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The Driven vehicles at Target have real potential. The cab is big enough to fit a driver in but they are compressed in length so they won't take up too much room on the table Here's mine with a 1/48 vehicle on the back.


I'd have bought more, but I'm swimming in 1/43 and 1/48 vehicles. The flatbed with container is a neat one.

Several of the vehicles in this series are also available in remote control!

 porkuslime wrote:
if anyone needs a "loot run" I am willing to go try to fulfill wants, and ship to you.

You're a good man!

I get plenty of Dollar tree stuff sound here, but for those who don't, I can vouch for Porkuslime as an honest trader.

Just picked up this DinoTrux toy today. Great detail. But it's huge

My first thought was to replace the head with a drill to make a heavy mining vehicle.

However it would make a cool Ork vehicle, even though I don't play orks. Is there a Gargant or some such that is about 8 inches wide and 10 inches tall?

Interesting set. DinoTrux is a fairly kids program on Netflix. My kids liked it years ago, but I had no idea it was popular enough to support a toy line and a knock off Toy line. Definitely some interesting bits in the Amazon set but not quite enough detail to seek out.

The toy I got is the Ty Rex and it comes nicely greebled

Interestingly there is an official set closer in scale and price to the knock-off set.

Dinotrux Die-Cast 6 Pack Bundle, includes Ty Rux, Skya, Ton-Ton, Garby, Ace, and Revvit [Amazon Exclusive] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KG8HURG/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_7E2X0PG2C4ZA9JQD0N7M?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I think it's worth it to buy the diamond plate if you can find a good price.

Snap ships do have great bits, but they are small. I think the Dollar Tree Final faction parts are a better buy and much better suited for 28mm.

If you can acquire some deadzone sprues, they are great for greebling.

Also, "For Sale" signs at the hardware store are usually polystyrene, are cheaper than buying model styrene and are thin enough to be flexible over uneven angles and such.

I think I used sale signs, Hard plastic coffee stirrers and Deadzone pannels for the Paw Patrol conversion.
https://www.bing.com/search?q=Chicago+skirmish+paw+patrol&cvid=fbe4b6bba12e40a682cf102b05ae92db&aqs=edge..69i57.3167j0j1&pglt=2177&FORM=ANNAB1&PC=U531

If you know anyone who works in a pathology lab, specimen cassettes are my secret weapon for sci-fi greebling.

Got a bunch when my wife's lab switched colors.

As for Most ABS plastics, MEK based glues will work well, but for the specimen cases I've generally had to use super glue. They take paint well though. It's not a soft paint-resistant plastic. It's quite hard.

If anyone needs some specimen cases send me a PM with an offer and we'll work something out. I'm happy to sell in quantities less than Amazon, though 200 for $30 is a pretty good deal.
5 of them arranged into a cube also makes a pretty great rooftop AC unit...

I'm going to throw this out there since there are probably interested folks here. I'm going to be purging my terrain-supply collection soon. If anyone is interested in possibly buying a big box of castoff toy parts and such (for a very low price) send me a PM and when the time comes I'll be in touch. I've got way to much to build in a lifetime and would like to get it off to folks who could use it. Shipping rates being what they are, this might be a better deal for someone in the Chicago or NOrthern Indiana area who could pickup in person, but shipping is possible.

 Gallahad wrote:


Thank you for the tips Eilif, I've admired your conversions for years. What would you say is a good price for the diamond plate plastruct? I should aim for 1/48 scale diamond plate?

I've literally never bought plasticard.

I couldn't say really, I got a few sheets for a buck each on the second had market a while back, but that was a very rare find.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Got my 2 Lightyear Armadillo shuttles from Target (they seem to be an exclusive)



More 15mm scale but easy to fudge. They're a bit bigger than a Rhino/Chimera and taller but will look fine on a table. No weapons, just a boxy shuttle for evacs or rescues.

Glad you were able to get some

I think they're spot on for 28mm, though as more of a light shuttle than a big cargo lifter. Kind of like a flying Ford Econoline.

My son has the aircraft carrier. It's a neat toy, but really only useful for N scale or ideally even smaller. It'd probably be best for Battletech or micro armor. Still quite compressed even at 1:300, but would work well on the table at that scale.

