This is the voice of the Mysterons

We know that you can hear us, Earthmen

For anyone who isn't a Captain Scarlet fan, the title and headline of this post make up part of the introduction to each episode of the classic Gerry Anderson TV series.  Spoken in a deep, gravelly voice, the Mysterons would always make a threat to destroy something or assassinate someone at the beginning of the show; it would then be up to Spectrum, Earth's defenders, to try to thwart the aliens' plans.  Since the threats were sometimes quite cryptic, this wasn't always easy or even successful...

The Mysterons never appeared as corporeal beings, but rather would only ever be seen as 2 rings of (usually) blue or green light that would pan over the various heroes and ultimately, some poor victim.  The aliens had the power to create almost exact duplicates of objects or people, but only if the object was destroyed or the person killed first.

I've been wanting to put on games based on Captain Scarlet for many years.  This stems from enjoying the TV show as a child and, more recently, watching DVDs with my own children.  However, the great enabler for this is undoubtedly the release of Captain Scarlet models by Crooked Dice.  Oh, they're called something else, but it is quite obvious that these are based on the Spectrum agents and Angels.

There's a problem, though.  Other than using one agent to represent the evil Captain Black, all the rest of these models are for the good guys.  I can (and will) use models of generic civilians, guards, scientists or the like to represent Mysteron agents, but I wanted to show the 2 rings as well.

Hence the model shown above.  If you can't work out what it is by now then there's no hope for me!  I'll need to create a suitable profile for Mysterons in 7TV2; I'm thinking that the "Ghost" card would be a good starting point.  Possibly they should have some form of suborn/seduce/hypnotise ability to represent their power to take control of people or vehicles, but that should really only happen if/when they're killed/destroyed.  Hmm, how might this work?

A bit of this, a bit of that...

Introduction

I've been working away on many projects recently, without really concentrating on any one.  Sometimes I'm finishing off a model that has languished for too long on my paint table, sometimes I'm producing more figures to extend an existing project and some of my output is for new settings that I haven't yet gamed.  Judge for yourself; here's an eclectic collection of models; the only thing they have in common is that they have been completed recently!

The Deora

First up is a card model: this is the Hotwheels "Deora" from Dave's Card Creations.  Whilst the kit is based on a toy, it does represent a futuristic design from the 1960s.  As such, I thought it would be ideal for my long-awaited Captain Scarlet game, though it could also be used in Star Trek or any other 1960s Sci-Fi or Spy-Fi setting.

Note that I've scaled this model up a bit from the downloaded pattern.  I can't remember how much, though I think my version is between 10% and 30% larger than the "out of the box" model.  Also, I've added treads to the wheels to strengthen them, though this isn't visible in the picture above.

Denver

My second offering is "Denver", from Reaper Miniatures.  He's described as a zombie survivor and is clearly based on the character of Columbus from the film "Zombieland".  I've tried to paint this model as he appeared in the movie, though I don't recall him having any luggage there.

Note that Reaper are known for their considerable variations in the size of their (human) miniatures.  "Denver" is bigger than average; I had to place the model on a 30mm base rather than my more normal 25mm.

The Master

Moving on, this is a model of "the Master" from Doctor Who.  The Master has had almost as many different portrayals as the Doctor himself; this version comes from the rather poor 1996 Doctor Who movie where he was played by Eric Roberts.

The model is from Black Tree Design (for some reason, their current website is now "eorbis.co.uk"; this is not a misprint).  As well as a renegade Time Lord, I could see the figure being used as a futuristic VIP, a cult leader or a modern wizard.  Use your imagination to come up with other ideas!

Water Elemental

Next, here is a water elemental, also from Black Tree.  He/she is a single-piece casting and is a very large lump of metal!  For all that, it's a simple piece to paint; I used a base colour and a lot of dry-brushing.  I wonder if I should have picked out the eyes in something different, though?

The water horse is intended for games of 7th Voyage, where it could be part of either heroic or evil casts, or indeed just a hazard of the scenery.  Jason and the Argonauts, beware!

Snow Leopards

To finish, I've just completed a pair of snow leopards for Frostgrave.  The one in front is from Black Cat Bases (although it is described as a "panther" there), whilst the other is from North Star's official Frostgrave range.

All Together

It can be difficult to judge the size of a model from a single picture, so I've included a group shot as well.  From this last picture, you can see just how big is the water elemental.  Note also that "Denver" looks similar in height to the Master, but remember that the former is bending forward whilst the latter is standing up straight.  In reality, Denver is quite a bit taller than "regular" 28mm figures, though not impossibly so.

