54mm Mad Max

[Waylander]

My life fades. The vision dims. All that remains are memories. I remember a time of chaos. Ruined dreams. This wasted land. But most of all, I remember The Road Warrior. The man we called "Max". To understand who he was, you have to go back to another time. When the world was powered by the black fuel. And the desert sprouted great cities of pipe and steel. Gone now, swept away. For reasons long forgotten, two mighty warrior tribes went to war and touched off a blaze which engulfed them all. Without fuel, they were nothing. They built a house of straw. The thundering machines sputtered and stopped. Their leaders talked and talked and talked. But nothing could stem the avalanche. Their world crumbled. The cities exploded. A whirlwind of looting, a firestorm of fear. Men began to feed on men. On the roads it was a white line nightmare. Only those mobile enough to scavenge, brutal enough to pillage would survive. The gangs took over the highways, ready to wage war for a tank of juice. And in this maelstrom of decay, ordinary men were battered and smashed. Men like Max. The warrior Max. In the roar of an engine, he lost everything. And became a shell of a man, a burnt out, desolate man, a man haunted by the demons of his past, a man who wandered out into the wasteland. And it was here, in this blighted place, that he learned to live again...

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Yes the man they called Max, For my Sci-fi build I'm going to start with my 54mm White Metal figure of the man, the myth, the icon they call Mad Max.
This was bought from Frontier Models as most of you know from my posts on "A stab in the dark". As you can see it comes in 5 parts the main body, two arms, one leg and the base. All cast in white metal with excellent detail and is made by Andrea Miniatures. The figure is actually titled "Outback Avenger" and is numbered SG-F145 I assume the change in name is due to copyright reasons.
Anyway this figure of Max is from the second film Mad Max 2, or for those of you across the pond in the USA "The Road Warrior". It was made in 1981 and was a follow up to the original Mad Max where as we all should know Max Rockatansky a member of the Main Force Patrol (MFP) a sort of highway patrol in a near future Australia. He is what is known as an Interceptor with other officers designated as Pursuit drivers. After the death of one of its members a nomad biker gang blame Max and to cut a long story short Max's wife and son are killed by them which sets him out on the path of vengeance. An interesting little factoid is that the original Mad Max dialogue was dubbed over for the USA audience as the distributors were concerned that the USA public would not understand the Australian accent.
Mad Max 2 (The Road Warrior) starts off with Max being pursued by two cars and a motorcycle. On the motorcycle is Wez with his "friend" riding pillion. Factoid number 2 Vernon Wells who played Wez also played the baddie "Bennett" in the Schwarzenegger gunfest "Commando".
Anyway Back to the build.
After laying the parts out and reading the little helpful booklet that comes with it I started to VERY gently scrap off any flash and casting lines with a Swan Morton scalpel, then sanding them VERY lightly with a sponge nail shaper. I then after trying two different super glues, Zap a Gap, Bostik precision Glue and Fix, neither of which could stick a paper bag together. I managed to get a good bond with Bostik Liquid Super Glue.

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I am being EXTRA careful as I have never worked with white metal before and it is VERY VERY soft as details could easily be obliterated during scrapping and sanding. The leg appears to have stayed in place specially after I glued it to my thumb and then added some skin to the part as I ripped it off (Ouch !!).
Well that's it for now, plan for tomorrow is to fill the leg joint and attempt to sculpt / blend it in nicely (Oh help).

The Gyro Captain: Look, we had a deal. I show you the gas, and you let me go, right?
Max: The arrangement was I wouldn't kill you.
The Gyro Captain: After all I've done for you...
Max: [Max jerks the Captain's face to his own by the collar] I reckon you got a bargain, didn't you?

[Paul]

Awesome look forward to watching this come together

[EpoxySniffer]

This forum really is a nostalgia trip ... Mad Max is another blast from the past and my youth.

Looking forward to seeing you getting this put together and painted up Waylander.

After recently superglueing a sheet of sandpaper to my hand I can testify that a
tube of CA debonder is a worthwhile investment ... it would have saved my skin also .. ouch!!

[Waylander]

Now that sounds like a cunning plan......

[Lee]

I love figures and a great subject too

[Bagpiper]

Wow! I am looking forward to lots of step by step photographs of this guy. I am very interested in how your painting will turn out too.

Cheers and good luck
Jim

[T3hGuppy]

Cool figure you got their

[Coen]

Cool.
One of my favourite movies.
I'll enjoy this.
White metal figures can be tricky, good luck.

[Nige201980]

Great looking little model I think I'm going to have a Mad Max film night tonight lol

[Waylander]

There has been too much violence. Too much pain. But I have an honourable compromise. Just walk away. Give me your pump, the oil, the gasoline, and the whole compound, and I'll spare your lives. Just walk away and we'll give you a safe passageway in the wastelands. Just walk away and there will be an end to the horror.

Good day to you fair model maniacs second session on the wasteland warrior....
After putting on his leg and filling the gaps with Squadron white putty it was left overnight to dry and today this has been sanded and filed smooth, also putting back in the small amount of detail that was lost under the filler. This was done with a needle file and a small scriber.

