1/72 Multiverse

Decomposed carcasses of large sea animals are often mistaken for the remains of various types of sea monsters. They appear frequently enough, that the term "globster" was coined to describe them.

A walking shark?

The remains of basking sharks are some of the more typical finds that have generated much speculation in the cryptozoology community.

Size estimates for basking sharks place them in the 20 to 26 foot range, but specimens can reach up to 30 or even 40 feet in length. The larger sharks are probably rare at best in modern times due to overfishing and deliberate eradication programs.

The model I own is made by Colorata, and at 5" in length (nose to tip of caudal fin), represents a larger specimen of the basking shark.

The Colorata shark comes from the Sharks of the World Deluxe Set, which includes versions of all three filter feeding shark species (a regular Sharks of the World Set also exists, but it has different models in it).

The other 1/72 scale shark in this set is a whale shark. It is 6" long, which makes it the size of a largish whale shark (36 feet in length).

A couple of other candidates for 1/72 whale sharks (which I do not own) include the whale shark from the regular Colorata Sharks of the World Set, and the 1/40 scale Wild Safari whale shark. The other Colorata shark can be used as a smaller whale shark (25 to 30 feet long), while the Wild Safari model can represent the reputed 60 foot whale shark.

Rounding out my collection of filter feeding sharks is the Kaiyodo megamouth shark (Choco Egg Animals Of Japan Series 4). The megamouth shark was only discovered in 1976, and remains infrequently encountered in the wild.

The Kaiyodo model is 3.5" long (from snout to tip of caudal fin), which is somewhat longer than the 13 to 18 foot size range for megamouth sharks.

The final pictures compare the models of the three different species of filter feeding sharks.

The Aragami (荒神, アラガミ; violent gods) are giant chimeric monsters from the game God Eater. I have not played the game, but it takes place in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by various species of Aragami whom the players kill and harvest for resources.

The game franchise expanded into an animated version of the story which started airing last year. The anime version of God Eater belongs to the action-oriented seinen genre, with violence, gore, and underboob.

The story is pretty standard fare, but one thing that really stood out for me was the primary antagonist Aragami known as Dyaus Pita.

I found the creature to be terrifying, particularly because it had a human face which seemed to be completely devoid of human intelligence.

Anyway, I liked the monster so much, I went ahead and bought some of the Bandai trading figures (超造形魂; Chouzoukei Damashii) that were made for the game.

The Vajra Aragami is the base type of its species. For some reason, it is always shown with a broken fang.

Dyaus Pita, a sub-type of the Vajra. There is also another version in the game known as Dyaus Pita (Resurrection) with skeletal dragon-like wings.

Prithvi Mata, is another sub-type of the Vajra. It has not appeared in the anime.

All three of the figures have the same basic body, but vary with respect to paint scheme, face/head, and neck frills. They also come with their own 80mm bases.

As far as size goes, I think they work well with 1/72 scale humans when compared to the 1:1 scale Vajra display used at events ^[1],^[2]and how they are portrayed in the games.

The anime versions of the creatures on the other hand, are a lot bigger (although the size will vary a bit within the game as well). This being the case, I see the option for some to use the figures for 10mm or 15mm gaming as well.

The final monster from the set that looked interesting was Sariel.

It is a chimeric creature that seems to be part siren and part butterfly, with maybe a bit of fish mixed in. I don't know anything else about it, and I don't think it has appeared in the anime at all.

The actual appearance of the O-I super heavy tank has been shrouded in mystery for decades, leaving model manufacturers to produce their own renditions of the tank based on sketchy details and pure conjecture.

1/144 100 ton tank from
Matuo Kasten (マツオカステン)

1/144 100 ton tank from
Atelier Infinite (アトリエインフィニティー)

1/144 120 ton tank from Atelier Infinite

1/72 tank from World at Arms

Recently however, records and plans related to the tank were recovered by Kunihiro Suzuki (president of Fine Molds) ^[1],[2]. The material was found at Wakajishi Shrine, built on the site of the Army Youth Tank School (陸軍少年戦車兵学校), which was associated with the Chiba Army Tank School (千葉陸軍戦車学校).

With the blueprints on hand, Fine Molds announced the release of a 1/72 O-I tank, and promoted the kit along with Wargaming.net which had announced the addition of a digital version of the O-I (drawn up from the same plans) to the World of Tanks online game.

Wargaming Japan O-I tank display
at the 2015 Tokyo Game Show

I pre-ordered the kit when it was first announced, but the model has only recently arrived from Japan, having sat in my "private warehouse" at HLJ since December.