Captain Scarlet Vehicles - in card!

Introduction

Any long-term followers of this blog may remember that I like to take a card modelling kit with me when I go on my summer holidays.  It's light and self-contained, requires only a few tools and no paints at all - and I can afford to bin the results if anything goes wrong!

This year, I added several sheets printed out from Dave's "Cut and Fold" Card Creations site.  These are all free-to-download kits and there are a great many interesting subjects; I'd encourage anyone with even a passing interest in paper modelling to browse this site!  Anyway, I chose to build several of the iconic Spectrum vehicles from the Captain Scarlet TV show, to go along with my 28mm figures from Crooked Dice.

The SPC

The Spectrum Patrol Car is a basic light transport automobile.  It's fast (insanely so, compared to the roads and motorways that we know now!) and can carry 4 people.  A simple sports saloon from the future, as envisaged in the 1960s!

• Size: This paper model is 10.2cm long.  By my reckoning, that works out at 1:53 scale (the TV original was nominally 5.4m long), which is a touch oversize for 28mm figures.  Still, it's pretty close to my preferred 1:56.
• Issues: most of this kit is fairly straightforward and fitted well, though the central spine and fin is made from 3 very narrow parts that have to be laminated together.  That's definitely the most tricky part!
  The separate underbody does allow the wheels to be recessed, but makes it difficult to get them at the correct height.  My model looks as if the suspension has broken and the body has sunken down!
  Also note that as designed, the wheels in this kit are just a card disk,  I've added treads to them from another model, thus making the construction greatly more robust and able to withstand handling.
• Overall: 4/5.  An excellent model, with a few minor quibbles that can be worked around by an experienced modeller.

The MSV

 In the Captain Scarlet show, the Spectrum organisation occasionally calls on the services of a Maximum Security Vehicle.  These are typically used as ultra-safe VIP transports; an MSV is supposedly proof against most weapons (up to and including a small nuclear bomb!)  Again, the vehicle can carry 4 people and travel at up to 200mph.

• Size: In the TV show, an MSV is supposedly 7.3m long.  My model is 11.3cm, thus making it 1:64th scale.  That's really a touch small for 28mm figures.  If I make another of these then I would scale it up by 15% or so.
• Issues: The central "cabin" has straight sides and a curved front: this proved quite tricky to glue flat to the lower bodywork.  In addition, the other parts of the superstructure then needed some slight adjustment to make them fit correctly.
  Again, the wheels were just card disks; I've added treads to them from another model.
  Finally, the front "bumpers" were rather small and fiddly.
• Overall: 3.5/5.  The subject matter is excellent, but the kit didn't go together quite as smoothly as I had hoped.  It's still a pretty good kit, for all that!

The SPV

Every schoolboy's favourite was the Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle!  These large armoured cars were stored in hideouts all over the world for use whenever a Spectrum agent required; they could be magicked out of a disused mine entrance, an old barn or similar location on demand.

The SPV had 10 wheels, alternating between large and small along each side.  It also had an auxiliary track unit at the read which could be deployed on rough ground.  It was armed, armoured - and the crew faced backwards and drove it via a TV screen.  It's a SciFi geek dream!

• Size: this model is 11.5cm long.  The original measures 7.6m, so the model's scale is 1:66th.  Like the MSV, this is really a bit small for 28mm figures and I would recommend that it is scaled up by around 15%.
• Issues: for the most part, this kit fitted together really well.  The white nose bumper was slightly awkward, though not as difficult as I had feared it might be.  The only other parts worthy of comment are the side skirts, which have an awkward curve along the length of them.  I think that if I make another of these models then I might add formers of balsa wood or similar to help the side skirts to keep their shape
• Overall: 4/5.  Another iconic vehicle, most of which is a very easy build with just a couple of tricky areas.

Conclusion

It is possible to buy plastic or metal versions of all of these vehicles; there have been a number of versions over the years.  However, you are then limited to the sizes produced by the manufacturers and I suspect that the collector's market has pushed the prices way beyond all but the most dedicated wargamers.

Card models aren't to everyone's taste, but if you have the time and the ability then you can build as many of these excellent vehicles as you like, to any reasonable scale, for very little cost.  If only Dave produced some Spectrum aircraft as well!

Now please excuse me: I have to go and finish building a 6-wheeled pink Rolls Royce...

