their deepest fears and anxieties to the forefront of their consciousness, rendering them insensible with madness within moments.

Also of note are the 'Archimedes Screws' that take the place of the usual endless-tracks seen our other great armoured vehicles. Developed by Comrade Archimedes, by order of Comrade Stalin himself, these screws allow the HM-120 unrivalled mobility on any surface, and with floatation tanks allow it to traverse bodies of water.

The HM-120 will be deployed in coming months under the direction of the Bureau of Psychotronic Warfare.

Commanders are invited to respond with their thoughts on this new weapon.

Comrade Marx.

* * *

The Lead Tally - 2014

Acquired: +31       Painted: +10          Total: -23

Ideas: Pyongyang Unicorn

Hey Internet,

With Nova Streltzy sitting pretty, its time for me to plan my next Jager: The Pyongyang Unicorn !

I have a nice clean concept - I just need a model to hang it off.

It needs to look a bit crappy, but still look okay next to Infinity models. I think it should be big too. Real big. 

Whereas the other Jagers in my setting have one pilot, I feel the Payongyang Unicorn needs a crew of at least three: most benevolent and powerful leader and two guys to actually fly the thing. 

The 'Weird Science' rules in Savage Words also give interesting opportunities for things like the super-computer eating the tape...

Lead contender at the moment is the OOP Battletech 'Colossus';

Its big, fugly, and looks to have a superb sound-system for playing invigorating patriotic songs during the heat of battle.

I am far from settled on this model though - and I want to get this one right. Anyone else got a contender they think would fit the bill?

MM.

Nova Streltzý

Hey Internet,

I've not been feeling all too hot lately, so it’s been a little while since I last did a post. I've been too pre-occupied with hay fever and migraines to get much in the way of modelling and painting done.

Yet, I present Nova Streltzý.

This is the first Infinity model that I have painted in a long time, but should hopefully be the first of many that I post up as part of this ‘Kaiju Hunting’ project. I have about half a dozen waiting for their turn.

Right now, I am really rather of the opinion that the figures produced by Infinity are just the best science fiction figures currently available. The designs are intricate, but not cluttered. The concepts are, whilst universally ‘anime’ and cyberpunk inspired, rather fresh and original. The quality of the sculpting and casting is just superb. They have even been designed so that they fit together without a modicum of fuss or difficulty; something that I would say is my major peeve when it comes to high-end figures.

However, for me at least, this quality has been a bit of a downer. I consider myself an all-right painter. Not great by any means, but at least ‘okay’. These figures on the other hand far better than merely ‘okay’!

Whenever I am painting one I feel that I am doing it an injustice. I've seen what painters far better than I can achieve, and even as I put all of the effort, concentration and skill I can muster into a figure, I know that it is doomed to fall short.

This in mind, I spent the better part of a week’s ‘hobby time’ arseing around on-line looking for the perfect colour scheme for this figure, researching how to layer and highlight properly and so on and so forth.

All that said, I’m really quite happy with how Nova Streltzý has turned out. I went for a simple olive drab and red colour scheme. The green is a new concoction that I have not tried before, but I am most pleased with it. I think I will try it again on some Soviet armour before too long. The red was also different to my usual mix – far brighter and more ‘red’ than my usual red-orange. Those two colours aside, the rest was arduously painted dirty metal piping, with shiny brass bits.

Nova Streltzý took bloody forever to paint, probably about 9 hours in all split into three three hour painting sessions, but really that’s no bad thing. I’ve been in a painting rut for quite a while, churning out ‘passable’ models at the rate of a few a week, and I really feel like I gave this guy my all for once. I tried a bunch of new colour mixes and painting techniques and ended up with the first figure that I can say I'm proud to have completed in a very long time.

^ Russians on Parade

***

The Lead Tally - 2014

Acquired: +31       Painted: +5          Total: -28

8" Cherno Alpha Action Figure

Internet,

LINK

8" tall action figure. 

I've never bought an action figure in my life, but, I've seen it now.

And I want it.

I want it a lot.

MM.

HMS Saint George

***

Developed, designed and commissioned in the immediate aftermath of the Second Battle of London, the HMS Saint George was the first bio-mechanical hybrid, or ‘biomech’, to be constructed by the United Kingdom in Fortress Britannia's struggle against the Kaiju.

Designed around the tentatively understood scientific principles discovered during the examination of the Second Beast’s remains, the Saint George, like all biomechs, is the result of the melding of a gargantuan, genetically engineered homo-sapien with cutting edge military hardware.

However, as capable a machine was the Saint Geroge is, it was the identity of the Saint Geroge’s pilot that venerated her into the global popular consciousness.

This pilot was, of course, none other than King William V.  

This was, of course, a decision made by chance rather than by choice. Following a nation wide genetic examination, King William V was found to be amongst only a handful of individuals in all of the United Kingdom able to make a psychosynchronous connection. Of all of those that could, King William alone was the only one with combat experience, having flown with the RAF against both the Russian Federation and the Kaiju menace.

In the end, after much argument over the wisdom of placing a head of state directly into harm's way, Parliament gave their approval, and construction began.

The contract was awarded to BAE Systems, who in turn called upon the assistance of the finest scientific and technological institutions in the country to construct Saint George.

The primary stage cloning process was carried out at the University of Cambridge. At the end of the first trimester, the embryo was transferred to an undisclosed subterranean facility thought to be somewhere in the area of Chatham, London. After nine months of incubation and a further two of outfitting, the HMS Saint George became the primary combat unit of the British armed forces.

***

This figure is the character 'High Arbiter Arkeid' from the Anima Tactics miniatures game.

Whilst all the Anima Tactics figures that I have had have been superbly sculpted and cast, their unique anime style tends to leave them rather spindly and prone to breaking. This figure originally had a long spear, however, despite storing it in a foam carry-case the spear repeatedly bent under its own weight - so in the end I cut it down into its current 'flaming sceptre' form, which is a shame.

I originally painted it up to be a 'War Strider' in a 10mm Exaulted Fantasy game that never came to fruition. All I have done is re-base the figure and add a few highlights here and there to bring it in line with figures that I have painted more recently.

Hope you like him!

MM.

The Lead Tally - 2014

Acquired: +0       Painted: +1          Total: +1