WWG Sedan Cars

The designers at World Works Games must really like this model as it is one of their most ubiquitous vehicles, appearing as a taxi, a police car, and, in slightly modified forms, a hearse and a stretch limousine, as well as the sedan cars shown here. Hey, if you have a winning design then stick with it!

These cars appear in the Mayhem Bank set in the colour schemes shown here, blue and crimson. There is also a kitbash set of Sedan Cars designed by Bob Cooper, which offers a further eight colour schemes - black, blue (a different shade to the one shown here), green, pink (yes, honestly!), purple, red, white and yellow. I have not made any of these yet but they are on my "to do" list. I just wanted to get these two under my belt first before I start on the rest of the fleet.

As you can see, these are four-door sedan cars. You can see from this side-on view how the back of the car is raised higher than the front.

This rear view shows how the sides of the car are sloped, narrow at the top and wider at the bottom. Sadly, they both come with the same number plates. ABC123 is not the most imaginative of number plates, now is it? Still, as this is my only gripe about the model I can't grumble.

This is a fairly easy vehicle to make and I made these in two to three hours. Having made them, I can fully understand why the WWG designers like this vehicle so much. Its simple design lends itself to conversion and modification. The bigger your gaming board, the more of these you will need to populate your roads. I know myself that these two are not enough for me and I will be making the other eight variants to add to my motor pool. Next time, I'll take a look at the taxi variants of this wonderful model.

Wargames Factory Zombies 01

Anyone looking for cheap 28mm scale zombie miniatures to flesh out their horde should seriously consider this offering from Wargames Factory, an American company, who specialises in cheap plastic wargaming figures. Given how popular zombies are at the moment I was not surprised to see this set released. I held off buying them for a long time. My plan was to wait until they released the female zombies set and purchase them both together. However, when Phil, one of my blog followers, sent me a few sampler figures my resolve disintegrated and I promptly bought a set last November. These are multi-part models. You get four sprues per pack and each sprue has enough parts to make six zombies. I'll air my opinions of them at the end of the review. For now, let's look at the figures.

The two photos above show six zeds that I created. I mention this because the following photos show zombies in poses and colour schemes that I copied from the Wargames Factory website. At far left is a zombie medic/scientist, whom I painted as an African American to distinguish him from the other doctor/scientist that I made. This is the only figure whose legs and torso come as a single piece, which given his long coat makes sense. Every figure has his left arm moulded to his torso, but the right arms are separate and you have a choice of eight to choose from. Their are nine separate heads, so you have loads of options for variety. This particular zombie has had his throat ripped open.

Next in line is a zed dressed in combat pants, heavy boots and a leather waistcoat. I see him as a street gang member who came to a sticky end. He has been shot between the shoulder blades and there is a large exit wound in his throat. I made the exit wound out of modelling putty. He has also been bitten in both arms.

I did a bit of sculpting and converting on the next zombie in line - the dude in the light blue shirt and blue shorts. His right arm was one of the short-sleeved options, which did not match his long-sleeved left arm. No matter. Because his right arm was horribly chewed up (so badly that you can see bone showing through the gore) I added a small amount of modelling putty to make his right sleeve appear torn and ripped. I also bulked out his hair with modelling putty to make it longer and bulkier. The conversion I did was to cut off the foot in the lower leg he's holding in his left hand and replace it with a spare hand. Now he's holding a lower arm and hand. A dead simple conversion that anyone could do if you don't want lots of zeds holding lower legs.

The fourth figure from the left is my fat slob zombie, Wayne. The torso has a noticable paunch to it. I glued his right arm tight to his body to mirror his left arm, which has been slightly altered so that it is closer to his body. He has a diagonal cut to his right breast that runs to his left collarbone, as well as wounds to his upper right arm, lower back and the back of his right leg.

