7TV: The Cameraman

Introduction

7TV is a regular skirmish wargame in all respects apart from one.  The nominal setting is that your models do not represent spies, minions, futuristic freedom fighters or cultists at all, but rather they represent actors who are playing these roles during the filming of a TV show.

Up till now, this hasn't made any difference at all to the game and players could choose to ignore the whole "making a TV show" thing if they wanted.  However, Crooked Dice recently released what I hope is the first of many "Production Crew" miniatures: the cameraman.  And yes, 7TV does have special rules for this model, so he can take part in games as more than just set dressing!

Of course, using a cameraman (or 2, or more) is entirely optional; the game works very well even without any crew.

The Cameraman

So, what can I say about this model?  Well, firstly, it is quite a big piece; it's supplied with a 40mm round base.  The camera itself comes in 2 parts (body and pedestal), as does the operator (his right arm is a separate piece).

The moulding of most of these parts was very good, but I had to apply some remedial filler to the camera.  The top was very sunken, whilst the left hand side of the part was also a tiny bit bowed in.  Some of the repairs can just about be seen in a work-in-progress shot somewhere in this earlier post, if you're interested.  I'm hoping that this was just a single bad casting rather than an issue for all production from the same mould, but I cannot be sure.

The camera fitted to the pedestal well enough (though I pinned it for strength).  However, I had some issues fitting the operator's right arm in any position that looked plausible.  In the end, I use a combination of filing & cutting the parts and more filler to hide the gaps.  This isn't a huge issue for a model-maker of my experience and I think the result doesn't look awkward or uncomfortable.

I had to think a bit when it came to the base.  The rest of my models are typically fitted to textured bases that depict dirt, grass, roads, rubble or other outdoor surfaces.  However, the camera wouldn't really work in such an environment - at least, it would be virtually impossible to trundle it about on anything other than a hard, smooth floor.

In the end, I chose to mount the model on a really smooth base and rely on stippled paintwork to make it look like a studio's concrete or lino floor.  I did add a trailing cable made from a small length of wire, just so there would be at least some texture present.

When it came to painting this miniature, my research online suggested that a 1960s/1970s camera and pedestal would likely be different shades of grey.  I used a slightly greenish grey for the camera and a straightforward battleship grey for the rest.  After a dark wash, I then added details:

• Control panels and cover plates were done with a variety of gunmetal, silver and white colours.
• I painted the small dome on the top of the camera as an identification mark.  I suspect that this isn't quite what the sculptor had in mind as this protuberance is rounded rather than flat-sided.  If I were to change anything about the camera, it's this: I would replace this dome with a small cube instead.  Anyway, this miniature is now "camera 2" (no, I don't have a "camera 1" model!)
• Finally, I added my TV company's logo to the side of the box.  This is formed from a white disk (hand painted) with a simple "CTV" logo in the middle (from a home-made decal).  Why "CTV"?  Have a guess!

Conclusion

This is a model that is perfect for 7TV (at least, as long as you want to go along with the "making a TV show" backstory).  It probably doesn't have many uses outside of that game, though!

I had some slight issues with the casting and fit of the camera - nothing that couldn't be fixed quite easily, but mildly irritating all the same.  I don't think that anyone would know this just by looking at the model, though; it's a fine piece once finished.

At the time of writing, the camera and operator cost £5.00 from Crooked dice.  This is very roughly 1.5 times as much as the price of one of their single 28mm figures, which seems quite reasonable given the size of the camera.

So, I'm now hoping that Crooked Dice will bring out more "Production Crew" models, with suitable rules for 7TV of course.  I've a hankering for a sound-boom operator, a makeup artist and a harried scriptwriter, at least.  Perhaps there also ought to be figures for the financial backers (who've arrived on set to find out where the money is going) and for the local rep. of the Electrician's Union (threatening to shut the place down if his comrades don't get the right number of tea breaks)?  And then there could be stunt doubles, a tea lady (with trolley, of course) and ... I'm getting a bit carried away here, aren't I?  Let's leave it at that, for now.

The Crooked Dice Mystery Machine

Introduction

I've had my Mystery Inc team (also known as the "Scooby Doo gang") for some time.  These are 28mm models from Hasslefree and are, I think, fairly widely known about by those with an interest in such matters.  However, what about their ride?  The team need a vehicle.

