Will Vale Posted September 27, 2018 Share Posted September 27, 2018 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: 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. 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. 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. 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! 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 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 19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockpopandchips Posted September 27, 2018 Share Posted September 27, 2018 Nice little project this one, have to agree they both turned out great, the Dozer standing out as my favourite. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finnthedude Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 These are amazing. I like the idea of this and will have to look into it and have a go myself. Thanks for sharing. Finnthedude. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted September 29, 2018 Author Share Posted September 29, 2018 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 More sharing options...
Andy Moore Posted September 30, 2018 Share Posted September 30, 2018 They both look fantastic Will. The detailing you've added has really elevated them above their die-cast origins. Andy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Rose Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 Top notch job on these Will, the weathered paint and rust finishes look amazing! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carts Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 Look at the size of them!Details are incredible. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted October 5, 2018 Author Share Posted October 5, 2018 Thanks folks, the die-casts are quite nice once you get all the thick thick paint off. Although it does cover a multitude of casting flaws Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchen Modeller Posted October 18, 2018 Share Posted October 18, 2018 These are great - nice work and well executed. I used to play Dark Future - it was a great game and I remember converting a load of old matchbox cars into road warriors... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davek72 Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 I also used to play Dark Futures and you have brought back great memories. Must have a go at this. Top work on your models. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted February 11, 2019 Author Share Posted February 11, 2019 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 More sharing options...
Natter Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 Never have Matchbox/Hot Wheels cars looked so cool. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted March 8, 2019 Author Share Posted March 8, 2019 Thanks Dave! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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