resurrecting my Classic Battletech miniatures (a log)

[iamfanboy]

So, recently, I decided to turn this:



Into a fully painted collection of minis that could match any army in looks and style.

Fifteen years ago, I first started playing Classic Battletech; however, these miniatures have sat unused for almost ten years, and I have learned much in the art of miniature-painting and conversion in that time. Using that skill, I plan to correct the gaping holes and other miscasting problems which plagued the plastics.

Any time you want to wonder why Games Workshop climbed to the top, just take a look at this vunderbar casting job:



Ugh. Some of the plastics I'm not even going to bother trying to fix, but the majority of them I want, and I will keep.

The crowning difficulty will be resurrecting my metal 'unseen' MAD-3R Marauder:



A close look will show that it's missing the top half of the left arm! I'm going to have to cut a paperclip to size, pin both ends, then resculpt the arm myself. it will be difficult, but dammit I'm determined to do it!

[Yarick Zan]

Nice looking collection there. I like how you have a pretty good collection of the old unseen models too. They will be really nice once you paint them up. Keep this project going, I will be watching. If you are interested, recently they have reworked the rules completely, and expanded quite a lot of the story. Look into it. The main book (and the only one you really need to play) is called Classic Battletech: Total Warfare.

[iamfanboy]

Nice looking collection there. I like how you have a pretty good collection of the old unseen models too. They will be really nice once you paint them up. Keep this project going, I will be watching. If you are interested, recently they have reworked the rules completely, and expanded quite a lot of the story. Look into it. The main book (and the only one you really need to play) is called Classic Battletech: Total Warfare.

I only have a couple of minis that AREN'T the Unseen, actually, which is good, because I dislike most of the 'reseen' version. Except the Ost-versions. I like those new ones quite a bit.

And yeah, I've been reading the new rules, though actually I think I'm going to use mostly Battleforce-style rules. What can I say, I've been infected by the need for nice, simple, clean playstyle rules.

I'll keep the CBT rules for the Solaris campaign I plan to run, but I like the idea of companies of 'Mechs sweeping across the playfield.

Tomorrow I'll update with pics of the 8 or so 'Mechs I fixed with GS and a knife; right now I'm gonna go to sleep.

[Yarick Zan]

I only have a couple of minis that AREN'T the Unseen, actually, which is good, because I dislike most of the 'reseen' version. Except the Ost-versions. I like those new ones quite a bit.

And yeah, I've been reading the new rules, though actually I think I'm going to use mostly Battleforce-style rules. What can I say, I've been infected by the need for nice, simple, clean playstyle rules.

I'll keep the CBT rules for the Solaris campaign I plan to run, but I like the idea of companies of 'Mechs sweeping across the playfield.

Tomorrow I'll update with pics of the 8 or so 'Mechs I fixed with GS and a knife; right now I'm gonna go to sleep.

Best thing you can do is play a few small pick up games first. Get the feel for the rules and how it all works. Total warfare has different mission types you can do in the back, so feel free to mix it up a bit. Get a feel for how it works now before you dive into a campaign.

If you are going to continue playing for a while, I advise you pick up heavy metal one way or another. It is a program that lets you design different mechs. If you don't want to deal with that though, you can always pick up another book (Tech Manual) which has the complete rules for designing multiple unit types (mechs, vees, BA, protos).

There is a third book out there called Tactical Operations which deals with some advanced (but also very fun) rules. Stuff like your fusion engine going critical after your mechs takes 2 engine hits in the same round.

Finally the 4th book which I think is soon to be published is called Strategic Operations. This book deals with big huge campaigns and a whole bunch of other things.

If you want any help with anything (other than painting and all that jazz) send me a PM and I will see what I can do. Don't be stuck with just past mechs and old tech. There is a lot of fun to be had in the higher levels of rules.

Also there are free online versions of Battletech out there. They use java to run, and do a pretty good job (barring stupid drama and other things that comes with online games with other people).

[iamfanboy]

Oh, I've been looking at the newer stuff, and when it comes time to run a campaign for some players I'll use it, but for myself I'm just fond of the good ol'fashioned stuff.

Well, until they actually DO come out with the Clan 'Mech starter set. I'll be all over that thing like stink on a Smoke Jaguar.

As general notes, I found that the plastic actually REJECTS glue and Greenstuff; it's too smooth or something for the glue/GS to anchor to the surface. So what I decided to do was cut a crosshatch pattern into the surface of any area that I had to glue or GS, and that worked wonders after that.


The Griffin wasn't hard but has always looked boring to me, so I decided to cut his arm free and repose it, with the help of a 40k plasma pistol (the hand was an absolute ruin after cutting the arm from the waist). The Greenstuff mostly went towards flattening out the 'dips' in the armor - I'm sorry, but Battlemech armor should be FLAT unless it's supposed to be curved, like the Goshawk.


