It’s Wednesday again and this week it looks like Andy and I have monopolised any progress being made.
I’ve managed to get my polystyrene ruins painted up. I’m sort of happy with the colour but will probably add a bit of moss to the ruined walls.
Ruined walls, just need a bit of moss
I purposely didn’t stick the wall pieces to a base so that I could position them in different ways on the tabletop.
I also had enough of the polystyrene to make some wall sections.
Wall sections, because every soldier loves having to climb over walls!
Andy has been busy finishing off his Space 1999 eagle.
Spiffing colour scheme and some nice transfer decal work
And as if we haven’t seen enough Dark Ages stuff from Andy he has started on some Gripping Beast Saxon Thegns.
Bodies stuck to bases and awaiting heads and arms. Shields will be painted separately and added when the figures are finished.
That’s it for this week, we’ll have more from the club next Wednesday.
This week we have some great work in progress stuff from Dave. He and club member Chris have been building scenery for the Infinity 28mm Sci-Fi game for a number of years, but it now looks like this has stepped up a gear.
A multitude of bits and bobs for a proper scratchbuild project
And of course sustenance is required when embarking on such building projects, especially when you can then turn your treats into yet more scenery.
We’re not suggesting for a moment Dave ate all of these Fondant Cremes
Next up I’ve started work on a set of ruins, I found some polystyrene that had a different structure to the standard packing stuff you get. This had much more defined pieces that to me looked like the sort of stone work you see in ruins of big walled buildings.
Just need to work out a good colour scheme for the stones, definitely not doing these grey
And finally out the other side of a work in progress project, Stephen has finished painting his Templars.
Not sure why they are in the clouds, but a good looking unit or two.
See you next week for some more spaceship action among other things.
Colin gives us an update on his 3D Printing efforts.
I decided needed a coastal fort to accompany the Lepanto 3D printed galleys. Inspiration was this Turkish fort in Paphos, Cyprus which we visited a few years back.
Paphos Castle in Cyprus
So I put a design together in Tinkercad. This took about half an hour.
3D rendition of the castle
Here’s the painted first model I produced.
First version of the fort
I then updated the design with the extension of a rooftop building and added inserts for doorways and windows which will make the painting easier.
Updated design for the fort
Took just over 4 hours to print and used 30g of PLA which means it costs about 60p to produce.
I plan to make it my first upload to thingiverse.com and see if it attracts any interest.
Just a couple of offerings for this Wednesday. Above we have Andy’s 15mm crew figures to go with his Eagle ship model. The club is currently having a joint project of creating a 15mm space ship in preparation of the release of the Stargrave rules.
We will no doubt do a blog post showing of the entries in our small club competition.
Next up Stephen has finally decided to make a start on some Crusade era miniatures with some Templars.
Templar cavalry forming up
Any finally, I did say fellow club member efforts had convinced me to dig out my old 6mm Sci-Fi miniatures for a new paint job. I had a PacFed force from Brigade Models that have made it to the painting table once again.
Settled on a blue paint scheme so they can be used as Terran Authority Starmarines in Hammers Slammers games
That’s it for another week, see you next Wednesday.
Jeremey takes us through some home made blast markers.
Having recently started repainting my old 6mm Sci-Fi forces my thoughts turned to the different types of blast markers used in various wargames, you know the ones, they are often made of hard translucent plastic in the shape of a flame. Wargamers use them for marking the spot they are calling artillery down on or even to show destroyed and burnt out vehicles.
The first thing I thought of was could I make my own? Having made many things out of EVA foam for my gaming I turned to that first as a very simple material to work with. I knew you could get the foam in thin sheets and in bright colours. As luck would have it I popped into a local Poundland store to pick up some things for a bit of DIY I had to do, and discovered in the crafts section a packet of foam rocket shapes.
The packet had 5 foam rockets shapes for each colour
So I bought a packet at the predictable price, thinking I could make blast markers out of the red and yellow rockets.
Blast marker templates cut from a piece of cardboard
I made myself two flame shaped templates out of cardboard. One smaller than the other and made sure the smaller one fitted inside the silhouette of the larger one.
It was then just a matter of drawing round the templates, trying to fit in as many of the markers as I could. To make 3 blaster markers I would need 3 of the bigger flames in red and 6 of the smaller yellow flames to go on either side.
The first cut out flames, bit short on the yellow bits though
of course at first I completely forgot I’d need twice as many of the smaller yellow flames as the red, which is why there are only 3 of each in the picture!
A smaller blast created during assembly
Rather than waste the foam I experimented with a smaller blast marker cutting out from the red foam using the smaller of the two templates I’d made. I used standard PVA glue to stick the yellow smaller flame to the red foam and then repeated the process for the other side of the marker.
Incoming!
The final (sort of) stage involved me supergluing the marker to a thin wooden base that I had, which I then just painted to blend in a bit better. There we have it, very cheap, simple and quick blast markers for games.
