"C.Hi.M.P.s" - Monkey Cops

[cheetor]

Officers Wilcox, Estrada, Baker and Poncherello from the Chimpanzee Hirsute Maglev Patrol are on the case


I recently traded for a couple of sets of toy flying saucers from the "Planet 51" movie (thanks JollyBob!).  The saucers are pretty titchy and the only figures that I had that I thought might be able to squeeze into the cockpit were some space chimps.  And so, a project was born.

The photography is pretty much in focus, but riddled with shadows and glare.  I hope that it is still possible to see what is going on anyway.





Judge Dredd supervises a sting operation in "The Jungle" by the CHiMPs. Perps Dr Fossey and Spank were apprehended and subsequently charged.


The chimps are Mega Minis with cop hats from Heroclix figures.  I had fun painting these guys up.  As I still have a few of those space chimp figures I imagine that they may follow suit and form a small force of public servants.

There was also a pair of saucer Jeeps that came with the patrol saucers.  I hope to get a couple of apes into those too, maybe Eureka figures this time





A close up of one of the saucers.  I didnt really do almost any paint work on the saucers, just a tiny bit of tidy up to the factory job here and there (and as usual, when the photo is blown up to this size a few other minor issues become apparent). 

I was tempted to add a few things like a shine to the various lights etc but I didnt want to take from the pristine, 1950's, Car 54 Where Are You? look, so I left well alone.


Comments and criticisms all welcome as usual  

[anevilgiraffe]

watched Planet 51 the other day... thought the jeeps were great... off to look at ebay...

[JollyBob]

Sodding brilliant. They look fantastic, and you got them done so quick too!

Haven't even started mine... 

Really top job. 

[Puuka]

Cool, found some here
http://www.toywiz.com/planet51policecaratv.html

[cheetor]

watched Planet 51 the other day... thought the jeeps were great...

I really liked the look of the movie when I saw it, but the characterisation and execution of the story while not bad as such, was very pedestrian.

It wasnt helped by the fact that I watched Kung Fu Panda directly afterwards, and that is nine types of awesome 

But the Planet 51 visual aesthetic was very nice

off to look at ebay...

and...

Cool, found some here
http://www.toywiz.com/planet51policecaratv.html

If any of you guys can track down some of the vehicles from the other Planet 51 sets then I would love to get my hands on a few.  There is apparently a tank and a VW van/saucer plus a couple more.  I would love to get a whole set together, all populated with chimps obviously.

Sodding brilliant. They look fantastic, and you got them done so quick too!

Haven't even started mine... 

Really top job. 

Thanks JB.  I have exams coming up soon.  I find that there is nothing like dodging study to make me productive in the hobby department

[Steve F]

Glorious.

[Red Orc]

Absolutely. Those future-chimp dudes are very cool indeed, and it's very appropriate that you should have Dredd in there as I'd want mine for MC1. Nice one all round!

[Puuka]

I really liked the look of the movie when I saw it, but the characterisation and execution of the story while not bad as such, was very pedestrian.

It wasnt helped by the fact that I watched Kung Fu Panda directly afterwards, and that is nine types of awesome 

But the Planet 51 visual aesthetic was very nice


and...

If any of you guys can track down some of the vehicles from the other Planet 51 sets then I would love to get my hands on a few.  There is apparently a tank and a VW van/saucer plus a couple more.  I would love to get a whole set together, all populated with chimps obviously.

Thanks JB.  I have exams coming up soon.  I find that there is nothing like dodging study to make me productive in the hobby department

The site I posted had some. I was just posting these cars. They are listed down below.

[cheetor]

Glorious.

Very kind.  The CHiMPs were one of those serendipitous projects that proved to be entertaining to work on for a few days.  I am glad that you got a kick out of them too

Absolutely. Those future-chimp dudes are very cool indeed, and it's very appropriate that you should have Dredd in there as I'd want mine for MC1. Nice one all round!

Thanks.  I have the Gangs of Mega City 1 Ape Gang (amongst some other space monkeys) waiting for their turn on the painting table.  They should be a fun foil for the CHiMPs in a few games.

I have this plan to game Planet of the Apes at some stage too. 
Obviously the CHiMPs dont look exactly like the movie apes (except maybe a bit like the guys at the Lincoln Memorial at the end of the remake), but I dont think that that will stop me from crash landing a few astronauts into a futuristic citysc(ape) at some point.

[abhorsen950]

Quality stuff, love that Judge Dredd fig too

[Gluteus Maximus]

 

Which one is Eric Estrada?

Completely ridiculous, yet beautifully done and highly desirable 

[white knight]

Brilliant stuff!

[cheetor]

Quality stuff, love that Judge Dredd fig too

Thanks.  I painted Dredd in 2002 or so and to a somewhat higher standard than the CHiMPs.  There is a larger but still not perfect photo of it here if you are interested.

Which one is Eric Estrada?

Eric is the leftmost guy on the ground wielding a pistol.  As the intention when I painted the figures up was to have mounted and unmounted versions for gaming purposes, the guy in the rightmost saucer is also Eric. 

As I will inevitably end up using the four models together at some point I figured calling that guy Ponch would reduce confusion.  Well, maybe a tiny bit

Completely ridiculous, yet beautifully done and highly desirable 

Thanks. 

I think that the CHiMPs ridiculous nature lends itself to a few gaming arenas:

• Pulp-sci fi in the Buck Rogers stylee
• Planet of the Apes
• Super hero environments often include hidden ape cities and ape planets
• "The Jungle" is the ape ghetto in MC1
• Pulp sci-fi often includes devolution ray guns of which these guys could be the unfortunate victims
• The Doctor frequently runs into cat-people and the like. Intelligent chimps make even more sense than that.

Lots of gaming opportunities there I think.

Not that I am trying to defend their ridiculousness of course, as that would be absurd

Brilliant stuff!

Thanks!

Now that they are finished for a while, I might be finally able to get that theme tune out of my head...