A Review of the JTFM M3 WHITE SCOUT CAR

Howdy Gang,
As we all know Warlord games typically kick out large numbers of quality resin vehicles that we can use in our BA armies and games. They have a huge selection of armour and armoured vehicles for every major power (and most minor powers) in WWII. The problem is that as more BA army books release the list of vehicles NOT released grows by leaps and bounds. Now they are doing an admirable job of filling the blanks but some of us need our toys now. This has lead me on a search for quality manufactures of 1:56 WWII vehicles that are a) not thousands of pieces to build and b) not already in Warlord's production range. Now I have a soon (ish) to be built Marine army that needed some vehicular support and according to the Iwa Jima selector... I had only one option for armoured cars... The M3... But Warlord does not make this...

Thankfully for me, JTFM Enterprises does though. JTFM is a Canadian company run by a very friendly fellow named Jeff. Now the company's website can be found at www.diewaffenkammer.com. The product list there is extensive (especially if if you play Germans!) and what I like is that many vehicles covered are ones not made by Warlord. Bonus. I have piked up a Panzer II Luchs and the M3 White Scout Car. Today I will talk about the M3.

The kit comes in several pieces: body, wheels, roof, crew, weapons etc and came with a pleasing amount of additional stowage. The casting is crisp and clean and the detail is impressive (check out the diamond plating on the bumper and inside the crew compartment). There were very few mold lines (as you can see in the pictures) and though I have not actually built the model yet the pieces slide together beautifully. All in all I am massively happy with what I bought! The model had one broken axle but that is a two second super glue job so I am definitely not concerned!

I like how the kit came with a page of pictures of the actual vehicle from different angles and a parts list (something missing from many WWII kits). Now... There are no instructions but with a kit of this type... none are needed.

My only gripe with this kit is the length of time it took to arrive. I had to wait something like 6 weeks. Now I understand that I live in Australia and things take a long time to get here but Jeff admitted via email that he had been swamped and he had been delayed in sending this out to me. I know he is currently hiring so hopefully this problem will improve in the future as I fully intend to order more from the man in the future.


I am overjoyed with the kit and would recommend JTFM's wares to everyone... (The Panzer II was the same quality for those wondering)
You can find JTFM's products on the Die Waffenkammer website:
Til next time...
Old Man Morin

The Dwellers are back with a look at the new High Elves

The Best Warhammer Podcast (IMHO) is BACK!!!

Episode 17:
The Dwellers have an early look at the spanky new High Elf book with special guests: Jamie, and Aaron Graham. A very long episode all about the skirt wearing, pointy eared snobby ones. With some drunken arguing and stupidity thrown in for good measure.

Find it here:

OR in your favourite iTunes store...

Selling My BABY!!! (Award winning Guard Army)

YOU WANT FOOTSLOGGING GUARD?  NO PROBLEM!!!  AIRCAV?  NO PROBLEM!!! All MECH? NO PROBLEM!!! A Combination?  NO PROBLEM!!!  THIS ARMY HAS IT ALL!!!  :)

Hey guys some of you might have seen this on my other thread but I have double the size of the army and as it is such a large item I am putting it in it's own post.

This is my baby... My award winning Guard army... It is one of a kind and is heavily converted from the metal storm trooper models...  The entire army is ENTIRELY METAL!  It is all blended two or three times per colour on every model. Half of the models have their squads marked with roman numerals...  All the models match paint wise and every vehicle matches camo wise as well.

It won best painted at Cancon a few years back (The Aircav Bit) and comes with two light up signal flare objectives and a speaker that you can run IPOD headphone speakers into to play "Flight of the Valkyries..."  (music playing gear and iPod headphones not included)

Here are some shots of the infantry of the army:

There are:
70 Lasgun Troopers (a few of who are dudes throwing grenades if you need to extra sergeants)
9 Sergeants
Two leaders
A converted Marbo
A converted Harker
11 Plasma Guns
8 Melta guns
3 Grenade Launchers
5 Flamers
4 Rocket Launchers

Some closer shots of dudes in squads...

Or what the army looks like in a good light!

Every vehicle in the army is base coated, washed, panel painted back AND Highlighted

Tank Wise the army has this:

6 Chimeras (many of which are significantly converted with backwards hulls to look different)
2 Leman Russes
A Hellhound/Bane Wolf conversion
A bassie/ Medusa Tank
A command chimera that could be used as a Hydra (uses forgeworld bits)
AND a VERY CONVERTED Land Raider Crusader for you Allies to ride in (or if you use the guardsmen in an Inquistor List.
A closer shot:

The Flyers are all painted to match (camo wise)(They have matching roman numerals to match the squads that ride in them if you use my old aircav list)... There are 5 Valkyries with Rocket Pods and 2 Vendettas with lots of lascannons...

Army has a lovely display board that is a little beaten up but easily fixed (Which you can see in the pictures above).  Free if you pick the army up.

Army includes a GW figure case and a Reaper Figure Case for the infantry and a box that fits the fliers and another that fits the tanks...
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v51/king-o-rock/IMG_1941.jpg[/img]

Asking $1600 (Australian Dollars (which is about the same as US dollars these days) . DOES NOT INCLUDE SHIPPING!!!

BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE!!!
I will throw in these half finished black clad Storm Troopers as well:

And this extra demolisher cannon if you want to mix up your tank options even more:

Painting Camo on Tanks

Bolt Action 28mm Germans....  They are a labour of love...  Where have I been?

