A bit of recycling never harmed anyone, did it now?

 I barely surf online anymore, I removed a good 2/3rd of all of my FB groups as there is only so much time in a day and after 8-9 hours behind a desk and my PC.....you kind don't want to sit here for another 3-4 hours. But I ran into this pic:

Sadly I cannot for the life of me remember who made it. I liked the idea, not so much the pristine barrel and GW style blood.

 

 

So....made my own. Bit more like what I'm used to blood wise (please don't ask) and should come in useful someday. Or not. It was fun to paint again, and finish something. I'll focus more on these little things for a while. Sorry if it is a bit too graphic for some....it's a gamepiece, nothing else.

 

 

And my God is my camera and light combo a big pile of steaming......ugh

Rusty old hog

Finished the first of the GW 40K bike wrecks, only took like....forever. Wheels will get recycled some way, they live in my bits box now. No papers or anything, thought it was good enough and I want to clear the table. Goes straight into my Inq28, Necromunda and Post Apocalyptic pile.

Oh, and 2 aluminium canisters, like the ones I keep hoarding in Fallout 4. From TT Combat I believe. To be put inside scenery at a later date.

Slapping on paint, then watching it dry.

The farm is making nice progress, most of the bases are ready to accept the fine dust I will use for basing. The MiG-21 I made is fully painted, decalled and currently coated in gloss, and will get a second coat of varnish tomorrow, and should be ready for show and tell in the evening. The Ork freighter had the last puttywork done and is ready for primer tomorrow, it will be a testpaint for the Ork Battleship. I've based a car for Gaslands, and added some bobbins to make it more interesting. I magnetised 2 more MiG-21s (no idea why, maybe equip one as a air defence, and the second, just rocket pods? I have no idea how the granulity will be for Northag.

Now, in all of this I'm working on one piece at a time till I can't go any further (due to drying paint, glue or putty) and then grabbing the next piece I'm working on. Keeps it interesting, and should help me with getting more done, in all scales.

So, in comes the box of sprues of Chaos Cultists I picked up last week, and started converting one single mini into a Savlar Chem Dog.....for no other reason than that he looks the part after giving him a new head, new gun and new leg, plus some puttywork.

 

Puttywork should be solid tomorrow, then add a valve to his back canister and some gizmo in the back of his headto tie in the tubing. No real reason to make him other than wanting a few generic NPC's/Baddies for Inq28/Necromunda.

 

Even with 10 kilos of die cast cars in the attic, I could not pass up this one in the Goodwill store for 25 cents, ripped off the wing like tail thing, added a small tank and added a Ork shoota barrel to the front. It is ready to be primd tomorrow, is for Gaslands, and I will not start a new car till this one is finished, like the other stuff. I hope to get more stuff done by starting an item for a project and not making a new one till the first one is actually finished. It does mean I will have several models on the g, but try to stick to 1-2 items per project. 

Will it work? I dunno, one way to find out, I suppose. Hands effing hurt, and to mention the watching paint dry bit from the headline, I did the last coat on the backdoor, and the first coat on the kitchen for my kids school.. Just wish the damn flies would stop their Kamikazi attacks on drying paint <sigh>.

Now, to put my hands on ice, and get some sleep.

Wasteland Ruin - 3 Doors Down

Sorted the weathering and the labelling of the 3 doors. Also washed all of the rebar with Devlan Mud and afer that had dried, with Vallejo Light Rust Wash for that crusted rusted iron effect.

Next up: painting and weathering the tiles, and after that doing the paperwork. Can't wait, though that last step is going to take a few evenings I guess.

Wasteland ruin progress - grey sorted

Finished sponging grey on the model all over, even inside where it is bloody hard to reach. Did the tops with a almost pure white highlight, only picking up the top and some of the other straight edges, but it hardly shows. Finished painting the rebar in the base brown tone, will do a brown wash to pick up all the crusts and then do a orange drybrush tomorrow evening. Also just finished painting (well, using a sponge) 2 weathered green doors and a wooden door with glass. Just need to clean the edges a bit. I'm thinking of doing the tiles in a Khaki colour, that seems to match the ones I saw in the bunkers and KPN building I frequented over the years.

I'm expecting a envelope with a dozen or more sheets of posters and newspapers to cut up, bathe in coffee and spread all over the floors. After that it is time for washes and final weathering, before reprimering the plasticcard edge that has worn a bit and painting it black with 2 good coats of gloss and a matte varnish to end it. I don't see a point in varnishing the model atm, It is built pretty solid and not likely to be tossed around by me anyway...

In other news, I traded a big plastic Space Marine statue on the sprue that should be here by the weekend too. I'm planning on giving it a raised base and adding 40K posters to it, so it will be easy to change the theme of the ruins to 40K/Inquisitor by just placing that in a central square or in front of a ruin.

I'm having a hard time keeping my chin up. The physical pain is getting less with each passing day, though I still have plenty of problems with my back and knee, but I and Kim have detected my mood has gotten a lot darker over the week since I got the news of my job loss. I'm having trouble enjoying my kids and even getting a bit of a temper now and then. These are the first signs of a (coming) depression for me and I need to nip this one in the butt.

A tale of wolves, skeletons and landmines

Hmm, might make a great movie.