I like the box art, but my box has an
ugly WoT advertising sticker on it...

The box contained marketing material for World of Tanks and Girls und Panzer.

招待コードを与える最初のメール

Just looking at the size of the upper hull makes the model seem more like a 1/48 scale kit than a 1/72 scale kit.

The upper hull is 66mm wide!

Decals include options for six different tank units. I will go with markings for the 35^th Tank Regiment (2) for my tank.

The 35^th, along with the 34^th, 51^st, and 52^nd Tank Regiments would have been stationed in Manchuria near the close of WWII.

The other regiments represented on the decal sheet may have been among the 10 original regiments stationed in Manchuria (I didn't bother verifying if they were or not), but historically they are more closely associated with other regions like Saipan, the Philippines, Malaya, etc.

I'm assembling the tank pretty much out of the box. The instructions are straight forward, though I'm not sure why step 4 asks you to drill a hole in a location where a hole already exists.

The assembly of the 47mm cannons for the smaller turrets is overly complex, and makes the barrel structurally weak.

It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.

If you actually want the barrel to pivot, I would recommend modifying C22 so that it does not fit so tightly in C20.

The design and fit of the main gun is a lot better, but be sure to fit B11 into B20 before attaching the barrel.

The turret has a simple hexagonal cross section as shown in the plans, but I can't help but think that the actual production turret would have been more like the 6-sided turret used for the Chi-Ri.

To be continued...

Sometimes when an impressively large model catches my eye, I have to take a reality check and think about whether there is any point in owning the thing.

Here are a few items that gave me a moment of pause before I decided not to buy them.

1. Kyoshinhei by Good Smile Company

This figure represents a God Warrior from the Studio Ghibli short film produced for a 2012 exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.

Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo posted by f711513007
At 50cm in height, the figure is impressive, but I have to say that it would be well under it's actual 1/72 height as represented in the short.

The figure is still probably very undersized compared to the original God Warrior as presented in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

Scale issues aside, the final price with shipping would have been very high, and there was the very real possibility that the model could have sustainded damaged during shipping (polystone resin is not the most durable of materials).

2. Colossal Titan Coin Bank by Bandai

This PVC figure represents the aberrant type 60m Titan from Attack on Titan.

The Colossal Titan at 60cm, is even taller than the God Warrior. It is actually 1/100 scale, but that's something I would have been willing to overlook with regard to a fictional flayed giant.

3. Flower-class Corvette by Revell

Even now, I often contemplate buying this kit, but at 85cm in length I wonder where I would store it. The pool might be an option, but I couldn't keep it docked there all the time.

4. U-Boat Type VIIC by Revell

I would seriously consider a waterline U-boat since they could be used for gaming every now and then, but at 93.3cm long, the type VIIC and the even larger type IXC submarine (106.3cm) are just really big.

I suppose that the kit could be converted easily enough to a waterline model, but that seems almost like throwing away half the kit.

5. Skipjack-class Submarine by Moebius Models

As with the U-boats, I would definitely consider a waterline model of the Skipjack for an Ice Station Zebra scenario, but at 106.7cm, the full hulled kit is a monster. I believe that this model is also sold in Revell packaging.

6. Gato-class Submarine by Revell

Yet another submarine. This time the 132cm long Gato-class sub. If I were to have bought this model, I would have been tempted to get two. One built up in the standard way, and one built up as the USS Sea Tiger from the 1959 film Operation Petticoat.

Balao-class submarine

However, I probably would have been bothered by the fact that the subs used in filming were actually Balao-class submarines, while the USS Seadragon which reputedly operated in red primer color for a time was a Sargo-class submarine.

7. C3-type Cargo Submarine by Lindberg

Lindberg went out of business, but the kits are still being produced by Round 2 LLC under the Lindberg brand name. The model is 148.6cm long, and comes with four Kaiten manned torpedoes.

8. Saturn V Rocket by Dragon

There was a time when I was really interested in getting the 1/96 scale Revell Saturn V, but by the time the Dragon version came around, that desire was a distant memory. At 153.7cm tall, I'm not sure if there is a commercially produced 1/72 kit that is larger than this one.

In closing, I'll have to admit that at times I look at my existing piles of lead and plastic and wonder what the point of it all is. However, finishing a project no matter how small, or getting to play a game with newly painted miniatures always brings a sense of satisfaction, and puts me back to the proper hobbyist perspective.

