Road Warriors and Freeway Fighters – Preparing for the 7TV Apocalypse

Slowly working my way through my backlog of post apocalypse miniatures.  This is another one from the Prince August Future Shock range.

He has a kind of Dark Future Sanctioned Operative feel to him.

Some good weather at the weekend gave me the chance to get an undercoat and basecoat down on the Tamiya conversion.

Undercoat used was a ‘pound shop’ grey car primer.  Basecoat – Plastic Soldier Company US Olive Drab

The starting point for this ‘wastelands’ conversion was a 1:48 scale Tamiya WW2 German ‘tractor’.

I’m not really used to the detail you get on these scale models (as opposed to the sturdier simpler wargames kits), and to be honest there was a lot I built, including the interior, which was actually not necessary when you see the finished model.

In addition to the 28mm scale resin and metal bits from the Crooked Dice post apocalyptic conversion sets I also raided the bits box for a spare tire (for the bonnet) and used some 1:1 scale car bodywork repair mesh for the windows.  I also used the spare ‘hedge cutter’ from the Ork truck I’ve been recently doing similar mods to.

All in all I like how this has turned out.  It has a certain Wacky Races crossed with Mad Max type vibe and the scale is pretty spot on for 28mm figures.

I’ve started painting the truck:

• White primer
• Desert Yellow basecoat
• All over wash of Agrax Earthshade

I recently picked up one of the ‘Build and Paint’ Warhammer 40k Ork trucks with the express purpose of using it to build a post-apocalypse buggy using the resin accessory sets from Crooked Dice.

I built the model as is out of the box, with the exception of the (bolt?) gun, which just felt a bit too sci-fi for my purposes.

The seated Ork minis lower halves were used with one of the metal Crooked Dice 7TV gunners and other bits from my spares box to build a suitably wastelands style duo. The machine gun and guard, as well as rear stowage are all from the same set.  The back of the stowage was masked using (my fast diminishing) supply of plastic 1/48 Tamiya sandbags.  A harpoon and mount completed the armaments and a skull (with a nod to the Grimdark) was used to mask a hole on the stowage at the rear where I had had to trim to fit with a craft saw.

All in all I’m quite pleased with this.  The scale is spot on and there is space at the rear for a based figure to stand.  I intend to stat this up for use in 7TV Apocalypse (currently on Kickstarter) when it is released next year.

Re-energised by the launch of Crooked Dice’s 7TV Apocalypse Kickstarter, I’ve gone back and finished off a vehicle and an additional miniature for my PA adventures.

The car is a 1/43 die cast ‘Teamsterz’ toy purchased a few months ago.  I cut the plastic back window out of this carefully with a craft knife and was delighted to find that the resin stowage bits I’d bought (and already released by Crooked Dice for their Interceptor model) fits perfectly.  The roof mounted cannon is also from Crooked Dice.

The originally back and white toy was undercoated dark grey (masking the Police markings on the doors) and then hand painted and weathered using acrylics.  Modelmates rust effect and AK Interactive enamel grime washes were used for further weathering and Mig Productions ‘mud’ powders were also added.  Some chipping was done using the sponge technique.

I’ve also added to my wastelands gangs by paining up this vintage Prince August Future Shock mini.

Very quick update – recently completed this lovely miniature from Studio Miniatures.

Black leather was achieved by a couple of washes of Army Painter Dark Tone over a dark grey undercoat.

As a diversion from vehicles, I’ve started to think about figures.  A few months ago I picked up some ‘Future Shock’ miniatures from Prince August.  This range is around 30 years old now and really capture that eighties style view of the post apocalypse.

First off the workbench – a former soldier / militia man.  Unlike a lot of minis from this era this (and the Future Shock range in general) are sized more like modern 28mm scale minis and fit in well with other stuff on the PA workbench (the likes of Crooked Dice, Studio Miniatures etc.)