Building a City

Posted on September 25, 2017 by Tony

Our newly released City Block buildings from the Small Scale Scenery range seem to have struck a chord with many people. We’re looking forward to seeing what you’re able to do with the models – especially the one customer who bought over forty sets!

In the meantime, here are a few I made earlier. I based them on two sandwiched rectangles of plasticard, one 5mm larger than the other, to create a road and pavement around each block. In the central courtyards I added flock, trees and bushes, and in one case a car park. Next to one block I created a park with a statue made from a 6mm figure on a plinth of square plastic rod.

The paint job is quite simple – a grey basecoat followed by a lighter drybrush then a black wash. The roofs are terracotta red with a brown wash. I didn’t attempt to paint the windows, there are literally thousands of them, I just let the wash pick them out.

The idea is that the blocks can be rearranged into different layouts, and I can also add further blocks with parks, churches, shopping areas etc on the same footprint.

Posted in Painting and Modelling, Small Scale Scenery | 1 Comment

15mm BMP-BM

Posted on September 22, 2017 by Tony

I always like to leave something new while I’m on holiday and, as mentioned last week, today we’re releasing the 15mm version of our new Neo-Soviet BMP-BM. This is a large APC based on the Bars tank chassis but with a new superstructure with space for six Guards riflemen.

The model is a 3-piece resin casting (hull and two track units) with seven metal pieces – two-piece front hatch, driver’s hatch, two rear escape hatches, turret base and gun mounting.

SF15-1214 – BMP-BM – £8.50

Posted in 15mm SF, New Releases | 1 Comment

Imperial Article

Posted on September 21, 2017 by Tony

This month’s issue of Miniature Wargames magazine has a five page Imperial Skies article in the Darker Horizons sci-fi section – it’s also the cover photo of said section. The article is centered around a fleet engagement between Spain and the USA over Cuba which we fought out at a Maidstone Wargames Society meeting earlier this year. As an added bonus, the stats cards for the Spanish fleet are available from the download section of the MW website. So what are you waiting for? Get out and buy a copy!

Posted in Imperial Skies | Comments Off on Imperial Article

Holiday Time !

Posted on September 19, 2017 by Tony

It’s that time of year again when I decamp from Brigade Towers to warmer climes, squeezed in between shows. We’re off to Spain’s east coast, a little bit south of Valencia for a bit of R’n’R for a week.

Yesterday I cleared the order queue, so everything that arrived by lunchtime Monday has been packed and will go to the post office today. With the exception of the odd order that Phil manages to fulfil, no more orders will be processed until I get return to work on the 28th. The website will remain open, just bear that in mind when ordering. I should have access to email but will only be answering urgent messages.

As always, I’ve left a scheduled post or two on the blog for your entertainment.

Posted in Updates and General Waffle | 1 Comment

Armoured Infantry Carrier

Posted on September 15, 2017 by Tony

Our Neo-Soviet ground forces have recently been receiving all sorts of upgrades, with new types of tank and assault gun in both 6mm and 15mm scales. The one thing they needed to support these new vehicles was an armoured infantry carrier capable of keeping up with the tanks. Well, today that arrives in the form of the new BMP-BM.

This vehicle is based on the chassis of the Bars tank, with a new superstructure capable of carrying six fully-equipped Guards riflemen. The rear-engined design precludes doors at the back of the vehicle, so access is via a two-piece hatch at the front next to the driver’s station. There are also two hatches at the rear of the superstructure for emergency exit over the engine deck or for use as firing ports. The position of the hatch means that the BMP-BM needs to be carefully positioned by the driver before exiting under fire.

The BMP-BM has a crew of two – a driver who sits at the front right of the vehicle, and a commander seated directly behind him. Armament consists of two tri-barrel 3cm autocannon in a turret controlled remotely by the commander.

Today we’re releasing the 6mm BMP-BM – the 15mm one will arrive next week, although I will have some on the stand at Colours tomorrow if you want to get in early. The release also includes a Guards Infantry Company with eight BMP-BM, a Lisa command vehicle and 48 infantry. There is also a new Guards Army Pack with 12 Bars tanks, 4 Terminators, 8 BMP-BM, command vehicles and infantry.

SF300-1214 – BMP-BM – £1.25
IC-1203 – Neo-Soviet Guards Shock Group – £36.00
IC-1220 – Neo-Soviet Guards Infantry Company – £14.00

Posted in 6mm SF, New Releases | 2 Comments

View from a Bridge

Posted on September 8, 2017 by Tony

A distinct gap in our Small Scale Scenery range is the lack of bridges – it’s no good having roads and railways if you’re stopped dead at the first small watercourse !

So today we’re taking the first (but not last) steps in rectifying this with the release of a pack of four girder bridges. Good for the 19th century onwards (the world’s first iron bridge – in Ironbridge, Shropshire – was erected in 1779), these will serve for both road and rail traffic. Each bridge is 40mm long and the roadbed is 7mm wide, and they come in three pieces – the base and two sides. If you wanted to make longer or wider bridges then you could attach the sides to a plasticard base.

