Trench2114 Painting Contest

Cactus Games, manufacturers of the relatively new line of 15mm sci fi figures, known as Trench2114, is having a painting contest. 

Here's my entry, a squad of their Panzer Troopers Heavy Infantry.  Although Trench2114 has a World War I meets Sci Fi style, I've painted these guys in a more colorful look, because I envision them as the house retinue of some planetary feudal lord. 

TMP 15mm Sci Fi Vehicle Swap

Here are a few rather poor pics of my contribution to the latest exchange on TMP.  This is an Earth Force IFV by Rebel Minis, available here: http://www.rebelminis.com/earthforceapc.html

15mm Sci Fi Figure Exchange on TMP

A couple dozen TMP members are doing a blind swap of painted 15mm Sci Fi figs. We're supposed to trade a squad of five figs. I decided to use a spare pack of GZG Phalons I happened to have. Since they came in a pack of eight, and these are the only ones I have, I'm sending all eight instead of the requisite five.

These sculpts predate the current 15mm boom, and once were some of the few 15mm aliens available. They are still available here.

Another trench tank picture

Here's another closeup, from a different angle.

15mm Trench Tank from Proxie Models

Sorry for the long hiatus, we moved recently, and everything is still in boxes.  I just picked up a set of the new 15mm scale "Trench Tanks" by Proxie models, and thought I would post a mini review.  I've included pictures with some figures from other companies alongside by way of comparison.  I just dry-assembled the main pieces, and left off the guns and driver's hatch.

Apologies for the poor quality, I took these at night, and I can only manage decent pics with natural light.

From left to right, the figures along side are (1) "Sons of Thunder" fig by Rebel Minis, (2) a Mid-Tech Trooper from RAFM, formerly from the old Citadel Traveller line, (3) an Earth Force guy from Rebel Minis, and (4) a not-Firefly figure from GZG.

Here's a closer shot:

And from another angle:

Here's a side-by-side pic with an infantry fighting vehicle, made by Rebel Minis:

And another angle:

As you can see, it's not a huge tank, but it is "in scale" with 15mm figures.  The comparison with the Rebel Minis vehicle is interesting: the two are almost exactly the same height and width, but the Rebel vehicle is a good bit longer.

The plastic is hard, (it feels like it should take paint well) but pretty easy to cut with clippers.  These do require a bit of trimming here and there to make everything fit, but the plastic is easier to work with than resin or pewter.

The mold lines are mostly pretty minimal, with one significant exception (that isn't apparent in the pictures): one of the tracks is misaligned by about a millimetre.  This is strange, because each tank comes on a single sprue, i.e., a single mold, so you would think that either everything would be misaligned, or nothing.  I don't yet know how much work it will be to correct this, but I'm hoping that since its plastic, it won't be too bad.  UPDATE: the mold line was pretty easy to remove, using and X-Acto knife and files.

All told, these are really great little tanks, and unique among current 15mm vehicles currently available.  They've got a lot of character, with plenty of rivets and such.  And the price ($10 for three tanks) can't be beat.  Plus the shipping is a flat $3, also a bargain.

I'll be picking up some more, and looking forward to new offerings from Proxie.

Proxie Models has both a blog and a webshop:

http://proxiemodels.blogspot.com/
http://proxiemodels.com/

15mm Warhammer 40,000: Heavy Walker

One of my on-going projects is building Warhammer 40,000 (40K) armies in 15mm scale.  (Check out my Displaced Miniatures page in the links sidebar to see my 15mm Space Hulk figures.)

Here's my take on a heavy walker for the Imperial Guard, based on a very slightly modified Gear Krieg walker by Dream Pod 9.  The modifications consist of adding a sci fi las-cannon end to the main-gun barrel, adding a couple Imperial aquila symbols, a crude attempt at sculpting a Guard helmet on the crewman, and the sci fi base, and a few other details.  I converted and painted this for the "Iron Painter" competition run by Wyrd Miniatures about a year and a half ago.  I managed to advance to the second round, but probably only because my first opponent was the only other contestant painting 15mm miniatures.






The turret has a red-white-red identification flash on it.  A common feature on Imperial Guard vehicles, and inspired by British practice in both World Wars.  (The practice ended early in World War Two, when it was noticed that the ID flash made a convenient aiming point for Axis gunners.)

Any self-respecting AFV crew names its vehicle.

Here are a few detail closeups:

"Heroic" Commander



Note the purity seal over the engine.



Ouch!  Well, that's what he gets for being a xenos threat!



Thanks for viewing!