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Victoria Miniatures Road Test (finished pics artillery crew)

Cod

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Cod

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Due to some recent interest about Victoria Miniatures and her new wave of releases I thought a small Road Test Combination (review and paint) could be informative and beneficial.
I did respond to Vic's recent online request for interested hobbyists/bloggers to do a review of her products. As I had been one of many impressed with the new artillery pieces and other resin kits I sent an email request. What I received back was both exciting and surprisingly generous: 3 new artillery pieces and the matching Arcadian heavy weapon crew (6 figures), with enough bits for a few details/extras to boot!
Here they are primed and ready:
Auto Cannon with Arcadian crew
Twin Heavy Stubber with Arcadian crew
Heavy Mortar with Arcadian crew
Initial Thoughts:

  • Resin quality is really quite high. Not super hard or brittle, yet not really soft either. This means it's easy to work with.
  • Minimal flash with any present being soft, thin and easily removed.
  • Minimal warpage, only 2 las rifles had any and were easily straightened.
  • These kits are priced very affordably. Just look at other suppliers for comparable products and you will find these are great value.
  • Overall I really like the design aesthetic of these pieces, both the artillery and crew. They are similar enough to fit in with Guard armies and yet different enough to stand on their own.
Artillery Details:

  • The Heavy weapons fitted together very quickly and easily.
  • The large number of rivets and small details like bolts, fly wheels, muzzle flare, ammo magazines etc were all really sharp and did not require any clean up work.
  • By referring to the website it is explained how to assemble the heavy mortar.
  • It is clear the heavy weapons are also designed to be magnetized. This is stated with the availability of the 'Heavy Artillery Multi Pack,' which includes 1 gun carriage and artillery wheels, with all 4 gun options to mount on it.
By placing a magnet/magnetic strip on the top of the carriage and the underneath of the gun, you're done!
  • Being able to purchase extra gun carriages and wheels separately is a real bonus.
  • The Auto Cannon includes 4 large ammo cartridges which is a nice touch.
  • The gun muzzles are already hollowed! This is a great detail and saved me from drilling them out.
  • I love the detail of the heavy mortar with the cogs and handles. The barrel angle is adjustable too.
Crew Details:

  • The number of poses made possible by the modular limbs is great. You really can make some unique looking figures just by using the supplied pieces. I probably took longer than necessary to assemble these because I kept discovering new poses.
  • If you decide to purchase the extra add ons like water canteens and small pouches I suggest trying to clean any flash up while they are still on the sprue! Only because my fingers found it hard to hold them individually.
  • Anyone familiar with resin or FW products will know that these type of kits do need a little extra attention to get right when assembling. The figures did go together well but a little care is needed. I guess I'm trying to say if you are only used to snap together plastic kits or things like that you will need some more skills to assemble these, but the effort is clearly worth it.
  • The little details are superb. Examples include the zippo lighter and smoker head, the goggles and goggle straps, helmet straps, boot lace protectors and others.

