Friday 24 October 2008

Mini Grymn I

I've always wanted to game the same forces in 28mm and in 6mm sci-fi. This would make it possible to play campaign games with larg scale battalion actions and smaller skirmish events using the same forces.

So I've decided to do this with my Grym forces. The 28mm infantry are drawn from the Hasslefree Grymn range (excellent figures!) and their vehicles from the Old Crow Models 25mm resin range.

Jez at Old Crow make his vehicles in 25mm and 15mm scale but not (alas) in 6mm scale! So I am shopping around to get suitable 6mm substitutes. I'm looking for vehicles that bare resemblance to the old crow models.

This thread on The Miniatures Page (TMP) took all the work out of finding 6mm sci-fi manufacturers.

As a start I was delighted to find Exodus Wars who produce a number of "space dwarf" figures. Although the infantry are too cartoony to pass as grymn, they have some great jeeps in thei Khazari Raider Patrol which I'm using as 6mm versions of the Gecko .

25mm Old Crow Gecko and 6mm Exodus Wars Khazari Raider Patrol:


At Exodus Wars I also discovered the Valkyrie Patrol ships. I like the look of these so bought a couple of partols. Now i'll have to scratchbuild some 25mm versions (Another project!)

6mm Exodus Wars Khazari Valkyrie Patrol:



I think I shall be using Pax Arcadia Infantry from Dark Realm Miniatures as substitute 6mm Grymn.

Also from dark Realm I liked the look of the Javelin Light Scout, so will have to scratchbuild a 25mm version. I'll be kitbashing the Revell Pocket EasyKit Jedi Starfighter for the main cockpit for this. Thanks to Freakinacage on the Forum of Doom for the idea and Inso for further inspiration. (Note to self: finish one project before starting the next!)

6mm Pax Arcadia Javelin Light Scout
and Revell Jedi Starfighter Pocket EasyKit:




The Pax Arcadia line have a good range of vehicles, but nothing that says Gladius or Glaive. They dont have much light enough to represent the Trojan or Slingshot either.

I'm adding my own models to these in the form of my own dropship and minidropship.

Friday 10 October 2008

Drop Ship XVI (miniship)

Just a little more sanding and cleaning up on the 6mm Scale Drop ship to do...






Now all I have to do is figure out how to cast it. The flared tailfins will be a problem, and the undercuts on the upper and lower turrets.

Now the big question - would anyone like to buy these if resin cast? and if so how much?

Thursday 9 October 2008

Drop Ship XV (miniship)

I've always wanted to be able to play out small skirmish actions in 28mm and large sweeping battles in 6mm scale, using the same forces in a campaign setting.

So having run out of steam a little on the 28mm dropship for my Grymn, I decided to do something more fun and began work on the 6mm scale counterpart!




Apologies for the fuzzy picture - the whole hull is 34mm long and my cameras macro lens seems to struggle to get a good enough focus in the available light - so i think you are seeing camera shake. Better pictures when finished.

Sunday 5 October 2008

Drop Ship XIV

Another short update. I'm lacking inspiration on the landing gear. I want something that is separately cast but easy to assemble to the model. 4 legs/pads. It also needs to support the weight of the rest of the model.

I've come up with the following, but it would have to be assembled so that the brass rod bit (cast in resin) is upright to bear the model weight. It also looks a bit Heath Robinson (Do they really have nothing better in the far future to dampen down the impact of landing than compression springs??)

I'm also not sure whether I would be able to cast this and be able to get the spring section out of the mold?


In addition I was going to drill suitable locating holes on the underside of the main body. I'm having a nightmare drilling into the resin because where i need to put the holes is a curved surface, and the drill continues to slip before biting so i end up with holes that are up to 2mm out of place - doesn't sound like much but its stands out a mile! help!

As always, suggestions comments and critisms are very welcome.

Thursday 2 October 2008

Drop Ship XIII

Spent a little time computer modelling the ship. I'm a newbie to 3D CAD, but did a lot of 2D way back in the late 80's so this wasn't completely unfamiliar but boy have things changed. I grabbed a freeware copy of Caligari and a couple of hours later managed to come up with this.

CAD Model

I hope to use this model (eventually) to be able to scale the model and create unfolded templates to help me make variants of the basic shape and scale. Quite a lot of learning to do before then though!