After weighing all of my options, then looking at the long list of models I still want to buy, I decided to return to the world of mercenary painting after finishing up Ruin and Zerkova2. The person I've been doing the painting for has an Airadna (Infinity) army lined up for me to work on, but assembly challenges have pushed them back a bit.
In lieu of working on the guerrilla army, I've been given some more PanOceania models to work on: their Engineer, Doctor, and corresponding support bots. Join me after the break for pictures and thoughts about the models.
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| PanO Machinist, PalBots, and Trauma-Doc |
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| Machinist and PalBots |
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| Trauma-Doc and PalBots |
In my opinion, there is a strong delineation between the older Infinity models and the relatively recent "new wave" of models that started shortly before the N3 revision and continue up through the resculpts and new releases we're seeing now.
The thing that separates those eras of models is...hard to put into words. I suppose the best way to put it is "elegance". The newer models - for the most part - have a general grace and efficacy in their posing and detail that a lot of the older models lack. They (the older models) are either off with their posing or incorporate design choices that feel really dated (i.e. they look like GW models from the 80s).
Please note that I don't have dates on when any of these models were sculpted and I've only been casually following the game for the past year or two; for all I know this set is brand spanking new. But I think I can identify the old Infinity models at this point, and these really seem like something from the older line of sculpts (similar to the Nomad support pack).
The PanO support pack was an interesting painting experience for me because based just on looking at the models, I didn't like them very much. I think they are a fair example of the old style of Infinity models and why they don't often hold up very well: the poses for the engineer and doctor are understandable - the doctor is fixing something and the doctor is calling for help while tending to a wounded soldier - but they look extremely goofy when the models are just standing there. And the servant bots, while decently detailed, don't really have interesting poses.
That said, the models themselves are actually quite nice, in terms of detail. The engineer has all sorts of electronic bits and baubles on him that you could really have fun with, and although the doctor is in an odd pose, her model is pretty good. The trench coat alone gives you something fun to work with, and is a very easy way to make the model "pop".
Even the servant bots have some nice details on them. You could have a lot of fun really diving into painting up their layered armor. I didn't, mostly due to time concerns (I have a hard time dedicating a lot of effort to painting a 3 point model) but its nice that the models have more going for them than I initially suspected.
Overall, this was a surprisingly pleasant painting experience. I've been silently dreading painting up older Infinity models, but it is unavoidable in some cases (most often with support packs like these). The good news is that, while the poses are still kind of unfortunate, the model quality is still high, so they're not a chore to paint. That is an excellent contrast to painting some of the fuglier models that litter PP's catalog.
The thing that separates those eras of models is...hard to put into words. I suppose the best way to put it is "elegance". The newer models - for the most part - have a general grace and efficacy in their posing and detail that a lot of the older models lack. They (the older models) are either off with their posing or incorporate design choices that feel really dated (i.e. they look like GW models from the 80s).
Please note that I don't have dates on when any of these models were sculpted and I've only been casually following the game for the past year or two; for all I know this set is brand spanking new. But I think I can identify the old Infinity models at this point, and these really seem like something from the older line of sculpts (similar to the Nomad support pack).
The PanO support pack was an interesting painting experience for me because based just on looking at the models, I didn't like them very much. I think they are a fair example of the old style of Infinity models and why they don't often hold up very well: the poses for the engineer and doctor are understandable - the doctor is fixing something and the doctor is calling for help while tending to a wounded soldier - but they look extremely goofy when the models are just standing there. And the servant bots, while decently detailed, don't really have interesting poses.
That said, the models themselves are actually quite nice, in terms of detail. The engineer has all sorts of electronic bits and baubles on him that you could really have fun with, and although the doctor is in an odd pose, her model is pretty good. The trench coat alone gives you something fun to work with, and is a very easy way to make the model "pop".
Even the servant bots have some nice details on them. You could have a lot of fun really diving into painting up their layered armor. I didn't, mostly due to time concerns (I have a hard time dedicating a lot of effort to painting a 3 point model) but its nice that the models have more going for them than I initially suspected.
Overall, this was a surprisingly pleasant painting experience. I've been silently dreading painting up older Infinity models, but it is unavoidable in some cases (most often with support packs like these). The good news is that, while the poses are still kind of unfortunate, the model quality is still high, so they're not a chore to paint. That is an excellent contrast to painting some of the fuglier models that litter PP's catalog.
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