Technically a Model, but the "Egg Plane" series by Hasegawa is pretty darn toylike.

I was at the EAA Museum in Oshkosh Wisconsin (a fantastic place to see unusual aircraft) and they had much of the range. Many were too obviously chibi versions of real aircraft with the extreme egg shaped canopies and fuselages characteristic of the line. The Osprey model however seemed to have real potential as a private civilian sci-fi aircraft.

The picture above was borrowed from this site...
https://www.internetmodeler.com/scalemodels/flaviation/Hasegawa-MV-22-Osprey-Egg-Plane.php
... where other pictures and a quick review can be seen. I may do a blog post about it at some point when I get around to building it.

I picked it up for what appears to be the original MSRP of $20, though now it appears they often sell for twice that. I briefly looked through the rest of the line, and there are some with a bit of potential, but most would only if you really like the extreme-bubble jet canopies. However, the Hughes 500 and 300 helicopters have real possibilities as their bubble shape lends themselves well to the concept and they could most easily be tweaked towards a sci-fi look that doesn't clearly reference a modern fighter jet or vintage prop plane. The Hughes 500 in particular has two large rocket pods that could easily be moved to replace the propeller as propulsion systems.

Most importantly, the size seems good for a personal sci-fi flying speeder, especially if I mod the prop engines into jets of some sort. Reversing the tails downward and/or putting some thrusters there could also help. Stylistically, it will probably look good next to the Dust Tactics SSU Transport and Sky Crane helicopters I painted up for my sci-fi games. https://www.chicagoskirmishwargames.com/blog/2017/03/adepticon-prep-part-5-quadruple-copters/

Here's the fuselage sprue next to a Stargrave figure. It's not a big craft, but I really like the potential. Almost like a flying coupe, minivan or family car depending on where and how I paint the windows. At this Chibbi scale, the rear entrance ramp is just about perfect for a 28mm entrance.

 RedSarge wrote:
Bought the Buzz Lightyear ships... they're far too small for 28mm spacecraft. More akin to a tiny personal one-man DIY helicopter. Just a notice.

That's a reasonable assessment. Only one of the grey human starfighters (The XL-07) has a cockpit that looks almost big enough for a heroic 28mm pilot. Still, they might work as a compressed-scale scenery for a fight on an airfield. They're actually pretty well scaled for 25mm, but the figures are very true-scale-slender and like many actual aircraft, the fuselages are not much wider than the cockpits.

On the positive side, the Zurg Fighter and Armadillo are big enough to look good even with 32mm+ figures. Will get pictures shortly.

Pictures of Armadillo and Zurg fighter with Infinity and Chronoscope figures

Interesting. I'm not much into contemporary aircraft, but 1/48 jets for 30 bucks or less is quite a bargain.

Wow, that's really cool. My son may want that for his SW and Halo figures.

Those are cool. Really great to see land vehicles in the 1" line.

I've seen the 5" scale truck in ships and it's to big for even a Land Train without massive modifications. A very cool toy though.

Jada has a GI JOE Jeep and Cobra HISS in that scale. Been trying to find the HISS for months....

 Llamahead wrote:

Water Pistols can also work. Finished this this weekend after seeing a couple of these on Youtube really happy with the Shenanigan

That's really cool. Looking forward to seeing it painted.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Got my Lightyear fighters and yeah, they're a bit small for 28mm.



They'd be fine at 20mm or 15mm.

Going to cut mine up and make a crash to hide the scale issues.

Hard to tell from the pictures, but the one on the left looks like it might work with an opaque canopy. There are a fair number Sci-Fi of universes where the fighters can be pretty small.


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 endlesswaltz123 wrote:
This is the main components that will form the bulk of the build.



Plenty more greeblies than this also, but these will be the main structure, Might keep the bottom part of the cockpit and build an angular frame around it sloping back of to the top of the body on the other section.

So Cool. I've wanted to do a thunderbird 2 up for years. I'd probably just repaint it though as most folks in the US aren't as familiar with the thunderbirds and it's such a cool ship as-is. I've got a small die-cast version that will probably make it onto my 1/144 table someday, but I'd really like to get something huge for 28mm.

