On my, "Purchase" goals was some mecha from Dream Pod 9's range. They were upsized mecha from the Jovian Chronicles universe to be used with their With the Lightnings rules. I had built my own Space Mecha game called; Glittering Void that I wanted to use them with these rules.
However, instead I found a set of ugly "Not-Gundam" plastic robots on Amazon. I got 144 for about $14 USD. These were only 10 cents a model as opposed to $10 a model. I had plenty of them to chop up and they were cheap, so I had no regrets deciding to cut them into pieces and to start making space mecha out of them. This would not be my first time using toys in my wargames.
This is what I started with. Each one is about the size of a 28mm model but is made of hard plastic like a Green Army Man. Still you can cut them with a knife or plastic cutter easily enough, and trim them with an exacto blade. You can see on the side how they can be cut up at the joints pretty easily.
Looking at my previous battle reports, it was clear I needed some suits for the Earth Alliance and the New Olympians. After I had those done, I could think about other factions. I wanted a good selection of weaponry and suits for both sides of the battle. Later, I could also make some Defense satellites, Fighters, and other craft from Sculpey as well. I have some experience with scuplting Aeronautica Imperialis aircraft, so that seemed like an easy addition for later.
I chose the top two designs to be the bulk of my troops. The "Not Gundam" would be the Earth Alliance Hoplite suits while the "Not Gelgoog" in red next to it would be the bulk of the New Olympian forces. I also decided to use the "Not Gyan" suit in the lower left corner in blue to be the basis for the Earth Alliance other suit types. These Earth Alliance suits were intended to be more advanced than the front line Hoplite suits.
The first thing I did, was cut the models up into various pieces so I could reposition them into more dynamic poses. These guys would eventually go onto flying stands, so some more "flight" oriented positions seemed like a good way to go. I was able to clip them behind the knees to bend and reposition their legs, cut them at the shoulder joints to reposition the arms, and do other various cuts and chops to put them in better positions. I then used Green Stuff from Gale Force 9 to "tack" into place.
After that, I had to think about weapons load outs. The Earth Alliance used MAS Rifles which are essentially mass driver cannons, or "space age" slug throwers. For those I dug in my bitz box and found some old first edition Warhammer 40K bolt guns. I glued those straight on as the Earth Alliance used rifle type weaponry. For the New Olympians I had some Eldar Guardian plastic weapons from the original metal/plastic Rogue Trader Guardian box. I decided to actually mount these into the wrists of the New Olympians to represent their Beam Rifles. These were suppose to be more hi-tech looking than a MAS Rifle.
I also had some specialty weapons I wanted to add. New Olympians had Heavy Beam Rifles that I used Eldar Melta-Guns for and mounted in the wrists as well. The Earth Alliance had a Rocket Tube, which I used a Ork Plasma Gun for. I also had an Earth Alliance Spartan mecha with a Combat Shield and Laser Axe, I decided to use a High Elf shield and a Ork Chainsword from 1st edition as well. Lastly, I wanted some Swarm Missiles/Missile Pods which I just made out of Green Stuff.
Finally, I wanted the Earth Alliance command suit to look similar but different to the Hoplite suits. Therefore, I merged the Spartan style body of the "Not Gyan" with the arms of the "Not Gundam". These gave them a distinct and more advanced looked, without disconnecting them from the Hoplite frontline suits.
When all was said and done, I had two distinct forces of suits. I had 9 for the Earth Alliance and 8 for the New Olympians. This is what they looked like when I was done modelling.
New Olympians:
Earth Alliance:
Combined:
I now had all the suits I needed modeled up. The next step was going to paint them all up. I am interested to see how these paint up as they are not made of the normal plastic that I typically paint. I also forgot to give them a wash of warm water before I started working on them, and now I have a feeling it is too late. The wash is suppose to make it easier for paint to stick to the minis, as they maybe covered with industrial solvents and chemicals that impede painting. What a comforting thought after I have handled them!
Someone ought to do a 3D printable version of "not-gundam" robots. I'm actually surprised it hasn't been done already! Plenty of WH40K & D&D proxies so it can't be an IP issue.
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