20mm African ImagiNations - P.6: I've been workin' on the railroad...

[Westfalia Chris]

Hi all,

recently, I got stung by the African ImagiNations bug, and decided I wanted to do some 20mm stuff for a change (we got into FOW recently, too, but that is not exactly presentable at the moment). I stumbled across the excellent figures from Under Fire Miniatures, got some plastic kits in some model store clearance bins, and set out to assemble a force that will be either used as a white settlers' militia, government forces in the decolonialisation process or mercenaries.

Obviously, they are modeled quite closely on the South Rhodesian Bush War, but for various reasons I'll certainly prefer to do a bit of African ImagiNations, e.g. the Zambwana project by the Berlin folks with a bit of Buranda and Col. Selim Muhammed thrown in.  

Group shot:



Light infantry (Under Fire Miniatures, 20mm):



2 Alouette III choppers (1/72) by Heller, very much showing their age, but cheap and cheerful (canopies were hair-raising though).



AML-60 armoured car by ACE (1/72):



M3 APC by Ace (1/72):



Airfix Land Rover (1/76, but works well):



A scratch-build MAPV scout car, which turned out a bit too big but nice in its overall proportions:



That's it for starters. I hope to get some Airfix Bedford trucks to carry the infantry around, and maybe scratch a Crocodile MAPV transport for convoy escort/CoIn missions; also, I finally got myself a hot glue gun and don't understand how I could live without one for so long - I did a couple of palm trees to test its properties and it works like a charm, so some generic African terrain (which will also be usable with my various 28mm colonials) is likely forthcoming.

Comments and critique welcome!

All the best and thanks for looking,
Chris

[Westfalia Chris]

Lovely beginning to the force Chris. Those Alouttes look a bugger to construct.

I wouldn't recommend them to the very casual modeller, no. The hull is a fiddly, multipart affair, with the clear canopy constructed from three pieces, a moderately poor fit, too. I decided to not open the sides as I did not have suitable crew figures and had deep concerns over the stability of the whole thing.

There is an outstanding thread over on the Ambush Alley Games forum, though, which shows what can be done with those kits, but I didn't really want to go through all the trouble (and keep expenses down for the moment).

I'll most likely be using the Force on Force rules, which at first read seem very realistic without being too fiddly (which kept me from dusting off my old SGII rules for a couple of years now). As for that, the choppers will mainly be debussing markers, and don't stay on table (gunships and ground-attack craft are essentially off-table as well, although that didn't stop me from getting a Vampire and a Texan, mind you), so I opted for the best compromise of stability, ease of construction, and an overall "vulnerable troop carrier feel".

And the timing is great as only this weekend I was inspired to make a twin AA tank for my Congaline Government Army (having just had a resurgence of interest in the genre) so this is perfect inspiration to crack on.

I've also got some WarPac hardware for an OpFor faction, but nothing more than a truck and a field car at present. They'll probably get some old tanks to make the force feel different from the wheeled-feel I wanted for the Not-RLI/Mercs.

[Westfalia Chris]

How about a T-28 Trojan rather than a Texan?

I like the Texan, got a cheap but solid Academy kit for that one and didn't bother to look for a Trojan. I'd preferred a Cessna 337 instead, but that one is likely even harder to come by. There is, however, a large modelmaking show coming up in April, so maybe I'll come across a lucky find there.

[Super Mosca]

That is an excellent looking force. Nice colour choices on the vehicles and helos, which just look spot-on. Great stuff!

-Kosta

[Andym]

Nice work Chris! I especially like the scout car bud!

[Mason]

Lovely!
 


Another one who is a member of the scout car fan club.
 

[joekano]

The República de Golfonseca welcomes it brother ImagiNation!  Great job on the figures - I especially love the Alouettes.

Chris

[former user]

very nice collection!
maybe You could explain how You did the blueish semi-translucent effect on the canopy please?
I've been turning in circles for some time thinking of how to do something like this....

[gamer Mac]

Nice wee force, Chris
What is the "African ImagiNations" thing? Keep hearing it mentioned?

[Westfalia Chris]

Thanks, all, for the nice replies!

Nice wee force, Chris
What is the "African ImagiNations" thing? Keep hearing it mentioned?

There is a very informative thread here on the Post-War board:

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=47303.0

Apart from that, what Bezzo said. In my case, the games will most likely be set in Zambwana, a fictional country created by a group of Berlin wargamers. My current faction background (still under development) is for a British-ancestry splinter group of the portuguese-dominated settler faction FPP, Frente Praia de Preto, which split off after the recent election because you obviously cannot trust the Dagos to properly take care of things, pip-pip.

Thus, SOUZA-CLAPTRAP (South Zambwanean Civil Liberties Alliance for the Peaceful Transfer of Power) was established to protect the British heritage, tea plantations, farms and diamond mines.

I'll obviously have to do some more work on the fluff, but that should work out in due time. At the moment, I was lucky enough to find an Airfix Bedford truck and a Saladin Armoured Car, which are on the painting table right now, and I finished off a couple of filler terrain pieces, which I hope to show tomorrow or at the start of the week.

very nice collection!
maybe You could explain how You did the blueish semi-translucent effect on the canopy please?
I've been turning in circles for some time thinking of how to do something like this....

I thought it was "camera flash" and went back to see, and it is VERY clever painting by Westie Chris!

It is indeed merely painted on, although the brightest reflection in the pic is actually a light source reflection. Basically, it is a rather crude "SENMM" effect (sky earth non metallic metal), which starts out with a medium blue grey, lightened towards the bottom with two fine white highlights at the bottom and the top, the topmost being smaller than the bottom one. Also, on top-facing surfaces, I've added large light areas to lighten up the panel overall. The more paint shades you add, the better the effect. It is a variation of the gem technique I regularly use, and while it is not strictly realistic, I like the effect.



Since the panels are a bit rounded, I decided to stress that by rounding the edges of the lighter patches, illustrated in the schematic pic above. If you only have flat panels, I'd suggest painting the lighter areas as horizontal stripes across the whole panel and then paint a fine dark grey-blue wash around the panel edges. I'll try to take some progress pictures when I paint the Texan so I can demonstrate the process.

Finally, the canopy is coated in three layers of varnish, one gloss which also extends over the entire vehicle for protection, one matte to take of the sheen for non-glass and non-polished metal parts, and again a gloss coat for the windows.

[former user]

THX for the description
I really thought they were still transparent!
Either I am half blind or Your brushwork is that good - Yours to decide 

[Westfalia Chris]

THX for the description
I really thought they were still transparent!
Either I am half blind or Your brushwork is that good - Yours to decide  

I guess they "appear" to be transparent because I took the pics against a blue backdrop, with the window panels being a similar blueish grey.

[Westfalia Chris]

Hi all, pleased to present some additions to the CLAPTRAP motor pool!

A Bedford MK lorry (Airfix Ex-JB 1/76):



Another Landrover, this time "semi-civilian" to act as a convoy command vehicle (Airfix Ex-JB 1/76; the short cabin uses part of the hardtop part):



An MAPV APC on a Bedford MK lorry chassis (Airfix Ex-JB 1/76 for the chassis and trailer, superstructure scratch-built):



Some heavier pieces to deal with WarPac "agricultural tractors" which are likely to surface:

A Saladin Armoured Car (Airfix Ex-JB 1/76):



An AML-90 (ACE 1/72):



And a Comet cruiser tank (Revell Ex-Matchbox 1/76):

[Andym]

Brillant again bud! I love the weathered look you achieve!

[Elbows]

Very cool!  Great work on everything.