I wanted some abandoned vehicles left behind by their drivers as of no further use following the Apocalypse. I have a large range of 1/43 scale vehicles that work well for modern scenarios but they are too pristine to be used in post apocalypse games. I could “dirty” them up but the models are a bit to good for that.

I also wanted some trucks for a factory type of environment rather than sedans. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money as these were really just game props so I hunted around the toy sections of a few “bargain” stores and came up with these.

With a huge variety in truck sizes the scale is less important as long as you don’t make them too small. These worked out about right (I will show a figure comparison later).

The three cost AU$9.95 and came with some 54mm toy workmen figures, lots of sign posts, and some palm trees. First I separated the vehicles from the trucks which required a bit of work with a screw driver as I wanted to have the option of spreading them out around the table. Next I spray painted them a matt black, not thoroughly because if anything showed through that would add to the character.

The objective was to paint these quickly (a single afternoon), not worry about the detail too much or bother with “touching up” afterwards. They were to be abandoned vehicles and needed to look suitably “grotty”.

My post apocalyptic “Gotham City” terrain is deliberately a bit dark and bland and I wanted these to stand out. I decided that the “Company” livery (Gotham Grease and Gunk) would be red. I used a Dulux red line marking paint which dries matt for this. Again I wanted some of the black undercoat to show through.

I had some trouble spray painting them because the wheels caused them to “run away” from me so I decided to base them so they didn’t move during a game. I had to cut bases to fit 130mm X 80 for the trucks and 100mm X 80mm for the trailers.

As most of the base would be covered by the trucks I decided I would paint and decorate the base before fixing the vehicles and touch it up afterwards.

As they had less detail I tackled painting the trailers first. The were painted, metal areas black washed, and then the whole “dirtied up” with cheap tube acrylic paints (burnt umber and dirty puddle). The were then lightly dry brushed white to provide a quick highlight.

The trucks were then painted in the same manner.

With the models now completed all that was left was to try them out in a game>

In terms of scale they have worked out about right for the true 28mmm that they will be used with.

All in all a good afternoons work!