Spinner

I finally finished these guys about a month ago, but have been too busy to post the photos.  Of the three Spinners (Flying Cars) I picked up from Antenocitis Workshop, I painted two in the classic Blade Runner police blue livery.

Check out the earlier posts for pre-painted photos, but to recap- these were very quick kits to put together with few flaws or casting imperfections to deal with.  Detail was great and the decals went on without a hitch.  I did have to refer to the website for placement information, but that was it.  Highly recommended!

Weekly Infinity Update

What've I been up to?

After Adepticon, I got bitten by the building bug big time.  Also got bit by another sort of bug that caused persistent and uncomfortable respiratory issues (but we won't go there).  As a result, I didn't really make any progress on any figures.  Right now my workbench is covered with two magnetized IG Hellhounds, an IG Demolisher, an IG Valdor, 5 Future Cars, and 10 Technocrates.  So- in regards to the Infinity stuffs...

 The Future Cars from Antenocitis Workshop (see earlier post) were coated with Mr. Surfacer 500.  This served to even out any imperfections and also provide more tooth for the subsequent coats of acrylic paint.  Resin loves to chip off weak paints (read- without solvents!).  After the Mr. Surfacer I went ahead and used a brown gradient for all the windows.  It took about an hour, start to finish, with my airbrush and Tamiya acrylics.  Each car was then sealed with Testors Glosscoat.  The windows were then masked with painter's tape and the Spinners painted with Taimya spray blue and the Future Car painted with Tamiya Mica Red.  The Spinners then got two lighter highlight coats of blue.  As expected, once the tape came off, so did some of the paint beneath.  Fortunately it wasn't too bad and I was able to touch it up.  I've only pulled 5 of the cars out of the 10, and right now I'm adding black washes to the panel lines and black paint as a base coat for the tires and undercarriage.

The technocrates are proceeding pretty well.  I'm something of a perfectionist (read- anal retentive) so I really want this to come out nicely.  As with the Future Cars, I scrubbed the crates prior to priming.  Since they're less delicate, I literally scrubbed them, using a toothbrush and Simple Green.  Then I washed them in soap and water.  Then I hit them with Mr. Surfacer.  Then I used Armory Black paint.  Overkill?  No.  After airbrushing the basic grey color and some blue/gray highlights on the top panels, I masked off areas around the horizontal panels with low-tack painter's tape, airbrushed the colors I wanted, then CAREFULLY removed the tape.  Result?  Still lost a few chips of paint even after all the prep work.  Honestly, just a few tiny specs, so I can say I'm "OK" with it.  I'll probably have to airbrush the short ends the same way as the long panels, but that's for another day.  I'm thinking- decals for logos and insignia, but here's what I have thus far.

The photo shows my resin crates under the papercraft templates.  I've got about 20 resin copies that I'll be offering for sale in the near future.  My hope is to have the cars, the crates, and all the other bits and pieces of terrain ready for action at the NOVA Open.

Product Review: Future Cars

"Where are my Flying Cars?"

I got your flying cars... right here. Since using oversized Matchbox toys wasn't really quite my style, I spent a fair amount of time looking online for alternatives. The first option to show up in my search eventually wound up being the one I went with. So without further ado, I give you a very quick product review of two vehicles from Antenocitis Workshop.

"Future Car"

The Future Car kit is composed of only 4 parts... three of which are not particularly essential. The car body is cast in one solid hunk of resin and could be put to work exactly as is without adding any of the other parts. However, if you want to put rear-view mirrors or a spoiler on your future car- the parts are included.


Detail is very good for a one-piece casting. The panel lines are a tad heavy for the scale, but for wargaming use it is not unusual. The resin is firm but not brittle. It carves easily, though there isn't much call for trimming. There are only two or three voids in the casting that will be easy to fill. Quality is consistently good. I can say that because I went out on a limb, splurged, and ordered about ten cars (total, both types) and found them all to be well done- an indicator of good quality control.


Prior to painting, the car will need some light sanding to even out the surfaces. I haven't decided if these cars will get glossy finishes or not, but either way they will benefit from the application of Mr. Surfacer primer to help even things out prior to painting.

"Flying Car with Decals"

A Spinner, by any other name... Six major components, a bunch of smaller greeblies for vents and (optional) police lights, and a decal sheet. The resin and casting quality is similar to the Future Car (above), so I won't repeat myself. The resin and casting quality is similar to the Future Car (above), so I... uh...


The decal sheet is sweet. Nicely printed with fine detail. I haven't had a chance to build this car yet, so I can't say how well the decals react to water or setting solutions. I'm not worried- if I can make decals on my printer at home, I'm sure these will be fine. Also, since the sheet has white ink, it means that more likely than not Antenocitis used an Alps printer which is rock solid.

Unlike the Future Car, the Spinner does require some assembly. The lower fuselage is cast separately from the upper cabin. The mating surfaces will have to be sanded flush. Not a major undertaking, but something to be aware of. It looks like the forward wheels were cast in the "flying position". If you want to show them in the "ground" position, you'll have to do a lot of work. This is not a ding against the product- you wouldn't really know the difference between the two modes unless you spent a lot of time looking at Blade Runner concept art or just watching the movie.


The only real criticism I have of this kit is that there are no directions for assembly. Granted, the basic assembly is fairly obvious, even if you only look at the photo included on the (very nice) packaging, but the police lights may prove to be problematic. The Antenocitis website only has one photo of the police version of this vehicle. As a result, assembly and proper placement of the smaller greeblies will require a bit of research and/or guesswork.

Conclusion:

Worth it? Yes.

At £8.5 ($13) for the Future Car and £11.5 ($18) for the Spinner, these kits are reasonably priced. However, as a customer not living in the UK, I was not charged the VAT, so that brought the cost per kit down to about £9.5 ($15) and £7 ($11). Even though I ordered quite a few of these cars, it only takes an order of 2 or 3 kits to qualify for free shipping (UK or International).

Once I get around to these guys, they'll look good on the board and provide some nice LOS blocking terrain.