I was initially browsing on Scalehobbyist, looking for a kit for this build and started looking at classic 1/25 cars and thought of something Mad Max inspired or something more representational of some of the random cars from Fallout (thermo-nuclear destruction, complete with a zombie-like 'race' of irradiated survivors called 'ghouls'). This seemed like a good idea, many of the vehicles within Fallout look like some of the more typical Impala's and Studebaker's of the 1950's. Then I came to realize something, I'm much to inconstant to do the HEAVY body modifications...
http://images-mediawiki-sites.thefullwiki.org/02/4/2/3/0024983790376230.png

Oh, and just for nostalgia's sake, from a time when Mel Gibson wasn't known to be an idiot....
http://bluraymedia.ign.com/bluray/image/article/112/1129468/if-you-likefallout-new-vegas-20101020053610644-000.jpg

Oh, Phil, we posted at the same time so I didn't see you're explanation of ballistics....

I would have to say 9mm compatible weapons would be more likely as 5.56 and other, more military relative munitions would quickly run out, while many civilians would have smaller caliber weapons which would probably be quickly picked up by any intelligent weapons user intent on surviving the current apocalypse.

Personal opinion, I would go for a AK-47, if at all possible to find any 7.62mm simply because the weapon will never fail you unlike more temperamental western-designed weapons. But then again, it's not like there are AK's just floating around suburban America or England (28 Days Later). Or the more probable weapon, MP-5 and other 9mm compatible weapons, carried by SWAT, police and as military side-arms and probably well maintained!

Christopher ,, You got some ok ideas there but i'll give you some facts which will give ya something else to think about
In the US the most common rounds to be found in any gun shop are 223,308 and .45 with 9mm a very very close 4th ,,the reason is this ..the main US military issue weapon of course as you know its the M4 and for that reason alone 5.56 is so common in the US you can get it by the millions of rounds ,the M4/M16 family is also the most common weapon to be found in the US ,308 (7.62) is also the main round for the M60 GPMG and the M14 series of rifles ,,they are also very common hunting caliber rounds ,so easy to find,30,06 is also a pretty commonish round dew do is great power and accuracy its also the rounds which the old M1 Garand,BAR and the great M1908 Springfeild uses ,9mm is used by pretty much bad people and hand gun shooters ,the police is the main user of the 9mm round for many police forces in the US with 10mm following very close behind as the police have also found that 9mm does not have the hitting power they want ,10mm does have the power they want but some even still use the good ol .45,,now this 11.1mm round has huge stopping power,ok range and i know that some police forces in the US are now using weapons like the UMP45 as its far heavier stopping power makes their jobs much easier.
I fully agree with you on the AK family .and the rounds are getting much easier to get in the states now but still 7.62 Russian is not that common but those who know will know where to find those but 5.56 and 7.62 will be around alot longer than the AK rounds will be , in England that ammo would be even harder to get their dew to the gun laws over there are pretty damn tough and there's not alot of people in England with guns ..mostly you will find shotguns and the odd hunting rifles here and there ,ex military and police issue weapons are what i would be hunting for .
Oh one thing for you on the reliability front ..my M4 has had more than 20,000 rounds put thru it now and its never given me a problem ..the odd jam buts thats ammo quality not the weapon itself ,my Ak74 has had nearly as much without any problems at all

I found these pic and thing you guys might like these








This one is my fav



Phill

So stoked to be a part of this campaign, going all out and making it epic as possible.

Phil, my Federal Zombie Response Teams shouldn't be mistaken for the fire brigades mentioned in my EOD 2 back story. The FZRTs were something I started playing around with a few years ago. They are more of a security force to fight zombie outbreaks. They are more likely to be sent in to a shopping mall, grocery store, hospital, apartment complex, etc.

