Heavy Gear Southern Infantry Stands

Having finished off a platoon of infantry for the Heavy Gear Northern faction last week, I couldn't resist doing the same for the Southern faction as soon as I could get around to them.

Each platoon pack contains 40 miniatures and 12 stands. There aren't a lot of different poses, but the figures are so incredibly small, pose diversity isn't very important...everything looks the same from table-distance!

Anyway, I painted these guys up to mix with the Heavy Gears I'd painted for the Southern Faction last month...I think they make a pretty good match. Here are the infantry stands along with some Southern Gears.

OK, time to get back to some Warmachine stuff, I think...so...

'Til next time.

Heavy Gear Northern Infantry Stands

I enjoyed painted those Heavy Gear mechs a few weeks back, so I decided to get a couple of packs of infantry to go along with them. I bought a platoon of Northern and Southern infantry.

I started with the Northern platoon.

Now, these are 12mm models, so they are quite small. While the sculpts are quite good, it's hard to see the detail. Given that, I did not concentrate on picking out all the belts, boots, gizmos and so on. I just highlighted the helmet and picked out the shoulder pads with the Northern green accent color.

Here are the infantry stands with a few of the mech models to show relative size. A good project for the week that Titanfall was released!

I may do the Southern infantry next, or may go back to some Warmachine...we'll see.

'Til next time!

Heavy Gear...Northern Forces: Step-by-Step

Going through the Heavy Gear model lot I purchased from Jarrett a few weeks back, I counted 15 Northern forces gears. Well, no time like the present to build and paint these. First came construction. As I mentioned in my last post, these little models have a lot of parts, but once they're together, they're pretty cool. After cleaning the mould lines and flow gates, and assembling these guys...here are the 15 models. They represent 3 Headhunters, 10 Hunters and 2 Grizzlies. 

I like to base models before priming.

Primed black.

The first spray layer was German Dark Yellow. It was a fairly heavy overspray, but bits of black can still be found in the deep recesses.

The next paint layer was a down-spray of Sand.

As I did with the Southern Gears last week, I laid down a fairly heavy wash at this point. I used Vallejo Sepia.

Next came the highlighting pass, which was done with a mix of Sand and White.

The next step was once again quite time-intensive. I did a specular highlight pass with a small brush, and then added in the green accent pass. Guns and engines also got a coat of Reaper Blackened Steel. Then I applied a heavy spray of floor wax, followed by decal application.

Finally, the models got a sealing spray of Testors Dullcoat, the metal was highlighted with GW Chainmail and the bases were finished off. 15 new Gears! Yay! Now to come up with a rule set for these models that's worth a damn.

Another event this week was a session of Elliot's Iron Kingdoms Role Playing Game. Playing were Lee, Casper and myself. It was an interesting session...we found a mechanism that allowed Casper to transfer is Ogryn's soul and mind into a Warjack. Seeing as Casper's character is a 'jack marshal, we're looking forward to seeing a 'jack marshalling another 'jack!

'Til next time!

Heavy Gear...Southern Forces: Step-by-Step

Heavy Gear?!? Yup. I've liked the aesthetics of these models for a long time, but have never taken the plunge...until now.

Local (awesome) hobbyist and painter, Jarrett Lee, has recently been selling off his backlogged inventory of un-started and partially-started projects. I bought his collection of Heavy Gear miniatures, a couple of which were already painted.

There were over 25 models in the collection; a mix of Northern and Southern Heavy Gears. Jarrett had painted four of the Southern Forces Gears. And here they are...

I separated out all of the remaining Southern Gears and got to work building them. They are sweet little models (1/144 scale). For reference, the bases on these figures are 1" across. The models are about the size of 40K Space Marines.

Each model consists of 8 to 10 parts, and honestly...each part requires mould line cleaning.

So...I had an interesting challenge in front of me. I wanted to match Jarrett's painting style on these new Gears, but I didn't have Jarrett's paint list. He was also using an exaggerated highlighting style, which really works well on these small models. Going through the process of matching Jarrett's style was a good exercise for me. I'm very timid when it comes to exaggerating color modulation. Being forced to paint super-strong highlights turned out to be a worthwhile experience.

Anyway, I started with a black undercoat. As I planned out the layers of color I'd use on the models, I realized I was over-thinking the problem...but better to have too many layers of color than too few.

Next was an over-spray of Vallejo Model Air Intermediate Blue.

Then a downspray of US Intermediate Blue.

Next came another down-spray...this time with US Blue Grey.

As I looked at the models at this point, I realized Jarrett's had a much starker shift from dark to light colors on his models. So, I went in and deepened the shadows on mine with a blue-black wash.

I then sprayed on the highlights, which started with Pale Grey Blue. I then mixed in some White for the final highlight pass.

The next step was time-consuming. I went in with a brush and added all the specular highlights with the Pale Grey Blue/White mix. I also base coated the guns with Reaper Blackened Metal, and added the red accents with GW's Scab Red and Blood Red.

In this photo, you can see one of Jarrett's models in the middle, and then my models. I didn't achieve quite the stark modulation that Jarrett did, but I'm happy with how close I got in the attempt.

After applying a protective coat of Future Floor Wax, adding the decals, sealing with Testor's Dullcoat, applying highlights to the weapons and finishing off the bases...my seven new Gears (and two robot drones) were complete.

Here are Jarrett's original models mixed in with my copies. I re-did Jarrett's bases to blend in with mine. A close enough match all around...and now I have the core of a Southern Gear force!

Back sides of the models.

This was a fun project, and actually didn't take too long. Next up, I have a stack of unbuilt Northern Gears. Time to get to work!

'Til next time.