Halloween Zombies!

Brains.... Ugh.... Arrgh.... Urgh....

As it's Halloween I thought I'd post a few zombie pictures. I've been raiding my bits box, putting together odd parts, in a Doctor Frankenstein style if you like.

Guts and a couple of zombie pirates

An arrow through the head, he'll feel that in the morning...

A zombie dwarf, human dreg and zombie

Mostly a mix of Games Workshop plastic parts from the Zombie and Empire Militia sets. These two sets combine well to give a bit more variation than the standard zombie set. The only issue is at £20.50 a set it can be a bit pricey, which is why these are all from my spares!

The Dwarf is a bit of a mystery, as far as I can tell the parts I used are out of production dwarf and goblin parts with a zombie head. How these parts came to be in my spare box escapes me at this time... Finally the human dreg is an old Necromunda scavvy with hands from the Empire Militia set.

I'm not really a fan of green zombies so I painted them with an mummified look. This was simply a case of painting them as normal humans and then adding brown ink washes and paler highlights to give them a more pallid look. And of course, blood and various wounds to finish off.

Anyway back to the spares box to see what I can splice together next...

Build Review - Frustration & Airfix's A6M2b Zero (A01005) - Part 1

I'm sure we've all been there, a nice easy night planned doing a few simple modelling tasks. Well tonight was that night, I was going to work on Airfix's 1:72 A6M2b Zero and then spend the rest of the evening writing a blog post (but not this one).

However things didn't go to plan due to a frustrating evening caused by a bad set of instructions. So time to turn that frustration to something helpful for anyone wishing to build this kit.

The part in question is the fitting of machine guns and the cowl that covers them. In step 5 you attach the machine guns to the underside of the cowl before fixing them in place in step 7. However the part is too wide to slot in vertically as shown in the instructions.

Step 5

Step 7

Thankfully I hadn't attached the engine as the only way in was to try and slide the cowl and guns in from engine end. This was awkward as the parts kept catching which resulted in parts 14C and 8A separating on numerous attempts. Eventually I managed it with the aid of a dental tool and a small file to push them into place, Although the two parts were slightly separated it shouldn't be noticeable once the canopy's fixed in place. A dab of glue on part 8A before sliding it in sees that it attaches to the top of the control panel in the cockpit.


Anyway, I hope that's some help if you are planning on building this kit and have been doing an internet search before getting started!

While I'm here I may as well put up a picture of the cockpit parts and the pilot. I really dislike painting people at this scale however this pilot painted up really well (this photo doesn't do him justice). The cockpit has some small details which paint up nicely, and the dials are decals which do the job just fine.

So despite the minor setbacks so far it's a nice kit, I'm sure further updates will follow.

Zero Plus Zero - In Box Review (Airfix & Tamiya)

When it comes to Second World War aircraft I have to confess the aircraft of Japan are ones that I've tended to overlook. With that in mind I decided to make up for it by taking a look at a couple of Japanese Navy aircraft kits of the legendary Zero.

The Zero is a popular choice with Asian model companies, Hasegawa, Fine Molds and Tamiya have released numerous kits over many years. However they seem to be less popular with western companies, I can only dream of an Eduard Profipack version! It was a newer 1:72 scale release from Airfix that first prompted me to take a look at the Zero and soon after I followed that purchase with another, the Tamiya 1:72 version. Before purchasing I also inspected those of Academy and Hasegawa but decided what I had was the best in their respective price ranges.

The Airfix kit that I'm going to take a look at is the A6M2b version, the Tamiya kit is the later A6M5 variant. While Tamiya have also released an A6M2b (the next kit they released after the A6M5) I elected not to purchase this one as I wanted to build different versions. I did however inspect both Tamiya kits before purchase and found them to exactly the same in terms of quality.

These kits are at opposite ends of the price scale, so how do they compare?


Airfix Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero (A01005)

This Airfix 1:72 scale kit is one of their more recent new toolings. It's available in two versions, this standard kit and a starter kit with paints. The two kits offer different colour schemes, this one a Mitsubishi Green scheme from later in the war, the starter kit a white colour scheme from the time of the Pearl Harbour raid.

As is case with Airfix's series one kits you only get the one colour scheme, not too much of an issue as you can only make the one aircraft anyway. Decals in these new kits are by Cartograf and if they're like any of the other newer Airfix kits they should be just fine.

Upon opening the box I there ares three sprues of grey plastic and one clear canopy. The parts look well moulded and fairly detailed. The panel lines are a bit heavy but despite this it's a vast improvement on Airfix's older kits. There's even detail on the cockpit walls, although I'm not sure how much will be visible once you attach the single piece (closed) canopy. As with most Airfix kits you also get a pilot should you wish use him, personally I think it's always nice to be given the choice!

Manufacturer's finished product shot

I have to say I'm quite impressed at this kit, opening it and inspecting the parts really gave me a feeling of "I want to build this kit." While there are more detailed kits available it doesn't automatically mean this kit isn't worth your time. Far from it, this is decent little kit, even more so when you consider it's more detailed rivals are more than twice the price. Compare it to it's nearest rival at a similar price bracket, Academy's kit and the Airfix kit is streets ahead.

Tamiya Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero - Zeke (60779)

I think Tamiya can probably be considered the "King" of Zero kits, so it's probably not dificult to guess the direction this review is going to go. Tamiya have been releasing Zeros in 1:48 scale since my childhood (and before) and in 2008 they started refreshing the range. A new 1:32 scale release followed before we finally got a 1:72 scale version.