The Spectrum Angels

Introduction

Not so long ago (here), I unveiled my undercoated "daredevil sisters".  These are 28mm models from Crooked Dice and it should be obvious to anyone who cares that these are closely based on the Angels from the old Captain Scarlet TV series.  In that show, they were mostly the pilots for the Spectrum organisation's fleet of air vehicles, especially for the Interceptor fighter aircraft.  Spectrum's field agents (such as the eponymous Captain Scarlet) were the people who were more directly involved in confrontations with the bad guys  Occasionally the Angels had to play this role as well...

Individual Angels

In the TV show, there were 5 Angels.  However I ended up with 6 models (due to forgetting that I had bought a pack of 3 models and later buying another, duplicate pack).  Since I didn't want to leave any model unpainted, I had to come up with a 6th Angel in my world.  Aficionados of Captain Scarlet will be able to tell immediately which is the non-canon Angel, of course - but I've tried to keep my 6th Angel in character with the rest.  Mind you, I did consider briefly using that model as an evil counterpart, in much the same way as Captain Black is an enemy of the Spectrum agents!

Painting white uniforms is hard.  In my view, it's all about the colour of the shading; this can change the character of the model completely!  My research into the Angels suggested that in many of the pictures their uniforms had a slight cream tint to them.  That might just have been a trick of the light, but I took that idea and went with it.  I've used a couple of shades of tan when painting the undercuts and seams, but the upper parts are still pure white.  Please let me know what you think...

Without further ado, here are my 6 Spectrum Angels:

All Together Now...

Finally, a group shot.  This shows quite clearly that I painted the bases in 3 different styles (2 models in each style).  I think that the concrete bases (the last 2 models on the right) are a bit dark, but otherwise the bases are quite straightforward.

Conclusion

I knew that I wanted these models as soon as I saw them on the Crooked Dice website.  Due to my purchasing mistake, I ended up with 6 of them rather than 3 - ah, well.  But now that I've finished painting them, I've no idea what I'll use them for!  The obvious answer would be to use them in a game of 7TV, but I fear that poor Captain Black would be considerably outnumbered by my Spectrum personnel if I include all my agents and all my Angels!

White Out!

Introduction

I'm going to be doing 2 things in this post that are somewhat unusual, for me.

• Firstly, I don't normally show pictures of models that aren't finished.  It would be all too easy to fill the Internet with images of my started-but-on-hold model mountain.  However if I did that regularly then I would lose all credibility as someone who can actually complete anything.
• Next, I normally undercoat models in grey.  I've tried black before and it's really difficult to lay down pale colours on top of this.  White undercoat, in my experience, doesn't coat too well.  Unless a model is to be predominantly black or white, I compromise and use grey.

Strangely, this week I've found myself undercoating a number of models in white, though..,

The Apparitions

I'm trying to collect some figures that I can use in games of Fear and Faith.  Last week, I posted details of Mystery Incorporated (better known as "the Scooby Doo gang") and I can probably come up with some suitably suspicious civilians to use as allies, bystanders and low-level enemies.  However, I wanted some monsters as well.

These spectre models come from Black Tree Design, though they only seem to be available in a regiment-sized pack.  I've had a large bag of them sitting in the lead pile for many years and now seemed like a good time to paint a few.  They'll be used as haunts in Fear and Faith - but in the best traditions of Scooby Doo they may turn out not to be real ghosts.  Instead, they could be just images projected onto clouds of smoke by the demented janitor.  Or maybe not!

I plan to paint these spectres to be as pale and ethereal as possible.  This might be a challenge, since they're quite solid models and I don't have any transparent paint.  Still, I'll give it a go...

The Angels

It came as quite a surprise to me recently to discover that I had not one but two packs of the Daredevil Sisters from Crooked Dice.  I don't normally forget a purchase so completely that I buy another copy of the same thing!

Now, as anyone with an interest in Marionation knows, the Daredevil sisters are based very closely on the Angels from the Captain Scarlet TV series (gosh, is it really almost 50 years?).  The Angels were the 5 female pilots of Spectrum's fleet of fighter and passenger aircraft; they were young, international and glamorous!  As with the other members of the organisation, they all had code names, in this case Destiny, Harmony, Rhapsody, Melody and Symphony.

Since the Angels wore white uniforms, I've decided to undercoat these models in white (well, obviously!).  I bought a separate pack of helmeted heads to customise them a bit, so at least I won't have 2 sets of 3 identical figures.

Actually, I went a bit further than this and also changed around the equipment the Angels were holding or wearing as well as their heads.  This gives me 6 models that are all unique, though it's easy enough to spot the duplicate bodies.

