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New small project to make a shark piloted small attack tank, for reliable and predictable battle field use. While doing random image searched for apocalyptic stuff as inspiration I ran across the image of a shark on tank treads and thought to myself "this is something I need in my life". I have a ton of tank parts from TEHNOLOG, a Russian toy maker, sadly blocked from new sales for now. With all these parts and small bits box, and some green stuff I'm going to build this thing. The core model is Based on the Reaper 7728: Sharkman. I chopped off his legs and filled the arm socket with putty and sculpted on some amputated fins. Next step is to add a harness below it to hold it up. Need to pick up some flat beads and make some braces on a central tube, should look the part. -JIM

Wear and tear is usually a welcome addition to most vehicle models. After all, tank armor is made to take a few hits. One of the things to keep in mind when painting something like that is the story it tells. Where and how you place it tells of how the damage happened. Rusty areas are older than shining metal showing through- moreso if there are streaks of rust leading down. A combination of rust and metal shows that this is a place where the rust layer gets scrapped off. This vehicle is from Seedy Tea Publishing‘s Simulacrum Protocol line.

Hello everyone, I’ve been asking myself if this is the right place, but as this project has been the one that kept me busy for most of my recent time and is very dear to me, I would like to present it to you. The whole idea to this was born during the time when I nearly stopped painting miniatures and doing wargaming. I had some pretty bad experiences with some guys and communities in Germany and my overall motivation to do some painting and building stuff was down to almost none. I even stopped writing which normally is my preferred method of relaxing. In short: A midlife miniature crisis. Read some more about the background over here: Gallia to Arms - original blog entry During that time a friend of mine bought the miniature kit of the Edelweiß tank that became available just then and later also purchased the kit of the Shamrock tank. That was the moment I decided to also make a small miniature project within the world of Valkyria Chronicles which I had known and liked since I first came to know the original game (or rather … its soundtrack). I had a lot of 20mm figures left and some 1/72 scale tanks, which I figured to be perfect for my plan to recreate the equipment and figures of the game in small scale. They don’t need much space, are easily convertible and they don’t cost as much as 28mm figures and vehicles. As some of my friends continued to do wargaming on WWII and I had so much stuff left, I soon decided to create a small force of Gallian troops for WWII skirmish games. Unfortunately it turned out that the game rules they were using rendered the Valkyria Chronicles scenario almost useless (due to balancing issues). So I continued creating models just for fun, using the whole anime scenario to set up the amusing story of a guy doing weird stuff. It somehow got out of hand … My little builds caught the attention of some guys organizing an annual local tabletop event called “Do or Dice” – and they asked me if I’d like to present some of my miniatures. I thought – wow – what an honor – but … it’s a tabletop event, not a miniature showcase event. So … hm. What to do? Right! Create an own scenario. Luckily I had acquired some left-over scale train terrain from my late uncle – and there were two grass mats measuring 100cm x 70cm. Perfect for a small skirmish game. Reason enough for me to tackle that challenge. Fortunately I’ve like 8 month or so left. Well then – Let’s Make … Gallia to Arms! Creating a scenario set in the Valkyria Chronicles universe requires certain elements. As I plan to use this thread as the main thread and create threads for the single elements of the game – Gallian Forces, Imperial Forces and Terrain – consider this as some kind of register for the different threads. I will frequently update the different sections, so stay tuned. What do we need? Gallian Forces Gallian Army WIP Thread Imperial Forces Terrain Terrain WIP Game rules and scenario setup Game supplies Well then Let’s make this: Into this: Or at least something that looks like it …

