Shenanigans in the north of Scotland

[Doghead13]

They do two zombie sets, which are pretty much interchangeable - I say pretty much because most of the sci-fi ones have sleeves on, which would look kinda odd on the fantasy ones' bare-chested torsos without whacking on a bit of green stuff. From each fantasy sprue you get three zoms; from each sci-fi sprue five zoms. The fantasy ones use Mantic's semi-cast-in bases; the sci-fi ones do not. The two kits mix together perfectly, and with some ingenuity and bits-box clobber can produce right nice scavvies.

They're also markedly cheaper than GW, I mean they -blow GW out the water-. At UK prices, a box of twenty of GW's admittedly pretty nice and very 'kitbashable' plastic zoms will set you back £20.50 - that's a touch over one pound and twopence a zombie. Mantic's sci-fi zoms (which are IMO -much- niftier than their, admittedly vastly cheaper, fantasy ones, and are every bit as adaptable as GW's zoms) cost £14.99 for a box of twenty - five quid and change cheaper than the GW offering, or if you're less fussed about individuality of your groaning shufflers and want pure head count, their fantasy zoms go for £24.50 for -forty-. That's a touch over 61p each - a full 41p cheaper than GW.

Given that copper wire was invented by two Scotsmen fighting over a penny, you can readily guess where I'll be going for all of my zombie-related needs.

 

[djmothra]

Don;t forget the Ghoul sprue as well, they mix perfectly too

 

[Matelloco]

That's a thought...

Hmm, all she needs now is a less Eldary gun, huh?

These are their 'Heroic-Scale Heads'.

http://www.statuesqueminiatures.co.uk/p/8774376/sma012-heroic-scale-female-heads.html

They're visibly bigger than the rest of Statuesque's head range, which would look a bit small on a Dark Eldar but are a pretty good match for the somewhat smaller original Escher.

Thx a lot mate !

 

[Doghead13]

Think she'll need a bit of building up in the neck area - bit more bulk and height. Blob of green stuff in the Dark Eldar's neck hole should do it, then just smooth that into the Statuesque head's neck. ATM her head is positioned a little low and there's a visible aperture around it. Nothing drastic, mind - it's just a matter of getting it lined up properly instead of a 10-second-job tack on with superglue.

 

[trollmeat]

If it is only the neck-socket that needs filling then it is really a minor alteration to get them to work rather than a complete work-over. The pic you posted looks really good for an escher alt - I'll have to remember those heads for when I get 'round to converting my DEldar

 

[Doghead13]

OK Parcelforce having just made a hefty supply drop it seems to be gloat o'clock in the afternoon!

The size of my collection of different and unmodified Escher has just shot up from 4 to 14 including both leaders and the heavy plasma gun heavy, without absurd money having been spent; I'm six Squats better off (five of the Adventurers and one I think may be one of the Chaos Squats) and I've got the Genestealer Patriarch on foot; I've got a pack of what are intended as Apocalypse movement trays in lasercut wood but will serve as ideal display stands for my gangs; I've received a wee baggie full of a quarter kilo of grey plastic awesome in the form of someone else's bits box - and I will definitely, DEFINITELY, be doing that again, the amount of awesome in that one bag has to be seen to be believed, there's everything from first-gen Rhino parts to an entire clip-together Terminator and a random LotR hobbit (Merry according to his slotta tab) in metal in there and every time I poke it more awesome emerges - Cybork bits. Complete Night Goblins. Rat skulls. Skaven bonce. Oooh, first-generation Dark Eldar - but the real 'I gots a you which the what what who?' of the week is this, which came with the six Squats:

That's a complete Rogue Trader-era pistol sprue, the one that shipped with the very first round of Confrontation miniatures.

 

[Doghead13]

That head suited the Dark Eldar body too nicely not to do something with, and I've now got plenty of Escher (14 out of the total 20 unconverted variants) so I needed to figure out something else to do with her. That and a test fit of a cybork part and a Flagellant body, along with a 'I don't have enough hired guns' inspired the following yet-to-be-painted duo; the Buzzsaw Prophet and his Shadow.

Out of the ash they rode... Well, not so much rode; they came on foot. Walked straight into town, bold as brass. Nobody knows how they got through out there on foot; nobody ever asked, come to think of it. There were two of them, the Goliath-looking preacher-man with a saw for a hand and his silent shadow with a deadly bite, a beautiful girl who never spoke, only sound you'd ever hear from her the chainsaw she had for a right hand.

Nobody knows where they came from, but everyone knows where they were going to, because about the first thing they saw was some fat brute of a guilder beating a slave, and the first thing that preacher-man with the buzzsaw hand did was open his mouth and echo the words of no lesser a man than Sebastian Thor:

"In the Emperor's name, ENOUGH!"

 

[Doghead13]

On the left; I've had him since Games Day 1995, his original heavy stub is long converted out of recognition, and I've painted him three times, most recently this December just past; on the right, after about two months worth of redeveloping my painting skills I revisited him, in the form of a new-to-me copy bought off Ebay along with some of his buddies.

I've been painting a bunch of modern plastics and metals, and some resins, over the last few weeks and it's deeply satisfying as a fan of old-school GW how well these original Necromunda miniatures have held up; unlike miniatures from another ten or so years earlier such as my solitary preslotta Dark Elf of unidentified origin, they do not look the slightest bit crude standing beside a miniature so new that the greenstuff's barely dried.

