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I'm working on a mechanized guard force with themes that blend a bit of Soviet and Imperial Russia. Most of the points will be tied up in tanks and aircraft, but I plan to have some infantry as well. This may or may not become a painting log or suchlike.

The plastics are (as expected) based on the Cadian Infantry plastics. Key modifications are as follows:

Modification of the torso: Removed pectoral plates, removed rear mounting stud

Modification of the Lasguns: Removed Imperial Deaths-head with Wings logo (in case I go Renegade or something)

Replacement of the Head: Use of Pig Iron Production "Kolony Militia" heads

These are intended to be Chimera-borne infantrymen, basically analogous to Soviet motor-rifles (motor-las). A typical 10 man squad takes a sniper rifle (fluffy) as their special weapon, and a missile launcher (also fluffy) for a heavy weapon. Most units (fluffy) don't carry a heavy weapon, expecting to rely on their track (fluffy). Were I to play a "real" game, I would probably take plasma - just need to dig up some of those old-school plasma metals, as I don't want to buy a Command Box for each plasma gun I want. Also I'm not hugely fond of the giant plasma gun Cadia got, and (fluffy) Gedi produces a lot of older-pattern equipment for reasons. Might convert a local pattern...

Color scheme not yet determined. I'm thinking that Soviet "field drab", that's like a split between dark tan and olive drab. That is for the cloth - armor is black, probably, if I can find a way to make it kind of "oily and industrial" rather than "flat black". Masks are grey, like the GP-5, boots are probably black. Weapons will probably be dark grey - naturally with the 70s style "bakelite orange" magazines, because AK-74. How could I not

I'm working on a fluff document that, when I'm happy enough with it, might get posted over here. I'm not sure how well the culture of Dakka takes to fanfluff (especially since mine is 20 pages, mostly describing recruiting and unit types...)

Here's how they're going so far:

Front Group View


Rear Group View


Overhead Front


Overhead Rear


Three Strelkam Front


Three Strelkam Rear


Persons of Interest: Sergeant and Marksman Front


Persons of Interest: Sergeant and Marksman Rear


Detail: Modified Torso Front


Detail: Modified Torso Rear


Detail: Local pattern Long-las (Drugunov) Side A


Detail: Local pattern Long-las (Drugunov) Side B


Thanks for looking!

M.

They look nice. They look better than the standard Cadians. Where did you get the heads?

SirWeeble wrote:
They look nice. They look better than the standard Cadians. Where did you get the heads?

Thanks! I do think it is an improvement over the standard kit - which, when they came out years ago, I was all over.

The heads are from Pig Iron Production, specifically being the Kolony Militia Heads. They looked sort of like the SSh-40 Soviet helmet, which is how I settled on a Soviet-esque theme (Indeed, the modification to the torso is sort-of channeling the SN-42 steel vests used in WW2).

They're slightly smaller than the standard heads, and much narrower at the "jaw" (lower respirator for the mask), so you have more mobility with them. This leads to more dynamic head positions, I think.

I also picked up some of the HQ Heads for Platoon and Company commanders, the Winter Heads exclusively for the left-hand soft cap (good for Junior officers, looks less "bossy"), and the Covered helmet heads for what will eventually become air-assault / light infantry squads.

Overall good kits, sculpt is a little less "precise" than GW would have it, but I like that for the "soft" masks, personally.

M.

My only suggestion would be to change the Sgts hand so it's more vertical as per the army knife hand.

Other than that, they look cool! Get some paint on em!

 anticitizen013 wrote:
My only suggestion would be to change the Sgts hand so it's more vertical as per the army knife hand.

Other than that, they look cool! Get some paint on em!

Aw, knife-hand would be awesome! I think I would have to sculpt that custom, though, and I've never done that before. Closest we have is the two-finger gesture or "follow me" gesture from the tank sprues, but they have no shoulder armor.

Paint to come eventually - I have to pick through and grab any flash I missed, figure out how to plug gaps in shoulder joins, and dust all the fluff off them before I can even prime them.

M.

Regarding knife-hand you could maybe flatten out the binocular or missile launcher open hands? Gentle encouragement with some pliers might be enough to do it.

 Flinty wrote:
Regarding knife-hand you could maybe flatten out the binocular or missile launcher open hands? Gentle encouragement with some pliers might be enough to do it.

That's a good point; those had slipped my mind. I think there's two per weapon team sprue, and I've got four of those now - worth a shot! I have to either fix up the second squad sergeant or build a new one this evening, so that could be a candidate for his left hand.

M.

Anther thought jus struck. If you use polystyrene cement then you could apply some to the back of the hand and fingers to help make it easier. You might lose some detail if you use too much, but just a little will help make the plastic more pliable.

Took a look at the "cupped" hand on the HW sprue - it's upwards at nearly a 90 degree angle and seems to have a modified shoulder arangement, so it would look kind of funky without extra work.

It also doesn't work it's original purpose right if I want the missile launcher carried at anything other than straight ahead!

M.

Pretty much. So take the hand off and swap it onto a better arm. There are plenty to choose from.

 Flinty wrote:
Pretty much. So take the hand off and swap it onto a better arm. There are plenty to choose from.

Good point; somehow didn't occur to me last night. If I get to the infantry tonight I'll see what I can do - I need to crank out some tanks in the meantime, though!

M.