Best of luck with the conversion.

 endlesswaltz123 wrote:
I'll post a few updates as I go along with it.

Best part about it is, cost me £8.50 on eBay.

There's a few about super cheap, if you want one, I can see about getting it shipped over to you in the US if the global shipping program is a rip off?

£14.23 posted in the UK here - eBay auction for it

Thanks for the offer. High as it is, the global shipping is unfortunately probably less than it would cost you. I appreciate the sourcing though. It's still tempting...

Could you snap a picture of the main fuselage piece next to a 28mm figure?

My son had that Chinook in USMC paint. It's perfectly sized for 28mm.

Might hold off on the Thunderbird 2 for a bit. Found these two monsters at resale shop.

The second one (maybe ninja turtles?) Is the one I'm really interested in. Could be the basis for an ork spacecraft.

General Hobbs wrote:


How hard is it to repaint a diecast metal toy for wargaming use????

I really want to start a company now that makes cheap plastic model kits for wargaming purposes. Like those 5 Chinese tanks that sell for 16.

Like for 40K, they made the Leviathan a plastic kit. So they went from a resin kit that takes 5 minutes to glue parts together to a super complicated plastic kit that will take a couple of frustrating hours to build. I like modelling and converting, don't get me wrong. But there is no reason to make things hard for a wargaming kit.

Repainting die cast is ready if you don't mind painting over the existing paint. Not that hard to modify either with a Dremel.

Hard plastic is a tough business to get into, but if you're looking for cheap tanks, the Tehnolog sci Fi tank becomes available periodically. Very simple to assemble with multiple build options.

 Gibblets wrote:
Great center piece.

Buy it!

You can remove the base and it will stand level on it's own. It was almost unchanged (Except for the base) over decades of production.

Here's mine. The panels in the foreground are removable doors for the elevator.

I'm sure there were good reasons for the update, but the new one doesn't have nearly the realism or usefulness of the old one. Luckily old ones are plentiful and cheap used.

Those are good ones. My favorites so far are the 2 pack of smaller bugs that I suspect will still be bigger than the WGA bugs.

The style is not too different. I think between WGA and Dollar tree one could make a pretty good Tyranid or SST Bug force for a relatively modest amount of cash

Glad to be of inspiration. If you want to see the process of construction, see here, about 1/3 of the way down.
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/651712.page?userfilterid=24779
Mine is actually for sale if anyone's interested.

Thanks for letting us know. I'm always looking for new civie vehicles for my city, but that's probably too big.

Would you be willing to measure the width?


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General Hobbs wrote:

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Another lightyear toy

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B09PB39ZPF/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1



Cargo 6 for $18?

So I got 2 of these. They are quite big....as big as the Abrams tanks I have in my pics. Much bigger than a 40K Chimera.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
I found a picture on Amazon with some minis for scale. Looks good to me.

Thanks for that!
Oh, that does look good. Will probably pick it up. Would look great in my 28mm Sci Fi City.

The 5"+ action figures are a bit big to fit with his SW/Halo/etc figs, but he bought the space pickup to add to his 1:16 action figure play. It's a pretty cool toy.

Skywave,
Those Bone dinos look great! Just the thing for a skyrim'ish dragon boneyard.

KidKyoto
The Mission Fleet stuff has alot of good potential for 28mm use.

"Micro galaxy fleet" is not as usefull, but is pretty much a continuation of the "Micro Machines Action Fleet" from the 90's. In my opinion one of the coolest toy lines ever as many of the ships were pretty close to scale and there were packs of figures from Micro machines as well. The figures were (and the new ones appear to be) generally close to 1/72 with the vehicles being that scale or smaller. There's alot of potential crossover between these two toy lines and various star wars 1/72 model kits both the classics and the newer Bandai.

Dang. That will have so many uses in so many games. Great find.

The $15 much had promise.

The $40 version looks like it might be a reissue of the 3.75" action figure toy from the last movie. I got one sans f5un from a resale shop. Cool toy but not ideal for Wargaming