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Luna Pawn

[Proudly Sponsored by BLAP! Models]

Sponsored by BLAP! Models






by Daniel Somma

Scale: 1/20

"I’m not one of those damn fools that joined the war thinking of fame, money or women. My grandmother fought against the Galactic Federation on K-156. My dad fights against the Strahl down on Earth, driving a Jerry that he had to learn to maintain himself. I heard their stories, I know how bad it can get. Yet I still joined, because I believed. Maybe you could say that standing up is in my blood.

I still never thought I would end up up here.

The tests I took showed an aptitude for fighting on Luna, in the low gravity, cramped quarters and long patrols stuck in a suit.

Hmph. The suit. My lifeline and my torture chamber. It was supposed to have been modified for use in the vacuum, but it still doesn’t always keep out the cold. The visor doesn’t get dark enough to protect your eyes from the suns rays. And — the officers deny it, but our chief mechanic isn’t so sure — I think they used cheaper actuators, thinking it wouldn’t make a difference in the lower gravity. Whoever made that decision never had to use an underpowered AFS to single-handedly push a broken transport through this damned clingy Lunar dust.

What I wouldn’t give to breath some non-recycled air…

Sweet Jesu, please tell me I didn’t just see a rocket flare over the horizon!

— This is a Maschinen Krieger Luna Pawn, produced by Wave. I built it almost completely out-of-the-box, except for replacing the kit’s vinyl “hoses” with lengths of bass guitar string. I used the cement weld technique to remove most of the seams, Tamiya putty took care of the rest. It’s painted with Testors Gloss Gull Gray. I used the salt-chipping technique to expose some of the base coat of Testors Dark Andonic Gray Metallizer. I applied a wash of brown Tamiya acrylic to bring out the panel lines and add a bit of additional weathering.

Scenic glue and gray ballast were used to make the lunar surface. Everything is mounted on a pine plaque that I stained myself.

Image: Front view

Image: Left side

Image: Right side

Image: Rear


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This page was last updated 29 July 2009. © 2009 Starship Modeler