Howdy all, This is Tamiya's 1/35 scale Sherman Jumbo - a significantly up-armored Sherman tank designed to be at the head of advancing columns and function as an assault tank. Two hundred and fifty-four were built through the spring and summer of 1944 with the first batches hitting the European front in the fall of '44. All were initially armed with a 75mm gun. A number were later converted to the long barrel 76mm gun because it fired a more effective high-velocity anti-tank round. The Sherman Jumbos served through the end of the war in Europe. Tamiya's kit dates back to 1987 and is based on Tamiya's standard M4A3 Sherman tank issued in the early 80s. Tamiya added a new larger turret, new armor plates for the upper hull sides, and a new glacis plate for the hull front. Unfortunately, they neglected to provide a new and much larger front transmission cover. Numerous reviews have also mentioned the turret shape and size are off, but I've yet to read/hear where it's off or by how much. I spent some time looking over book and interweb pics and the height of the turret might be a bit low. Maybe. I believe the Jumbo is out of production, but the originall M4A3 is still available. Not worry; new, more detailed and more complex Jumbos are available. I've built a new transmission cover using the old cover as a foundation, then adding sheets and strips of Evergreen .040 plastic to beef it up. The turret height was raised with .030 strips of plastic between the upper and lower turret halves. Additional details were added to the hull and turret - basically anywhere you see white, copper wire, brass, or green putty. I also used a Dremel tool and a small dove-tail cutter to enhance the very prominent hull weld beads. The case transmission cover and the turret sides were coated with liquid glue (in sections) and stippled with a siff wire brush to replicate the cast texture of the real items. You can see the turret texture in the photo. The pic shows the mocked up upper and lower hull components and the turret, three of the six bogie wheel assemblies (three more on the other side), the mantlet, and turned aluminum gun barrel. Painting next - any color you want as long as it's olive-by-God-drab. Qs and Cs welcomed; no secrets here...

This is Tamiya's 1.35 scale Centaur, a 95mm howitzer support tank designed to support British and Canadian troops on D-Day. It's based on the Cromwell I built earlier (Ordnance 2, I think). Apart from drilling out the MG barrels and stowage, it's pretty much out-of-the-box. Aeromaster (no longer in business - ) paint with Reaper MSPs, colored pencils, and chalk pastels for the weathering. The boxes on the engine deck are resin, while the tarp, netting, and small cans are scratch-buit. Still no mud, sorry... Qs and Cs welcomed. See you on the RC ordnance tables. Glen

Here's another bit of ordnance - a WW II Japanese Type 97 Shinhoto Chi Ha Tank from Tamiya. 1/35 scale, all plastic, with flexible tracks. The kit dates back to the 80s. Fairly easy cleanup and assembly. Paashe VL airbrush and Tester's Model Master, et al, paints. Colored pencils for the paint chips, scratches, abrasions, etc. Reaper acrylics for the various oil, gas, dirt, and dust stains. Finished off with chalk pastels (old school). The base is a cutup, sanded, and stained oak plank from Home Depot. Name plate from a local trophy shop. Now everyone can join in the fun in RC's Ordnance Category. Qs and Cs welcomed. Glen

Hi Everyone, I wanted to share a new campaign that I've just started: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1502793436/mav3rick-modular-3d-printable-tank-kit-in-28mm-sca Featuring a snap-fit modular design, MAV3RICK is a 3D printable kit that can be configured into a number of different vehicle variants: Take a look, I'd love to know what you think. Thanks for looking! -Treadhead Rad

This will be the Gallian forces build-up thread for the Valkyria Chronicles scenario I am creating here: Let’s Make … Gallia to Arms! A 20mm Valkyria Chronicles Scenario I haven't started that totally ill-prepared - as I normally do - so here we start with the Gallian Forces. Unlike the Imperial Forces, the Gallian forces have never been designed to fulfill a greater combat role other than defend their homeland. As the Principality of Gallia is a rather small country, its vehicles and units rely on weaker armor for the sake of speed and agility. Still they can bring a suprisingly heavy amount of firepower to bear, which allows them to strike fast and retreat as soon as possible. Like vikings. Just a bit nicer. For the scenario setting, the Gallian Forces will consist of 1x Light Tank 6x Scouts 6x Shocktroopers 3x Lancers (Anti-Tank) 1x Mortarer (Anti-Personnel) 2x Engineers (Repair and Refill) 2x Snipers Well then - let's go The Gallian light tank: Gallian light tanks are rather old combat vehicles. Having been in service for almost 20 years, its armor can easily be penetrated by most of the available anti-tank weaponry in the game. Still - with its 75mm gun, a co-axial machine gun and a mortar, this tank is a vital support unit for its accompanying infantry. It also can combat light and medium Imperial tanks, but is severely outclassed by heavier imperial models. Starting with nothing much than the game design book and a few unbuilt tank kits, this work can be considered my first real "scratch" build, though not everything is completely scratch. Messy, but not dirty! Having checked the main parts I needed, I cannibalized the tank kits I had arround, using parts of a Panzer 38(t) and a Panzer III as main elements for the chassis and wheels. The front body was created using styrene plastic. To stabilize the whole construction, some poxy putty was used and put on the inner side of the vehicle. There are still some gaps to fill and mishaps to be corrected. But we are making progress! Time to contine with the turret. As one can see, the turret equals that of a Panzer III from WWII, but its main gun is rather positioned to the right side as it was on the Hetzer and the Panzer II. Well then - let's cut it into place. Let it dry for a moment and then continue next time