I tended to base them more along the lines of SWAT Teams. They are going to operate in close quarters with a high probability of civilians, who they are there to protect. So they have to worry about collateral damage as well. As far as power, I figured they'd be using +P ammo and working at close range. Plus, zombies don't wear body armor. And I have it on good authority that once a zombie is positively identifies FZRT standard operating procedure is a burst into the brain pan.

Beyond that, it would depend on the situation. Like a checkpoint, I would have them armed with M16s. One of my guys for my helicopter team is armed with an M16 with a grenade launcher. His job is to cover their entrance and egress back to their transport. And while their rules of engagment limit his grenades to teargas and smoke, the gunner manages to sneak along a few antipersonnel and explosive rounds..."just in case".

I may need to post some pictures of some of my FZRT stuff.

Christopher, I always attributed the use on older cars to the idea that they might be easier to maintain. Newer cars would be sitting all over the place. In some scenarios you might see the computer/electronics in newer cars destroyed in some sort of EMP effect. I think alot of it for the movies is based on size and image. Look at the Road Warrior Movies...where did they get all of those pairs of (American) football shoulder pads?

As far as cars go, I would think people would go for economy to make their fuel stores last longer. At the same time, refined gasoline tends to start breaking down fairly quick, especially the types with ethanol added. Most refineries only keep about a month stored backlog available to keep the gasoline from going bad.

Phil, .22 and even .45? Egh, I'm not sure, but .22s are probably just as useful as 9mm. Though I had forgotten about 10mm and .45. I would believe anything that uses 10mm is few and far between unless you decide to make a raid on a police station! And while .45 is more deadly I can't think of many semi or fully automatic weapons that use a .45 (and how many times has someone died while reloading their revolver during a zombie attack! Or died trying to get the gun store that is inevitably inhabited by a psychopath!). And while you're correct about the M4 family, how many people are going to either think of grabbing a cleaning kit...and how many people are going to die with their cleaning kit lying conveniently next to them?

In my opinion 7.62 would be the best choice, M1 Garand, M14 and FN FAL though rare easily the best choices for anyone looking to survive the apocalypse.

On an off note, I'll be trying to add some random bits of food and water to my M113, including Twinkies; Tallahassee's (from Zombieland) favorite food which almost gets them killed on a freeway (I hated that movie by the way......).

We haven't even got to the build and I'm already have loads of fun!

EDIT: Alex, I would have to agree on the possibility of EMP fried electronics, plus if most people left their car, they'd leave it running, thus making it useless, or they'd habitually take their keys with them. I don't know how to hot-wire a car and I know many new cars are designed to be harder or impossible to hot-wire.

I think 10mm is not so common, but 40 s&w is becoming more popular as most US federal agencies (non- military), have switched to it. More punch than 9mm but less heavy than 45. Still not common enough though. I think it best to stick with military calibers ( 5.56/223, 7.62/308, 9 mm) as there will likely be more of that left lying around after the un-dead over run the military check points. Besides, the military buys ammo in much greater quantity than most police departments comparatively. I also think 22lr is the next one to be sure to have and is by far one of the most popular and commonly available.

Happy Modeling, -zon

If anyone is looking for 'zombies' I have come across two possible sources that would require little to no sculpting.

First, a company called Stalingrad has a few wounded and dead soldiers, though they're quite expensive (at least 28$ USD FOR ONE FIGURE! on HLJ.com). Second, October Toys has a line called Z.O.M.B.I.E. while more cartoonish compared to the ideals of "The Walking Dead" and "28 Day's Later" in their form a set of five civilian figures is only 5$ USD from their site. I found the October Toys figures through a Google link to Model Addicts forum; people said the figures are two inches so they're slightly out of scale....