Kingdom Death is a company that started out selling a boutique line of 35mm resin figures that people either loved or hated. Their wildly successful Kickstarter campaign for the Kingdom Death: Monster game also drew controversy for alleged sexism and misogyny.

Personally, I like their figures, and found the charges of sexism to be a straw man almost entirely based on personal bias.

Regardless, the only model I own is a collector's edition Dung Beetle Knight from the first production run, and I don't really have plans to buy any more of their figures (due to their size).

The model consists of the Dung Beetle Knight and its food collecting ball.

I was originally going to build the model OOB, but there was something about the bars across the eyes of the ball that didn't sit well with me.

I studied the original illustration, and while it appears as if there are literal bars across the eyes, I decided to interpret the bars as areas of more intense light emitting from within the ball.

Instead of trying to pull off painting light effects, I decided to just wire the model up with LEDs instead.

I wanted light to emit from inside the mouth and through the nostrils as well, so a total of four holes were drilled into the model.

To drill the holes, I had to break the model apart
because I had already glued it together.

Clear beads painted with Tamiya Clear Yellow (X-24) were installed in the eye sockets. The beads were epoxied in place so that the hole through the center of the bead appears as a vertical bar.

Because I had to remove the integral base to make an opening in the bottom of the ball to accommodate wiring, I decided to make a new base for the model using clay.

I made a thin layer of clay and allowed it to dry. I put the thin layer on top of a thicker base layer of wet clay, and rolled the ball over a section of the clay to crush the dried layer.

I'm going to try and cast this piece in resin to make it a little more durable for drilling and installing a battery holder underneath.

Now I'm off to do some research on how to get the proper iridescent shades when painting up the knight.

The Imperial probe droid made it's debut in the film The Empire Strikes Back. Subsequent fluff designated the machine as the Arakyd Viper.

According to rumor, the design was inspired by art that Mœbius created for the short comic The Long Tomorrow.

I think that many people found the looks of the droid to be both sinister and elegant, though functionally it was rather over-sensitive, and likely to self-destruct at the slightest insult.

In any event, I recently picked up the Galoob Micromachines version of the probe droid. I'm not sure if it originally came with a stand (there is a hole underneath that looks like it is for a flight stand), but it stands okay without one.

I had been hesitant about this particular model in the past because I thought it did not match the 1.6m height specified for the probe droid. Then I saw a picture of the 1:1 scale model used in the film, and decided that the toy probably was fairly close to being 1/72 scale.

Bill Hargreaves and probe droid

A 1/72 resin kit for the probe droid is also made by RetrokiT, but it's roughly triple the cost of the Galoob version, and likely unsuitable for gaming.

The Comanche Battle Suit comes from the Secrets of the Third Reich wargame by West Wind Productions. I liked the look of the Comanche because of its diesel-punk aesthetic and also for its similarity to the Koubu from Sakura Wars.

The Comanche is described as a battle suit, but looking at it, I have a difficult time seeing how a 28mm figure is supposed to fit inside it. Then again, it is also described as a light mech, so maybe it is not operated by someone inside the armor. In any case, I believe that it fits much better with 1/72 scale figures than 28mm figures.

There are three different versions of the Comanche: the following models are the .50 HMG mounted version (US-SOTR14) and the flamethrower version (US-SOTR16). A bazooka and assault pod mounted version (US-SOTR15) also exists, but I don't own one.

The models come with the national identification symbol cast on the front of the hull, but I plan on removing it from the models. It just seems like kind of a bad place to have a big white star.

I don't particularly care for the layout of the flamethrower either, so I'll modify it so that all the weight is not distributed to the right side of the model. I'm thinking that the fuel tank would be better off fixed to the back.

For one of the suits, I hollowed out the interior so I could display it with an open hatch.

A comparison of a Koubu, a Comanche, and a Colossus.

The Comanche in the above picture is fitted with two arms, but they cannot rest at the sides of the suit. They need to be placed either to the front or the back of the body. To see if I had other options, I tested a pair of Chaos Space Marines Lightning Claws to see how they would look on the model.

I'm thinking that in general they look pretty good except for the spikes. For the actual finalized models, I'd probably attach some Power Fists instead of the Lightning Claws though.

The Robot Soldier (ロボット兵) from the film Laputa: Castle in the Sky (天空の城ラピュタ) is an iconic mecha design, but it had an earlier incarnation as the [Armored] Robot Soldier Lambda Doll (ロボット兵ラムダドール) in the final edpsode of the Lupin III TV series.

