Tomorrow's War meets Battletech: House Davion's "Warhammer" painted

The latest addition to my House Davion troops is an icon of the Classic Battletech universe and hence not to be missing in my force: the WHM-7M "Warhammer".

This miniature started its life as an 3" tall plastic toy/action figure for Exo Squad, where it is known as Destroid Tomahawk. I gave it a full repaint and a minor conversion (see below).

The front shot in a dynamic pose that every BattleTech fan will recognize immdiately. :-)
With a weight of 70 tons the Warhammer isn't the heaviest Mech of all times, nor is it on the upper end of the heavy class, but it is for sure a fearsome enemy. It stands taller than most other warmachines and its wide array of weapons left its mark on many battlefields.
The detail shot of the upper torso reveals the shoulder mounted Shannon SRM-6 rack and the O/P 1500 ARB tracking system on the opposite side. Below, just over the hip the muzzles of the two Martell Medium Lasers.

The left side arm-mounted Fusigon Longtooth Particle Projector Cannon has an extended range capacity. Visible above the PPC, mounted to the torso, you can see the gatling gun of the Anti Missile System.

The other arm bears the same PPC, increasing the deadly firepower significantly. Above, on the torso, the 7M variant bears a Lindblad LFN Machine Gun which enhances the anti-infantry capabilities.

This back shot reveals the details of the Magna 280 engine and heat sink grilles.

This pic shows a ship-mounted "Phalanx" gatling gun system. These are mounted on modern-day naval vessels to destroy incoming missiles before they hit the ship. My inspiration came from this pic to realize something similar on my Mech. The picture reveals torso details of the unpainted Exo Squad toy. As you can see it has two dome-shaped barrels to resemble the original 6R variant's two small lasers. I cut off the one marked with the red X and used the other as radar dome of the Anti-Missile-System. I bought 1/48 scale Minigun barrels made from resin that normally go onto an aircraft (AC 130 Spectre Gunship) and added on next to the "radar". See the results below:Note the torso mounted (right side of the pic) Lindblad Shotgun Anti-Missile-Sytem. The white dome resembles the radar and the minigun is my proxy for a rapid firing defense system that will destroy incoming missiles in mid air before they hit the Warhammer. Hope you like its look 'cause I think it looks awesome :-)

Tomorrow's War meets Battletech: House Davion's "Banshee" painted

Towering over her enemies, this 6-piece resin kit was a limited quantity run of an Elfbait design I was able to obtain a little while ago.

This kit resembles the 95 ton Defiance Industries BNC-5S "Banshee" with its expanded capabilities. This is going to be the heaviest of all Davion Mechs my force will receive.

The back shows the fine sculpt with all of its heat venting louvres. The panels received a pin wash with thinned down black oil paint. Note the rear-mounted twin Defiance B3M Medium Lasers that should keep all sneaky enemies at bay.

This front shot clearly shows why I spoke of "expanded" capabilities: The 5S variant has an increased arsenal of weapons it can bring to bear. A mix of missiles, energy-based weapons and a mighty Gauss rifle makes the "Banshee" a deadly opponent over various distances.

The Banshee's heaviest hitter: a mighty Poland Main Model A Gauss Rifle

On the opposite: the battle-fist that will punch and rip about every opponent into pieces, combined with another twin-configuration of Defiance's B3M Medium Lasers.

The head shows my attempt to paint the cockpit glass (eyes) just like on all other Davion Mechs. To the left you can see the shoulder-mounted TharHes Maxi SRM-6 Rack and to left and right, just over the hip, the two Defiance 1001 series Particle Projector Cannons.
Two Defiance B3S Small Lasers (center torso and head) give the Banshee ample back-up for the close fight.

Tomorrow's War meets Battletech: House Davion's "Zeus" painted

The pride of the Lyran Commonwealth, the ZEU-6S "Zeus", is the latest addition to my growing Davion forces. Some of the Mechs have found their way into House Davion's service.

Apart from the base this is an unmodified out-of-the-box built Ral Partha Europe Museum Scale "Zeus" Mech to add more heavy-weight fighting power to my Davion battleforce. As it is made from pewter it indeed is "heavy" :-p
The arm-mounted Coventry Star Fire LRM-15 system gives the heavy machine a hard punch over long distances.

The torso-mounted energy-based weapon systems include the Defiance B3M Medium Laser system (center) and a larger Thunderbolt A5M Laser system (left torso). These give the Zeus a really destructive output over medium and close ranges. The decals are from Fighting Pirannha Graphics.

Note the House Davion "Federated Suns" emblem on the right knee pad and the antennas I have added to the cockpit. I really like the TRO 3025 look of the Zeus - especially this mean shot of the "business end" of the large war machine :-)

The rear of the Mech shows various ports of the heat sinks. All panel lines were washed using thinned black oil paint.

The Zeus main weapon of choice: a Defiance Autocannon (AC/5).

Off to paint more Mechs now. Stay tuned!

Tomorrow's War meets Battletech: House Davion's "Locust" painted

Based upon the unseen Mech design, primarily for scouting and recon. This was a multi-part resin kit, based upon a scratchbuilt Mech. The N-scale community demanded copies, so the creator got his scratchbuilt custom Locust casted - and I was happy to obtain two of them.
Armed with only a Martel Medium Laser and two Sperry-Browning MGs, it cannot withstand any other Mech for a long time, but that's not its purpose in the first place.

I based the Locust on some rocky surface to increase the height slightly.

I wanted a striding pose, just as in the old FASA artwork of the TRO 3025.

The Locust is currently the smallest Mech used within the Inner Sphere.

A tiny, filigrane little BattleMech - I just love that thing.

