The best H-Wagon?

[Simon Fraser]

Hi,

So I find myself having to draw H-Wagons in a forthcoming story. I realise that I don't know if there is a standard version of this vehicle. Certainly a casual Googling doesn't give me much of any use. I know that as 2000AD Art Droids we're just supposed to wing it 24/7 and create everything from whole cloth, but I kinda want to honour what has come before. Does anyone have any ideas?

Yes , this is unpaid research work , but I can put your names on Judges in return for good image reff .

Much obliged

Simon.

[Simon Fraser]

Woah, 9 days ago was my 20th year as a member of this board!

[Barrington Boots]

Pat Goddard drew some awesome flying vehicles recently in Working Girl but I have to confess I'm not sure if they're H-Wagons or not. That's the coolest one that springs to mind...

Edit: This one

[Simon Fraser]

That's cool. Certainly fits with what I think an H-Wagon looks like.

[Dark Jimbo]

Pat Goddard drew some awesome flying vehicles recently in Working Girl but I have to confess I'm not sure if they're H-Wagons or not. That's the coolest one that springs to mind...

Edit: This one

That's a Manta Prowl Tank. H-wagons are blockier and more functional-looking.

[Funt Solo]

That's the Manta Prowl Tank, which counts as an H-Wagon:




There's the classic Ezquerra-beetle, as well (from the Apocalypse War era):

[IndigoPrime]

[GEEK HAT]Although that looks like a Manta (Prowl Tank) to me/[/GEEK HAT SO SORRY]

That said, the design of these things is always all over the place. Some others:

Colin MacNeil:



Colin Wilson version is here

A model based on Mick's version from Block Mania, seen in a couple of frames on Geek Insider

Er, I'll stop now.


(Bah. Beaten to the Manta geekdom by trying to find alt refs. That'll teach me!)

[Barrington Boots]

That's cool. Certainly fits with what I think an H-Wagon looks like.

Yay!

That's a Manta Prowl Tank. H-wagons are blockier and more functional-looking.

Boo!

I must confess I thought pretty much all JD flyers were H-Wagons. A quick google just brings up the shoebox designs. I can remember a streamlined, stripey flyer - mainly from Carlos art in Necropolis crashing into citi-blocks and so on - but I'm not sure on that one either (without the Progs to hand, my best and very obscure point of reference is that it's similar to Big Cat's ship from the Freefall Warriors)

EDIT: The Carlos beetle above! A classic design but not very exciting, really..

[pauljholden]

I've always assumed the H in H wagon means Hovering (and named, I presume for the US Paddy-Wagon). So any hovering justice dept vehicle, but built for collecting perps. for a few strips I decided to draw them in a literal H shape, because it amused me, and prior I designed a 3d model I could reuse, but honestly, they're one of the more mutable Dredd concepts and fun to redesign every chance you get...

[IndigoPrime]

The above two replies are why I quite like MacNeil's take – it's like a baby Manta. (McMahon's will always be the classic from the earlier era for me, though, even over Ezquerra's, mostly because I found it funny how the judges poked out of the top.)

[GoGilesGo]

Carlos always had a lot of fun with his H - Wagons. The 'Beetle' above as well as this Gunship.



However, Simon, I think you should stick with the updated MacNeil / Cornwall/ PJ boxy H-shaped versions. Careful with the stub gun.

[Lawman of the Present]

There was a decent H-Wagon design in the Dredd vs. Death game - skip to either 10:15 or 11:38 in the following video. It'll show the design from multiple angles too which would make for a decent reference.

The terminology for the various wagons has changed somewhat over the years. The Catch Wagon / Pat (Patrol) Wagon seem to be essentially the same thing, capable of holding up to several perps at a time, and appear to be similar to a police cage van / cub van. So it would make sense for these to be a little blockier in design, owing to the 'mobile cube' nature of the vehicle. As an aside, the Catch Wagon is typically depicted as road based.

The Med Wagon / Meat Wagon is the typical Med Div stand-in for an Ambo. Also usually road based.

The H-Wagon (Hover Wagon) would best be described as a stand-in for a police carrier, or riot van, in that it is typically depicted as a larger vehicle used for transporting numbers of personnel and equipment. As you already know, it's the go-to Justice Department aircraft. Of the assorted wagons, the H-Wagon is the one that's usually depicted as equipped with weaponry. One variation of this is the Manta Prowl Tank which has been discussed.

Trivia - I believe I read that the US 'Paddy Wagon' term was actually a slur against the Irish being arrested. Nowadays the typical patrol car will be referred to as a Panda due to the black/white colouring. We use this name in the UK too.

[The Legendary Shark]

From: https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/tool/dredd-h-wagon-hover

[The Legendary Shark]

H-Wagon Pilot (Based on John Higgins Design), from: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/BmQROD

[Leigh S]

Warlord Games have just previewed their version of this wouldnt you know, but I cant find the image online.... hold on....