Tank Mech Hotness And Lucas Arts Before Disney.

Some of my favorite miniatures come from the Front Mission collectible figures from Japan. They are a perfect fit for my N scale Battletech forces and they have an incredible amount of detail! While there are no official rules for tank mechs in Battletech, that doesn't mean I can't have 'em anyway!

This is a heavily modified tank mech.

I completely reversed the track assembly so the mech body is now in the front. Then I extended the mech body to accommodate the missile launchers. You might recognize the extra hull portion- it is the torso from a Macross armored valkyrie.

The extra launchers are Heavy Gear parts. The targeting array is made from spare bits.

A shot of the cheesecake! Hubba, hubba!

Another modified tank mech. All I really did to her was swap out the arms and add a backpack. The arms came off a MW:DA Daishi, although I added the ammo drums.

Here is a family picture. The mech in the middle is basically un-modified. Yep, those are Terminator HKs in the foreground. They are Micro Machines!

I was just too excited to not show these guys off. 5 TIE-D fighters!!! Yes, 5 of 'em!! These are the ultra-rare Anigrand miniatures. Why are they rare? Lucasarts slapped them with a Cease & Desist copyright infringement case. A few of their kits did make it into the public, though. These guys were included in the Sentinel landing shuttle kit- 1 in each kit. I managed to acquire 3 whole kits plus 2 extras from a friend of mine.
   In the expanded Star Wars universe, the TIE-D is a fighter drone piloted by a droid brain.

Vader and his squadron of TIE-Ds. Vader's TIE-X1 is from the F-Toys model series. Vader came with it, however, I added the lightsaber.

I am still waitng for a bundle of flight bases to arrive in the mail....

....But these were just too cool to keep a secret!

In Honor Of My Favorite Video Games.

Another project I fiddled with for some time was a small "defensive" site for launching small, defensive nukes at global or orbital targets. I started with some random bits and chunks of blue board. I crafted my building and then became stuck on what I wanted the launch bay to look like. The project got set aside while I waited for some inspiration....Then at work one day, I found a home-made pen holder and suddenly my solution had presented itself! My single launch site was going to become a multiple launch site!

The launch facility manufactured by the Hyperion Corporation. Here is my first honor to the game Borderlands 1 & 2. The second honor goes to the Halo series in the form of the Warthog vehicle.

A close up of the launch bay in DEFCON 5 position. The panels are made out of cardboard and the other mechanical details are random plastic bits. The warning lights are glass jewels. Unfortunately, I did not have the necessary equipment at this time to light them up. The launch door tracks are made out of zip ties. The alien trees are actually black walnuts that I picked up while disc golfing. I just added some plastic leaves.

Here is the launch bay at DEFCON 1. Now you can see the pen holder and the warheads that I sculpted.

A shot of the AAA turret defending the base.

The turret guns are made from some Armored Core extras. I extended the gun barrels with some stock plastic tubing.

I had to sculpt the turret body to custom-fit the cannons. The automated targeting eye is made out of Kotobukiya customizing parts. The radar assembly is actually the claw off some mech with one of the pincers removed.

The base is a panel from an old Millenium Falcon model.

Just another day at the farm....

Finally.....Some New Stuff To Show!

Holy crap, it has been a while since I've had any decent amount of free time, but I am back! I won't take up too much time talking here, since you are all anxious to see what I have been up to now. On with the show...Remeber to click the pics for a bigger view.

This is a new 15mm hover tank sculpted after the old FASA Centurion-style grav tanks. I'm not sure if these are in full production yet. I was given this one to help generate some excitement!

I have added a few details to my tank that do not come on the original. The missile launcher is the most obvious. The targeting lens below it is another one of my added details.

The muzzle brakes on both cannons are also my added touch. The smaller targeting lens in front of the commander's hatch is also added.

The thruster nozzles and the round panels were added by me.

Notice the hex nut where the main gun meets the hull? How about the small headlights? Or the sensor dome just behind the hull hatches? Yep, I added those.

I also added the small vents on top of the hull just in front of the circular panels.

Owen, if you are reading this, perhaps you could add a comment on where someone could purchase one of these when they are available? Despite my addition of several small details, the kit was very well cast and looks fantastic even without my modifications.
   Some may ask what is that thing that looks like a land speeder? I turned an old Micromachine speed boat into a Star Wars-style land speeder....something to make Luke green with envy.