6mm Dr Who: Creepy Crawly progress.....

Thought I'd share the progress so far on the 'Green Death' and 'Them!' front, with some shots of how they are all shaping up; still some finishing off to do, but a lot of fun so far!

The plastic, or more accurately, rubbery ants can be seen in varying colours below:

After a quick wash with soapy water, the acrylic colours went on easily enough, but I soon learnt that any handling just as easily sloughed off the dried paint from the rubber surface - so some spray varnish definitely a must here - the larger ant, being a harder, more traditional plastic, was no problem.

I had originally intended a black paint scheme, but found that the large ant came out looking ironically a bit spider-like, so jazzed up the existing red colours with some more banded details on the legs and abdomen. The 'spideriness', however, of the smaller ones when left black with just the eye detailing, led me to try a couple of other colours - a sandy brown and a 'fire ant' red to match the larger one - not entirely sure which scheme I will go with for the balance of the rest - I quite like the exaggerated contrast of the eyes on the black ones, and the reds stand out well -perhaps different colours could denote differing types - soldiers, workers, female drones etc?

These are based on some rectangles of textured plasticard measuring 40x30mm, with the large 'Queen' on a 40x40mm - had to trim the ends of the large ant's legs to fit, but I didn't really want to make the base any bigger - don't think it loses anything in appearance, anyway....... and talking of basing, let's move on to those pesky maggots and the giant fly:

The fly in the original Dr Who episode had bright red eyes and some yellow markings on its back, but I just somehow wanted my irradiated mutant to live up to its name, so went with a wash of green on the wings and the body, with the corresponding eyes - for some reason, the plastic of the eyes wasn't too happy about being painted on, leaving a rather patchy finish, so will have to finesse this somewhat in the near future, and again protect it with some varnish.
The fly had a hole drilled into the bottom to accommodate the standard peg-topped flying stand, but this is looking a little dull, as well as flying a tad too high, I think, so this will also need some more attention.

The maggots themselves were of course in metal, so easy to paint, also with some exaggerated 'greening' to look the part - initially the heads matched the bodies, however at this scale they seemed a little bland that way, so I painted the heads black as a contrast, but again, I think they need something extra just to make them stand out......not quite sure yet what will do the trick.....

The maggots are placed on what is to become my new 6mm Sci-Fi basing standard (more on this in an upcoming post), namely a ubiquitous GW-style round plastic slotta base, mounted on a steel washer to enable magnetic storage.

This can be seen with the recently re-based Time Lord, Companion and Tardis as below:

The ant bases had to be a compromise, as they were too large to really fit more than one insect per slotta base, and I wanted a sort of 'horde' look to them, rather than just being singletons......

A similar treatment to the Doctor's base can be seen here, with the Alien Infestation Squad deployed to deal with some squirming, irradiated chemically enhanced nuisances of the maggot kind:

Finally of course, we have the villains of the piece, namely two intergalactic masterminds in the persons of Kang and Kodos:

These Monopoly pieces are beautifully modelled, even down to some drops of 'slather' falling from their mouths, and have turned out rather well, if I do say so myself....... although the bases still need some attention and tidying up - just was in a rush to show them off and couldn't wait to photograph them!

So, hopefully a suitably creepy, crawly and evil bunch on their way to completion, and if not all strictly 'canon' at least some interesting adversaries to pit against the Doctor and his chums.

6mm Dr Who: The Green Death.........and Them!

