Gaslands: Rednecks on a Routemaster

A couple of weeks ago I was visiting Chester and picked up in the model shop there a second hand open-topped Routemaster bus from their display cabinets.

I think these things usually are lovingly displayed in pristine condition, not this baby!

The top and bottom halves were separated and the windows removed. I then added some applique armour made from Wills corrugated iron sheets along the bottom windows and rear wheels. 

Using the same corrugated iron sheets I built up a platform for the harpoon at the front of the bus.

I added a pair of I-section girders for front and rear bumpers, then added some steel mesh to the drivers cab and rear lower deck.

I then started adding some armament, a tripod for the harpoon was built from more I-section, twin machineguns were mounted next to the driver and a single machine-gun each side.

All the weapons are from the North Star Implements of Carnage frames.

The whole thing was then primed in a light beige colour. The bus exterior was then done in VMC Black Red while the majority of the interior was done in VMC Chocolate Brown, the rusty bits painted in a 50:50 mix of VMC Gunmetal Grey and VMC Saddle Brown, the remainder was done in black.

Once dried it got a coat of AP Strong tone and was set aside to dry.

I then went back over the base-coats and added some highlights, for the red I added progressively more VMC Dark Red and for the rust added VMC Clear Orange for the highlights.

I then painted up the crew from a pack of Bootleggers from North Star. Just a basic paint job with a wash of AP Strong Tone.

The decals are from a Debris of War set that I picked up a few months ago, they have some great ones for Gaslands.

The whole thing was then weathered using a Tamiya Weathering Master kit.

We are playing Gaslands at the club this evening, I'm quite tempted to give this a go!

Madrigal Electromotive GmbH

I've been working on some more terrain for our Seven Days to the River Rhine games. Timecast do some great terrain to go with their Cold War range including some splendid industrial units.

 

The first I painted was the "Modern Industrial Unit - twin bay with ridged roof". From a grey primer basecoat left the roof as is, the walls are VMC Stone Grey, door frames etc. VMC Medium Blue.

After a wash of AP Strong Tone I reapplied the basecoats everywhere but the roof and added some highlights. The tarmac is just VMC Black Grey dirtied up with green and brown staining.

The second unit is the "Modern Industrial Unit - large single bay unit with flat roof and office area." this was done in the same colours as the other unit, with the brickwork in Saddle Brown.

The windows were done using a non-glassy glass technique.

Again the roof was not highlighted, being left dirty and stained. The "DDR" graffiti decal is from Debris of War 

The third base is the "Modular/portable building", again with a couple of the decals added. 

This time the Portakabin was done from a VMC German Camo Beige basecoat.

The last base for the site is made up of left over pieces from the 20th Century Industrial Accessories pack, you can see that I used several of these components on the other bases and I think that they really capture the look I wanted.

The units are all based on 2mm MDF from Warbases and I can either use all four pieces as a single base, or build a couple of separate units.

I also picked up from Timecast three packs of the Minibits fencing to line our roads and demark some of our field boundaries.

With thirty pieces I have enough for just over 2m of fencing. It will not go far on my 6ft x 5ft table so will likely pick some more up next time.

Lastly I picked up some more terrain bases from Warbases, most have been done as bases for wooded areas, but I made a couple up as large ponds. The water effect is just PVA glue.

There are four more of the Timecast building on the painting table, and I think the terrain collection for our games is coming together quite well.

Another small batch of terrain for Seven Days to the River Rhine

 

An order arrived from Debris of War this week, mainly walls but a few other bits and bobs so I sent a little time today prepping a batch.

This is about half the wall sections so far, the other batch are underway but are of the different type without a base. 

I also used some of the wall sections with some of the allotment pieces from Timecast to make a couple of small holdings for our games.

I particularly like the cold frames on the left hand one. Both are based on 120mm x 80mm 2mm MDF bases from Warbases.

These pieces will provide a bit more cover for our infantry in the Seven Days to the River Rhine games we have planned.