Crossover Time: Vintage Custom Rebel Fleet Trooper

OK readers, from time to time I overlap on the hobby front so bear with me. I just finished this custom Rebel Fleet Trooper from the vintage Star Wars figure range and since it involves modelling and painting I feel OK posting it here as well as on my vintage Star Wars toy blog. Awaaaaay we go then...

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I've got a bit of a soft spot for "custom" vintage figures - you know, those figures that Kenner never made but you would've loved to play with, instead of being stuck with dreck like Prune Face or FX-7. One of the prime examples of this is the iconic Rebel Fleet Trooper (as I call him; he's also known as the Rebel Trooper or Alderaan Consular Guard/Security).

The recipe for this figure is simplicity itself: a vintage Han Trenchcoat body and a POTF2 Rebel Trooper head. That's it! I'll take you through the conversion next, but I have to give props to Trash Compactor Custom Figures who posted this great video.

Anyway, you start with a Han Trenchcoat (left) and Rebel Fleet Trooper (right), Don't worry about the condition of the Han Trench - the beatier the better, as he'll just have his head cut off and be repainted anyway. 

The first thing to do is get a cup of boiling water and immerse the figures. This will soften the plastic and allow you to remove the parts you need to swap.

First of all, gently pull off Han Trench's head, and remove the Rebel Fleet Trooper's helmet. It's held on with glue that softens in the boiling water.

Next, take a sharp X-Acto blade and cut off the Trooper's head. You'll be able to stretch his neck a bit when the plastic is soft. Make sure the bottom of the neck is level by just trimming where necessary. 

The next step is to drill a hole in the bottom of the Trooper's neck to allow it to fit on the peg on the Han Trench body. A pin vice or Dremel will do the trick here.

Once the hole is opened in the Trooper head, just push it onto the peg in the Han Trench body. It might take a bit of tweaking to make sure the hole is the right size - but keep test-fitting, and make sure not to make the hole too big. You should be able to turn the head on the peg. 

At this point, all that's left to do is paint the figure! I use acrylic paints for availability, water-solubility, and ease of cleanup. For the Trooper I mixed a custom blue colour for the shirt, used Games Workshop Mournfang Brown for the belts and Rakarth Flesh for the pants, and painted the buckles with Mithril Silver. The boots and vest were left in their original colour, just touched up where necessary with craft black. Leave the helmet till the painting is done, then push-fit it back on the head.

I bought a reproduction Bespin Blaster for the Trooper, but drilled a hole in the grip just so it won't be mistaken for an original.

Here's my custom lineup - from left to right - Corellian pilot BoShek, Grand Moff Tarkin, Rebel Fleet Trooper, Garindan/Long Snoot, and the easiest of all, Biggs Darklighter. I took the opportunity to get some weapons for the rest of the group too -once again, impossible to mistake for originals as they're the wrong colour :-)

Anyway, that's a bit of fun for an afternoon... I especially have to thank my friend KM who supplied the POTF2 Rebel Fleet Trooper for the swap. Thanks man!

1:50 Soviet T-55 Tank

Who doesn't love the T-55?? Workhorse of the Soviet and Warsaw Pact armoured forces for nearly three decades (not to mention a stalwart part of many tin-plated dictators' armed forces even still), the T-55's squat silhouette just bespeaks "Cold War". For awhile now I've had this diecast T-55 sitting in a box, but in a sudden rush of inspiration earlier this week I decided to paint it.

The hull colour is a superb spray - Rust-Oleum Specialty Camouflage ultra-flat green. After removing the tracks, the model was sprayed all over.

This was followed up with Mechanicus Standard Grey on the roadwheel tires, Leadbelcher on the DshK machinegun, and XV-88/Zandri Dust on the mantlet, then the whole model was washed with Agrax Earthshade.

Decals from the GW vehicle sheet were used, and the IR lamp was painted gem-style red. Is that what an IR lens looks like? Who knows, but it looks cool.

I also tried, for the first time, something I've often thought of doing on tracked vehicle models with stretchy rubber or vinyl tracks. These tend to bug me because the track's top run stretches straight from drive sprocket to idler sprocket and don't "sag" onto the roadwheels like the real thing. So I decided to engineer a solution for that (above).

On the T-55 model I drilled holes above the first and last roadwheels on each side, a track's width above the wheels, large enough to fit a stiff wire through. I then ran a wire through the holes and fitted the tracks so they fit between the wire and the roadwheel. This pushes the tracks' top run down onto the roadwheels, giving an impression of sag. Not as good as link-and-length tracks by any means, but works well enough on a suspension setup like the T-55's, or on other tanks like Tigers or Panthers where the upper run of track is supported by the roadwheels.