So I am still hobbling and life is good!  Work has been busy of late and I was living in a one room studio with my Fiancé so there was not much room... For anything.  We have now moved on to a full two bedroom flat with heaps of room AND a "Man cave (details forthcoming)."  I have used this time to assemble a Bolt Action German army using the plastic germans kit, a variety of Warlord conversion kits AND a few resin vehicles.

While the infantry have been fairly fiddly to assembly (and I am certain I will be breaking the thin rifles all over the joint once I start to play with the infantry) the resin tanks are a dream to assemble.  Tanks that are three or four pieces rather than the hundred plus pieces that GW kits are AMAZING!  The detailing is great AND the prices are much cheaper than 40K...  Winning all around...

I decided to go with a camo scheme.  Lacking an airbrush I used a variety of Army Painter Sprays...  Good stuff.  I started by spraying everything black (GW spray)...

Then I sprayed them light brown 

I used a pile of Blue Tac before spraying the vehicles dark brown.

More Blue Tac...  Sprayed Green...  

Remove Blue Tac... VOILA!  CAMO!!!

I was shocked to see how well this method actually worked!  Now to wash, clean up and detail!!!

It is important to remember that you need to let the sprays fully dry between coats and before you peel off the Blue Tac...  

Rothand Studios Hierotitan Conversion Kit Review

In recent years GW has really gotten into releasing dual purpose kits...  Every major plastic kit is seems can be used for two units or more.  Sadly when you build one of these builds you end up with lots of extra parts.  Not always a bad thing when you love to convert as much as I do BUT the Warsphinx kit has always annoyed me.  Until now....

I saw this Hierotitian conversion kit on a Warseer modelling log over the Christmas holiday and thought it looked really good.  I was also excited because having a set (or two) would give me a set of legs for the alternate upper body that comes with the Warsphinx kit.  I had seen a few conversions online with sculpted snake lower bodies and while that is something that I am likely to do myself (looking at my daemon armies) I wanted something that looked a little less DIY.

Anyway I contacted Rothand Studios and ordered a set of legs via email and a few short weeks later these showed up! Now it should be noted that in the picture on the left the kit has a number of extra conversion bits (hands and what they are holding most specifically) that are NOT part of this conversion kit.  That is fine.  The legs have always been the problem for me.  I hate the idea that I waste such a cool looking top half of a model.  Anyway...  On to the kit itself.

The price was good.  From memory... $30 or so with shipping (could have been less)...  The shipping was fast and the packing was good.  All very dependable and excellent.  Now to the good stuff!

The kit itself comes in four pieces:
1) lower legs
2) the groin
3) the loin cloth
4) a knee cap

You can see the parts as they arrived in my mailbox the other day.  I leaned the loin cloth on the groin for the photo because when I had it separate it it looked funny despite looking good in real life.

The casting of these models is very good with very few minor mold lines.  Lines are crisp and there is a surprising amount of detail worked into the groin wrappings and loin cloth.  It looks like a treat to paint up.

I also especially like the detail modelled onto the feet and sandals.  Very sharp and professional.  I have taken some of the bitz from the GW kit and they fit these legs like a dream.  This makes me a VERY happy camper!

To the left you can see the kit blue tac-ed together and you can see the groin section of the kit without the loin cloth.

I would estimate this kit would take literally 5 minutes to clean, assemble and glue.  Since I am time poor these days... I LOVE the idea of that!

My only gripe with the kit is I think the teeth on the kneepads look like they need more detailing.  Then again.... That is my pre painting opinion.  Looking at finished versions online I assume that will not be a problem once paint hits model.

To conclude:  This conversion kit is AMAZING!  If you play Tomb Kings...  You SHOULD BUY ONE NOW!  More small independent companies should get out there and do kits like this.

Rothand Studios...  Check them out! (They have a Kdaii kit and a new treeman kit as well as a dragon hide banner.)

Til next time gang!

P.S. Daemons coming next month!  How excited am I?!?!

Return of "The Dwellers Below" (A New Podcast Episode)

Too bad he is wearing short shorts under that!

In this K’daai sized episode The Dwellers detail some first impressions of the new Warriors of Chaos army book, and cover Australia’s biggest Warhammer tournament: CanCon. Some stupidity sprinkled throughout.

Find us on iTunes and here.

Throgg options...

I have decided to run Throgg in my warriors army as the truck loads of trolls I have would make a very solid core section (he makes trolls core)... He is strength 8 with his great weapon, has the old magical regen rule, vomits strength 5, can be a general ... etc, etc.  He is a tank.

The problem is.... What model to use?

Here is the new GW one:

Very cool and heroic and the like but he really doesn't fit the ascetic of my furry, sculpted Pac Man gribblies...   The cape especially does't work.  I suppose I could sculpt fur on the back and that could tie him in with his smaller friends BUT something about the face does't click for me...  Neither does the almost $100 price tag down here in AUS!  YUCK!

My old buddies at Miss Painting Group made this version (The one on the right):

Now I quite like this dude.  Big ugly and very similar to the book art from the last book.  Add some fur and BAMMMM!  I think he would be perfect.  Problem is that the ebay store for MPG stopped selling him and the rest of their GW like sculpts.  Wondering if legal got to them?

Which leaves me with making my own which is probably the best best bet as it would then definitely match my trolls.  Thinking about using a minotaur body as a base to sculpt on top of or maybe even an old metal stone troll...  Anyone have any ideas?

Either way I think I need to make two more troll models as pullers for the new special chariot option.

Luckily I have a pile of metal chariots ripe for conversions.

Off to think... 

B