Not Yet A Moonbus

08.15.2025

For a while now, I've been working on a Moonbus model from 2001: A Space Odyssey. It's somewhere between 1/50 and 1/55 scale depending on where you read the details, and that's a close enough match to 28/32mm scale games to work. As my sci-fi base has had a bit of a retro theme, the 2001 future as seen from a 1968 movie kind of fits in. It was back during my trip to Georgia and the Hobby Town USA of Kennessaw back in either 2018 or 2023. It is indeed sad that I don't know how long the model has been sitting on a shelf. I think 2018, because along the way an Amazon sale came along where I purchased 2 more.

The reason I purchased 2 more - after trying to glue together a couple of models, it's somehow much more difficult to get pieces to line up now vs when I was 12! I'm accepting that the first time I glue together any model I'm going to screw it up. Thus, I decided Moonbus #1 would be the practice, make mistakes Moonbus. And I was right! I was focused on sub-assemblies and how to optimally paint some parts before gluing things in place, and then another round of painting with masking, etc. I was focused so much so that a key interior part(s) were not glued in before the out part that locks them into place was glued in. But this was practice, and that's ok. I continued on and by the end noticed some gaps that were going to need A LOT of gap filler to correct.

Lessons learned, and on to Moonbus #2 where I remembered that I needed to insert inner walls first, and not leave a big gap on the other part. The gap was on the main outer walls, and there's no good "clamping" point because of the angles, but I did my best. To counter this, when I glued on the front cockpit I managed to not set it flush/straight. Those side outer walls I was so focused on not having a gap - now where the cockpit to join flush I instead and a huge, measurable gap on one side and an overlap on the other. Between sanding options and actually going forward with using some styrene strips to fill the counter gap, I gave up and admitted it was beyond my current skills. Well, on to Moonbus #3 that I happened to have.

For #3, I repeated my corrections and tried to do better. There were still some wall gaps, but I can backfill those with putty filler. Somehow that damn canopy will not go on flush - curves and edges just aren't cooperating. Things are together, but it still feels hacked together. Maybe I need Moonbus 4. And 5?

As it is, I'm at the "I need to practice painting" stage, and I have plenty to practice on. The truth is, after fighting this model for over a month, I need to take a break. Now I have the hobby table cleaned off and ready for a weekend of a return to painting HeroQuest minis. Hopefully I won't get overly frustrated with that...

Permalink models Moonbus

Mantic Firefight Tunnellers

06.15.2025

Oct 27, 2024. Miniature Market runs a "Bigger Than Black Friday" sale. One of the many things that caught my eye was a vehicle from Firefight 2E - a Tunneller. For $32, 2 caught my eye, as they have multiple versions with different add-ons I don't understand as I've never played the game, but a Tunneller looks just right for my ever evolving retro sci-fi base. Thus, 2 were ordered. They arrived, and promptly went on a shelf somewhere.

Jan 27, 2025. I get around to finally opening the box(es) of the above. While dry-fitting parts, I find one of the Tunnellers is missing 1 part. The hinged part that holds one of the swirly spinny diggy things.

Firefight is published by Mantic Games. For better or worse, I've got plenty of experience in contacting Mantic with missing/damaged parts - This will be time #3 or #4, which shouldn't sound like a lot, but for all the minis, games, toys, etc I've gotten over the decades, there's very few times I've had to contact anyone once with an issue. Luckily, I know the "I have a problem" routine and could cut out some back and forth steps when contacting Mantic. I took pics of all the parts I received. I took a pic of the directions and highlighted the part missing. (Most importantly) I included a copy of my original order from MM, showing that I legally purchased said kit. I got a reply that the missing part was on it's way.

Mar 7, 2025. Missing part arrives, from the UK. I was expecting 4-6 weeks, so it's not as long as it looks on paper. Plus, it's a piece of plastic. The world's not going to end if I have to wait a little while for a piece of plastic. As I secretly expected, the 1 part I was missing came with most of/the generic base of another Tunneller. It's easier for them to grab a bag that contains the part I need than to rip open a bag and pull out that 1 part - and then what would they do with the left over parts?

What would I do with the left over parts? Well I would make a battle damaged tunneller is exactly what I would do! And that's what I did.

Making tunnellers was going to be (1) me better learning how to build using sub-assemblies, and (2) how to better use my airbrush. The orange that I use for retro sci-fi needs multiple coats to cover + not show brush strokes. After the last airbrush class built my confidence a little more, and finally not being afraid of breaking the airbrush, I wanted to try spraying the orange this time. And that's what I did.

The thing I quickly learned after spraying orange is that I need to find the right eye-distance and angle(s) as I was guessing on where my spray would stop. I was wrong most of the time. With that, I ended up with a lot of orange-brush touch-up. I don't know if it was just as much time if I've just brushed it on to begin with. Maybe. Maybe not.