Ditto the Shadowhawk on an arm reposition and a bit of GS to flatten out dips, but I decided to use more GS to anchor his shoulder-gun. One of the biggest problems I remember having with my unseen SHDs was the way those bloody shoulderguns would break off at the drop of a hat, so I'm taking steps to forestall that. Hopefully.


Two more arm repositions. The plastic Thunderbolts are the worst offenders when it comes to having armor dips and outright holes (witness my pic in the first post!) so I had to go to some effort to fix that. The Phoenix Hawk actually comes out of the molds very well, but I'm going to be doing arm repositions on all the PXH's that I have, which means resculpting the right knee as in this shot. One of them I'm even planning to model as though he's about to land after a jump; THAT would be bloody impossible to do in metal.


The Archers are... boring. Essential to any good strategy, but boring. I think I may look into modeling at least one of them as though he's just launched a flight of missiles with the help of steel wool to represent smoke, and have the other one crouching with a slight torso twist. (I don't know why, but just thinking about that posture makes me imagine Morgan Kell and the scene when he's defending Luthien on a hilltop, taunting the Jags by dodging everything that gets sent his way...)


I am going to be fighting this Warhammer every step of the way, i can already tell. Not only is it one of the aforementioned models where the plastic surface peels away, and the enamel paint I used as a n00b isn't coming off the recesses, but it's so badly cast that I've basically had to resculpt the SRM6 and the searchlight, along with enhancing great sections of its armor and actually cutting the gap between the R/L and Center torso wider. And I'm STILL going to have to do some more work on the SRM6 once the current layer of GS cures all the way.


So, yeah. That about completes one stage of work. Next stage I think I'll redo my Battlemasters, finish up the plastic Marauder, fix the autocannon on my metal Orion (it looks like someone used it as a pencil!) and continue working on this damned Warhammer. I think I'm going to sculpt one BLR an LRM-rack on his right hand, do another as a two-fisted PPC carrier (cutting out the SRM rack to do it) and the last as a stock BLR.

[Yarick Zan]

Nice work so far. I might want to warn you about a few things though.

1) Plasma weapons do actually exist in Battletech now. The Inner Sphere version does armor damage and heat. The Clan version does heat.

2) Hand held weapons do exist as well. They do have some pretty big drawbacks too though.

[iamfanboy]

Thanks for the replies, everyone! This post is conversion-heavy; I decided that after a few basic things I feel comfortable with the plastic and I started working on a few conversions that I've always had in mind. A jumping PXH, an Archer launching missiles, and the trial of my Wasp-to-Valkyrie.



Man, the Locust always WAS a nightmare in plastic; the legs are insanely easy to break and there's always a huge gap between the body and left leg. I'm still trying to decide if I want to GS his foot more heavily or not.


The autocannon looked like a pencil that had been through one too many math tests before I added an extra length of GS to it. Sadly, the AC is still a bit crooked from one side because the GS-roll wasn't perfectly round, so I'll have to add to it a bit.



It's only raised a bit off the ground to make sure the pins in the feet aren't bloody obvious, but it took a fair bit of work. Had to cut off both legs from the body, then off the base, and I cut off too much of his feet so I had to GS them a bit larger. The smoke is created with steel wool.


I cut my middle fingernail almost in half getting this bastich off the base, and broke his left arm off too. Cut him at the knees and the waist as well to accomplish the full effect of twisting and crouching.

[iamfanboy]

Smoke created with steel wool here as well. Other than that, a pure stock Archer stance. Thought about rocking him back some though.


This is my rough Wasp-to-Valkyrie conversion - I picked the one with broken antennae as my rough attempt so if I messed up I wouldn't lose the delicate parts. The only real challenge is what the hell to do with the laser arm - I'm tempted to just cut the whole thing off and use something from the GW bits I've got as a base for a new arm. Maybe cut down a lasgun or something.

Now, last but hardly least...

What do you think I should make these cast-iron vehicles into? I'm tempted to make the type on the left into Packrats, with maybe one as a MASH; but the one on the right and the middle (which is the same thing, just with the cannon broken off) elude me as to what to make of them. Manticores? Or Bulldogs? Or the Rommel/Patton (though I've never much liked those vehicles)?

Do you guys have any better suggestions?

[Yarick Zan]

See that is one reason I don't like plastic with battletech figures. It doesn't work really well when trying to convert. For your jumping Pixie might I suggest you use the expanding insulation foam (around here it comes in a spray can and is called Good Stuff) and painting it up to look like exhaust from jump jets.

It can also work very well for exhaust from a missile flying.

Also the two tanks I think are Rommel/Pattons.

[nanktank]

I love battletech and all that it entails. I cant wait to see how you paint these figures.

