More Old Crow Vehicles

 I have not done much in these past weeks.  Quite simply I have not been inspired to do anything.  However, I did manage to take some photos of some very old paint jobs that I did years ago for my Old Crow vehicles.  These were some of the first I did, in a Hammers Slammers metallic scheme.  I don't play that system, nor have I read the books, but I liked the idea of a metallic vehicle pool all the same.

Old Crow 15mm Hover Vehicles

These were mostly airbrushed with Vallejo Model Air Chrome and weathered with Tamiya pigments.  Stowage was added to cover mistakes and small casting defects.  I painted these over a period of years, so there is some differences between the vehicles (I am not always consistent in my techniques).  In particular on some of the vehicles I did an overall wash with thinned Polyshades Tudor, resulting in a slightly darker appearance vs the hover tanks.  

Old Crow Slingshot AFV with Missile Launcher turret & Blower Hover Tank

Some of the vehicles had very bad mold lines that I was unable to clean up.  This was very uncharacteristic of Old Crow quality.  

The Blower hover tanks are not to the proper Hammers Slammers scale.  But that is fine with me personally.  I do have two of the large Blower tanks from Brigade Models.  Those will appear in another post.

Support Vehicles

I have a huge decal pool to choose from but none were from the Slammers range.  This is of no matter really since I dont play in that universe.  This vehicle pool is normally assigned to either my GZG Mercenaries or my Laserburn Imperial Troops.  

Old Crow Slingshot AFV

I added GZG turrets you the Gladius vehicles. In hindsight I think I should have installed them forward in place of the hatch. Oh well. 

Old Crow Glaive Hover APCs

This brings my painted Old Crow vehicle pool to 96 models.  

15mm Sci Fi - Old Crow Provider Transports aka Space Trucks!

 Yesterday I had (you guessed it), more free time.  So I decided it was a good opportunity to finish off the last of my Old Crow vehicles, three wheeled Provider Transports.

Provider Transports deliver vital supplies to the distant US Marine outposts on the planet Glory. 
The fight against Space Communism requires a never ending stream of beans and bullets.

Join the US Star Marines and fight for freedom across the galaxy and defend against alien invaders!

There is a saying: Amateurs study tactics; Professionals study Logistics.  While its great to have tons of combat vehicles, transports and logistics vehicles are also very important (game-wise).  They provide excellent objectives, to both save, capture and or destroy, turning an otherwise boring meeting engagement into something actually interesting.

The ADATS (Air Defense/Anti-Tank System) provides protection against attacks from the Democratic People's Republic of Glory's aerospace forces (DPRG). 
Communist aggression must be thwarted!

The missile system is removable and easily replaced with cargo containers.

Ammunition must be unloaded and secured.  It will be used soon.  Medical bots prepare to load wounded heroes for return to rear area hospitals.  

The vehicles were painted in the same scheme as my US Tomorrow's War forces.  The blog post can be found here: 

Small Soldiers - Fight! Win! : 15mm Sci Fi - Tomorrows War US Army Armored Vehicles (darebearsminiemporium.blogspot.com)

The convoy CO oversees all aspects of the delivery.  
"Fuel and ammunition are needed!  Move quickly!  Hurry!"

The cargo pods are of course removable.  

Aerial Drones keep watch from above and beyond....

Another productive mid-week.

15mm Sci Fi - Old Crow 6mm Buildings

Last night I had some free time available (on a Monday no less), so making use of that I managed to bang off more of my WIP pile: several Old Crow 6mm buildings that I had lying around, specifically a habitation block and two communication towers.

Venturan Star Marines patrol the Endurium fuel processing plant on Hades III

    I have found that certain Old Crow 6mm buildings work very well at 15mm scale, specifically as both scatter terrain and as smaller specialized buildings (communication hubs, power units, ect).  Typically I paint these in my standard sci fi building pattern: Tamiya Medium Grey, highlighted with Tamiya Royal Light Grey and Vallejo White Grey.  

