Sunday 4 May 2014

Showcase: Junkers Vehicles

Introduction

2 weeks ago, I talked about my 28mm Junkers Sandrunners.  These 2-legged lizards and their riders are pretty weird, even for a science fiction army.  However the original VOID 1.1 range had some elements in the same force which are (in some senses) much more conventional.  It's time to talk about the Junkers vehicles!

Quad Bikes

In the picture above are both variants of the basic Junkers quad bike.  On the left is the standard model, armed with "twin combat shotguns", while on the right is a decurion (NCO) with a chain gun/rotary cannon.  Note that I've replaced the cast metal aerials with a piece of steel wire (for strength) topped with a tiny bead (so that you don't impale your hand when picking up the model).

As quad bikes, these models are quite large.  That's OK - I can imagine them carrying a passenger as well as the driver, or perhaps a small amount of cargo.  They have well-spring suspension and look capable of travelling cross-country at high speed.  So far, so good.

Where my suspension of disbelief breaks down on these is with the weaponry.  Mounted weapons of any kind on a quad bike would be extremely difficult to aim, especially if the driver is being bounced around whilst moving over rough terrain.  OK, I could easily enough imagine that the "combat shotguns" (which in real life would be for fighting room-to-room in built-up areas?) are actually assault rifles or light machine guns, but that still doesn't get around the aiming problem.  Also, I don't see where is the ammunition supply for such high rate-of-fire weapons.  Hmm.

Dune Buggies

I have 2 of the Junkers dune buggies painted up (and several more unstarted ones in boxes).  This first one is the standard chain-gun model.  It has room for 2 crew in the "cockpit" and in the back it has an open "turret" mounting a very large rotary cannon and another crewman.

Again, the basic vehicle looks very capable, fast and rugged.  The weapon makes it look a bit top-heavy, though.  I wonder if the dune buggy would tip over if the gun is fired in any direction other than straight ahead?

There's also something about this one which makes me particularly annoyed - the driver is firing a weapon!  My own personal experience suggests that it requires a lot of concentration to be in control of a civilian vehicle in peacetime.  By rights, driving cross-country whilst under fire should require one's full attention.  But this guy has 1 hand on the wheel and is using the other to shoot at something off to the side.  I predict that the dune buggy will smash in 5..4..3..2..1..SPLAT!

Here's the second form of Junkers dune buggy: a "transport".  Again there is space for 2 in the cockpit.  Thankfully the driver has both hands on his controls, but he has a buddy beside him who is shooting away.  At the back of the vehicle is an open platform with handrails and a further 3 passengers.  The buggy clearly has room for rather more people than this - perhaps 6 or so on the platform - but perhaps such a load would slow it down too much?

There is a third variant of the Junkers dune buggy (with twin flamethrowers?), but I haven't got any of those.

Bonus APC

I have one more vehicle for my Junkers force, but this one isn't a bike or buggy.  Rather, it's a full-blown armoured personnel carrier.  It was built from a Games Workshop model that I had lying around after some old project.  It's been painted in the same camouflage as the other vehicles, so it clearly belongs to the same army!

This model came with several weapon options.  Rather than choose one and glue it in, I built all of them.  Each hatch or fitting has been glued to an insert; the 2 openings in the roof of the APC have been lined so that (almost) any combination is possible.  The "plugs" are made from the bodies of 10ml disposable (plastic) syringes, whilst the "sockets" in the APC are made from the slightly larger 20ml syringes.

Here's one possible combination, with a twin machine gun and a simple closed hatch.

Another variant; this has a missile launcher and an opened commander's hatch.

Conclusion

The dune buggies and quad bikes seem a little out of place as purely military vehicles.  The basic chassis are good models, though and I have several more to build (some time!).  I'm very tempted to convert the crews into post-apocalyptic savages (see this post for the style I'm thinking about) and re-arm the vehicles with quad spearguns and the like.  Road Warrior - here we come!

29 comments:

  1. I love the socket/plug options on the rhino. That makes the model much more flexible for use in various fire support or carrier roles.

    These look very cool, and will make a great road warrior band. cool stuff!

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    1. Thanks, Nobody! Generally I'm not in favour of moving or replaceable parts on gaming models as it makes them too fragile. However this simple "drop in" substitution works quite well.