[dave8oy]

nice to see the old kenner megaforce tanks been uesd still have a load of them in the loft somwhere they were great toys :-)

[iamfanboy]

nice to see the old kenner megaforce tanks been uesd still have a load of them in the loft somwhere they were great toys :-)

Kenner Mega Force! THAT was it!

Wow, thanks for telling me! i've been trying like hell to remember what they were called; I've got a ton of them and they're perfectly scaled to Battletech!

I wish I knew what had happened to all of them; these days I have only a small fragment of the collection I knew I once had.

I'm gonna have to see if I can hunt up some of the attack copters, and maybe more of the tanks.


Yeah, I've already decided how I'm going to paint them; because I have around 40 'Mechs currently I'm going to split them into three companies: Crucis Lancers, Sword of Light, and my merc regiment the White Hats. But then, I have to decide HOW I'm going to paint them...

Tomorrow I'll post an update; I've been working the last couple of days and haven't had the chance to really sink my teeth into my battletech minis.

[dave8oy]

the vtols should work as well :-)

[Yarick Zan]

In my project log that I recently started I have a few battletech minis that I have painted up. So far I have only done a Champion, a Grizzly, and a Stormcrow. No real converting on them as of yet, but I plan to magnetize some of them.

Anyways check it out if you want to.

http://warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=195614

[iamfanboy]

Whew. OK, after losing my camera's USB cord (before I started this thread, mind you) I decided to buy a USB adapter to just let me plug the camera's memory card into my computer.... then I lose the MEMORY CARD FOR TWO DAYS, when I had more pictures to take!

Fortunately, it gave me the time to practically finish all the minis I had left!


This Phoenix hawk I intended to recut originally so that it was crouching, with its feet in the same position as before - but unfortunately, that didn't work, so I had to adapt and overcome and.... I like the result. I like it a LOT. I like it so much that I'm going to do much the same to my first Phoenix Hawk, that I was originally going to leave as stock but now - no. Here they are, side by side.



My Wasps-to-Valkyries conversion went better than I could have expected, once I found the perfect right arm ( 40k Imperial Guard lasguns, cut down to size). Unfortunately, the left arm in that position leaves me very little in the way of conversion options, but I did do one as though he was looking to the right and aiming:

And one as though he's either taking off or landing from a jump. (after the success of my first jumper, how could I pass it up?)

Because the VLK has jumpjets in its back as well as its feet, I added some steel wool to the back - coincidentally covering up a nasty mold hole.


I have more pics, but that's for later because I need to sleep now. Sleeeeeeeeeep....

[Yarick Zan]

Love the converting, though not so much loving the steel wool.

I was looking on the classic battletech forums and a person had used the expanding insulation foam called Great Stuff to great effect for jump jets and flame throwers. I advise using it, then painting it up instead of steel wool.

Here is a picture of what the can would look like. It should be easily available at any hardware store.
http://www.idealtruevalue.com/catalog/MH770776.jpg

[Yarick Zan]

Wanted to see how this was going if at all any more? I also wanted to let you know there is a new megamek server up (it's essentially online battletech).

http://www.mekwarslegends.com/Home_Page.html

[iamfanboy]

Ah. Me, I kinda went over to the CBT forums largely for a while, but now I decided to come back here and show... painted 'Mechs.

First up, my Seventh Sword of Light company:


Just a background made out of my old Warhammer 40k jungle trees and some hills I made from foam.

Command Lance:

Yes, that is a Stinger Tai-i Adachi's Atlas is standing on. Here's two WIP pics to show how I changed the rather skinny CBT Intro Box Set Atlas into a BIG MEAN MACHINE.



The GS sculpting was surprisingly easy, too easy in fact - it left me delusional about how easy it was gonna be to sculpt other 'Mechs... *sigh*

Attack Lance:

I kinda went a little crazy on jeweling the BLR's cockpit, but as the 'natural' light source proves, I got the main spot right-on.

Recon Lance:

That Griffin was a lot of fun to convert, and fortunately didn't paint up too badly. Yes, that's a Space Marine plasma pistol in his hand; because of the angle it's hard to tell though.


Next up, Crucis Lancers!

[Bloodknight]

I love the way you do the cockpits.

Question about the Atlas: what set is he from? I have an Atlas (probably 15 years old) that is a big hunk of metal, this one is pretty lanky.

[iamfanboy]

I love the way you do the cockpits.

Question about the Atlas: what set is he from? I have an Atlas (probably 15 years old) that is a big hunk of metal, this one is pretty lanky.

Oh, haven't you heard?

There's a new starter boxed set out with 24 plastic Battlemechs in it, of which the Atlas is one. While there are some funky size issues with a couple of the 'Mechs, and several of them aren't fit to be used AT ALL unless you've got no alternative (see below pic of the Hunchback and Trebuchet included in the set), it's not a bad buy at all. I'm quite happy with it.

Plus it comes with a HUGE, full-color map of the Inner Sphere, and lots of other goodies.