This is merely the vehicular personification of all our elementary school principals. Contains parts from 9 different toy cars. 15mm figure for scale.

Thought I'd post my recently completed pair of Commander II Anti-Grav tanks painted up in the ADON Regiment 45 "Bone Collectors" scheme!

West Wind is currently running a KS for some Weird WWII mechs, which means I'm currently obsessing a bit about WWII mechs...but I don't currently own any. But I do have one of their tanks from their Berlin or Bust WWII line, the PzKpfw IV H with side plates. (For those not in the know on WWII German tanks, a group I include myself in, but did some googling, that's really it's name, short for Panzerkampfwagen). Not really sure why I picked up this one, other than I wanted a tank of some sort.......a year or 2 ago.... Let's see what's in the package. Ok, a lot of pieces. I recognize a gun....and tracks, and a turret. And what are apparently side plates....and a commander...well, half a commander.... After looking at a few pictures it seems all the straight bits and angled bits are bracing for the side plates. Some of those other bits, might take some searching to identify. So, having never done a tank, or anything approaching an accurate historic military anything, I'm hoping for some suggestions on how to proceed, what some of the bits are, colour schemes, etc. And while I do have an air brush, it is currently not set up (as my new painting room isn't set up for it yet) and I'm not really comfortable using it yet anyway...... So, painting it could be interesting.

Just finished up a 1/56th scale M18 Hellcat from Warlord Games. First time to do a "realistic" vehicle and had a blast!

Well then, Let's go on. As written in my WIP thread ->Check Here<-, the first few Gallian infantry units for my Valkyria Chronicles scenario ->Check Here<- are done. That means: First few units are ready to be shown. As I wrote, those are units I made over a time frame of almost 4 years now, so I guess a constant quality improvement is clearly visible. Still - even if they are not perfect to the last, every of these figures is quite dear to me. As you can see, on the first two I tried to apply eyes, but it looks weird, so I am currently thinking of repainting their faces. Some details: And just to give an idea of the scale - here's Reaper's Troll Slayer Sophie for comparison: Next units are already on their way.

Hello all! It's been forever since I've posted here or painted anything for that matter. Life has been extremely busy as of late, and I haven't had a lot of time to pursue my artistic interests... well, that and I tend to jump from hobby to hobby. At any rate, figured I'd drop this here as it's miniature, even if not a mini. I need to get back to minis, but I ended up with this 1/72 Tiger tank... So here's where we are. For some reason, I decided to start in 1/72. I'm not sure why. Maybe because it's tiny. Maybe because it's closer to "minis." Maybe I just ate some bad chicken and thought it'd be a great idea! However, I ended up with Hans and Frans.... They are really, really ugly and really, really tiny! I should probably put a mini Dwarf on the turret just to show that they are indeed in the Land of the Lost, and surely to meet their end at the charge of the Gutbuster Brigade or the like.... At any rate, it's a different change of pace from normal minis... although it's been about a year since I've painted any additional minis. My experience with Hans and Frans hasn't done anything to encourage extra exploration, but I think if I do more armor, (and it'll happen, I have a 1/35 Matilda in a box....), at least their figures will be closer to what I'm used to working with. They're just a lot smaller and with not as good casting as I'm used to with Reaper minis and others. In the meantime, it's nice to be getting back to painting. I need to come up with a diorama for these guys. I've got a few touch-ups to do here and there, but I'm pretty much done with the model at this scale. I need to order some pigments to weather this thing as that's where I was headed before I went on mini hiatus. Purchasing too many pigments I mean... It's going to take pigments to make the funky rubber treads this thing came with look anything like real tank treads. LOL! Comments, questions, and WHERE THE HECK HAVE YOU BEENS!?!!? are welcome! -K