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You can just see a small amount of filler remains on the inside of the top of his left leg. As you can also see I have attached his right arm managing to get get a good bond again with Bostik liquid super glue. When this had cured a little I then added few drops of Zap-a-Gap and it looks like this will take care of the very small joint gap without the need for any filler. Anyway I have left it to dry over night and am deciding weather to attach the other arm or leave it off until after painting as its very close to the body and almost touching the binoculars, but as we are using super glue here I don't want to run the risk of doing the paint job, trying to glue the arm on and ruining it.
I have now turned my attention to the base and although I may say it myself I am very happy the way it has turned out.
First of all I have been out and bought some Citadel miniatures paint to try them out as the colours shades and washes are just what I was looking for and also they are I guess made for figures so I thought I would try them out.

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I have also purchased some Citadel sand, as the snow works so well I thought it might add to the outback setting.
But first of all two coats of Citadel Imperial Primer applied with a 3/8" flat brush over one side of the base, followed by two coats of Citadel Abbadon Black. Then I masked of an area for the edge of the road as shown.

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And painted the white line.
After all "It was a white line nightmare"..........

You disobey me! You puppy!

[T3hGuppy]

Coming together nicely.

[Waylander]

Two days ago, I saw a vehicle that would haul that tanker. You want to get out of here? You talk to me.

Session three begins with finishing off the base.

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And I must say I am very pleased with the way it turned out.....

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I decided in the end to attach Max's other arm as the risk of using super glue and ruining the paint was too much.
I then mounted him in the old "Helping hands".....

[Waylander]

After leaving him over night for the glue to cure completely I then got out the Iwata Neo and mixed up some Citadel Imperial Primer, this took a little while as it is really think primer so in the end it was approx 25% primer to 75% Tamiya X20A thinners, sprayed at about 18psi. Two coats applied and I am pretty happy with the results.

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This really made all the detail stand out and there didn't seem to be any flaws or bad seam joints that needed to be sanded. The extra Zap-a-Gap I put into the arm joints really worked a treat settling into and filling the small gap nicely with out the need for extra filing which would in turn effected the detail in those areas which are quite prominent. Next up will be a couple of coats of the Abaddon black sprayed on and then its time to get out the brushes.....

The last of the V8 Interceptors... a piece of history!

[Lee]

Love the stand you build

[Waylander]

Wez: [after someone is killed] *No!* *No more talk!* We go in! We kill! Kill! We kill 'em! They kill us, we kill them! Kill 'em! Kill 'em! Kill! Kill!
The Humungus: Be still my dog of war. I understand your pain. We've all lost someone we love. But we do it my way!
Wez: Losers... losers wait!
The Humungus: We do it my way. Fear is our ally. The gasoline will be ours. Then you shall have your revenge.

The dawn brings a new day and after two coats of Citadel's Abaddon Black it was time to get out the old horsehairs. I decided to start with the shotgun and work out from there. The woodwork was done in slightly thinned Revell Aqua colour number 37 reddish brown, The barrels in Vallejo model air gunmetal, the hammers and chambers were the same gunmetal with Model Air silver for the highlights.

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I then started to build up a few layered tones in the jacket and trousers with Citadels Mechanicus Standard Grey and Eshin Grey blended with Citadel Nulin Oil Shade (Wash).
Filled in the skin next with a base coat of Aqua Colour number 35 Flesh matt.

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Also some drybrushing on the binoculars with a little Model Air silver. I thought I would just dry brush a little revell flat brown into his hair as to give a few highlights instead of flat painting the whole thing which turned out ok.
Then I turned to the face which turned out to be a nightmare. I had bought a Citadel fleshshade so I tried to hight light the face with a lightened Tamiya XF15 Flat Flesh and then blend them together with the fleshshade and he looked like something from the Walking Dead. I tried everything I could think of but it just looked worse, at one point he looked more like Frankenstiens monster than Mad Max.

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[Waylander]

So I got some Vallejo Airbrush cleaner and stripped the face right back to bare metal and started again base coating, highlighting and it just looked awful so I ended up with just the base coat and some of the fleshshade dabbed on, It don't look brilliant but it is a damn sight better than it was. Some more practice needed on the facial front for me before I attempt my next figure I think.

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Next was some Vallejo Model Air red for the rag around the top of his arm and time to tackle his leg brace which was done in Model Air Silver with Revell Aqua Colour 84 leather brown for the leg straps front and back. The excellent raised detail made this a breeze to paint with minimal clean up on the trousers with the Abaddon black.

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I wasn't going to do any dry brushing but he did look a bit dismal in the two tone black so a light amount and then another light amount of a thinned Model Air silver wash was added and I decided to leave it there, attaching him to the base and then finally a light dusting of Humbrol Clear.
I am Still not happy with the face it seams too orangey to me but I guest you say he was sunburnt or Tangoed.

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...and the Road Warrior... He Lives now, only in my memories.