Jump to content

Road Warriors


Recommended Posts

Hi all,

 

Sorry for the delay in posting these, I was busy last night and have been running around a bit today as well.

 

I found out this year about a car combat racing game called Gaslands, played with modified Matchbox and Hot Wheels toy cars. It's reminiscent of GW's Dark Future from the late '80s, but with a scrappier DIY feel to it, and the movement takes some inspiration from other template games like X-Wing. I finally took the plunge a week or so back and picked up a copy of the rulebook and a couple of die-casts to play with, and here they are armed and ready for battle:

 

43104112780_c747ac785a_b.jpg

 

The Corvette (Laser Raptor) is a Hot Wheels Grand Sport Roadster, and the dozer (Mortar-Della) started off as a Matchbox Dirtstroyer. They're both modified to some extent, with more work on the dozer as I think it's supposed to be a double-wheeled tractor. I know I had to cut away quite a lot of nasty inner wheel moulding from the chassis! Weapons are made from a mix of AFV spares and 40K spares, and I wound some wire for the laser's power cable as I didn't have a fine enough guitar string.

31043368868_20dd10953a_b.jpg

44196234194_f8da21a602_b.jpg

 

I painted both cars with Tamiya lacquers from the new range after stripping the original paint and re-priming with Alclad. The top coats have had a round of hairspray chipping, which probably wasn't worth it on the car as it's quite low-contrast, but looks good on the dozer.

 

29979682987_bab4e09dc8_b.jpg

 

They're sealed with the Tamiya flat lacquer, which is not that flat despite my vigorous stirring, and the car has had a bit of Alclad Flat on the non-bodywork areas and lower body sides. Details and wheels are all painted with GW acrylics and washes, and a touch of the Molotow chrome pen.

 

29979674957_a1c29b2a7b_b.jpg

 

I'm really pleased at how the bulldozer blade came out - it's basically noodling with a sponge and different orange and brown acrylics over a metal basecoat, and it looks way better than it has any right to!

 

44003732225_f97cf9e267_b.jpg

 

I feel that way about the whole thing really, it was very organic in both the painting and building and the finished result seemed to fall together of its own accord to some extent. Quite relaxing, although I probably need to get back to some of the various longer-term things I've been working on before I'm allowed to do any more. I do have a jar of lacquer thinner in the garage with several metal bodies steeping in it though :)

 

43104111450_1a7b8b0d34_b.jpg

The next one (when it comes) is probably going to be a jet-propelled VW beetle on dirt tyres. And I'm tempted to get a set of templates and try out the game!

 

BTW thanks to those who chipped in on the brief WIP thread, you can find it here: 
 

 

If anyone's tempted to try this, I definitely recommend it as a cheap and rewarding diversion :) You can drill out the rivet heads to separate the body from the chassis, lacquer thinner and a scouring pad will strip the thick paint, and you can superglue plastic and metal parts to the mazak castings pretty well. Just don't try and strip the paint with bleach as it eats the zinc out of the metal (as I found to the cost of one 917LH...)

 

Cheers,

 

Will

 

 

  • Like 19
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks folks :)

On ‎9‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 12:28 PM, Finnthedude said:

I like the idea of this and will have to look into it and have a go myself.

I'd definitely give it a go, it's very non-critical and free form compared to normal modelling. Fun times :)

 

Will

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...
On 10/18/2018 at 5:15 AM, Kitchen Modeller said:

I used to play Dark Future - it was a great game and I remember converting a load of old matchbox cars into road warriors... 

 

On 10/22/2018 at 1:56 PM, Davek72 said:

I also used  to play Dark Futures and you have brought back great memories. 

Thanks both of you, sorry it took me so long to reply! I have looked out for Dark Future occasionally but I think the cheaper option is probably the way to go.

 

I did get a copy of Speed Freeks in the Christmas sales, which is a bit less simmy than Dark Future/Gaslands, but works well once you get into the idea of it. It's about gangs of Space Orks on bikes/in cars having a go at one another. There's a nice balancing mechanism and the movement templates are very silly :)

 

Cheers,

 

Will

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...