Merlon's not quite 40K SF thread

[Merlon]

Thank you both.

Painting on the shuttle continues at a snails pace, I find it hard to do. No doubt some of you can knock it out in a couple of hours.
Local gaming group had a scratch build something in twenty four hours competition. Had a go, predictably ran out of time, here it is.

The PDF or auxilia in the hinterlands of Hadrian need a long range vehicle for patrolling. So decided to build something akin to the South African Ratel.

Started off by having a root in the tyre tub to find some wheels.


Then started cutting styrene, doing measurements by pixel counting off pictures. This is as far as I got in the twenty four hours. Detailing still to do


Counts as a NOT Ratel as the tyres are slightly too big and the hull is four millimetres too tall. But it will do for second tier PDF in the back of beyond.

[Freddy]

Nice APC!

[Basementboy]

Very cool!!!

[Merlon]

Thank you both. I hope it serves the PDF well.

Amazing the difference a couple of hours work can do.


Predictably I put paint on a model it all goes Pete Tong. The red brown was too thin and bled under the blutack.
Still sheet styrene to paint on a model in four days is lightning fast for me. Learning point to try and make mixing colours more consistent.
Time for retouching.

[OSHIROmodels]

Great little build 

[Kourtchatovium104]

Nice one ! 

[voltan]

I know you based it on the Ratel but it reminds me of  action forces, Z force transporter.

[Merlon]

Thank you all. Currently stripped and in process of being repainted. I'll get the hang of it one day.

I know you based it on the Ratel but it reminds me of  action forces, Z force transporter.

Not heard of that until now, it is very similar and I suspect had the same inspiration.

A little bit of fluff
Hadrian is what generally classified as a garden world. That conjures up images of verdant green vegetation and pleasant climate. In the coastal areas that is largely true,  the hinterlands beyond the white mountains are less so, mostly arid. The major industries are production of foodstuffs and tourism & hunting for those with a large enough wallet.
Useful ores do exist - but not in sufficient quantities for the favoured bulk extraction by Imperial administration. Small amounts of heavy industry exist to support agriculture and fishing.
Small settlements do exist in the hinterland, one such is Greenhaven. The name promises much, but does not actually deliver as much. Usable timber is sparse, so mud brick is often used.

In the Sahelian Africa; Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Benin and Ghana. A variant known as Nubian vault is used, which requires no timber in its construction. So I decided to take some inspiration from these images





First thing was do something about the distinctive doors and windows. Made a few masters and from them some moulds

It did help I had some old resin from 2017 that needed disposing of (using), can't really be put in the bin.

[Freddy]

Nice idea, I really like those windows.

[snitcythedog]

Very cool windows and doors.  The whole thread is impressive.  It is always nice when you can get the most out of an old container of resin.  Even better when it still works as advertised. 

[Merlon]

Thak you for the kind words

It is always nice when you can get the most out of an old container of resin.  Even better when it still works as advertised.

I am very lucky with my cellar, always dry the temperature stays between 7 and 12 Celsius all year round. Stuff just seems to last.

Well I have played with the Not Ratel for a while, it will do.

Put together a prototype building, all seems to work quite happy with it.
 

[AKULA]

Great work - I particularly like the APC build 

[Daeothar]

Thank you for all the kind words.I grew up with Chris Foss spaceships rather than Star Wars. But I can't take any credit for the colour scheme, that is just 1940 Luftwaffe (RLM 02 Green Grey & RLM 71 Dark Green over RLM 65 Light Blue, with RLM 04 Yellow identifiers).

Instantly recognizable, yes

Still looks the part though

[Merlon]

Thank you both.
My APC model was basically an inspired by Ratel 90 (90mm gun), working by pixel counting from pictures.
The wheels used were 1.5mm too big and I raised the height of the vehicle overall by 4mm to give a little bulk for 40K
Found a company that 3D printed the Ratel 20 (20mm cannon) in 1/56 scale. Could not resist the temptation to do a comparison. Quite chuffed how close it matches


Greenhaven's landing facilities for shuttles etc could be politely described as sparse. A concrete pad and landing transponders, there is not even refuelling facilities. If a vessel has insufficient fuel to return to orbit, the crew has to stump up the funds for a tanker to come to the pad.
There is however 590, the servitor has been here for longer than most people can remember. If it has nothing better to do, it plays musical attachments moving them around the pad endlessly.

[LouieN]

A nice setting piece.