Thursday, 19 July 2012
6mm Sci-Fi: New Buildings and other Cool Stuff.....
Now of course I am still loudly telling myself that there is no such project as 'taking the 6mm Sci-Fi plunge' anywhere in the near vicinity of the workbench; and therefore a purchase of some of the new and expanding ranges from Angel Barracks and Brigade Models was merely, ahem..... in the interests of research.....
Therefore I am justifying this latest diversion by sharing some broad 'compare and contrast' type photos of some of the newly available items alongside some other neat looking things.
In the photo at the head of this post, we can see the AB Large MHU with Solar Panels alongside a range of 6mm infantry; from left to right, an Irregular Miniatures' strip of NSF11, then a single NSF9 followed by an old Marine sculpt from Scotia Micro Models, then a pair of Germy's 6mm soldiers available from Brigade, and finally a pair of DRM's Pax Arcadia Light Infantrymen.
As you will note, the MHU sculpt is wonderfully smooth and crisp, and scales perfectly alongside the various 6mm types; below a smorgasbord of items that in no way form the basis of an entirely new project....honestly.....
Next up the representative infantrymen in front of two of Brigade Models' new Sci-Fi Desert structures; at left, the largest block from the Outbuildings pack, and on the right, the excellent Research Lab:
The Brigade items have a somewhat porous-looking surface, and are softer all round than the Angel Barracks ones, but I think are just right for their desert context; they'll certainly be perfect for a good dry-brush thrashing for an authentic windblown, end-of-the-galaxy look, whilst the latter are more corporate-looking and polished:
Michael at Angel Barracks has certainly hit the ground running in developing his FUBAR-related range, and no more so than in the flora and fauna that he has been exploring, including the amazingly alien Drill-Worm Nests - mounds of putrescent, pustulent alien weirdness:
Seen here alongside the aforementioned Brigade outbuildings, you'll see that these are moulded in a softer material, almost plaster-like, but this has not softened the detail, which is well sculpted and obvious:
Moving on now to another scenery type from the Barracks, below we have the new sandbag emplacement, inhabited left to right by DRM, Brigade, Scotia and the Irregular troops:
Closely followed by the same manning the amazingly well defined improvised barricade:
These are some really classy pieces with great detailing; anything from tires and boxes of various sizes to bits of furniture and all sorts of other detritus are clearly visible:
Finally an entry or two from Old Crow's range of 6mm Sci-Fi scenics - the grey building at right is actually a corridor section for a larger structure, but in 6mm looks quite good in its own right whilst the pile of cylinders and the free-standing containers are spot-on..... rumour has it that the Old Crow website should be up and running again soon - fingers crossed!
Not that I'm looking to acquire any more stock for a project that doesn't exist...... maybe I should be calling it 'Area 51'...... official deniability and all that..... or is it just self -delusion? ;-)
Labels:
6mm Sci-Fi,
Angel Barracks,
Brigade Models,
Product Reviews
Saturday, 14 July 2012
Plastic Fantastic 3: Star Wars Completed
A quick photo update on the plastic Star Wars items; given that I haven't done much Hobby-wise recently, I at least managed to complete these in a Hoth-style swirl of snow and ice....
I used some medium Renaissance Ink flocking gel, painted silver grey, given a white dry-brush thrashing, a spot of ink for a wash and then some more white over that - I went a bit over the top with the flocking gel material, I think, so much so that we are verging on Christmas ornament territory rather than the ice-encrusted surface of Hoth....
The AT-STs are mounted on UK two pence coins - I left the edges plain, bearing in mind that these are not part of a formal project, I don't mind the slightly 'ornamental' look.
The Snowspeeders are mounted on the ubiquitous plastic flight stands, here liberally daubed with the gel:
Hmmm - puts me in mind of a certain coconut confectionery:
http://blog.omakasebox.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Snowballs.jpg
:-)
Red Flight heads home for a spot of tea:
Labels:
6mm Sci-Fi,
Plastic Fantastic
Thursday, 28 June 2012
Plastic Fantastic Part 2: Star Wars W.I.P
Unusually fast turn around on these fantastic plastic minis - mainly because I couldn't resist having a go to see how they would turn out - have to say, in spite of my rather rushed paint jobs, the detail on these is very crisp, the Snowspeeders in particular being really well defined. They are still a work-in-progress, but the photos should give some idea of how good they are....
I found out that they are from amongst the playing pieces that come with the Star Wars Risk:
http://boardgamegeek.com/image/159625/risk-star-wars-original-trilogy-edition
There are also some larger scale figures, including a rather good Rancor, as well as some nifty-looking mini Death Stars - looks as if I might be trawling Ebay again some time soon!
You'll notice that I haven't yet decided on a basing scheme for the AT-STs - obviously torn between the earth of Endor or the classic Hoth ice and snow - given that these don't actually yet fit into any existing 6mm armies project, I guess I could do either - certainly the 'speeders are not exactly canon - I just went a bit wild with the orange!
Hope to have these finished soon, and then it's back to more mainstream, metallic minis - I promise!
Labels:
6mm Sci-Fi,
Plastic Fantastic
Monday, 25 June 2012
Plastic Fantastic Part 1: Star Wars
I was inspired by a post a while ago over at TMP talking about the possibilities of using plastic Lego Bionicle model parts as a relatively cheap source of ready-made starships, and have since been haunting E (vil) -Bay looking for just such items, only to find that there is quite a range of tePlmpting bits and bobs on there that end up, well....tempting me to buy them.....
The result is that I now have a large and varied haul of plastic items that should be fun to play around with, utilising them as the basis for various scratch-build projects, principally the aforementioned starships, but also for Sci-Fi terrain pieces.
I'll be showcasing these finds in a series of posts here, but thought I'd kick the things off with a look at some rather cool Star Wars playing pieces in plastic that I think are a good fit for 6mm minis. Not entirely sure where these are originally from, perhaps pieces from a Star Wars themed set of Risk or other boardgame?
In any event, these Snowspeeders and AT-STs scale pretty well alongside the 6mm troops from GZG we see below:
Similarly, and perhaps more appropriately, next to Irregular Miniatures' 6mm 'not' Jawas NSF11:
Then for a comparison scale, seen here next to two other 'chicken walker' contenders, a piece from Micro Machines, (closer to 10mm perhaps?) and then the 2mm IKSF28 two-legged walker by Irregular:
Can't wait to have a go at painting these up - not that I actually had a 6mm Star Wars related project on the go, but you know how it is..... :-)
I should be pushing ahead with the 2mm Sci-Fi stuff, including a large number of the 2mm infantry bases seen in the next photo, but I think I'll forgive myself a small diversion in the meantime!
The original, inspirational TMP discussions can be found here:
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=250447
and here:
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=272030
Stay tuned for some more 'Plastic Fantastic' to come soon....
Labels:
6mm Sci-Fi,
Plastic Fantastic
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
Flag-less Block Frenzy at Irregular Miniatures!
Just a quick 'heads up' to all you 2mm fanatics out there, Irregular Miniatures have just announced that they are stocking new flag-less versions of all their classic Horse and Musket Era infantry blocks, codes BG1 through 34, that will be available alongside the existing range.
This is excellent news for all those who like to depict large-scale formations, and have in the past had to resort to file and clippers to hack away at the pre-cast flags - now you can paint them up in groups and multiples to your heart's desire - only downside is that I now have to re-think and re-write all my future OOB requirement lists to factor in the new blocks.....oh well!
Head on over and take a look at: http://www.irregularminiatures.co.uk/
Tootle-oo!
Labels:
2mm Irregular
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