Some light weathering done with GW Rhinox Hide and Mournfang Brown.

Eureka tank crew make another appearance. Scale of the T-55 looks good compared to these models.

Not sure what kind of game we'd use a T-55 in (as our Cold War 28mm gaming takes place in the '80s or '90s, after the Soviets had pretty much moved on from the T-55), but the model looks good and was really fun to paint. I think the tracks mod worked out OK and I might just use that on other models with vinyl tracks, in future.

Stay healthy gang!

Horus the Warmaster (1995 Version)

Here's another of the small projects I've undertaken in the past couple weeks, just to get back into the habit of swinging a brush.

As blog readers will know, we had a trip earlier this summer back to England, which included a stop in Nottingham and vicinity. And Nottingham means Games Workshop, which means Warhammer World. And one of my favourite-ever things at Warhammer World is the famous "Death of Sanguinius"/Horus vs. the Emperor diorama piece by Mike McVey. I'd snooped around the web off and on for several years trying to get more detailed shots of the models, with a view to trying my own hand at a conversion someday, but without much success.

And then, amazingly, in response to my "Ye Olde Trip to Nottingham" post, blog reader Mikko pointed out that White Dwarf #183 featured an article by Mike McVey himself detailing the construction of the diorama. Well, I happen to have that issue in my collection so off I went to soak it in...

Consequently, I decided that a replication (as far as reasonably possible) of McVey's Horus conversion might be a feasible afternoon project. Obviously I wouldn't be able to do this with complete accuracy as

• I don't have access to the massive and free quantity of conversion bits that Mike did when he was working in the Studio, and more importantly
• I do not have even a miniscule fraction of the painting and sculpting talent of a Mike McVey 

So I determined that I'd do a "close enough" job to try and convey the flavour of the model using bits that I had handy.

 

First of all, I started with a metal Chaos Terminator body. I carved off the helmet, and severed the arms below the elbow joints, as I wanted to re-use the shoulder pads. I used a metal head from the bits box (can't remember what third-party vendor it came from) and sculpted the deformed-looking skulls from greenstuff. The cowl is from greenstuff as the original got a bit messed up when I cut off the helmet. Looks slightly ropey but good enough from 3 feet away. The chain came from the bits box, as did some guitar-string cabling.

The massive lightning claws are the signature of this model. Fortunately the bits box came to the rescue again as I had the gloves left over from the Cataphractii Terminator sprues that came in the "Betrayal at Calth" 30K game. Two suitable items were selected and carved down to fit.

The decal on his right shoulder was an ace find - it's from a 1992 Chaos decal set I had in the decal folder. I'd tried to freehand the design at first but it looked terrible, so decals to the rescue. I painted in the yellow parts of the Eye of Horus and the red "Eyebrow of Horus" on the decal.

Add an easy-peasy paintjob and there you have it - one Warmaster circa 1995. Not very impressive compared to the current model so amazingly painted by Conscript Greg, but fun for an afternoon project and homage to the talented Mr. McVey.

40K Renegade Schlepper (1/35 Renault UE Conversion)

So you know how some things just hang around your painting desk forever in a state of half-completion? Well, that's what this project was like for me. I reckon it was about two years from start to finish (!) but now it's done and I can move on.

I was at a local model shop one day and spotted an inexpensive Polish-made 1/35 kit of a funky little tankette, the Renault UE. After the fall of France in 1940, French UEs were pressed into German service, including as launcher platforms for the ubiquitous "Wurfkoerper" rockets. I decided to build the kit for my 40K Chaos Renegade army to stand in as a Manticore SP rocket launcher or even, with rockets removed, as a Centaur artillery tow.

I built the kit pretty much from the box with the addition of a few 40K gubbins like the searchlight (of course) and stowage, plus an Imperial emblem on the hull top, and the Renegade peeking out from the crew compartment. I also constructed a new supporting structure for the rocket array, since the kit version didn't look robust enough to stand up to gaming, and I wanted some flexibility in configuring the vehicle without the rockets.

Looks like my assembly of one of the Wurfkoerper racks was a bit wonky ;-)

In any case, the rack I built from plasticard slots in and out of the rear compartment quite handily. It's only the work of a few moments to switch off from the launcher vehicle configuration.

The other configuration for the vehicle is as a "schlepper"/artillery tow/light carrier.

I built an insert for the cargo compartment with a couple fuel cans, a lasgun, and a pack to represent random stuff that might be carried around.

The insert is built on a piece of plasticard that just slips into the bed. The rocket array replaces it in the bed if that configuration is desired.

So that's that - project completed. Good to get it out of the way, and I can only hope that it inspires other converters!

