Michka's Star Wars (Vendor Stall finished & TIEs 6/14/2017)

[michka]

I'll try to take that photo tomorrow. I hope I can find my Eisenkern figures soon, because I'd really like to build another of the troopers with the shorter gun, and I'd like to get the other labor droid started. If I could just figure out where I put them.

[Erasmas]

Some of the Stormtroopers had longer blaster rifles. I think that the one on your figure looks spot-on with some of the ones from the movies.

[lordbryon]

Jun 25, 2015 0:57:25 GMT Erasmas said:

Some of the Stormtroopers had longer blaster rifles. I think that the one on your figure looks spot-on with some of the ones from the movies.

Agreed.  The gun looked a lot like the stuff clones were carrying at the battle of Geonosis in Attack of the Clones.

[lordbryon]

Jun 25, 2015 0:14:18 GMT michka said:

I'll try to take that photo tomorrow. I hope I can find my Eisenkern figures soon, because I'd really like to build another of the troopers with the shorter gun, and I'd like to get the other labor droid started. If I could just figure out where I put them.

You mean you have piles of plastic laying around in a disorganized fashion?  Of course you do, your a miniature hobbyist.

I enjoy looking through my piles of sprues from time to time.  Especially when I'm out of crafting ideas I find them inspirational.   

[sotf]

One other option compared to the brass rods for lightsabers is the colored acrylic rods that a lot of places have (CorSec Engineering carries them in several colors)...I'd gotten several from Hobby Lobby back went WotC was still running events for their SW minis game and had replaced the sabers on a lot of the more used lightsaber wielders as well on a few others or conversions

[michka]

Jun 25, 2015 0:14:18 GMT michka said:

I'll try to take that photo tomorrow. I hope I can find my Eisenkern figures soon, because I'd really like to build another of the troopers with the shorter gun, and I'd like to get the other labor droid started. If I could just figure out where I put them.

That was a bit longer then one day. Sorry about that. I've got a scale comparison shot coming up here. 

sotf, I was just discussing the clear acrylic rod option with someone on another forum. While I like the look of the clear rod, I like the look of a painted lightsaber more. This doesn't mean I won't change my mind in the future, but for now I'll keep using the Brass Rod method.

So, time for an update. I found my Eisenkern box late last week, and I did some slight conversions to the troopers to make four new Stormtroopers. Here they are...



Here's the group with the first Eisenkern trooper I painted, to show some of the differences.



Now here is that scale comparison shot I mentioned.



In a side by side comparison the Imperial Assault Stormtrooper comes out larger. But in a group the size issue disappears.



I'm pretty happy with how these turned out. I'll probably make more, but I can't see me getting anymore then the 10 man box I already own. It just takes to long to assemble these guys to be worth the effort.

Let me know what you think, and let me know if your interested in how I converted the rifles.

[dragon722]

Jul 1, 2015 15:24:36 GMT michka said:

Jun 25, 2015 0:14:18 GMT michka said:

I'll try to take that photo tomorrow. I hope I can find my Eisenkern figures soon, because I'd really like to build another of the troopers with the shorter gun, and I'd like to get the other labor droid started. If I could just figure out where I put them.

That was a bit longer then one day. Sorry about that. I've got a scale comparison shot coming up here. 

sotf, I was just discussing the clear acrylic rod option with someone on another forum. While I like the look of the clear rod, I like the look of a painted lightsaber more. This doesn't mean I won't change my mind in the future, but for now I'll keep using the Brass Rod method.

So, time for an update. I found my Eisenkern box late last week, and I did some slight conversions to the troopers to make four new Stormtroopers. Here they are...



Here's the group with the first Eisenkern trooper I painted, to show some of the differences.



Now here is that scale comparison shot I mentioned.



In a side by side comparison the Imperial Assault Stormtrooper comes out larger. But in a group the size issue disappears.



I'm pretty happy with how these turned out. I'll probably make more, but I can't see me getting anymore then the 10 man box I already own. It just takes to long to assemble these guys to be worth the effort.

Let me know what you think, and let me know if your interested in how I converted the rifles.

So what company makes these "Stormtroopers Elites"?

[lordbryon]

Dreamforge games owns them. But Wargames Factory manufactures them. You can get them from wargamesfactory.com or most other online retailers.

These scale so well. I'm thinking I'll be purchasing some after all.

[sotf]

You know, with the Eisenkern and their visible similarities to the Stormtrooper/Clonetrooper armor, it might work to essentially create an entirely new era of play using them as your main trooper similar to the Sith Troopers from KotOR or other things...

[lordbryon]

michka, I showed my 16-year old your Eisenkern painted as stormtroopers and he immediately forked over some allowance for a box of 10. He plays Edge of Empire and Age of Rebellion all the time and is ready to try on the GM mantle. He want's to paint them up as Imperial guard in their field armor. We'll see what he comes up with.

[teazia]

Nice idea, red field armor.

[michka]

Thank You dragon722. I was fortunate enough to find them at my local game store. I really like the troopers, but what I really love is their Giant Robot figure, the Leviathan Crusader. I got one on sale last year and haven't had the time to build it.

lordbryon, your post warmed my heart. When your son gets his troopers ready, please post the photos.

