23 August 2022

Star Schlock: Union Heroes

They're wearing white so they must be the good guys.

As some of you might have guessed, I didn't stay away from Star Schlock's store page for long. The Buck Rogers-esque Union Heroes were just too cool, so I bought them to add to my growing collection of generic sci-fi minis.

According to the Star Schlock site, Earth is a "shining beacon of freedom in the 25th century" and is the centre of the Union, a collection of human and alien worlds. This explains the white uniforms.

I don't know what I'm going to write about as all four were painted the same way: white spray primer, a coat of Off-White, some shading with Grey Wash and highlights with White. The yellow trim is Averland Sunset and Yriel Yellow.

Colonel Ering "defends Earth's colonies from alien assault". What, on her own? The official Star Schlock artwork has her in white tights/leggings, but I used flesh tones instead. If you've got it, flaunt it.

Rod Roebuck is, I'm guessing, the game's stand-in for Buck Rogers. Because of his manly countenance and obvious heroic qualities I renamed him Brick McJawline. 

Brick's taken a lesson from Miami Vice-era Don Johnson on wearing white and somehow never getting a single mark on it. I can't wear a black t-shirt without everyone knowing I had a curry for lunch.

Ensign Packman isn't your usual space hero. He's not much of a hero at all, and would far rather be left alone to do his job (Vending Machine Technician, Level III) than be dragged off to some faraway planet to be shot at.

Packman's name comes from the profile of his yellow helmet and it was done as a bit of a joke by the Star Schlock creators. I like it.

The final member of the group is a "space cadet in training". Come on, you couldn't think of a fourth name? I've christened her Cadet Kurves for obvious reasons. Packman has a huge crush on Kurves but doesn't know that she has a very special friendship with Colonel Ering.

I'm still working on scenery, so stay tuned!

18 comments:

  1. I love these! Big fan of the Buck Rogers TV program when I was young. You have obviously seen this: https://crooked-dice.co.uk/product/robots-2/

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    1. Thanks, Michael! I have seen the Crooked Dice Buck Rogers robots but shipping to the US is prohibitive at the mo, unfortunately.

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  2. Great work on all 4 Matt, I'm guessing one of them is a fan of Red Dwarf as Packman bears a large resemblance to Rimmer in description and look.

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    1. Cheers, Dave! I invented Packman's job description but he does have a bit of a Rimmer look about his pose, a kind of "sod this, I'm off" LOL!

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  3. Top work Matt. I'm a big fan of the Star Schlock figs, ever since I saw their KS. But I've managed to resist temptation so far. You're not helping though. LOL!!!

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    1. Oh go on, Simon, buy some, I'd love to be responsible for you shelling out on more minis for a second time LOL!

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  4. Great sculptsand backstories., I'd be thankful that they're the good-guys in white as I find blackso difficult to get right. Good descision haivng the girls with their legs showing.

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    1. Thanks, Joe! I find white more difficult to get right than black, mainly because of highlighting it. But discovering off-white and grey wash a couple of years ago really helps :-)

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  5. So cool! 80's Buck Rogers was a firm fav in my childhood viewing schedule. Great stuff mate, these are ace.

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    1. I loved the Buck Rogers show back in the 80s too, Dai! It was a ton of fun.

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  6. Those are some nice looking mins, and the white turned out great on them. "Rod Rawbuck" is obviously his porn handle, when he's not off saving the universe and dallying with alien species. I can't believe I didn't notice the Pac-Man nod at first. Maybe if the helm was more of a side view, but that is funny nonetheless.

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    1. LOL! Good one on the porn name, Faust! The Packman thing took me a while to get when I read his name, but I love it :-)

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  7. Retro-style minis look great in simple color schemes with bright colors and I think you nailed that here. I've never watched any Sci-Fi shows from this era but the style is still instantly recognizable and cool looking all the same. Its fun seeing you paint all of these Sci-Fi minis and I'm glad more are in the works!

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    1. Cheers, Jeff, I'm having a ton of fun painting these guys and the retro thing is an aspect I love. So much sci-fi from the 70s and 80s had cool design and colours and I love recreating them.

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  8. Totally stunning work on these mate, I've been very tempted by the "Star Schlock" range myself, and all the lovely renditions about the web, who didn't fancy Col' Derring back in the day!

    But surely, you should have used "Erin Gray" as the undercoat colour!😉

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks, Roger! The Star Schlock models are great and I might end up getting more in the future. I just wish the damn rulebook was available. They're still beta-testing it.

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  9. John@justneedsvarnishSaturday, August 27, 2022

    Oooh, these are very nice, Matt, particularly Colonel Ering! :-)

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    1. Cheers, John! Ering was fun to paint and hopefully I did her legs justice :-)

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