Indulging myself in some more 6mm-related plastic madness at the moment, inspired by the 'Pound Shop' find of the instant army of 'creepy' ants seen above. Having done some Dinosaurs for the Dr Who project some time ago, I was casting around for some other monsters that I could add in to the mix when I came up with these - now of course they are not 'canon', although I think an early Doctor did meet some giant ants once (The Zarbi?), but are inspired by one of my favourite 'B' movies, namely the stupendous  "Them!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2PLls02gOU

You've just got to love giant ants taking over the world - I need of course,  to Anglicise it and have U.N.I.T. fighting them instead of the U.S. Army - I added in another plastic insect that came with a job lot of stuff from Ebay, and hey presto - the evil Queen and her minions:

The larger ant is a relatively hard plastic, however the small ones are made from a sort of rubber compound, and a bit squidgey, so not quite sure how well they will hold paint, but to be honest at this scale just a pair of menacing googly eyes should do the trick, rather than any special detailing.

Here's how they line up against some commonly available 6mm Sci-Fi troops, left to right, a Brigade Models Germy 6mm trooper, a GZG New Israeli, a Brigade 6mm Power Armoured chap, and finally a DRM Pax Arcadia Light Infantryman - the ants look suitably menacing, I think:

Getting back to things more directly Dr Who related, I've also dug out a plastic fly from the same old Ebay job lot - this should make a nice candidate for the one from probably the first adventure I ever remember watching as a child from behind the sofa, namely 'The Green Death' at the close of the John Pertwee era:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRafm_qw_gE

"But Doctor, it's exactly your cup of tea - this fellow's bright green apparently, and.....dead!"

Classic!

Of course, I needed some of the armour plated giant maggots to go along with the fly, and for this I could have done scratch-built ones I suppose, but then remembered that I had some 10mm Dungeon crawlers that used to be available from Pendraken in their Fantasy ranges - I think these have been superceded now by a variety of new sculpts - but these should definitely fit the bill, and scale well alongside the 6mm miniatures:

*Edit: The crawly types have popped up again in the newly re-vamped Pendraken Sci-Fi ranges, see them here:

http://www.pendraken.co.uk/SFB3-p6759/

So, just what calculating and perhaps Alien intelligence could be behind this sudden upsurge in monstrous threats to the peace of the Earth............ I wonder...............?

Just for fun, courtesy of one of the ubiquitous boardgaming spares vendors on Ebay, I am going to add in some Simpson's Monopoly pieces, namely Kang and Kodos - you've got to have some Evil Masterminds behind it all!

So, some slightly left-field but hopefully fun bits and bobs to paint up in the near future - so stay tuned for some Sci-Fi related shenanigans to come!

6mm Dalek Heavy Metal Update

Some progress photos of the 6mm Dalek Heavy units for you now, just to show how things are getting on. The units are yet to be based, and I'm not totally satisfied with the colour schemes as they are, but it's a start, anyway!

The walkers went together quite nicely with their 'drivers', and I thought I'd go with a sort of futuristic-looking camouflage scheme, but so far, this has only evolved into a few splotches of random colours - these are echoed on the Dalek units themselves, but given their size, have ended up making them look a bit grubby, rather than sleek and menacing!

The Naval units were a bit more straightforward, although again the scheme is not 100 percent; I had toyed with the idea of doing them in Pre-Dreadnought colours, but the this got me thinking of a whole new project involving 'Victorian' Daleks taking on pre-1900 Martian Invaders, and I had to go and have a lie down in a darkened room before I got distracted into new territory yet again......

These make some good riverine units, I think, although they could do with a bit more detailing, as well as an ink-wash to pull things together.....maybe some more added antennas/radar dish type thingies would give them a more workmanlike look, and...well...make them seem less like metallic ducks? (!).

Exactly how would a Dalek say "Quack"?

I've also been thinking about taking these units further, by playing around with some Marine Daleks to work alongside them - this has so far only got to adding a blue scheme to the standard grey, but might yet evolve into more camouflaged types.....or will I be drawn back towards those Colonial landing parties ideas yet again?

