Wednesday, May 27, 2020

6mm Cold War 3D-Printed Armies

All,

I'm ramping up for a Cold War campaign and I needed forces, so I went and got me some 6mm 3D-Printed armies from Bashytubits over on TMP; he was great to work with, allowed me to tailor everything exactly as I wanted it.  Production was very quick, they were in my hands in no time, and I've finally gotten them painted up and wanted to show them to the world.

The whole mess: I've got Soviets (bottom left), West Germans (bottom right), Americans (top right), and British (top left).  If you squint real hard and don't pay attention to the mismatched paintjobs, I could pull from the three NATO members to make some Canadians, too, sort of.

The 3D-Printed troops come on a stand about 60mm x 30mm, with either 3 vehicles or a gaggle (14) infantrymen on it.  They took awhile to clean up but look nice, were easy to paint up, and I appreciated the fact they came on a base.

First up is the beast, the faceless Commie hordes of the Warsaw Pact.  This force consists of:
12 x MBT (T-64)
9 x IFV (BMP-2)
9 x APC (BTR-80)
9 x Dismounted Infantry
3 x Armored Reconnaissance (BRDM)
3 x Engineer (Trucks)
3 x SP 122mm Arty (2S1)
3 x SP 152mm Arty (2S3)
1 x SP ATGM (MTLB w/AT- Spandrel)
1 x SP Rocket Arty (BM-21)
1 x Command Stand

Engineers and BRDMs.

The SP122mm Arty, the Rocket Arty, the SP ATGM, and the Command Stand, which has an MTLB, a T-64, and a ZSU-23-4 Shilka.

The SP 152mm Arty and some T-64s.

A look at the infantry.

Again.

More T-64s.

Look at that armored leviathan reaching out to deprive the freedom-loving peoples of Western Europe of their... freedom!

The BMPs.

And the BTRs.

So that wraps it up for the Soviets; very impressive, Comrade, yes?  My only regret here is that I wish I'd have picked up two more BM-21 stands.

Now on to the good guys; first up, the West Germans.

The West German force consists of:
1 x Command Stand
1 x SP ATGM (Jaguar)
1 x SP Rocket Arty (MLRS)
3 x Armored Reconnaissance (Luchs)
3 x Engineer (Trucks)
3 x SP Arty (M-109)
4 x MBT (Leopard II)
6 x IFV (Marder)
9 x Dismounted Infantry

The infantry are not German, per se, they will be used by all NATO units.

West German heavy metal, the Leopard IIs.  As you see, I did the Germans up in NATO tri-color, was pretty quick and easy.

The Marder IFVs.

The Luchs recce vehicles.

The stand of Jaguar ATGMs.

The arty and MLRS.

The Engineers in their trucks.

The Command Stand, with Leopard, M-577, and a Flakpanzer Gepard.

The NATO infantry, which are exactly the same as the Soviet infantry, just painted different.

Next up, the BAOR.

The United Kingdom's force consists of:
1 x Command Stand
1 x SP ATGM (Swingfire)
1 x SP Rocket Arty (MLRS)
3 x Armored Reconnaissance (Scorpion)
3 x Engineer (Trucks)
3 x SP Arty (AS-90)
4 x MBT (Challenger)
6 x APC (FV-432)

The SP guns and MLRs.

Scorpions.

The Swingfire stand.  Yeah, I can't help but put yellow on AT stuff in 6mm so I can see them more easily.

Engineers.

The Command Stand, consisting of an FV-432 command vehicle, a Challenger, and a tracked Rapier SAM system.

Challengers.

And the FV-432s.

And lastly, the Americans, which I painstakingly did up in MERDC...

The American force consists of:
1 x Command Stand
1 x SP ATGM (M-901)
1 x SP Rocket Arty (MLRS)
3 x Armored Reconnaissance (M-3 Bradley)
3 x Engineer (Trucks)
3 x SP Arty (M-109)
4 x MBT (M-1 Abrams)
6 x APC (M-113)

Starting it off with the arty.

And the MLRS.

M-1s.

The Bradleys.

M-901 Hammerheads.

Trucks for the Engineers.

The Command Stand, with an M-1, an M-577, and an M-163.

And the Tracks, for carrying around Crunchies.

Well, there they are, all set for the balloon to go up.  We're supposed to do the V Corps AOR, but I'm trying to work in my BAOR as well ;)

V/R,
Jack

17 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Aw, c'mon, you've got much better stuff than my humble efforts could produce.

      It is a lot, though ;) "Quantity has a quality all its own."

      V/R,
      Jack

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    2. Quantity DOES have a quality all its own!

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    3. I certainly hope so!

      V/R,
      Jack

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  2. Did you do all the painting yourself? That's a lot of painting, don't care if it IS just 6mm...

    That's a pretty wicked collection of toys you've got there. Looking forward to seeing them blast each other to bits!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ski,

      Yessir, I sure did. I'm looking to get them into action ASAP.

      V/R,
      Jack

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  3. Your MERDC is the cat's whiskers, Jack. Your painting in terms of both quality and quantity, never ceases to amaze me.

    Okay... so Ive ordered 15mm cold war from bashytobits a few years ago and while cheap, the models were atrocious. These look GREAT. like seriously incredible, fantastic, especially the Soviets.

    I need a battalion of BMP2s, so I'm assuming that would be a good deal less than GHQ metals? I also need some of the specialist units too, like PT76, recce and BM21s, etc.

    And I love how he models the infantry. They look like poses from the old SSI computer game Steel Panthers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Steve,

      Well, I was shooting for "the cat's meow," but close enough! ;) And please do speak to the campaign manager, he's been slacking ;) I'll see if I can dig out a GHQ vehicle and take a picture for scale. I didn't glue anything, everything is as printed, and yes, I know ;)

      V/R,
      Jack

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  4. I'll talk to the guy running the campaign and see what he says about BAOR ;)

    PS how do they scale next to GHQ?

    PPS did the ITVs come printed with the launcher up like that? Or did you have to glue into place?

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  5. What an absolutely fab collection!

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  6. Seriously impressed Jack. One hell of a paint rate to get that lot done and they look superb.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Jon, coronavirus has been very good to me ;)

      V/R,
      Jack

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  7. Excellent collection. I like the 3D printing quality, it's getting better all the time. It's just some of the sloping surfaces that look contoured, like the Luchs, but you've painted them superbly, really brought out the detail in them. Infantry have turned out well too. Look forward to seeing them in action.

    Cheers, Andy

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Andy! Yeah, it's pretty cool; nowhere near perfect, but it's getting better everyday. I can live with the striations, you can't see it at tabletop distance. I'm hoping to get them into action soon, but our campaign has been delayed due to Coronavirus.

      I'll be using your favorite rules, CWC, of course! ;)

      V/R,
      Jack

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