For the Motherland (finished!)

"железа ребенка" (Iron Baby)
15mm scale






Well this was a lot of fun to make. And I'm quite happy with the results: not goofy looking per se, but definitely a different visual style than my other Weird War 2 walkers. I think thinking up the back story beforehand helped visualize the final product, since of course every miniature should have a story, even a brief one.

So little

... both the figures, and the amount of painting I've been getting accomplished lately :P

Soviet flag bearer
15 mm



The first time I've done proper eyes with whites and pupils on a 15 mm figure :)

Soviet Assault Walker
15 mm scale



As you can see, I think I accomplished the "look" I was going for, a much brighter green (Ordic Olive mixed with Space Wolf Grey) than standard WW2 Allied olive drab. There apparently was no standard Soviet armour colour, since all factories used whatever was available.

Next I just have to base these guys and paint some markings on the mech. It's been a while since did any freehand...

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In other news, I just discovered Blogger has a static page function, so I can put up an About Me page and stuff like that. I'm always reluctant to put too much personal info on the web, but I'm not an "in the closet" mini painter, or anything :)

For the Motherland!

Soviet assault walker
15mm scale



The war walkers produced by Allies and Axis alike captured the interest of Comrade Stalin, and he ordered production of a "robot" to support mass infantry charges. The Christie walking suspension was overly costly for Soviet production, so a simpler non-transforming leg mechanism was devised, and the walkers transported over distance by trucks. Armament varied; this one carries a 20 mm ShVAK autocannon and a rocket launcher adapted from a captured German Nebelwerfer.

Due to the walkers' awkward toddling gait they gained the nickname "железа ребенка" (Iron Baby) among Soviet soldiers. Operation required considerable skill, and drivers enjoyed being considerably less expendable than their comrades on foot.

This was a fun conversion from a Khurasan Miniatures sci-fi walker. I just generally down-tech'ed it, giving it a more gas-powered look and fixing some bad design (pointless asymmetry - why?) and building the Nebelwerfer out of sprue.

Für das Vaterland!

Gepanzerte Truppen
15 mm







Some Eureka sci-fi WW2 Germans, first posted here back in 2009, sans bases. I figured that since I just ordered a set of Khurasan's "Control Battalion Infantry Riflethings", I should finish these guys up and get them off my work table. Great little sculpts; they really have the feeling of being the menacing elite soldiers of an evil war machine, even at this tiny scale.

The Riflethings will probably end up as some kind of WW2-era strangeness as well. I'm just not sure what. I ordered a sci-fi walker as well, so maybe I'll do the lot as Allied gear, since the Germans usually seem to have the Weird War advantage.

I'm very strange, I know it.

I'm working on a new 15 mm project... and it's a weird one. Here's some rough concept art:


What the? OK, some explanation: As we all know from watching "Raiders of the Lost Ark", the Third Reich were interested in some pretty fringe stuff - occultism and black magic and so on. This is the product of some kind of Nazi occult ritual gone horribly awry on the battlefield, resulting in the tank being "possessed" by some kind of demon or entity :O Kind of like the Chaos vehicles in Warhammer 40,000.

I'm basing this on a 15 mm Flames of War tank, and probably some GW Chaos or Genestealer bitz for the legs, since I'm not such a hot sculptor... I might have some mixed troops (Allied AND German) trying to destroy the thing, to emphasize what a universal menace it is. Should be fun :)

Long departure

Months and months of no posts... the death of a blog. But I have an excuse, I got married and honeymooned and all that.

But hopefully, back to painting now!

German Valkyrie walker
15 mm scale





So this didn't turn out looking quite as good as I'd hoped, but it's good enough. I think it's a very wintery, chilly model, which at least is what I was aiming for.

"Let's go steal wine from that farmhouse... uh, I mean... attack! For the Fatherland!"

Loki Scout Walker
15 mm scale



Another Weird War 2 model from Gear Krieg. There are a bunch of conversions on this one. The awning-looking thing is a hi-freq radio antenna, WW2-style. Also, a spare tire, some stowed gear, better gripper claws, and a half-track commander from Flames of War.

Weird Reich

These just arrived in the mail from Dream Pod 9:

Loki and Valkyrie German Walkers
15 mm scale





DP9 minis seem overpriced to me, but since I can't sculpt/scratchbuild my way out of a paper bag, what choice do I really have to satisfy those World War 2 stompy robot cravings?

