Friday, December 18, 2015

15mm Vehicles and Terrain

All,

Finished up some more stuff this week, in preparation for my 15mm campaign in Africa starting.  As the title so aptly suggests, there are both vehicles and terrain items that I finished up.  Everything turned out pretty good, except one terrain piece; that is, the terrain piece itself is excellent, but I screwed it up.  And, knowing me the way I do, I'm not likely to fix it.  It's ugly, but still usable in games.  Let's get to it.

The whole mess: I've got some Amtracs from Irishserb, some HMMWVs from Flytrap Factory, a pickup truck from Peter Pig (via Brookhurst Hobbies, fantastic service), and a gas station, sentry tower, two dumpsters, and some fruit stands from Gamecraft Miniatures.

As usual, bear with me as my pictures suck.  I'd found a decent spot to take photos, but it's only good lighting from about 0800 to 1600, and the sun was already going down by the time I got home from work.

Kicking off with Irishserb's gorgeous AAVs, one in NATO tri-color camo and one in desert yellow.  Several more photos of different aspects below.

Fore.

Other side.

Aft.

Front quarter.  Awesome models that took  me too long to finally get to and finish, but here they are, and I can't wait to get them on the table.

On to two of the Flytrap Factory HMMWVs, again with one in desert tan and one in NATO tri-color.  These little vehicles are awesome; I saw them online, and with all the gear draped over them it reminded me of Iraq and Afghanistan and I so I had to have them.  So I ordered all the way from exotic Australia; I ordered a pack of vehicles, and the Enigmatic Baron Trapdoor was kind enough to mix components from what was listed, and so I got a great deal on my HMMWVs, which is much appreciated.

Closeup of the desert HMMWV.

Closeup of the NATO tri-color camo HMMWV, and for some reason the flash popped.  It's good in that it helps to show all the gear hung on the vehicle, but it looks a little garish.

A non-flash photo of the same truck, in very poor light I might add.  I'm never going to figure out this photography stuff...

Looking at the front.

Other side.

Desert truck, again with flash.

NATO tri-color truck, with flash.

The back end.

Close up of the gunner in the turret, trying to show you my 15mm Desert MARPAT, but the flash washes it out a bit.

Closeup of the camo HMMWV's gunner, in Woodland MARPAT.  

Again, kinda dark and kinda blurry.

One last look at the desert HMMWV, a great model.

Moving on to another Flytrap Factory HMMWV, this time a highback for carrying troops and gear.  How many guys can you fit in a HMMWV? One more.

Front.

Other side.

With flash.

Back.

One more.

Last vehicle, a Peter Pig pickup truck, which will be used as both a pickup truck and also a 'Technical.'  I've got numerous gunners to be painted up, which fit in the back.

Again.

Other side.

Rear.

On to the terrain: two fruit stands, two boxes of fruit, and two garbage dumpsters.

Again.

Again.

And one more with a 15mm guy to show how the size.

Next up, a Gamecraft sentry tower.  I'm a minimalist (when it comes to effort in getting terrain ready), so I just painted it green then threw some flock on the base.

Again.

Again.

Another.

With a 15mm guy inside.

And with a 20mm guy; how about that?  He's a little big, but it's doable.

Now on to my catastrophe...

I bought a gas station from Gamecraft Miniatures, and it's fantastic.  I had a little problem getting the sign to stand up, but other than that it went together like a champ.  If you can't tell, and I must explain, the catastrophe is what happened when I put a wash on it.  I put a wash on the whole damn thing, which I always do, but I got in a rush.  Instead of doing it the way I normally do, I went and got a big paintbrush and just slopped the wash on.  Well, it went on too thick and muddy, and here we here.

A look at the front, with flash.

Another look.

Again.  Actually, the external stairwell is not part of the kit, I bought it separately from Gamecraft Minis.

The back side.  Aside from my piss-poor wash, the only other thing I'd like different is I wish there was some stuff on the roof, the side and rear walls, etc...  Just some stuff to make it look 'lived in.'

Another shot.

A shot with a 15mm guy to show size.  I didn't take a pic with a 20mm guy, but I think it might work too.

Another look with 15mm figure.

And one more.

So there's the stuff I got done this week, pretty happy with it, just wish I hadn't screwed up the gas station.  In any case, the war goes on, or, more appropriately, the 20mm war goes on and the 15mm war (in South Leon, over on my Cuba Libre blog) starts this weekend.  Stay tuned.

V/R,
Jack


12 comments:

  1. Those hummers look super spec-ops with all the bags and junk stashed on them.
    Very nice :) Flytrap eh?

    Is the crew cast on or separate?

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, I'm really happy with all these vehicles. The crew, gun, and shield are all separate castings.

      V/R,
      Jack

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  2. They all look great Jack. I'm going to have to try and get some of those Amtracs from Irish Serb. The fruit stalls and dumpsters should add some nice flavour to your towns and villages. You could always stick a little box on the roof of the gas station, paint it grey and call it an aircon unit. Maybe add some rubble to look like a collapsed bit of walling. Washing line between two poles made of fishing line? I'm sure you'll have lots of ideas.

    Thanks for posting these, look forward to the game kicking off.

    Cheers, Andy

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Andy, and I didn't have any ideas, I'm not very good at this terrain stuff. But I've got ideas now ;)

      Looks like the 15mm war will not commence this weekend :( I won't bore you all, but I was out having a good time with the kids and seem to have hurt myself. Back is sore, waiting for the swelling in my arm to go down.

      Getting old sucks!

      V/R,
      Jack

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    2. It may suck, but it's heaps better than the alternative. Hope the aches and pains calm down soon!

      Cheers, Andy

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    3. Indeed it is! Yeah, I'm not saying I want the alternative, but I didn't get any gaming in today, too sore, and arm still very swollen and tender...

      But I thank you for the sentiment, Andy. Take care man.

      V/R,
      Jack

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  3. Couple of deck chairs and an oil drum barbie on the roof, and those scatter bits on the base and no one will notice the wash on the as station!

    Lovely vehicles - ESP the three tone NATO ones IMO :)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, TP, I appreciate it. You and Andy are right, I'll have to get some scatter on there. Someone on TMP recommended dry brushing to cover it up.

      V/R,
      Jack

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  4. Yeah, spot of dry brushing should help! Will pick out a bit of relief and highlights as well.

    Can't have too much scatter terrain. News/paper stand, boxes of fruit, couple of bins and buckets of sand etc etc. makes a place look lived in!

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    Replies
    1. One thing I was struck on when I've visited southern Africa is how for miles around every rural township, field boundary wire is draped in plastic wrapping that has blow off the trash heaps. It gives a very distinctive look. So plenty of piles of garbage always works well - a mix of rubble, plastic and oddments of cloth, cemented by entirely less wholesome goo!

      Cheers, Andy

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    2. TP - Yeah man, I agree, and I'm trying to spend more time and money on terrain. I want my stuff to look good, I just don't want to do all the work/pay all the money. I'd much rather buy more troops ;)

      Andy - That's interesting, something to think about. I was only in northern Africa. Plenty of trash in the urban areas, but just desert outside that. And I don't know if I wanna mess with 'less wholesome goo' ;)

      V/R,
      Jack

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    3. Andrew - that's a pretty cool thing to model (if horrible on the way we treat our garbage & planet), rip little bits of plastic bag up and superglue them "fluttering" off the boundry wires/fences/rubbish piles etc (or PVA or plastic cement? Would superglue just melt them?).

      Jack - yeah a nice bit of terrain lifts a game well. But your batreps always look cool anyway so I wouldn't stress it too much!

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