From FrederickC - Roaming 'Round the Rotunda [DIY][Literature][Graphic Novels][Sci-Fi] (321 points)

Since my last post two weeks ago, I have been bouncing around between nine different projects, and having trouble focusing on just one until it was completed. I am sure other challengers have experienced similar problems in their own quests. Instead of trying to cram all of the final products into a single post, I will split them into three separate submissions. We will carry on with our exploration of the Challenge Library with a visit to the two levels of the rotunda.

First up is the DIY section. In November 2020 I painted up the first of my growing early war Polish army, and I was keen to play a scenario with them. I was attracted to one found in the Bolt Action 'Germany Strikes' campaign book which was based on the defense of the Polish Post Office in Danzig on 1 September 1939. In preparation I constructed a model based on the actual building, and I painted up some additional German forces specific to the battle. However, when we played the game, I still didn't have the correct type of fence for the front of the building. That has now been rectified using a combination of polystyrene foam (cut with my new Proxxon hot wire cutter), thick cardboard, and some miniature wrought iron fencing that dates back to the 1950s. The sections of fencing were 'collectibles' made in a white hard plastic that came with a German margarine brand called 'Ei-fein' and included all manner of zoo animals, trees, buildings, etc. My grandparents had saved these over the years, and passed them on to me when I was still a young boy. While the trees are more two-dimensional than one would like for use on the table top, and the animals aren't in a useful scale, the fencing was perfect as a starting point for this project.

The longest sections of fencing are 11" long and 2" tall. I built the shorter sections without a column at one end so that they can be butted up against a long section to either make it longer or form a corner.

The original Polish Post Office circa 1930 showing the fencing

Work in progress

Sections complete

Fencing in front of the Polish Post Office

Next we have Literature. I wasn't sure what I could do for this section, until I spotted an extra Games Workshop figure I had of Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn from the 'Heroes of the West' boxed set. With a little bit of conversion work to cut his coat shorter, change his sword and give him a wide brimmed hat, he became Viggo Mortensen as Captain Alatriste, the Spanish Musketeer.

 

Captain Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

 

Viggo Mortensen as Captain Alatriste

Image in background is a Spanish Tercio at Rocroi

Taking the stairs  up to the upper level we come to Manga and Graphic Novels. For this one I painted the rest of the retro Star Wars miniatures sculpted by Nevile Stocken of Archive Miniatures within weeks of the first Star Wars movie hitting the theatres. Alas, Stocken couldn't get a licensing agreement, and the line was modified to become 'Star Rovers' with enough changes made to circumvent copyright. These were a gift from a friend who got them from the estate of a mutual friend who had passed away. A total of sixteen figures consisting of Obi-wan Kenobi, Greedo, R2-D2, a Tusken raider, four Jawas, and eight Stormtroopers. Obi-wan's light saber, and the gaffi stick of the Tusken raider  had broken off at some point. I rebuilt them using lengths of florist wire. 

I was initially going to build a Gondorian tower for Minas Tirith, but the materials I had weren't giving off the right vibe. I decided to add another building to my Tatooine collection instead. It stands 8" tall and the base is 8" on a side.

 

Star Wars - A Graphic Novel

 

Somewhere in Mos Eisley

Stormtroopers

Tusken, Kenobi, Jawas, Greedo, and R2-D2

More Stormtroopers

Our last stop in the rotunda is Science-Fiction. For this section I painted up five resin cast vehicles from Scotia Grendel, consisting of two of their tracked Sci-Fi APCs and three of their wheeled A.T.A.C. APCs. I had purchased these at least fifteen years ago when I was still running an after-school wargames club, and I needed more vehicles for the large number of students who attended. In the end, I never found time to paint them and, after I retired, there was little incentive until now. Once again, the Painting Challenge has provided the necessary motivation to paint up items that have resided in a storage box for over a decade. 

The wolf's head on the back of the tracked APC is actually detail that is cast on the model in slight relief. I painted them white on both vehicles.

A group shot of all five vehicles

6-wheeled APC, right side and front

6-wheeled APC, back and left side

Tracked APC, front and left side

Tracked APC, right side and back

 My Library progress thus far:

 The points being claimed are as follows:

17 x 28mm foot figures @ 5 points each = 85 points

 

5 x 28mm vehicles @ 20 points each = 100 points

 

2.8 x cubes of terrain @ 20 points each = 56 points

4 x Library sections @ 20 points = 80 points

Total = 321 points

Sylvain: Another point bomb this week! This is also quite a diverse submission. I especially like how you converted Aragorn, keeping the Viggo inside. Seeing the quantity and quality of your production, I can only wish to retire as soon as I can. Keep the projects rolling!

 

 

From FrederickC - Strolling through the Stacks [Fantasy][Children's Books][Maritime][Local History][Statue of a Famous Person][Romance] (331 points)

 I spent this week wandering around the shelves at the Challenge Library, as well as rummaging through my boxes of figures, kits, etc. to find suitable projects to fit the requirements of the various sections. I was able to complete six in time for Monday's Musée des Fossile, including a few with items that go back close to half a century. I hope you enjoy my meanderings.

