Fallout: Heading East

[Infovore]

Maxmini sell packs of AKs, although I've never ordered anything from them so I can't say how well they work scale-wise....
http://maxmini.eu/conversion-bits/ballistic-weapons/AK-guns-bits

[zizi666]

Maxmini sell packs of AKs, although I've never ordered anything from them so I can't say how well they work scale-wise....
http://maxmini.eu/conversion-bits/ballistic-weapons/AK-guns-bits

I've got some of their weapons (mostly from their PA range), but as I'm about to leave, comparison pics will have to wait.
(and yes, I've got some Red Star minis to compare them to  )

[Wyrmalla]

I bought some of those ages ago when I still played 40k, and well saying that they're definately scaled for that game (as in ridiculously huge). That said I have some Statureque Miniatures AKs (which are a bit big, but not as bad), plus loads of other guns (not necessarily Russian, or at least not from the time period, but I think I could get away with a few Mosin Nagants and FN FALs).

Another pair. One guy in more military issue gear, another who looks like a bandit. Heads are again from Secrets of the Third Reich and the bodies are ...yup... Wargames Factory WWII troops. Military guy has an Uzi and a scope SKS (forgot to sculpt a sling for it), whilst the other has L1A1 (I can't the source's name, but I posted it in compiled list of Fallout minis thread).



I'll see about painting something tonight (...not necessarily the Fallout stuff I've had sitting for the past week). I have a load of balsa wood sitting there though which I'd like to use, hmn, but the Hind may come first (my painting table's a right shambles right now, so maybe making something new's for the best). I have seemingly forgotten about the dozens of Cold War Soviet vehicles I have sitting there (intended to go towards a scrapyard like set of town fortification),  so I may well dig a few of those out and rust them up a bit (not as badly as my Fallout ones though). We'll see. =P

Now to continue trying to download the bloody Lost Alpha mod. The first part was fine, but the other three bits keep coming up as “file broken”. Eugh, need a mirror.

[zizi666]

OK, took a quick pic on the ironing board. I'd say those Maxmini AK's are a definite NONO for Red Star Miniatures...

[Messyart]

As a general rule I say "maxmini doesn't fit 28mm" and ignore their range begrudgingly. 
I have a pack of their machine guns and M16 guns here and they will never get a use.. Shame, they look pretty nice.
(though the machineguns have been converted into a nice gun turret)

[Grimmnar]

The Wargames Factory Male Survivors set includes a number of AKs and other modern guns.

Oh and as far as the AKs go, yeah I may pick up a box of their female survivors at some point and nab some from there. However I bloody hate that there's all these manufacturers out there who make weapons for their models but don't sell them separately. I'd love if Empress sold weapon sprues, I mean they already have them made up for personal use, but I guess there isn't a market out there for them or something (it really bemuses me though why they don't sell them as they're great). The Ral Partha sprues are pretty good though. They have a mix of WWII and Cold War guns, ranging from Makarovs, Uzis, Colt M16 to AK 74s (they seem to be aimed towards the Arab-Israeli conflict given their choice), so really useful. I just wish they sold them still, I picked up only a few secondhand unfortunately.

Then stop and head to eBay and pick up some. http://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?_odkw=&_ssn=hoard_*_bits&hash=item51ae992aaf&item=350821624495&pt=Games_US&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2046732.m570.l1313.TR10.TRC0.A0.H0.XSurvivors&_nkw=Survivors&_sacat=0

Grimm

[Wyrmalla]

Damn, I have no idea what I did with the AKs that came with those Chechens. Eugh... In the mean time like I said, I'll make do with the ones I have left and a mix of WWII and modern NATO guns (Freedom's supplied by the West for the most part so they use a lot of their guns, that and the UN made expeditions into the area so foreign guns turn up every now and then). Hmn, on that note I could well get away with using non-Eastern European models to represent those not from the region or at least sourcing their gear from outside of the area (those Empress People's Liberation Army models would do well for the Chinese forces deployed in Afghanistan in the sequel ...as would the Americans do for the psychotic remnants of the US military as well). Tangent much?

First this one Loner guy (my favorite of the bunch). His camouflage sort of makes him look like a Freedomer, and well maybe he will turn out to be one just for ease of differentiating factions (Loners would have yellows as their primary color I guess).



Well I discovered that I had a dozen or so Empress US models sitting un-built and thought I'd put them to some use. Here's four of them as Freedom Stalkers (the massive beards are a dead give away). The camouflage is more in line with what the British use, but hopefully nobody will pick out that anarchism (...its just what I know forest camo to look like is all).  I may be putting in an order with Empress at some point, and if so I'd add some British models to this mix (as like I said Freedom's NATO backed, so such gear aught to be turning up).




Along with those I managed a set of Mercenaries as well. I suppose the US models are appropriate given that in the original fluff these guys were actually American Special Forces acting under the guise of PMCs.





There's another handful of fellers left to paint, two Duty, a Monolith, and some generic guys that I've shown as WIPs already. Meh, we'll see what happens with them.  Hmn, probably aught to start another thread once those are all done or something. =P

As ever I misjudged my basla wood consumption so I need to go out and buy some more ...a problem considering its almost Christmas which makes travelling horrible (I really should just make a bulk order or something instead of only buying enough for one or two structures at a time, though shops I go into don't really stock the sizes I use well). Here this is as it stands at the moment though.  Based partly on a building from the area, just with less windows (because the existing four were fiddly enough to add) . It isn't too messed up or weird, so could do for other settings in Eastern Europe, say for the Chechen wars or the Ukrainian conflict (...if I don't make the modern figures I'm picking up too off the wall either so I can actually field a squad).