The zombie in the orange shirt is my version of a shop assistant. That's why I painted a name tag on him just above his left breast pocket. He has an orange shirt because of an unfortunate incident I had in a local Games Workshop store. I went in to buy a pot of Citadel Blazing Orange paint for the simple reason that I'd almost ran out of it. The shop assistant asked what I was painting (why do they always do that?). I replied, zombies. "Oh!" he exclaimed, "I've never heard of zombies being painted orange before!" How stupid are GW staff? No don't answer - we all know they don't get hired for having a high IQ. I could not believe how he could A) assume I was going to use the paint on my zombies just because I said I was painting zombies (couldn't I have another reason for buying it?) and B) that I would be using it for their flesh tones! What a muppet! So at least one of my zombies had to have an item of orange clothing. This bald-headed zed has had a bite taken out of his right check, been shot in the back and has lost a great deal of flesh from his lower right leg. His left foot was bare but I added a shoe to it out of modelling putty.

The zombie at the far right of the photo is my attempt at making a crawler. I used the bare-chested torso as the basis for the sculpt. I repositioned his left hand so that it lay flat on the ground to support his weight. His right arm is stretched out, grasping at someone. His entrails surrounding his lower torso were, of course, made out of modelling putty. It was another easy conversion. The fun part was painting his entrails. 

As I mentioned earlier, I took my inspiration for these six figures from the Wargames Factory website. I must admit that the twelve figures that they were showcasing are painted to the very highest standard by Andrew Taylor. However, having just visited the website, I note with sadness that these six are no longer up for view. I'm glad I saved the pics of them when I did! I have used a very similar paint scheme on my own figures but my execution is not to the same standard. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with the way that I paint. I paint my figures for use on the gaming table not for winning competitions or being stuck in a display cabinet.

I won't dwell too long on each figure shown in the two photos above.

From left to right we begin with the first of two zombies wearing short trousers. Next up is a bald-headed and bare-footed zed carrying a severed lower leg. To his left is a zed in camouflage pants and black vest (some sort of military type?). Then comes the second doctor/scientist of the horde. Note the bearded head. The zombie dressed all in blue could have been a cop or more likely, a security guard. Finally, is the second of the zeds wearing shorts in this particular batch. He is naked from the waist up and wears a cool pair of sunglasses.

The poses and colour schemes for these final six zombies were also copied directly from those that appear on the Wargames Factory website. These are the six figures painted by Andrew Taylor that are currently on the WF website. Once again, I'll just briefly describe each figure in the two photos above. At far left is another possible streetgang member. Next to him is a rare zombie wearing glasses. Nice to have that option! Next up are a pair of zeds dressed in short trousers. The zombie wearing nothing more that his pyjama trousers is quite cool. I like him just because he stands out from the crowd. And finally, I love the fact that the zed in the long coat looks like he's stepped out of an old hardware shop. Just ask him if he sells fork handles! (Fans of The Two Ronnies will get that joke straight away.)
You can visit the Wargames Factory website here at- http://www.wargamesfactory.com/_product_16676/Zombie_Horde A set of 24 zombies costs $17.95 and additional sprues can be bought for $5.00 per sprue. Instead of purchasing them direct I searched the Interweb for a UK-based retailer and found one at modelsforsale.com where they cost me just £11.57. That works out at less than 50p per figure, which really is terrific value. With so many possible poses you can build a large zombie horde in no time at all.
On the whole, I like these figures. I've made and painted 18 out of the 24. I'm holding the rest back for possible conversions. They go together very well and scale-wise they will fit in well with most other 28mm scale zombie miniatures. However, I do have a few niggles with them, but nothing major. First up, surface detail could be stronger. It takes a good paintjob to make these chaps come to life. Be aware, if you slap your paint on too thickly you'll obscure the detail totally! Second up, I wish the left arms were separate from the torsos to give even more options for poses. Yes, I know that being plastic, it is easy enough to cut the left arms off with a sharp craftknife but I'd still have liked to have seen them with separate left arms. Note that the figures come with integral bases but I reckon that most people will want to rebase them. I stuck mine onto 25mm diameter slottabases so that they fit in with my other figures. Now I'm eagerly awaiting the release of their female zombies. I'll be buying them as soon as they go on sale.