Some close-ups of the walking Daleks next - I like the proportions as they are, so not sure if I should go with an 'up-gunning' with various weapon pods or arms, as yet:

The bases, of course, need finishing,these will probably end up being mounted on UK 2 penny pieces, for ease of storage. (The newer coins have a ferrous core, so handily stick to magnetic sheeting)

I suppose if I'd been really clever, I would have chopped one off at the legs, and had it emerging from the river - being this tall, units like this could merely wade across such an obstruction - an idea superbly carried through here, with Martian war machines:

http://justahandfulofmen.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html

So, coming along slowly then, anyway, but these have got me thinking:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqW0hQdhNXXT6nyZTyUtfIQofUPkCNuo7doR4SNE5GMYjIL1fey5l3XOrgVIMYq2YSvJyrJRhLRDoGpOQE2-BuwsQEpNs6myJZ_n2vcG9qa5Tt6vwiArLcDq5esMRVn90EUcFW8N9hiA96/s1600-h/Dalek-Tank-Inks.jpg

http://www.slipperybrick.com/2008/06/steampunk-dalek-has-wheels-cant-climb-stairs/

The second link is from a blog which has loads of VSF/Steampunk goodies, BTW, well worth a look.....meanwhile, where did I put those spare 1/300th tank chassis?

6mm Dr Who: Dalek Heavy Metal

Thoroughly inspired by my recent reading of the fantastic narrative and pictorial work over at Mechmaster's CG Lair, I thought I'd re-visit an old project, and add some new Heavy Units to my Dalek army.

http://www.cg-lair.co.uk/daleks/secemp-index.htm

The online graphic novel adventures of 'Daleks- Second Empire' are are an absolute creative tour de force, and cannot help but get fans like myself thinking of the various possibilities if you lay the traditional 'canon' story arcs to one side, and go wild with the inherent potential of those tin-pot dictators playing out their meglomaniac plans.

I heartily recommend reading the online novel from the very beginning; yes, the humour can be a bit off the wall, and purists may shudder at the interpretation, but I think it is highly entertaining and well worth a visit as it continues.

Having in the past added some flying saucers to offer an air capability, I thought it only fair that any expansion of the force should see some naval craft; we've seen on screen, at least, that the Daleks can move underwater - there is that iconic image of one emerging from the River Thames - but I don't think we've ever come across them speeding about in boats.

My starting point, as you can see above, was the slightly unusual candidate of the IKBO4 Monitor from Irregular Miniatures' 2mm 20th Century Boats range. The sculpts in this group are quite quirky and enigmatic, and perhaps are not that closely representative of actual vessels, but for some reason the shape of this particular craft has always caught my eye.

Perhaps it is the flat forward turret and its guns that are so suggestive of the mid body accoutrements of the Daleks, but after a bit of surgery on some of the NSF7 'attack robots', I couldn't resist popping some on top:

I envisage these as a form of fast patrol craft that enable the Daleks to conquer even watery worlds, speeding along hovercraft-like as scouts or interdictors.

You can see them above next door to a Germy-designed 'GMM-42' 18mm Mecha from Ground Zero Games, that I was contemplating working on, when the influence of 'Second Empire' really took a hold of me.

If the artist/creator there can come up with everything from special sniper units to pink-coloured TV Reporter Daleks, why couldn't I go the extra mile as well......the only downfall of the pepper-pot dictators has always been their inability to climb stairs, due to their obvious lack of lower limbs, so I thought, why not terrify the Universe out of its complacency, and give them legs?

So now nowhere is safe from their depredations:

The Mech head was left off, and replaced with a piece of plasti-card bridging, topped by a steel spacer from my bicycle brake pads (Hope these won't need replacing anytime soon...!), to give an invincible walking Dalek.

I may well add in some weapon packs for extra fire-power on these, as well as toying around with the idea of modelling hover cushions to go under the water-craft, but you can see the general theme emerging here; the Daleks are going to be an all-arms, all terrain force from now on...stay tuned for some updates as work on these and other insane creations progresses!

6mm Dr Who meets the Triffids!

