Wednesday, 3 July 2013

7TV The Wild Ducks Military Cast

'The Wild Ducks'

Officially the 13th Commando regiment. but - if you can contact them, and can afford them - you can hire 'The Wild Ducks' a band of soldiers available for those jobs that can't be done by the book. Performing missions usually for Queen and country Captain Charles Mallard otherwise known as 'Drakey'  leads his men on top secret missions. Whether it is to remove from power a tinpot dictator, capturing dope smugglers in South America or Arms dealers supplying weapons to warlords in Africa no job is to small  or to dirty for his highly trained soldiers.

Finally finished my first complete cast for 7TV 250 ratings worth. More when I can also add in Hugo Solomon and Pandora King. These soldiers can then be used for Department X. The figures are nearly all Crooked Dice Minion miniatures packs of Minions I Rifles, II SMGs, III Hand Weapons and Minions Specialist III with 2 extra dogs  the only figure that is not is the Marksman's body whose from Westwind's SOTR British Sniper pack with a Crooked Dice Minion head.

I use two sets of  'Fighting men' beret heads and a Military man head for Captain Mallard (using some of Crooked Dices great range of head accessories). Those without berets I sculpted on folded berets under the epaulettes on there shoulders mainly so I could use the cracking heads that come with the minions.

To show ranks I just added the appropriate markings to the fronts of the shirts. You can add grenades to some of your soldiers as wargear but I didn't think of adding them until way after I'd started painting them. I've made a 4 clusters of 3 round grenades (triangle shape) out of putty and plan on having 2 sets of stun grenades (blue) and 2 sets of explosive (probably will be green) but can't decide on how to add them to the figures yet probably will add a metal clip and that can hook over the models carrying them or perhaps pin into the bases somehow.

Credit has to be landed at the feet of Doctor Warlock who helped me out with the background a great deal. I've posted a link to his profile as he has quite a few blogs under different themes.

This is a scheduled post as I'm off on my jollies this week returning Friday so I'll respond to any comments then. Enjoy your week!

The Whole Cast of 'The Wild Ducks'


Corporal, Captain Banner (military man head added) and Sergeant Murphy.

Minions I Rifles all with fighting men heads.


Minions II with one fighting man head and the rest sculpted on berets.


Minion Specialist III, Fighting man head added and two extra dogs added. (you only get one in the blister)


I really enjoyed painting these 3 guard dogs up especially doing different markings on them.

Marksman SOTR British Sniper body with a Minion head added.

Really wasn't sure what to about the camo nettings so just a few shades of brown. I think you'd call it Urban but its not based on anything real.



42 comments:

  1. Your enjoyment of this really comes through in your work here. Nice job on those heads and really like those dogs.

    Enjoy your week!

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    1. Thanks Anne! Arrvied back this afternoon has been a busy week but a fun and we had great sun to which was a nice change!

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  2. Very nice and really great pain Simon .
    Greetings .

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  3. That's ducking lovely work Simon, top notch!

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  4. Cracking job on those folded berets, and again, what a great idea!

    I think sniper didn't need anything but a CD head to blend him in, his body is pretty generic.

    Well done!

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    1. Thanks mate, They probably aren't perfect but you get the idea so it gets a pass. Thanks for being there to bounce ideas off about them :D

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  5. Nice work Simon - those look like an interesting "cast".

    For rank insignia, you could probably use appropriate decals. Warlord Games do some that would be suitable and you can almost certainly find others

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    1. Cheers Tamsin, I really must try and have play with decals again. I haven't used them in years and being a bit more patient nowadays I may have a bit more luck with them. Thanks for the suggestion i'll go have a nosy :)

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  6. Nice work, and enjoy the time off!

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  7. You certainly have the cool factor going on here - from the chick at the top with James Bond to the awesome sniper dude you have. Very chic indeed.

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  8. So many nice touches it's hard to know where to start. Folded berets are spot on. Like the Dogs as well. All the colours and the vehicles all match up very nicely. It makes me want to start a new batch straight away.

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    1. Thanks Clint the vehicles where kind of an accident and only when taking some pics did I notice that they went so well. I had intended on repainting them but i'm going to leave them for now :D

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  9. Looking good. The sniper fits well with the rest of the squad

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    1. Hi Paul thanks for following glad you like them :D

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  10. Very nice work, Simon, even down to the highlighted tread on the boots! A formidable group for hire!

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    1. Thanks Gunrunner, The joys of drybrushing ;) Need to make up a dastardly villain of some sort to go up against! I have one or two ideas :D

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  11. Great mercenary force there. I have fond memories of watching Wild geese as a young chap, and using a colour scheme reminiscent of the Red Shadow's own Black Major is cool even if unintentional. Great stuff mate. :)

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    1. Cheers dude!Lol your so right! I had forgotten about that character I had a toy of him as a kid as well!

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  12. Great looking force. I love the vehicles (great find) and background fluff. Have a great holiday!

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  13. These are lovely You can see you took your time with these. I love the dogs and folded berets. I can't wait to see their villainous opponents.

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    1. Thanks mate, the dogs once I'd done the first where fun to paint up it made such a nice change to paint animals rather then human types.

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  14. Top work there Simon and they work that right SpyFi feel to them. Those jeeps really add to them and work so well

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    1. Thanks PK. They well get a lot of use fingers crossed!

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  15. Stunning work as always, Simon. The vehicles, troops and especially the shepherds look great. Best, Dean

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  16. That's one really cracking unit Brummie with some great variety amongst them; the Russian vehicles match them really well too and the guard dog "unit" is a good additional variation.

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    1. Thanks Zabadak :D

      I love dog miniatures so had to get some of them for something plus they will be quite useful I imagine :D

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  17. The head swap we talked about really payed of.

    Actually they are all looking great!

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    1. Thanks mate he does look good. Cheers for the help :D

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    2. Thanks The hood is still loose so can be popped off whenever ;o)

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  18. brilliant colours on those cars, Simon!

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  19. Can't belive I missed this earlier. They looks fantastic Simon. Well done.

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  20. Wonderfull painted figures and dogs!

    Greetings
    Peter

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