An Ancient Persian Monster - Cyrus War Tower: Fixing the Tower to the Base Securely (Part 4 of 4) Complete

I was so close to finishing this project - but I sensed disaster was also near at hand. Every time the war tower unit was moved I could see there was no way that simple "glue" (even super-super glue) would hold the tower in place. It would become a saga of crumbling sand departing the base and many a wargaming tear split over a toppling tower (see below, for a sense of the problem - where was the center of gravity lay? Too far up in the tower):

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I pondered and pondered and pondered for an answer and decided I would have to have an industrial grade DIY solution for this .. a household screw through the plasti-card base, up through the sand covering and into the chunky metal floor of the war tower, then on into the interior (see below, I classify this as a major piece of surgery that could easily "undo a lot of good work" if I were too heavy handed): 

Before the major surgery I decided to affix the "three archer amigos" to a mini-base so the war tower could be shown in either a combat of transport mode (see below, note this has no effect at all in DBA, DBM or whatever rules, but rather it was done for pure aesthetic purposes): 

Behold after my successful "screw" an empty Persian War Tower awaits orders (see below, tip of the operation was "to start with a small drilled hole in the plasti-card base to give the screw its start through the plasti-card", then 2drill a smaller dimension hole [than the thread of the screw] in the bottom of the metal war tower base so you get a bit of bite but don't have to force it to hard" - the join is then solid): 

A fully manned and ready for all-comers Persian War Tower (see below, also note the subtle bit of flocking on the base was also applied right at the end): 

Hopefully my description makes sense when you see below the naked screw poking up inside the model - I still marvel as to how I actually did it (see below, I cannot express the sheer relief I felt for not "screwing" this up and as far as I am concerned, I am happy particularly as this was a pure "once off - no squadron of war towers for me):  

I would have loved to be able to call it my "Archimedes Screw" but seeing as it is for the Royal Persian Army it seems a tad inappropriate, although the Persians did employ many an ostracised Greek in a technical capacity (see below, normally I am terrible at any form of DIY but this one seems to have been the one exception that worked OK):  

The End (followed by a heavy sigh)! The job is a good one. 

Next Up: I think Cyrus also needs some "combat camels" painting up. Standard basing techniques apply there!

An Ancient Persian Monster - Cyrus War Tower: Sorting Out the Basing (Part 3 of 4)

Everything looks quite pretty, just not on a base (see below, the question is how is that going to get on a 40mm wide and 80mm deep DBA base): 

From the rear (see below, with 'notation' rear entrance - but still no way of connecting the bullocks to the tower from means of propulsion, so some crafty wargamer may well rightly claim it is a static defensive position): 

A close up of the deadly Persian archers (see below, they look fairly secure from their nemesis the ancient Greek Hoplite): 

OK testing it out space wise on the plasti-card base, it can work in the 40x80 rectangle (see below, it seems a retrograde step as it now looks as if it is making its way through a snow storm):  

Now superglue is applied to the bullocks and spear-man shepherding the train (see below, the war tower itself is more of a challenge as it is so large and heavy by comparison to the rest of the kit):   

Watered down PVA and sand/grit is applied, then after drying out a light shade of brown (watered down Anita's Acrylic Chocolate Brown) takes the basic "desert hue" (see below, again the war tower is just sitting in the groves of the terrain .. all attempts to PVA or superglue would be futile .. something more "hard-core" is required): 

The base gets a medium shade "wet-brush" of brown picking out the raised areas and leaving the depressions in shadow (see below, as ever [or rather my stocks last] my favourite Anita Acrylics volume craft paint is once again used used [Coffee]): 

Adding a touch of Vallejo Foundation White to the Coffee gives a subtle highlight sparingly applied (see below, the overall effect is quite pleasing to the eye, the bullocks in particular are just the grimy hard working beasts of burden I wanted, courtesy of some Vallejo earth shades and a brown wash. I was also glad of my choice to make two of them "dirty cream"): 

Next: Heavy engineering required to affix the War tower firmly to the base. 

An Ancient Persian Monster - Cyrus War Tower: Painting the War Tower (Part 2 of 4)

The model received a covering of Airfix Grey Acrylic Primer, then a layering process of Vallejo Game Colour - Charred Brown, Beasty Brown and Leather Brown (see below, the grey crossbeams will be painted "something different"): 

But first "black" while I think about a suitable colour, I resisted anything metallic as I was thinking that would have made the structure crazily heavy - not that this thing was going to look sensible (see below, the browns are taking shape):   

I was not rushing it - you should see a progression in the "browns" from photograph to photograph as I was sticking to multiple thin coats principle (see below, the crew and bullocks are getting impatient in the background): 

The "browns" are done - even the wheels (see below, and the mental decision of "what" the crossbeam colour will be had been made, by the very scientific process of staring at the colour paints I had to hand): 

"Blue" was decided on - the classic Vallejo Games Colour Imperial Blue, Magic Blue and a highlight of Electric Blue (see below, it had 'contrast' and 'gaudiness' going for it, the Achaemenid Persians were certainly not understated in their colour schemes so "go for it"): 

With that the bullocks and crew start to take shape (see below, one crewman shepherding the bullocks and three archers in the tower itself): 

Next Stage: Time to start thinking about the basing and how to stop the tower embarrassingly falling over!

An Ancient Persian Monster - Cyrus War Tower: Build the "Boxy" Bit (Part 1 of 4)

This Black Hat Miniatures (the mold now sold onto Fighting15s/Gladiator Miniatures) model has been hanging a round for a long while, maybe as much as ten years, part of the Cyrus the Great DBA Army project (see below a cleaned up out of the packet and in pieces): 

As befits the chunky casting the wall parts come together with rather gaps manly gaps (see below, it is a product of its time and I purchased it so that it would fit in alongside the rest of my Achaemenid Persian Army - so needs must and I am sure Milliput with come to my rescue):

The worse fitting gaps are at the top (see below, "four walls" of errors compounded or accumulated together): 

Then comes an engineering problem of sorts. I see the war tower, I see the archer crew and driver/shepherd, I also see the bullocks that are meant to pull the war tower .. but I see no means of connecting the war tower with the bullocks? (see below, I was expecting some for of cunning harness): 

While I ponder on such disturbing matters I took Mr. Milliput out of my crafting box and started mixing it between my fingers, then spread it into those annoying gaps (see below, fingers crossed and with a layer of primmer on it it will become one homogenous surface): 

Next Stage: The painting starts.

The Painting Tray .. A couple of Months ago ..

I pulled together rather a random collection of wargaming toys to "keep me going through Covid" and the Painting Tray in general ticking over. A 15mm Achaemenid War Tower to flesh out a Cyrus the Great DBA army (I have have this years) and the last of three Orc Dakka Dakka Jets from Aeronautica Imperialis - a relatively new 2020 acquisition (see below, I have actually completed that Orc Dakka Dakka jet in quick time and have subsequently moved onto the two-man [rear gunner] Orc Fighta Bomba aka Me110 look-a-like):  

Continuing on the Aeronautica Imperialis theme I also undercoated the two Imperial Marauder bombers .. although I must confess a real lack of enthusiasm to complete these "big birds" (very WWII Mitchell/Marauder look-a-likes). More interestingly are the Revell ACW 20mm Union troops that I intend to pitch against their Confederate brethren (see below, the painting "mojo" is slightly [very] waning on the ACW front, but little bits every day is the key to progress - the One Hour Wargames is still the intended wargame rules set - although Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame is also interesting for this period): 

Updates (and deviations on projects) on progress to follow shortly ;)