Mad Max Style Main Villain's War Buggy

[KD47]

Good Afternoon all,

I've been out of the swing of things for a while, life happens, y'know? So I guess it's finally time for another pic post and tutorial.

I've already done up several Road Warrior style gang vehicles for games, but big daddy main villain still needed a sweet ride of his own.  My local hardware store has taken it upon themselves to sell die-cast cars in the correct (28mm - ish) scale, so temptation being what it is, you know I couldn't help myself.   Some drug stores like to sell these too, so if you're looking, start there first before going online for the online Maisto cars.   If you're looking online, try 1:64 scale or something close to 1:48, but be aware that the companies that make these are not very good at determining real-world scale, so it's gonna vary quite a bit.

Anyhow, this particular one started life as a big rig from a certain transforming robot franchise which shall remain nameless here, though the actual model doesn't transform into anything really.   Kinda useless once you think about it.   But it was realistic enough to use as a base for transforming it into something different entirely, and had some neat add-on details that could be cut off and re-used to build something special.

The overall look came from The Road Warrior lord Humongous' mobile and Auntie Entity's jet car from Thunderdome.   In real life, this was the same car from a basic chassis point of view.   So I mixed and matched looks to come up with this monster.

The thing was disassembled, then examined for potential and re-design.   A resin front engine was added, and the engine cowling was made from an old defunct credit card.   The front push bars, exhaust stacks, and radiator were cut off the original model and re-used here.   The fenders are tread-plate styrene sheet.   The Jet engines came from another model entirely, a Horten WWII flying wing jet.  Pro tip:  if you have aircraft models and don't want to show the engines,  store them away or build them anyway because then you can just dip into the old bits bin and do stuff like this.

The whole thing was painted and weathered using whatever weathering and rusting techniques you may know, and since Post-Apocalyptic is my thing, I know quite a few.   My favorites are GW Typhus corrosion (almost instant good results) and using Americana Colors Honey Brown as a wash - it really dirties something up well.

Below are pics of the finished product with a 28mm figure shown for scale,  and a pic of the original toy for comparison.   

Happy modelling, and as always HAVE FUN.

 

[syrinx0]

That is a great conversion.

[dwbullock]

Why would a company make an Optimus Prime toy that doesn't transform....?

Good job ripping that one apart.  Really 'transformed' it into something useful, right?  Right?

[Pattus Magnus]

Groan…. 

Great conversion, definitely up-cycled that toy to a whole new level. As fun as I found the recent Mad Maxmpvies, the Road Warrior remains my favorite. It’s just grittier.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Cool conversion.

[Sgt_T]

Looking good!

T

[snitcythedog]

Now you have the perfect Chitty Chitty Bang Bang of the apocalypse.  Much better than a non-transforming, transforming robot toy.  Still needs some of the squishy bumpers.

[Michi]

This is an awesome looking ride for any post apocalytic gang leader - turbo charged, testosterone injection and even jet propulsion boosters. What else can a real immorten ask for? 

[hubbabubba]

Awesome conversion.

[mikos khan]

Great job buddy. I'd love to see that bad ass rig in one of our Friday night games. 

[CapnJim]

That is indeed great looking!  It sure looks the part.

[mikedemana]

Looks great, and lots of good ideas in there. Love it! I will now promptly go and look for that truck at my local, die-cast selling places... 

Mike Demana

[Mr. White]

This is incredible.
I'm amazed at the potential you saw in Optimus Prime here, because I wouldn't have guessed that the vehicle came from the autobot's truck form. Well done!