The buildings scale well enough, and many are modular so you can attach additional blocks if you wish.  

Warbots provide the squad with the necessary heavy firepower.

Endurium is vital to interstellar travel.

 Now I have to start working on the huge pile of Brigade Models vehicles and buildings that I got during their Christmas 2021 sale.  Stay tuned.  

15mm Sci Fi - Old Crow JagdLancer Tank Destroyer & Lancer Heavy Tank

Happy New Year folks!  Over the holidays I managed little painting.  However, I did manage to bang off the last of my Space Nazi force: Old Crow Lancer Tanks and JagdLancer Tank Destroyers.

The Lancer MBT is simply a Sabre Tank hull mounted on the Lancer Heavy APC.  Old Crow sells the turrets separately for this very conversion.  Available in tracked, hover or grav versions, it makes a convincing sci-fi tank.  My top deck stowage is removable of course.  

The JagdLancer is a vehicle that is available, but it does not appear on Jez's old web site.  It is one of those hidden gems that you just "need to know exists".    The heavy tanks will likely become my King Tigers in World of Tanks, whereas regular Sabre tanks will stand in for regular Tiger tanks.

The barrels are from GZG.  The actual barrels that Old Crow provides are fine, but are very stubby.  I had these lying around and thought they fit better with my concept for the vehicle.  In World of Tanks terms, these could be JagdTigers or JagdPanzer E100s.

JagdLancer from Old Crow

Lancer Heavy Tank from Old Crow

This year I will be focusing less on figures and more on vehicles.  I have a ton from Brigade Models to paint up, as well as miniatures from World of Tanks.

15mm Sci Fi - Old Crow Apartments

I guess this could be considered Old Crow Week.  

Sadly, Old Crow makes only two buildings at 1:100 scale: a large apartment block and a smaller one.  As usual however, their quality is superb.  I have two of the large and 4 of the smaller ones.  They paint up quickly and are suitably generic for just about any setting.

Each side of the buildings have a different frontage.  

Old Crow Small Apartment Block.

The buildings themselves were painted with Tamiya Medium Grey, then accented with other warm greys and finally highlighted with Vallejo Grey White.  Nothing fancy.

Old Crow Large Apartment Block

I used Vallejo pigments (in a dry form) to weather the buildings, giving them a grungy look, fitting for a colony world or slum.  

15mm Sci Fi - Old Crow Drophip

 Apparently my productive streak still has some spark in it.  Today I banged off my last two Old Crow aircraft: two Crow Landers.  That makes 4 aircraft done this week.

15mm Old Crow Dropship - The Crow Lander

I will not go into the painting details.  They were done the same as the gunships.

This gives me 15 air unit of various types (jets, alien jets, saucers, ect).  

15mm Sci Fi - Old Crow Raven Gunship

Its Sunday, which means most of my family is working today.  So, with some time to spare I banged off this guy, an Old Crow Gunship, suitably modified to my specifications.

15mm Old Crow Raven Gunship

The pattern was simple:

1. Primed Black
2. Airbrushed with a basecoat of Tamiya XF-83 Med Sea Gray 2 RAF
3. Highlighted with Tamiya Sky Grey and then Vallejo Model Air Grey White.
4. Metal bits were done by hand with Tamiya Metallic Grey, while missiles were coated with thinned Model Color Off White.
5. The cockpit was my typical mix: Vallejo Game Color Black, Imperial Blue, Enchanted Blue, Electric Blue and Glacier Blue.
6. Lights were done with Vallejo Red/Scarlet Red/Bright Orange & Light Green/Lime/Yellow Green.

I have three more Old Crow birds left to paint.  Not really in the mood to bang them off though since today I hit 900 miniatures painted for this year.  Maybe in the new year.

15mm Sci Fi - The Old Crow ground vehicle WIP pile has been completed!

