Tutorial: Battlefield Wrecks from Die-Cast Toys

Here's a fun little terrain piece that I worked on between some actual painting projects.  I made a Cobra Hiss-inspired assault vehicle out of a few Hot Wheels late last year.  One of the toys I used was the Assault Crawler:

Specifically, I used the tracks and never touched the body.  I found that hollow body recently while working on another project, and inspiration hit me.  The body wouldn't look out of place on a hover or grav platform.  But instead of converting or sculpting something onto it, why not turn it into a wreck?

I sliced up the body with a Dremel tool and cutting wheel.  The die-cast steel is too thick to do any real damage, but a few quick slices around the driver's seat worked fine.  Then I mounted the wreck to a scrap of MDF hardboard, built up the edges with sand, and hit it with a black undercoat.  

I decided to use a pretty basic palette on this one.  I painted the base with medium gray craft paint and drybrushed Vallejo Heavy Grey (actually a green-grey) onto the body.  Then I drybrushed Vallejo gunmetal in a few "damaged" areas.

This looked like it belonged in a ruined city, or somewhere in a dark ash waste.  So I added my usual "gray gravel" blend to the base and hit the joints and Gunmetal areas with rust-colored weathering powder.

Project finished!  A fine bit of cover for infantry or a light walker, or possibly an objective to search for unclaimed ammunition or other parts that will be desperately needed in post-apocalyptic settings.  I'll have to keep my eyes open next time I'm looking at $1 die-casts... even if I can't use the complete vehicle, I could always use more of these wrecks for my ruined battlefields.

Cheers,
Chris