A War in The East

[Wyrmalla]

So with that Chechen Wars Kickstarter the main issue in painting the models is working out what I'll do with them. Old men in their slippers with nought by an RPG to protect themselves don't really fit in with this whole "modern warfare" thing.

Here's most of the guys with beanie hats painted up. This lot at least looked kind of competent, though I did have to give most all of the RPG guys some form of other weapon (...judging by this Kickstarter the Chechens had more RPGs than AKs). With these I went for a mix of surplussed Soviet camo (from out of a used clothes shop no doubt), along with civilian clothing (desert camo trousers and a bright orange jacket definitely says "tacticool" to me). The guy wearing the full head to toe suit wound up wearing some duck hunter style camo, as ...I assume he's supposed to be wearing some hunter get up right?




In clearing my way through the terrain pile, I found this Ainsty Castings roof access door. I'd bought it ages ago to turn into a bunker entrance, which it doesn't look too bad as.



Work continues on that petrol station which I'd shown off here a while ago. I can only paint those larger buildings in dribs and drabs before they become really dull. Tsk, and meanwhile I'm planning another building for this (besides supposedly wanting to finish the rest of those sheds I'd made).

[cuprum]

I have two versions of the Russian machine gun Maxim
http://siberia-miniatures.ru/index.php?cPath=41_39_98_99

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Nice job.

That bunker entrance looks the part.

[Wyrmalla]

Oh hey you do! Plus heads which would do for Cossacks as well in your Russian Civil War range. I never think to look at your WWI section for stuff for modern games the last time that I ordered something.

[Wyrmalla]

Things have a bit slow lately with exam season coming around. Now that that's all over and I'm gainfully unemployed I'm trying to finish off some projects.

This petrol station in particular's been sitting around for over a year at this point. With some furniture and a lick of paint it'll look forward to a new life being used in one game then sitting in box for eternity.







The fuel tank is from Ainsty Castings, petrol pumps (which definitely aren't to a modern spec) by Studio Miniatures, ah, and the rest is from ...some manufacturers from the Post Apocalyptic Tales terrain thread. Which reminds me to buy more of those shell stacking little bits. Warlord Games at a gaming show have a rack of terrain by other manufacturers for sale. Oddly that stuff isn't available on the original manufacturer's site. Those cardboard boxes are fantastic for tarting up buildings.


I'd bought two Toyota Hilux from Antenocitis Workshop when they first come out. Unfortunately the scale problem came around again, and they were closed to 1/43rd than 1/50th (which makes sense given that company sells third party stuff for Infinity). One already was turned into a technical, but with the soldier on the back looking a bit too small. Instead the second's going to serve just as a terrain piece.



Though I can't help but wanting to stick a gun on the back and some Middle Eastern militia group's logo on the side. ...Leaving the company logos on of course (which I may well do at some point if I ever get into MENA games).


Last from the current batch this one was a real quick job.






As I'd planned, its just a generic green scheme rather than a fancy camouflage. I laid off the weathering and dirt so this vehicle looks more like its just been issued (...so quickly that they left off the ATGMs). Alongside the BTR-4 this pair could work as the vehicles for a planned Spetsnaz unit ...or maybe some State forces who don't look quite so rag tag (having top of the line gear besides Mad Max looking junk is an image).


I'm in the process of making more terrain right now. Mostly finishing off some bits from earlier. That's three sheds, and some portacabins. Among the "to do" pile is a load of bits for a construction site which I haven't made it to touching in a while (which those portaloos from a while ago are for). Last week I started on a proper restaurant as well, after that cafe which I was planning became a convenience store. That's in limbo for the moment as I work out what I'm doing with the wall texture - whether to go with plastic sheets with a brick effect (which I've run out of ), or something else). Which I suppose will give more of an urban element to my terrain, as to date most of it is kind of rural looking.

An order from Empress is on the way as well. The plan being to make a BMD based ZU-23-2 mount (a field conversion I mean, rather than that actual BMD with that gun the Russians made). Add some slat armour with tonnes of gear packed in at the sides, along with a load of guys riding on the back. For that the ideas also to give the Zeus its proper mount instead of the sheet metal one the Empress/ Spectre gun comes from, though I'll need to find some good images (I already have two Zeus going spare, otherwise I'd have bought the Ace Models one which comes with the correct platform).

All this while of course being out of money and in need of some work to support my plastic crack habits. Those two upcoming Kickstarters are going to do hell for what I have left.
 

[Nimrod]

Could you please make a comparison picture of these antenocitis cars with some modern miniatures from the popular brands like Empress or Spectre miniatures?
I was going to get me some of these cars for use in my modern "The Division" project but after reading your post I wonder if it is a good idea after all.