Of course, there were only 5 Angels in the Captain Scarlet show.  I've decided that in my universe there is another Angel who isn't quite as well known.  Perhaps she's been on leave, or on special assignment somewhere.  I'm thinking of naming her Serenity; I had to abandon the musical theme when the only name in that area which I could find was Cacophony!

So, there you are - some of the recent works from my "White" period!

Army Showcase: Captain Scarlet

Introduction

As I browse the internet, I see websites for many companies that make 28mm miniatures.  A lot of these make very good product, but I don't necessarily have any use for it no matter how well made the models may be.  Just occasionally, however, I see miniatures that I like so much that I covet them, even if I have no immediate use for such figures.

So it is with Crooked Dice.  I've watched the company grow over time and have consistently thought that I'd enjoy painting and owning pretty much anything from their catalogue.  However, despite dropping hints before birthdays and Christmases, I never obtained anything from them - until recently.

3 weeks ago today, I attended the Glasgow Phoenix Club's annual show, "Wappinshaw" with my friend Steve.  There we charged the Light Brigade down the wrong valley at the battle of Balaclava (I was all but wiped out; Steve took relatively few casualties), fought giant bugs in a 1950's B movie and entered a futuristic motorbike race (I was in the middle of the pack; Steve won handsomely , even lapping the tail-ender in the process).  Also, we took the opportunity to do some shopping.  3 weeks later, here are some of the purchases, now painted up.

Timelift Security

Apparently, when I was very small, my favourite TV program was "Captain Scarlet".  I don't remember this at all (it was a long time ago), though I do remember myself or my brothers having a few of the Dinky toy vehicles from the series - long since lost, sadly.  Since then, I've watched a few episodes with my own children and they have enjoyed the show too.

It would probably have stopped there, but then some time ago Crooked Dice brought out their range of "Time Lift Security" figures.  These aren't Captain Scarlet models at all (no sirree!), but I thought that with a cunning paint job they could be made to look just like the characters from the show.

I was all for choosing some new and interesting colours for my Spectrum agents.  "Captain Orange"?  Hmm: sounds a bit like the advertising mascot for a company that makes kid's drinks.  "Captain Puce"?  Really?  Hands up all those who know what colour is "puce"!  My wife and children remonstrated with me and so I ended up painting the figures in more traditional livery.

Spectrum Agents

From left to right: Captain Blue, Captain Scarlet, Lieutenant Green, Colonel White

This picture shows the main characters in the TV show.  Captain Scarlet is the hero, of course.  He's indestructible and is always recreated even after being incinerated, blown up, gassed or otherwise killed.  Handy :-) .  Captain Blue is another field agent and is Scarlet's faithful companion.  Colonel White is the boss and Lieutenant Green is an aide.

In terms of the models, the Scarlet model came with a pointing finger; the pistol hand was an optional extra.  I'm now thinking that I could have just left him pointing as there are plenty of other guns on show in the squad (and he has another pistol in his holster anyway).

Lieutenant Green came with the option of a standard assault rifle or an unusual-looking high-tech "gun".  I chose the latter because it seemed more interesting and will give me more options for gaming with these figures.

From left to right: Captain Ochre, Captain Brown, Captain Grey, Captain Magenta

The second picture departs somewhat from the TV show canon in 2 ways.  Firstly, 3 of the 4 agents are women.  In the original 1960's show, all the Spectrum agents were men and all the Angels (Spectrum's fighter pilots) were women.  However in the 2000's animated remake (New Captain Scarlet), Lieutenant Green was a woman, so there is some precedent for this.  Actually, I don't really care; if Crooked Dice make female agents then I'm entirely happy to have them in my collection.  This is the 21st century, after all!

Secondly, I don't recall any of the Spectrum personnel being armed with anything other than a pistol, or on rare occasions with a "Mysteron gun".  Mind you, I'm no expert on this and am probably mistaken.  Still, having assault rifles seems fairly heavy armament for them.

The evil Captain Black

Finally, here's Captain Black, the Spectrum agent who was subverted by their arch-enemies, the Mysterons and is now the lead figure in most plots against the forces of the World Government.  This is a straightforward model; the only thing that makes it in any way different is that I had to paint a "5 o'clock shadow" on his face to make the character as sinister as he is on the TV.

Conclusion

Captain Black is confronted by all the Spectrum agents

I bought these models just because I like them and not with any specific intention of using them for gaming.  Having said that, I'm trying to work out how to incorporate Spectrum or the Mysterons into any of my existing sets of rules and figures.  I could just go for broke and use 7TV, which I also bought at Wappinshaw 2013, but that might necessitate buying more models from Crooked Dice.  Ah, what to do?