Sci Fi Pin Up - Hexa - Heavy Defender (75mm)

Hexa is a sci fi pin up Heavy Defender and Tank operative whose oversized amber and dark-grey exo-leg plating makes her one of the most recognisable front-line shields in the Ironclad Drift, a nomadic mercenary convoy of heavy weapons specialists who sell protection to megacity districts that can no longer afford corporate security contracts. She leans into her weight with total ease, one armoured leg raised and crossed, arms folded behind her head in a posture of absolute self-assurance. The message is deliberate: nothing that has come at her yet has been worth breaking a sweat over.

Her upper body is clad in a sleek black tactical bodysuit,  minimal, form-fitting, and reinforced with a sub-dermal ablative weave that dissipates kinetic impact across its surface. A single chest buckle anchors a shoulder carry strap for equipment she leaves off-model, and a pair of hexagonal rose-tinted visor glasses frame a face that is studiedly unbothered by whatever is in front of her. The real armour is all below the waist: vast amber and dark-grey segmented exo-leg panels wrap both legs from upper thigh to armoured boot, studded with pointed pink impact-deflector spurs at the knee and shin that redirect incoming rounds and melee strikes away from her core. As a sci fi pin up heavy tank model she embodies the Ironclad Drift's founding creed,  that the best defence is one your enemy cannot get past in the first place.

The Ironclad Drift moves between districts in a convoy of heavily modified hauler rigs, setting up defensive perimeters and selling their services by the week. Hexa is their immovable object, stationed at the breach point of any engagement, exo-legs planted, while the rest of the unit works around her anchor position. Incoming fire simply does not penetrate. She has never been knocked off her feet in recorded combat. The Drift keeps the recording as a recruitment tool.

On the tabletop, Hexa is a striking display piece and an imposing in-game character. Her relaxed crossed-leg pose creates a wonderfully unexpected silhouette for a heavy armour archetype,  she reads as powerful precisely because she is so unconcerned. The bold contrast between the slim black bodysuit and the massive amber exo-leg plating gives painters a natural focal hierarchy to work with, and the pink spur details and rose visor tie the warm palette together with a pop of accent colour. She rewards careful panel-lining and weathering on the exo-legs, and smooth blending work on the bodysuit and skin.

Painting Guide: Hexa

This guide helps you paint Hexa's sci-fi pin up heavy defender look, amber and dark-grey exo-leg armour over a sleek black bodysuit with warm orange hair and rose accent details.

1. Prime

• Apply a black zenithal prime overall,  black from below, dark grey from above. The black bodysuit needs no additional base coat, and the zenithal shading gives the large amber exo-leg panels instant natural pre-shading in the recesses, saving significant layering time.

2. Armour base

• Base all exo-leg panels in a deep amber-gold (e.g. Averland Sunset or Leather Brown equivalent). Wash the recesses with a diluted burnt orange-brown ink to deepen the panel gaps, then layer back up through a mid amber to a bright gold-yellow on the widest raised surfaces. Edge-highlight the sharpest panel rims with a pale yellow-cream for a hard-edged industrial armour look. The dark-grey connector joints and boot sections should be based in a cold dark grey, washed black, and edge-highlighted in mid-grey.
• The black bodysuit benefits from being treated as a very dark navy rather than pure black — base in near-black blue, wash pure black, then apply controlled edge highlights in dark grey along seams, folds around the torso, and the chest buckle strap. This prevents the suit from becoming a flat dark void and gives it a subtle tech-fabric quality.

3. Trim and details

• The pointed knee and shin impact-deflector spurs are the key accent detail, base in a deep rose-pink (e.g. Screamer Pink equivalent), highlight up through a brighter fuchsia to near-white at the very tip of each spur. Treat the visor glasses with the same rose-pink, adding a small white specular glint across the lens surface to suggest tinted reflective optics. These pink accents are what tie the whole sci-fi pin up palette together across the model.
• Orange hair should be based in a deep burnt orange, washed with a brown-red in the roots and underlayers, then highlighted strand by strand up through a vivid orange to pale amber-gold at the outermost tips. Skin tones should be warm mid-peach, shaded brown-red in recesses, and highlighted to near-white at the nose tip, collarbone, and raised knuckle areas.

4. Bases

• A reinforced defensive perimeter base suits Hexa perfectly,  cracked industrial plating, riveted steel decking painted dark grey with oil-wash weathering, and scattered shell casings or debris fragments. Add subtle amber or gold OSL glow beneath the exo-leg panels as though the armour's power cells are venting heat downward. A 40mm round base is strongly recommended to accommodate her wide crossed-leg exo-armour silhouette and maintain visual balance.

Supplied unpainted

Sculpt licenced from Alternative Games