Diecast Car Conversion for 20mm or 1/72 Scale Wargaming

Here is another contribution from our resident modeling talent, Evil Von Scary!

Welcome gentle reader to another post from "It's 500 Miles to the German border". 

I started modifying die-cast and cheap dollar store plastic toys as stand ins for my own Twilight: 2000 campaign. We use 1/72 (20mm) models, terrain and figures sometimes to resolve combats in the rpg as a sort of rpg/table top hybrid.

Some 1/72 is either difficult to get or next to impossible or if available cost prohibitive. Die-cast is very cheap. I found out about a game called "Gaslands" that uses die-cast cars modified to look post Apocalypse in a sort of death race game versus other vehicles. I won't get into that game in this article but I do recommend that readers look into it to see if it offers anything that might be of use to your own campaigns or war-games.

I learned from a local hobby shop in discussion about using diecast is that they call it "box scale" in comparison to other model scales. Meaning being that it is whatever fits into the box. Most peg die-cast (hotwheels, maisto, etc) as being 1/64 ish scale. So I usually carry a 1/72 figure around for when I happen to look through die casts to get one that's about the right size. I will have links throughout the article to highlight or go into greater detail various aspects.

Todays project is a Hotwheels 1970 Roadrunner. 

Disassembly: drill out posts and pry it apart, lay out parts left to right.

Be sure to take pictures (especially if doing multiple vehicles), so you remember what parts go where.

Next, strip the paint from main body: I used pine-sol in a lock-tight container and dropped parts into it. I was trying to find a more "enviro" way of stripping paint. It worked but took the better part of a week to erode the paint enough.

Modifying: I made use of various parts from my parts box. I've also seen online (from Gaslands Hobbyists) people using jewelers saws, etc. to chop out parts of the die cast body. (As always, please take your time and be careful).

For this car, I added a driver, mesh for front windscreen, created extra fenders, back window armor, and added .30cal MG and pintel mount as well as some "bolt on armor" made from polystyrene and drilled (for the bolts). I then used some rigged rebar for protecting the headlights, etc.

Painting:   Where to start on the subject of painting? I have found trial and error and/or whatever works well for you is best. 

I started this project with standard flat black primer then did a dry brush white to highlight details. Then I began to think about rust, weathering and what was this cars original paint job. Most of the car and its metal parts should be rusty and NOT the same color as the cars original paint. I rusted and weather the car then splashed/blotted/dry brushed on a lighter shade of "original color" then "re-rusted" and weathered the model. 

I then went back and added ink for highlights and then finally used the original color, dry brushing ir on mostly with a few thicker strokes to give the impression of rust from underneath the paint.  I then painted the interior and the driver.

Reassembly:  I then put the model together again without the windows. It all pretty well snapped together without much trouble and voila!! I will say that looks a little more bad assed than the sissy paint job from Hot-Wheels, lol.

I hope you enjoyed the article and pics and that it inspires you to try it out for yourself. Thanks for tuning in. - Evil von Scary

The completed model-various angles

News All Around, and a Question to the Readership?

Well, there's much to discuss. First, the Battlefront Team Yankee line is just going strong as usual, and what I am seeing is interesting, namely, Oil War!

Taken from Battlefront Website

It's not just the book which is interesting, it's the product line. Not only do we get Israelis, Iranians, Iraqis, and a host of other stuff (US 9th Division everyone!) but we're getting M1A1's finally! So yes, 15mm players rejoice, no more scratchbuilding required.  We'll stay on this news but I have attached Episode 38 of "No Dice, No Glory" for further details on this release. Thanks to contributor and reader Jorge Del Rio for this big heads up!

Now, let's discuss the big news for the Twilight: 2000 fans in the room. Marc Miller has told us that a V4 is being worked on and a formal announcement about the new version will be made in the fall. 

I am cautiously optimistic regarding a V4. But considering what happened with Twilight: 2013, that caution is akin to Charlie Brown seeing Lucy with that damn football again! 

So here's what I am going to say to Mr. Miller. Please, you have hard core fans who love that game enough to write about it, blog about it and just plain spend their time with it 35 years on! Give it the treatment (and especially the timeline) it deserves. Ask us! Many of us have spilled so many electrons for this game, we'd be willing to do more. And most of us would probably do it for little if any remuneration other than our name in a book or two. 

I know this might very well fall on deaf ears, but it's worth making an appeal. We'd certainly like the old girl given the justice she deserves.

We'll keep you posted, gang!

Had a productive weekend!

I've been painting this mess of Soviet vehicles for a long, long time. And well, I finally finished them. Lord knows, it took a while. I used a method I found on the old Guild website, that I've slightly modified, but it works well and gives the vehicles a nice "worn" look.

As soon as I find a copy of the method, I will post it here, but I wanted to show off the vehicles in their glory. Lemme know what you think gang!

Overall, am I as good a modeler as some of what I've seen on the net, nope. But am I happy? Yep.

3 Butler Printer Models T-64s. they're fairly rough on the detail and l/76th as opposed to 1/72. But I do look them for what they are, decent looking Russian tanks. 

2 S-Model BMD-2. I liked the ease of construction. Didn't like the fragility of some of the parts, such as the treads, and the brass parts seemed a bit unnecessary. 

The Trumpeter T-55 to me is a great kit. It was a bit unexpected to screw together the halves of the hull, but I liked the kit overall, assembled it in an afternoon! 

3 BMP-2 from Butler's Printed Models. They're 1/76th as opposed to most of my collection being 1/72nd, but they look decent painted up. The detail is rough, as most folks have said, but for a wargaming piece, they're serviceable, and paint up well.

2 Revell T-80s, I built one with no reactive armor and a Liberation Minis crewman in the hatch. He turned out pretty decent, and a Model Collect T-72, which looks awesome. The Model Collect was a joy to put together for such a complicated kit.

A S &S ZSU-23-4. She looks awesome painted up. Yeah, the details can be a bit rough, but I was pretty impressed overall with the ease of the assembly, except for the radar mast. All in all, I was pretty happy with the kit.

A pair of PSC T-55s. Detail was a bit meh, but I liked the options out of the box. They assembled quickly enough and I was darn happy with the kits as a whole.