Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Hover Tank Alternatives


I've been picking these up at the store one or two at a time over the last couple of months. As you can see from the packaging, they're from the new Tron movie (which I still haven't seen). It was one of those things where I was standing in the toy aisle and thought to myself, "Self, these would make pretty good 15mm hover tanks."


Maybe third party tank turrets on the flat spots up top?


Comparison shots with some GZG Kra'vak (some excellent ones here)


They come apart easily enough as you can see. The bottom part is plastic, so I'll be able to drill a hole and use a clear flying stem. The top part is die-cast, which I'll just prime over the top of. For the 'windows' I may just leave them alone since they're an opaque smoke.

I've got a color scheme in mind, something of a large, blocky woodland camo scheme, but with geometric shapes. Something like this Lambo, but in greens. Of course I have a 15mm sci-fi army, and they're not green so this means these will have to belong to another entity altogether. That reminds me, I need to do a muster post of that army.

9 comments:

  1. Yes! I (and probably every other 15mm sci fi gamer alive) have been picking these up in ones and twos since they hit the stores. I want to find some way of arming them (I'm thinking turreted weapons, but would consider other options) and accessorizing them. Haven't found a turret that matches the linear style of these hulls yet. Any suggestions?

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  2. Nice find. I never come across stuff like this in my local stores. It sucks so many people find such great stuff lol

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  3. @CC: Arming them is the trick, I dry-fitted some WWII Sherman turrets on them and they didn't look right. They are awfully "swooshy" so the armament will have to be fairly sleek to match, I'm still looking as well. I'll be using the "limo" as a scout/fast attack craft.

    @Brummie: It was this excellent batrep:

    http://peabody-here.blogspot.com/2011/07/gruntz-15mm-after-action-report.html

    that sent me tot he stores looking for a die-cast VTOL/gunships in the first place. I was about two years too late, these Tron tanks still looked plausible however.

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  4. These look great. The movie doesn't have the greatest story ever, but I enjoyed it anyway.

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  5. Mik,

    have you looked at Combat Wombat for turrets. They list some turrets separately and I'm willing to bet the guy would sell you any of his turrets separately if you asked.

    http://combatwombatminiatures.com/motor%20pool.htm

    (warning: the page loads ssssllllloooowwww)

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  6. @Spacejacker: At $2.99 a piece I'd use them pretty much anyway, the fact they actually look good is a big bonus. I haven't seen the new Tron movie surprisingly, don't know why...

    @Brian: I've never even heard of these guys, and yeah, what a molasses speed site! They have really good looking stuff too, and individual turrets so I'll be looking them up come next allowance, thanks for the tip!

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  7. When I saw these I saw orbital insertion shuttles that were all stealthed out. Each carrying only a few commandos.

    -Eli

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  8. I'm liking Eli's suggestion. Maybe trick them out with a couple of very simple ECM pods, and that's it. No armaments needed. Use them for insertion scenarios.

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  9. I hadn't originally thought of them like that, but the fluff's cooler and me, well, I'm all about the fluff. The place Brian had mentioned has some nice, low-profile, ECM-type pods too. Hmmm....

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