Yesterday I pushed through and finished off the last 4 of my Old Crow ground vehicles for my North American Confederation forces.  That makes 38 vehicles painted in less than two weeks, with my total model count for the year standing at 888 figures of all types.   

My painted vehicle pool now stands at 280 1:100 scale models of all types.

The NAC vehicle pool is comprised of Antonitis Workshop & Khurasan models.  However, they did not have any support vehicles in their pool which was a bit of a gap.  My leftover Old Crow models nicely filled this shortfall.  Later this month they will be getting a small amount of reinforcements: 3 Provider Transports (which will be dual use as both cargo carriers and as a Tac Missile Launcher and supporting Long Range Radar Vehicle, allowing me to make maximum use of all my turrets) and 1 JagdLancer Assault Gun (another vehicle type that never actually appeared for purchase on the Old Crow web site), bringing this pool to 22 vehicles in total.  

These were done in my standard "NATO  Green" scheme with my two Iwata airbrushes.  

https://darebearsminiemporium.blogspot.com/2020/10/15mm-sci-fi-tomorrows-war-us-army.html

• Primed Black
• Tamiya Black Green as the base overcoat,.
• Tamiya NATO Green on all raised areas, leaving the shade in recessed areas.
• Tamiya Cockpit Green on all upper panel centers.  
• Tamiya NATO Black on all tires and tracks.
• Tamiya Metallic Grey for all pintle mount weapons.
• Vallejo Model Color Sky Grey on the Tactical Missiles.
• Vallejo Model Color Off-White on on the missile pod warheads.
• Stowage was picked out by hand with various colors: Vallejo German Camo Beige, Vallejo Green Yellow, Vallejo German Camo Bright Green.
• Vallejo Black, Imperial Blue, Enchanted Blue, Electric Blue and Glacier Blue on vision slits.
• Vallejo Black, Red, Scarlet, Bright Orange and White on all targeting sights.
• MIG Filters: Grey for Light Green and Accumulated Dust on areas which would collect dirt.  I could have used additional filters and other washes, but I stopped here.
• Tamiya Weathering Pigments (Mud, Sand, Light Sand & Light Green).
• Alclad Flat varnish, sprayed through the airbrush as a sealer.

Normally I would have given vehicles in the scheme a wash with Polyshades Minwax Tudor.  However, this time I did not.  I relied on my airbrush to provide the necessary shading and my Filters and Weathering Pigments to do the rest.  This resulted in a very close match to the current vehicles which were done with the Tudor applied.

My reasons for this were twofold:  Old Crow models consist of large flat areas.  This geometry does not lend itself well when trying to apply a wash to the model as a whole.  Washes need to settle in recesses, of which there are few.  

Secondly, I have relied on this product for far too many years and I am trying to branch out and explore new techniques and products.  Sometimes you have to throw away the crutches and risk falling in order to walk.  

  

Next up will possibly be adding small white numbered decals to my 22 vehicles done in the red oxide scheme.  That will be hours of work which I am dreading.  I do have a small amount of characters and various beasts to complete, which will become a Christmas Holiday project and bring my painted model count to 900 figures.  Other than that, my painting for this year is more or less completed.  

I think its time to focus on game reviews and other articles of interest.  

15mm Sci Fi - Old Crow Vehicles in German Red Oxide Camo Part 2

This week has seen another milestone of me: almost the complete reduction of my Old Crow vehicle WIP pile.  This is a huge weight off my mind.  

I was debating on what to paint the last third of these vehicles.  Originally they were going to be a 4-tone PLA scheme.  However, I decided to expand my Red Oxide vehicle pool instead.  So, yesterday I banged off another 8 vehicles in the same scheme.  This brings the pool to 22 vehicles painted up.  Another 4 vehicles will be joining my American forces in a green scheme.

Small Soldiers - Fight! Win! : 15mm Sci Fi - Tomorrows War US Army Armored Vehicles (darebearsminiemporium.blogspot.com)

15mm Old Crow Vehicles

The scheme is the same as last time (that is the point).  

