Sudan - The Queen of the Nile

Having a deadline is always useful , and with the date of the upcoming large game approaching its helped to move along another major part of the project - a new steamer. I was never really happy with the previous resin Grand Manner armoured steamer so decided to replace it with the Sarissa 28mm one.  Ready to ply her trade on the Nile. I have made it not too specific as it will come in useful for some Pulp games planned for next yet.

Its a big piece of kit.. 16 inches long, 8 wide , and 6 high. It was a fairly easy kit to put together over a few sessions

I wasn't happy with support joins  showing on the roof section , so ended up covering these with paper to give a smooth finish. I also magnetised the central roof section and that lifts off to give access to the upper passenger section. As designed it only has a double rail around the deck which I felt was too flimsy long term so I added rounded end coffee stirrers as the barrier - does a little bit rough and ready.

I have added a free standing pintle mounted MG to it  and still have a few crew figures to finish off. Overall through pretty happy with it!

Public Enemy #1 The Shamrock Hotel

I have completed the second building for the collection. The Shamrock Hotel, complete with snazzy working Neon sign - with 32 different options for how to make it flash! The paint job is fairly simple, a base colour , and highlight and then pick out odd brick work to break it up. This building is a different base colour to the larger warehouse for variation too.

I may just add another floor to this building yet - they are nice and expandable

 Ok i cant use the interior of this building - but worth it for the lighting effect

I have also now done 6 base boards and painted them an asphalt grey to give give a basic city look - bit more work to do on them yet , but I will wait until I have more buildings sorted - and there are another 6 on the way to complete the set up - an early Xmas present to myself..

I think I need to source another backdrop for the rear wall - something suitably Cityscape in black in white I think.

I have a few busy sessions in the man cave coming up in preparation for the winter season - I intend to also get the Sudan Colonial finished over the winter for a summer game.

Public Enemy #1 The Warehouse Part 3

Well , that is the summer season over with , back to darker more productive nights. So what do you need with dark nights - you need some lighting.  I picked up some LED street lights from e bay and have added one to the warehouse. One of the problems with model making / gaming in a more urban environment is the requirement for street furniture. I also picked up a classic Fire Hydrant to add on as well - and no I won;t be connecting to any water distribution thank you!

I have picked up a number of "neon" signs - these were O gauge items from model railways - the "Shamrock" hotel is also now open for business.

 I cant resist the black and white shots here - reminds me of old gangster movies.

 

 

 As for the electrics it's all pretty simple to connect - a battery box, a push switch and the LED light. The warehouse is a large building and has false floor with is about 25mm deep , so it was a case of cutting a hole to drop the battery box and switch in leaving the thin wire under the base and mounting the light into the pavement.

Now I know it's not going to be practical to do this with every building in the collection, but this one is the real centrepiece , and no doubt will be the scene of many a battle. Also i know the reaction when people see lights etc on wargames models - its invariable a smile! so worth doing I think.

While I do have some more bits n bobs in relation to furniture to do I will leave them them for now as they wont be fixed in place but switched between buildings as and when - so for now I am calling this one done.

Public Enemy #1 , Joe's Diner -part1

Work has started on the second building for the gangster collection. It is one of the Sarissa City Block items - they do this on in 5 different variations , so there may be a few more along in due course. You can see by comparison just how large the warehouse is.

I have added some more "novelty value" to this new building by adding a working "neon" sign. There is an interesting range of these window and larger rooftop type ones available intended for use by model railway types. I even found a create your own - so you can be assured these will make more appearances yet.

My order for items for the interiors has turned up as well - all manner of goodies.

Public Enemy #1 The Warehouse Part 2

I managed another session on the warehouse building today. A mix of modelmaking, painting, photoshop and electrical work - all very satisfying. I had settled on a dark grey colour for the building and had given that a thin wash of Humbrol 67 Panzer grey earlier in the week, and let it dry. So today was about some weathering and highlights. Which were done using a range of  shades of grey, white , blue/grey. With there being a lot of brick work i decided to try and highlight some bricks in a slightly different colur to break it up a bit - I think it came out pretty good.

 The sign was created in photo-shop with a downloaded 1920's font

The inside has been given a couple of coats of white as a whitewash-upper floor floorboards painted in th e3 small rooms. Still a bit more to do here i think. - I still have more crates to build!

 I decided to add in LED lights onto the ceiling with push switch through onto the outer roof.  Still a bit of tidy up work to do here, final positions still to resolve - held in with blue tac for now.

 

 Phew - it works when you switch it on

It was Scotts post from last year that inspired me to do this

One thing i have found with this kit is that while it has some decent internal detail - it could do with some more. I will need to source or craft some desks/ chairs etc for the rooms as well. There isn't any roof furniture , no means of getting on the roof, etc. So I have added a trap door from the upper floor in the right hand side. I put the lights control switch on the left at the front and will camouflage it into a smoke stack for a stove in the room below.

So here are few more lighting effect shots

 

A deal goes down behind the grimy windows - which were added to the kit created from a sheet of laminate.

 

  Tom E Gunn - keeps an eye out in the back.

Public Enemy #1 - The Warehouse

I have started work on the first building for the collection. This is the warehouse by Sarissa Precision. Its some size of building. I have decided that there will detailing inside for these as the plan is not to have too many of them all together so i think it will be worth it. This one also comes with a lot of nice internal detail as well

So here is the HQ of the "Carbonara Import/Export Co"
                

 And with the first bits of paint on it.

 It comes with a decent amount of crates n the kit , but i also ordered a few more sets as well.

Another decent session required to finish it off.And with a grotty bank holiday weekend coming up there might just be some opportunity to do so.