28mm - Resin APC Identified as 'A.T.A.C.' or 'Scarab' by Grenadier/Grendel

Starting with the info I received from Cyborg Trucker (comments on the previous post) the APC has been identified as a model originally made by Grenadier/Fantasy Forge, and re-released by Grendel.

It was originally part of the Grenadier range of science fiction wargame miniatures and vehicles made in white metal and resin. I believe it was part of the Kryomek game. The fantasy side of Grenadier was Fantasy Forge.

It was re-released by Grendel as the "A.T.A.C. APC", with the model/product number F0007. A few modelling and gaming forums have the number as F007, and some call it the Scarab APC, which is a good name for it.


^ F007 Scarab APC - according to Chronofus. Note that the hull is in more pieces than the model I own. It looks like this one has an upper and lower hull, plus a separate 'front bumper'. Possibly the model in this picture was 'reverse engineered' from an older version. This photo also shows the moulded tow rope that I clipped off my model.


^ F0007 ATAC APC according to the Miniatures Atlas. Note the one-piece hull.

28mm - Can anyone identify this Resin APC in 25mm or 28mm Scale?

Rummaging through the bits box, I found this old vehicle. I had to search for a while to locate all the wheels. I bought it some time in the early 1990s as a Cyberpunk or Science Fiction APC for Aliens style troops. (I have a lot of 28mm scale modern era and Cyberpunk miniatures for when I played Cyberpunk and other roleplaying games.)

Does anyone remember the game this comes from? The company made resin scenery and vehicles, as well as white metal figures. The theme was an Aliens type universe with a range of Space Marine style figures (armed with guns and flame throwers, and wearing everything from cotton tshirts to full armour suits). These were pitted against a spiky alien species, a bit like the Aliens from the movies, or the Games Workshop Tyranids, except with a tendency to serpentine tails rather than hind limbs.

The vehicle came as a main hull with seven separate wheels (including the spare) and a turret armed with a minigun. It also had some sort of hull weapon, which I vaguely remember clipping out and replacing with some plastic Games Workshop pieces. I also removed a tow cable that was moulded as part of the hull, probably intending to replace it with another spare part. I had spray painted the pieces and painted some of the details dark blue for some reason. Perhaps it was a colour scheme I was using at the time - blue for parade vehicles, desert cam for operational ones.

I gave it a few quick blasts of Tamiya Desert Tan spray - a bit heavy handed as it turns out, but it could easily be sanded down and another coat sprayed on top. The lines are simple but crisp and there is some nice detailing around the vehicle, including suspension and stowage.

WH40K - Ork Kannon from the Bits Box

Building the Battlewagons and Trukks has left me with some interesting 'bits' to put in the bits box. I put a gun from the Battlewagon on a boarding plank from the Trukk, added some old plastic wheels, and a few 'gubbins to make it go boom'. If I can find enough wheels I will build two more and make another unit of Big Gunz for my Ork Army List (WAAAGH Grabba!)

WH40K - Ork Deff Dread with four CCW

I bought an Ork Dreadnought (or Deff Dread as they are now called) a long time ago - I think when they were about 60 AUD, rather than the current price of 95 AUD! I never built it, and eventually used some of the bits - the buzz saw blade went to one of my Cyborks, the Burna to an ork boy in the Burna Mob, and the top hatch on the side of my Looted Wagon with Boomgun (originally an old Predator Destructor).

I finally built the Deff Dread with four Close Combat Weapons, because if I left the guns on, it could either shoot or fight, but not both. I would rather that the Deff Dread ran up to the enemy and got stuck in!

The plastic arms are from the Battlewagon kits. The big choppa is from an ancient (1990?) Ork walker thing, made by an Australian company called Inquisition, which I don't think exist any more (No relation to the GW game Inquisitor, or the Inquisition in WH40K). They were crude but imaginative models. The black weapon is the chain axe choppa from a Warboss, and the Grot and hatch are from the Trukk and Battlewagon kits. I think the Grot's head is from the plastic Gretchin box.

WH40K - Ork Flakka Trakk - Some paint and some Krew

I undercoated the Flakka Trakk with Citadel Black spray paint, and then went over it in Tamiya FS-33 Dull Red spray paint.


I made the driver pretty much standard, with a Burna Boy head (I like the goggles) and a gunner from the Trukk box. The Grot riggers are made from the Ork Grot Mob plastic set, with bits added to the weapons to make them look like tools. The cables are twist ties from the backs of toys - the sort that keep the toy attached to the cardboard packaging.




I will make a Mekboss for the top turret - probably holding binoculars or pointing and shouting at incoming aircraft. I also have to do a lot of weathering, dirt and stowage (ammo and jerry cans, mostly).

Lego - Digital Designer creations

I bought Lego set 10200 Custom Car Garage which came with Lego Digital Designer software. This is also downloadable from the Lego Factory website (about 100 Mb).

The software is simple and fun to use. You can build from a limited palette of bricks (still hundreds to choose from) and actually order the set you build from Lego. Not cheap but amazing to get your very own Lego design in the post! You can also upload your design to the website so others can buy (or copy, or even improve) it.

Removing 'filters' in the brick collection allows you to use even more pieces and colours - but not upload the design. I guess there is a limit to the number and type of pieces that Lego has alloted for Factory models. You can still save the design, building instructions and pictures of your creations. Beware - homemade designs come out a bit more expensive than the shop bought equivalents, especially when you use intricate combinations of unusual pieces.