Lupin III second series (1977-1980), episode 155

In Laputa, the Robot Gardeners are gentle giants covered in moss, who tend the grounds of the castle.

There are also Robot Soliders that defend the castle. They differ from the gardeners in having spines protruding from their arms from which flying membranes can grow, and eye beams that can cut through stone like butter.

A 5m tall life-sized statue of a Robot Soldier stands on the roof of the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka.

The dimensions of the statue were probably not used for the 1/20 scale models of the Robot Gardener and Robot Soldier manufactured by Fine Molds, since the completed model is supposed to stand at 7" tall, which scales out to just over 3.5m in height.

The size of the robot in the film is not always consistent either, but discrepancies like that are common in most forms of media.

The Robot Gardener seems undersized in this scene.

It was one of my wishes that someone would make a 1/72 scale version of the robot, but nothing I found was close in size. At one point, I purchased a very difficult to find key chain set made by Nibariki in the hopes that they would meet my expectations, but the figures turned out to be too small.

The robots in the Nibariki set are about 40mm tall, which would be a mere 2.75m in height in 1/72 scale.

Recently however, ensky has released a set of Robot Soldiers as part of their Tsumu-Tsumu Series (つむつむシリーズ). I'm guessing that tsumu-tsumu (つむつむ) is a diminutive or duplication form of the word 積む (tsumu; to stack), which is how these toys were designed to be played with.

The Laputa Tsumu-Tsumu set (TMU-31; 天空の城ラピュタつむつむ) consists of 10 pieces. A couple of single robot sets are also available. There are six robots in four different poses, and four levitation stones (飛行石); three in cube form, and one in crystal form.

The standing robot is about 52mm tall, which would make the model 1/69 scale if going by the dimensions of the Fine Molds kit. However, if the robot is considered 1/72 scale by default, it would be about 3.75m in height. In either case, I think it's the best one can hope for in our scale.

Cube form levitation stones.

Crystal form levitation stone.

I ended up ordering three of the sets so I would have some extras to do conversions on. If I have the energy after dealing with all the issues with the forced Windoze 10 install that Microsoft pushed onto my PC last night, I'll try to do a quick conversion of one of the Robot Soldiers to a Robot Gardener.

So I tried Windoze 10 for a couple of days, and while there were a few nice features, my overall feeling was that the new OS was half-baked shite. Actions were laggy, the ability to customize seemed very limited, and most importantly, trying to transfer to, or access files on external drives was severely impaired.

Long story short, I rolled Microsoft's unwanted install of Windoze 10 back to 7. Here are some more reasons why Windows 10 sucks.

Happily, restoring the old OS was painless so I was able to get quite a bit of modeling done on the weekend. The first thing I worked on was my Comanche Battle Suit with flamethrower. What I noticed about these models was that they seem to have high lead content, and they were slathered in mold release agent.

The softness of the metal made cutting the fuel tank off of the arm very easy. I mounted it to the hip girdle of the battle suit, and re-positioned the hoses. There was a smaller third hose from the center of the fuel tank to the arm, but I just removed it altogether because it would have been too much trouble to sculpt an additional length of hose to cover the increased distance between the two locations.

I thought about making the nozzle of the flamethrower smaller, but then figured why not have a giant over sized nozzle?

I'm going to have to rebuild the upper portion of the right arm, but after that the model will just need painting.

I was also able to complete my conversion of a Robot Soldier to a Robot Gardener. First, I used my heat gun to soften the arms and re-position them.

Then I cut off the spikes from the arms. The left hand was also cut off and then re-attached rotated 180°.

Finally, I used wood glue and Woodland Scenics Fine Turf to create the moss on the robot's shoulders.

The roper is a classic D&D monsters that comes from the earliest incarnations of the game. It sits motionless, pretending to be a stalactite until an unsuspecting adventurer passes by, whereupon it attacks with its six tentacles.

The cover of the 1st edition AD&D Monster Manual, and some early art shows the roper with two eyes, and the ability to cling to cave ceilings like a stalactite.

I'm sure that many DMs who noticed this eventually made some sort of connection between ropers and piercers, but it wasn't until 5th edition that piercers officially became juvenile ropers.

Another version of the roper was the storoper, which is described as looking like a small (5' tall) statue of a roper.

As far as miniatures go, the old Grenadier roper from the Dwellers Below box set was pretty spot on for a 1/72 roper in size, and resembled the description in the Monster Manual pretty well. I kind of wish that I hadn't traded the one I owned away, but oh well.