Christopher,,School time just kidding .. ammo time ,, the 10mm round is much more powerful than a 9mm ..in fact the 10mm Auto earned a reputation for battering guns early on, largely because manufacturers attempted to simply rechamber a .45 ACP design for the 10mm Auto.The .45 ACP works at a much lower pressure and velocity, and the frame and slide designed to handle the .45 ACP cannot handle the greatly increased forces of a 10mm Auto without substantial strengthening. Later guns, such as the Glock 20, Glock 29, and the Smith & Wesson Model 1006, were built around the cartridge to help increase durability and reliability.
Oh and Zon buddy the .40 S/W round is a 10mm round ..the 10mm is what the .40 became
The M1 Garand won't fire a 7.62x51 round ..it uses a 30.06 round which has a much longer shell casing .
M14,FN/FAL (which i love) uses the NATO 7.62x51 round AKA 308
As for the ol .45 round there is hundreds of weapons which fire it from the great M1911 and the M1993 to the UMP45 and the Kriss ,,there is also Ruger's which fire the .45 round and having used the M1911 many times trust me its one hell of a man stopper .
Even tho it does not have a huge range ..20 meters in the hands of a very good marksmen is easy ,at close range a .45 will blow a human skull apart where a 9mm will only put a nice little hole in the head,seen this first hand so know this to be true and trust me ..the .45 makes a huge mess.
Zon ,,22's are weak as hell and only good for shooting zombies at very close range ,,say 5 feet to 25 feet max ..many years ago i got shot with a 22 round ..my mate dropped his rifle and it went off ..the round didn't even go more than 2inchs into my leg and that was from only 10 feet away .
Say you have built a base and used 20 foot containers as walls ..then a 22 is perfect for knocking them down at the range ..and the ammo is super cheap and man you can get them in massive numbers .
Still at the end of the day belt feed is the only way to go

Oh Christoper i had a look at those figures and dude they look brilliant ..those really should make a dio come to life ,,or dead

Phill

Just picked up World War Z at the local 2nd-hand book shop....for inspiration.

I think the other thing to remember about weapons is the planning. Are these weapons that you get beforehand and can familiarize yourself with or are they weapons you pick up when they present themselves?

Myself, if I had time to plan and prepare I'd go with something from the M16/M4 family. I've never fired an AK, but can appreciate its strengths like dependability, rate of fire, and impact power. Dad always said he preferred the M16's accuracy over the AK. Plus, I figure could carry more 5.56mm. I have to think that the M16/M4 would be more versatile.

I would think one of the more common firearms found (across the US at least) is the good old shotgun. That's probably a weapon that you'd only carry if you had no other choice. It has a limited range. The shells are heavy and bulky. Most shotguns have a limited ammo capacity. Still a versatile hunting weapon for survival.

And the 22LR. Very common. Compact and ammo is readily available. 22s have a long history for use as a finishing weapon. A 22 could also work well as a survival weapon to hunt small game.

Today several small packages arrived.

So as it stands today all 1/35th :

1x Revell Unimog
both sets of trumpeter PMC's
Academy M9 dozer blade to mount on the unimog(hopefully!)
Itallieri Modern battlefield accs
MIG field news kit
MAIM US Private Contractor in Iraq
Dragon support weapons set (for shot guns)
A cheap canvas to use to make the base
Assorted printed signage culled from around the web
2 secret bits.....


A few bits still to get mainy wheels for the Unimog as the kit tyres are frankly awful and maybe the rear cargo sides from MR modelbau as the kit comes with a moulded on tilt again not really an issue as I might extend the rear area sideways a little.

Roll on the december start

Paul

Hello,

sorry for not writing anything during the last weeks, I was busy with my work and the little free time I had was used preparing my zombie hunter diorama for the KMK modelworld in Belgium.
I took part at the contest but did not win anything - They had either Science Fiction or Modern civilian cars in dioramas - and neither of them fit very well to my build...

But I had the chance to waste a lot of money for useless stuff - like another Stalker Figure from Evolution Models, a book about Special Forces Land Rovers, lead foil, two animal sets from Mantis and that sort of things.

That really made my day

Ok, back to the campaign.

To be honest, I already have started my build.
Does this cause any problems?