However as you can see from the picture I took it a stage further. I added or rather smudged on some black miniature paint in that way explosions are often depicted. Nice simple effect that stops the blast marker looking too cartoonish. I also turned to the blue foam from the packet and wondered if I could make a splash marker. I don’t often play naval wargames but fellow club members do. I cut out a more splash like shape and as with the black on the blast marker I dabbed white paint on the edges of both the main shape and the smaller splash shapes, and of course I painted the base blue.
Now all I need to do is think up a way of using the green foam from the packet. Hmmm alien weapon blast effect …
The figures were cleaned of any mould lines and washed in soapy water to remove any residual mould release agent and dried. The oxen, cart driver and boy were fixed to temporary bases for painting, the others were fixed to 2p pieces and the bases built up with 4Ground base render. All were then primed with grey car primer.
The oxen were given a couple of coats of Vallejo Pale Sand, then the upper parts of the body were painted Dark Sand and heavily washed with Army Painter Light Tone Wash. Eyes were painted German Camouflage Black Brown, and the horns Deck Tan.
The figures skin was painted with a base coat of Vallejo Brown Sand and then Medium Flesh with a selection of browns, greys and beiges for the clothes, one of the women has a Golden Yellow dress, the other English Uniform Brown. Both have Silver and/or Bronze necklaces. Finally the figure’s bases were given a coat of green Basetex.
Once assembled the cart was painted Green Brown and washed with AP Dark Tone.
The cart, oxen and the boy were fixed to a 60mm wide by 120mm deep carboard base and the area around the oxen’s bases built up with 4Ground base render followed by a coat of green Basetex over the entire base. I then used some brown cotton to add harness ropes to the cart.
The second part of this instalment is a pack of 4 Gripping Beast Shepherds & Stockmen painted in the same way as the cart crew.
To start us off this week we have a wonderful piece of scenery from Stephen in the form of a landing pad for his toy converted spaceship. The landing pad was made from the floor and walkway pieces from the game sets called Robogear. It’s great stuff if you can get hold of it.
Next up Marcus has painted even more aircraft. This time a mixture of Beaufighters and Mosquitoes.
John admitted to the club that a recent online discussion (and a vigorous one at that), prompted him to start work on some Spanish civil war buildings.
He just can’t stop building!
If lockdown doesn’t end soon John is going to run out of room!
After all those Dark Age figures Andy has shifted somewhat to painting up a bunch of 15mm Sci-Fi characters. No doubt to go with his recent Space 1999 Eagle.
Motley Crew …
And finally for this week, yet more progress (though not as much as hoped for) from Mark on his 6mm Hammers Slammers forces.
Building up quite the force
And couldn’t resist a close up of the paint scheme.
I’ve been enjoying Mark painting up his forces so much I’ve dug my old 6mm tanks out and will be adding them to the painting queue.
First up for this week we have a wonderful Quar Tank from Phil. I always liked the look of the Quar. Too late now of course I have far too many projects on the go.
Stephen has been busy finishing up the Sci-Fi figures he’s been working on.
Here we have We have Acton Ianov (a young tech scavenger) and Tiran Jones (a smuggler and pirate)Also a couple of sci fi objective markers…And lastly is Bryn ap Iowerth, the court bard of Owain of Bangor…
And finally for this week, I’ve finished my Medieval houses. I made 13 in total, more than enough to represent a small hamlet.
Forces move through the local town on a recruitment drive.
Keep on modelling the end of lockdown is in sight …
I’ve recently finished a couple of dozen Dark Ages figures. Here’s the first instalment: eight Gripping Beast monks from two packs SSC03 Monks Parading Cross and SSC10 Pious Monks
One of the Dark Ages rulesets I use (Dux Bellorum) allows some armies to have a unit of Monks to provide spiritual support to the rank and file. They may also be used as the less combatant targets of Viking raids under other rules.
All paints are Vallejo unless stated otherwise. The monks’ habits are English Uniform, with an Army Painter Mid Brown Wash. The under tunics (where relevant) are Khaki Grey and the Scapular White. Black and various shades of brown were used for their hair (what’s left of it).
The rope on the cross and monks belts are German Camouflage Beige.
The Abbott gets a nice AP Crystal Blue waistband and has some silver metalwork on his crook (Vikings may like those). The preaching monk’s bible has a Chocolate Brown cover and Pale Sand pages.
Welcome to another Work in Progress Wednesday. We start with some English Civil War miniatures from club member Kimber. The image above is of the Royalist Commanders, below we have a Parliamentary unit.
Parliamentary unit with artillery
Next up Stephen has been adding more characters for both Sci-fi and fantasy.
Sirrek Kim (a scavenger from Magura IV) and Devo Whipitt (a corporate hit man). And another member of the College of Mages for a Dragon Rampant army, Maxander Lindstern.
Because I ask about this last week Andy has provided evidence of the various baggage terrain pieces he did fitting into his Ox cart.
But that’s not all Andy has been working on. Here he has started painting a kit of an Eagle from Space 1999.
1970’s Aifix model kit finally gets built
And finally (again) I’ve built even more 15mm medieval buildings for my Wars of the Roses battles.
Foam medieval houses
I’m currently engaged in a discussion with club members over the colour of plaster for buildings in the medieval period.
You must be logged in to post a comment.