First tank I've ever painted. Sort of happy with how it turned out. The wings/skull symbols are made from clay.:

Hey everyone! Finally got around to finishing up the final details on my terran wolf tanks. This is my third real attempt at using OSL on these guys and I think I could have done a better job. I just can't seem to make the light reflections "pop" on these models like I could do on the other ones. OSL gurus, any tips for making mine look better? Maybe having more of a gradient? Tried for awhile to get it to look right but I am missing something. The only thing I struggled with was where to put the star. All the stars are going on red sections and are centered on the models, but the wolf didn't really have a good place to do that. I originally went with stars on the back hatches, but I would have had to do 2 to get them to look right. I am happy with having them on the main gun as you see here. Overall, I am happy with these guys, who now get added to my budding terran force: I think it's coming together pretty nicely, but I'm drowning the CAVs in treads now... Simba is next!!!

Hey all, Lost some sleep last night to finish up these Tsukai for my Terran legion. I wasnt sure how to approach them at first but I really happy with how they came out. They fit in well with the rest of the force. I had particular fun jeweling the cockpit. Take a look, and as always C&C welcome!

Hey everyone! Newbie here. I got the CAV kickstarter box a few weeks ago and have been really itching to paint something with hard lines for once (old 40k tyranid player). I decided to start with the terrans because I bought planes, tanks, and CAVs from them so it would give me a nice wide range to get comfy with. I decided on a theme similar to that of the imperial fists from Warhammer 40k- yellow with red accents. As I went on, however, the scheme changed more and more until it became a much more rugged desert theme. Take a look: I didn't choose a very time-efficient painting method (will change that when I paint the Rach), but it does look nice. I only use regular old craft paint, except for the inks which are GW. The steps for those interested: Yellow: 1) Mix a 3:2 mix of butternut and nutmeg brown to create the base color, which I call "UTF khaki". 2) After cleaning with soap and water, airbrush everything in a white undercoat (old habits). 3) Airbrush with UTF khaki. The badger intro airgun is worth it's weight in gold for the priming alone. 4) Ink everything up with GW's Reikland fleshshade. It's a nice red color and give the yellow some depth. 5) drybrush with UTF khaki to get the midtones back 6) drybrush with 1:1 UTF khaki : white to get the highlights Red: 1) Paint sections with burgundy. I realized too late that this burgundy was a "cool red" and didn't sit well on its own with the khaki so I had to change up the highlighting. 2) Highlight by edging with a 1 : 1 : 1 mix of burgundy, white, and burnt orange. This makes things a bit warmer and sits better with the khaki. 3) Paint the star freehand. This is the 52nd terran legion and I decided to make their symbol a simple white star. Grey: 1) Start dark, drybrush lighter. Lights: This is my first attempt at object source lighting (OSL). I was inspired by the NOD-like Rach force paint scheme of Skrill. Take a look at his awesome work: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/68610-cav-so-bones-rach-force-completed-reaper-voodoo-more/ So I decided to go for a bright white light which actually comes off as a light blue. Multiple light watered down coats. It is not perfect but it is close enough for tabletop quality and I am excited to get better at it. C & C welcome! Lots more will be coming in the weeks going ahead.