SSS-8097 – Girder Bridges (x4) – £4.00

Posted in New Releases, Small Scale Scenery | 1 Comment

Colours Fly Away

Posted on September 5, 2017 by Tony

The shows come thick and fast this time of year, with Colours at Newbury Racecourse coming up on the 16th of this month.

As always, we are taking pre-orders for any of our ranges – you can either place an order and pay in advance using the collect in person option on the website, or just drop us an email and pay on the day.

I will have the following list of items with me. If there’s anything else you’d specifically like me to bring, just drop us a line.

  • Celtos (individual figures, unit packs, army packs)
  • Spaceships (fleet packs, rulebooks, individual models of our recent releases)
  • Squadron Commander (blister packs, starter packs)
  • Small Scale Scenery (all models)
  • 15mm SF (army packs, platoon packs, rulebooks, individual models and packs of figures)
  • 6mm SF (army packs, rulebooks, company packs and building packs)
  • Aeronef (fleet packs, flotilla packs, starter packs, a selection of battleships in blisters)
  • Imperial Skies (rulebooks and accessories)
  • Magpie Miniatures (individual figures and blister packs)
  • 10mm SF (individual buildings)
Posted in Shows | 1 Comment

Sleeping Satellite

Posted on September 1, 2017 by Tony

Ages ago we used to have a couple of small satellite models in the spaceships range, but they disappeared due to issues with the production moulds. This week we’re releasing a replacement model, an all new design that will serve as either an orbital communications or surveillance satellite, or something more military. It is also ideal as a Battlesat, a weapon system in Starmada (carried by the German Pommerania class amongst others).

Each pack contains four satellite models with detailed solar panels, 12mm long and 20mm across. Each has a mounting hole in the bottom for a stand, but I wanted mine to be at varying angles. So I clipped the nib off the top of a plastic flying stand and used a round needle file to create a groove in the top of the post. The circular body of the satellite sits neatly in this groove and can be glued at any angle that takes your fancy.

Painting is straightforward – I painted my pale grey, followed by a wash of thinned-down GW Nuln Oil (neat Nuln Oil is too dark). I then drybrushed them white, before giving the solar panels two coats of GW Drakenhof Nightshade (a blue wash). Then they just need a bit of tidying up with white to delineate the edges of the panels, and whatever areas of spot colour you fancy (I went for some red rings around the nose).

SFS-6006 – Satellites (x4) – £1.50

Posted in New Releases, Spaceships | 2 Comments

Compound Interest

Posted on August 31, 2017 by Tony

When we released our latest batch of 6mm Desert Buildings, just before the Joy of Six, I mentioned the slight FUBAR I made in forgetting to order the master for one of the three Walled Compounds. The other two have been pretty popular (in the space of a month they’ve become our second and third best selling buildings this year) so it made sense to get the other one into production – and here it is. It’s the largest of the three, with a main building running across the back and a workshop off to one side of the courtyard.

B300-141 – Walled Compound #1 – £4.00

And what’s sitting in the courtyard, I hear you ask ? You’ll have to wait and see…

Posted in 6mm SF, New Releases | 1 Comment

Vive la France !

Posted on August 25, 2017 by Tony

The Aeronef revolution continues, as this week we update the French fleet with new battleship models.

The Loire replaces the old model of the same name. In keeping with our other new models, it now has a resin hull with lots of metal fittings – turrets, tail, bridge, masts and funnels. The tail comes in three different variations so, in keeping with French naval practices of the time, no two ships are quite the same.

The new Masséna model represents a family of related but not-quite-the-same battleships. It has a similar (but not identical) tumblehome hull to the Loire, but the top superstructure is a separate metal piece that comes in three different types. The tail comes in the same three variants as the Loire, giving a total of nine combinations on the basic hull. In addition, the main turrets can be single or twin mountings – altogether, we think this gives an impressive total of 48 slightly different variations from a single model.

At the same time we’ve revisited the French fleet packs – the Grand Fleet pack has been reorganised to contain one each of all of the French capital ships (including the existing Charlemagne and Gaulois) plus escorts. The existing Fleet Pack (VANFP-401) now contains a Gaulois and Loire and we’ve created two new packs – Fleet Pack #2 has two different Masséna models, while the Fast Fleet Pack contains two Charlemagne battlecruisers. All packs also include escort cruisers and destroyers.

VAN-410 – Loire class Battleship – £8.00
VAN-419 – Masséna class Battleship – £8.00

VANFP-024 – French Grand Fleet Pack – £48.00
VANFP-401 – French Fleet Pack #1 – £22.00
VANFP-403 – French Fleet Pack #2 – £22.00
VANFP-404 – French Fast Fleet Pack – £22.00

Flags are available separately, and the roundels are from Dom’s Decals aircraft range.

Posted in Aeronef, Imperial Skies, New Releases | 3 Comments