Thomas

Phill: 40SW and 10mm are same diameter, but different cartridge lengths and headspaces. All kinds of bad mojo can ensue if you mix them up! As the 10mm is longer, most 40sw wont take them. 10mm pistols can be made to take 40sw, but it comes with a lot of problems and is not advisable when the zombie horde is descending on your position.

I agree on the weakness of the 22lr. My intent would be to keep if for close range pistol work, with a suppressor ideally. Also, 22lr rifle would be handy for small game. You've got to eat to keep your strength between zombie attacks.

Sorry you got shot. That must suck. Good it was just your leg and not somewhere more vital.

Christopher: I like your new avatar!

Happy Modeling, -zon

hi guys

id like to preseent to you my basic plan for my ZAR vehicle (zombie attack and recovery)


the rectangles are guns

luca

@ Luca: now that is what I am talking about, she can run with "WENDY" when you get her finished. Fair warning to all zombie/goul hordes the final day of deliverance is coming

Bob

Phil, I completely forgot about cartridge length, that would be annoying to find out you grab the wrong ammunition! Either way the M1 is unfortunately few and far between though I've heard you can get one for about 200$. And the 10mm, I just knew that was law enforcement round, really don't know much more than that.

But the .45? Yes, was thinking UMP 45 and the Kriss , though again I think the Kriss would be few and far between. M1911 would be something as well but I would say clip size would come into play; think it only holds nine rounds? Plus the M1911 is a bit over kill... (What are you huntin', Stranger! (Merchant from Resident Evil 4)).

Alex, yes I would agree about shot guns; total movie cliche' that'll get you turned to zombie food in no time. Only realistic shot gun options are SPAZ 12 or the Rimmington 870 due to the fact they are police and military issue. But then again, the Road Warrior carried a shot gun....

Paul, glad to hear your stuff came, the Unimog should be interesting!

Zon, thanks! I came across it while looking for reference material for my JSU 122S...got to love how Google searches are so accurate.

How about this shotgun: the AA12 . I remember seeing it on one of those Discovery Channel weapons programs a year or two ago and it looked pretty impressive.

Whoever wrote the review has a sence of humour as well!
"somebody else has built a turret-mounted twin AA-12 setup, which has gained a lot of interest from the anti-zombie lobby"

And national Geographis are currently running a series called "Doomsday Preppers". Haven't seen any of them yet, but looks interesting....

The AA-12 is sometimes vehicle mounted, but really? If you need a fully automatic shot gun that dumps twelve 12-gauge shells in something like 2.8 seconds, you're already dead...
Another option is the USAS, same as the AA-12 really, clip-fed; fully automatic or semi-auto 12-gauge.

the AA12 doesn't fire that quickly. at full auto (300rpm) thats 5 rounds a second. So 4 seconds out of a 20 round drum. and i've seen some where they are making a 32rnd drum. it would be a good weapon for taking out a horde of them, but i'd stay with a good rifle.

hi guys

i might build a dio of my idea of a survival base if i have time. heres the basic design.
the front view


side view of roof escaape tunnel


and a place to park


ill upload more soon

luca

@ luca: that is a great idea it will give some visual to the type of world that our builds belong to.

Bob

thanks bob

i hope ill be able to build it but the ZAR vehicle is my main build and if theres time the dio and house i'll do it. also the ZAR is gonna be completely scratch and as a kid school takes up lots of modelling time so it'll take a while.

luca

Very interesting Luca, though I'm sure the boring straight lines we see in no way do justice to the picture in your head. Will be very interesting to see if you have time to do it.

Paul, where did you order the Dragon support weapons kit? I've been having issues finding any weapons. Found one site with Trumpeters 9mm pistols... haven't found ANY shot guns or AK's except some vastly over-speced 'Speznats' variants. Guess I could always do a Russian zombie apocalypse?

Wee.... Just signed up. And my first campaign.

Will try for a little diorama...