WWG Flat-bed and Garbage Trucks

This week's WWG vehicle review showcases the flat-bed truck and garbage truck from the Bits of Mayhem set. After I had made the single-decker bus (reviewed last week) I wanted to make something that was a bit more challenging. These two vehicles fit the bill perfectly.

You can see that a lot of their components (cab, chassis and wheels) are common to both vehicles. I cut the section with the front engine grille and headlights out and glued it to a strip of mounting card, which I then glued in place to the piece of mounting card that I used to reinforce the front of the cab. This just makes it stand out a tad and you can see what I mean if you look at the photo of the garbage truck below.

Probably the hardest parts of the models to make were the fuel tanks and smoke stacks. Because they are cylindrical in shape it is impossible to reinforce them with mounting card. Mounting card is simply too thick to bend. So, I reinforced them with thin card, which I bought from an art suppliers. The instructions for these models state that the smoke stacks are optional, but to be honest, I couldn't imagine the trucks without them in place.

You can see from the photo above just how thick the railing is on the sides of the flatbed truck. That is because it is reinforced with two layers of mounting card. One layer would probably have done but I decided not to take any chances and went for ultra safety. Believe me, there is no give at all in that fence - it is solid! It is hard to see because my photo is too dark, but the garbage in the back of the garbage truck is just printed onto a curved piece of card, which is not glued in place. When I get time, I'd like to replace it with 3-D garbage made out of modelling putty. What is there looks fair enough for most uses but a little voice keeps on nagging me, saying you didn't go the extra mile this time, did you? Conscience can be a right swine!

These two vehicles are further proof that WWG are second to none in the field of papercraft modelling. Once again, I say just look at the texturing on both trucks - simply superb. As I mentioned in my intro, these were a bit of a challenge to make and if you're new to this hobby I'd recommend making something a lot simpler (like the single-decker bus) for your first build. On the other hand, if you don't mind putting in a bit of time and effort, you'll be rewarded with two very fine vehicles.
I haven't had call to use the garbage truck in any of my games yet but the flat-bed truck made a notable appearance in my St. Trinian's and the Living Dead battle report when the hellcats used it to escape from the zombie horde. See http://vampifansworldoftheundead.blogspot.com/2009/06/st-trinians-and-living-dead.html

Vampifan's Views 05 Happy 1st Birthday

It's celebration time! In fact it's double celebration time. This is my 100th post for my blog and the site is now one year old. Yaaaaay! One year on and I am still amazed at how successful and popular my blog has become. To everyone who has popped in to view it, many thanks indeed. To those who have gone a step further and become a follower, you have my eternal gratitude. And finally, a huge thank you to everyone who has left a comment, good or bad. Thankfully, the overwhelming majority of comments have been very favourable. As I type this, my number of followers stands at 48 and the hit counter is hovering just below the 30,000 mark, both of which I think are incredible achievements.

So what can you expect to see in the near future and what am I doing at present? The figure reviews and World Works Games reviews will continue for a long time to come. I've recently photographed a lot more of my WWG vehicles. Upcoming figure reviews will include zombies from Black Hat, Black Orc, Mega Miniatures and Wargames Factory, as well as vampires and ghosts from Horrorclix. I am currently painting the complete range of Mega Miniatures zombies, which is quite a task, as there are about 50 zeds in the range. I was put off from buying these for such a long time as I did not like the look of them but my good friend, Rogzombie, persuaded me to think again and I'm very glad he did. They are nowhere near as bad as I thought and their zombie children are absolute gems. I'm making more WWG vehicles but I plan on making a new building very soon. It could be the chapel from the Wildwood Grove set or something else entirely. I have a hankering for starting something massive like the Mayhem Police Station.

It has been a poor year so far, for horror films at the cinema but a lot better for horror film DVD releases. I've just ordered George Romero's new zombie film, Survival of the Dead from Amazon and I'm looking forward to watching it despite its mixed reviews from the press. I've also ordered the DVD of Zombieland and I am so looking forward to watching it again and catching up with the extras. I've heard that the film commentary is well worth listening to. Other zombie DVDs that I've seen recently and thoroughly enjoyed were Colin (remarkable film, considering its meagre budget), Doghouse (similar to but far better than Lesbian Vampire Killers), Quarantine (very good remake of Rec, but the original is only just better) and Zombie Strippers (okay, it was crap... but it was enjoyable crap with some good death scenes).

