"What's The Worst That Could Happen?"

"Dr Pepper, so misunderstood."

These two resin Soda Machines are produced by “Wargames Terrain Workshop” and can be found within the company's ever-expanding Future City Scenics range. Measuring 25mm x 25 mm x 40mm the vending dispensers can be bought from Dave Stone already pre-painted, but as I wanted mine to be rusty artefacts from a bygone era, I purchased these without any prior pigmentation.  

Both soda machines were painted in precisely the same manner, and were initially undercoated with "Citadel" Abaddon Black, before being treated to a double layer of "Vallejo" Gunmetal Grey. The fizzy pop dispensers were then heartily washed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil and subsequently dry-brushed with more "Vallejo" Gunmetal Grey. Finally, they were given a good application of "Mig Productions" Extreme Rust Wash, and once again dry-brushed with "Vallejo" Gunmetal Grey.

"Taste excitement with Pepsi."

To be honest I was mightily tempted to stop there and simply finish the two pieces of resin off with a coat of gloss varnish and some basing flock; one grass for my "Gamma World" campaign, and the other snow for "Metamorphosis Alpha". However, having spied some of the custom vending machine stickers "Stick-2-Quality Zacparis" sells on "E-bay" I changed my mind and instead put the scenery items to one side whilst I waited for my 'decals' to arrive from Australia. 

Fortunately I did not have to wait long, and for my purposes, the stickers were delightfully almost the right size straight out of their packet. Once stuck to my soda machines, I then set about weathering the dispensers by caking on plenty of radioactive rust using pieces of grit and PVA glue. Once each ensemble was complete I applied more "Mig Productions" Extreme Rust Wash into the corners of the machines' panels and all over the heavily rusted parts. This 'technical paint' was taken from the very bottom of its bottle, so it was ultra-thick and prone to cracking. 

"G.I. Joe" WIPs - Shipwreck, Sergeant Slaughter and Destro

I next dry-brushed the resin pieces for the third time with "Vallejo" Gunmetal Grey, and tried to especially catch both all the areas of heavy rust, as well as the edges of the metallic advertising sheets in order to suggest the picture had worn away in parts. As a last step, I took some additional "Mig Productions" Extreme Rust Wash, this time having shaken the solution, and simply touched up the odd area which had become a little too silvery for the look I wanted.

Despite my dalliance in some items of scenery, I am also continuing to progress the six "G.I. Joe" miniatures I recently managed to acquire from the hands of a private collector. Indeed, having spent a bit of time getting my model of Laird James McCullen Destro XXIV close to completion, I've actually started block-painting this mini-project's final figure, Shipwreck (and his pet parrot named Polly); a sailor originally created as a character for the "Sunbow/Marvel" cartoon series in 1984.