Salute 2021 – Armoured Ambulances

Next in line for Saturday’s releases is a pair of 15mm Sci-fi armoured ambulances. The first is from our Pacific Federation range of grav tanks, and thus would also serve for the Terran Authority Starmarines in Hammer’s Slammers. It’s essentially a slightly smaller version of the 6mm Bennelong model with a boxy body which flares out either side for additional space. Cunningly, it’s designed so that as well as an ambulance, it’ll also serve as a command or utility vehicle; there is a turret mount on the right hand side of the superstructure that will accept a radar, small turret or even a small crane, as well as the blanking plate seen on the left hand model.

PacFed ambulance and command vehicle

The second model is a European Confederation design based on the Catrous 10-wheeler chassis. Like the PacFed example, it has a standard turret mount for radar, gun or missile mounts or again, just the blanking plate for the ambulance version. Unfortunately my sample model is currently sitting in the shed with its coat of Army Painter Quickshade drying overnight, so you’ll just have to make do with a CGI version instead…

Both of these models will be part of our MacMillan fund-raiser, which we’ve christened the Surgeon General range, so we’ll be donating 50% of the sale price of each model to the Macmillan Cancer Support charity. More tomorrow..

Posted in 15mm SF, Previews, Salute 2021 | 1 Comment

Salute 2021 – Space Cargo

Joining the Salute 2021 lineup is the Neptune Conveyor, a large cargo transporter spaceship. The model is a straightforward design with a resin hull and metal engines. It’ll be available individually or in a new merchant fleet pack along with two each of the recently released merchant ships.

Neptune Conveyor

We’ve also got hold of a small number of very nice starmats with a blue nebula design on them. They are a full 6’x4′ in size, and at £35 compare well in price to others of a similar size. I photographed one (below) although my phone has done some odd colour correction tricks – in real life the mat isn’t quite as bright blue as the picture makes it seem.

Posted in Previews, Salute 2021, Spaceships | 1 Comment

15mm Dune Buggies for Salute

Tearing across the sands of Meridienne and into Salute 2021 come the armed dune buggies of the Sincanmo Militia. We have no fewer than eleven different configurations based on 4×4, 6×6 and half-track drives, some with multiple weapon loadouts for even more variation. We’re still finalising all of the options that we’ll offer on the day (I’ve still to paint the command and 4×4 scout versions), there are still a couple of moulds to be made but we should have plenty on the day. The vehicles are an ideal complement to our recently released Desert Raider figures.

Half-track with single AA gun and 6×6 with quad AA.

Half-track with single AA gun and 6×6 missile carrier

Utility and troop-carriers in 6×6 and half-track configurations.

4×4 Radar and Utility versions

Posted in 15mm SF, Hammer's Slammers, Previews, Salute 2021 | 1 Comment

Salute 21 – new 1/700 Coastal Forts

Next into the Salute line-up are these new 1/700th scale Coastal Forts. We have three models (or rather, two individual models plus a set of four). The largest is Fort Paté, a small oval Vauban fortification in the Gironde estuary in France, built at the end of the 17th century. We also have a 1/700th versions of the Lascaris Towers in Malta – both of these were recently released in the Small Scale Scenery range. The third new model is the rather unusual Aldeburgh Martello Tower from the Suffolk coast, the largest of the Martello Towers on the UK coastline. It’s effectively four towers joined together to give it a distinctive quatrefoil shape. As an added bonus we also have a 1/1000th version in the Small Scale Scenery range.

Fort Pate

Lascaris Towers

Aldeburgh Martello Tower

Posted in 1-700th Scenery, Previews, Salute 2021, Small Scale Scenery | 1 Comment

The Argentines Set Sail for Salute

Making their debut at Salute 2021 are the redesigned Argentine Imperial Skies fleet. There are seven craft in all – replacements for the existing five models, plus a new battlecruiser, the Libertad, and a frigate, the Guerrico. They retain the design style that Phil came up with many years ago with the intersecting circular deck layouts, and which at the time he carefully crafted by hand. These new versions are all digitally designed, which makes life much easier !

Argentine Capital Ships

Argentine Cruisers

Argentine Escorts

Posted in Aeronef, Imperial Skies, Previews, Salute 2021 | 1 Comment

Salute 2021

Before we get to the meat of this post, a quick update on orders. PayPal’s postage system was down on Saturday morning so we weren’t able to post anything – the orders were all done, they’ve just been sat in a heap on my office floor for the weekend. However, all is well now and orders up to the end of October (except for one) have been sent this morning. Now we return you to your scheduled programming…

This year’s Salute is creeping up on us very, very fast – it’s just 11 days away now. For us it’ll be slightly different – we won’t have our usual avalanche of new models, we had our Salute line-up sorted for April before the show was rescheduled and they’ve all been released already. However, we will still have a batch of new items on the day, and of course stocks of all of the other bits and pieces that we’ve put out over the past year. Things in the world at large are obviously markedly different since the last show, so before we go further we’ll like to point you at the safety guidelines for the ExCel centre. You will need an NHS Covid pass, proof of double vaccination, Covid-19 antibodies or negative lateral flow test (within the last 48 hours) to gain entry.

We’re starting with news of a mini-range of models all in aid of a good cause. MacMillan Cancer Support is a UK charity that provides specialist health care, information and financial support to people affected by cancer. The treatment unit at one of our local hospitals is MacMillan Cancer Care Unit and we’ve seen what a great job they do, so we decided we’d like to help out in a small way.