Hey everyone. Got the CAV bones kickstarter a few weeks ago and have really been itching to paint some BIG STOMPY ROBOTS. I decided to go with a yellow and red theme for the terran vehicles and CAVs. The original inspiration was the Imperial Fists of 40k lore, but it has evolved into a much more worn looking desert theme. Right now I am working on some Wolf tanks and Tsukai APCs: There are quite a few steps to them: 1) Airbrush white, then airbrush with a basecoat of 3:2 butternut yellow : nutmeg brown, AKA UTF khaki 2) Airbrush with UTF Khaki 3) Ink wash with GW's Reikland flesh shade, a nice reddish shade to get the shadows. 4) Drybrush with UTF khaki to get the mid tones back 5) Lighter drybrush with 1:1 UTF Khaki : white Now the yellow is done and I can START on the other colors :) The red is a craft paint burgundy, actually, with the exception of the inks, they are all cheap craft store paint. I will edge the red bits with a 1:1:1 mix of white, burgundy and burnt orange. I realized too late that the burgundy is a "cool red" and clashes with the warm yellows so some orange had to be added to the highlights. The gray bits will be drybrushed with some lighter versions later on. The red needs to be edged and the windows and lights painted still, but the yellow bits are finished. Finally, every unit gets a white star which is the symbol of my company. C & C are welcome! Would love to hear what others think.

Finished of both of my Ashigaru in my terran desert wasteland scheme. I airbrushed the basecoat on these. I spent about 2 hours yesterday basecoating all my terran forces with the airbrush (about 20 models).

Hi, Here is my take on the Terran Naginata in Bones from CAV SO I'm finding myself struggling in getting a somewhat realistic army paint job (homogeneous with few colours) while keeping the model interesting to look at with contrast... I still haven't figured out a good recipe. But here is what I came up with.

This is one of a set of three armored cars, the "Specter Armored Cars" from the "All Quiet on the Martian Front" game. They are 15mm scale, said to be based on the Rolls Royce Spectre. I am painting them up for steampunk use. I think they are lead. They seemed pretty soft and bendy anyhow. They came in several pieces without instructions and it took a few tests to see how and what order to put the pieces together. The underbody chassis is just a little tricky and you can't put the wheels on until the rest is assembled. I left the turret unglued. It's on a post so it can rotate. I doubt I am going to paint them in any unified matter. This one just seemed to want to be purple.

This is the final tank from the blister, which was left unpainted last month. I tried something different (instead of starting by undercoating/priming it in Brown Liner). Sure enough, it turned out different. I wanted to start with Green Liner. Turned out I did not have any, or I do but I have no idea where it is. Alas. I now have all six from the blister painted. I was hoping the last one would be sort of distinct and green tinged. (I swear I have a bottle of Green Liner someplace... ). I will have to do a group shot.

So, this is a bit different than what we usually see on the forums, but... If you've seen my topic in the Conversions and Terrain subforum, you know what this is, but to recap for those who haven't... I took an old Tamiya 1/35 Panzer II kit from the 70s, pieces of a broken resin Verlinden 1/48 Pak 43 gun, a bunch of blank styrene, and scratch built pretty much everything above the hull (and bits of the hull as well).

Yet Another Archer; A Kobold; A Tank; and some Fighter Plane Tokens The archer is another one to go with some of the previous bowmen. I hope to get a small painted unit of them by the time this is over. He is an old GW plastic. This guy just sorta got slopped with what ever color was left over after painting some of the other things. He was the use up the paint miniature. I think his legs are haldardier tabard red from last month's batch of halberd guys. Boots are kobold basecoat brown. The Kobold is a bonesium version, white plastic, 77010. I mixed faded purple with some lighter color —fire orange maybe— to get the brown for his basecoat. It did not cover the archer's shoes very well. Later he got drowned in brown liner. The tip of his spear is the same copper that was used to damp brush highlights onto the tank. The tank and the fighter tokens are 1:1200 scale resin models from Spartan Games. The basecoat on the tank is kolbold basecoat brown with a lot of brown liner mixed in because it wanted to dry out too soon. Later some pure brown liner got shoved into the deep places and kinda blended in. Then bronzey highlights. The airplane tokens are responsible for the archer's dingy blue tunic. First paint on them was Black Ink on the edges. Then they got a top coat of Sky Blue, avoiding the tops of the planes (archer got the left overs). Then the then planes got dabbed with metallic either silver or bronze. Then the edges got some silver to pick out the girder work. The final step was to wash them with Blue Liner. I was trying to get some edging and shadows under the planes. I needed to experiment on some of these. I have boat loads of these for the game they are from. [edits: Bold Tags; Only one L in kobold, added some paint colors, airplane token steps... ]