workbench – Page 49 – Felix's Gaming Pages

Armadillo Improvised Armoured Vehicle

The Armadillo was an armoured fighting vehicle produced in Britain during the invasion crisis of 1940-1941. Based on a number of standard lorry chassis, it comprised a wooden fighting compartment protected by a layer of gravel filling the walls of the ‘fort’ and a driver’s cab protected by mild steel plates.

I had already constructed the model and given it a base coat of British Armour Green.

The wheels were painted with Vallejo 70.862 Black Grey.

I am still thinking I might need to add a disruptive pattern to the model.

See the workbench feature on the Armadillo Improvised Armoured Vehicle.

Building the Aeronautica Imperialis Air Waaagh! Fighta Bommerz

Having recently purchased the Wings of Vengeance boxed set I was expecting that it might take a little time for the models to be built and painted. I am a bit slow when it comes to modelling, mainly in finding the time. So finding some room and time I decided to build a couple of the models from the Aeronautica Imperialis boxed set. I had a choice of four different aircraft, and it was quite difficult to choose which to do, initially torn between the Fighta Bommer and the Thunderbolts, I decided, let’s for the Orks first.

There are two of these Fighta Bommers in the Wings of Vengeance boxed set. This is the painted version on the GW website.

Laden with heavy armour and an even heavier payload of guns, rokkits and bombs, the Fighta Bommer is built with a single principle in mind – might makes right! This flexible aircraft does exactly what its name implies, serving as both an attack fighter and a bomber. It is equipped with quad big shootas, turret big shootas, and an ever-handy tail gun with which to defend itself against enemy fighters.

Here is the sprue for the two models.

There are two different versions on the single sprue. The boxed set has instructions for all four aircraft (as might be expected) and though there looks like lots of parts, they are quite simple to put together. The number of parts is about the number of weapon choices you can have.

The initial stage is the nose and forward weapons. There are two versions included in the model. So in theory you can mix and match if you get more kits later. The nose is then added to the fuselage and the main engine added to the rear.

There are also two tail variants, adding the number of options you can have to create different versions of the same jet (very Orky). In theory I should have added the wings to the model before adding the armament, but in the end I decided to add the bombs, rockets and big shootaz to the wings before sticking them to the fuselage.

Here are the completed models prior to undercoating.

Considering their size, these are really detailed models and are reminiscent of their larger Forge World 40K cousins.

I gave the models a white undercoat, using a spray on both sides.

The next stage will be the base coat.

I am still decided which colour they should be, thinking orange!

Painting the windows of the Civilian 4,500kg Truck

I bought the Citroen Civilian 4,500kg Truck with Canopy from Warlord Games to go with my French Partisan Band. Either to use as a transport or as scenery. Citroen made many of these trucks in the 1930s and 1940s.

Having constructed the model and given it a white undercoat, I then gave the rear canopy a basecoat. The next stage was to give the bodywork a basecoat.

I painted the windows using Vallejo 70.862 Black Grey.

I am not sure if I will keep them black, and I have been looking through various Bolt Action publications and magazines to see how others have painted windows of vehicles.

See the full workbench feature on the Bolt Action Citroen Civilian 4,500kg Truck with Canopy.

Painting the Citroen Civilian 4,500kg Truck with Canopy

Having constructed the model and given it a white undercoat, I then gave the rear canopy a basecoat. The next stage was to give the bodywork a basecoat. For this I used a blue paint I had in my collection, Vallejo 70.899 Dark Prussian Blue.

The name should have made me realise, but I think the blue is too dark, well I don’t have too many blues in my paint collection that I can use (quite a few have dried up) and it’s not simple to buy a single pot of paint these days.

I think I might try and add a second lighter coat, partly to highlight, but also to ensure that when I give the model a wash that it isn’t too dark.

I had kept the back part of the truck separate, so I could easily paint the underbody.

I should add, one of the rear wheels fell off whilst I was holding the model to paint it, so that had to be re-glued back on.

See the full workbench feature on the Bolt Action Citroen Civilian 4,500kg Truck with Canopy.

Starting again…

Probably my favourite Indiana Jones film is Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The combination of archaeology, mythology, nazi soldiers and lots of wonderful pulp action. Though we know the tank wasn’t real, and there was no actual historical version of it; I am sure most of us who have thought about recreating the Indiana Jones films on the table have wanted to use that tank.

