Hobby Gaming: Panhard VBL to Sci-Fi Scout Car

Panhard VBL to Sci-Fi Scout Car

I managed to get a little time in at the modeling and painting table this weekend (no papers to grade, and no theater rehearsal this afternoon), and made some progress on several miniatures projects - but this is the one thing that I actually finished

I took the Edison Giocattoli  die-cast 1/43 Panhard VBL, which is a very cool and futuristic looking light armored car/scout vehicle, and gave it a quick "grimdark" makeover.    The weapons mount is a spare twin lascannon from a GW SM dreadnought, mounted to rotate.   I had to remove/paint over the modern era French military decals, touched up the mounted tools, and gave it a bit of weathering (basic dry brush).

While I enjoy building models (especially doing simple conversions),  I also like time and labor saving options.   One of the reasons I seek out things like diecast vehicles and other toys to use in tabletop wargaming is the fact that they are things that can be made ready for the table pretty quickly and easily.   You can't get much more "STC" than "pull it out of the box and stick it on the table".  Other reasons I like to use "non-standard" items are cost, variety/flavor, and aesthetics.   I like customizing my armies to match my taste - and since I am not planning to ever use them in company sponsored tournaments, I have the option of using whatever I think looks and works well.

I took some pictures next to some GW Space Marines for scale comparison purposes.   I plan to use it for Imperial Guard or other humans on the gaming table, so they will be a better fit.

Here's the vehicle before I worked on it - GW Rhino and SMs there for scale.

Front oblique view,

after modifications.

Head -on view.

View from above.

Hope you found the post enjoyable and inspiring.

 ~ Joe Dog