So what do you get? Two sprues of very nicely detailed grey plastic, a couple of polycaps for the spinner, clear parts for either an open or closed canopy and a nice little fact sheet about the Zero as well as the instruction booklet. Just looking the sprues I was blown away by the detail, I even had to remind myself this was a 1:72 scale kit! No pilot though I'm afraid, but Tamiya never have offered them at this scale which I've always felt is a shame.

The kit offers schemes for three aircraft, all in Mitsubishi Green. Decals appear to be as good as those in the Airfix kit but of course I'll only be able to confirm that after applying them.

Manufacturer's finished product shot

This is clearly a more detailed and more polished kit than Airfix's offering. However it should be, at three times the price you expect that. A more reasonable comparison would be with a more expensive Hasegawa kit and here the Tamiya offering still comes out on top.

So which to buy?

If you had to choose one I think it would come down to price alone. The Airfix kit is exceptional value and in the sub-£10 price bracket you need not look elsewhere. The Tamiya kit retails at around the £20 mark and is simply the best kit there is in this scale, if you want to pay that much.

If money's no object, (and you're not buying them to review), then I recommend you buy them both!

Airfix A6M2b Zero - Overall In Box Score: Promising. Excellent value, Airfix can be really proud of this release.

Tamiya A6M5 Zero - Overall In Box Score: Outstanding. I have no words left to say how good this kit looks!

In the coming months I'd certainly like to try build these kits and see if I still stand by these scores. When I do I'll update this post with a link to a build post(s).
 

WIP: Moving Skeletons

Following my last post I've made some progress on a few moving skeletons. But first things first, I have new found respect for anyone making an army of these things. They have a habit of breaking very easily. Even more so when you been chopping them into pieces, repositioning, and then glueing them back together (and when you throw my aggressive dry-brushing into the mix)!

So here's a few WIP shots. All the parts are from the Games Workshop, I just need to finish up the armour and weapons and attach the arms that are currently in the way of painting. Once that's done I'll mounted them on a base (yet to ordered) as I've decided on a small dungeon themed diorama.

Standard skeleton warrior, chaos marauder shield.

Standard skeleton warrior, right leg from a mounted skeleton.

Standard skeleton warrior, legs from a tomb king skeleton

Standard skeleton warrior, shield from a chaos warrior, with original hand removed. Left leg from a mounted skeleton.

I have a few more ideas, but until I've worked out how many I can fit on a base these four will be all for now.

So anyway, thinking back a few posts I was rather critical of Games Workshop and their new painting guides. Time to put my money where my mouth is and give you all a quick, but helpful, skeleton painting overview (no pictures I'm afraid as I was painting in bad light for photographs). To paint these I've used Citadel paints, but not the most recent releases so you may need to check out the conversion chart if you're using newer paints.

Step 1
Primer layer, straight onto the plastic with a coat of Scorched Brown, make sure you cover all areas as you don't want any grey showing through.
Step 2
A heavy dry-brush of Bestial Brown. This is effectively your base coat but in some of the deeper recesses (such as eye sockets) you may leave the primer layer showing.
Step 3
Dry-brush Bleached bone over the whole model. Before the paint is dry clean you brush and use it to give a hard polish to areas of bone such as, legs, arms, the tops of skulls.
Step 4
Wash a slightly watered down mix of Badab Black into joints and the gaps in the ribs, leave to dry.
Step 5
Highlight bones with Skull White You can miss this stage out for a really dirty looking skeleton if you want. The skeletons above are meant to be dungeon dead so I figured they'd be a bit cleaner than buried dead.
Step 6
A final wash with either Gryphone Sepia or Ogryn Flesh, leave to dry. When this wash dries it gives an aged look to the bones, so vary the amount of water mixed with the paint for each skeleton to get a varied look across a group of them.
Step 7
Finally highlight with Skull White, teeth, around the eyes, finger bones and you're done!

Overall they're fairly easy to paint and seven steps isn't as much work as it seems. It's worth varying the various stages and using different strength washes if painting lots of them because that helps add variation. Any more advice? Feel free to comment or contact me!

It's All About The Moves

The other day I was reminded of film that seemed to feature in the Christmas schedule most years during my childhood, Jason and the Argonauts.

The film will be memorable to most model fans for the work of the late Ray Harryhausen and in particular one scene stand out above all other. The fight between the heroes of the story and Harryhausen's stop-motion skeletons. I remember it having such an effect on me back then. The stop motion effect only seemed to add a realism to the skeletons. With their awkward movements they seem to have such a sinister malevolence about them as a result of it. And then when they get going, their speed makes them such a determined and fierce enemy.

Watching it again after so many years and I was surprised how good this scene still is. I think it's more alive than the majority of CGI scenes in the films of today. A remarkable testament to Ray Harryhausen's craft given that this film is now 50 years old.

And it was this that got me thinking about models. Fantasy models tend to be a bit static, especially ones that are meant to be standing in rank and file. Was it possible to capture that speed and ferocity in model form? Of course unlike the film skeletons, these ones will not be viewed as moving, so the challenge is in capturing a still moment of movement.

After a search through my spares box I've got together a selection of Games Workshop skeleton parts and I'm going to give it a go. As you can see from the image below they're mostly standing still and so they'll need a bit of repositioning and a few weapon swaps to add a some variation.

This is one thing I really enjoy, converting models. It's been a while since I've done this and so I'm really looking forward it as a mini project. While I'm at it I might also go through my spares to find some opponents for them to face off against as well.

Finally, the clip above is only a part clip. It's hard to believe that youtube doesn't have the whole scene (without some awful soundtrack added). The full scene can be found here mostly likely after a long advert...