And on other matters...

These two are intended to be very much reminiscent of an Eclessiarchy priest and a Battle Sister, thus the colours copied more or less directly from GW's website catalogue for the Sisters. They came out a little less Wild West than I'd intended them, but I'm quite happy with them nonetheless.

 

[trollmeat]

"If this Van Saar is rockin..."

 

[Doghead13]

That van is just brilliant! It comes pre-weathered and pre-graffitied, from Corgi's Vanguards range. It's also got 'Kilroy was ere' on the driver's door (behind the Mantic mini in the photo; bear in mind it's a British van) 'White with a hint of M1' on the passenger door, 'For sale mop and bucket, never used!' on the left-hand bodyside, 'Clean me!' on the left back door, and the traditional Kilroy face saying 'Wot no sponge?' on the right back door. The windows are weathered, with beautifully precise areas where the grime's been swept off by the van's wipers. If you don't mind the fact that it's completely unmistakably a Transit van, unlike a lot of diecast cars it's table-ready straight out of the box.

It might just be me, but there's also something highly amusing about the idea of a bunch of Squats rolling around in a grubby 1960s White Van Man van. The Squats being self-assigned vampire hunters just makes it even more fun.

 

[Doghead13]

Continuing with my new theme of Necromunda-as-a-Western, either a CC ganger or a Scummer:

Mix of sources; Catachan, Empire Free Company, Space Wolves head, and my most extensive greenstuffing so far. Oh, and a couple of bits of florists wire to form something to make his neck around (and his lho-stick.)

He's now standing grimly on my windowsill, hands hovering over his pistols, waiting either for his greenstuff to cure - or for someone to go for their guns...

 

[Doghead13]

"Son, make to raise that there shooting iron and the Emperor's law won't hold me responsible for what happens next."

Blocking in base colours on the gunslinger.

 

[Doghead13]

And done.

I hadn't clocked how tall he is until I stood him next to the old Scummer mini! The extra height comes from the greenstuff between his legs and torso that allow the pistols to fit under his duster, and a bit in his neck as the head originally looked too low. The result is... well, the Scummer isn't the tallest mini Citadel's ever produced, and the gunslinger doesn't looks so huge next to my beergutted Catachan, but he's still one big bloke!

 

[Doghead13]

Sometimes my brain does weird things.

One moment it's moody greying-haired gunslingers, the next I notice my Genestealer Patriarch (not my paint, bought him second-hand with the goblin green base already in place) has a gold chain and medallion necklace, and before I realise what's going on it's into the bag of Nid bits I bought on ebay, dig out the green stuff and some parts...

... and make a genestealer carrying a boom-box because the Patriarch's necklace has become equated in my head with the term 'bling', resulting in what are obviously hiphop Genestealers. Don't ask me to explain that, I can't stand hiphop.

All I can say at this point is if GW lets me down this summer on the armoured limo's suitability for transformation into a 'pimped ride' (or existence, for that matter) I'm getting my 'stealers a 1/43 Edsel.

 

[Liamd]

Some really nice stuff here fella, really like what you have done

 

[Matelloco]

And on other matters...

These two are intended to be very much reminiscent of an Eclessiarchy priest and a Battle Sister, thus the colours copied more or less directly from GW's website catalogue for the Sisters. They came out a little less Wild West than I'd intended them, but I'm quite happy with them nonetheless.[/QUOTE]

I am so in love with those Heads combined with DE Witches Bodies, thx again, & good painting

 

[Doghead13]

@Liamd - Thanks.

@Matelloco - Thanks for putting me on to that combo - it really is a fantastic one and changes the Wyches from a kinda average conversion resource (because it took some serious skills to stop their faces looking elfy) into a fantastic one at one fell swoop.

Meta conversion of the day! After arming a Brokkr with a Squat's lasgun, this of course meant I had a set of Brokkr arms laying around.

'Hmm,' thinks I. 'I wonder how easily you could get these onto one of these armless metal Squats I've got kicking around...' and takes drill and craft knife to the Mantic bits...

Needs a spot of green stuff to mask the gaps, but otherwise looks OK to me.

 

[Doghead13]

I would not have been able to do this a month ago.

MG42-style heavy stub, made out of sprue, scrap plastic, and a bit of paperclip for the bipod. The stock is off a lasgun, which should give the scale. I have not done the ammunition feed as the gun's going to be in a small sandbagged machine gun nest the shape of which will dictate how its ammo supply goes; the bipod doesn't currently have feet for a similar reason.

 

[trollmeat]

I'm lacking pistols and basic weapons, seeing your scrap-built guns is making me think that I might be able to do something similar. Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[Doghead13]

One great source of small interesting bits is, rip apart an old disposable cigarette lighter. They're full of interesting shapes, including (certainly in the sort with a striker wheel rather than electric ignition) a slender brass nozzle that makes a wonderful barrel for a homebrew autogun or some-such.

That, the plastic tubing out of cotton wool buds, and scrap bits of sprue should cover most things, though when building with these sorts of very fiddly little bits a set of tweezers are utterly indispensable. I've not scaled down from heavy weapons yet, but I dare say the smaller the gun the more important the tweezers.