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Once, I purchased a couple dozen Colonial Italian Bersegliari from the Honorable Colonel Hair Haggis (aka Bill.) Enough for a couple of GASLIGHT units. Now I just needed some steam contraptions.... So, inspired as always by the Colonel, I headed to eBay. There I located a toy from the Disney movie The Incredibles that cost me maybe $5.00 with shipping.
Step 1: Creative destruction
Here is a before photo, the toy has the villain perched on top and a windup key that makes him spin around. (bare metal Italians look on)
Next, I went to work with my electric rotary tool (drill and cutting disk) and removed the villain and the wind up key.
Step 2: Glue stuff on
To get that 'Steam Punk' look, I took a copper pipe adapter (pretty small one, 1/4" I think) from Lowe's (cost ~$0.60) and a gatling gun leftover from a vehicle I bought. The copper pipe fitting was cut and filed so it would sit on the back of the armored sphere.
My
original plan called for having a Bersegliari sticking his head out of
the top. But, the opening was to large and I did not think I could
remove the innards of the toy without damaging it. So, I went to plan B
and sealed the top with whatever I had on hand, a washer and doll eyes
for rivets.Step 3: Primer
Primer black. 'nuff said.
Step 4: PaintI used my normal craft paints and Vallejo. Just drybrushed gunmetal on the body, silver metalic on the legs, and old gold on the gun.
Here you can see a Copplestone adventurer posing for a photo. Click photos to enlarge.
This will be my main support for the Italians, who are coming up on the painting queue. In GASLIGHT terms I woudl give this guy a moderate SAVE (12), a good SPIN for a walker (90 degrees) and of course a gatling gun. The barrels are fairly large, so for Valor, Steel, and Flesh, I might call it a Hotchkiss rotary cannon and give it shrapnel. For GASLIGHT, I'd give it a better SRM than a normal gatling.