{"id":9774,"date":"2020-05-25T12:06:05","date_gmt":"2020-05-25T12:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=9774"},"modified":"2020-05-25T12:06:05","modified_gmt":"2020-05-25T12:06:05","slug":"tanks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=9774","title":{"rendered":"Tanks!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Florida is starting to re-open in a big way, working to get life back to normal, so CINC Domicile is starting to push to get out of the house. The tremendous hobby throughput I have had during the plague panic will be slowing considerably in the next few weeks. But, this weekend, I completed a project that has been languishing for a while: science fiction tanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project actually began many years ago by Greg. He has started to scratch build some GW-like vehicles from extra bits and plasticard. For some reason lost in the mists of time, he didn’t want to finish them, so I ended up with them. This weekend I broke out the plasticard and finished them. I also had a chance to get out the airbrush and do a little camo work; although, I am having a lot of trouble with water in the line, resulting in the occasional spatter of watery paint that screws up the paint job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started with some dollar store tanks that come in a bag with green army men. These are roughly M-48 or M-60 looking, but not quite. I cut off the gun and added a Company B Tesla cannon. I had a couple of bits left over from a Pig Iron kit that I used to put some sort of laser gun in the commander’s cupola.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dollar store tank with Tesla cannon and lasers in the commander’s cupola. The other tanks I had built from dollar store bits, I painted green, so I decided to base this in Africa Corps yellow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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After the airbrush camo, the treads painted black and dry brushed with silver, and some detail painting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The finished tanks with some Pig Iron infantrymen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A closer view.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The second project was a smaller APC looking vehicle (I don’t know what it was supposed to be in 40k), but I added a surplus Sherman turret and some additional details. I also had some rockets that I thought would look cool on the sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The basic tank\/APC\/infantry fighting vehicle sprayed yellow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A frontal look.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A closeup of the current with additional bits from Sally 4th (the ball is from an Albedo LARC), Pig Iron, and Dust.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I don’t know what these rockets are from, but I thought they would look cool on the side of the vehicle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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This decal is from a Korean War M-48 kit. That front armor plating was crying for some sort of decoration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The finish product with some Pig Iron infantry.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Some Pig Iron commandos emerge from the hexagon rear hatch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The last tank is really large. Again, I don’t know its intent in GW land, but I plan to use is as a lumber heavy tank or a tank transporter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The behemoth with the base coat of Africa Corps yellow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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For scale, you see that the other tank fit complete on the top deck.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I had intended this as some sort of fixed defensive position, but it will make a good turret on the large tank.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The “turret” on the behemoth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Nearly complete (front).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Nearly complete (rear).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Completed model with some female infantry (front).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Completed tank (rear). The back hatch was a leftover piece of a Pig Iron vehicle kit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The turret removed, the tank makes a good firing platform for space worm infantry.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A closer look at the “turret” as a ground-mounted fixed defensive position.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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From the other side.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During the previous week, I had been picking away at the last few figures in my project box. These included some Pulp Figures characters from monster movies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Frankenstien, Frankenstein’s monster, and Bride of Frankenstein.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Lycanthropes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tiger lady and creepy girl (made more creepy by not painting her irises.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I think these are supposed to be from the Island of Dr. Moreau.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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This figure was in the box. I think it must have been a freebie with an order from Pulp. It is clearly sculpted by Bob Murch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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To guaranteed more longevity, I needed to replenish the project boxes. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, when I get back from a convention I usually immediately file, base, and prime the figures so that they are ready to paint when the muse strikes me or I have a couple of hours to spend. With the monster movie figures, I had pretty much emptied my project boxes, consisting of four 4L Really Useful Boxes. I was poking around and found a box of unpainted, unprepared figures that I must have just thrown in the box to get ready for the move. You can see that stack on the table getting ready to be prepared for painting. This weekend I filed, based, and primed this stack of lead and filled up three Really Useful Boxes. There are some odds and ends, like movie characters from Sally 4th, the recent Pulp Figures “dangerous dames” kickstarter, some dwarves that will eventually get duck heads, some Eureka French Revolution vignettes, and other odds and ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn’t as productive a weekend as I would have liked. Next weekend, Friday through Sunday will be consumed with converting slides to digital files. I have about 30 carousels of slides that I have been meaning to convert. I found a place in town that will rent me the equipment to make high quality scans, so I’ll be cleaning slides and putting them into the machine while watching old black and white movies.<\/p>\n