We have a new range that will consist of models that could fit into our other ranges – spaceships, tanks, buildings etc – but all with a medical theme. So we will have hospital ships, armoured ambulances, stretcher and first aid teams, full-size hospitals in the Small Scale Scenery range, even healers and apothecaries for Celtos. We wanted to create a range of suitably themed models, but ones that would fit into your existing collections and be useful in gaming terms. We’ll be donating 50% of the net sale price (eg the price without VAT) of each model to MacMillan Cancer Care for the forseeable future.

We will be releasing the first models at Salute, but the range will continue to be added to over time as we have flashes of inspiration. Not everything is painted and photographed yet, but here are some 6mm buildings to start off with – Medical Centres for the 6mm Desert, Moonbase and Research Base sets. As you can see, there’s nothing on the models that makes them specifically medical centres (the red cross on the Moonbase unit is just painted on a blank panel), so if you want to just use them as a generic building then you can.

We’ll add more models between now and Salute, so keep an eye out.

Desert Medical Centre

Moonbase Medical Centre

Research Base Medical Centre

Posted in 6mm SF, Previews, Salute 2021, Shows | 3 Comments

Sand Troopers

So today we’re releasing the first of the new 15mm Desert Raider figures. Seven packs are available including riflemen and support weapons, command figures, tripod-mounted tri-barrel teams, snipers and the impressive Lizard Riders.

We will have stocks of the new figures at SELWG, although the hoped-for new vehicles to accompany them won’t quite be ready. And unfortunately we’ll be short of one Brigadier (and more importantly, one car down) on Sunday so that may affect what we’re able to bring. It’s more likely that we’ll drop some of the display models – the display cases look good but take up a lot of room in the car and a lot of extra stock can be fitted into the same space. So the stand may look slightly different with fewer display models, but we’ll still have as much stock as possible.

The following packs are available on the website today:

HS15-4260 – Rifles (x8) – £4.00
HS15-4261 – Support Weapons (x8) – £4.00
HS15-4262 – Command (x8) – £4.00
HS15-4263 – Tri-barrel Teams (x2) – £3.50
HS15-4267 – Lizard Riders (x2) – £3.00
HS15-4268 – Brigadier – £0.50
HS15-4270 – Sniper Teams (x2) – £2.00

These packs are not on the website yet (they will be as soon as I can get them painted and photographed) but will be available at SELWG on Sunday:

HS15-4264 – Missile Teams (x2) – £3.00
HS15-4265 – Mortar Teams (x2) – £3.50
HS15-4266 – Gun Crew (x5) – £2.50
HS15-4269 – Drivers (x4) – £1.50

And finally, here’s a teaser of their upcoming rides – we’re planning as many as a dozen variants of these dune-buggy-style vehicles in 4×4, 6×4 and half-track configurations, with armament options including AA guns and missiles. With a bit of luck we’ll have them at Salute.

Dune Buggy Preview

Posted in 15mm SF, Hammer's Slammers, New Releases, Shows | 3 Comments

Temple of Doom

We have two new 6mm buildings today, just to keep the city builders amongst you occupied.

The first is a small temple in the Desert Outlands range, somewhere to find some peace and solitude in the depths of the Outlands.

The other is far different – a large tower which we’ve dubbed a Corporate Tower, holding offices and similar, such as they’re needed on a colony planet.

B300-149 – Corporate Tower – £5.00
B300-807 – Small Temple – £3.00

Posted in 6mm SF, New Releases | 1 Comment

Raiders Ready

SELWG is just 11 days away now, so we’re ramping up production for the show. As I feared, there’s a lot to do in stocking up the last 18 months’ worth of new releases so I’m still not 100% sure if we’ll manage to get everything finished.

One thing we will definitely have is these chaps – the 15mm Desert Raider figures are lined up and ready to go, Phil finished the production moulds a couple of weeks back and I’ve painted some samples. We’re still finalising the exact pack contents but hopefully a list will go up before the show. They will also be next week’s Friday release for those that can’t get to SELWG. There’s also an outside possibility that they’ll have some brand new transport to ride around in, but we’d rather not promise anything just yet in case that doesn’t happen.

Posted in 15mm SF, Hammer's Slammers, Previews, Shows | 1 Comment

Third Time Lucky

This week we’re updating one of our oldest designs, the Pomerania Superdreadnought. It’s always been a very popular model, but has been in and out of production at various times and has had several updates over its 25+ year history. The original version came out before the dawn of time (ie sometime in the 1990s) and was cast in metal – we collectively shuddered to remember casting that on our old centrifuge… At that point it was known as the Ben Gurion, when our spaceships were still sold under the Semitic Federation banner. It was then renamed the Pomerania when we revamped the range and Phil created a new resin hull which made casting and assembly much more straightforward.

Pomerania I with resin hull.

Wind forward a few (maybe 16-17 ?) years and 3D printing is finally beginning to make its mark. The Pomerania was one of the first models we decided to redesign as a digital sculpt, and we set about printing it and popping it in a mould. We gave it some hefty cheek-mounted guns to match other ships in the German fleet as well. The first iteration did not fare well…

Broken Pomerania

Broken Pomerania hull

Nevertheless, we ploughed on and fixed the issues, releasing the new version (now back to all-metal construction again) in April 2013.

Pomerania II

Since then we’ve moved further forward in our experience and abilities with both 3D printing and resin casting. The metal Pomerania hulls have always been a pain to cast cleanly, so we’ve flipped again to another new version which goes back to a resin hull with metal bridge, weapons and fins. The resin hull means fewer parts to assemble and it’s easier to base up, being much lighter. We’ve restored the two side fins on the rear hull section – I can’t remember why they disappeared from the mark.II, but they were a feature of the original.

So here we are – the Pomerania III. The model is available on its own, or as the flagship of the German Fleet Pack along with 9 other supporting vessels.

SFS-300 – Pomerania III – £9.00

Posted in Spaceships | 1 Comment