For the Fantasy section I painted a group of twenty-two 25mm Games Workshop Easterlings consisting of a captain, a banner, four spear and shield, eight sword and shield, and eight archers. These were in the queue for last year's challenge, but the clock ran out before I could get to them. The miniatures were second-hand that need some cleanup and repair to get them ready to paint. They got an overnight soak in rubbing alcohol (2-propanol), followed by a scrub with a stiff toothbrush to remove the previous paint job. Two of the archers had the upper half of their bows missing, and these were repaired with pieces of florist wire. They were painted using Vallejo acrylics, plus a wash of Citadel Seraphim Sepia on all the armour, shields, boots, and gloves. Finally I went in with some 'Old Gold' to highlight the raised areas of the armour and shields.

A Shadow in the East

Complete group of 22 Easterling Warriors

Command and Spears

Archers (Can you spot the repaired bows?)

Swordsmen

Our next stop is Children's Books with a Rabbit Stormtrooper from Archive Miniatures. It was sculpted in the late 1970s by Neville Stocken after he produced a line of unlicensed Star Wars miniatures shortly after the first movie came out. (More on this in a later submission. 😉) He modified many of his original sculpts and released them as 'Star Rovers'. The majority of the figures stand somewhere between 33mm and 35mm tall, not counting the bases.

Here comes the Easter Stormtrooper

Hopping down the lane.

All the other Stormtroopers

Think he is insane.

Hiding thermal detonators,

For little children to find,

Is a dangerous thing to do.

He must be out of his mind.

 

 

 Moving on to the second room at the Challenge Library, we come to the Maritime section. It made me wish I had bought some Thornycroft LCAs for my Bolt Action Canadians. While hunting through the 'bits and bobs' box for something appropriate, I came across a white plastic sailboat from the Reliable Toy Company. The mast and sail were long gone, but the rest of the boat had potential as a naval longboat. Some scratchbuilding was in order to fashion seats, oars, and a tiller out of popsicle sticks, round toothpicks, and the rounded ends of coffee stir sticks. For the paint scheme I copied a longboat that ferried me and my fellow grenadiers from the frigate Rose to the docks in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The longboat measures 15cm in length, which makes it approximately 1/56 scale. It would be suitable for some of the Royal Navy landing parties seen in other challengers' submissions.

Halifax celebrated its 250 anniversary in 1999

20-gun frigate Rose in the background

 

 

After assembly, but before painting

Beached on the shore

With oars deployed

Our second stop in this room is Local History. In this case, not a history of Winnipeg, but some figures for a game produced by two hometown designers, Jeremy (of Black Magic Craft) and his friend, JP (not the one in the challenge). The game is called 'Idols of Torment' in which Heaven and Hell have collapsed into each other, and different factions try to harvest the Lost that wander through this region.

 

 Our local group of gamers, the Fawcett Avenue Conscripts, got involved in playtesting the rules and providing Jeremy and JP with feedback and suggestions on the mechanics of the game. The figures I painted for this submission are a set of eight 40mm 3D resin prints of the Lost that were 'test of concept' of the final design. They are now available on sprues. My inspiration for the paint scheme I used was the look of the 'Army of the Dead' from the 'Lord of the Rings' movies. Starting with black primer, I gave the figures a drybrush of white using a soft brush, followed with a wash of Citadel Biel-Tan Green. I think it makes them look very ethereal.

 

 

 

We'll now wander along the back shelves for a Statue of a Famous Person. While searaching for something nautical, I came across a 54mm figure of an officer with raised binoculars. If I recall correctly, this was a miniature that came with a 1/32 scale plastic kit of the M50 Ontos that my father had built in the late 1960s. The figure was still in its original brown plastic, but it needed some repair to fix the large void in the middle of the back. I originally thought about making him George S. Patton, but with my last submission being a unit of French armour, I am calling  him General Leclerc  de Hauteclocque, who commanded the French 2nd Armoured Division in Northwest Europe in 1944-45.

 

Philippe François Marie Leclerc de Hauteclocque (22 November 1902 – 28 November 1947)

 

The last stop on our stroll today is the Romance section, for a love story between a princess and a pirate.

" Why you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder!”

 “Who's scruffy-looking?

- - - - - - - - - -

"I love you."

"I know."

 

The figures I painted are two old-school 25mm Star Wars miniatures of Han Solo and Leia Organa from West End Games. They were painted with Vallejo acrylics, with a wash of Citadel Reikland Fleshshade on the skin areas. In the background is a plastic model kit released by MPC for 'The Return of the Jedi' which is approximately 1/78 scale. A bit small for the figures, but it works well on the game table.

My Library progress thus far, with more stops in the queue already:

 

The points being claimed are as follows:

25 x 28mm foot figures @ 5 points each = 125 points

 

1 x 28mm vehicle @ 20 points each = 20 points

 

8 x 40mm foot figures @ 7 points each = 56 points

 

1 x 54mm foot figure @ 10 points

 

6 x Library sections @ 20 points = 120 points

 

Just a quick note to all those who have left comments on my last two submissions, to which I have not replied. Early in the new year I fractured a bone in the little finger of my right hand. I have to wear a splint on it 24/7 until the bone knits back together. It has been a rather painful experience, especially in the first week of wearing the splint. It hasn't impacted my ability to paint as I am left-handed, but it certainly messed up my ability to type on a QWERTY keyboard. Typing my submissions is the best I can do for now.

Sylvain: Frederick, I feel exhausted running around the Library with you. So today you invented (unless I am proven wrong) the "Bonus Theme Point Bomb". I don't remember ever seen 120 points of bonus themes in one post.

You really bring us in many universes. I really enjoyed the bunny-trooper.

Should I hide in the basement next week dodging another point bomb?

Well done!!