Saturday, February 29, 2020

The Half Jimmy

Transport is always a challenge on the many near roadless mining planets and agricultural moons of the Tartarus Rim. Improvised vehicles, salvaged from the wreckage of mishap and malice, are incredibly common. The Half Jimmy might once have been a class of commercial vehicles, but its origins have become gray with time and distance. Its utility, however, is beyond question. Driving wheels make operation simple and intuitive to anyone familiar with ordinary wheeled cars, but substantial tracks taking the heavier loads give it an ability to navigate all but the most utterly impassable of trails. It isn't fast, but it will get you there.


Better still, it will help you take friends. Or equipment. Or supplies. It's a fairly versatile little vehicle. Particularly useful are some aftermarket additions: a large winch and a solid communications suite.


So where did this attractive model come from, I hear you ask? The answer requires a little telling, but it's not too complex in the end. Most of it came from the fine Curtis Fell of Ramshackle Games. Better yet, it came free! No, he isn't really in the business of giving away toys. (And if you like the fact that there are new characterful models out there I highly recommend paying him.) But castings don't always come out just so. Sometimes . . . molds break. Or resin acts up. Or probably a dozen other things I as a mere painter and putty pusher don't fully comprehend. And if you're in his vicinity he's more than happy to give you his rejects. (Rumor has it he might even include some with an order if you ask. Kind of the prize in the crackerjack box.)

Me? I never met a truck so battered I didn't think it'd look absolutely spiff! Spiff I say! . . . On some dusty forgotten gaming table. (With suitable paint and some added jewelry, that is.) When I was in the UK last summer Curtis gave me just such a bunch of misfit toys. (Expect more to arrive in the story later.) I had a cab, a bed, and a couple of tracks. So I needed wheels and . . . stuff. So on to the jewelry!


Mr. Cerous Rhino was a bead I got from a friend. As such, he had holes where his mouth and a$$#0! should have been. (This kind of seems appropriate, but . . . they were a little large and round.) A bit of greenstuff carefully shoved where the sun wasn't shining just then solved the . . . um . . . problem. The next thing required was wheels. These came donated from a badly worn Monogram B-24. Fenders were compliments of the end of a half used tube of epoxy. The plow was a bomb bay door off the bomber. Mixed in were jewlery parts, a cover from an electrical connector, a cell-phone antenna, and some general bits box mysteries from long forgotten trucks and motorcycles. You know. The usual suspects.


Slap some paint on it and it doesn't look half bad if I do say so myself!



This isn't absolutely the deepest dive into bashing up a truck, but hopefully you get at least a taste of how I dream this stuff into existence. In any case, thanks for joining me on the ride!

Sincerely,
The Composer

8 comments:

  1. Truck looking lovely, fine kitbashing and paintage. Sadly I lament the Ramshackle resin, I don't intend to go near the stuff again after trying my darnedest :/

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    1. I'm sorry to hear that. I know it can be a bit difficult to work with, and some folks can be sensitive to the stuff. If it's the former, Curtis is happy to offer advice. If it's the latter . . . well, my sympathy. You're in good company, I'm afraid. And I am sadly without any medical expertise to offer.

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  2. That's a really nice composition, I like how you made it all work. The rhino is a little bit unsettling, but adds depth to the truck, makes you wonder the story behind and how the driver thought it might be a good luck totem :)

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    1. The short version is that my wife is Vietnamese, and every car in Vietnam has some kind of good luck totem, so I wanted to add one. I had a few options: elephants, rhinos, and lions at least. All could be interesting, but the rhino reminds me a bit of the bulldog on a Mac truck. But . . . larger. ;-) So with that part decided, it was just the question of where to mount it. I debated putting it above the plow almost like a ram, but in the end I went with a more practical solution. On the cab roof it won't get in the way, but it will still inspire awe in your potential clients. (Since I figure it's a truck for hire. Which is why it's white and utilitarian. I suppose I should ad some advertising, now that I think on it. Maybe a comms code of some kind.)

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  3. Fun stuff! Nice that you are bringing the cast off resin into life. I'm particularly impressed with the towhook/winch. Looks like that'd take a bit of time and effort to craft.

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    1. It really wasn't terrible. Mostly it was a matter of rounding up the pieces, which I'd done for an earlier project. (In real life I have spent a part of my career climbing around in theatre and arena ceilings and hanging heavy things above the people below, so . . . I have a bit of a fondness for the involved tech.) It's mostly just jewelry parts. Those come in remarkably handy, and they are by design fairly easy to work with. Beyond that the rest can be made fairly quickly from bits of stock, sprue, and cardboard. It is, after all, supposed to look like it was thrown together in a shed. ;-)

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