Bug Hunting for fun and profit. 28thJune GZG bot, props and tiles

[6milPhil]

Salute proved to be the usual brilliance with just a slight waning of energy in the afternoon, more from me than Slug or Stinky. This didn't stop me from getting all the pieces I need for my Bug Hunt project.

Firstly was a timely chance to get these resin scenics from a chum. Once we got back stinky wasted no time in getting some of his figures out on it to play those special childhood "pew-pew-pew" rules.



Not mine but Stinky's usual purchase of painted minis from Em4 - these will likely turn up in the bug hunt in some form.



A box of Mongoose plastic MI, which came without any instructions so there were a few pieces left over. A lot of work just getting these together, okay to paint though, but I'd not buy any more.



Another box of Mongoose, but this time with instructions not that they were needed. Great fun to assemble, and with a little trimming you can really get a wide range of poses out of them... I have another box in hand.  



Not the world's biggest Tanker Bug but it'll do for me. Especially as the old Mongoose plastiuc ones are changing hands for around fifty quid. Thanks to Whiskyrat for pointing out how I could get a toy from Galoob and use that. I've whipped out the interior, glued and filled it together and then given it a lick of paint... works for me.



A GZG metal bug which I got from the LAF emporium. It needed a lot of tidying, but I like it a great deal and wanted a couple more. Much to their credit I asked GZG about them as they're not listed on their web site. It was explained to me how their moulds were in a sorry state and the castings would need a similar amount of effort to the one I had, however Eureka also had moulds. So I emailed Nic at Eureka and their moulds were fine and I ordered a couple up to pick up at Salute.



A pair of Hasslefree miniatures, one an Akula Smartgunner - spooky similarity to the 1:1 scale Akula, which shows what a great sculptor Kev is. The smaller one is a girl figure which I've hacked the pigtails off to make it into our very own Captain Stinky.



Next up a bunch of Em4 troopers, great little figures at a brill price, they're in the same kit as some of the Copplestone FW troopers, but they're a better price. I've set a personal best in getting so many Salute purchases painting in the following week.





Just a pair more figures to paint before I can get back to the mighty Quinjet hack:
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=51546.0

[Badger Loving Fluffster]

Nice one Phil

I'm glad they went to a good home where they are getting some use!

[6milPhil]

I was disapointed at the lack of dead spiders in the box though. I was going to paint those up and use them. FB me your address please. 

[6milPhil]

I picked up these Mongoose  pieces because the ones to either side looked to like drop troopers. Oddly enough I don't like the one in the middle it looks too chubby, even though I found out later how it's a slight variant on their Starship Troopers piece which I was looking to emulate.



It's not immediately obvious from the packaging how the pair are just the same figure twice, so the first thing I did was saw off opposite arms on both and reset them to make them different - I did both so should I add another in the future I can use it as is.



Of course now I've seen the pics I've spotted a couple of mistakes which I'll go and fix right after posting this... 



The decals which I tracked down from elsewhere were quite tricky. I put one on each shoulder pad, one on the gun, and one on the back pack.



NOW I'm getting on with the dropship!

[beefcake]

Very nice work. Really like all those minis

[mcfonz]

Very nice phil. Look just the ticket!

[Dentatus]

Nice work, but what are those x-wings supposed to be?

[6milPhil]

Nice work, but what are those x-wings supposed to be?

I imagine they're for some form of flight... I had a quick google and it looks so: http://judgedredd.wikia.com/wiki/Holocaust_Squad_Judge

[6milPhil]

Found this 25 year old roboty thing, stripped it and gave it a paintjob for the 21st Century and beyond...

[Mason]

Bloody hell, Phil!
Just caught on to this thread.
Someone has been a busy boy since Salute.

Great stuff!
 

[6milPhil]

Thanks. Bought small painted big... now I just have to hack through the boxes of bugs I got off ebay.

[mcfonz]

Really like the robot, looks like a fully automated power lifter with limited A.I. 

[6milPhil]

Yeah it's neat isn't it? It had a dodgy 80's paintjob, and I thought in the style of the Aliens power lifter would be suitable,. The decals were a bit of a pain though.

At most I'll have three squads, two will have the judges and the third this robot. 

[6milPhil]

Suddenly realised I should have put this walker here instead of starting another thread. Whoops! 



But more recently I've just finished these VOID Junkers in exo-suits. Of course I'm late to the VOID world, rather typically for me, but I think these are rather special. I did figure that Kevin White was lead sculpter on the projects so I asked him if they were his sculpts, but they're not. They were done by Roy Eastland, who it turns out I know as he lives nearby although he now works as an artist - http://royeastland.wordpress.com/ - which is how I know him.



I've looked at photos of these painted and aside from Scurv, everyone seems to have painted them red, so I went for Blue & Grey- my idea of a Sp*c* M*r*n*s. For a lot of the painting I wasn't sure it was going to work, but once all the components were together I was happy with it. The firegrate heads for some of these I didn't like, and I mislaid the ones I did like. I tried some really sweet Pig Iron heads which proved too wide to fit, and also some of the Crooked Dice "not-Angel Interceptors heads but the bodies weren't really female enough for that to work so I had to make do with GW heads...



I made the flames out of milliput on brass rod, for the pair either side with Ramms+ein sized flames I had to put them on oversized bases, which do need some alien tufts as they're looking quite bleak. I didn't really think it out properly as the two on the right are the best poses for big bases. 

[Mason]

Great stuff, Phil, some very different looking Spaz Mars (to me, anyway)....
 

......and a weird coincidence with yourself and Roy.
Small world.
 

I now see you only wanted a sample so you could make your own flames.
They look spot on, mate.