Added a force multiplier that will please any would-be Warlord. Finally finished one of my Back of Beyond aircraft. It’s the Hobby Lobby ship….not historically correct, but no assembly required and, after priming, painting and dry-brushing, it looks OK. Should be nice on the table and add something extra to the scenario mix. Will keep it in neutral colors/markings so it can be all things to all armies whenever the scenario deems it so.
A couple of months ago, I posted up about using Matchbox vehicles for RedActions!
Need to fabricate destroyed vehicles, so I decided to experiment on a Matchbox truck that was too large for 25-28mm. Here’s a picture.
Here’s what it looks like now, in the process of, shall we say, “modification”?
After I experiment with painting the destroyed vehicle, I’ll scour E-Bay for a couple of low cost trucks for similar treatment. Now I just have to work out the explosion/flame/smoke effects.
Found this little guy while looking for balsa wood at Hobby Lobby. The cost was a whopping $7.99. It looked like the right scale for RedActions, although the headrest is a tip-off that this piece of decor is really based on a Boeing F4-B fighter of the 1930’s.
The scale might be a 1/48, and therefore a little large for 25-28mm. Using a figure as a type of measuring stick, I was able to estimate the little guy’s dimensions and check it against some info on planes of the late 1920s and 1930s. It’s definately in the ballpark. So, there’s a little era problem.
I do need to cut off the spats and replace the front tires as they are way too big. The rear skid needs to be cut down, and the cockpit is too big, but I’m not going to sweat that. On second thought, maybe remove the headrest and make room for an observer/gunner. This might mitigate the size problem.
It will have to be painted. My table isn’t ready for a Yellow Peril.
The PKZ-2 tender vehicle in the previous post is one of the Matchbox Models of Yesteryear series. These can be purchased cheaply (if you’re patient) on E-Bay. Bought several for the Back of Beyond Campaign, one of which is shown below.
The problem is that the series is not in a consistent scale. There are a wide variety of vehicles, in a wide variety of scales. This page summarizes them by model number, name and scale. So what scale matches up best with 25/28mm figures? This page from The Miniatures Page really helped.
Once purchased and primed, I sprayed the vehicles a military green, and then just went crazy with brown and green dry brushing. Wood blocks and barrels purchased at Hobby Lobby and mounted on bases – pallets – are cargo used either in vehicles, or on the ground as part of a supply dump. Machine gun and cannons purchased from Pulp Figures (Bob Murch) mounted as required.
I plan to interject an element of Pulp into my upcoming Back of Beyond campaign. This will include not only Bob Murch’s Zeppelin Troops and Soliders of Fortune/Adventurers, but also special equipment.
My first infernal machine is a PKZ-2 helicopter tethered to a Matchbox truck. Built in late World War One and developed in Austria-Hungary, the PKZ-2 is considered the first helicopter. It reportedly flew 36 times, always tethered, but suffered from serious technical problems that precluded operational use. The observer stood in the cupola above the rotary blades.
What if some semi-crazed revanchist brought the prototype to Central Asia? If nothing more than PUB, it might also provide special observation capabilities to the owning unit(s).
Building this Roden kit was not fun. Lots of small bits. I always fool myself that this will be a smooth process with impressive results. More likely this is glue smeared fingers, increasingly vulgar language and a product requiring way too much time and effort to look passable. Here’s a review and photos of a PKZ-2 by someone who really knows what he’s doing.