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  2. I like the sand buggies. All sorts of fun. But as mentioned above the versatility of the plug in weapons on the Rhino is fantastic.

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    1. The simplest methods are often the best - this substitution mechanism is very cheap and robust!

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  3. The buggies are just fabulous - love them!

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    1. They're not really suitable for a regular military force, but excellent for irregulars!

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  4. I love the buggies! Good use of the marine rhino!

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  5. They definitely have that Mad Max feel, awesome stuff

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    1. The crews are a bit too uniform for post-apocalyptic savages and don't have enough fetishes, but I can change that for the next models I make! If/when I ever get round to it :-( .

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  6. I like them but I do agree with your criticisms. Style over substance, methinks. Your paintwork on all of them is very effective.

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    1. There's no doubt in my mind that the original VOID models were aimed at the same type of people who like Warhammer 40K, with excessively big guns, over-the-top armour and so on (no skulls, though :-) ). Still, they have a lot of repaint/conversion potential...

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  7. I remember these, the buggies are excellent. Did you get the Red/Desert Fox ? Quad bikes are sweet too dude.
    You should definitely turn these into road warriors.

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    1. The Red Fox is one that I'm missing, though I have quite a reserve of the 3 "common" types of buggies. I agree that these are screaming "road warrior" :-) .

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    1. Other than a little stowage, it's pretty much an out-of-the-box build. I doubt that I'll get any more, though - they're just too expensive now!

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  9. This is definitely the best mini blog post of the week. I thought the quads were the coolest thing I've seen in awhile until I saw the dune buggies which the coolest, until I saw the Rhino. The painting on the Rhino is awe-inspiring.

    I need some Junker vehicles now.

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    1. Thanks, Baconfat. Many of the Junkers 1.1 models are still available from Scotia Grendel, though I got most of mine cheap when stores were offloading excess stock.

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  10. Great looking force and the paint jobs unites them as a whole despite being from different companies and styles. Yeah with the options you get with the Void forces you can see they where very much a not 40K alternative both in the size but also in the weapon options and armour choices.

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    1. Thanks, Simon. I think perhaps the VOID models are not quite as over-the-top as the most extreme from 40K? Although that wouldn't be too hard...

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  11. I love these models. Always tempted to take them but not sure what I'd do with them. Great work and comments.

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    1. I agree :-) . I like them also, but I'm not quite sure what to do with them all.

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  12. Those great! I'm not much into savages (must have been too young when I saw Mad max for the first time!) but I really like how they all look painted. I have to repeat what has been said - socket and plug weapons swap is fantastic and probably sturdier than some magnets.

    Seeing as you threw a bone, I suppose minigun in the quad could work as he'd spray everything infront of him - making sure enemies keep their heads down as he passes them by, moving deeper into enemy lines just to turn around and attack them from behind. Or something. I'm lost on shotguns, but I actually prefer them by the looks :D

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    1. Thanks, Mathyoo. I think any post-apocalyptic setting needs some bad guys. These could be mutants, cultists or savages - probably other groups as well - but I prefer savages. The Junkers vehicles aren't quite "savage", but they would be very easy to convert!

      I still think that the minigun on the quad bike hasn't got enough ammunition to fire for more than a few seconds...

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  13. Other than the armament on the quads, they're really decent models, but the une buggies take my vote. As sci-fi fantasy though they all fit the bill nicely. I do like the unviversal camo pattern on the vehicles.

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    1. Thanks, Joe. I've had much more interest in these than I'd predicted; now I'm feeling the urge to build some more!

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  14. Great models - especially the dune buggies and quad-bikes.
    I found the sad fact of armoured warfare is that speed rarely equals armour.
    From WW1 onwards, the best looking vehicles tended to be light and quick, but were also the first to go up in flames in any game (at least when I commanded them).

    My conclusion, It's not much fun being a wargames Recce soldier.

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    1. They'd be quite in character for a raid (LRDG?), or for policing remote areas, I think.

      In real life, Recce units aren't really expected to go toe-to-toe with main battle forces :-) !

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  15. That's very nice of you, Simon - I don't mind at all :-) . Thanks very much!

    I did receive 2 of these Liebster awards pretty much simultaneously, from memory about a year ago, so I'm not sure if I should accept your new nomination.

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