EPIC28

Playing EPIC in 28mm.

Tuesday 16 May 2017

Mastercrafted STuG

Ok,  So some while ago Sir Tainly posted an additional vehicle for his Blood Pact.  And pretty soon there was a small cabal; Mordian 7th, Da Masta Cheef and me, all beating on the door of Mastercrafted.co.uk; incidentally the very same company who produce the Hellghast helmets I spent some time looking for.


Being a good sport, Ben agreed to cast some up for us.  I'll refer you back to my previous post where I discussed what a reasonable Infantry Support option for the Iggies might be.  This is my chosen option.


The castings (yes I bought more than one) are clean, with the only flash being on the back of the weapon options, from whence you'd have to clean it up anyway.


The material appears to be dense enough and despite being a solid lump of resin, the design is so well balanced that it does not tip over backwards, which was the thought that crossed my tiny mind when I first opened the package.


And it's square.  Or 'true' for those of you with an engineering bent.  It's impressively simple and I find the aesthetic quite pleasing.  There are three weapon options, all appropriately scaled to the model.



The stubby howitzer version:  looks good on the model, but not what I'm looking for.


The medium sized version.  If you wanted to (and I won't put this idea in the heads of Iggy players, that might mean unnecessary expenditure) depict a salamander with a fully armoured superstructure, then adding an autocannon barrel to this option might be a decent option.  There, good job I didn't say that out loud.


The biggest option.  In providing three options, what you're given is the option to vary the look and therefore, on the tabletop, the purpose, of the vehicle, depending on what you interpret it to be armed with.  It's entirely suitable for magnetisation, although the resin would be harder to work than the plastic.


The WYSIWYG option,  Now the problem with these short barrelled options, is that the muzzle brake is directly in line with the driver's hatch.  So I'm minded to get out the ol' tube and extend the barrel so that the muzzle brake is actually in front of the vehicle.


So I'll mock that up at some point and get it on the Brick of Scrutiny so you can have a look.

9 comments:

  1. Nice looking product. I think your reasoning for the longer barrel is sound, and it just looks "right" too.

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  2. Very nice. I think a long barrelled gun would make it look more like the "elephant" panzerjäger and better.

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  3. A very good review. I love the Chimera hull, so anything that uses it in a new way gets a big Guard thumbs up from me.

    I agree with your views on the weapons - I've never liked the stock LR gun, looks unfeasibly huge. It might cost a fortune, but have you thought about using something like the FW Conquerer cannon? Fluff-wise, I believe that's supposed to be a 'support' weapon, and it looks a lot cooler as well.

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  4. Oh hell, I forgot about these!

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  5. Really like the look of this. StuG's in 40K is an image that appeals to me.

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  6. They look fantastic, a serious step up over the stock versions. I'd have to say that my preferred version is either of the last two, their scale seems to fit better with the aesthetic of a 40K model (despite the last obviously being totally impractically large in the real world).

    My wallet isn't going to thank you for putting me onto MasterCrafted though - they have some nice bits I can see being included in a not too distant future project.

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  7. I was hoping for a more Stug look but that is an interesting one. I don't think the barrels it came with suit the 40K look at all sadly.

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  8. Lovely! I was trying to envision what it would look like with a more burly barrel, and you've done it up a treat! Will be following your lead on mine when the time comes. Good stuff, man!

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