Finished: 15mm GZG Sci-Fi AV-12T Troop Transport VTOL

Hi folks,

As I move towards the start of a new Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (and a hectic new year), I've continued with my task of clearing some of the half finished projects from the painting shelf. 

This particular hefty lump of metal is a GZG 'AV-12T Troop Transport VTOL', which is described as being the 'Squad carrier variant of MANTIS'. You can find it on the GZG site as V15-49A here. This is a 12 part metal kit, and if you put it in a sock you could do someone serious damage with a blow to the head. 

I decided to model mine on the ground, mainly as I see it being an objective or terrain piece for whatever games I run with the 15mm sci-fi stuff. 

I really, really struggled with a paint scheme for this model. I wanted something military but not too dull. I think it was painted black, blue and then dark grey before I went with a dry brush of lighter grey with dark accents. Really the concept was based on modern USAF aircraft. 

I added some of the 40k decals I have for my 3mm stuff. My thinking is that this is the 12th Aircraft of the 8th Squadron (hence 812, and the large 12). Unfortunately there is some silvering on a couple of the decals, which I can only assume is from me not paying enough attention and not putting the decal medium in place first. 

Captured lander, shows with some of the security bots I painted earlier in the year

I did contemplate basing the model as well, as it's hefty and supported by three rather spindly landing legs. I might revisit this idea as the model will be a bugger to store and is pretty prone to chipping. I am aware that I have many more bases that require this sand, and yet again I'm running short! 

To provide something for this model to do, I do have some military type 15mm models to go with it, included wounded soldiers which will require medi-vac. These are, however, further down the paint queue. My current 'whimsy' sci fi project being some 3mm models for my 'Calth' collection.