It was the eve of the annual Lower Throckmorton Village Flower Show, and in the back garden of number 13 Lambert Lane, John Verity was showing off his latest prize bloom:

"I dunno John, I don't like it, it's sort of weird-looking, and what's that awful smell...where on earth did you get it?"

"That's a trade secret love, I had to have something that had a chance of winning best in show....if that Ted Baker thinks he's gonna beat me again this year, he's got another thing coming...."

So John Verity hid the fact that he had truly no idea where this spectacular yet oddly disturbing plant had come from, having found it seeded amidst the rhododendrons three months previously. He knew in his heart that something was not quite right about it, yet the image of the arrogant face of his nemesis Baker, once more besting him at the Flower Show, made him ignore his own unease.

Later that Summer night, something stirred in the shrubbery:

The day of the Flower Show dawned, and the villagers gathered in the gardens of the Hall to see battle commence at the most hotly contested competition of the social calendar (well, it is a small village....).

"So, come on then Verity, where's this wonder plant you've been bragging about then? can't see it beating my gladioli this year...."

Verity did his best to ignore the annoying grin on Baker's face.

"You'll see Ted, you'll see....."

" 'Ere....what's this then, Johnnie, some sort of joke, don't think this is funny, you know....did that plant just move? No, it can't be....it....oh my god......."

The charming rural atmosphere of the village was rent by screams, as from all sides, from out of the undergrowth, swayed the obscene orange blooms of the Triffids!

"Run...run for your lives!"

Within hours, silence reigned over a scene of carnage, and only the local Police Riot Squad stood between the evil vegetables and victory....it was an unequal battle, fought bravely, but ultimately hopelessly.....

The next day, U.N.I.T. arrived in the deserted village, but without proper intelligence as to the exact nature of the threat (garbled tales of killer plants.....!), the troops enter by a single narrow lane, and are ambushed......

"Doctor, I thought the Brigadier said he would meet us here, but there's no sign of anyone....it's awfully quiet don't you think......hey.......did that plant just move......?"

To Be Continued.......

A quick photo montage then, of the SF10 Tripedium Linguatum (Stinging Type) from QRF. Lovely little sculpts, these, that could do duty as threatening plants in any number of scales, but with 6mm, look suitably monstrous!

I found them a little fiddly to put together, in that although the bases have a cast hole into which the flower head fits, this was a little large for the prong that is part of the head, and the weight of this causes a problem in trying to balance it whilst the glue dries - in future, I think I would trim the prong somewhat, and perhaps fill the hole with modelling putty, inserting and glueing when this was almost dry - would make for an easier bond.

The stingers themselves also look potentially tricky, but actually, there is a deep hole cast in the heart of the flower into which they fit nicely, I just found that sharpening the end with a file, and bending them a little with needle-nose pliers beforehand, helped the balance whilst the glue was drying, and gave them a suitably 'lashing out' kind of look.

Not the best paint-job in the world on view here, but I was keen to get them done - probably should have taken more time over them - they'll also eventually be mounted on two-pence coins to aid stability - the stingers are always going to be a weak point when handling them.

Overall, though, a nice addition to my 6mm monsters, and a great mini from a lesser-known range at QRF.

Dr Who in 6mm: More Dinosaurs.....and Triffids!

Well, having thoroughly enjoyed putting together some Pre-Historic enemies for the doctor to tackle at the end of last year, I was itching to add a few more types into the mix, and began casting around for some possible candidates.

Sometimes you find the best things in the strangest of places, and I think that I can say that this definitely was the case when I happened upon the Dinosaur range from QRF.

Rightly renowned for their 15mm figures, I was surprised to find that they also do some great Pre-Historic monsters, and also some suitably menacing evil plant life!

The Dinos can be found here:

http://quickreactionforce.co.uk/catalog/index.php/cPath/140

and the carnivorous plants are lurking amidst the 15mm Sci-Fi:

http://quickreactionforce.co.uk/catalog/index.php/cPath/24_55_347

The dinosaurs offer some really interesting types at very reasonable prices, so I invested in some baby Plateosaurus, some quadra-ped Placerias, and the giant Phytosaur.

