Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Dark Future Hot Wheels Renegade.

I've been getting drawn back into Games Workshop's abandoned game Dark Future recently via the Facebook Oldhammer: Dark Future Group and although I don't have a copy of the game I do have a small collection of vehicles that I've always planned on converting to use in the game. One of the great draws of Dark Future is that it used a scale that allowed Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars to be armed and play in the game. And given that the actual cars used for the game are getting rare quickly due to renewed interest it's looking like I'll be using toy store proxies.

A common type of vehicle in DF is called a Renegade, basically an armed and armored dune buggy used by the less pleasant types of  Dark Future baddies. Recently I found a Hot Wheels car called Bull Whip that I decided would look cool as a Renegade. All it would need was a bit of arming and armoring and a new paint job.

Low profile tires on an off-road vehicle?! Balderdash!

Nice 1970s throw-back graphics. Dork.

Disassembly was super-easy since the body was only riveted on with plastic. I remember the older cars used metal pins and those took a lot more Dremeling. These ground out like softened butter.


I wanted to add some mesh over the windows and luckily had some Kotobukiya mesh plate which would match the scale really well. You can find it here. Taking apart the car beforehand made it much easier to add the mesh.






I reassembled the whole thing, added a cut down gun from Rebel Minis and laser cut some wheel covers to mask the goofy low profile tires. Then it was just a matter of painting it in various layers of paint and weathering effects. I did a few layers and then lightly sanded the whole thing. I dry-brushed multiple layers on top of each other. I added graffiti and militant decals. Then more dry-brushing and finally paint spatters. And honestly, I overdid it.

It's been a while since I've painted anything like this and wanted to try out the whole bag of tricks. I might completely paint over the whole thing again and just imagine it to be recently car-jacked and painted in new gang colors. Although I'm not totally happy with it I had fun with it and honestly, it only cost a buck. And I think that's one of the main draws for painting and playing Dark Future. Other then the hard to find road tiles and the original minis it remains a gaming bargain seeing that you can pick up a new vehicle for less than a dollar.

Now I just need to find an original Dark Future Chainsaw Warrior.

The Necro-Mags were also my Necromunda gang.


G.G.G.

5 comments:

  1. I wouldn't paint over it, looks fine to me. There ain't no car washing service DF :)

    One suggestion I would offer though, is you could draw zigzags along the surface of the tyre to simulate tread. Just use a technical pen or a paintbrush if you've got a steady hand. I think it would finish it off nicely.....look's a bit like it's driving on steam roller wheels at the moment.

    Cheers

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    1. Yeah the wheels were a problem from the start. I'm sourcing some now that should work and look much better.

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  2. Do you have the Dark Future rulebook in Adobe Acrobat format that was available on the Games Workshop Web site a few years ago?

    The Hot Wheels model Sol-Aire CX-4 is a good substitute for an original Dark Future Interceptor.
    http://hotwheels.wikia.com/wiki/Sol-Aire_CX-4

    The Hot Wheels model Roll Cage is another good substitute for an original Dark Future Renegade.
    http://hotwheels.wikia.com/wiki/Roll_Cage

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  3. Hi,
    I've got a pdf of the rules but I'm not sure if it's the one from the GW site. I think it might be a scan of the original books.
    Good call on those Hot Wheels. I'll have to pick some up sometime.
    Thanks!

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