15mm Sci Fi - Khurasan Huntarr Sseventur Tank

This past weekend I continued my experimentation with the Vallejo Shifters Space Dust paint set, this time on vehicles.

When I ordered my Soriogs from Khurasan I was also in the market for suitable alien-looking grav tanks to go with them.  My original plan was to use Tau Crisis suits, of which I have two old and unassembled box sets of.  However, I also wanted traditional vehicles to go with them and these seemed like a good fit with the Soriog.  I was wrong.

Huntarr Tank, Soriog and GZG Colonist.

The model itself was perfect, as far as resin pieces go.  Minimal cleanup and easy assembly.  This issue was the size.  Compared to the Soriog the vehicle is too small.  This is bizarre since Khurasan is known for the size of it's vehicle models.  Of course, this is not their issue; my ignorance of the Soriog size was the issue.  On the bright side, the Crisis Suits are the perfect size for them, so I at least have that going for me.

Khurasan Huntarr Sseventur Tank

For the vehicle I did not want to use the same Electric Blue as the Soriog armor.  Don't ask why.  I was playing with the colors and this one: Green/Blue Violet, seemed like an interesting color.  Having everything the same seemed a bit silly and since the vehicles were not the right size for Soriog I felt using a different color was prudent.  It went over a Gloss Black, after which I used Vallejo Chrome to pick out details.

Now, I learned something important while doing this model, process-wise.  While doing the chrome, if I made a mistake touching up the Shifter paint was almost impossible.  The area would have to be repainted black and redone.  However, if I painted the model black first, then did the chrome areas I could then apply the Shifter paint and it would not seem to appear on the chrome areas.  Apparently it would take several coats to apply on non-glossy black undercoats.  This would have made the whole process simpler since I could have made mistakes which would have been easier to correct.  

After I painted the model I applied a thinned wash of Minwax Tudor.  This added definition and toned down the brightness.  I then applied a satin varnish.  

After varnishing I used Tamiya Weathering Master, silver and soot on the panel edges and exhaust ports.  I never weather with paint; the Weathering Master sets are easy to work with and can be rubbed off if you dont like the effect (unlike paint).

Keep in mind that if you chip metallic paint it is very hard to fix.  I did this on a gun barrel (because I am clumsy).  That is one reason I dont normally paint a lot of large metallic surfaces.

GZG Tracked Tank, Old Crow Sabre Grav Tank, Khurasan Huntarr Sseventur Tank

I have since redone the base, lowering the grav vehicle to a more reasonable height.  The acrylic cylinders I have are just too tall.  

If you thought Old Crow vehicles were big, think again.  The  Sseventur towers over everything on the battlefield.  

The poor GZG Cougar stands no chance.  

Overall I have mixed feelings about this vehicle.  The design is ok; it certainly looks alien.  I am sure it would work with smaller 15mm models.  If I didnt have a whole GZG Kra'Vak vehicle pool done I would likely use them for that force.  At the moment I am not sure what I will do with this tank and the two grav IFVs from that line (which are now done).  They are both took small for Soriog (especially the IFV (they cannot even remotely fit through the rear hatch).  Buyer Beware I guess.  Perhaps Ebay will have another of my models to sell?

This model would work well with GZG Kra'Vak, GZG Phalons, Eureka Zentarans or any other bipedal alien which is not too huge.  

The color shift is interesting, if a little subdued now.  Likely because of the wash.  I might do a targeted airbrush highlight with the original color so see if I can brighten things up.