Author Topic: The Saga of the 38th Recon Batallion  (Read 8464 times)

Offline Cliffy B

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The Saga of the 38th Recon Batallion
« on: January 10, 2013, 06:23:24 AM »
Hope you have your microscopes ready as I'm going to attempt a 1/700 scale dio with a landing craft, some armor, and maybe a helo and/or a patrol boat.  I'll do some feasibility testing tonight.  I might up it to 1/350 as the armor is TINY in 1/700...we shall see.  I need to keep it in a naval scale though as I have tons of parts for them and absolutely zero experience in armor scales plus I want to finish it in time  ;D

Story outline, an allied recon element is trying to get back to friendly lines after everything hits the fan.  They commandeer an old landing craft that by all accounts should have been scrapped years ago but it still in use as a ferry.  It'll be nice and rusty, dirty, and have some random civie stuff mixed into its old military look.

More later!

-Mike
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Offline Cliffy B

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Re: The Saga of the 38th Recon Batallion
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2013, 11:29:53 AM »
Well I started construction on a Warrior and Bradley and good grief they're small!  If you can read my notes on the 1/700 scale printout you'll see I'm attempting individual road wheels and separate tracks!  Don't mind me  :-\    You can see a scratch built RN LCT(4) in the background leftover from an old project that is now going to be re-purposed.  It's had a coat of light gray to see how much more work was needed and I already attacked it with a sanding stick.  Still need to make the bow door but I'm not sure if I want it open or closed yet.




The IFV hulls are drying along with their turrets.  All still need to be sanded to shape.  Can't wait to add the guys...what have I gotten myself into?

Any and all questions, comments, ideas, etc... are appreciated as always,
-Mike
"Radials growl, inlines purr, jets blow!"  -Anonymous

"Helos don't fly.  They vibrate so violently that the ground rejects them."  -Tom Clancy

"If all else fails, call in an air strike."  -Anonymous

Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: The Saga of the 38th Recon Batallion
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2013, 11:39:41 AM »
Where is your sense of adventure?  Go for individual track links! ;)
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Offline Weaver

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Re: The Saga of the 38th Recon Batallion
« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2013, 08:31:19 PM »
Yes and I hope you're going to detail the interiors too.... ;)
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Offline Frank3k

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Re: The Saga of the 38th Recon Batallion
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2013, 03:40:31 AM »
I even have a mini Blue Man Group (they mainly play in Las Vegas) for your ships:



Left four: 1/700 right four: 1/1000 scale on the left is in mm.

Offline Doom!

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Re: The Saga of the 38th Recon Batallion
« Reply #5 on: January 11, 2013, 03:56:23 AM »
Whatever ya do...don't sneeze! You'll never find all those tiny bits and pieces.  ;D
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Jeff G.

Offline Cliffy B

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Re: The Saga of the 38th Recon Batallion
« Reply #6 on: January 11, 2013, 11:07:32 AM »
Alright, I was going to finish the Bradley turret and add the tracks but my patience are shot plus I'm out of beer so here's tonight's progress.



I sculpted the bodies of two Bradleys and their turrets, one of which you'll notice is a SPAAG with twin Bofors 40mm.  I added a FC dome by cutting a Phalanx dome off of a Skywave weapons sprue and sanding it down to around 2mm high instead of 3mm.  I think it looks the part nicely.  The barrels are 0.3mm brass wire inserted into 0.5mm drilled holes.  Only way to get them to stay put.  The road wheels still need sanding but I'll wait until they dry.  Had to cut them extra long, only way I could put them on.

I DID have a very nice 25mm barrel made out of the same wire that I put in a hemostat and filed down to half its thickness but those stinkin' space monkeys decided to show up and send it into the 4th dimension along with several of the road wheels and one of the 40mm barrels.  Love how they always show up the millisecond I apply the glue and go to grab to the part... :icon_ninja:  I'll return to it later...

I'll see to the Warrior later as I think I botched the sculpting phase.  I might scrap it and go for the Scimitar instead since the Warrior and Bradley look almost the same including their dimensions.  The Scimitar is smaller so it should provide a nice contrast.  Think I'll stick a dozer blade on it too.

The SPAAG Bradley is my own creation based on the M42 Duster and the Sergeant York.  Figured if they had tried that the Bradley would of worked as a nice basis for a Duster II and that's where I started with it.  I then gave it an enclosed turret and decided on a small FC dome and a E/O sight.  Use the troop space for the FC equipment and extra ammo if need be.  Allocate some to the recon groups for some extra firepower and AA protection.  Whether its practical or not I don't care, I think it's neat!

Need to get some monkey spray before I try again... oh yeah, and more beer  ;)

-Mike

PS. Frank are those RESIN figures in 1/700 AND 1/1000???!!!  :o
« Last Edit: January 11, 2013, 11:32:47 AM by Cliffy B »
"Radials growl, inlines purr, jets blow!"  -Anonymous

"Helos don't fly.  They vibrate so violently that the ground rejects them."  -Tom Clancy

"If all else fails, call in an air strike."  -Anonymous

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Re: The Saga of the 38th Recon Batallion
« Reply #7 on: January 11, 2013, 12:08:35 PM »
Nice work so far
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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Offline Frank3k

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Re: The Saga of the 38th Recon Batallion
« Reply #8 on: January 11, 2013, 01:06:54 PM »
I think your Bradleys are lacking the armor mounting bolts.... other than that, have you thought of printing the tracks (or even the road wheels) on an inkjet or laser printer? You can just glue the road wheels onto the plastic rods you have now. At 1/700 the tracks may look like a mass of random pixels, but it would be easier than trying to make them out of plastic. You can coat them in Future to give them some permanence.

