Wednesday 6 June 2012

Armorcast Mystery Machine and Wrecked Car

A while ago I mentioned that I had bought the Armorcast 28mm scale Mystery Machine van, along with an extra one for my friend Joe/Zabadak. See here for his enthusiastic review of it http://zabadakszombieworld.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/bits-pieces.html
I thought it was about time that I do my own review of it. The Mystery Machine is sold as set ACAU001 Clue Contraption Hippie Van. At the same time as I ordered the two vans I also ordered set ACCS020 Wrecked Import 1. Here they are.
 I have included my figure of Vampifan in all six photos purely for scale purposes.
The Mystery Machine came in five parts, with the four wheels being separate from the body. The wrecked car came in two parts. The large I-beam girder was a separate piece that had to be glued in place. I suppose it could be left off, but I think it looks more dramatic with it on.
Armorcast are an American company (you can tell by the way they spell "armor"), which is why they have described the wrecked car as an import. I'm afraid I am absolutely hopeless when it comes to car recognition, so I can't identify the make of this model, although I'm certain it is based on a real life design. Perhaps one of you can let me know which car this is modelled on. Incidentally, in case you're wondering I do not drive and nor do I have any desire to learn how to.
Doesn't the Mystery Machine look small? And yet it is in scale. Obviously, you can paint it any colour you want but it's going to be really hard to get away from the Scooby Doo influence. For me, there was never any doubt that I'd paint it in the Mystery Machine colours. I did question my ability to paint the words "THE MYSTERY MACHINE" accurately and the same size on the sides of two vans, so I cheated! I had a 28mm scale colour paper model of the van that I'd downloaded from the Interweb, so I printed out two copies of it and then carefully cut out the logos to stick on to the sides of the resin models. Job's a good 'un as far as I'm concerned.
This photo above shows the number plates of both vehicles. I'm not sure what the actual registration number of the Mystery Machine should be, so I came up with SC 00 BY to spell out the word "Scooby." The registration of the wrecked car is VWM 562 and I decided that VWM should stand for Very Wrecked Motor!
Both vehicles are sculpted in resin and are nicely detailed. Incidentally, I painted the wrecked car in Foundry Spearpoint (i.e. silver) with a hint of Anita's Acryllic Metallic Sapphire to give it that nice silvery-blue shade. I'm very happy with the way it's turned out.
To give it its official name, the Clue Contraption Hippie Van costs $12.00, whilst Wrecked Import 1 costs just $8.00. If you own the Hasslefree not-Scooby Gang, you're going to want to get the not-Mystery Machine to go with them. Armorcast are selling the van with the Scooby Gang for $35.00 but be warned their Scooby Doo is not the Hasslefree figure but the Beaumont Miniatures Buster the Scaredy Dog, a much inferior figure. Incidentally, Kevin White, Hasslefree's sculptor, has recently made a set of armed Scooby Gang figures. They are very nice figures and ideal for those of you who want to use the Scooby Gang in a post-apocalypse setting. I'll be buying them as soon as they go on sale. Suffice to say, a review will follow.

47 comments:

  1. I really like the crushed car! An excellent addition for an apocalypse!!

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    1. Thanks, Carl. Wrecked cars are just what you want to add to a zombie apocalypse gaming board.

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  2. Great job on the Mystery Machine and I really like the crushed import. That will look especially nice near one of your ruins.

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  3. Great job on the vehicles Bryan, especialy the Scooby van !

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    1. I'm happy with the paintjobs on both vehicles, TE. It made a nice change to painting figures all the time.

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  4. Hey Bryan, good review, but I think your paintjob on the Mystery Machine is not as good as my one (teehee)

    I think you're spot on with your identification of the wreck as a car too (even though I drive I can't tell one car from another these days either). Spot on paintjob on the car though.

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    1. Damn! I meant to keep that one for myself!

      Thanks, Joe. I identify cars by their colour. How sad is that?

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  5. Great looking vehicles. I really like the colouring you got on the crushed car. The Mystery Machine looks great too, and probably took more effort, but the crushed car's colouring just looks so much like a real car.
    Great job.

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    1. I know what you mean about the colours, Adam. The Mystery Machine is based on a cartoon, after all, so of course it doesn't look that realistic, in comparison with the wrecked car.