The first two miniatures I have are the Reaper Stone Lurker (Bones 77227; Dark Heaven Legends 03602) and a Grenadier Stone Tangler (Monster Manuscript Vol.IX 1509, MM79). The Stone Lurker is supposed to come with six tentacles (not attached for this picture), but I only received five with the figure. The Stone Tangler is a two-eyed roper, but unlike the early D&D ropers, the eyes are on stalks.

Both of these miniatures are larger than the stated size of a roper, but I don't see any reason why there can't be giant ropers.

I particularly like the tentacles of the stone tangler. I always thought that the generic tentacle used for the roper didn't really mesh with its appearance.

Another good source of ropers is Midlam Miniatures, who produce a whole line of creatures called Stalagbites.

Stalagbites do not have any tentacles, but I plan to drill holes in the figures so that they can be fitted with tentacles from the Reaper roper (hopefully Reaper will re-implement their Boneyard service in the near future so I can order up a bunch of these).

Roody, Bitey, Irky, and Lurky

Devilly, Wonky, Shelly, and Sleepy

Noody, Slurpy, Gnawy, and Chompy

Sneaky, Blanky, Skanky, and Spiky

The stalagbites average about 40mm in height, which makes them just a bit over 9' tall in 1/72 scale. Each figure is full of character, and getting them all has pretty much filled my quota of ropers and then some.

Archelon ischyros

Archelon was a giant sea turtle of the Late Cretaceous period. The first fossil of the creature was unearthed by G.R. Wieland, who shares a somewhat dubious reputation like his two mentors, E.D. Cope and O.C. Marsh. Archelon is probably not the most exciting of creatures, but it did make an appearance in the 1966 film One Million Years B.C.

Some liberties were taken with the movie version of Archelon, the most obvious being that it is portrayed as being five time bigger than the actual creature, but I guess nobody claimed that the film was scientifically accurate.

Two models of Archelon are made by Kaiyodo. One is part of the Capsule Q Museum series (left), while the other is from series 3 of the UHA Dino Tales line (right).

The Capsule Q turtle is billed as being 1/72 scale, and has multiple ridges on its back similar to a leatherback turtle. The UHA turtle has a smooth shell with a central ridge like more typical depictions of Archelon found in dinosaur art. The UHA turtle is also about 10% larger than the Capsule Q turtle, but can still represent a larger specimen of Archelon.

Harryhausen's design is based on the green sea turtle.

Tridacna gigas

Giant clams were at one time scurrilously portrayed as capable of trapping divers underwater until they drowned, and the myth persists despite evidence to the contrary.

I have been searching for giant clam miniatures for a long time because I wanted to represent the Arduin monster known as the Mantrap (aka Leg Eater, Jaws, Big Mouth), which was essentially a giant land clam.

It probably seems strange that I would be interested in such an obscure monster, but I bought my first Arduin book when the film Dark Crystal was released, and when I saw the sequence at 0:27 in the following clip, it crystallized the image of the Mantrap in my mind.

The thought of fighting giant clams in RPGs seems rather silly (ala the giant mutant fire clam from World of Synnibar), but I was surprised to find that monster clams did appear in real world mythology.

In Chinese mythology, there is the shèn/chèn (蜃), a giant clam (or sometimes dragon-like creature) that released bubbles or mist from its siphons that rose to the surface of the ocean and appeared as fabulous structures or landscapes to observers.

Meretrix lusoria

The ideograph for shèn is incorporated into the Japanese (and Korean) word for "mirage" (蜃気楼; shinkirō, shèn breath tower). The shèn also makes an appearance in the series Naruto as the ōhamaguri.

A giant clam is also found in the Tahitian myth of Rata and its derivatives. Pahua-tu-tahi (Coral Rock Standing Alone) was a sea god in the form of a giant clam the size of a mountain. It attacked by rising from the depths and opening its valves so that its victims were drawn in with the rushing water that filled its mouth. Then it would close its shell to entrap them for leisurely digestion.

In some legends, Pahua-tu-tahi has been transcribed as just Paua. It was also known as one of the Children of Puna.

For giant monsters like Pahua-tu-tahi, there are lots of aquarium decorations or even real clam shells that can probably be used to represent it.

Tridacna squamosa

Normal sized 1/72 scale giant clams are more difficult to find. It is only recently that I've discovered some nice giant clam models from Morland Studios in their Sea Accessory Set 2. The set comes with one sprue consisting of two giant clams, and another sprue with four small clams.

