Friday, March 15, 2019

Dreadful Target

A bit more than a year ago I picked up a pair of strange resin robots on a friendly deal at a convention. At the time I'd no idea what these were or who made them. Assorted friends telling me followed by forgetting, followed by considerable research leads me to the conclusion that they are Armorcast steampunk robots called Frank n' Steam and Frank n' Track. There were two, with different propulsion variants: legs vs. tank treads. As per usual I forgot to take pictures of the process until it was done, so the before and after paint versions are not the same. I chose to build the version with the treads first. The picture below isn't the best but you get the idea. It's a sort of steam-punk mechanized unit in the usual upright anime sci-fi "robot" configuration; what we might in Oldhammer terms call a dreadnought. This one is a bit unusual for having the driver apparently looking out a large opening smack in the center of the largest mass of the thing. To approximately quote the Nigel Wood, who engineered the sale, "It's just so bloody ridiculous! The driver is poking his head out right in the middle where he's going to draw fire." I think this might have been followed by "I love it!" but I can't be sure. (I surely said something like that.)


But I have a soft spot for that sort of shenanigan:


The casting was decent enough: no funny bubbles or voids, but quite a lot of flash, as is common of smaller companies and older resin. Still, lots of character and that makes me happy. Of course, when it finally came to painting the thing I decided the "driver" didn't look remotely orky . . . er . . . precise enough. It's really quite flat and rather stylized. So I decided the head was a bas relief figurehead rather than the actual driver, and I almost serendipitously chose red and white target colors and a lovely quartered pattern, as you see below.


No oldhammer object is complete without some checks, of course.


Making the face sculptural rather than literal makes this miniature somewhat flexible. It could become a part of most any force, but . . . Let's be honest. He belongs with Doc Hobble and Mr. Burne's Delightful Dreadlies. (Dread Mobs are a real thing in Rogue Trader. Look 'em up. There's rules and even point costs, in that random "take a roll of this table" way.)

Anyway, he does look delightful, so it's only appropriate.


Welcome to the mob, Mr Targit. Please, have the honor of the next charge.

As always, thank you for reading along. I hope you've had half as much fun as I. And Nigel . . . thank you! :)

Sincerely,
The Composer

6 comments:

  1. They look good, so much fun harnessing random finds like these! I bitterly regret missing out on a random floaty jellyfish-like bot I saw on evilbay. I would be tempted to put a few highlights on that walker’s pilot’s face tho I hear you re. the flatness. Praps it’s just the picture :)

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    1. Thank you! I think we all sometimes regret things we passed up, but money and time are finite. (And hindsight is usually a bit better than foresight.)

      Honestly, as to the highlights, I was going for a pretty bright brassy look anyway. I could put highlights on there, but my collection of metalics is a little on the small side and I was already painting the eyes silver, which kind of rules out silver highlights. And a flat mask looked okay to me, so I just ran with it. The alternative might have been to start with a darker color and use the bright gold as a highlight, but . . . meh . . . I don't often find it to be worth the effort. (Once in a while. For variety, if nothing else.) I don't know. Depends on taste, I guess.

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  2. Haha, you are right, they have quite a RT vibe, they fit in perfectly within the whole ambientation, and I think they look totally in place around the Tartarus Rim, so well done, sir!

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    1. Thank you Suber! Yes, it'll be great on the Tartarus Rim. So useful. I expect this particular construct will serve multiple purposes. Where did Hobble and Burne get it, anyway? Was it always theirs? Can they keep it? Private armor is so . . . interesting.

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  3. I really like what you've done with that model. Fits in so well with the RT vibe of this blog. Glad to see you back blogging regularly again.

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    1. Glad to be blogging regularly again. Here's to hoping I can keep it up a little while. ;-) (I have a couple of things in the hopper, so with a bit of luck . . . )

      And glad you like the bot. I really need to figure out what the heck that thing is. :D

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