Here are a few I have made:

A copy of the rare set 20004 - Indiana Jones Jeep (given away with Brickmaster magazine in the United States) :

A poor substitute for 886 - Space Buggy - released in 1979. (note the limited palette of colours for some of these pieces:

And my first elaborate construction: a Toyota Landcruiser type vehicle for the State Emergency Service:

WH40K - Fireworks Label

This is a long-delayed post:

In 2007, we bought some fireworks for Cracker Night. The fireworks were mostly Chinese made, with labels that contained various images, presumably collected from the internet and slapped on to make the products cool and exciting. Star Wars, Batman, Predator, etc. My favourite was this one:




So, GW, off you go to China with your lawyers and have a word with these people!

WH40K - Fernvale Specialty Scenics

I picked up some cast resin scenery pieces from Underworld Games in Ipswich, Qld.

These are made by Fernvale Specialty Scenics. I have found a number of miniature and hobby sites that sell them, but the designer's blog/website is here:

http://fss-resin.blogspot.com/

I bought five of the 'Rock' series and two 'Pond' series.

RF-001, RF-002, RF-003, RF-004 and RF-005.

WF-002 Pond and WF-001 Oasis.

These pieces are approx 10 - 20 cm wide and up to about 8 cm high. They are moulded in dark brown or black resin, with realistic looking rocks and a coarse, sandy/foamy surface for the ground. They look like they will paint up very easily, but I will add a little flock and dirt to the bases.

They do look as if actual rocks have been used as casting material, but I think this is perfectly acceptable. Nothing looks more like rock, and I don't have the time or the skill to find and assemble natural looking scenery and make terrain pieces from it.

The smallest rock looks like a good aiming spot for a firing squad.

The key reason I like these pieces is that they have been carefully arranged to allow WH40K scale (28mm) figures - with bases - to stand among the terrain without toppling over.

The rock pieces would look good in any desert or alien wasteland - add plastic aquarium or home-made plants to make them more like jungle scenes. The large pond could have a chemical tank and green paint added for that 'toxic spill' look. The small pond could easily be used to represent the horror of horrors, the nastiest place in any Ork settlement: The drops...

The smaller pieces in the Fernvale Specialty Scenics range were about AUD 5-6 each and the large ones AUD 8-10 each. Very reasonable in my opinion.

Lego - 8396 Soldier's Arsenal - Built in the bag!

Like Lego? Bored? Stuck in a confined space but with lots of time on your hands? Why not build your next Lego set entirely in its bag? This one is 8396 Soldier's Arsenal, from the Pirates range, released in 2009.

Obviously this only works if the Lego set comes in a single bag, but a lot of them do - particularly the Racers, the small Creator sets and the single minifig sets. (Impulse sets!)

There is no particular point to this; it's just a way of exercising the mind and fingertips.

WH40K - Test Fit of the Deff Rolla

I did some test fitting of the Deff Rolla (Death Roller) I was worried that it would be too big for the Battlewagon. Turns out, it is.

However, with the roof and turret fitted, it starts to look less ludicrous. Orks are many things; subtle is not one of them.

WH40K - Deff Rolla

Every Ork wagon needs one.





The plating came from a variety of sources, including an expired credit card. Some of the hooked spikes are clipped from the power claw of the plastic Warboss.

WH40K - Plastic Warboss - minor additions

Some further work on the Black Reach Warboss. I added a scope from one of the Ork plastic sets - could have been the Boyz box set - I am losing track of which bits came from where! Also, I replaced the power cables with a pair cut from old headphone wires, and plugged into the grill part of an Ork Slugga.

WH40K - Plastic Warboss

This is a slight conversion of the plastic Warboss from the Black Reach boxed set (I bought the Warboss and the Nobs on eBay.)



I cut the claws off and replaced them with the horn pieces from the Battlewagon, as well as a horn clipped from the plastic Black Orks banner. His head came from one of the five plastic Nobs from the Black Reach set, with the neck carved so that he is looking slightly to his left.

The original banner top and hairpiece were cut from the bannerpole, and the pistol grip of one of the Sluggas replaced with one from an ordinary Shoota. I also added the top piece from the old metal Nob boxed set banner pole - pinned in place with a bit of paperclip. Lastly I clipped a couple of the spikes off the figure - notably the boots and shoulders.

I wanted to build a tough looking but slightly subordinate Warboss, to add to the "Thraka's Boyz" Apocalypse formation.

Lego - Bride and Groom

I made a Lego bride and groom (and wedding cake). Photograph by Kate Nutt.

WH40K - Ork Flakka Trakk

The main body work on the Flakka Trakk is complete. I used most of the hull of the 1/48 KV-1 tank, just gluing it together and sawing it off at the right length. This made the whole car a bit tall, but it looks better in my hand than it does in the photos. I added a couple of cut up deck pieces from the Trukk model at an angle, to give it some bulk and make it look more like an ork construction.

Then I got lazy and made 'baskets' at the back, rather than continue the sloped sides. These can be used for stores or to carry grots. I will probably use the new plastic grots in these, to represent grot riggers.

WH40K - Deff Rolla and Flakk Turret

Work in progress on the Deff Rolla (Death Rolla) attachment for the Battlewagon:

As I mentioned, I have cut the original rolla into three sections, shorter than the original. I inserted two disks cut from scrap plastic. (The disks were cut with clippers to make a cog/saw blade shape).

Here's the turret for the Flakka Trakk.

It is made from a 1/48 model kit of a KV-1 tank (the WW2 Russian tank with an absurdly large turret), pieces of brass tube and spare bits of plastic, including the aerating tube from an aquarium. I decided that building a turret would be simpler than assembling firing mechanisms for four flakka guns. I will add hatches, battle-damage, grot loaders and other details. I still have to figure out how to mount it on the truck bed of the Flakka Trakk vehicle, so that it has some clearance over the cabin.