The giant clams work well for moderately large giant clams, but the small clams are oversized, and probably better suited for 1/35 or 1/32 scale.

While the Morland clams are very nice, options for the largest specimens of giant clam remain elusive. I did stumble across a toy that was part of the Matchbox Mega Rig Shark Adventure playset, but it scales out to 10.5' wide, which is about twice the width of a large giant clam.

Unfortunately, the Matchbox clam is toy-like, with hinges and a socket underneath that detract from its appearance. It also has poor shape when viewed from overhead and the folds of the shell are not well defined. Still, with a little work, I believe it could make a passable giant clam.

Games Workshop's short-lived post-apocalyptic Road Warrior/Car Wars-based game was released around 1988, and set in the year 1995. What made this game of interest to me was that the miniatures were stated to be 20mm, as opposed to their usual 28mm. The miniatures have been particularly difficult to find at a reasonable price, but there has been a slew of them on eBay recently, so I was finally able to obtain some examples.

From left to right are first release figures DF600108, DF600113, DF600114, and DF600117.

From left to right are first release figures DF600121, DF600127, DF600128, and a second release figure DF600148.

The figures are obviously dated with their 80s Glam Rock hairstyles, but they're otherwise good solid sculpts produced by Alan Perry.

The female figures in their heels are taller than their male counterparts, and look fine compared to George. The male figures are on the short, stocky side, but are otherwise okay. I will probably have some of them undergo height enhancement surgery though.

I doubt that I will complete this range of miniatures. A small sampling of figures is probably enough, unless I see them at a ridiculously low price. I'm still looking for some of the motorcycles at a price that is reasonable to me, but the design of the cars are a little too much Hot Wheels, and not enough Road Warrior/Fury Road for my tastes.

I am always on the lookout for offbeat monsters to throw at adventurers. One of those finds came a long time ago, when I bought a bunch of cheap Dreamblade miniatures and saw the Slaughter Boots.

I was thoroughly taken by the idea of giant animated boots (or were they boots worn by an invisible giant?) that would stomp all over everything.

More recently, I found a small trading figure that bore similarity to the Slaughter Boots.

Based on the copyright information on the bottom of the figure, I was able to identify the pair of strange creatures as Hell Hoppers from the Dragon Quest games.

In the following comparison shot, the Dreamblade Slaughter Boots (Base Set #95) are on the left. On the right are the Square Enix Hell Hoppers (Dragon Quest Monsters Gallery Chapter 1, silver version).

The Slaughter Boots were cut from their base because I wanted the option of using a single boot if necessary. Magnets were installed in the heels so that they could be mounted on washers.

The Hell Hopper figures are slightly smaller than the Slaughter Boots, but I believe the actual monsters are supposed to be the size of regular boots. I like the fuzzy one-eyed creatures, and am thinking that they could be the manifestation of spirits that are animating the boots.

The only thing missing now is to find some sort of stats for them.

The M41 Walker Bulldog is an American tank that has not been represented in 1/72 scale by the plastic model companies despite its widespread use by many nations.

I have three types of diecast models of this tank. The first picture shows the War Master M41A3, and the Amercom M41A3. I believe that the Amercom model is identical to the original Altaya version, so that is how I will refer to it from this point forward.

The War Master and Altaya models are similar, but despite the superior finish on the War Master model, there are certain aspects that are better with the Altaya model. I believe that the hull of the War Master M41 is a copy of the Altaya model, but some of the surface details seem much softer.

The turret of the War Master M41 does not have the softness of the hull, and seems to be a new tool with a more accurate commander's cupola.

The most objectionable part of the War Master model however, has to be the road wheels, which are all connected to each other by plastic strips. I guess these make the model easier to manufacture on the assembly line, but they look horrible. I'm going to see if I can cut them off without damaging the model at some point in the future.

The next comparison is of a Hobby Master M41A3 (of which there are now 10 different versions) and the Altaya M41A3.

The finish of the Hobby Master model is excellent, and details like the headlight guards are not overly chunky like on the Altaya and War Master models. The downside of the Hobby Master tanks however, is that they are very expensive.

Finally, a comparison of all three tanks.

The overall dimensions are pretty much identical for length, width, and height.

Another subject that has not been produced by plastic model companies in 1/72 scale is the 203 mm howitzer M1931 (B-4). A resin version of the howitzer was produced at one time by AER, but the kit looks like it would be a bear to prepare and assemble.

Once again though, Altaya comes to the rescue with a model of this sadly neglected subject.

The barrel can elevate to to about 45°, but the limber is glued in place so it cannot be displayed in firing mode.

