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 Smokestack wrote:
Saw this on clearance at TJ Max. Looked like the speeder would scale nicely with the starwars minis i have... and yup. Pretty close.

I've got that one and it looks great. There's also a scout trooper biker from a couple year back that scales similarly.

I believe I've mentioned the Dollar Tree store proprietary "Final Faction" action figure line, but that was regarding mecha and accessory packs. The Kharn alien force has some great options for bug type aliens too. Possible Tyranid applications?

-Crawler bugs come in a 2-pack
-Huntra. Tail has a launcher which I removed for the picture
-Decimator
-Synthoid. Pretty big but cool shape.

Interesting mix. Decimator And Synthoid share the same arm sockets and they can be swapped with each other or the Synthoid weapons pack.

Just a heads up. Walmart still has the lightyear basic stuff (star fighters and 2x packs of drop pods) on clearance for $5.

I bought 3 more packs of Drop pods. If nothing else, they'll be good scenery. I may even paint up the robots.

Zenithfleet wrote:


The Crawler bugs and Huntra could make decent Tyranid Bio-Titans for Epic or Adeptus Titanicus.

Have the Star Troopers toys been mentioned in this thread? They're fairly cheap and include some cool-looking alien bugs. Bendy plastic, but eh. I grabbed one to use as a whip scorpion in Gorkamorka.

I've been keeping tabs on them online, but I've yet to see them for sale in a store. Some good looking bugs though.

The very nice $5 Menards 1/48 GMC duce and a half is back for sale online.1/56 Brit for scale.
https://www.menards.com/main/grocery-home/menards-collectibles/train-stuff-from-menards/train-stuff/1-48-scale-army-truck/2759129/


Plenty of use in Post Apoc or Eastern Bloc use also as the very similar Studebaker duce and a half was nearly-cloned into the Soviet trucks that were manufactured into the 90's.

Today I also found Another 3 buck Menards truck.
Unspecified 80's custom van. Possibly a GMC Vandura like the A-Team had. Has opening front and rear doors. Available in black, orange, and green versions of the same flame scheme.

Ripe for Post Apocalypse or Super Hero gaming I think. 28/30mm Aquaman for scale.

The Mission Fleet line continues to deliver some great ships. I'm considering a couple of them to stash away with all the figures I've got set aside for my "Someday" 28mm Star Wars Project.

The Thundercats vehicle really shows the downside of the upsizing of action figures. Big vehicles and playsets for 3.75" figures were never cheap but they were at least manageable, However, when you double the height of the figure, you quadruple the size (and apparently the price) of the toys.


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 NapoleonInSpace wrote:
They're all toys, guys. You know it. I know it. We're grown men who love to play with toys.

Take a deep breath.

Deal with it...

I think you missed the point of this thread my friend. We're all having fun with our toys here. Given your recent thread on gaming with RISK pieces, I'd have thought this thread would be right up your alley.

Of course, if you'd like to be rude about it, you're welcome to ...

 NapoleonInSpace wrote:

Move on.

 NapoleonInSpace wrote:

 Just Tony wrote:
Playful sarcasm rarely translates well to text. Either denoting it with blue text or /s afterward would have saved some grief...

To me, discussions about toy soldiers can cause a very limited amount of grief. Not quite like commenting on the amorous skills of someone's mother.

However, this IS, after all, a forum about toy soldiers, or military miniatures, or whatever one prefers to calls them, so maybe I overstepped a line.

So, if I caused any hurt feelings, it was unintentional, and I apologize. All friends.

Fair enough. No harm done.

I notice you're a bit newer to the forum so in the spirit of friendliness I'll offer one small piece of advice. Generally posts that are on the topic of a given thread and especially those that offer useful information are more appreciated than attempts at humor and sarcasm. This is specially the case if those attempts could be read as insulting/superior/dismissive/etc.

Welcome, and I hope your enjoy your time at Dakka.

 NapoleonInSpace wrote:
Huh. Just started a thread on Dollar Tree Tyranid Bio Titans, and just saw this thread. Very cool! https://www.dollartree.com/final-faction-kharn-action-figures/338973?traffic_source=google&traffic_medium=cpc&gclid=Cj0KCQjwmZejBhC_ARIsAGhCqnfJtoiLE5A0lKnRPDyVQcZ5TQvpSFx5EXZNSRni92XKvwEWKB07q7gaArZBEALw_wcB

Final Faction has alot of great potential for wargaming. At the top of this page I posted a couple pictures for scale.

Between those and the smaller Wargames Atlantic Harvesters one could make a pretty big Bug army for not allot of dough.

I usually avoid transformers for my 28mm Mecha. Too expensive and -except for a couple designs like the Macross licensed Starscream- too recognizable as transformers.

However, I found this guy for 3 bucks at a resale shop. 28mm Warlord Brit on the shoulder for scale.

The scale appropriate cockpit is what really sells it for me. Once that is remounted flush to the top of the mech, wings removed and a few other minor mods, this would be a convincing mech in the general style of the other Macross designs in my collection.

That fence is amazing. Ordered. I'll post pics when it arrives.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Which Armadillo is the right scale again?

