More WIP on the daVinci tank

 

Life as ever takes it’s toll and my six month in job is still leaving me pretty dead at the end of a day, so progress is sooooo slow... but hey...

I have, however, discovered the joys of those makeup ring lights and that has helped my painting no end... next, I need to work on converting the tank commander...

Paint WIP

After a few botched attempts to get my head around the contrast paints flesh range, I returned to the tank. Aiming for a linen/leather covered wooden shell effect. I had tried to carve in some tears and dings, exposed wood beneath, but getting that right was a little beyond me for some reason so I moved on and made good . The repair work is again not perfect, and in fact I’ve kept a couple of marks and tried to go with that.

 

Almost there...

Some awful quick photos, but I’m plodding along... 

So, rear doors done, although I started undercoating before realising I'd not shown it. The roof could have been detachable allowing a figure to be placed, but the roof has a solid cross beam in it that is just to painful to remove and I'd have to sink the platform i made as well. It will get a crew man permantly attached and the roof glued in place.

 

Heavy duty wheels

 So the wheels on the tank are wagon wheel thin and I wanted something a little more heavy duty to roll over the zombie corpses... now the fact this was a clockwork model also means the original wheels have lovely medieval cog teeth on them (which would have been very handy when I did the Watermill interior) and the model has a lovely wide slot for the wheels to allow for the teeth. So, inspired by trench gun wheels I went thick...

Because the interior (at least that bit) won’t be visible, I don’t need full replacement wheels which meant less work. I cut two circles about the size of the original wheels from 5mm foam pvc, then added another 3mm just to fill it out more. Carved some wood/plank texture and smoothed off the outer curve with some thin card. I then cut a series of plates to give the heavy duty feel. In my head the wheel itself doesn’t need to be solid and the plates (if damaged) can be replaced from inside the vehicle.

And a dry fit, the extra width and the plates fill the gap nicely. A lot of effort for something not really visible, but it works for me...

The Water Carrier

So this is a thing and I love it... no idea if it will be playable as it would be way over powered I assume, but it’ll make a fun project... may just end up as scenery.

This is weird kit, snap fit and clockwork apparently, but I’m leaving all the gubbins out as they are handy medieval cogs that would have been cool with the water mill, but hey... I’ve removed the outer lettering for the on/off switch (to be filled) and some arrows on the cap (the purpose of which is beyond me), the cap itself rests on the clockwork mechanism inside, so that will need raising a little to allow for the view slot. Not sure how I’ll have them get in and out, will need to think of a hatch on the main shell or have the cap hinged somehow. In my head there is a horse or something in there, so that would need to be a factor. It’s smaller than the real thing would be, but looks ok alongside minis. I’m seriously thinking of an interior... 

Size Comparisons

 Ok, so I do love the Bloody Miniatures range. Lovely sculpts. But... I’m torn on the size. They work with some figures, not so much with others... they make Angel Blake look more childlike which I like, but she’s nude which is wrong on sooo many levels. The old woman is minute and looks odd, but the blacksmith just looks stout and solid. The bishop looks small, but he did against the Mantic ghouls anyway. The Cardinal is shortish, but not terribly so... but the Warlord cavalry men are tiny, even against a Warlord plastic infantry (which is the witch hunter base figure.

Decisions, decisions... sigh...