The same model is also sold by War Master, except with a different color scheme and some weathering.

Since both howitzers are in travel mode, I've pre-ordered a couple of Trumpeter Komintern Artillery Tractors to tow them (maybe Trumpeter will make a 1/72 version of the howizter as well).

The following images are some interesting photos of the howitzer that I found on the web.

Knight, Death, and the Devil
Albrecht Dürer - 1513

Originally titled Reuter (The Rider), Albrecht Dürer's engraving eventually became known as Ritter, Tod und Teufel (Knight, Death, and the Devil). There has been a lot of context assigned to the engraving by various people with different agendas, but nobody except Dürer can say for certain the intended meaning of the piece.

It really just goes to show that a work can develop an identity of its own, and in many ways make the intentions of the creator irrelevant.

Anyway, onto the actual subject of this post, which is primarily about miniatures of knights and barbed devils.

I finished painting these two figures not too long ago. The left figure is a Ral Partha Paladin (Personalities and Things that go Bump in the Night 01-112) which was also available in the Fantasy Champions box set (Best of Ral Partha 10-306). The right figure is the Ral Partha Briar Rose Knight (Personalities and Things that go Bump in the Night 01-107) which was also available in the Adventure Fellowship box set as a Chevalier (Best of Ral Partha 10-305).

The paladin is painted in the colors and heraldry of the Grand Duchy of Ellay, while the Briar Rose Knight is painted as a knight from the Kingdom of Troy.

The next set of figures include a Minifigs Plated Armored Fighter w/ Sword & Shield (Fantasy Folk FF-016), and a Citadel Female Fighter in Plate Armour (Fantasy Tribe Fighters FTF32).

I believe that the next pair of knights are also from Minifigs, but I do not know which lines they come from.

Representing Death is the Grenadier Charon, Boatman of the Styx (Fantasy Lords 175).

One of these days, I'm going to make a figure similar to this of Death in a straw boater hat poling a Venetian gondola.

First up for the barbed devils are three plastic figures; a DDM Barbed Devil (Angelfire #35), a Pathfinder Sentinel Devil (Skulls & Shackles 015), and a Horrorclix Terror Demon (Base Set #078).

The first two miniatures are modeled after 3.5 edition barbed devils, and have spines on their backs. The clix figure has the look of a more traditional devil, but it has some spikes on various parts of its body and a barbed tail.

In metal, we have a Heritage Barbed Devil (Dungeon Dwellers 1288). A different Heritage Barbed Devil was also in the Demons & Devils boxed set (Dungeon Dwellers 3520). My figure was actually from the GFI Creature Pack II (Dungeon Dwellers MIF25921808).

The figure on the left is mostly covered in scales, though there are spikes on its back. It is also probably larger that I would like a barbed devil to be. The second figure has good height, and the back is completely covered with barbed spikes. Unfortunately this figure seems to be pretty difficult to come by nowadays.

There were also other lesser devil sculpts that could be found in the blister set, but the one that came in my blister was more of an imp.

Last up are the ex-Center Stage Miniatures Barbed Devils now available from Pacesetter Games & Simulations (Demons & Devils BAD1).

These guys have the appearance of the Trampier barbed devils that we know and love, but they are really too big for use with 1/72 scale figures. They also have a distinct lack of barbs on their backs. Otherworld also makes some barbed devils in this style, but they are too tall as well.

The next pictures are of conversions I did on one of the Minifigs knights and the Pathfinder Sentinel Devil.

Before and After

Maybe you had an inkling of where I was going with this post, but here are the two converted figures posed in the start of a tableau based on the iconic DCSIII illustration from the AD&D Players Handbook.

I will have to admit that when I originally bought the Witch Coven of Garlghast & the Egregore set by Privateer Press (34035), it was really because of the witches... but because they weren't 1/72 scale, the set languished in my giant pile of unstarted miniatures for years.

Selene and Helleana

Recently, I decided to paint up the Egregore after seeing some nifty examples of basing for the model ^[1],[2]. While planning my build, I found out that Warmachine players nicknamed the Egregore, "the Egg". I did not make the connection immediately, but it dawned on me that "the Egg" would be a great representation for the Egg of Coot from Blackmoor ^{[1],[2],[3],[4]}.

