Gaslands: Another Monster Truck

In my endless hunt for car fodder, I've become increasingly aware of the Teamsterz brand. I've found these in at 8 or so UK retailers, I'm sure there's more, sometimes under their own branding, sometimes not. It's a supermarket "own brand" sorta situation, in that we have a single manufacturer providing for specific niche, that of an inexpensive alternative to bigger brands, and they sell to everybody. While rarely attempting to be specific makes of cars, these do have a virtue beyond low cost, in that they aren't bolted together. So, grab yourself a crosshead screwdriver, and go looking. 

 

This second Monster Truck is a follow up to my first one. Department of Redundancy Department. But, I'm doing a slightly more involved job this time. I took the wheels and bits from the same kind of poundshop toy as before, and sought to merge them with a Teamsterz car which I disassembled. The die-cast bit got the dettol treatment, while I worked on the wheels. This was a bit of a bodge job, as the metal axles were slightly too long, and I wasn't happy with how things looked. I removed the axles, pinned the wheels into place, and attached the whole thing to the actual car with hot glue. Despite my best efforts, the wheels look wonky instead, which isn't a plus. I also neglected to paint the car interior, which ordinarily wouldn't be an issue, except its orange. So, yeah, a bodge job across the board. This is the first time I've tried major structural work on any of these Gaslands cars, so it's forgivable, and I'd rather get the mistakes out of the way before my bits come in and I start on my serious attempts. 

 

Something I do feel a lot better about is the cabling and piping effects on in the “lift kit” area. These were made with various sizes of wire and tube, while the car's original plastic underside was repurposed as greeblies. The paint job was done in my usual style, and looks proper rusty. And to continue the joke, I named it "Medium Jock".

Up next: oh! My bits turned up!

Gaslands: Warden Team

Its extremely tempting to label Gaslands as a Mad Max inspired game. I mean, what other massively popular, car-based media would you use as a point of reference? There is even a prolonged tribute to Fury Road, with the War Rig being its own thing, with a narrative campaign. Gaslands does however draw from various source such the Carmageddon games, Deathrace 2000, any number of racing movies where they are fast and/or furious, The Simpsons, and the conceptually similar Dark Future by Games Workshop circa 1988. So, with my bits still on order, and a few days off, I decided to mix things up a bit, and make a team for The Warden sponsorship.

 

So what are sponsorships? Well, these are commonly used, but not actually mandatory, set of rules to apply factional differences and flavour to a team, tying into the Audience Vote system which us roughly comparable to Command Points in WH40k. This takes the form of unique mechanics designed to encourage a particular play style, Idris for example getting access to cheap nitrous, rewards going flat out,, and perks along those lines. The Warden is less about racing so much as doing the Suicide Squad but with carbombs. It doesn't matter if they die, provided they take out another car in the process, and it's suitably explosive. A detailed explanation can be found here, which was a direct influence on this project. Creatively, I was mixing things up a little by using mesh from a sieve for the windows. It's OK, not as good as Halfords mesh, but it's good for visual variety. For painting I also tried something new, with an initial, and sadly failed attempt, to paint these in high-vis yellow. This didn't really work with heavy metal drybrushing, so for this team I researched prison uniforms, and decided that orange was the new blue. This came out a little reddish, which I tried to balance with excessive weathering. My attempts at free-handing some racing numbers weren’t brilliant either.

 

The first, Car 13- Dangerous Driving is a dedicated battering ram, with a few bits to help things detonate. Mechanically, this car is a demonstration on how the Perk system can present new tactical options, feeding on the normally unwelcome Hazard Tokens to make better rams. Cover Me allows those tokens to be moved about, Battlehammer converting them into more ram dice, and Crowdpleaser presenting a free Audience Vote if things get out of hand. I ended up leaving it at that however, as I wanted to spread my costs a little. The base toy is an Audi TT which to my limited understanding is a bit of a lads car. This example is also a roughed-up charity shop find by "Realtoy", something true for the entire team, which was a bit of an odd coincidence now I think of it. I didn’t find these in a single shop...

 

Car 69- Causing an Affray was conceived as a bloody nuisance. While still there to explode and assist the above, this carries gas grenades and caltrops for mischief-making. The caltrop dropper was the most challenging piece to scratchbuild, and I admit its got more of an oil slick look to it. The base car is a Porsche Carrera, part of the 911 family as it turns out, so possibly the exposed engine gubbins shouldn't be there? Whoops. Anyway, ruleswise, I think I'll treat it as a regular car, not a performance one.

