Wild West Exodus - Gunfight At Red Oak Starter Set: Frank James

So I have finished the second human figure from the Gunfight at Red Oak starter set, Frank James.

He is armed with a rifle called Sophie.

Like Doc Holliday, he is classed as a "Face", a named individual able to act on his own.  Unlike Doc, he can be upgraded to a Boss in his own right.

Painting straps is not fun.

 Things look bad for Doc!

 A scale comparison, William looks positively tiny, the tall bases do not help.

Rubicon Waffenträger - base coated

So I decided to try the Rubicon Waffenträger is a subdued splinter pattern, masked using masking tape.

The Boys Are Back In Town!

Hasslefree have the first two of the Cartwright brothers, named by their father after gun manufacturers. They have adapted well to the apocalypse.

Colt is the oldest, has a bit of a temper and is armed with a revolver and a very sharp knife.

He also has a rucksack, useful for stashing supplies when they find them.

Smith is the youngest and more thoughtful, calming things down when his brother would just rush in. He too is armed with a revolver, another shop knife and a pump action shotgun.

In the thick of it, facing off against a herd of The Walking Dead: All Out War walkers.

In the Walking Dead: All Out War expansion "Days gone Bye" there are  rules to build your own survivor, they are perfect for high powered characters. My first run through had them worth 80-90 points without equipment (for a reference Negan is 70 points). They will have to face a lot of walkers.

They have come to the assistance of Andrea.

 While Amy hides behind them.

Crooked Dice's Heroic Cop wades in with his shotgun.

Size comparison with Crooked Dice's William Killian, they are quite large, more than matching The Walking Dead figures.

Hello to Jason Isaacs! *

At Salute, Rubicon had their new personality figures, including Zhukov and Timoshenko.

Here is the sprue, the bases and the assembly leaflet.

Nice simple kit to assemble, body, two arms and a head.

Here is Zhukov in front of a Rubicon T34/76.

Close up.

Size comparison, Bad Squiddo female Soviet infantry, Rubicon Zhukov and unpainted Bolt Action Soviet infantryman.

It is a bit small, and of a more realistic stature than either the Bolt Action or the Bad Squiddo figures.

I should have photographed it next to a Perry Miniatures figure.

* - And in case you do not get the title, Jason Isaacs played Zhukov (with a Yorkshire accent) in the film "The Death Of Stalin".

Ainsty SWAT Van

I bought this "SWAT" van from Ainsty a long while ago.

Considering the excellent models in their range, this one is, well rather rubbish

The overall body is not too bad, it is just why has someone stuck 1/35 scale jerry cans over the side windows and the windscreen?

I lack the tools (and the interest) to take something like a Dremel and remove the offending parts.

Maelstrom's Edge: Epirian Master Bot Handler

Spiral Arm Studios brought out their Maelstrom's Edge game a couple of years ago. At Salute this year they released two new figure sets. One of the sets (the Master Bot Handler) has just had the instructions released.

The Epirian Foundation use a lot of robots and drones. The limited AIs of their machines are wrangled by Bot Handlers. The most skilled can control vast numbers of machines. they are equipped with exo-skeletons to carry their equipment and heavy weapons.

Here are both sides of the single sprue.

Like a number of Maelstrom's Edge figure sets, there are quite a lot of spare bits left over. This sprue builds one complete Master Bot Handler, but has two sets of torso and legs. There are sufficient weapons for two each of the four arm weapon options.

Following the instructions is important, most of the figure is fairly straight forward but you do need to pay attention to the orientation of the guns (yes, the machine gun on the right arm is the left hand one) and the exo-arm supports are best assembled as mentioned in the instructions.

As I have not played the game, I was inspired by the exo-skeletons in the film "Edge Of Tomorrow" (aka "Saving Private Groundhog") so I decided on twin cluster missiles, the machine gun and the claw.

I have not decided what I am going to use it for yet, so it is just pinned to a 30mm lipped base.

Comparison with a Anvil Industries Martian Fusileer.

The traditional William Killian figure.

 Hasslefree Larren Jax.

Games Workshop Cadian trooper.

Westwind Stug Mech part two

So, as I mentioned the Westwind Stugmech had the feet attached to a base. I cut them off with a razor saw. I drilled through the hole in the foot to take the locating pin.

To attach the hip joint, I drilled through the ball joint out through the outer part of the leg. As you can see I have pushed a brass rod through to demonstrate. I then removed the rod and placed the hip joint against the pelvis sockets. I then drilled through from the outside. This was then used to pin the hip joint. The foot was then placed in position on the ankle ball joint and again drilled through from the underside, pinned and glued,

Once one leg was in place, the other leg was pinned at the hip and the foot attached to match.

The Stugmech with William Killian for scale.

A  Warlord Games Galahad armoured infantry suit.

A Westwind SOTR British Steel armoured infantryman.

A Westwind SOTR M100 Comanche walker

A Warlord Games SDKFZ 234/2 Puma armoured car.

 A Warlord Grizzly for scale.