Sum up:
The Victoria miniature range is great for adding flavour to an army or for starting a new one! The kits available really do add enormous character to the world of miniatures. Congratulations to Vic and Jake on some excellent additions which are full of charm and look equally great on the table top or in a display case thumbsup.gif
I believe there are more kits in the range expansion coming before Christmas (possibly motor bikes), and more again next year (maybe a large kit - a tank). So keep an eye out. All going well I will be giving myself a small Christmas gift by putting in an order before then tongue.png
More Victoria Miniatures can be found at: http://victoriaminiatures.highwire.com/
Quick paint tutorial - chipping with chipping fluid!
To do this you will need at least 2 different paint colours and a chipping fluid.
The concept: Paint your model twice with a different colour each time, but inbetween those coats of paint apply a chipping fluid. This allows the top coat of paint to be chipped or scratched back to reveal the underneath colour. I also used AK Interactive heavy chipping fluid.
*Don't glue the wheels and guns to the carriages yet. This will allow for easy access to all paint areas and besides they really do go on so easy it won't be hard to glue them later or even magnetize them.
1. After the guns were primed white, they were painted with the underneath colour. In this case a light red/pinkish paint.
2. Then when dry, apply the chipping fluid over those parts you want to see. I actually applied this liberally over most of the model.
3. As soon as this is dry, coat the model with the final paint colour (top coat). As my guard force is for a PDF, I went with a blue instead of a green. I did however want the wheels to be a bit different and darker, so applied black to them.
4. When the paint is dry, now apply some water to areas you want to remove. Then start rubbing those same areas to remove them and reveal the colour underneath.
To rub the paint I used both a soft toothbrush, and a hard toothbrush (for more stubborn areas), but other tools are useful too for certain effects. Just don't rub/scrape so hard that you go down to the plastic. You are in control of how much paint to remove.
Now you have a partly weathered model to continue working on. I say that because as much as I like the effect, more effects like rust, streaks, corrosion and grass/mud to the wheels etc will really help finish it off.
When you start adding more paint details it starts to improve quickly.
Auto Cannon
I named this gun 'The Stylist'. Its tendency to create cool air drafts with its solid rate of fire helps maintain the crews sporty windswept hairstyles.
Twin Heavy Stubber
I nicknamed this gun 'Mickey' after the resemblance of the ammo cartridges to the ears of an animated mouse from antiquity. Long live 'Steampunk Willie'!
Heavy Mortar
Not to be left out I call this gun 'Little Boy Blue'. Who wants to wake this guy? No one really as the thunderous bellows (come blow your horn) is deafening to its crew just as surely as to the enemy.
So, the pics above are not finshed, and are still work in progress. I'm really hoping to complete them for the end of the month and have the crewman painted too and a simple base as well. Checks calendar, hmmm here's hoping blink.png
CoffeeGrunt Veteran

CoffeeGrunt

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Okay okay, you're really selling these to me now. I've always had an eye on Victoria's female Arcadians, they've got a damn cool aesthetic.

 

Man, they don't fit my aesthetic, but I really wish they did now. Perhaps I could integrate them into another model in some way...

WarriorFish Venerable Brother

WarriorFish

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They look great, thanks for the little tutorial too. I'm going to be drawing up lists of potential purchases soon and I will be considering some of the Arcadians. Just need to clear a few projects off my decks first :P

Cod Veteran

Cod

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Heavy Artillery with Arcadian Crew completed pics.


Auto Cannon





Twin Heavy Stubber





Heavy Mortar







I realize the 'used ordnance' for the heavy mortar is not quite the right scale, just 1mm out? happy.png


So some more experiments with typhus corrosion (light washes too), some more rust effects and tried to do a little glass effect on the goggles.



Once again these miniatures were fun to paint and easy to personalize.

Hopefully now anyone interested can assuredly give them a go! thumbsup.gif
WarriorFish Venerable Brother

WarriorFish

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You can really see how well they'll fit in with old Cadian models now they've got some paint on them. I like the addition to the top of one of the helmets too :tu: It's another beautiful day here, just makes me wish I was at home painting even more :(

 

Oh well, I suppose I need to work to earn the money for models like this ;)

Cod Veteran

Cod

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Coffee!!! Pics might help you out ;-)



This was a wip pic showing how the mortar sits on its frame.


Just took these pics now:


The whole mortar sits right in the back of a chimera.



Here is just the mortar itself sitting in the back of the chimera.


Remember my one and only chimera for the Threads and Thrusters Event? As I'm starting a force I thought it would be good to make the chimera 'changeable' so I made the whole top half remove-able and then voila have another vehicle. Honestly I had a salamander scout vehicle in mind when I made it, but hey the mortar fits too msn-wink.gif
CoffeeGrunt Veteran

CoffeeGrunt

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Plus as I'm sure you'll appreciate Mr Elmo, easily magnetisable or at least interchangeable!

 

I may grab an old copy of the 5E Codex to use the Griffon from. In casual games it should be fine, my friends said they were okay with it, for example. I don't think it really offers an unfair advantage, just more toys to play with!

Cod Veteran

Cod

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Look what just went up for sale:


http://product-images.highwire.com/9594362/mortar-shells_290.jpg


These will really go great with the mortar kit.



There are more associated goodies for the heavy artillery too, amongst other things smile.png


WarriorFish Venerable Brother

WarriorFish

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I don't think it'd be much of an issue, the differences won't be noticeable on the table top so it's just a matter of how much work is required to fit it. Could be very little but without ever having build a Taurox I can't say.

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