"Leopard 4A2" 15mm sci-fi tank conversion

So, every 15mm army needs armour, right? And I was looking for something different (and let's face it, cheap) for my new 15mm NAC force. The infantry already roll around in modern Fuchs APCs made by a company called Siku, who happen to make a 1/100 die cast model of the Leopard 2. Can you feel the stars aligning here? I went on eBay and found the best deal on the Siku Leopards (turned out to be from a German seller on ebay.de, 8 euro each plus 9 more for postage) and a couple weeks later, they arrive.

...and after judicious application of wire antennae, plasticard bits and random metal junk, here they are.

The canisters on the turret side and the other metal bits are from Rebel Miniatures.

The greeblies on the hull rear match those on the APCs. Anti-personnel mines maybe?

I cut plasticard strips, then scored them with v-shaped cuts. The idea was to suggest some futuristic kind of explosive reactive armour or suchlike. Plus it breaks up the recognizable "Leopard" silhouette a bit.

Here it is with some figures. The Leopard model scales out at exactly 1/100 so is at least notionally suitable for the figures. I'll be basing the tanks to match the APCs so the completed model will be a bit taller.

Stay tuned for further painting updates!

UNE Superfortress Colossus for 15mm Sci-Fi!

Last year, on a business trip to Toronto, I went to the Hairy Tarantula's "warehouse" store in the north end for a look-see.   It's basically a huge basement filled with old gaming junk.  Lots of RPGs (I picked up a copy of Chaosium's "Superworld") and some miniatures too - mainly old OOP ranges like Warzone, Legions of Steel, etc... then I spotted this bad boy sitting amongst a bunch of other junk...

It is, of course, the UNE Superfortress Colossus from Global Games' Legions of Steel range.  All metal, it weighs in at a hefty 2.2 lbs (!).  Meant for a nominal 28mm scale, but I think that the aircraft nose glazing makes it quite plausible to imagine a crew of three or four 15mm figures in the nose.  Of course, at the time I bought it I had no inkling of doing 15mm sci-fi; I'd meant to use it with some Rogue Trader stuff, maybe as a Dreadnought or similar.  I had always thought that this was a really cool model, but it's well OOP... there's not even much info on the 'net about it.  I picked up this example for 10 bucks as it was missing a part - the left hand weapon - which I replaced with a 40K lascannon I had spare.

Here's a comparison shot of the basecoated model alongside the Rebel Minis "Merka 5" tank and a couple of their Earth Force Marines.

The painted model.  Like the other 15mm sci-fi vehicles painted by Gilles, the walker was basecoated grey and camouflaged in a Graveyard Earth and Iyanden Sun mix, washed with Badab Black.

Cockpit detail - sorry about the %$#^ stray static grass.  Decal courtesy of a spare 40K IG decal sheet.  The tactical numbers came from the decal sheet supplied with the GeeBee Racer model that supplied the base model for my Red Barun conversion.  The national symbol of the faction (just visible on the top of the starboard wing) was freehanded - it's based on the tactical symbol for the German 15. Panzerdivision.

I'm pretty pleased with how the model turned out.  I think that it fits quite nicely with the my Earth Force 15mm army - probably better than it would fit with 28mm!

Big Brother (Nurgle Daemon Prince Conversion WIP)

For awhile now, I've been looking for a suitable Daemon Prince to lead my Warhammer 40K Nurgle Space Marines.  I wasn't "feeling" GW's plastic Daemon Princes, and while the metal Daemon Prince of Nurgle is a really nice model in most respects, I always thought that that model was making a face like it smelled something bad, and didn't bring across the full diseased yuckiness of Nurgle.  These are the guys that wear gas masks to keep poison gas in, for Pete's sake!

So, I decided to convert a Daemon Prince of my own.  I had been wondering what to use as a base model, when I remembered that our FLGS had a broken up "Battle Brother Artemis" from the 54mm "Inquisitor" range in its used model bin.  This would make a great start on a Daemon Prince, since they're just overgrown Space Marines anyway, right?

Unfortunately, the parts model wasn't complete, and was missing its left leg.  Fortunately, I'd just come across Troll Forged Models and in particular, its range of modular Daemon Lords.  So I picked up a pair of legs, two arms, a loincloth and head from them for about 12 bucks.  (The wings also came from the FLGS)

The resin is great quality and virtually flash-free.  Once I got these parts, the model went up in an evening and a bit.  I used a ton of green stuff to make the diseased bits and to cover gaps.  Chains came from a Dollarama jewellery purchase today - $2.  The sword was made from thin plasticard.

We'll soon see how he paints up but I'm reasonably happy with him so far.  Thanks a bunch to Ed at Troll Forged for the quick service!