"Ape Management... is in the hands of the Apes!"*
Hi all,
a couple of weeks ago I rewatched the original Planet of the Apes films and, in a bit of a fit, ordered some stuff from Crooked Dice. A couple of days later, I was able to start out converting the "Minions" deal (sans the technician) to serve as Gorilla guerillas (sorry, had to get that out of the system) in a slightly retro postapocalyptic setting - their main opponents, for starters, will be my existing Street Violence collection.
The conversion was rather straightforward, a bit tricky for the fact that the Simian heads don't have the peg joints the Minion bodies were designed for, but apart from that, matched well and could be attached with little problem. Also, the casting quality was excellent, so if you are considering ordering from Crooked Dice, I can recommend them on these grounds alone (apart from the fine and speedy service).
I had actually finished them almost two weeks ago, but had to wait for decent daylight to take the photos. Strangely, the red highlights were washed out in the pics, which is a bit of a pity.
Pics!
Gorilla Leaders, with melee weapons and a flamethrower (that is one brave Gorilla, or the conditioning really took hold in his case):
Gorilla Specialists/bazooka team:
Gorillas with melee weapons:
Gorillas with submachineguns:
And some Gorillas with assault rifles:
'Twas great fun painting those (and coincidentally the first 28mm figures I painted this year). I'll have to see whether to make a proper project of it, but I'd at least like to paint some opponents; at them moment, they would pretty much be a "gang" of sorts.
On this related note,
is there a company that makes "dismounted" retro Bike Cops (comprising those open-face spherical helmets and leather jackets), apart from the two-figure set by West Wind (preferably of roughly comparable size and/or heft to the Crooked Dice figures)?
Failing that, any company making heads that fit the bill or look similar? I've got my eyes on Offensive Miniatures' SWAT figures as body donors (bonus in that they include mounted officers and riot gear, but the existing helmets just look too modern for my taste.
Any help and comments would be much appreciated.
Thanks for looking!
*: With apologies to Dian Fossey, who must be rolling over in her grave any time the PotA movies are shown on TV.
02 December 2010, 04:53:14 AM