The "Lightspeed" version as seen above is the one you want.

 usernamesareannoying wrote:

 Eilif wrote:
That fence is amazing. Ordered. I'll post pics when it arrives.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Which Armadillo is the right scale again?

The "Lightspeed" version as seen above is the one you want.

do you mean hyperspeed series eilif? i was wondering if the lightyear truck on that same link is the one everyone is using? its 6 inches long so sounds about right. for 8 bucks its pretty dang cool.
cant wait to see the fence.
i bet its hollow on the backside though which would stink.

Yep, you're right. It's Hyperspeed. That is the truck also.

The little double pack of ATVS are good for more traditional 28mm size figs and the drop pods are great for single trooper pods.

 Gallahad wrote:
Anybody have any good ideas on how to make use of the smaller Lightyear Hyperspeed ships? It just seems a waste they are just a touch too small...
Huge Drones?

I don't know. They are just so cheap and so close to useful I feel there must be a use case.

Please help me justify to myself why I have half a dozen lying around...

I think the smaller ones might be useful as terrain. Either intact/landed, or as crashed ships. It's normal for terrain to be scale-compressed.

I somehow held back from buying any of the small ships. At the price they're going for normally I would have bought a bunch, but somehow I had the self control to only buy the big Zerg ship, Armadillo, drop pods and ground vehicles.

Snap ships are great for greetbling terrain and other projects in any scale.

They and the Lightyear Light speed fighters are really well suited to 10-20mm gaming. Based on cockpit size they're not ideal stock for 28mm, but there are exceptions.

The light year Armadillo, transport truck, ATVs and Zerg fighter are all well sized for 28mm.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
At less than 11 bucks, this set is worth it just for the largeplastic landing pad.

DC Comics, Batman Batcave with Exclusive .... https://a.co/d/eoo6Hbv

The tables might also have terrain possibilities also as they're taller than a based 28mm figure. Bridge is great too, but the railings are taller than a figure.

 NapoleonInSpace wrote:
Dollar Tree's line of Final Faction figures seems not to be doing so well, which is a shame, because they are pretty nice models and some make good giant walkers for 40k. WHen I say giant, I'm talking maybe very large dreadnaught suits or very small titans.

Scroll down a little on this

https://gamingwiththegnomies.blogspot.com/2022/09/painting-x4-turrets-for-gnomish-space.html

The "AT-4 Turrets" in scale with some rather silly (but nicely painted) 25mm figures. I think these look great as Imperial guard support pieces. There are also models that do very nice as Ork, Tyranid and Chaos walkers. All for a $1.25 apiece.

I'm not sure the line isn't doing well. There have been at least 4 waves and now we're just waiting for the next one. I will say that their recent releases of repaints that than new sculpts is unimpressive.

I agree though that the line has allot of potential for Toybashing. A while back in this thread, I posted scale pics of the various small Kharn "bugs" which are almost useable as is.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
They changed the plastic they use. The more recent Final Faction minis are more difficult to cut, glue or prime.

Interesting. I had no idea.

Interesting to see these make their way to Amazon from Ali. Weirdly they all have the same chassis.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Some of those look like they could be used as futuristic light tanks, with the addition of some 1/56 scale stowage and hatches. Awesome find.

I would tread carefully with these. They're smaller than they look. A 28mm hatch will be almost as big as the turret itself. There's a pretty good seller on Ali that has some stuff that would work better with 1/56. I'll try and find it tonight.

 Miguelsan wrote:

I'm always jealous at all the cheap toys you guys can access but this week Japanese 100Yen shops gave this wonderful piece for the equivalent of 2$. It's too narrow to use as is with Imperial Knights, so I'll have to spend 2 whole more $ to widen it . Take that you US posting people

M.

This is the second time I've seen someone post those fantastic 100 yen mech bays. That's the sort of thing I'd buy the whole store out of if I saw them. Congrats on the great find from a jealous American!

Wow, that does look great! A wash and a drybrush and they'd be ready to go.

Great find.

 Just Tony wrote:
$40 for what would amount to scatter terrain?

It's actually quite a large piece. More like centerpiece terrain if you bash it into a nice lander.

These are the sort of pieces you look for in resale shops. I saw the exact sub at Goodwill for a few bucks. Passed it up though as I've got allot of potential spacecraft toys already. Wish I'd bought it.

 The Red Hobbit wrote:

 Miguelsan wrote:
Maybe I should set up a Gundam stand supply bussiness

M.

Not a bad idea Do you recall the exact name of the Gundam stand's either in romanji or katakana?

Indeed. The 2 buck stands in Japan go for 10-15 in the USA even via Ebay or AliExpress. I'd buy tons of them for $5 each. $10 isn't bad, but it's high enough that it puts it behind other projects. I do have a fair number of Gundam that'd I'd like to display, but if it's going to cost me 50-100 bucks to buy the stands I might just make something myself.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Can't do much modelling till my shipments arrive in India, but I can still buy stuff!