This all consuming personality lives off the egos of others to support his own ego. At one time (millennia ago) of humanoid characteristics, today, his exact physical description is unknown. In fact it is not even known for sure if he (it) has a physical appearance. Theories say that he is now a huge mass of jointly operating cells, a huge mass of Jelly, a giant thickly hided egg, pure energy, a man, a mass of living rock, etc. It is generally acknowledged that the physique of this creature is too horrible for any mortal to behold and that it carries out its activities through the use of surrogates which it controls or has programmed. All communications with this beast are through direct mental contact or via his throne-room which is dominated by a huge old world artifact said to be an ancient war machine, through which it communicates directly via voice transmission from some other area of its City-Palace.

- The First Fantasy Campaign

For my own take on the Egg, I stretched and formed clear plastic rods over a flame to represent the ichor that is supposed to pour from the Egregore. The plastic was attached to a washer with clear epoxy, and then painted with Tamiya Smoke (X-19).

The painted Egregore was then epoxied to the plastic rods extending from the base, while some plastic representing dripping ichor was affixed to the side of the model.

I think that I might add a bit of patina to the bronze parts, but I'm still not completely decided on it. The base also needs some final touches, but I'm otherwise pretty much finished with this model.

Vulture-headed lions, fifteen feet high, prowled in hungry anticipation towards them, their feathered manes rustling as they approached.

- Stormbringer

The creatures of Matik were called vulture-lions in the AD&D Deities and Demigods entry under Melnibonéan Mythos. They were created from "the stuff of unformed madness" by the sorcerer Matik.

Jeff Dee's illustration of the vulture-lion shows what is essentially a lion with a vulture's beak. Moorcock's description in the novel, suggests that the creatures had feathered manes and tails.

To represent these creatures, I always thought that the Scauweg from SLAP Miniatures were spot-on. I finally decided to place an order for them, and after a long wait, I've finally received the miniatures.

Unlike the miniature shown on the SLAP website, the Scauweg 1 model that I received looks like it is in a crouching/pouncing pose. I believe it was probably crushed during shipment, but the pose doesn't look bad.

Scauweg 1

Scauweg 2

Scauweg 3

The Scauweg scale out to about 9.5' to 10' at the shoulder in 1/72 scale, rather than the 15' described in the novels, but I think that these hefty models still make for impressively sized monsters.

On the SLAP website, the Scauweg are painted with red colored heads like turkey vultures, and I'm a bit curious if that is what comes to mind when people in the UK think of vultures.

In any event, I'm going to paint them like Cape vultures or white-backed vultures from Africa as opposed to a North American bird.

Over Dard (aka Hiroshi Satou) is known for his sculpts of ero-figures with chestal regions of improbable proportions. His professional work has primarily been on large scale PVC and polystone figures, but recently due to what seems to be an interest in Girls und Panzer, he has started producing garage kits in 1/35 and 1/72 scale to sell at the Tokyo Wonder Festival.

The S.M.G. Runa Heavy Weapons Set (S.M.G. 瑠奈重火器セット) was produced for the 2016 WonFes. It comes with the eponymous Runa, M60, Browning M1919A4 .30 caliber. MG42, MP40, jerry cans, and some ammo boxes, drums, and belts.

The figure and accessories are cast in a nice firm resin, and the pieces were easily removable from the sprue. There was some flash on the weapons, but it came off with some light scraping using the edge of a knife.

I had the most issues with the ammo belts, both of which broke during the clean-up process. It was simple enough to reattach the broken ends with CA glue though.

The grip of the M60 was incomplete, and the barrel of the Browning was a bit warped, but I've had a lot worse from other resin kits with parts as small as these.

It would have been a nice nod to the original S.M.G. series figure if the 1/72 set came with a M-134 Gatling Gun though.

The original character Runa (瑠奈) comes from the S.M.G. series of 1/12 scale ero-figures produced by Daiki Kougyou (ダイキ工業). Small scale Runa in her micro-bikini is much, much tamer than the larger figure.

Now normally, I would not bother with buying miniatures with disproportional body parts of any type, but I just had to get this figure for the uh... novelty factor... yeah... In any event, most of Runa scales out nicely in 1/72 scale, and I hope more garage kit makers will venture into the 1/72 market.

The Wonderful Fish

Aragami

O-I Super Heavy Tank

White Elephants

Dung Beetle Knight

Imperial Probe Droid

Comanche Battle Suit

Laputa Robot Soldier

Weekend update

The Ropers

Archelon

Killer Clams

Dark Future

These Boots Are Made for Walkin'

Little Bulldog

Stalin's Sledgehammer

Knights, Death, and Barbed Devils

The Egg of Coot

Creatures of Matik

S.M.G. Runa