Khurasan Caimen Easter Egg

While going over my kits sanding here and there getting them ready for paint I noticed something odd. The large turret on the Caimen is probably the biggest diversion from the look of the Aliens APC appearing to be quite a different shape and covered in gribblies on top compared to the very simple movie version. What I noticed though was that most of those gribblies were actually the runners that should be on the rails running along the back of the APC.





They had flipped the turret UPSIDE DOWN! I have no idea why they did this.







So what I did was cut off the tubes then sand the runner flat. Then use a razor saw to cut the peg off the other side then glue it to the runner.









Here is the comparison of the 2 turrets before and after the mod.















So what does everyone think? Improvement? Should I fix the 2nd one or have them different? Should I sand off that disc from the top of the turret?

New Board Games

I dropped by the Toy & Games Expo on the long weekend to see what was happening and try out some boardgame demos, also talk Nerf with a Sydney Nerf club thing that I wasn't expecting to be there at all. I didn't even know there was a Sydney Nerf Club thing, annoyingly I lost their card :(

Anyway I got to also try out some wargame demos like my friends demoing Malifaux and Hall of Heroes demoing a cowboy game which I totally forget the name of but have these amusing photos





Like all expo/cons though you eventually loose control of your wallet and splurge on buying games you don't really need cause they were a bit discounted XD

It started with this odd choice



the shop guy took $5 off when I said I was tempted to use the monsters for a Malifaux dreamer crew.





I think they look very good and the paint jobs aren't terrible either, just need a bit of claw sharpening, rebasing and some touch up work. Question is do I use them as 4 teddies or some other mix of things?





After the wallet was opened I talked the shop guy into a discount if I bought a bundle of stuff. I'd been kinda wanting Mice & Mystics for ages since a friend got it and I was so impressed with the minis and components  (sorry the photo is a bit blurry)



Also got the City of Theives expansion....



the latest Time Line Diversity card game and...



a game of Pirate Penguins, it's totally a kids game but I couldn't resist since it comes with a big ship and PIRATE PENGUINS was cheap. I can't really resist buying a game that has penguins that look like the ones I draw myself.


At least I didn't spend as much as Nick.

Khurasan Miniatures Caimen Heavy APC: AKA the APC from ALIENS

"All right, sweethearts, what are you waiting for? Breakfast in bed? Another glorious day in the Corps! A day in the Marine Corps is like a day on the farm. Every meal's a banquet! Every paycheck a fortune! Every formation a parade! I LOVE the Corps!"

Oh man awesome new goodies. When I 1st saw the Caimen on Dwartist's blog I was so damn excited to get one. Kinda annoying it took like another 8 months before I'd get to throw them some money and another month to get my hands on my own.
 


























You can kinda see I was excited to finally add an APC to my collection of old Grenadier, EM4, Copplestone and recent Hasslefree marines so I bought 2 instead of 1 and an extra one still in the box for my friend Andrew.  The likeness to the movie APC is great, not 100% of course but instantly recognizable.
Giving the kits the good once over and dry fit assembly they go together very well, except the front mini turrets (they're upside down in the photos) I'm going to either have to drill out the socket to make it bigger or file down the pegs on the turrets a fair bit to make them fit. Everything else slotted in fine. The casting was very good with not too much flash or bubbles. I was surprised to note a few of the bubbles on the underside had already been filled with putty and sanded back already.

I was a bit surprised the entire main body of the APC was one big cast. It's about the same width as a Space Marine Rhino but much longer. In scale it's much more Main Battle Tank sized than APC sized but it has no problems giving the impression that a whole squad would fit inside. The rest of the kit is the the 4 wheels with big solid pegs that just slot in easy, you would have to do a lot of converting if you want to pose the vehicle turning but it looks good with the wheels straight. I guess you could try and drill in axels but I'm not going to have them spinning. The Top turret slots into a socket up top at the front of the rail. You could probably convert it with a bunch of dremmelling to be in the stowed position on the back but it would not be easy. The side door slots onto a pair of rail grooves and can be put on open or closed. There is a bit of an inset doorway but no internal detail. Lastly the mini turret which as I said doesn't actually fit yet. Maybe magnets is the answer. [Edit: Turns out getting the front mini turrets to fit was quite easy when I started cleaning the model, I just had to use a knife to trim the lip of the socket and it was fixed in just a minute.]


Hopefully the cleanup will be quick and painless so I can get to painting them.







I also grabbed the much smaller Polecat Armoured Command/Utility vehicle. It looks like a futuristic armoured Humvee but with only 2 doors instead of 4. I think it goes well with the APCs. Similar to the APC it was one big cast for the body of the vehicle with 4 seperate wheels and a choice of 2 turrets, the pictured sensor array with minigun or an anti air missile launcher with 8 missiles. I like the look of the little boxy turret I have on now but I'll paint both and maybe put in magnets. Again the casting is quite good apart from a big bubble in the right hand rear tail light.


The kits are from here http://khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/28mmscifi.html