Hell Knights Medium Hover Tank Finished!

 I finished the medium hover tank for my Hell Knights.  The model is converted from a Matchbox toy. The missile launcher is scratch built from different sized zip ties.  I have two other toys I've started converted so I will have a full tank squadron.

I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out and hopefully I'll have the other two assembled and painted shortly.

Painting progress on Hover Tanks and Mech!

I've got the new hover tank for my Hell Knights mostly painted and I've also been painting a mech made from a Transformers toy.  All I have is a wash and some weathering and these will be ready for the table.  I have two more of the tanks I've started working on as well.

Medium hover tank for Hell Knights and two new Mecha toys!

 So I picked up three Matchbox tank toys over a year ago with bog clunky wheels and started messing around with one of them to try and turn it into a hover tank.  Here is the original thread. Progress went pretty slow on it but I finally finished it.  This was one of those projects that got put on the back burner for no particular reason.
The original toy had a fixed turret but I managed to fix that problem.  The turret still hangs up a bit on the pilots hatch but it won't really affect it's play ability and it's still much more useful than having a fixed turret.  I had to glue a piece of plastic pipe into the top turret and then I glued a piece of heavy cardboard under the turret hole with a hole in it to make the turret turn.  Nothing on the conversion was all that technical so I'm not sure why I kept putting it off.  It's going to serve as a medium hover tank for my Hell Knights army.

 I went out today and picked up two new Mecha models from the new Pacific Rim movie.  I know almost nothing about the movie but the toys looked like they had potential.  They both stand about 7.5 inches tall which puts them in about the right size for medium mecha in my setting.  I'm going to do some conversion on both of these models.  The extra arm on the red one will be turned into some kind of over the shoulder weapons mount and I will probably add some weapons to the blue one.  The models cost $19.95 each at Hastings which I thought was a pretty good value.
There are some down sides to these toys.  There seem to be made with quite a few vinyl parts which will make them difficult to paint without dealing with off gassing.  I think the Krylon "Fusion" paints may work the best.  They are a good selection when painting any plastic toy and they seem to have worked out fairly well when I have used them on similar projects.  Another issue is that they have very odd articulation.  It's likely I'll pick a pose and glue them into place anyway but it's still annoying.  They are also lacking in weapons so I will have to add a few to them.

I think they blue one has a striking resemblance to the Quasit Militia Mech from the Battletech setting.  I've been wanting to do some 28mm Battletech mechs so I may pick up another one or two for that purpose.

Titania Media blackout lifted! An update on the conflict in the Station 42 region (Part 1)

 When a Hell Knights Battle Cruiser arrived in orbit over Titania last August citizens in the contested lands around Station 42 feared an overwhelming escalation of their conflict with the Smith and Wilson Agriculture corporation.  What they got instead was several months of court battles and a media blackout.  Through buyouts, bribes, and blackmail Smith and Wilson managed to gain control of the local media agencies.  Meanwhile their lawyers engaged in several legal battles to try and put pressure on the locals to abandon their property claims.
On August 19th the Hell Knights conducted three small raids on some of the more stubborn locals.  

 The Hell Knights raided a mining camp owned by the Venture Star Prospecting Company.  Expecting only light resistance Hell Knight forces consisted of mostly infantry units.

 Venture Star had however received had received an anonymous tip about the raid so they hired units from Nova Securities and the Wolfhound Friekorps mercenary company.  They were also backed up by renegade Titania Planetary Guards units.

 The Hell Knights situation became desperate early on when they realized that the Planetary Guard units included a battle tank.

 A Hell Knights assassin managed to kill most of the Wolfhound mercenaries and some of the Nova men before being taken down.

 Their other troops were however no match for the Planetary Guard Tank.  Most of their riflemen were cut down quickly and only a few assault troopers managed to escape the fighting.

 The Hell Knights also dispatched a force to the Redwing farm where they believed a number of Titania militia units were hiding.

 Hell Knight scouts managed to gain a good position early in the fighting using stealth to infiltrate deep within the compound.

 Another Hell Knights assassin was seen during this battle.  These types of troops have previously not been seen in this conflict.

 The Hell Knights Heavy equipment moved into the center of the compound and engaged the militia units and light vehicles.