The Phytosaur, TR07, can be seen below, a mean looking crocodilian type that weighs in at around 53mm long, so could play well as even a 15mm or larger crocodile for all those 'back of beyond' or Pulp games:

From menace we move to cuteness, with the TR06 Plateosaurus young, that provides you with eight of the little fellers for just Uk £2.00; sweet aren't they:

Or are they, how about a horde of them engulfing you, all at once?

Yes, never turn your back on a dinosaur! I'm hoping to put these alongside some scratch-built nest sites with eggs made from modelling clay.

Moving slightly away from the obviously reptilian, I also bought some TR02 Placerias, which Wikipedia has down as a form of hybrid mammal, perhaps an ancestor of the modern Hippopotamus:

I found a great image of how these may of looked:

http://critters.pixel-shack.com/WebImages/crittersgallery/Placerias1.jpg

From a brilliant set of recreations online, invaluable if you're looking for inspiration on those Dino colour schemes!

http://critters.pixel-shack.com/GalleryP.htm

I think if you could get hold of some suitable riders or smaller scale Howdahs, these would make great Fantasy beasts as an alternative to the more usual Elephant/Mumakil.

Next, what could these constituent metal parts be? mmh, let's see, base with tendril-like legs, large, hooded flower head, and a vicious looking stinger.....

Yes, be afraid, be very afraid, it's a 'not' Triffid, to whit the SF10 Tripedium Linguatam (Stinging Type)!

These come in a pack of four, with two slightly different base sizes, again, as with the crocodilians above, could be used alongside any number of scales/size of minis, depending on how big and dangerous you want them:

Yes, I like mine very big and dangerous:

Obviously, these are not strictly canon if deployed as Triffids, but to be honest, who could resist? I loved the John Wyndham book, was a massive (if petrified) fan of the BBC TV adaptation starring John Duttine back in 1981, and well, suffered through the various Big Screen film versions, as well as the recent BBC remake......maybe draw a veil over that one......

A quick introduction, for those of you who have no idea what I'm on about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x0rdtAv9jg

Believe me, truly terrifying when they get going, although admittedly a little slow in the perambulatory sense!

So, more to play around with here, and hopefully February will see some painted examples appearing - far too much bare lead on this Blog recently, something I hope to correct in the near future!

Dr Who in 6mm: Dino Invasion Part II

Something stirs in the quiet of the English Home Counties; whether evil intent as part of a diabolical master plan, or merely the quirk of the mysteries of Time itself, who can say?

Market day in the town of Lower Throckmorton is about to witness the Invasion of the Dinosaurs!

A pastoral scene; the inhabitants of Lower Throckmorton gather on a Saturday morning and go about their usual business.

The suddenly, something appears at the end of the lane - can it really be?

"Look there, there I tell you, run, run for your lives!"

A scatter of panicking feet leads only to an encounter with more of the giant, fearsome creatures:

Then truly, amidst screams of fear, the hunt begins!

"Flee you fools, while you still can! Who can save us now?"

U.N.I.T. arrives on the scene:

"What do you mean the Brigadier wants us to hold fire until you can see the whites of their eyes, it's the whites of their teeth that I'm worried about!"

"This is a job for the Doctor....."

"Hmm, fascinating, do you think they'd like a JellyBaby?"

Finally, U.N.I.T. Heavy Weapons engage, and the strange prehistoric invaders are vanquished. Yet how did they come from out of the mists of Time in the first place, and who or what caused them to appear........?

A bit of photographic fun, then, with the dinosaur miniatures last seen in their unpainted state.

I found the trio of 10mm types from Pendraken the easiest to paint, in that their sculpts were nice and knobbly allowing for some grandiose dry-brushing rather than any detailed painting being required.