Car 42- Arson was my biggest deviation from the guide mentioned above, mounting a flamethrower. Because if you had a bunch of condemned prisoners, why wouldn't there be an arsonist in the mix? Even David Ayer knew to do that. The flamethrower was made from a bit of a pen, wire and scrap plastic, in what I realised later was an orky style. The base car is the modern BMW Mini Cooper... So, Italian Job anyone?

Overall, as a holiday project, these came out OK. I’m not a huge fan of the colours, and there’s probably too much weathering, but I think “abused rustbucket” is a valid choice for a Warden team.

Up next: where are those bits?

Gaslands: A Blue Monster Truck

At time of writing, I find myself at a bit of a precipice. I’ve found my attempts to kitbash and paint Gaslands cars to be about 1000% successful. There’s always new things to learn, but I think I have nailed the whole rustbucket/Mad-Max look. I also have the Gaslands rulebook, so the tactical part of my brain is grinding away, and I’ve got some bits on order. I don’t really want to commit too strongly too anything just now, I’m Gamesmastering again BTW, effectively putting me into in holding pattern. But that’s not necessarily a problem, as I’m running ahead on the blog. So, here’s a slightly shorter article as awaiting for things to turn up.

So, I forget what this toy was originally called, but I it got from a poundshop possibly more than a year ago. It was picked up with an eye towards Orky kitbashes thanks to its axles and wheels. I hadn’t intended to give the diecast car bit any attention, but as I’m into Gaslands now, the obvious happened. I had two originally but, the first was sadly sacrificed on the altar of “trial & error”, and we won’t be seeing it today. While this is fundamentally the same sort of project as Blue Team, the same paints and kitbashing approach, I did do three things a bit different.

The first thing I did was take the monster truck apart. This is something that matchbox cars and the like don’t easily allow for, as they are bolted together. A lot of the cheaper brands however, including toys like this, are screwed together instead, so you can get at the internals. This means that the wire mesh I normally use on the windows could be placed inside the car, making it look a bit better. The second thing I did was replace the wheels, attaching old GW plastic wheels with hot glue and paperclips as a replacement. There was nothing actually wrong with the originals, but they were deliberately oversized, and that wasn’t what I was aiming for. The circa 1997 small plastic GW wheel, AKA the titchy ones from the Gorkamorka Trukk, was both a better fit and a part I was unlikely to use otherwise. The last thing I did was apply a new variant of bicarbonate of soda based paint for another rust effect. I mixed this up myself, going as grainy as possibly, also applying a more typical mix for mud effects.

Generally, this worked out great. And as I am a huge great nerd, it has amused me to name this vehicle: “No-As-Big-As-Medium-Jock-But-Bigger-Than-Wee-Jock-Jock".

Plamo: The 30 Minutes Missions Extended Armaments Vehicle (Armored Assault Mecha Ver.)

So, here we are again. Another 30 Minutes Missions article, and pallette-cleanser project. One where I do a straightforward build, and then make it look dirty with my usual techniques, because I find that relaxing. Another post where I have only so much interesting to say, because 30MM kits are consistently good, and there's no real lore for me to ramble on about. Of course, lamp-shading and self-parody aside, I have a good time with this sorta thing.

 

So, the Extended Armaments Vehicle (Armored Assault Mecha Ver.) is the latest in an increasingly long line of sub-mecha with similarly long names. I'm just going to call this chap "Eggbot" for reasons that should be self-evident. This looks like something Doctor Robotnik would make, or something from a strange alternate universe where the Dizzy games dabbled in the mecha simulation genre. It's basically adorable, and since it comes in olive drab, this always was gonna end up in my hands. In fact, I'd mentally committed to this before I'd realised what it's gimmick was. It's a meta-mecha for a Royroy drone, aka those little things which don't seem to do much, or be that common these days. If anything, this only makes it more adorable. Imagine this friend-shaped robot waddling towards you, firing a rotary grenade launcher in anger, only to take a hit, fall, and have its head scuttle away.

 

 

A few things I want to highlight here with respects to kit. First off, the Spinatio joint sprue is back again, and mostly unused. Yay for spare hands! This does mean that the knees and shoulders are cast in the green plastic though, an arrangement possibly not ideal for the latter. Its arms like to pop off, although this might be my fault for trying two-handed poses. The Royroy meanwhile has a War of the Worlds vibe going on, with a big central dish making it a fairly large example of such things. On the downside, the area where it sits in the chest is regrettably light on detail, and you'll find the little chap gets stuck in there. None if this is near an actual problem, but I like to be honest. 

 

This was weathered in the style I so often do with these kits now, but I seem to have gotten good at it. I used two different washes here, and some light drybrushing, all very simple techniques, but given the pay-off, this almost feels like cheating now. The sensor eye was meanwhile done with contrast paint.

 

Job’s a good ‘un.

