Strange Aeons: Those Intrepid Investigators and their Driving Machines

I managed to pick up a small lot of 1/43 scale cars for the Strange Aeons games I'm planning to play.  The six vehicles range from 1925 to 1929.  While my story starts in 1921 I don't know much about vintage automobiles so when I look at them my brain registers, "old cars" and they look right.

The first I started readying for the table is a 1925 Panhard Levosser.  Panhard and Levosser were French designers who partnered to build early automobiles.  I don't know what became of the latter but these days the Panhard company is a defence contractor.  In the early years of the industry well hoofed North Americans would import cars built by foreign makers at great personal expense; 10-15k.  Like the year of the car I didn't make any distinction on the car being a domestic or import.  An old car is an old car.

I like Solido diecasts.  Most of the vehicle is metal with rubber tires and plastic accoutrements.  I stripped the plastic parts that could be removed from the chassis and put some blue tac over the head lamps after I gave it an alcohol wash to prepare it for priming.  I gave it a pretty quick paint opting for a VMC dark sea blue body and reaper leather accents on the cabin and wheel covers.  In the 20s many auto manufacturers were offering the eager public more novel paint choices but I went with this green because it suggested the old of Ford's black but hinted at something more interesting.  The dark blue-green responds better to lazy drybrushing than a true or imitated black; that could have been the real reason.

Stogging the wheels with glue so they won't roll or make children happy :) .

I also have a 1929 Mercedes underway.  It would be done too if I hadn't misplaced the seats.  It's smaller than the Panhard and while it is still built to carry four passengers it looks "sporty".  I painted it in a drab yellow to give it that ancient tricked out car look.  It will make a nice roadster for some rich and successful miniature person.

Most of this post was actually written last November.  I searched for those parts fanatically for a few days then gave up.  By they time they pretty much dropped into my hand of their own accord I was disgusted and couldn't have cared less.  Fast forward to another related project that got me thinking about the larger Strange Aeons project as a whole and I finally got the damn thing ( The Mercedes) done.  There are still other autos kicking around but I want to put some of the other stuff I haven't hit the publish button on and new things that are always more interesting than stuff I should have completed.  I need to get some old trucks or delivery vehicles.