In the original cartoon show they had an iconic van with an instantly recognisable colour scheme.  Oddly, there are many imitations and variations of this paintjob applied to a number of different types of real life vans - just google for "Mystery Machine" images.  These are owned by fans, re-enactors (?!) or (more likely) professional entertainers with reasonable budgets.

But what about 28mm models?  Well, there are several choices for the Mystery Machine.  Most commonly recommended are toy vehicles, but I find such toys to be badly scaled, often quite goofy-looking and frequently out-of-production and hard to find.  But there's another choice...

Another Option

Hidden away on the Crooked Dice website, listed under 'Heroes' (I think), is a 28mm model of a Transit van.  This clearly fits into the "cops and robbers" category of Crooked Dice's 7TV game, as the example paint jobs show.

But there is a US manufacturer called Company B who produce - amongst other things - decals for some fairly off-beat models.  For example, they make "police phone box" markings suitable for a Doctor Who Tardis as well as tank insignia suitable for the Japanese "Girls und Panzer" cartoon show (and if that isn't weird then I don't know what is!)

What's significant for my purposes here is that Company B produce Mystery Machine decals to fit the Crooked Dice van.  Yay!  So, at the Carronade show earlier this month I went to the Crooked Dice stall and bought a van.  An online purchase from Company B was delivered very quickly and I was in business.  Here we go!

The Crooked Dice Van

So, the Transit van comes as a resin body with 4 metal wheels and a small sprue of accessories.  I wouldn't be using the police light or siren, so I needed only the mirror stalks from the accessories.  The wheels have a guide on the backs of them that lines up with the resin body so that they fit at just the correct depth; this is a nice touch.

It took but moments to glue all the parts together.  On the whole they were well cast and required virtually no cleanup, but I was disappointed to find a significant air bubble in the resin, located just on the edge of a front wheel arch.  I probably spent more time repairing this defect and restoring the body shape around this area than I did with the rest of the construction.

After undercoating, I painted the body of the van with pale blue, then gave it a wash of a medium blue.  This is essentially a cartoon vehicle, so I didn't plan on a lot of weathering or details such as a numberplate!

The doors and windscreen were outlined with a very dark grey.  The same colour was used to paint the tyres, radiator vents and wheel arches.  These latter were exceptionally difficult, since there wasn't really enough space for a paintbrush and I did wonder if I should have painted the wheel arches before gluing on the wheels.

A silver colour (Humbrol aluminium enamel) was used for the hubcaps, bumpers (fenders if you're from the USA), door handles, headlamps, mirror stalks and radiator grill.  For really shiny, chrome-like effects I still prefer to use this Humbrol enamel paint, though pretty much everything else I do is in acrylic paints.

The silver bits were given a very thin black wash; this is most evident on the wheels.  A few extra details were added - the indicator and stop lights - and then it was time to do the windows.

I've not really painted windshields before, so I looked on the internet for references.  One that I found especially useful was a Flames of War article called Lumpy's Guide to Windscreens.  I tried to follow the "not-so-easy" method and I think it came out quite well.  Whoever you are, thanks to Lumpy!

Now for the decals.  The Company B decals are designed for this model and for the most part were easy to use.  Their target location was fairly obvious and the decals were sturdy enough and came loose from their backing paper easily.

I did have a slight problem with the larger, lower panel decals: they were too long for the bodywork!  In order to make them fit, I cut each of these pieces into 2 parts and removed about 2mm of decal from the cut edge.  This is visible if you look closely; there is a slight discontinuity in the pattern where the shortened parts meet.

The rear doors caused further issues.  In this case, it was because the hinges and handle were raised areas that would prevent the decal from sitting flush with the door.  I had to cut a hole for the handle into the right-hand decal and make slits near the upper hinges in both decals in order to make the decorations fit properly.

Conclusion

For the most part, this was a very straightforward model to build and paint.  There were a few minor hiccups which required a certain amount of model-making skill to fix, but nothing too bad.  This isn't a cheap piece though - neither the Crooked Dice van nor the Company B decals will ever compete in price with the second-hand toy market for Mystery Machines!  Still, I'm very pleased with the end result.

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!

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?