COBRA forces for Bolt Action/K47

Finally I have more progress to show on this army. Today I finished my sniper team. Unfortunately, I could not find any actual COBRA characters who nicely fit the role of a Sniper, so I went with some artistic license. The miniatures are the German Mech Grenadier Snipers from Westwind productions Secrets of the Third Reich range. I fell in love with thier sci-fi look and thier big flowy ponchos. I wanted to experiment and re-create the SS peadot camo in Cobra style. I think it came out well.

So here is how I created the camo pattern. First I start with a grey primer. For the basecoat I mixed VMC Luffwaffe uniform WW2 and AP Crystal Blue to get a nice navy blue color. Next I added splotches of VMC Black and VMC Grey Green. Over all that I washed it with AP Blue Ink. Then I came back and used a tooth pick to add small dots of the black and grey over the opposite colors. Lastly I finished with more dots of AP Crystal Blue everywhere.

I am very happy with how it turned out; the camo pattern looks very unique to me. I only needed one figure actually, but since both looked so cool I decided to keep and paint both for fun. The camo cloaks were definitely my favorite part to paint, but a close second was the rifles with those camouflage wrap/netting.

Today’s update is only a small one. Have not had much time to paint this week so all I have to add to my army is a Panzershrek team. I debated whether to paint these guys uniform a difference color scheme to make them stand out more, but I decided against that.

Every ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world needs a good commander to lead them, and Cobra Commander is the best at just that. The Cobra Commander had to be my most iconic, most memorable figure from when I was a kid. I loved the hooded Cobra Commander because he looked so much more menacing and evil that way. I also really loved the darker shade of blue that he was.

The miniature I used to model him was Colonel Zanzibar from Hassle Free Miniatures. I did not like the helmet that was included so I decided to attempt to sculpt a face mask and make my favorite hooded Cobra Commander instead.

Once I was satisfied with my attempts at sculpting, I continued with painting. The whole paint scheme is very similar to the VIPERs. The only difference was that I used the Army Painter blue tone ink twice to make him quiet a few shades darker to stand out more.

I am super happy with how the model turned out. I’m not sure how much noticeably darker he is that the other models, but regardless I think he still captures that menacing, evil look I wanted.

And they are finished! For the basing I decided on a desert like theme since I remember most of the generic combat from the cartoon happening in deserts. So for the base later I used Vallejo tan earth and dry brushed Vallejo iraqui sand over it. Then a quick wash with Army Painter soft tone ink. After that clean up the boots and paint the edge black. Some small bits of olive green flock and they were complete.

I am so happy with how these guys came out. They look so much better than I ever imagined they would be. I keep remembering all kinds of battles and fun I had with the action figures when I was younger. I can’t wait to paint more characters and troops for this army.

Taking a small break to paint something else, a spinne light panzermech from Konflikt 47. I love this model so much, and it was a blast painting it up. I will certainly have to buy a couple more for my growing Cobra army.

The figure is painted to look like a COBRA H.I.S.S. driver.

Next step today was to begin the process of painting the many thin layers of flesh tone and red paint on all the detailed parts. Painting over a blue base coat is not fun as I am finding out.  There is a lot of going back and forth touching up small details and mistakes. But it is still very enjoyable seeing the models start to really resemble the real action figures. My favorite part was finally painting the silver face shield on the helmets which made them really start to stand out finally.

All the main colors and details are finished for today. Tomorrow comes the basing and finishing touches for the VIPERS. 😀

So first things first, I needed to find a model that looked similar enough to the VIPER action figure. He obviously looks much more modern than WW2 so I couldn’t use any Warlord Games German models. I eventually settled for the Project Z modern military sprue for the bodies. For the heads I found the website, Reptilian Overlords, who make custom conversion bits. One set they make called Paramoto heads was the perfect match for what I needed.

Now that I had all the conversion done it was time for paint. I started with Army Painter crystal blue for my basecoat. I absolutely loved this color of blue so much. Then I washed the model with Army Painter blue tone ink.

Finally, the last thing I finished tonight was the black and light grey sections of the models. I used Vallejo Black and Green Grey for these parts.  I am already so excited and see the figures coming alive with just the first few colors on.

I have two squads of 8 VIPERs and four 2 man support weapon teams to paint up this weekend. Hopefully, the relatively simply paint scheme will mean it won’t be long before Cobra can take the tables by force.