Thank You sotf. I love the idea of troopers from a different era. When I showed these off to another group they came up with the designation of Assault Stormtrooper. I liked the idea, so that's what mine are. The same guy who came up with the Assault Stormtrooper title noticed that translates into Storm Stormtroopers.

Thank You teazia. Now I have to build a couple more, just to see how they'll look.

Quick update time. I've had a toy of the Star Tours Shuttle for a few years now. If you look at the doors it scales perfectly with 25-28mm figures. Well I finally got in the mood to paint the thing, and here it is.

 

Once again I went crazy with the weathering, but it works for this. The doors still open and the lights and sounds still work. I figure it's either an old Star Hopper that's being used as a Smuggler's Freighter, or a Mag-Lev Train car, or even an abandoned City Shuttle. When I finished this, it started writing scenarios for me. That makes it a perfect game piece.

[michka]

Another quick update. I'll start with the last character from the Imperial Assault box, Gideon Argus: Valiant Commander.



Next we have some three of the four Trandoshan Hunters from the box. Of course the last Trandoshan will be Boskk.



And finally I have three Tiger Corps figures. These were from the Mars Attacks Kickstarter.



Being aliens and in armor, I figured they'd mix in well with the Star Wars stuff. Especially if I painted them in suitably dirty armor with nebulous marking, similar to what you see on other background characters. These will be used for thugs and hired hands of criminals and other scum. I have quite a few more Tiger Corps figures to add when I get the chance. They can still be used with Mars Attacks too, if I even get any Martians cleaned and painted that is.  
    
Let me know what you think.

[grandinquisitorkris]

really nice , and i think the crates are fine , you might want to add in a few smaller ones to break it up visually , but i think most scifi settings would have more use for bigger crates ; you wont ship a single dose or batch of XYZ materials across light years of space , you would ship LARGE quantities if you are going to go thru that much trouble .

[lordbryon]

superb as usual. Your painting is inspirational. I love the trandoshan's It's amazing what a change in color can do to mask the fact that each figure is the same pose.

The Tiger Corps are awesome. And I agree with you that they fit the star wars universe rather well.

[grandinquisitorkris]

i like the bigger crates personally . this IS a military sized game , so they wont be shipping a box with a few bolts , or a single packet of seeds , they would ship in bulk ; they are shipping across light years of space after all . though you might add in a few smaller ones sitting on top of them just to break it up visually , AND you might add in a few really big ones like shipping containers .

i made some of the soda cap crates too , but i wanted something a bit sturdier and more weighty when you pick it up , so i took a hot glue gun and filled a cap about 2/3 full , pushed a short pieces of dowel into it , filled up the other cap and pushed the 2 together . the glue will hold tight to the caps because of the bottle threads , and the dowel sticks into each side so the glue holds each side in place on the dowel end .

[michka]

Thank you lordbryon. After all the complaining I did about the Trandoshan figures I'm actually pretty happy with them. The recipe for the skin is simple, but involved. I notice most people talk about Boskk's skin as if it were green, but whenever I see it in pictures it's brown. I started with Reaper Uniform Brown for a base. Then I washed it with Citadel Agrax Earthshade wash. Then I picked out any scales for highlights with Velajo Khaki. The scales came out looking a bit too polka-dotted, so I did an additional wash of Agrax Earthshade to unify the colors.

Thank you grandinquisitorkris. I love the idea of filing the bottle caps with hot glue and a dowel. I'll have to try that.

[grandinquisitorkris]

Jul 17, 2015 13:05:09 GMT michka said:

Thank you lordbryon. After all the complaining I did about the Trandoshan figures I'm actually pretty happy with them. The recipe for the skin is simple, but involved. I notice most people talk about Boskk's skin as if it were green, but whenever I see it in pictures it's brown. I started with Reaper Uniform Brown for a base. Then I washed it with Citadel Agrax Earthshade wash. Then I picked out any scales for highlights with Velajo Khaki. The scales came out looking a bit too polka-dotted, so I did an additional wash of Agrax Earthshade to unify the colors.

Thank you grandinquisitorkris. I love the idea of filing the bottle caps with hot glue and a dowel. I'll have to try that.

it gives them a nice weight when i pick them up , and i dont worry about the glue popping at the seam since that plastic is not really glue friendly .

[teazia]

Great idea about the glue.

[michka]

Update time once again. I have another four members of the Tiger Corps form Mars Attacks. This time in green armor.



This batch of mercenaries has more beaten up armor, which is characterized by all the paint chips. You might not be able to see said paint chipping thanks to my poor photography this morning. I also made sure each of these guys had individual iconography, which is different from the other guys in off white armor. They tended to have the same orange marking on their stuff.

I also painted Luke Skywalker.



I'm not really happy with this one. The sculpting on the face is pretty soft. It's possible that I've covered the figure with too many layers of paint, which might be obscuring the details too. I'll be re-painting this one, but only when I find out if paint can be striped from this plastic.

That's it for today. I should have Bossk done in the next two days. That will be the last figure from the Imperial Assault box. If you can't tell, I'm excited to be done with this phase of the project. Let me know what you think.