Scale shot of the Jada HISS Tank toy.





https://www.amazon.com/G-I-Joe-H-I-S-S-Die-Cast-Destro/dp/B0BNWB7M15

That's a great one. I bought two. Only got one Stinger though.

The 20" Zerg Mothership is 10 bucks now at Amazon on both sides of the pond. Wasn't going to buy one, but at that price I couldn't resist.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
One nice thing about being back in India is I will be able to get these from the corner shop.

https://www.amazon.in/Centy-Public-Truck-Color-vary/dp/B00ET0TTQI/

I somehow missed this earlier. That's an awesome truck.

A Centy Toys Mahindra Scorpio that I found at a resale shop (in a neighborhood with alot of Indian-Americans) was one of my first vehicle conversions back in the early days of the club when we were doing alot of Post-Apoc gaming. Good Memories.
https://www.chicagoskirmishwargames.com/blog/2011/12/28mm-on-cheap-toy-cars-as-wargames/


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Andrew1975 wrote:


Any chance you could take a picture of that hiss tank next to a Leman Russ or Chimera?

Here you go:
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/1380/689888.page#11498150

Same length, similar height, but the Russ is considerably wider.

That Razorcrest is so tempting. Looks great and tastefully compressed for tabletop use.

 Panzerkorps Cerberus wrote:
@
Another great model kit for wargaming use is the 1/35 Crusher Joe Galleon (OVA Version).

Thanks for the heads up about the Crusher Joe Galleon. Looks like it's back in stock and I've been considering getting one for years. For a battletech universe fan like me, it's a fantastic opportunity. At 7 inches long, it's big, but not unmanageable for 28mm.

 Panzerkorps Cerberus wrote:

 Eilif wrote:

 Panzerkorps Cerberus wrote:
@
Another great model kit for wargaming use is the 1/35 Crusher Joe Galleon (OVA Version).

Thanks for the heads up about the Crusher Joe Galleon. Looks like it's back in stock and I've been considering getting one for years. For a battletech universe fan like me, it's a fantastic opportunity. At 7 inches long, it's big, but not unmanageable for 28mm.

Yeah, you can use it as a GAL-100 Galleon or later variant - it is roughly the size of a 2022 Land Raider Spartan, but not as tall and wide (due to the sponsons on the GW kit). If you are dedicated 28mm/32mm Battletech gamer, maybe you are interested in some of https://thorsmechworks.wordpress.com/ Mechs and vehicles?



I will be mighty impressed to see a Battletech game in this scale and kindly ask for pictures, when you can manage it. (dakkadakka unfortunately does not provide a blue fist symbol...)

Yeah, Thor has some great stuff for sure. I love the BT universe and vehicles, but not the rules.

As it happens, I've been running big 28mm multiplayer Mech battles at conventions for about a decade now using the Mech Attack rules. The games are not set in the BT Universe usually, but many of the units are of BT/Macross origin. I use whatever Miniatures, Models and Toys I can affordably source.
Most of the games I've run can be seen here.
https://www.chicagoskirmishwargames.com/blog/?s=Mech+Attack
As you can see, I like spectacle!

Cool. I was wondering how long it would take for these to come down in price.

The Scorpion gunship is a little bulkier than the SeaWasp, but unfortunately the actual transport craft "SA-2 Sampson" with cargo bay never got made into a toy. I was rather disappointed about that as it would have been a perfect Valkyrie substitute. Might still pick up a Scorpion, but more aircraft I don't need right now.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
I thought the Scorpian was the Huey? Not a huge transport but 5-6 guys.

Anyway does anyone have any to see how they scale? One reviewer specifically says they're good for Grimdark games.

Scorpion is kind of like a sci-fi Apache. You could maybe suggest it has a small passenger compartment if you added a hatch, but there's not alot of room there. The Sampson is the Huey/Blackhawk analogue.

I've seen the Scorpion and Sea Wasp at stores and they would both be excellent for 28-35mm gaming.

 Illumini wrote:
That is a theme with a lot of these toys. 99$ (after 25% discount) is not cheap for something that will look terrible without lots of work.

Still a fun enough topic to follow

Not sure what the market is like over there, but paw patrol sells so well that here in the US, anything in that line is virtually guaranteed to appear very cheaply at resale shops and at other used venues. Much of what I see (and later acquire) from this thread is gotten at deep sale or resale.

I agree that the smooth lines aren't great for imperial creations, but for Tau and other games there's alot of use. Also, you can't underestimate the amount of construction work you save starting with a toy rather than building from scratch. These polystyrene toys are great for greebling and you can buy these at resale for less than the cost of the plasticard it would take to build from scratch.

I've shared it before, but I made this out of a Paw Patrol Jet that cost me $5 at the local "Goodwill" store. It gets use from time to time as Tau Terrain and has been the centerpiece for several "Mech Attack" (Battletech'ish mech combat) convention games that I've put on.

Construction.
https://www.chicagoskirmishwargames.com/blog/2022/03/paw-patrol-jet-becomes-sci-fi-spacecraft-part-1-construction-begins/

Completion
https://www.chicagoskirmishwargames.com/blog/2022/07/paw-patrol-spacecraft-part-2-completed/