Thursday 30 April 2015

Sky Pirates!

Introduction

It's been another very mixed week, with not enough time and too much to do.  Nevertheless, I've managed to finish a number of small side-projects (and therefore I have a good supply of quirky models to show over the next few weeks!).  The big news in our household is that we're expecting my sister-in-law and her husband to visit for a few days, so this article will be a bit rushed and my next post might be slightly delayed.

On with the show...

Sky Pirates

Some time ago, I bought a "lucky bag" of pulp figures from the brilliant Artizan Designs range, as sold by North Star.  Most of these just went into storage for later consideration (why do we do that?!), but some models have been slowly painted up as I've remembered about them and felt the urge.

In that vein, here are 3 Sky Pirates.  They're airmen from the 1920's through to perhaps the 1940s, when flying was (just) practical but was still a romantic adventure.  I suppose that they fill the niche that highwayman did for stagecoaches, or pirates did for ships - at least in pulp adventures.

Each of these guys has a patch on the right shoulder of his jacket.  I've attempted to paint these with a skull and crossbones (not very original, I know), but such small insignia are at the limits of my ability and I don't think the result is all I would have desired.

The pirates are heavily armed: all have pistols and plenty of ammunition pouches in addition to their submachine gun or rifle.

Fierrali, Marco and Piccolo
You can have bonus points (and my admiration) if you can tell me what is the inspiration for the names that I've given to these bandits.  Without googling it, of course - that would be cheating!

I'm not sure when I'll use these models, though a vague plan is forming that involves Tarzan and his apes, Captain Colquhoun (the famous pilot) and some Nazis (sinister leader, stooges and experimental panzerbots).  Add in the Sky Pirates and anything could happen!

15 comments:

  1. Great looking models C6 and very well painted. I think they'd fit in with numerous different genres but your cunning plan sounds especially...cunning :-) I especially like their paint scheme, which works very well for rough and ready sky pirates. I'm looking forward to seeing these in a BatRep.

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    1. Thanks, Blax! I'm also looking forward to using them in a game, though I don't know when this will be.

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  2. Good stuff, looking forwards to the game report! I bought some Pulp archaeologists at Salute. I already had some, but I thought the figures were very nice. Must look up more if the range.

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    1. Thanks, Lee. Ah, there are so many nice models out there these days!

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  3. I also have these figures and mine are waiting to get started. They are lovely sculpts and I should get round to doing them.

    Maybe, just maybe you will inspire me to get them done! Thanks for showing them it might just tip me over the edge to doing them.

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    1. They are nice, aren't they? I would be interested to see your take on these figures.

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  4. Very nice looking sky pirates C6!
    Is the inspiration Porco Rosso?

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    1. Yep, you got it, Bob. Well done - these are the names of characters from the film "Porco Rosso", though they don't look more than vaguely similar to the Sky Pirates from that setting.

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  5. These look rather good. I've had these on the list for a long time and seeing yours has moved them up a notch. No idea on the names there not ringing any bells and had no idea until reading through the ^^^Comments^^^ I think they would make good goons for some sort of 7TV or Avengers (Steed) themed games raiding a secret lab or something.

    I recently downloaded the pulp alley quick start rules to try seems quite a popular ruleset for this era might be worth a try :)

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    1. Thanks, Simon. Pulp Alley is definitely on my "must try" list!

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  6. Excellent brushwork - as ever.

    A proper "Between the wars" look with the hefty flying gear and beautifully crafted submachineguns.
    None of that mass-produced stamped metal wartime junk...

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    1. Indeed, wooden-handled submachine guns and leather jackets. They don't make 'em like that any more!

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  7. Thanks, Gordon. It's only a small force at the moment, of course.

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