[Wyrmalla]

They're even less to scale than Empress or Spectre's lines. In order to suit a 28mm model would have to stand a head taller at least for their feet to reach the peddles. They're made for 32mm figures, and tall ones at that, rather than the typically stocky 28mm, so I'd hazard against buying them.



Many use 1/43rd diecasts as terrain, but even for that purpose they're debatable, as compared to 1/50th stuff this Hilux is the size of a BRDM. Diecasts are cheap, whilst these resin vehicles definitely are not if that's what you're wanting them for. Stick to the existing manufacturers. I'd say that some of the Special Artizan Service stuff would work as well if you want variety, though it may be worth waiting for the models to be updated as the civilian vehicles aren't the same quality as his newer vehicles. This is one of the jeeps.

[Nimrod]

Thanks for the info!
Sad to hear about these cars being wrong scale.
I'm using only 1:50-1:54 vehicles in my projects and hoped that Antenocitis cars will fit into these dimensions.
Finding basic cars was not a problem really but finding usable police cars, ambulances,  taxi's and such turned out  to be a serious challenge which I thought Antencitis cars can help me to solve.

[Wyrmalla]

Model manufacturers seem to be at war with one another over which scale to choose. For instance when SASM announced that new line of miniatures the comments were "why aren't they in 20mm!?". I suppose everyone's catering for different game systems, as is their elements of personal taste as well - i.e. Spectre thinking that 1/50th looks the most realistic, whilst Warlord Games makes all their stuff in 1/56th (I'll still attest that with the larger vehicles the soldier's feet can't reach the peddles without bricks on their shoes...). Special Artizan Service Miniatures have said before that he's willing to make some things in 1/56th if there's enough interest, though I doubt that's where the money is for modern manufacturers compared to 1/50th.

[Lowtardog]

Model manufacturers seem to be at war with one another over which scale to choose. For instance when SASM announced that new line of miniatures the comments were "why aren't they in 20mm!?". I suppose everyone's catering for different game systems, as is their elements of personal taste as well - i.e. Spectre thinking that 1/50th looks the most realistic, whilst Warlord Games makes all their stuff in 1/56th (I'll still attest that with the larger vehicles the soldier's feet can't reach the peddles without bricks on their shoes...). Special Artizan Service Miniatures have said before that he's willing to make some things in 1/56th if there's enough interest, though I doubt that's where the money is for modern manufacturers compared to 1/50th.

I know what you mean, Moderns was for a long time more of a ncihe market, at similar times around 2004 (I only know as I was working in holland when TAG statered) you only really had TAG in 28mm. Then shortly afterwards MOFO (Now gripping beast ) brought out their Mogadishu and Falklands range and Mongrel their Cold War (now badger games).

Prior to this I dabbled in the 40mm HLBS moderns.

So this had the HLBS 1/50 vehicles for use with their ranges and Later Imprint at the 1/50 scale (now Empress). Minutres wise the scultping for MOFOF-Soapy and Mongrel - Paul Hicks and some small ranges at the time from Eureka (Afghans) led the way. Supporting them were Sloppy Jalopy, Chieftain Models who worked to 1/56th scale and pushed out a good range of cold war gear in 1/56th. Now if you draw a line fomr both the scultpors and modellers they were the same band of lads as in the original Boltaction minis and some supporting WW2 vehicles (Lawrence, Crouchie etc) so you can see why there 1/56th dominated.

However modenr/ultra modern was still sitting with Imprint so you can see the evolution for larger scales with Empress vehicles and their aquisition of Imprint. Plastic modenr kits also tend ot be 1/50 - 1/48 so it sets the scene

[Wyrmalla]

Here's some of the preliminary work on the BTR-DG (ZD?).



When looking at pictures of these vehicles what struck me was that the ZU-23-2 isn't mounted centrally on the roof. Rather, presumably so the passenger compartment can open at the back, the gun's positioned slightly to the left and with its platform tilted. That gives it an odd appearance when you look at it directly from the front (something none of the pictures did, making you think its mounted centrally).

The HLBS model also seems to be for a variant of the BMD-D, or inaccurate. I had found images of a command model which lacks the front MGs, but almost every other image available had them. This is just from my own cursory research, so I may be wrong, but I've started work on giving this one a pair of MGs at the front there (which as far I can tell wouldn't be "wrong" for this particular type of vehicle).





