While waiting for my next load of pirates to come in, I wanted to see what else I could build out of balsa and cardboard. I built a few ships, like the one posted below and I wanted to do something like that, but yet not along the lines of pirate stuff. As it happens, my pirates share a carry case with my old Battletroops miniatures. So then it hit me: I need a mech for these guys.
It didn't take long for me to pick one, the Locust was the only way to go. Not only were the legs and feet easier to build, but you can get a lot of the unseens as Robotech model kits. You can get a 1/32 scale Locust as a Crusher Joe kit, but it only stands like 4 or 5 inches tall and to be in scale with the other mechs it should be about 5-6 inches tall.
The hull was made from 4mm thick balsa. I built a box roughly shaped like the hull and sanded down the rough parts. I used mounting board to do details like the cockpit and to detail the hull with. I also used some thinner card off of a snack cake box to do some details. The mech was then dropped onto an old CD-ROM as a base. There's a 25mm Stiener laser rifleman and an Elemental for scale comparisons right next to the base. Both are from Ral Partha's old battletech line. I know you can still get the elemental from Iron Wind Metals, but I have no clue about the other guy. I'd say E-bay it and hope for the best.
I think the next step from here is to base it with GW rough coat and possible use a lot of ink washes to dirty it down. I don't want to pait it for a particular unit; I want to be able to use it for a lot of battles. I have both Kurtia infantry and Stiener one for Battletroops. Hell, it might never see a game as an actual Locust. There's some talk of doing Weird War II so it may become an Allied or German walker.