I wrote back in 2012 about finding a 28mm model of the tank, since then I found it was available from Empress Miniatures, I was able to order it and go through the resin pieces and constructing the Mark IX Beast.

Following the application of the white undercoat, I started the base coat of Vallejo 70912 Tan Yellow on the Mark IX Beast tank.

Though this photograph isn’t quite showing the right colour, I decided, again looking at the source material that this colour was too dark, especially as I wanted to wash it with a shade or ink.

So I took it back to the garage and gave it a spray of white to cover the basecoat and provide a lighter base for a sandstone or light brown colour.

I didn’t do a full respray as I am quite happy for some of the undersides to be darker than the top of the model.

As for the new base coat, that I am still considering. What colour I use is dependent on what I have in my box, challenging to buy paints easily at this time. I Have a Flames of War German Camo Beige 821 which looks like it might work.

See the full workbench feature on the Mark IX Beast tank.

Basecoating the Mark IX Beast

Following the application of the white undercoat, I started the base coat of Vallejo 70912 Tan Yellow.

Having given the model another look, I think this colour is too dark, especially as I am anticipating giving it a dark wash over the base coat.

What colour I use is dependent on what I have in my box, challenging to buy paints easily at this time. I have a Flames of War German Camo Beige 821 which looks like it might work.

I also thought looking at the film footage whether I should re-arrange the stowage and baggage.

I did follow the example on the Empress Miniatures website as my guide. So most of the stowage is on the back of the tank.

However looking at the film footage, they didn’t do this on their tank. Most of the stowage is on the sides. There is none on the sponsons, nor on the turret.

Though this side of the tank looks more like the one in the film, from a stowage perspective.

See the full workbench feature on the Mark IX Beast tank.

Undercoating the Mark IX Beast

Having constructed the model I gave the tank a white undercoat.

I did the underneath first followed by the top.

The turret was undercoated separately.

See the full workbench feature on the Mark IX Beast tank.

Citroen Civilian 4,500kg Truck with Canopy

In addition to the Bolt Action Citroen Civilian 1000kg Dropside Truck I also bought a slightly bigger truck, the Citroen Civilian 4,500kg Truck with Canopy. Citroen made many of these trucks in the 1930s and 1940s.

Having constructed the model and given it a white undercoat, I gave the rear canopy a basecoat of Vallejo 70912 Tan Yellow.

See the full workbench feature on the Bolt Action Citroen Civilian 4,500kg Truck with Canopy.

Painting the Citroen Civilian 1000kg Dropside Truck

For Bolt Action I am in the process of painting some partisans to fight Simon’s Italians. I have been looking for some vehicles and Warlord Games actually make a fair few civilian models for Bolt Action.

Looking through the Bolt Action website I quite liked the look of the Civilian 1000Kg Dropside Truck. The other civilian vehicles in the French range also look quite useful. In the main I will use them as scenery or as objectives. In the end I did get the Warlord Games Bolt Action Citroen Civilian 1000kg Dropside Truck.

Having given the model a white undercoat, I gave the rear of the truck (which was separate) a basecoat of Vallejo 70912 Tan Yellow.

See the workbench feature on the Citroen Civilian 1000Kg Dropside Truck.

The Mark IX Beast has arrived

I wrote back in 2012 about finding a 28mm model of the tank. I did think about buying it back then, but put off my purchase. It was originally made by the Honourable Lead Boiler Suit Company (HLBSCo). I did some web searching and found that the tank is available today from Empress Miniatures. Well I made the leap and ordered the tank from Empress Miniatures.

It arrived in a small brown box, but it is quite a big model. The model consists of two large complete track units.

The main hull.

I was impressed with the quality of the sculpting and the castings.

There are separate sponsons as well as the turret and the turret hatch.

You also get as part of this kit, a range of stowage and baggage. When this was sold by Copplestone Castings, the baggage was an add-on extra to the model.

You can break this down into bundles of tarpaulins or other materials (maybe tents) as well as what are probably roles of barbed wire, or telephone cables.

Then there are wooden beams, jerry cans and what look like metal storage containers.

I did start to then look at the original film and stills to see how I could add the stowage to the tank.

A slightly wider shot of the other side of the tank.

The stowage supplied is similar, but doesn’t quite match what we see on the prototype, but this model isn’t supposed to be an exact copy, it’s more like “inspired by” the film tank.

The next step will be to start constructing the tank.

See the full workbench feature on the Mark IX Beast tank.