Sunday, October 6, 2013

DIY Tank Crew

I have been playing mini games for many a long year by now, and yet I can count on 1 hand the number of vehicles I have bought and played with. I think this is mainly due to my predisposition to 28mm, fantasy/historical gaming. Now, I have many big robots, mostly for Warmachine, as well as a couple for Void/Urban War (I still have a soft spot for my VASA mechs), but I have never been into tank battles as such (no Flames of War for me). In fact, I think the only previous tank I bought was a VASA TAV MkIII, with optional turrets, however, I never played a game with one, never mind painted it.

For Dystopian legions of course, I have already bought into the vehicles, albeit with the smaller one-man Bassett tankettes, but they don't really count in my mind as proper tanks. The Terrier Ironclad however, certainly does.

To my mind, paying out a chunk of money for a substantial amount of resin, means this model deserves to be a centrepiece model for my army, so I am currently looking for ways to convert and personalise it.

The easiest thing to do in this regard is to open the hatch doors and stick a crewman on top. The hatch doors are in fact built for just such a purpose (as is the case for the Bassetts).
After a long time searching for a suitable mini to act as a crewman, I decided just to make one to fit. He is constructed of the following pieces:Victoria miniatures pith helmet head; GW Imperial Guard body and left arm; the right arm I found in my bits box and I couldn't swear to its origin; the right hand is a green stuff copy of the Black Watch Sergeant's hand and pistol; cross-belt, cuff and epaulets are all greenstuff. He'll be held in place by a magnet, and will therefore be removable from the tank.

He will be painted to look like the image at the top of the post. I decided to not go for the gas mask, as even though I have the bits, the pack at the front of the mini, which I assume is part of the mask, was a bit clunky with his positioning in the hatch, and made him a bit front heavy.


WIP
Final stages
And then, in-situ.


I think I'll have to put a flag on the tank too. Maybe even two. One Britannian flag, as on all the Spartan logos, and the other for the Scot's Greys, who I have decided that this guy and maybe even the Bassets belong to.  My freehand drawing skills leave much to be desired, so I haven't decided how I'm going to proceed with the flags yet. More on that once I do.

6 comments:

  1. You put that IG body to good use; great work om that guy. :)

    For the flags, the easy way is probably to print them on an heavy paper. You can then glue them on flag poles, and that way, no freehand is required.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, thanks for finding him in the box, he worked perfectly.

      I'll have to go looking for the flags I want to print now.

      Delete
  2. What a result, love the hand cannon!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Michael, I was thinking to do him with a sword, as you see everywhere (because, when you're in a tank, you need a sword!).

      Delete
  3. Very nice conversion! Great work on that details!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for that. I was happy with the way he turned out.

      Delete