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Change of pace, change of scale.

More to come, as they paint so much quicker than their 32mm version.

Terrier Ironclad WIP

I started painting the Terrier Ironclad the other night. I went with the same blue scheme as I used for the Bassets. I am finding it more of an issue to paint such a large vehicle. I undercoated with gesso, and there was my first issue. In my rush to get the model assembled, I took it right out of the box and put it together, without giving it a wash before hand. As I had previously noted with my Bassets, if you do this to such large pieces of resin, you have an issue with left over release agent. This led to some parts of the model rejecting the undercoat. Worse, once I started with the base coat of a thin wash of blue and black, I noticed some of the undercoat peeling off, and other larger areas hidden between the tracks and the main body of the Ironclad where I had missed completely with the undercoat. My laziness/eagerness at the start of the project is going to cost me time in reparations before I continue, still, at least she won't be plain resin for her first outing on the table next week.

Yesterday evening I filled in some gaps and gave the blue a wash with Nuln Oil, giving her the first of many layers that will be required to get her table ready.

Royal Scots Cap Badge

Going with my current trend of basing my DL sections on real units, I decided my ironclads would be driven by members of the 2nd Dragoons,  Royal Scots Greys Regiment, who were in real life given tanks after their invention. This means I am currently tracking down some flags to stick on this beauty, to make it more of a centrepiece. It also gives me options for various insignia which I can use to liven things up.

Anyone out there who knows where to get good flags, please let me know, as I've never bought any pre-made before

The name of this tank will have to be H.M.I. Ewart. (H.M.I. standing for Her Majesties Ironclad, and Ewart after the famous Royal Scots Grey Ensign, Charles Ewart).

I'm now off on the hunt for flags and cavalry pennants to use for this, and to put on my Bassets too.

DIY Tank Crew

I have been playing mini games for many a long year by now, and yet I can count on 1 hand the number of vehicles I have bought and played with. I think this is mainly due to my predisposition to 28mm, fantasy/historical gaming. Now, I have many big robots, mostly for Warmachine, as well as a couple for Void/Urban War (I still have a soft spot for my VASA mechs), but I have never been into tank battles as such (no Flames of War for me). In fact, I think the only previous tank I bought was a VASA TAV MkIII, with optional turrets, however, I never played a game with one, never mind painted it.

For Dystopian legions of course, I have already bought into the vehicles, albeit with the smaller one-man Bassett tankettes, but they don't really count in my mind as proper tanks. The Terrier Ironclad however, certainly does.

To my mind, paying out a chunk of money for a substantial amount of resin, means this model deserves to be a centrepiece model for my army, so I am currently looking for ways to convert and personalise it.

The easiest thing to do in this regard is to open the hatch doors and stick a crewman on top. The hatch doors are in fact built for just such a purpose (as is the case for the Bassetts).

After a long time searching for a suitable mini to act as a crewman, I decided just to make one to fit. He is constructed of the following pieces:Victoria miniatures pith helmet head; GW Imperial Guard body and left arm; the right arm I found in my bits box and I couldn't swear to its origin; the right hand is a green stuff copy of the Black Watch Sergeant's hand and pistol; cross-belt, cuff and epaulets are all greenstuff. He'll be held in place by a magnet, and will therefore be removable from the tank.

He will be painted to look like the image at the top of the post. I decided to not go for the gas mask, as even though I have the bits, the pack at the front of the mini, which I assume is part of the mask, was a bit clunky with his positioning in the hatch, and made him a bit front heavy.

WIP

Final stages

And then, in-situ.

I think I'll have to put a flag on the tank too. Maybe even two. One Britannian flag, as on all the Spartan logos, and the other for the Scot's Greys, who I have decided that this guy and maybe even the Bassets belong to.  My freehand drawing skills leave much to be desired, so I haven't decided how I'm going to proceed with the flags yet. More on that once I do.

Dystopian Legions, Kingdom of Britannia: Terrier Ironclad

I've been awaiting this mini for a while now, but I have finally received my Terrier Ironclad. From now on, my Kingdom of Britannia army can be fielded with full Ironclad support (theoretically, full Ironclad support would be two of these, but let's not get carried away here).

This is a heavy box, full of great chunks of resin, and my first kit like this, so let's see what we get in the box.

Here's all the parts laid out, as they came out of the packaging. For ease of casting, the two sets of treads are identical,  and therefore interchangeable. There are two metal parts, which plug the gap in the back of the treads, which are presumably a fix for the issue we had with the Bassets, where there was a large chunk of metal to deal with where the treads were joined to the casting sprue.

The rest of the parts are pretty self explanatory and well cast. I had to run a craft knife over various bits to get rid of some flash, but there were no problem parts to deal with. 

As well as the tank parts, the box included 3 game cards. 1 specific to the Terrier, and 2 generic to all KoB Ironclads. There is also the compulsory activation card. There is no base included in the pack. Indeed, I am unsure as to what size such a base would be, and indeed if it is necessary.

When it comes to putting this beast together, all the parts go where you would think, and there are no bits leaving you scratching your head as to their placement. The only thing you need to watch for is the orientation of the crew compartment and the headlamps, but a quick glance at the picture on the box will tell you which way round they go.

There is one issue with the Terrier tank, that has been mentioned on previous reviews, and on the forums, and that is the way the treads connect to the main body of the tank. They don't.

Well, that's maybe a little harsh, the point of contact of the treads to the main body of the tank leaves no issues with their placement lengthwise, as there are little nubs on the side of the tank body that place into holes in the treads, and there is likewise a small shelf on the treads for the bottom of the tank body to sit on. This all works out rather nicely, but then there is no support for the top of the treads, and they then sit badly, leaning towards the top of the tank, and making the treads splay awkwardly at an angle. (The individual parts of the tank, and how they interact are better shown here. I was too keen to build the tank, rather than take more pictures). 

This can be remedied with a pin from the back of the tank tread, to the main body, and some putty to fill the gap between the tread and the tank body, but it is still rather unimpressive from a kit that otherwise fits really well together.

When put all together, this is a rather impressive tank, and I look forward to getting him fully assembled and onto the table.

One other niggle I have is with the pricing for Spartan tanks. The Terrier is not the most expensive of the 4 currently released ironclads, that honour goes to the Ke-Ho, but it is still more expensive than either the Prussian or FSA Ironclads (by about $20CAN), whilst still looking to be the same number of parts. I'm sure there's a technical reason for that.

Yes, the hatch has been glued open. More on that soon...