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I'm thinking of getting into Weird World War II, and powered armor/boiler suits always seem to be cracking good fun. Since I've got marines lying around (who doesn't), would they work as a basis for WWWII PA?

I'm thinking the following: Take the mk. 4/5 armor (i.e. bare chest w/one skull; on right in both sprues)
and the 'greaves' legs (Mk. 6)
, scrape off all GW accouterments (skulls, purity seals, etc.), leave off the backpack and scrape off the peg (greebling up the back some), replace bolter with the maxim-style Ork shoota, (sorry, can't find the picture of the bit, but it's the smooth, round barreled one) and do a head swap, probably with West Wind US SOTTR heads .

I'm hoping it would have an effect like this (but allied rather than axis)

Last pic is from Agis Neubauer's (sp?) website, and is a North Star Projekt X Powered Armored Soldat.

Thoughts?

I would use the Heavy Stubber for the weapon instead of the ork shoota. I'm just going off of the pic of that armored suit's weapon. The shoota might look a little too "heroic" scaled for these guys. Other than that it sounds like a goodun.

Hrmn. Good point. Actually, your comment makes me wonder if I shouldn't ignore GW kit entirely for the weapon and go with a 1/48 or equivalent scaled weapon from the time period (either plastic or metal). It'll still be on the big side (after all, we'd probably be talking a .30 or .50 MG) but it would at least fit better with the other pieces, which will probably be either Artizan or Black Tree (haven't decided yet)...

Scale model weapons will look too skinny and fragile. Get the "heroic" stuff!

The Escher Heavy Stubber is an excellent match for a Nazi-era MG34 - get it before GW stops taking bitz orders for them!

Yeah, except that if the rest of the line isn't heroicaly scaled it will make his guys look silly on the same battlefield. Just check out that thing the suit in the pic above is holding. It looks like an MG42 or something. I think matching the rest of the minis is the best way to go.

Not using GW weapons is the best way to go. I think Tamiya has some sets with squad automatics and such in or around the scale your looking for.

Of course, there's always Verlinden...

The PA trooper can be heroic even if the rest is "normal" - look how big the PA is compared to the Commissar in the picture he posted!

Except he's not using any kind of LMG or anything. That's a FG-42...

But the thing is, if he were wearing powered armour, MG34 would be more appropriate and look cooler.

Well, I guess the question is what game are you intending to play, and what scale are the other figures that you intend to use?

I am just looking into Secrets of the Third Reich myself, and am considering making US Powered Armor out of Space Marines. Personally, I intend to get weapons in scale with the rest of the line for mine. I am not likely to use any GW weapons on them as they will be waaaay too big in comparison.

Having said that, however, I found an example on the SoTR forum of a converted PA Trooper, here. I think it looks fine, personally (but I do think the gun is too big.)

So:
What game are you intending to play?
What other figures are you intending to use?

~Eric

@Taarnak: Regarding the SOTTR conversion: oh, dear.

Regarding rules: hadn't gotten that far yet. It's one of those things that's starting as a modelling project and if I find rules to go along with it, awesome. SOTTR or the AE-WWII rules both seem promising, but THW's "Nuts!" and "Chain Reaction 2" both have potential as well.

For other figures: I'm thinking Artizan for Airborne US backed up by SM battlesuits and rocketeers, Artizan British Commandos supported by paranormal experts, and Black Tree Soviets with Copplestone/EM4 Powered Armor suits and some kind of walker, as well as some female snipers. As for Axis, I get stuck, as the Ratzis tend to bother my sensitivities some. Perhaps Japs with Veritech Zeroes? Italians with...something romanesque. Finns supported by apparant gawds of the north.

WWWII is one of my projects 'in the hopper' right now, and it's more about imagery than rules. Rules I can find; heck, I can probably make GASLIGHT work in a pinch. It's more about what's cool.

Are those gas mask heads just the right size for say IG models?

Yeah Redmond, they are Alot of the folks have been using them lately, or the beret heads.

And whats the webpage for those models?

Im trying to view the Germans with their gas masks, but the image wont get bigger

I don't remember, I think it's Dark Son designs.

Id consider buying the German Gas Mask heads if I could see the dang picture better, its so small!!

http://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/catalog/index.php
Go and browse through there Redmond

syr8766 wrote:@Taarnak: Regarding the SOTTR conversion: oh, dear.

Regarding rules: hadn't gotten that far yet. It's one of those things that's starting as a modelling project and if I find rules to go along with it, awesome. SOTTR or the AE-WWII rules both seem promising, but THW's "Nuts!" and "Chain Reaction 2" both have potential as well.

For other figures: I'm thinking Artizan for Airborne US backed up by SM battlesuits and rocketeers, Artizan British Commandos supported by paranormal experts, and Black Tree Soviets with Copplestone/EM4 Powered Armor suits and some kind of walker, as well as some female snipers. As for Axis, I get stuck, as the Ratzis tend to bother my sensitivities some. Perhaps Japs with Veritech Zeroes? Italians with...something romanesque. Finns supported by apparant gawds of the north.

WWWII is one of my projects 'in the hopper' right now, and it's more about imagery than rules. Rules I can find; heck, I can probably make GASLIGHT work in a pinch. It's more about what's cool.

It looks alright. Not the best for sure but I have seen far, far worse.

Anyway, from the list of models that you have given there I would say definitely lose the GW weapons. I would also consider removing the gigantic hands on the SMs. Weapons from the lines you mentioned would work better with some smaller hands, in my opinion. Drop in those SHS heads and your good to go.

Hope to see some pictures of what you end up doing.

~Eric