Flying Tanks and Pancake Planes: Shinkigensha Secret Weapon Gashapon

Here's a little booklet that I got while I lived in Japan that's from a series of collector toys based on concept vehicles from World War 2. These small toy collections are available in convenience stores and cover diverse subjects like movie characters, historical subjects, and pop culture. I've seen them for Ray Harryhausen monsters, gladiators, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and armor of famous samurai. 

The miniatures themselves are all various scales but were consistent in the high quality of paint jobs, decals, and overall finish. All of the text is in Japanese but I think they have some great ideas for paint schemes and markings. I've added links to Wikipedia articles about each vehicle in the captions.

Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte

Any German speakers who can translate the motto on the side?

Focke Wulf Triebflügel

Vought V-173

Special Number 3 Light Tank Ku-Ro

Hiller VZ-1 Pawnee

You'd think she's at least be wearing a helmet.

The Grudge

A short comic I did foundation year in college. I was at that time afflicted with a severe case of Frank Miller but have since received treatment and  am feeling much better, thank you.

Pondering Small Comic Books

I've been working on a new comic book idea and have been leaning towards using a smaller, digest format instead of the traditional American "floppy" format of 6.625 inches (16.83 cm) × 10.25 inches (26.0 cm). Through the years I have acquired a small collection of comics from several countries and various decades. I've scanned them to show my creative partners and thought it might be interesting to post them here.

My main reason for exploring this size is to be able to vend them from spiral-vend snack machines more easily than floppies. But I've also heard that they are preferred in other countries, specifically Mexico, where the smaller size is easier to read with one hand and is easier to stuff into a pocket or bag. They are simply more mobile than the larger, thinner format. Plus it's just an enjoyable experiment into a new format that changes the pacing of the storytelling.

I'd appreciate your thoughts on this. If you read comics which format appeals to you and why? Does your country have a history of these smaller comics? Please let me know in the comments.

Thanks to Wes Street and Chris FitzPatrick for their kind additions to my collection of mini-comics.

Captain America mini-comic from 1987. This is just a reduced size of a standard format comic which makes for very small images and type.

Commando from 1983. One of my favorite comics.

Gunsmoke, Mexico 2008. This series is known for its stunning cover artwork by Rafael Gallur.

A 1977 JLA paperback that appears to be reprinted versions of earlier comics. However the artwork seems to have been "broken apart" to fit the paperback format.

The Detective Novel, Mexico 2007

That should be 125mm x 140mm. Spinal Tap level mistake.

Private-Eye Picture Stories, Republic of Ireland 1963. I love the title of this series.

"TAKE OFF YOUR TROUSERS!"

Starblazer, UK 1980

Trucker Stories, Mexico 2004. Always good to see stories about people who don't wear capes and masks.

Painting Rebel Minis Earth Force Hover Tank

Check out how I painted this VIPER here.

Just a quick one today, one of Rebel Minis Earth Force Hover Tanks. I added a tri-barrel weapon from a VIPER Mk. II as well as its chin gun since I was going for a Hammer's Slammers blower tank design. Painting was super simple, (two colors!), with some added Flames of War decals. I think this works really well as a medium or light blower and eventually will be painting units of them.

Painting Rebel Minis VIPER Mk. 1.

Life has been pretty crappy lately so I've been seeking solace at my painting table. I've been listening to a lot of Hammer's Slammers audiobooks as well so I'm getting interested in 15mm sci-fi stuff. To get my painting up to speed and just to enjoy myself I decided to start with three VIPER Mk. 1s from Rebel Minis.

I started by filing and sanding them to get rid of any mold leftovers and washed them with dish soap to remove any weirdness that might have accumulated. These are older minis and have a bit of strata texture from the 3D printing process but not enough to care about. Besides it makes drybrushing work really well and I like the overall texture. I mounted them onto round hardboard bases and added rocks and sand to cover the join.

I also added a small vent piece to cover the rear mounting point. These are made by Kotobukiya and are a great source of very cool add-on bits.

The walkers were then primed black then drybrushed and washed. The cockpits were painted with a standard jewel treatment. I then added a sharks mouth to the front. I like the idea of these as walking A-10 Thunderbolts so I tried to keep the paint scheme similar.

Grrrr...

With Rebel Minis Titan Stormtroopers.

These were really fun to build and paint and I'm looking forward to collecting more Rebel Minis especially their hover tanks and dropships.