The smoother offerings from Magister Militum were a bit tougher on my limited painting skills, but as you paint them, you begin to appreciate the detail in terms of sculpted tooth and claw that they have managed to put into these; truly some great little monsters!

Dr Who in 6mm: Invasion of the Dinosaurs

I remember fondly, many moons ago, at the twilight of the John Pertwee era of the BBC series Dr Who, watching some episodes that absolutely terrified me. Young as I was, I suppose it was quite an impressionable age, but the life-like and realistic depictions of terrible monsters roaming the streets of a deserted London left a great impression on my mind.

Having come, then, to rather a stalemate in my search for suitable enemy proxy figures to expand my vision of recreating Dr Who with 6mm miniatures, I decided to fall back on this unique addition to the hall of TV monster adversaries.

This post then, will see me looking at some of the available minis, and how they might take their place alongside the Sontarans, U.N.I.T. and the Daleks.

For those of you unaware of the original episodes, or for those who were there first time around, but have memories faded by later, inferior movies, I present to you a Fan tribute posted by someone on YouTube, which should explain all.....Cringe with terror, then, and be amazed at the special effects as you view the Invasion of the Dinosaurs!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlZnFUn72VQ

If you have recovered from the shock, let's move on with looking at some minis. I was aware that Magister Militum have an interesting range of metal dinosaurs, but was rather put off by the price, as well as the fact that their scale/size is mainly a little large for 6mm purposes. A trawl through their catalogue, however, came up with some likely contenders:

http://www.navigatorminiatures.com/prodtype.asp?PT_ID=939&strPageHistory=cat

Firstly, let's look at their DIN109 Gasosaurus, from their Menacing Monsters range:

This is a lovely sculpt of a suitably menacing biped, with hints of a junior T-Rex about it; some great looking teeth, too! The models are made at 1/160th scale, and come with a nice set of written details as to the historical animal, as well as a 40x20mm base made of hard, smooth plastic. This particular model retails at UK £2.00, so won't break the bank either, standing at around 22mm tall, and 34mm long.

Next up, influenced of course by the villains of Jurassic Park, I decided on the raptor-like DIN008, pack of Deinonychus, which provides five of the slavering beasts, with outstretched claws and......oh, I just realised the list of info on the pack describes them as herbivorous dinos!

Oh, well, a little poetic license, methinks.....

These come in at 14mm tall, and 24mm nose to tail, and retail at £3.00 for the five.

Now a comparison shot of the two types together:

Next, let's see how these monsters will look when let loose on some terrified civilians; the Gasosaurus:

Then the Deinonychus:

Of course, these tidy looking beasts were not enough to satisfy my desire for carnage creating Pre-historic behemoths, so I decide to go up a scale for some truly titanic creatures!

As always, costs reared their ugly head, (Rather like the SFX budget on the original series) so I opted for the very reasonable mixed pack of 10mm Dinosaurs available from Pendraken:

http://www.pendraken.co.uk/sub%20page/accessories.htm

These are tucked away in their Fantasy Accessories range, under AC11, 3 dinos for £3.00!

I received one mean looking Allosaur type:

and a pair of spiny Stegosauri:

I'm not sure if there are more models available as the pack comes ready-mixed, but I was quite satisfied with these at the price.

There are some casting glitches and pitting visible on these 10mm sculpts, but nothing to detract from the model, really......let's look at them up against some more 6mm mobile lunc....I mean civilians:

The Allosaurus type stands an impressive 35mm tall and 54mm nose to tail, whilst the Stegosaurus is 24mm by 49mm.

Finally, let's see the contenders lined up together; I don't fancy the human's chances much, do you?

I will of course be putting brush to mini in the near future, so look out for some Dino themed action coming your way soon....for now, let's end with some atmospheric acting and pre-historic terror in another YOUTube clip of the original:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0JM86aGKlk

TTFN!