Paint. Play. Repeat!: Pick's Funnies

I started a project in which I wanted to make conversions of 6mm sci-fi miniatures. I wanted this for some time and now I have finally decided that I have to try it. I have done conversions of miniatures in the past, but not willingly, meaning that they occured when I had assembled some of the miniatures and missed the right way to do it and thus, new designs were born (you got to admit that at least this is a creative way when looking at mistakes). In general this was the case for the miniatures of the same producer, when I wanted to assemble them fast and thinking that I can feel the right way to assemble them (many do work this way, especially since there are not too many parts involved in the assemble process), and not carefully looking at the miniatures. Now I really made conversions the way I wanted, from many 6mm sci-fi producers with designs and ideas I wanted to see for real This can be a little bit tricky, because it can be hard to stop: there is always a good combination of parts that comes into your mind. From somewhere you need to start and then you need to put a pause for some time. For now I enjoy the results and the experience accumulated and dream for future projects.

Now, about this project. It is called Pick's Funnies with inspiration coming from Hobart's Funnies (from the 79th Division's commander, Major General Percy Hobart, which in World War II designed armored fighting vehicles - based on Churchill and Sherman tanks - adapted to surmount any obstacles on the beaches of Normandy in the great D-Day).

Pick's Funnies most representative vehicle, the Mobile Construction Yard

I have designed 24 such "Funnies" miniatures and added another miniature, a land-to-space rocket launcher unit to support Colonel Pick's 15th "Elimination" Brigade, all invented to support my wargames and other sci-fi projects. Of these 25 miniatures, the land-to-space rocket launcher (V15-102B Heavy MLRS Battery on Groundmount base) is a 15mm miniature actually with no changes, added as said, to support with firepower the brigade's mission against enemies that are in near space and if needed to be adapted, by mounting the rocket launcher on a Hemtt Engine Extra-Power 12W. Below are all these miniatures:

Hemtt Construction Unit

Hemtt Engine Extra-Power 12W

Mobile Construction Yard

V15-102B Heavy MLRS Battery on Groundmount base

In general, these conversion are based on Ground Zero Games miniatures, but other producers "willingly accepted" to support this project (of course, no one asked them, I simply amounted a pile of spare parts from my previous purchases over the years and decided that their rest time was over and so I put them to good use, or so I think, you tell me!). I have also employed parts of 6mm and 15mm, sci-fi and WW2 miniatures from companies like: Vanguard Miniatures, Plastic Soldier Company, Alternative Armies, EMP Games and Strato Minis Studio. Because many of the miniatures come from GZG, the full range of miniatures can be seen - gallery of images and a review, just follow this link.

I have also added some plasticard when I felt necessary (for Hemtt Helipad). Green stuff, super glue (some of the components can be detached, not all parts are glued - the "Honeycomb" from Hemtt Honeycomb is one of these examples), MRP and Vallejo paints were also employed. Having a good set of ideas before starting the project (from different sci-fi works or WW2 or other sources) is a good asset to own right from the start. By looking at your mountain or hill of spare parts and leftover pieces, ideas will come. Also while working on conversions, new and even better ideas can appear. Let you mind free, work with fun on your projects and good results will appear in no time.

By clicking on each of the above projects you can find out more about them. Some were as simple as taking one chassis from a producer and mounting a turret from another or even from the same company, while others were a little bit more complicated. For example, Tiribomba looks like a jewel, a 6mm sci-fi miniature conversion made with GZG wheels, sprues from Vanguard Miniatures and green stuff and on top of it sits a civilian car from Strato Minis Studio (not glued, because different vehicles can be mounted, as desired and needed). The painting was done with MRP and Vallejo paints in a green camouflage, except the construction yard and civilian car. Also, the naming was fun and fast to do. How else would you name a tank with four turrets, other than "Apocalypse"?

One of the fighting units (FU) of Pick's Brigade, FU3 Apocalypse

During work and soon after I have to acknowledge that I am new to this realm of miniatures conversions. Therefore, I need to improve my conversion skills, because I think I was a little bit to scarred to try some things and to materialize some ideas, while for some of them, although starting from a good base of a simple and fun idea, I was in a rush and not careful because I lacked enough patience and because I was worried that the final result will not look nice so I thought it did not demanded to much attention in the first place. No matter of all these things just written, I can ensure you that, overall, the process was very fun and for sure it laid the basis for further fun projects.

So I will repeat this process in the future, hopefully with more miniatures, ideas and time to put them to good use. Until then, Colonel Pick reporting for duty!

Pick's Funnies

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