Oh, and as for the gun's platform itself. It was kind of fun having a go at making one of these to finally have a more accurate style SPAAG in use in by the post-Soviet states, rather than the more MENA style sheet steel one which the base Empress and Spectre ZU-23-2 come with. There's still more work to do with that detail wise of course. Which I'll also caveat by saying that it seems the particular mount used for this gun on these vehicles is a bit different from the regular ones, in that the winch mount doesn't just out so far (which would block the driver's hatch at the front) - something I only noticed when I tried the longer mount and realised this error, before cutting it down a bit.

As for the ZU-23-2 itself. Yeah, but the Spectre one. End of. I have both the Empress and Spectre guns, and found that the Spectre kit, besides having better details, also scales better with these vehicles. The Empress gun is a different scale entirely (most noticeable when comparing the crew figures - who's feet can't reach the foot rest on the Spectre gun, besides the barrels being a good deal shorter), though for variety's sake I did mangle the crew to work with the Spectre gun instead of having to kit bash yet another guy wearing a head scarf into something more European looking.

Anyhow, this goes to show how much I can waffle just about the process of sticking a gun on the back of an APC. The plan's still to give this slat armour along the sides (possibly also the front), fill in the space in between with gear, then have some guys riding on the back there. I'd guess that these vehicles still retain their original passenger capacity (10 men), though in the field they act as dedicated SPAAGs. I had considered going for the gun mounted at the rear, as some of the models from the War in Afghanistan did, but that would have prevented me from having those extra passengers, and they're something I'd like to feature (...having them in front of the gun would be a bad idea). It would look cooler with the gun at the back though.



(That's a sweet camo too. The blocks of wood that most of these vehicles use for mounting the gun on really make the overall look...)

I'm liking this little vehicle so far. This is my first BMD and its compact layout is growing on me. I can't work out what I'd do with a BMD-1 or 2 though, as they're a bit too basic to really grab my attention (maybe covering them in some graffiti/ having loads of guys riding on the back would help). Hmn, or possibly covering one of those newer model BMD-4s (I think they're called) with the BMP-3 style turrets for the Separatist side could be a cool project. That's all in the future of course. I have terrain, and a BMP-1 to work on before that.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Nice job. The Empress ZSU23 and the Technical look more like 1/56 (we discussed this on my thread - and no I have not done any more on mine).

That black and white photograph look like it is just balanced on the top and roughly held in place by with chains!

Can you show your bow MGs in more detail (copying is the sincerest form of flattery honest).

Look forward to seeing more on this.

[Wyrmalla]

I remember your own BTR-DG (it actually turns up in Google Image searches). The crew are a tad smaller than the rest of the Empress line. However, the Spectre crewman is pretty tall - presumably to accommodate the larger scale. If you're going to make a 1/50th scale vehicle Spectre's the way to go. I'll likely keep the Empress gun for something else, but likely not a modern project unless most of the gun's covered up to disguise how small it is.

From what I can tell every one of these has the gun held on by either rope or chains. I guess the ridged feet of the gun have enough grip to hold them on. Some have custom mounts that are welded on too, but those are probably the minority given the ad-hoc style of the vehicle (the BMD-D could take a ZU-23-2 trailer, so they could dismount the gun from the roof and decant it somewhere for later use and have the vehicle as an APC I guess).

Right now I've not touched the MGs expect from hacking out some of the resin. I've coloured in the areas blacks just to remind me to go back and tidy up the area later (same with that circle on that hatch at the front on the left being a detail which is missing). The guns themselves would just be a case of smoothing out that area, before adding a cap for the MG and then the barrel (or alternatively just the cap - in cases where the MGs were removed).

That's just what I managed this morning before I left the house (more planning than actual modelling). I'll prototype the slat armour later on before getting an idea about the stowage. Tidying up the base model will come after the slat armour so I can do it all in one pass (as in gap filling/ making the MGs), then I'll add the stowage/ passengers. ...I've banked some Netflix shows, which means lots of modelling time.

[Wyrmalla]

The BTR-ZD with an appropriate amount of junk strapped onto it.




You have to wonder if the original designers ever envisioned this sort of thing happening to their nice air droppable transports...

The slat armour's is supposed to look that way. I.e. hand made. Its someone's interpretation of what slat armour is, rather than being all that effective (the distances are crap/ too many vertical bars/ stowage in between is problematic). I'm still not super into how this style of armour turns a vehicle into pretty much just a box (at least in cases where the armour doesn't conform with the body work), but its fitting for the setting.

Those Empress gunners are looking very 1/56th with the passengers on the back now. I tried giving one a coat a coat to bulk him up a bit, but its still noticeable. Maybe they're just short I guess.

Its going to be a complete arse to paint beneath all that armour.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Nice job.