"Starship Troopers Brain Bug" Topic

I bought a brain bug, one of the old kits in metal. But the bottom piece was missing; instead there were three side pieces. I've searched the web for old brain bug kits, but no one has any available.

Does anyone know where I might pick up a brain bug kit? or even a brain bug someone no longer wants and would part with?

I bought a brain bug from 15mm.co.uk and put it on a spider.

The only place you might find one is probably ebay. Most SST stock in shops had gone. The key type bugs like the brain bug were the first to sell out.

I have one unbuilt, so could possibly photo graph the lower piece for you, to attempt to sculpt your own replacement.

I found an excellent rubber beetle, at our local Dollar Store that I use for the Brainbug.
Clif

I use the Action Fleet one instead. I think it's a lot nicer.

Thanks,

John

So you don't have the little tiny legs on the side? I bought mine painted, so not sure what the "bottom piece" is. The "chariot bugs" that carry him (or is that her) around were sold separately I believe.

Steve

The bottom plate had the vestigial legs on the side. The Chariot bugs went under that and did the 'heavy lifting'.

If you have the Chariot bugs, you could wing it and build a bottom plate out of styrene or other media. The only challenge I see is that the bottom plate does help hold the model together.

"So you don't have the little tiny legs on the side? I bought mine painted, so not sure what the "bottom piece" is. The "chariot bugs" that carry him (or is that her) around were sold separately I believe."

Chariot bugs came with it. Would be silly to sell them separate. The kit itself is four parts+ five or six chariots.

tolstoy, I'm sorry to say that even if the Mongoose publishing Quality control hadn't been so poor as to not put in all the parts you need, those four parts still don't fit together without considerable stress. I built one and it was nothing short of an uphill battle with the first casualty being the skin on my fingers and the second being my very mind itself. The Brainbug was the most poorly executed kit to ever be made by Mongoose for the Arachnids. The dumbest was the Guard bugs which were heavy metal on spindly legs.

I would recommend what John Leahy said a couple posts up. Get the Action Fleet toy. They're more abundant and more affordable than the crappy OOP metal kit. If you want it for 15mm though…. I seem to recall that Khurasan mentioned something about an upcoming brain bug for their Parasachnids.

I'm happy with my Action Fleet Brain Bug, even happier after I saw the Mongoose miniature.

TMP link

Found that pic while searching for parts.

No luck on the part.

Tolstoy…are you looking to get the part for a sale or for your use?

I would imagine the underside aspect would be an easy fix.

If you do not feel up to it, maybe someone who is up to it lives nearby? What part of the world are you in?

Good luck either way.

I forgot to say, my last brain bug came from a bring and buy at the wargames show. So thats another place to check if you go to any.

could this not form the basis of a cheap bashed together proxi?

link

I had a similar problem but my missing piece was the top – in the end I had fill the model with polyfillar and using pics, scuplt the top bit. Even though I say it myself. it came out pretty good.

Stewie! Great find. Tons of potential.

Size reference

I went to GMI Games in riverside, CA 2 years ago and they had a pretty big stock of SST minis in the back. They do send stuff by mail. Give them a call and see if they still have them

gmigames.com

28mm man, yes they look like fun on a bun!!!

They do them in all sorts of sizes as well.

Thanks, everyone, for the wonderful and often entertaining responses. I was away for the holidays here, so I just got my first look at your responses.

Scale's not really an issue for me. I mean, it's all in the imagination anyway. Remember the twins from Mothra? Scale itself can be part of the story. You know, using 6mm space marines, I can go with fewer, maybe a dozen, warrior bugs at 50 times a human's size. I don't much care for the novel or the film, but I love the bugs.

I will call GMI games, thanks. But I'm not optimistic. Ebay has nothing in the brain bug category from Mongoose. I will probably just make my own bottom piece out of I don't know what.

The missing piece is the underside or belly and it extends forward to the "face" that has the 'mouth' that looks a bit like a lady's private parts. So sculpting it may be a challenge, and in the former Confederacy would probably be against the law.

It also has the stubby little legs. The directions in the kit contain a sketch of the piece, so I know what it will look like in general terms. Anyway the legs are intriguing, as they don't seem to do anything and can't even lift the brain's own weight. An evolutionary leftover after the chariot bugs came into existence?

The good news is that I have all six chariot bugs. Even better, I have the "probiscus" from the itsy bitsy tail.

With luck and lots of filler putty, I may end up with something like a REAL brain bug!

Many thanks for your help.

To clarify. I don't live in the former Confederacy; I mention it to give you an idea of how suggestive the bug's features appear in some pictures I've seen. It might embarrass more conservative viewers. And frankly, it will embarrass me to have to make one.