 The Titania Planetary guard also arrived with a tanks but even that was not enough to secure the farm.  The Planetary guard tank and all the militia light vehicles were destroyed and the Militia units routed.

 The Davis Farm also came under attack by a Hell Knights infantry force backed up by fast moving Lagarev apcs.

 The defenders consisted of Planetary Guard and Militia units with a few improvised light vehicles.

 The battle was a close one and both sides took many casualties but the militia units took the brunt of the damage.

 At the end of the battle the remaining militia member retreated into the farmhouse as Hell Knight assault troopers close in.

Among the militia casualties was Mrs. Davis who was shot during the fighting at the farm house.  The Hell Knights were able to secure the farm and destroy a cache of supplies dealing a heavy blow to resistance forces.

For several months afterwards the conflict in  the Station 42 Region died down.  The Militia and renegade Titania Planetary Guard units had suffered numerous casualties and loss of supplies just as the Hell Knights received some significant reinforcements.  It seemed as if the conflict would finally be settled in the courts although that battle still continues while hostilities seem to have flared again in the region.  More reports on the renewed conflict coming soon.

Alphonso Marks, Titania News Network.

Notes:  We had a long unexpected break during this campaign and didn't play any battles through the last four months of 2012.  The last three battles we fought were a set of 1000 point raids using the No Limits rules system we have been using for this campaign.  We decided that the resistance had been dealt a pretty nasty blow and had mostly gone into hiding while the Smith and Wilson Agriculture Corporation went back to the courts to settle disputes over their claims.  We have had some other battles this year but I just kept putting off the updates about the campaign so I never posted that information.  I will be posting another report in the next day or two hopefully to bring things up to speed and get back on track.  We hope to bring this campaign to a close in the next few month with some larger battles.         

Hell Knights large hover AFV and Drone painted!

 I've had the build on this large hover AFV finished since August but I've just now managed to get it painted. I'm really happy with the paint job but I'm a little disappointed with the Krylon matte varnish I used on it.  I use the Krylon because it's decently priced and because there are several places in town I can pick it up.  Normally it comes out decently flat.  Not as flat as Testorss but usually flat enough.  Every now and again thought I get a can that comes out more satin the flat in nature.  I'll definitely be varnishing it again with Testors when I get another can.  

 Here's a back shot showing the doors open.  This was a nice feature on the toy I converted this hover craft from so I wanted to retain that feature since this is suppose to be used as a troop transport.  The GW Stormtroopers are shown for scale.  I used these minis for my Armored Assault Squad troopers for my Hell Knights Mercenary Company and this transport was designed specifically for them.  I will be building at least one more of these transports since I have enough troopers for two squads.  Now I just need to stat it up and start using it in our campaign.  

I showed this Hotwheels Batman "Bat" toy yesterday that I picked up for about $8.00.  I decided to paint it up as a combat drone.  For one thing the cockpit was a bit small for a manned speeder and I would have had to tear the toy apart to paint it because they structure made the side windows very hart to get at.  Since it was rivet constructed instead of screwed together that would be been much more difficult.  The other reason thought is that this version of the Hell Knights are not Imperial guardsmen.  They are not stuck with 1930s era weapons and tactics like the Imperial Guard.  I thought using this model as a drone instead of a speeder seemed even more high tech and it still fit within the armies theme.  I used a missile launcher from an Imperial Guard Sentinel walker to give it a bit more firepower.  

Titania Planetary Guard Update

I just wanted to post a pic of the Titania Planetary Guard army that we have been working on for the "Station 42 War".  I just finished up a Battle Mech and a tank for it and the command squad as well.  I think we are going to try and add one or two more tanks and some APCs or transport vehicles as well as some support artillery next.
This army is pretty cool for us in the fact that it cost us about $50.00.  

More Titania Planetary Guard Reinforcements

Hey I'm working on another tank for the Titania Planetary Guard and a new Battle Mech as well.  The Mech is a M.A.R.S. toy that I got at Walgreens.  It is about 7 inches tall and I got three different mechs for about $14.00.  They are a little on the chunky and static side but I like their styling.  I still have weathering, a wash, and final details to go on both of these.