The whole time I was working on these things, I was oscillating on how much to weather things. Most of my retro sci-fi is pretty clean and devoid of real weathering. Then again, a "tunneller" should be going through some stuff and not be squeaky clean. After things were painted white and orange, and start adding a little silver-metallic drybrush, which became a little heavier and more all-over. I also used some AK Interactive paint markers. These worked really well for touching up off-white and orange, plus getting some good metallic highlights in. Speaking of metallics, I brushed on some Vallejo Air metallics - Rust works really well for dirty metal, too.

When it came time to work on the "battle damaged" tunneller, I had to think of how to cover up the missing digger hinge. I decided something needed to fill the hole - more like things were coming apart than making a hole. What ended up fitting well was the nose of a very small snap together Star Trek Defiant that didn't snap together very well. It worked out well for me though, as the end result as battle damage detritus turned out mostly how I wanted.

Now retro sci-fi base has 3-ish tunnellers to round out the scene. While next I plan on making a little more progress painting Heroscape minis, I also want to see if the 2001 1/55 Moon Bus model I picked up on a trip to Kennesaw is a close enough scale to fit into retro sci-fi base.

Permalink Firefight gaming miniatures

Star Trek Away Missions: Scottyless

05.04.2025

My last entry for the first third of 2025 is the other box from Star Trek Away Missions: Commander Scotty. The most interesting thing about this box is that there's no Scotty. There were 2 Sulus. This is specific to a batch delivered to Miniature Market, because another Scotty box I ordered from them also has 2 Sulus. There's a box I ordered from Amazon that actually has Scotty. Why didn't I paint that one instead? Dunno, but this way I got some extra Sulu practice.

Specifically, with Sulu, I made a red shirt version and yellow shirt version. While Sulu wore command yellow in TOS, he wore red in the mirror universe episode, which is my excuse if anyone were to ever actually ask.

The paint job on Uhura is, I think, my best. Best ever, not just of the Trek minis or for what I've been posting this past week. Best, as in it ended up best matching in the end what I intended it to look like when I started.

Last in the pics is a combined shot of minis from this round of painting for size comparison, to help show just how much bigger those Away Mission minis are from other/Cyberpunk "normal" size.

That's everything that's was sitting in the backlog waiting to get posted. I'm not sure when the next update with anything interesting will occur, but hopefully sooner than 4 months.

Permalink Cyberpunk Red Zone gaming miniatures Star Trek Away Missions

Star Trek Away Missions - Kirk Box

05.02.2025

A few weeks ago I posted a quick WIP of minis that included Trek figures that were mostly done. It didn't really take another 2 weeks to finish them up, but a good chunk of that time was still trying to do my best detail work ever.

Star Trek minis are something I haven't painted before, although I've had plenty of them to paint for a long time. It's a category that internally I hold myself to a higher standard. I'm a Trek(ker/kie). I've got shelves upon shelves of Trek whatnot. That and GI Joe are the cornerstones of my pop culture collecting these days. Unlike a lot of other minis and their accoutrements, I should know what Trek stuff looks like. Plus, there's no making up of random colors along the way - this stuff is well defined!

The Away Missions minis are bigger - probably 32-35mm - and also come with slightly oversized heads. Not to the Chibi extreme, but luckily for me oversized enough that I can actually add some facial details to my paint work. Pupils. Everyone has pupils. I dare say properly aligned pupils, too.

The Kirk box came with Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Checkov. No red shirts this time around. While I was a little worried about getting those department colors correct, a base coat of plain red, blue, and an orange tinted yellow I don't remember the name of all worked, followed up by some similar tinted contrast paint that helped get the tone right and acted like a wash for the recesses.

My 2 points of pride in painting these were the rank embroidery on the sleeves, and Kirk's hair. The hair was a shade of brown for the base, and then yellow contrast on top. I think it worked well. Really well.

I still messed some stuff up, and most of that I was able to go back and cover up well enough. While the scale of these definitely put them in the "I'll never use them" category, they were the skill test I needed. It's one of the few times I'll say I think I'm on the higher side of average painter skill.

Next time on minis from games I'll never play: The Scottyless Scotty Box.

Permalink gaming miniatures Star Trek Star Trek Away Missions

Cyberpunk Calamity Control

04.30.2025

This time I remember why I picked up a random pack of minis for a game I won't ever play - I like the bald guys in the suits. They're generic enough to be bystanders in any game. Plus, I like suits. Suits are good for painting because you can go into as much detail as your mood at the time warrants. John Wick 100% black everything - it can work. Pinstripes. Fun to try, as are an attempt at almost any pattern. Turned out that when it came time to paint these I was in a matching coat and pants, vest with some color mood.

The other 3 minis were... weird. Woman with skirt and a gun fits the general motif of the 2 bad suited guys. Other 2 women with some kind of armor going on... no idea what to make of those. Maybe that comes from not knowing the game? As it was, these managed to get a splash of whatever color I was painting some one/thing else at the time. That happens when I have no real vision for a mini.

Another round of nothing spectacular, but also nothing horrible.

Next time on minis from games I'll never play: Something that's not Cyberpunk Red Zone.

Permalink Cyberpunk Red Zone gaming miniatures