Bookwise, I've finished reading the complete set of Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris that I got at Christmas. They were just a superb set of books and I see that series 2 of True Blood is being released in the UK on May 17th. Yippee, I don't have that long to wait. There is never a dull moment in Sookie's life. I've just read the first two novels in the Jaz Parks series by Jennifer Rardin. Jaz, or Jasmine to give her her full name, is a CIA assassin who partners a vampire assassin called Vayl. The novels have a similar sense of fun to the Sookie Stackhouse novels. I've just started reading book three of the action-packed series. I recently visited one of my local Waterstone's bookstores after a long absence. I tend to buy all of my books online, especially from Amazon. What surprised me greatly was the amount of vampire novels that are now on sale. A lot of them seem to be aimed at a female audience, so it would seem that Twilight has a lot to answer for. Personally, I think it's a good thing. If vampires are now the flavour of the month that's cool by me.

I would love to add more battle reports, especially of All Things Zombie, to my blog, but sadly that isn't going to happen in the near future. My father's confinement to home, following a serious knee injury has put a temporary hold on my gaming activities. Thankfully, he is on the mend but his recovery has been a long and slow process. Hopefully by the time summer comes around I'll be able get back into gaming in a big way. In the meantime, I'll carry on painting my miniatures and making more scenery for Mayhem City.

To all my viewers, once again I thank you for your support. Now, let's celebrate with a nice drop of claret and some finger food. I'll raise a toast to year one and hope you'll stick around for year two. Cheers, everyone!

WWG Single Decker Bus

This week's WWG review reverts to my vehicle collection. This is the single-decker bus found in the Bits of Mayhem set. The red pick-up truck found in the Mayhem Armoury set and reviewed earlier this year was the first WWG vehicle that I made. This bus was the second.

Rather surprisingly, the default destination sign for the bus is "Out of Service." However, the model does come with four alternative signs - Main St, Unger St, Senior Rd and Lyon St. I chose Main St for the destination of my bus, as it is such a generic name. Unger, Senior and Lyon are named after three of the WWG designers - Denny Unger, Paul Senior and Matt Lyon. I don't blame them for adding their names to the list of choices. I'd have done the same myself!

As you can see from this side view photo, the bus is very long. Indeed, it is the longest WWG vehicle to date, unless you count the tractors and trailers from Mayhem Industrial as one item, which I don't. Take a close look at the weathering on the bus. This is one of the things that I love about WWG - the texturing on their models is second to none!

As well as giving you a variety of options for the destination sign, the model also comes with an additional three number plates to the one shown. This is very useful if you plan on building a fleet of buses and is something that I wish WWG offered with all of their vehicle models.

My one piece of superdetailing that I added was that I cut out a recess in the mounting card backing that I reinforced my model with for the three destination signs (front, left and right sides). This really is the easiest model to make out of all of the WWG vehicles. It is, in essence, a box on wheels, with the wheels being the hardest parts to make, although they are not that difficult to make.
After I've printed the wheels out, I cut them out, removing those fiddly triangular glue tabs. The four circular wheels are stuck to thin card, as is the wheel tread sections. I reinforce the two sides of the semi-circular wheels with mounting card, cut out with a big pair of scissors rather than a craft knife. Depending on the thickness of the tyre. I either reinforce it further with a small piece of foamboard or two small pieces of foamboard. This makes the half-wheels a solid item. I glue them in place then, when dry, I glue the circular wheels in place. A handy tip is to edge the circular wheels before gluing them to the model. The thickness of the card that I use to reinforce them means that they protrude ever so slightly from the sides of the model. I find this perfectly acceptable as it helps give the wheels definition. Another tip that I'd like to pass on is don't be too anal about getting a perfect curve when cutting out the mounting card or foamboard to reinforce your wheels with. I usually make do with five straight cuts for a semi-circular wheel.