Weird War 2, again...

Gepanzerte Truppen
15 mm





Another World War 2 that (thankfully) never was... Wehrmacht space marines :P These finely-sculpted little 15 mm figures are from Eureka in Australia.

Wehrmacht H39 gun
15 mm scale





Just finished one more WW2 mini, another gift from my brother. Very kind of him. This is an assault gun Germany made from a captured French tank. I'm happy to say my results with static grass were much better here than in the past. It looks vaguely like grass.

Tank, and canvas

Stuart Tank
15 mm scale



Could be titled "The Goose Thieves" :)

Hopefully there'll be more updates coming in the next while, and some non-WW2 minis, since I know it's sort of a weird kick to be on :) In the meantime, here's a canvas:

Untitled Green 2009
12" x 12"

New projects

Monkey Demon
20 mm



This came all the way from Italy, so I'll try and paint it well. He kind of reminds me of the art from Hellboy, for some reason.

M3A1 Stuart tank
15 mm scale



An American tank of WW2. My brother, who loves these little tanks, got me this for Christmas. As usual I've added some extras to make it look lived-in. Soldiers in the field tend to accumulate useful things if they can, because the only thing worse than being shot at, is being shot at when you're cold, wet and hungry.

WW2 Big & Stompy

Normandy 1944
15 mm scale




All done! I like how this turned out, the street is a little "clean" but I didn't want it overwhelmed with rubble etc. The ruined walls are made of a kind of fiberboard, with tiny gravel as the brick rubble.

I've been meaning to get back to my more "traditional" miniatures, but my brother went and got me some more WW2 stuff for Christmas! So I suppose I'll have to paint those at some point too...

Useful find

WW2-era European streets were usually paved with cobblestones. While picturesque, these are a bit of a pain in the butt to model, since you pretty much have to sculpt an entire #%@# bunch of them yourself, or find a textured plastic product (usually not cheap or available locally) to get the effect.

I found this stuff at the local art store for $2. God help me, I think it's scrapbooking paper.



But painted, it makes pretty decent 1:100 scale cobblestones. Go figure.

WW2 Update

I need to post more in-progress shots so there are more updates here. I've been pretty lax.

Anyway here are my latest 15 mm scale WW2 minis, they're done but obviously the base isn't started yet. Alas, American vehicles in WW2 weren't that interesting to look at, the regulation markings were very plain. The vehicle names would probably have to have been painted on by the crew once there weren't any authority figures around.

Lettering "Betty Boop" was surprisingly difficult, the letters are less than 2 mm tall :P "Yellow Fever" was, thankfully, a decal.



The walker commander (presumably holding binoculars) was originally the .50 gunner on the car, but I sawed him off at the waist and gave his legs to the waving man so he could stand up in the car turret. All the extra bags etc. were sculpted from putty.

More WW2

US "General Early" walker and M-20 Scout Car
~35 mm



Some real and fictional WW2 American gear.

What could have been...

... if World War 2 was fought with big stompy robots!

"Gear Krieg" British Walker
~50 mm



Definitely a different take on WW2 war games! "Weird War 2" is a popular miniature genre right now so maybe this line will become more available. This is a Christmas gift for someone who hopefully doesn't read my blog...

For England!

Universal Carrier
35 mm long



Just another WW2 mini, Allied this time. Not an amazing paint job, I'll admit. Though this is meant to be a British or Canadian vehicle, the "American" white star was a common Allied air-recognition marking, used to reduce friendly* aircraft attacks on ground vehicles. The cartoon is presumably from a training manual, this was NOT a "tank" by any means and using it as such probably got a few soldiers killed.

* military saying: "friendly fire... isn't"

Armour

I forgot to post this when I finished it...

SdKfz 231 Armoured Car
60 mm long



A German heavy armored car for my bro's Flames of War army. I have to get back to doing MY miniatures some time...

Small offering

WW2 Russian Army Commissar and bodyguard
15 mm



Commissars were political officers responsible for maintaining loyalty in Russian Army units. Their methods ranged from shouting motivational slogans in battle to purging "counter-revolutionary" officers and machine-gunning troops who retreated against orders. Not one inch of Russia to the Fascists!