Anti Grav AFV almost done!

 I'm just about done with this project!  All I have left is a to make an automated weapons mount for the spot where I removed the machine gun and I have one more hole to cover in the hull that I missed before I snapped these shots.  I should have it painted soon.

Breaking News! Battle at the old mining town.

Titania News Network:  This just in.  Titania militia groups and renegade planetary guard units have come under attack at the old mining town.  Our "Flyspy" news drone captured this image of the intense fighting between Titania forces and the "Hell Knights" mercenary company.  It appears that the Titania forces have been ambushed while attempting to move a convoy of supplies and equipment out of Station 42.  We will bring you more on this story as it develops.

Anti Grav Assault AFV Work in Progress

A while back I made this post about a toy AFV I found at Dollar General.  It's a pretty big sucker especially with those wheels.  For the last couple days I've been working on futurising it.  I replaced the wheels with some odd looking pencil sharpeners that represent the anti grav drive.  I also replaced the gun with a scratch built laser canon made from the guts of a mechanical pencil and some wooden beads.  I also cut off all the gas cans and mufflers and other inconsistent bits. 

This is suppose to represent a super heavy AFV designed to transport heavily armored troops into the thick of a battle and then act as support for them.  It's basically the equivalent of a Land Raider for Warhammer 40k. 

I've still got some detailing to do to cover up the holes that resulted from removing the details.  I'm going to cover them up with tech bits but since I want to be able to make more of these I'm going to try and stick with easily acquired items.   

Three little AFVs

Well I have all three of my cardboard AFVs to the same stage of painting.  I also put a wash on them after I took this picture.  The wash got a little dark but I think I will be able to fix them.  I'm still really happy with them.  I should have them done completely tomorrow. 

Kitbashed Medium Hover Tank part 1

 I picked up a couple of these Matchbox "Rev Rigs" tanks today at Walmart.  I didn't like the wheels but I figured that I could convert them into hover tanks for my Hell Knights.  They are slightly chunkier than my light hover tank so I thought they would be good as medium hover tanks.

 I had to locate the screws that held the wheels and drive on so I could take the tank body off which was the only part I was looking to use.  There were four screws on the side of the drive part but I had to remove the tires to get at two of them.  After that I was able to pry the drive apart to get at the screws holding the tank body on.  This pretty much wrecked the drive part but at least I got some nice gears I can use for other projects from it.  I figured I would make the hover drive from cheap disposable razor handles exactly like I did on the other hover tank. 

The one really bad thing about this toy is that the turret doesn't turn.  It's fixed in place with screws and post and even when you remove those it doesn't turn because the hole on the body is smaller than the hole in the turret.  Makes you wonder why they even put a hole in the body.  On almost every tank toy or model I have ever seen the turret had a simple key attachment system that allowed it to turn and held it in place.  I have no idea why they didn't use that on this toy.  There is no way a kid could get the turret in his mouth so it isn't a choke hazard.  I'm planning on figuring out a way to make the turret turn.  I'm going to have to put a bottom in the body anyway so I think I can rig something that should work.  Also the pintel mounted gun is really ugly and huge.  I will likely switch that out with a better looking weapon.  I have some cheapo machine guns in mind that aren't that special but they look way better than that thing. 

I'm pretty happy with the toy over all though.  I think it will be no harder to put together than my other hover tank project way.  Each kit bash has it's own little issues.  Unfortunately it will probably be next week before I get to this project because I'm going to an SCA event over the weekend. 

Cheap toy tank "upgraded"

I picked up a pack of cheap army men that came with two equally cheap tanks.  These are the typical army men tanks based loosely on the M48 Patton Tank.  I used to use these as Predator tanks for my Space Marine army way back during 2nd edition 40k. 

We added a laser cannon made from a automatic pencil and a coaxial scatter laser from a Dark Eldar Heavy weapon.  The armoured skirting and reactive plates are made from thin cardboard cut from a box of crackers and the hinges are made from spare sprue.  We also plated up the bottom so it wasn't just a hollow cavity.

This is a pretty cheap attempt to make a "futuristic" tank.  I think it will paint up well enough to suit our needs.  We plan on using these as the MBT of the Titania Planetary Guard.