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http://www.modelzone.co.uk/meccano-gears-of-war-armadillo-with-2-figures-weapons.html

Armadillo Scout Car and Raven helicopter

http://www.modelzone.co.uk/meccano-gears-of-war-king-raven-with-4-figures-weapons.html

I picked up one of each for general SF game use. The scale is about 1/35 or 1/32.

I have not assembled them yet as they must be kept hidden from Mrs Kilkrazy for a while.

 Tannhauser42 wrote:
Both say they're out of stock online.. Otherwise, the helicopter could be useful when Orkified.

Yeah, you have to go to the shop.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 RiTides wrote:
Looks a bit big... although I know that is a very small human standing behind it

It's probably the size a Tau Orca ought to be if it was properly sized. I will use it as a heavy dropship or something, not for 40K.

Not like when I were a lad.

Lego has gone down the same road.

Young people these days, etc...

When I was a boy, Meccano sets included beams, plates, angle irons, gears and so on. They gave plans but you could build anything you wanted and make it work, with enough parts and ingenuity. By doing it you exercised your imagination and learned practical mechanical engineering skills.

The modern equivalent is something like those Lego toys you can program, or a introductory scripting language -- what's the one with the Tortoise? -- running on a Raspberry Pi.

Lego still sells basic blocks, though their patent on the block design ran out years ago, and there are cheapo versions on the market.

Naturally they prefer you to buy the licensed special model kits which are much more profitable.

I built the Armadillo so here is a short review.

The kit comprises a number of cleanly moulded plastic parts, probably ABS rather than polystyrene, a set of soft tyres, a couple of metal plates and a number of metal nuts and bolts to hold everything together.

Assembly is very simple. In most cases the nut sits in a square holder so you don't need the spanner. The bolts tighten with an Allen screw. Their hex heads give the finished model a distinctive appearance. The tools are in the kit.



No cutting is needed. The job takes about 10 minutes, and is not much of a pleasure as a construction challenge.

The finished model is 18cm long by 9cm wide and 6.5cm tall. The plastic is a dark blue grey. A set of stickers offers some detailing though I intend to paint my car so I haven't applied them. The rest of the surface detail is minimal.



You may like to cement the kit with Superglue or epoxy, to stop it coming apart, and fill the seams with putty. Some of the parts can be slightly improved a bit of shaving or sanding. Yet the model is very useable as it comes, if you ignore such details.

There is no underneath, so when the car is lying on its roof there is a clear void. If this worries you, plasticard and putty could easily be used to make an underside, or just pile a wad of cotton wool to represent smoke.



The letdown from the top view are the wheel hubs -- which have no detail and are very obviously "toy" -- and the mini turret guns, similar in size to a Bolt pistol in 40K. The guns can easily be replaced, though, and a bit of work with plasticard will provide suitable armoured hub caps.



Beyond that, it provides the basis for more conversions and offers in general a nice, SF looking armoured vehicle for 28mm scale games. I can imagine a number of themes such as command car, security transport, troop carrier, and so on.

Overpriced at the original £29.99 it is a much better buy for £19.99 or better yet £14.99 at Model Zone if you can find one.