 

 

 

Gaslands: Blue Team

 

Well, it seems I'm in this for the long haul, in top gear and no doubt other vehicular metaphors. AKA a hyper fixation, as, at time of writing, I have bits on order and maybe fourteen cars in the boneyard awaiting work. Today's subjects were mainly done over a weekend, and intended to mirror Red Team. As I hadn't had much luck sourcing buggies by this point, so I ended up making two moreregular cars, but with an eye towards different techniques and builds.

The first, "Blue Swede Shoes" was a Hot Wheels Mod Rod toy, which looks a bit like a buggy, but it is a bit on the big side. Maybe call it a Performance Car in game terms? With this, I didn't bother with a ram ,and largely kept the lines of the toy. I managed to squeeze some mesh into the rear window, built up the roof a little, and armoured the wheels with bigger hubcaps made from tokens. I didn't need to do much with the engine block, so I added in a strip of granny grating to add some symmetry, while the gun is scrap plastic wrapped with leftover mesh. I got a bit clever/careless here with the texture though, seeking to exploit the interaction of super glue and baking powder for a rust effect. The end result speaks for itself, but the glue went everywhere, and I had to scrape a lot off. I should just mix up some paint, next time. 

 

The provenance of "Stone-washed Jeen’s" is unknown, this being an unlabelled charity shop find. I think it was meant to be a version of the old Ford GT40 line, but I'm no expert. Here I decided to go for an armoured appearence, but again trying to keep the basic look of the vehicle intact. Its very easy, and fun, to simply layer a car with bits and call it armour, so that's what I did. But also took it a step further with the wire mesh, so the driver could see out of each compass point. The gun meanwhile was integrated into the windscreen with another plate, a touch I'm very happy with, but thinking about it, I seem to have assumed a right-hand drive here. The ram meanwhile was made from the bits on the end of a cable tie, and I used the baking soda on this car too.

While these are both experiments, I'm quite pleased with them, especially in the realms of painting. I hadn't consciously chose to do this, but I realise that blue and rust are on opposite ends of the colour wheel, and that's really helpful to the look of `em. I normally just choose blue because of Deathskulls, but Vallejo Deep Sky Blue and my weathering really pop together. I'll probably stick with that, going forwards.

Up next: ummm, let’s wait for those bits...

Transformers: Kingdom Core Class Soundwave is Something That Exists

 

The 1984-1986, also 1990, Soundwave toy

I've been wanting an excuse to talk about the modern "core class" Transformers toys for a while. These replaced the rather good Battlemasters, and the often non-good Micromaster twin packs. In terms of overall size and complexity, the Core class is comparable to the old "legends" class last seen in Power of The Primes, although given that they use 3mm fist holes I'd also point at the small toy + micromaster sets circa 2013. Now, I'm predisposed to like Transformers of this type. I like small toys that you can easily fit in a pocket, easily fit in a budget, and easily fidget with on a desk. There is a pleasing simplicity to such things. However, one thing I'm less inclined to like is how the inevitable has happened. Rather than being the domain of small chaps, we had the likes of Optimus Prime right out of the gate. Yes, that was exactly what we needed. Another Prime, another Megatron, and another Starscream to repaint to buggery and back. And within five minutes of Earthrise too. I exaggerate, but not by much. Seeing characters like Iguanus and Spike are a welcome bit of variation, but we've also had two Shockwaves, I have both because I am a sucker, and are in the process of getting new Dinobots. This is not to suggest that these are bad toys, mind you. But with the amount of redundancy going on, one wonders if this is brand consolidation, a lack of imagination, or a just a means of securing trademarks.

What does this mean for Soundwave then? Well it might mean a few things, but he's got his own baggage. Soundwave is subject to exactly the same "daddy, what's a cassette player?" issue Blaster is, please consider this to be a partner piece, but as he's a much more prominent character, he's had a few more tries. What's weird about this presently there is indeed a modern tape version, the mould mate to the Siege "flying brick" iteration, but that seems be locked behind an exclusivity agreement. As it stands, the Core class version may very well be the only easy way to get a "classic" Soundwave in recent years. Other than that, you'd have to track down a Titans Return version, or hope for Studio Series to do a new mould, like they did with Ironhide.

