Back in August last year we launched our new Gaslands conversion range!
Prior to the launch we held a Gaslands activity day with some friends to create some example models, using both our new Gaslands parts and bitz from our regiments range.
Here you can see just how easy it can be to make some awesome wasteland cars, even if you’re a beginner!
The Basics
Even only doing the bare minimum and just taking old cars to stick parts onto (no dismantling to get to the inside, no paint stripping etc) you can still create some cool looking apocalypse cars!
This car includes some of our mixed armour plating parts from the official Gaslands range on the sides and top, but most of it was done just with random Anvil bits! On the back you can see our Modern Crates and Boxes and the guns are made using Phase Cannons. The skull hood ornament is from our Plain Banners sprue.
This car had already been given a coat of silver spray paint when we started! The Anvil parts used on it are regiments Bayonets, Modern Riot Shields and a Unity Council Grenade Launcher on the top.
As well as parts from the Anvil armour plating on the sides and front, this car also uses part of the field gun platform clipped down with mesh layered underneath to sit around the windows. Parts from the Mega Powered Punchy Fists are on the front underside and spikes from any of the banners/flags sprues are at the front of the roof.
On the back end is more armour plating, plus part of a ballistic shield. Underneath was used part of a Frag Launcher trimmed down to attach to the back. Along with the tanks from our gaslands flamethrowers and large muzzle flashes it creates all the accessories needed to make the car a drag racer!
Parts from a Frag Launcher were also converted for the back of this car along with some armour plating on the back and bonnet and some Ballistic Shields for the front. The same skull as on the first car from the Banners sprue was also used.
Here it is finished and ready to be sprayed!
The Extras
To do more to your cars than just sticking bits onto the outsides, there are a few more fairly simple steps to follow. Dismantling the cars entirely makes it easier to work with them to do things like strip the paint off, or to fit things into the window holes in a much neater way. For this you will need a drill.
When turned upside-down, most matchbox scale cars have two little round rivets on either end. Carefully drill into these until you break through and the layers of the car no longer have anything holding them together. Some of the cheaper off-brand cars actually have screws instead of rivets (B&M is a good place to find these for our UK readers) which makes this process a lot easier than drilling!
Once you have taken the car apart you can do things like fill the windows and headlight holes in with mesh from the inside where the edges and glue will be hidden. Or you can insert parts through the bonnet hole to make a bigger shaker scoop as has been done with this example, again, using the ever versatile Frag Launcher! You could have figures sitting in the seats or add guns coming through the windows.
After drilling the rivets to dismantle the car you can strip the paint off it if you choose, but only if it has a metal body. For this you can use a hardware shop-bought paint stripper if you want faster results - or if you don’t mind waiting you can use Dettol (shop-bought surface cleaner for our non-UK customers). Soaking in Dettol will take the paint off a car within about 24 hours.
This is what you should be left with after stripping the paint! The cars were casually reassembled for this photo, they had not been glued back together yet.
When you have finished stripping the paint it’s then time to re-paint them! Here are some of our finished cars!
Some of the cars below feature upgraded wheels which we purchased from Kymasil Designs. Their store offers custom 3D printing of many styles of wheel suitable for Gaslands conversions. Check them out here - https://www.kyamsildesigns.co.uk/wheelconfigurator
If you have any photos of your own projects using our parts, please send them in to support@anvilindustry.com or use #anvilindustry on social media, we would love to see them!
Anvil Studio Team