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  6. The wrecked car is REALLY amazing painted. Make me thinking buying 2 or 3 (could swap glider for other heavy stuff to crush it).

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    1. Exactly, Ulu. Why limit yourself to one? Even without the girder on, the model looks good.

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  7. Two wonderful additions and brilliantly done! The metallic paint job of the crushed car certainly looks spot on to me, but you can't beat those instantly recognisably colours of the 'Mystery Machine'. Great job Sir!

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    1. Thank you, Michael. Even without the words "The Mystery Machine" emblazoned on the sides, you couldn't mistake it for anything else.

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  8. damn fine work sir! VtG strikes again!

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  9. I have to agree, they're both great, especially the wrecked one. Great paintjob and great model as it is. My guess is, they just crushed a die cast car and cast it in resin. Can't help you more with a model of the car, Im afraid.

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    1. Many thanks, Mathyoo. I did think with having so many followers someone would be able to identify what make the wrecked car is. And don't be a wiseass and say Armorcast!

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  10. Love the compleatly unsubtle RSJ on the wrecked car. Nice one.

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    1. It sure is unsubtle, isn't it? Thanks, Clint.

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  11. While I like the fact that the mystery machine is in scale...It just seem a bit...Of to me. I am having trouble putting my finger on it. Maybe as you say it looks a bit small...

    Now the late TOYOTA is brilliant! How about placing a zombie/dead guy instead of the girder? And yes...He would make THAT big an impact if he fell long enough. The roof of the car completely crumbles by an impact like that.

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    1. When I first received the Mystery Machine I was expecting something bigger but research shows that it is correctly sized for 28mm scale.

      Your idea of replacing the girder with a corpse on the wrecked Toyota (oh, well done in identifying it!) is sheer genius, Johnny. I was just watching "Underworld: Awakening" on DVD at the weekend and Selene drops a bad guy out of a high rise building. He lands on top of a car and you're right about the roof crumpling on impact.

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    2. I win a cookie! We have a lot of Toyota here in Denmark, and that was the first I thought of as I saw the car.

      Now I am thinking of doing a body on a car too hehe....

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    3. Go for it, Johnny. You know you want to!

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    4. I was thinking it was a Toyota too... I think its based on a 7th Generation Celica...

      Love the mystery Machine too... might have to get one of those to go with Hasslefree's kitted out 'not' Scooby gang :P

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    5. Thanks, Avicenna. I really do appreciate your input. If you have Hasslefree's not-Scooby Gang, I'd say this is a must-have purchase.

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  12. Fantastic! I'm excited to see The Mystery Machine all painted up. I had a similar idea about painting the van, I plan to make stencils from the papercraft plans. We'll see how that comes out...

    Have you seen pictures of the Scooby Gang as survivors? I cannot find them for anything :/

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    1. Best of luck with your own Mystery Machine, Varangian.

      The new sculpts of the Scooby Gang as survivors appeared somewher on the Forum of Doom. I can't remember where. You could also try the HF page on Facebook. That ought to show them.

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  13. Cracking job Bryan on both vehicles like your idea of printing off the van panels! Excellent idea

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    1. Thanks, Simon. Printing off the side panels for the Mystery Machine turned out well and I'm glad I thought of it. Hey, why make life hard for yourself?

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  14. The Scooby van is brilliant but the wreck is the best if that makes sense!

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    1. Thanks, Fran, and yes, I do know what you mean.

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  15. I'm sure Scooby and pals would lurv the van!!

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    1. Do you think they'll like it more than a giant-sized Scooby Snack, Ray?

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    2. Nothing beats a Scooby Snack. They'd take that hands down.

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    3. Yeah, I think you're right, Charles.

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  16. Vampi you can make your own crushed cars with die cast. Check my blog back in july 2011, I have a pic there.

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    1. I remember that article you did, PS. I bet bashing the cars is so therapeutic.

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  17. Fab. Has Vampifan lost sosme weight?

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    1. It's possible, Irqan. It might have something to do with running around being chased by zombies all the time. It certainly helps keep you fit!

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  18. The car is a Celica in the States.

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  19. That's amazing, good cheating with the logo :-P

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