Iraq Terrain - 2 storey residence/shop (work in progress)

Some of the latest pics show recent progress. I finished off most of the details that still were to paint and added posters and shop signs.
The sand that was put into place at the lower end of the building was to conceal the flaws of the house (many of them). I've painted it to match bases and my desert gaming board.

I also painted the sidewalk that goes all around the building. The yellow and white stripes are typical for Iraq (they really have them).

The water tank and the electrical collectors got their rusty finish.

You may have noticed that also the satellite dishes have been attached now.

The corrugated metal roof has turned out better than expected. Probably the part I like most on the building.

Rooftop air cons painted now and Pola lamps attached.

Iraq Terrain - 2 storey residence/shop (work in progress)

Wo-hooo. More progress :-) Spent some hours to rust n' dust a couple of things. Basicly all you do is painting small random blotches of Scorched Brown, paint a smaller blotch of Bestial Brown on top, add one of Red Gore and finally add tiny dots and lines of Blazing Orange. Looks like rusty metal doors. There is probably better ways to achieve that look, but hey - for the work of a couple of minutes it didn't turn out tooo bad, did it?
Rusty corrugated metal. I started with a mixture of 25% Bestial Brown, 25% Red Gore and 50% water and painted on a bascoat of this redish-brown colour. I then reduced the amount of water in the mix step by step and painted on random (!) blotches. Due to the wet paint (lots of water) it took a while to dry. Once dried, I painted on streakes (from top to bottom) with pure Bestial Brown and pure Red Gore (use variable length for the "stripes"). With a tank drybrush I then brushed a mix of Blood Red and Red Gore from left to right. Finally, a wash of thinned down Dark Flesh was put into the recesses. When the wash had dried, I used an old drybrush (a really messed up thing) to dab on small dots of Blazing Orange.

The garage doors where painted with Ice Blue and got a filter of thinned down Black Wash (not Citadel foundation one, the old one).

Basicly the rust effects where done exactly as on the metal doors above on the other side of the house. Blotches of various brown colours, each "dot" smaller than the one I painted on before. Then red colours and finally the Blazing Orange highlights. Finally I once again took the base colour of Ice Blue and covered all messy parts/mistakes that occured.

Off for more details now.

Iraq Terrain - 2 storey residence/shop (work in progress)

I was experimenting with the base colours of the Iraqi house I am currently working on. Some friends passed on pictures they took in the middle east and those turned out to be a huge source of inspiration as well as a good reference for painting.

This is the "base colour" although it actually is four colours!! I started with a tank brush (GW), painting the entire building in Dheneb Stone. Once I was done, I used the same brush size to paint on some "streaks" of Kommando Khaki, followed by Iraqi Sand (Vallejo) of which only on the edges of windows and rooftop some streaks were applied. Khemri Brown was used from the top down, streaking on some random "rain marks".
Finally, some Charadon Granite was used to splash on some spots of darker brown. These marks can be all sorts of things - bullet holes etc.

After the base colour(s) dried, I used masking tape to mask the upper part of the building. I wanted some colour to break up the overall sandy look. A red stripe goes all around the building (its about the height of a 20mm figure).

Using the same colours as for the base colour and parts of an old Citadel miniature blister "sponge" (the stuff GW puts behind its miniatures in blisters), I was weathering the red stripe that leads around the first floor.

I just dabbed the sponge into one of the base colours at a time, dried it on some kitchen roll and then went ahead putting colour down in a random pattern. Finally I blended the worn, chipped paint into the upper half of the house by drybrushing the passage between sand colour and red stripe with Vallejo Iraqi Sand.

That left me with the bricks being visible in the open parts of the stucco. Reference pics clearly show that both, classical "terracotta" coloured bricks and sand coloured ones made from mud are used widepread in the middle east. Sometimes even both on the same building.

I was trying the red ones first and liked it that much that I decided to use solely red bricks.

I started with a base of Bestial Brown in all open stucco holes. On top I dabbed Red Gore which was followed by Blazing Orange in a random pattern. Make sure you don't paint over all layers you painted before - leave some parts visible. A wash of strong thinned down grey colour was used to determine the joints between bricks.

After the grey has dried I brushed Mig Pigments (African Sand) into the gaps and used thinner to fix it in place.

Now off to paint details! :-)

Iraq Terrain - 2 storey residence/shop (work in progress)

Basecoat added. It really comes together now. I already painted up some parts. More pics of that progress later.

Iraq Terrain - 2 storey residence/shop (work in progress)

I am going to expand my terrain collection for Iraq games with Force On Force by a couple of "urban" buildings. While I do already have a lot of houses, most of them are rather "rural" by their shape and size.

This is going to change now. For quite some month there was this unbuilt Stonewall Combat Scenics "two storey residence/shop" lying around my stash of unbuilt stuff. It was only a couple of days ago when I realized it is a) missing parts (roof and some doors) and b) doesn't fit at all.
This was the worst piece of terrain I ever came accross. But it doesn't help me - I need to get it fixed.
So here is what I came up with - tons of materials from even more sources.

The building like I said is from Stonewall. I had to replace the missing roof with styrene sheet.
Thanks to not fitting at all, plenty of putty was used all around. The satellite dishes are from S&S as are the bigger air conditioners.
Rooftop mounted AC are from S&S, lamps by POLA (H0 scale), the balcony is from another kit by Lasermodellbau (Najewitz), the corrugated metal shed from a Conrad Garage in H0 scale.
An old measuring cup with H-profile styrene sheet underneath makes a good water tank. The smaller AC units are also from Lasermodellbau.
The electrical collector was made from scratch, using Italeri parts.