This week has been another where I’ve managed to get in reasonable amount of hobby time and I’ve been enjoying it while the mojo is still in full flow. I’ll get to what I’ve actually been working on a bit later in the post but I’m going to start with an idea that has been bouncing around inside my head and I think it could make an interesting project. Ever since I painted Silencer Bane I’ve been thinking about that near future look that the mini has and I went off on something of a tangent thinking about how something like that would come about. The technology itself isn’t that far away with various companies already working on exoskeletons for industrial tasks. So I wanted to explore this theme a bit more which got me thinking about what sort of car would he drive.
I know that is a very tenuous link for a hobby project but it’s given me quite a lot to think about and with everything that is going on in the world at the moment my mind has been working overtime on this. So please bear with me for this bit of waffle. Just imagine that instead of the world being able to just about keep on top of a global pandemic things got really out of control. I’m not talking about zombies taking over the world or things progressing to some type of mad max existence. Rather I’m thinking that things get bad enough for a breakdown of basic infrastructure that results in some type of dystopian future. Governments can’t function like they used to or may even break down and people need to band together in smaller groups, maybe under the protection of private military type organisations. Step in Silencer Bane and his mates.
With that in mind I started looking at light armoured vehicles that could fill the roll or at least act as a basis for what I was thinking of. I started off looking at something like the British Army Supacat as a bass vehicle but after a lot of internet searching I just couldn’t find a 1/35 scale version without paying an eye watering amount of money for it. But the search did throw up and number of other options. In particular, the Oshkosh M-ATV which I really like the look of and there are a number of 1/35 scale kits out there that could act as a starting point. So I think that is route I’m going to down for this adventure.
Now I don’t just want to build a scale model and paint it in a nonstandard way. What I want to do is try and tweak it a little to be something that moves it away from its original function of a mine resistant, anti-ambush vehicle into more of Huey or Black Hawk on wheels. Now to me that means striping away some of the armour and adding guns in places that a normal military vehicle just wouldn’t have them. As an example I’m thinking of removing the rear doors and putting pintel mounted machine guns there to turn the rear passengers into door gunners. A turret with some sort of remote control functionality and lots of kit hanging off the thing taking it away from the disciplined everything the same military feel to something that part of the team alongside the crew.
I said this was going to be a waffle but I hope that gives you some idea of what I’m thinking here. Obviously it serves no game function and will just a hobby project for the fun of doing it but I do think it could be quite interesting. Now one of the rules I set out at the start of the year was to start and finish a project in one go and not to bounce around. But I’m going to break that rule with this idea and I’m doing it quite consciously because I don’t really have an end state in mind yet. I think it’s going to be one that evolves over time and will start by picking up the Oshkosh kit and seeing what the model actually looks like. I’m hoping that will then drive out some options as to how to the get the feel I’m looking for which in turn will lead to a paint scheme. Either way it’s going to be something I do alongside other projects where I will finish one project, do a bit on this and them move onto the next before coming back to it. But what I’m not going to do is to end up with three or four on the go with nothing getting finished. Anyway that’s the idea and I’ll see how it pans out over the next few weeks.
Now that I’ve waffled on about what I’m thinking of doing its time to give you an update on what I’ve actually been doing this week which has been another offering form Nuts Planet. This is the last one of my current batch, although I have few more that I would like to pick up at some point in the future. This last one has been the one that has concerned me the most and it’s the 1/35 scale version of Call Sign Goshawk. It’s a very nice dynamic model and the use of a bow on a modern mini really appeals to me. Like others I’ve painted up I wanted to steer away from a full on military feel and go more with armed civilian vide. In this case using civilian clothing and then what could be sporting goods / surplus equipment. Although I have no idea where you could a bow like that. The base is a bit different for this model so I’ve gone with a plane base and then just added some cut up bits of sprue with some textured paint. Then I just added some grass to hide the bits that didn’t look to good. A cheat I know but I think it works.
I think of the four minis I’ve painted to date this year this is the one I’m the most disappointed with results wise. There are quite a few things on her that I’m not really happy with but I’ve stuck to my guns in pushing myself but not getting bogged down on the minutia. Now having said that it’s not that I don’t like it or anything like that just that when I get really critical there is work that I need to do. In particular, I think it’s the smooth flat volumes like her legs that I’ve not got right, but it gives me something to work on going forwards. Overall though it sits well with the other 1/35 scale minis and I will certainly be looking to pick up a few more as the year progresses.
That’s it for this week and at the moment I’m not sure what I’ve not committed to what I’m going to try and bring to the table next week. Although I have to say that I have a couple of random Carnevale minis that are looking very intriguing so that may be this week’s project. Having said that when I sit down to start painting I may just go down a completely different route. Until then keep safe and look out for your friends and family, enjoy your hobby time and I look forward to catching up with you all again next week.