Those figures are 3D printed. They would be very, very difficult to cast in resin. I sent a few as a gift to a company that specializes in really nicely detailed 1/700 ships, figuring that if anyone could cast them, they could. They couldn't figure out a way of doing it economically. It's probably cheaper to just print them than printing, then casting them.

Offline Brian da Basher

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Re: The Saga of the 38th Recon Batallion
« Reply #9 on: January 11, 2013, 06:42:17 PM »
That's some amazing work, especially considering how small the scale is!

Brian da Basher

Offline finsrin

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Re: The Saga of the 38th Recon Batallion
« Reply #10 on: January 11, 2013, 07:38:02 PM »
That's some amazing work, especially considering how small the scale is!

Brian da Basher

Yes.   :o   
I feel 1/350 would be pushing limits of ambitiousness, skill and doability.  This is a OMG is it for real kinda build.   :o :o :o  :)  :)  :)

Offline Artoor_K

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Re: The Saga of the 38th Recon Batallion
« Reply #11 on: January 12, 2013, 06:25:16 AM »
And I have problem with 1:48 PE parts... This could be described as BVRM - Beyond Visual Range Modelling :) Great job so far.
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Offline Feldmarschall Zod

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Re: The Saga of the 38th Recon Batallion
« Reply #12 on: January 12, 2013, 07:19:21 AM »
Mike

How the heck do you have the patience for working in a real small scale? That stuff looks amazing. ;D
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Offline Cliffy B

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Re: The Saga of the 38th Recon Batallion
« Reply #13 on: February 01, 2013, 11:02:31 AM »
Glad you like it guys and glad my eyes are still young enough to do this unassisted  ;) 

Some progress to report, the base is done!  Well halfway at least...  I got the board stained and sealed (Early American Stain), added the raised portion and covered it with a scrap piece of 300lb cold-pressed watercolor paper (Arches).  I'm going to paint the paper and then clear coat it using the texture of the paper for the sea, we'll see how it goes.  I'll use paint to give the illusion of depth since this is a river scene.

I drew out the dio and laid out some of the parts so far.  Basically we have a piece of land, water, and a small sand bar in the corner.  The land will have a stone retaining wall around the facility as well as a stone flood wall with gates.  Random palms and other desert veggies will abound.  The facility will be a scrap yard for old watercraft and and basically anything metal.  So far, there will be a stone building, a covered garage area, two large above ground fuel tanks with their own flood wall and concrete slab, a small storage area with random junk, a dock with random boats tied up, and a large ramp for the dragging of boats to be scrapped and for the LCT to beach.





I'm going to have one large vessel capsized at its moorings with some holes in the hull; she's been there a while.  I'll add some random trucks and a crane of sorts to go with the random boats.  I'm using my spares box to populate much of this, hence the random landing craft.  I'll be cutting them down to act as crude barges or something similar.

Story notes so far:

The recon guys will be an OSS team sent to retrieve some VIPs from behind enemy lines in a random Middle Eastern/Med country.  They will have to shoot their way out of their target location and then make a run for the coast and friendly territory.  Along the way they come across the scrap yard and the LCT and will secure passage down the river to safety.  There will be more to it but that's the gist for now.

It will take place in around 1980 and the country will be on the verge of war with the West and/or itself.  Think Beirut or something along those lines.  I'm been drawing heavily on photos of the Nile, Suez, Said, etc... for inspiration on the landscape.

So yeah, we'll see what happens by the end of the month and after the extension (<----Hint, hint, *cough* hint!  ;) )

Until later,
-Mike
"Radials growl, inlines purr, jets blow!"  -Anonymous

"Helos don't fly.  They vibrate so violently that the ground rejects them."  -Tom Clancy

"If all else fails, call in an air strike."  -Anonymous

Offline taiidantomcat

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Re: The Saga of the 38th Recon Batallion
« Reply #14 on: February 02, 2013, 04:27:29 AM »
Wow well planned!  :)
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Offline Cliffy B

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Re: The Saga of the 38th Recon Batallion
« Reply #15 on: February 02, 2013, 04:39:11 AM »
Oh, I completely forgot to mention WHY the LCT is even there  :-X  She's surplus from the war (former colony stuff) and is utilized to get the scrap metal and other supplies to and from the smelters as well as general ferry duties for the locals.

We'll see how far this gets.  Caught some sort of bug so I'm out of commission for awhile  :-X
"Radials growl, inlines purr, jets blow!"  -Anonymous

"Helos don't fly.  They vibrate so violently that the ground rejects them."  -Tom Clancy

"If all else fails, call in an air strike."  -Anonymous

Offline Claymore

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Re: The Saga of the 38th Recon Batallion
« Reply #16 on: February 23, 2013, 01:44:51 AM »
Good grief!  How on earth do you work at that scale without your eyes dropping out and everything sticking to your fingers?  Excellent work and I look forward to the end result.  Bravo!  :)
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Offline Cliffy B

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Re: The Saga of the 38th Recon Batallion
« Reply #17 on: March 14, 2013, 02:05:01 AM »
OK well.....I'm out for this one.  Tried to readjust my idea for a smaller and hence quicker scene but to no avail.  Just not enough time and too many things didn't want to cooperate. 

All is not lost however!!!  My little APCs will making an appearance in my Floaty entry, riding an LCU to the beach  8)  I'll see you aboard!!!!
"Radials growl, inlines purr, jets blow!"  -Anonymous

"Helos don't fly.  They vibrate so violently that the ground rejects them."  -Tom Clancy

"If all else fails, call in an air strike."  -Anonymous