Vehicles for Star Wars: U-Wing in 1:100

One key component of nearly every scene, in any of the abundant shows from the Star Wars televisual quiver, is the vehicles. They are not only vital set dressing that firmly states “This is Sci-fi” but they’re often vital to the character’s wellbeing and way of life. From farming equipment through service droids to personal transports the tech is what allows the squishy humans or not so squishy aliens to exist.

In order to make Star Wars in 15mm on my tabletop I needed to be able to put down some key vehicles, not only as scenery but sometimes objectives or even actively taking part in the fights. One particular vehicle I needed was a Rebel transport to rival the Imperial Shuttle: something to transport a squad or key characters into or out of the fight. Rogue One provided the perfect ship for this in the U-wing, the scene on Scarif(?) was excellent with the U-wings swooping in like Hueys, dropping off rebel commandos and providing close air support.

Luckily Revell make a 1:100 plastic kit of the U-wing and I managed to pick one up cheap (using up gift vouchers in the process). It’s not quite perfect: it has a lights and sound function but the gubbins for this take up the transport cabin leaving no space for gunners (unfortunately the cockpit sits on top of this block). I yanked the block out, cut off the un-needed section and discarded it. This left me with the front section (to support the crew cabin) and some work to do to make it presentable. The plan is to build a wall that will slot in behind the cabin (with appropriate door) and then fix a new floor into place. On this I’ll mount some door gunners or gun positions. The pilots seats are a little small but I may replace these or just black out the cockpit canopies….

The button for the light and sound is on the exterior engine but I had a sudden idea how to tackle/disguise it. One thing I love about the ships in SW is the astromechs and their diligent work under fire to keep the crafts moving. Now U-wings don’t seem to have astromechs like some of the smaller ships but I was sitting holding a GZG spider mech body when I realised it would fit perfectly back there with the addition of a small hole. This ship will be my personal craft for smaller adventures so I like the idea of having a droid along to help and will have a painted (and legged) version to bring along as well.

The earlier variants of the U-wing don’t have the boom wings (or have cut down or skeletal versions) so I may adapt them as they look a bit cooler (and will reduce the overall length). The kit in the picture below is not “clicked” together (as I’m not sure it’ll come apart again) but when it is the boom wings will be movable for different flight modes.

This is a great kit that snaps together easily and whilst intended as a toy/display, is of good quality and with a little extra work (paint job and weathering) should produce an excellent scale representation of the U-wing (that’ll see plenty of action in my games). Currently I’m tidying up my workspace (on our dining table) for the festive period and in doing so I’m going through all the vehicles I have and packing them together. As soon as I’ve finished sorting and organising I’ll get back to painting and fettling, and whilst I do, I intend to take photos of what I have so I can see where I’m at and can plan what needs to be done. Plenty more to come…..

Thank you for taking the time, stay safe,

Balm 

15mm AT-ST for Star Wars Chain of Command

    

 One of the first things that comes to my mind when you say Star Wars is the AT-ST or chicken walker. It’s not practical or particularly well armed but it’s quintessentially Empire and as such would be vital for any SW themed tabletop game I’d want to play. The biggest draw to playing Legion was the AT-ST and how much it reminded me of my childhood toy, but the cost (and scale) helped push me into investigating any possibility in a near enough scale for 15mm. 

     Most manufacturers use 1:100 for their accompanying 15mm vehicle scales but as I didn’t intend to have too many recognisable/real world vehicles on the tabletop (who says how big this speeder is in real life) I could accept some variance around this, probably from 1:90 to 1:110 depending on the subject. Luckily all of the work had already been done for me by the previously mentioned, and frankly excellent, Rebel Scale website which has lists for all the Star Wars toys or models that are or have been available. On it I was overjoyed to find that the Micro Galaxy Squadron toys by Jazwares produced an AT-ST in 1:100 exactly. Being, accordingly, a collectors item they can go for ridiculous prices (that I don’t understand but words like chase are bandied with much reverence in the hallowed circles of fandom) but I managed to pick up two for £13 each which was reasonable.

     The plastic is hard(ish) but not brittle and comes with a weird dirty wash on them (rebelscale recommends removing this with isopropyl alcohol which worked well enough for my purposes). The details are sometimes a little soft but perfectly acceptable apart from (in my opinion) the front blasters. These are the main chin mounted weapons and had plastic filler between the two barrels (to add strength). I cut off the guns and replaced them with a plastic set (from a WW2 Flames of War American early AA Halftrack), whilst not exact and missing the barrel detail of the originals I like the look of these replacements and feel when painted they’ll fit well enough for me (field modifications if anyone quibbles).

The toy actually stands up on its own but I decided to make them a base for added stability. Luckily with a little aggressive scraping with a scalpel I managed to enlarge the gaps on the underside of the feet to perfectly fit two 5mm neodymium magnets that were partnered by a pair mounted into a 50mm Renedra round base. Hey presto a stable model that can be posed and repositioned on its base or removed entirely if needed.

I’m really happy with how it looks next to a Highlander Studios Stormtrooper and need to start the second and work out a plan for paint scheme (in classic Empire grey). I’m tempted to add some stowage and bits but I’m not sure it fits the SW look.

Thank you for taking the time to check this out I have a lot of plans for my Chain of Command Star Wars chaps and just received another two Jazwares vehicles today for scenery; which I’ll spend a few weeks getting them out of their carbonite packaging (how kids are supposed to get anything out of this packaging without breaking them is baffling - it’s almost vac-formed around it!) and get them into the production line.

Balm 

A 15mm Sullustan for Star Wars

 A quick picture of my latest 15mm GZG RANG trooper converted into a Sullustan. It’s a little rough and like any picture of something that’s only15mm high I can now see all the flaws (If you’re an aspiring gamer don’t worry about the what tiny errors you can see in your photographs, this way madness lies).

It’s only been blocked in and washed (next up highlights) but I quite like the colour scheme and will probably use the same colours across the whole force (GW Knarloc Green, Iyanden Darksun and P3 Hammerfall Khaki). I always struggle with painting during the blocking phase as I get frustrated and disheartened when it doesn’t look as imagined, but they generally turn out ok eventually. 

To anyone just starting out on your hobby journey: Don’t judge yourself too harshly or by anyone else’s ability. Painting should be an enjoyable pastime that allows you to express yourself. For example GW’s John Blanche’s miniature painting style only exists because, as he admitted, he wasn’t very good at painting and this style was easy but acceptable to his eye. Weirdly the current (YouTube) generation laud this ‘style’ (Blanchitsu - shudder) as something to work towards completely missing the original message it was meant to convey “be happy with what you can do”. 

Back in the day I painted all my local GW’s display pieces and boards (my friend ran the shop and was overworked/treated terribly so I did what I could to help him out) and when he left (not happily but we all know what GW are like) I saw a group of employees fighting over who got to keep my work (I stopped them, took everything out of the cabinet and gave them away to more deserving people). I know I can paint but I still struggle nearly every time. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this, hopefully they’ll be more actual content soon,

Balm