Dark Future East Block Infantry

[Elladan]

Hi,

finally I started a new project - an East Block Force for Dark Future Wars.

I rearly like the look of the Red Block walkers and miniatures from the AT 43 line (Rackham). I purchased some walkers and a box with the Krasnye Soldaty. I decided to do a few of the infantry models first and experiment with some colors and painting technics for the painting scheme. In the next picture you can see the original miniature (painted and photo taken by the talented people of Rackham).

 


The problem with the infanty soldiers from AT 43 is their size. They are a few mm to tall (32-34mm) and didn't work well with the Furture Warriors from Marc Copplestone (28-30mm) I intend to use them with. I realised that the miniatures are multi part models and are produced in a kind of plastic - ideal for converting. A few minutes later the first soldier lay in parts in front of me.




I shortened the miniature a few mm at the belly and glued the parts together again. With a bit of modelling clay to hide the joint the main work was done. As a base I used an old coin (10 Pfennig). The following comparison shot shows that the shortened Red Block soldiers are still a bit taller than the Future Warriors - but in my oppinion this will make no problems, neither on the tabletop nor in the cabinet or on photos.




At this stage I recieved an order with heads from Pig Iron (HD2, HD10, HD11 and HD12). I had intended to use them as alternative heads for a future project of Weird WW II Germans, but I discovered that they look very good as some kind of modern russian heads/helmets too. All heads have gas masks, with helmets, caps or even pelt bonnets.
I also disliked the accessories like the knife and the bag with granades that came with the miniatures. They looked oversized and had no variety. By accident I own a plastic sprue of the new GW Cadian Command with lots of different nice accessories. So I built a simple single sided mold of the useful parts and recast them in resin.  So I swaped the original heads with the new ones from Pig Iron and the ugly accessories with the recasts from GW. This simple alterations had great effect to the look of the miniatures.

In a next step it was time to choose the colors for the painting scheme. I visited a good friend for a (seldom) painting session and he introduced me in the use of the new inks from GW. The effect that could be achieved by simply applying a single wash over very light colors is stunning. It is an very different technic than the one I use normaly (starting with black undercoat, beginning with the darkest groundcolor and blending in successiv lighter  color shades for the highlights). I had to experiment with the combination of groundcolors and washes for some times. The first trys didn't turned out right and became much to dark and dull.

The next photos show a miniature painted in the (finally correct) bright primary colors (left) and the first already finished model (right). Only a few parts (like the gun and the grenade) had been highlighted by a rough drybrush with lighter color shades before the washes.










I added one wash of Deflan Mud (new GW wash) over the whole miniature and then two more washes over the dark green armor parts.  The achieved effect of shade and depth is very strong. Subsequent followed the addition of some details and weathering but nearly no highlights were applied. My aim was to find a (new) painting style to finish the models with less steps and in shorter time than my usual technic but still get a result that looks good.




And here are some pictures of the finished models.










So far so good. There are some minor things that I will change with the next miniatures - black shoes and belts instead of brown for example or a highlight to the edges of the armor and the helmet. I will paint some more of these miniatures in the next days or weeks and will eventually add a small step-by-step painting guide in the near future.

Please tell me what you think.

Ciao

Elmar
http://www.elladan.de/Index.htm


PS: I also updated my homepage with two terrain projects that might be for some interrest for you too.

[Centaur_Seducer]

Really cool take on the AT-43 minis, and a really nice and inspiring homepage!

[Bako]

Very nice. I like their paint scheme. I was hoping for a height comparison next to the FW troopers after the modification though.

[Dewbakuk]

Very nice. I like their paint scheme. I was hoping for a height comparison next to the FW troopers after the modification though.

This photo is after the modification if I'm reading it right. The AT-43 figs are much bigger than Copplestone etc normally.

[Gluteus Maximus]

An extra millimetre of thickness added to the base of the FW troops would make them comparable in height. That's what I do with some of the smaller 28mm figures I use and after texturing the base and putting them on the terrain, it really isn't noticeable. As they are, they look perfectly compatible to me though.

I looked at some AT43 figures recently, but they were too expensive, considering I would have to re-paint them to fit into my games.

Oh well.

[Digitarii]

The Copplestone Castings' Future Wars Troopers are bigger than their Grenadier/eM4 counterparts and have the integral base, so they would size up pretty nicely to your AT43 modifieds once they are mounted to the same bases.