So yeah, there's that. Much cheaper than the £30 resin ones I've seen ...even if it takes more time to make. This is at a size which I'm much more comfortable with than the kits Renedra and the like produce (the Renedra farmhouse is about half the size of this, but its 1/56), though I don't know what others think of it. There's the frame anyway, I'll have more shots and add the furniture and other bits later on once its finished and painted (...or I'll just procrastinate and post more WIPs). I'm considering add an extention onto it to make it more of an L shape rather than a rectangle to accomodate for the entrance as well.

So there's what I've powered through with. The Fallout stuff, ah well that's still in the same almost finished state, but youknow I've not had the drive to bother with that much lately.  I guess I'll be buying in more balsa wood and working on the house then, and if failing that making it'll be the Hind that sees some work instead. Besides those I do have a few vehicles being rusted up right now and I may add some more before anything's posted (again these also do for modern conflicts. Given that they're all at least what thirty years old by now its fair to say that in their banged up state it wouldn't be unusual to see a few sitting about a board abandoned in a more modern conflict setting).

[Wyrmalla]

...Yeah, you might want to run, or pull out that BFG you're lugging.

Dragging itself out of some toxic waste (much like that one scene in the film Toxic Avenger) this thread's making somewhat of a resurgence ...and a rather grubby gloopy one at that (watch out it may poke one of its suckers your way).

What have I been doing with this stuff for the past two months? Well you've seen the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. thread (and if you haven't then bugger off there, I'll wait. Oh come on it has pictures of fences!), so that's what's happened with it. I took a bit of a break with this stuff ...I mean an actual break, not just me procrastinating, after a year long romp. Now though, and with nothing to do with peer pressure or the lack of funds being deposited in my Swiss bank account from that other thread (wait, we are supposed to be getting paid for all this right?), its back. ...and well more rambly than ever clearly.

So what can I post? Well let's see. Better to start off with what I posted last right. ...Which luckily enough happens to found itself actually painted. A tribal who's eschewed the metal/mattress/ tire of the more civil wastelanders and decided to be a bit economical by wearing the hollowed out shells of his chosen prey. This is a Perry Mahdist Ansar model primarily with a deal of greenstuff for his set of armour. The claw was donated by a Messyart crab which he's now fashioned a sort of spear with (or would that be halberd?). In his tribe he's surely a renowned warrior, out in the wastes though we'll see how long he'll last against punks with .22 plinkers. =P



What else would a scenario involving that hunter involve other than a Mirelurk nest? These are the egg clutches which come with Messyart's crabs, along with a few made by myself. In specific scenarios they'll act as objective markers for enigmatic wastelanders out to snatch some dinner. Its an idea to use what Mantic Mars Attacks! brick ruins I have left to make a flooded building filled with these things, but I'll have to finish the existing building before trottling off down that path.



Now where else do wasteland critters take a wee dip than a rather attractive looking radpool? Ooh, and such a comfortable temperature too. ...Hang on the sludge is actually quite cold, but my skin's tingly to no end. Hmn, what was that the local sheriff said about heading this way without any RadAway...?




The eggy looking things by the pools are a type of fungus not eggs by the way. They just happen to look rather eggy is all. They may even smell of eggs, but I couldn't tell you as my nose has fallen off along with a better part of my skin.

So this ends this re-inaugural post (...that's a thing right?). Its finally shoved off that half painted stuff which has been sitting beside my desk and bugging me for some months. But where is this all headed? Well I don't rightfully know, rather I'm still committed to working on my S.T.A.L.K.E.R. stuff, but I don't foresee taking on any other large projects beyond that. So its my goal to go back to that and finish the larger terrain pieces initially before I make any more plans. that'll be a few weeks from now at the rate I work, so time enough to find something else silly to work on by then. ...All the suckers and tentacles I've grown will certainly help with that. Tsk adieu, and be sure to wear the proper attire next time you visit. ...All those doctors bills for removing extra toes sure add up.

[zizi666]

Great stuff !
That Mirelurk hunter is awesome (although I'd give him some ranged firepower to stay clear from the odd Mirelurk King.)

The Radpools are cool too (or rather hot  ) did you use some kind of liquid water or a glossy paint job ?

[Messyart]

That hunter is beautiful. c:
Perhaps I should make a hunter too. 

That balsa house up there is awesome too, I wish I had somewhere near me to play to make terrain building worthwhile!

[Gargobot]

Those extra toes are annoying, but the fingers sure come in handy when building terrain. Which I will be doing now - let my stuff sit around long enough.
Thanks for the inspiration.

[Wyrmalla]

@ zizi666

No, jab the blighter in the eye with your spear son!

The pools may look glossy, but I only gave them a single coat of varnish. If you zoom in on the image you'll see the paintjob with a bit more detail. So I guess its just my hack paintjob which makes them look that way ...and if they turned out good then that was purely unintentional.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/688316-Rad%20Pool.html

@ Messyart

Just hollow out one of your crabs, it wouldn't take much to make one. I was considering giving him a shield too, though really anything's possible if you can be bothered splitting up the shell into the right shapes. =P

That shack'll turn up in my other thread soonish. ...Probably sooner rather than later as I'll post it up without the furniture done first as its sat on my table long enough. Naturally it looks quite different from the source image now ...mostly because its somehow more of a crap hole than a building which has been abandoned for thirty years in Ukraine. =P

@ Gargobot

It is however difficult to paint when you're using those extra appendages to hold weapons and that evil third hand keeps on trying to strangle you unfortunately. But yes even with all that you'd still see about a 10% increase in productivity as your second head really pushes you to achieve.

[Messyart]

Hehe, see now we're thinking of different hunters.

A large mutant with a larger suit of crab shell might be cool, though.

[Wyrmalla]

Oh I know exactly what you mean...



 

...Ok, little serious there. ^^

[commissarmoody]

I actually really want a bunch of giant mantis shrimp to use as aliens.