This is a project I am doing for a Group Build on the Mig Forum.
The subject I have chosen is because I wanted to have to do something I have never done before, and it would allow me to experiment with/learn/refine various skills and techniques....all the while having fun, and not sweating the errors and the small stuff.
The theme for my project is "The Third Reconquista", and the premiseI have come up with is as follows:
"With Hitler?s pre-emptive suicide, leadership seceded to the more competent Wehrmacht generals. The generals quickly assume command and make strategic tactical decisions. Unleashing fighting vehicles they have been developing in secret facilities over the last 5 years, they are able to shock and surprise the unsuspecting Soviet forces, bringing their advance to a halt and pushing them back into Poland. In the west the allied invasion has stalled, and is faltering. Austrian forces have pushed their way back into northern Italy.
Needing a new front to drain resources from the Reich, Russian advisors and instigators infiltrate Spain, and begin organizing the old Republican forces. Having suffered under the oppression of Franco, the remaining commanders and fighters are able to put aside their differences, and launch a joint , though not well orchestrated, series of uprisings against the Nationalist forces. The most serious of these uprisings occurs once again in Barcelona, where the CNT (Confederacion Nacional Trabajo) and the FAI (Federacion Anarquista Iberica) , supplied covertly by sea with Soviet small arms, engage Nationalist regulars in bitter street fighting, and begin to take a foothold along the port, industrial areas, and in the older sections of the city.
The Wehrmacht generals seeing the danger of the uprising, and that Franco?s regulars are unable to effectively combat it, try to pressure Franco to allow the deployment of German troops to the city. Franco and the cabinet fiercely object, but counter with an alternate solution; he re-forms the Legion Azul, and allows for its operation on Spanish soil. Having proven themselves in bitter fighting on the Eastern Front, and in the defense of Berlin, the German commanders are well aware of the legions capabilities and toughness, and agree to arm and equip them. It soon becomes apparent though, that most of the current standard armored vehicles cannot operate effectively in the tight quarters where the Republican forces have taken hold. This forces the embedded German advisors to requisition from Berlin, advanced reconnaissance and urban combat fighting machines, for the Legion.
Though they prove highly efficient in the warren of streets, alleys and buildings, the Republican forces more familiar with the areas manage to capture several of the units, and employ them against the Nationalists?
?. "
OK here we go.
A few facts.....I am a complete sci-fi virgin. Other than the models I've seen from the guys here, I probably wouldn't know sci-fi if it fell on my head.
My closest exposure was building the Revell lunar lander when I was 5, and seeing the original Star Wars when I it came out.........and maybe a Syd Mead and Frazetta book....and of course a few 'Heavy Metal' mags hidden behind the toilet tank when I was middle school.
My reason for doing this build is to try something completely new and foreign to me...and to try some modeling ideas/techniques for the dio base.
I am also a bit limited on time for the build because of other stuff going, but I was so inspired by what I saw being done on the Hetzer GBbuild, and the sci fi stuff that has been show here in the forum, I felt I really wanted to try to work this in.
Because of my lack of sci-fi genes, I am going to use the Star wars AT walker as the strating point....and some other misc partially built kits for donor parts....as well as a lot of scratchbuilding and putty.
I know a lot of you are cringing tha I am going to defile those kits...but don't worry...they are only Dragon kits...so no big loss. (the Tasca "Luchs" is a project I was doing an interior scratchbuild on..but got bored)...and I thought this walker being a "Spaeh" vehicle...it would have good donor parts.
This is the initial "massing" direction I am thinking of going.
I am not happy with the legs the way they are in the kit, so they will be heavily rebiuilt, and hopefully made articulating so I can get a better pose to fit the final scene.
So far some rough basic cuts ahve been made on the AT body, and the Luchs turret has been narrowed 9 scale inches in width. I eventually want to represent the body as a composite of cast iron "hull"...with bolted top and rear panels, and drivers compartment panel.
It has been scaled out as a two person vehicle. one being commander/3.7 cm gunner...the other being driver/2cm gunner. The driver sits in the front where the current "star wars" surface pattern is still evident...but will be removed. I also need to ad a short vented "engine deck" at the rear, as well as assorted ports and cooling openings to the body......hopefully I will be able to loose any most all resemblanceto the AT walker in the end
...so this is where I think I am going.
Marc