Small Soldiers - Fight! Win! : 15mm Sci Fi - Old Crow Vehicles in German Red Oxide Camo (darebearsminiemporium.blogspot.com)

Extra turrets are also abundant but not shown.

Monochrome schemes can be a little dull.  I make heavy use of Panel Highlighting in these cases.  Its not a realistic lighting scheme, but it works well at small scales.  Also liberal use of stowage is also a must for me.  This breaks up the model and provides interest.

Sabre MBTs and the Lancer Heavy APC

I had extra Reactive Armor blocks lying around, so I upgraded all the Claymore Heavy APCs with this defensive system.  

The Lancers will also be getting an upgrade with a different defensive system at a later date.  Thank the gods for my huge stash of bits.

I still have to paint the drive for the Mule transport (or perhaps its a Tesla?)

Top Stowage is of course removable.

Well that almost completes this vehicle pool.  I have two Old Crow vehicles left to complete in this scheme which will be a December Surprise!  

15mm Sci Fi - Old Crow Hover Vehicles in German Panzer Grey

Trimming down the vehicle WIP pile has been the main effort for this past month.  Yesterday was another productive day, with 13 vehicles painted.  

I picked these up almost one year ago from Old Crow: 15mm Slammers Blowers and Hover vehicles.  My plan was to use them for my Control Battalion forces, creating an alternative Space Nazi force.  Hopefully I succeeded.  

Initially, I was planning on doing these in blue, to match my Control Battalion troops.  After several changes of mind I went with a more suitable neutral color: Sea Grey, a slight variation on the classic German Panzer Grey.  

The scheme was simple:

1. Tamiya Grey Primer (acrylic primers do not always adhere to Old Crow resin).
2. Tamiya German Grey as a shade.
3. Tamiya Dark Sea Grey as the main base color.
4. Tamiya Light Sea Grey, the first highlight.
5. Vallejo Model Color Light Sea Grey for extreme highlights.
6. The Blowers had their lower armor skirts done in Tamiya NATO Black.  I considered leaving them grey, but that would have been far to much grey on one vehicle.  The black breaks up the monotone nature of the scheme forces the eye move around the model
7. Tamiya Metallic Grey on various bits.
8. A variety of MIG Enamel washes and Filters were used to shade the recesses of these vehicles (I need to do an article on the amazing MIG products).  Specifically I used:

• Neutral Wash & Accumulated Dust Wash.  A very thin brush and patience was all it took.  Enamel washes are surprising easy to use and clean up easily of you make a mistake.  
• Filters: Dirt, Dust, Grey for Sand Yellow.  Useful as shades and or tinting a whole color slightly  

Filters change the base color ever so slightly.  It is a very subtle effect, but works extremely well.  The Neutral Wash was perfect for Sea Grey.  Anything darker would have been far too stark.

The tac missile turret is removable, allowing me to turn the Provider Transport into a standard cargo vehicle if I so wish.  

The vehicles were weathered with Tamiya Weathering Pigments: Grey, Mud, Sand and Light Sand.  As usual, photos do not adequately show the levels of contrast and weathering on the models.  

The old-style Old Crow Support turrets are larger than the new version.  I prefer them on the Lancer APCs for two reasons: they allow me to use the heavy Gatling cannons that come with the tank turrets, they allow me to install twin missile launchers on the top.  This creates my own version of the modern Russian BMP-Terminator vehicle.  

The stowage is just tacked for now.  Not sure if I will keep it on or not.  I probably will.  

To be fair, this was not the scheme I originally planned on doing.  I had thought of doing an urban camo with stick on 15mm scale stencils that I had lying around.  However, that was just too much work and the chance of the masking leaking was too much of a risk IMO.  This color goes with a number of forces that I have painted, which works out well.  

This completes the second major vehicle project that I had in my WIP pile.  Only one more to go: another 9 Old Crow Tracked vehicles.