Re: Post Apocalyptic Projects - Road Guards!

[Mr. Peabody]

Haven't done any real hobby work in nine months! A real dry spell.   Then the Post-Apoc bug bit hard when I started to play Fallout 4! Now it looks like I'm in it deep... I've even begun dusting off and finishing old projects just to make room on the workbench.

Going to try to use up as much junk from the old Lead Mountain as possible for this project, but I'll have to rely on the Postman for a few things. It's good to have the hobby muse back around the house again.  

Meanwhile, here's the first bit of P.A. work to satisfy my jones. Just a wee conversion inspired by Gunbird's excellent examples of what the Pixar diecasts can become.

'Chug' comes apart very nicely, just two screws on the bottom. The result is a sweet little cab & chassis as well as a bulk-tank container that has some potential as set-dec or an objective marker.


A few scraps of styrene and a lick of Pro Weld later and the job is pretty much done. Ambroid Pro Weld managed to glue all the styrene bits to the plastic parts of the Cars model chassis. Gap-filling CA glue was used for the plastic to metal joins.


The deck was scratched and scribed with pointy tools, various saw blades and a wire brush. Bog standard Scale-Rail / Styrene Modelling technique for creating a worn wooden texture. We'll see how convincing my attempt was once the paint hits it... The thin piece of styrene sheet was edged with very thin styrene strips which will be painted as metal. Rusty, rusty metal.


The Pixar Cars are cheap at the local Dollar Stores, but it takes some scrounging to find them. Will be doing up a second one of these as soon as we get another "Chug" and then will paint them up together.

[Grimmnar]

The Pixar Cars are cheap at the local Dollar Stores, but it takes some scrounging to find them.

I have never had the luck for a buck per at the Dollar Stores.  Never found em at the Dollar Store in fact.  Found a recent $2 each source though with a huge selection. Hoping to locate Cabbie finally.
Loving your PA start though. Nice to see what else you come up with.

Grimm

[Mr. Peabody]

Yeah, even though these are in a 'Dollar' store, they go for $3.00 CDN. Still, better than trying to cherry-pick them on eBay.

My buddy just came in the door with the haul from the cross-border mailbox! In the mix were some nice Plasticville bits for both of us. These will get the Skankgame treatment, Chuck Style. Focus on fast & easy.

[Mr. Peabody]

Wow, a month flies by without a single update! Pretty much situation normal chez Peabody...
Recent eBay wins mean that Plasticville and Pixar lots continue to trickle in and the project stash now looks like it could populate a sharp looking wasteland table once it's all done and dusted.

However, we have managed to play at least four games of TNT using terrain and bits from other projects - and scales.    That has kept enthusiasm high for our wee group. The game is just plain fun.

Taking Gunbirds rather excellent tutorial as a starting point, I finally put some paint on a couple of the 'cars'.

Thought I might get away without priming these a neutral colour. Lets see how they turn out...


One of our big goals for TNT is to get the minis above the table as much as possible; bring back that Mordheim vibe where you had units climbing and running along rooftops...

So I kitbashed a watch-tower. This features a winch, salvaged from "Tow Mater". I imagine this being used to haul heavy weapons or whatever up onto the deck.


The winch is attached with a small rare-earth magnet. This way it can be swapped out for a gangway or bridge leading to another building.


The base comes from the Plasticville 'Water Tank'. The rest is textured plastic card, styrene strip and a familiar GW IG bit. This should be a very rusty thing. 

[gary42]

Looks great Peabs!  We started putting together our post-apocalypse war band in our neck of the woods for a go at TNT.

[rollawaythestone]

Love the truck, cars, and watchtower! I've been eyeing that plasticville water tower for some time...

[Hupp n at em]

Great to see some nicely painted Pig Iron stuff.  . At this rate there will be tons of examples of those Pixar Cars by the time I get around to painting mine. 

[Mr. Peabody]

Glad you like those P.I. Heavies. I painted them years ago and then never had much of a use for them until now.

They make great Preservers and Peacekeepers.

[Gunbird]

Nice job buddy! I have that tanker truck too, 3,50 euro, the only one in a big pile of Planes aircraft. Was just going to repaint and weather it, but I like what you did to it. Nice to see my tutorial is helpful!

[Mr. Peabody]

Ok, some progress with the Pixar Cars... These are just about ready for some tufts, decorations and a final matte varnish.
I didn't have all the suggested ingredients for the tutorial - thought I had a bottle of the 'Streaking Grime', but it was a dark green grime... I just substituted some tube oil paints instead. The effect isn't as smooth, but it wasn't a reason to down tools.

I'm pretty happy with the results. I didn't prime these models 'cause I liked their existing paint jobs.


But I did start by spraying a coat of Vallejo acrylic matte varnish. So there was something for the 'rust' to cling to.


So some time was saved and useful paint jobs preserved. Other than that, I just followed the quick and easy tutorial steps.


I have a few duplicates. Especially the Volkswagen Kombis. Those will get the full treatment; base-coat and transformation.


Took the ladder off of this fire truck. It was made of super-bendy soft plastic. Laid down some textured plastic card in its place.


Left the wheels on. This beast would be cool if it ended up being mobile in a scenario or two.


More to come...

[Gunbird]

Beautiful, they came out looking like a treat!

[gary42]

They look killer!

[Mr. Peabody]

Thanks fellas. I think the bit that really seals the deal is Gunbird's advice to go back in and repaint the chrome. Really helped the big blue one to pop.

[Constable Bertrand]

Dogs Danglies! Thats the business Mr Peabody!

I concur that those Pixar cars work quite well for $7 each. A well places growie or scrap metal will hide maters huge mouth, and perhaps a bit of scrap metal/ram will hide the firetruck?

I like your removal of the ladder/crane. They always put me off TBH.

Keep on cracking
Matt

[Psychopomp]

Is it the "Deluxe" Cars toys that are the right scale, or the ones with no special markings on the package?

Almost all the ones for sale in my area are the regular packages, and they just don't seem to be large enough to be in scale.

It'd be super helpful to see one of the toys everyone is using for scenery still in the original packaging.