Let's mix things up a bit, and start with the robot mode. This more than anything is the bit they had to get right, and I think the designers probably focused on it. When it comes to a basic likeness, we are in the realms of functionally ideal for the size, although there is a tension here between budget and looks. There's a few avoidable cavities here, like the back of his head. I wonder if he was meant to have a panel for transformation purposes, but it was cut. Soundwave does have both his gun and shoulder launcher, a luxury on a toy this size, if both being hollow too. These also store on his legs, each with a dedicated port, and can actually stay there during conversion, a nice touch. What makes the accessory situation here remarkable though is that the tape door actually opens to reveal a non-converting Laserbeak in tape mode. This is made from the same translucent plastic as the door, but is lavishly painted on one side. Again, more than they needed to do, welcome, but with an obvious cut corner. Articulation meanwhile is adequate to good. There's effective use of ball joints, and while the waist is omitted, he's actually got moving skirt armour, so the buttons don't limit the legs. So, yeah, pretty good robot mode for the price. 

 

 

Putting him into tapedeck mode is where we start running into weaknesses that can't be solely attributed to the budget, and to put this into context, I'm gonna talk about the original 80's version for a bit. Generally speaking, 80's Transformers haven't aged too well in the areas of articulation and conversion. It was early days, the technology wasn't there yet. Once you get into late G2 and the beast era, you start seeing more toys with ball joints and posability as a desired aim, and they hold up. Articulation, transformation, budget and the balance between those three is a solved problem. Soundwave was one of the rare exceptions in that his conversion scheme allowed for some articulation, and if you followed that scheme, and just put joints in the obvious places, you’d have a nicely posable toy. Also, the idea of a tiny Soundwave has already been done. Takara's Smallest Transforming Transformers version shrunk down the toy to a height of two inches with very little functional loss. So, the designers had the advantage of good source material, a previous attempt that took it to the edge, and most importantly, the forgiving requirement that he turn into a box. Behold. 

 

Yes, those are his little tosey-woseys sticking out of the top. Seriously guys. So close, and yet, so far. I don't know what the thought process was here, but I have my suspicions. Here's the thing, if you spin the feet 180 degrees on the ball joint, so heels become toes, the foot sticks out exactly as far to the front as the normal way. It's undetailed, but you are loosing nothing in the ankle by doing this. Was this the original idea? Just have those panels spin around and form the feet?  Did someone decide to make the feet look better at the last moment? Or was something cut in favour of his accessory count? I have no proof, but if someone told me that was the case, I'd believe them. This is a crying shame, because otherwise, it's ideal. The altmode has been harmed so the most forgettable bit of the robot form can look better.

 

My point? Only that Kingdom Core class Soundwave is something that exists. And while he's a bit of a frustrating near miss at times, he has still managed to stay on my desk...

Gaslands: Red Team

So, I've adopted this Gaslands as thing a new project. It's something seems more or less ideal for me from a modelling perspective. Rusty cars of the road-warrior style is only half a step from Orks, after all. Its also something I can do relatively cheaply, sourcing much from the bits box, while still offering a new experience. So, I intend spend a few weeks working on a hypothetical "starter set" of four cars, before moving onto tosomething more involved. So, here's red team.

First up, a modified London Cab, "Uber Crimson". This was a Mattel car from a pound shop, due to its obvious potential as a modded taxi. Here I tried to keep the distinctive lines as much as possible, adding only a modest ram up front, a small bit of exposed engine, and squeezing a gun into its roof light. The back end is slightly more built up, with a couple of plates and a hand wrapped spool of wire. I did however make a silly mistake here, I neglected to fill a horizontal gap along the door panels, which I ended up fixing after the main colours were done. I also attempted to paint the headlights, but the detail wasn't sharp enough. It is possible to strip the original paint off toys like these, which likely would have helped, but you'd need power tools to dismantle them first... Maybe later. I tried out AK Blood Red for the paintwork, while the base metals are Citadel Brass Scorpion over a brown undercoat. It came out pretty good, after everything.

 

 

In order to properly pronounce the name of the other car, you need to approximate the accent of the recently departed actor/comedian Leslie Phillips. "Ding Dong" is a ancient Corgi Jaguar XJ-S, a car first sold circa 1975, the toy could easily be that old. It was a 5 for a quid charity shop find, and tbh the idea of a Jag driving around the post-apocalyptic wastelands, battered but still classy, has a certain appeal to it. There's probably still golf clubs in the boot. This was a somewhat more involved build, with a more elaborate engine block scratch built from scrap plastic & tubes. The machine gun was much the same, but I used a length of wire and a bead for the barrel. I could adjust its angle before finally securing it, and I'm quite pleased with it as a method. Then came the ram, plating, and rooftop sawblades. Because if you're gonna deface a classic, and go punk, you commit to it. Overall, it probably came out a little too punk, but I’m happy with the result. 

 

Of course, after doing this, I realised the starter scenario in the rulebook requires a buggy, not two regular cars. Whoops. So, I’m probably gonna have to come back to this team and paint one up… Assuming I can find any of the damn things...

 

Up next: Something blue.