My fever seems to be gone so I finished what I had on the table. First up:

2 Old Plastic Games Workshop wolves that have been in my bitsbox since about the time I started doing GW games back in 1998. Rebased to smaller (and flatter) 45mmx20mm Renedra bases that seem to do them more justice. Didn't bother with greenstuff to hide the head-body join, these were quick paints to see if I could still paint figures (instead of all of the objects you have seen me paint). Grey basecoat, black wash, grey drybrush top down on most of the body and a grey+white drybrush over just the tops. Bone teeth, white and black dot for the eyes. Sure, the newer GW Wolves are much nicer, they also cost money and I had them in my bits box. Use and be happy with what you have. And these will work perfect for Frostgrave. And Mordheim. And whatever game they can appear in.

Second:

2 Armoured skeletons, the left being the newer Games Workshop skeleton, the right a mix of parts from the same Games Workshop sprue on a Frostgrave body. I can't remember having painted undead since at least when Mordheim came out, so I just looked at a few videos to get ideas and went from there. Bone spray, Deval Mud wash for the base, Vallejo Dark Sand overall, Vallejo Pale Sand highlight, done for a skeleton....I don't like the bleached skull look. The only ones I ever saw like that were the ones my fellow students bleached for their own collections, the sand colour is more natural. I've always used red a binding colour for my undead and I don't see why I should change that now. Red with a Devlan Mud wash to make it grimy. Undead don't wear shiny clothes. Undead being....dead and I doubt they give a damn... Weapons and armour went through a few trials untill I settled on just washing it all over with a brighter orange mix and calling it done. I'll go over that particular process again with the next lot, and do it better. Or different. Or the same, who knows. The weathering on the shields worked particularly well I think. Other then a few speedpainting mistakes and general sloppyness, I'm moderately happy with them. I know what look GW tried to create with the left ones skull but my painting makes him loook stoopid. Oh well.  Hey look, 2 armoured skeletons for Frostgave. And Warhammer Quest. Done.

Third:

15 landmines. Not much to say about these, I started them back in It's a Trap! (October!? Time flies!)
Army-ish green, Deval Mud wash, red trigger, normal basing style dusted on the ends of the mines. Mines themselves are Oyumaru moulding copies from the launchers op top of the Furioso Dreadnaught....I thought they would make great mines. Sue me :) Added some small tufts to a few, and newspaper bits to two more, and left the rest bare. They are going straight into my counters box. Will work fine for Inquisitor, TNT, Necromunda. 15mm round 2mm plywood bases that are sadly no longer available from Fenris Games. Damn, I like these. Might have to go 2mm MDF now.

Right, now all I need to finish is the 3 Cars cars I'm working on, and then I can put some primer on new bits and get working on those. And repeat. I have a game of Frostgrave scheduled for thursday evening, so I'm looking forward to rolling up new monsters. Or more of the same. I don't mind painting the same stuff again.

No progress on the Wasteland Ruin. Right now I will finish painting the inside grey with a sponge too, and then call it a day, maybe paint the doors and tiles etc, and just game with it. And start the other bits for the square, and do all of the additional weathering atc at the end, with a broad brush. I've been staring the damned thing to death for the last week so it is better if I take some time off that particular ruin and get started on a new ruin. Something more suitable for Mordheim. Or dare I say, Frostgrave?  Yes, that sounds like a good idea.

Not so easy rider, part 2

Added the 4th bike, even if it has no wheels, it will make great filler. Speaking of which, I added and opened 3 of the 4 filler caps just for fun. I think the bikes could use some more work, I'm just not quite sure what. As soon as my head is a bit clearer (change in medication, taking them in the evening cause I was getting drowsy after taking them in the morning....driving and work not a good combo make....but now I'm bobbing my head like crazy.....<yawn>) I'll give them a rethink. Maybe some GS work.

Also in the mail today, I picked up a set of 2nd hand Dora DVD's for the girls, and as the seller had some cars from Cars I picked up 2 of those as well. Auction stated zgan (as good as new) and she asked 7,50 a piece for them but in the pics I could see some chipping so I talked it down to 5 euro a car. Shipped, loose, in a huge box (so more chipping) and when I got them out, 3 of the 4 axles are bent and the bottom of the car is toutching the floor. Also way more damage then was first apparent. If I had bought these for the girls I would have been really pissed, now I'm just slightly miffed cause I overpaid, 2,50 would have been enough for the condition they are in. Great for Fallout.

Anyway:

I like em. When based, they will fit in better. Just wondering how to get rid of the eyes....anyone have any ideas?

Finally, just finished matte varnishing the space junk. I can see I missed a few spots but I will let this lot dry and redo those parts tomorrow evening so I can finish them off on thursday and be done with it. And then on with the next lot, either the bikes or more Frostgrave scenery.

Speaking of which, I bought a really big scenic item you will  love. But more of that in the future.

Between a rock and a even bigger rock. And some paint.

Finally, fridayevening! Miserable week at work, I'm happy it's weekend, and some new stuff arrived just in time, jay.

First up, a collection of Playmobil rocks

Seller took over a week to reply and baffled me by asking half the amount I was willing to pay for it, and even included free shipping. But when they arrived I noticed half of them won't stay upright on their own so they will need bases and some filler, so I put these in the to do pile. Still happy with them though.

Kim sent me out to get a gift for her nephew, something I needed to pick up at the local Action (a chain of discount stores, they sell Matt Black spraypaint for 2 or 3 euro a can, great for scenery). 15 minutes later, no toy (sold out) but did pick up this set for 80 cents.

One half will be for my future 20mm mosque, the other 1 and a half bit will be come planets for space games. I might even pick up some more, these are less then half price what the hobby store asks for them.

Picked up these 2 from a seller at the LAF, really nice bits for my Inquisimunda box. When I chucked them in I spotted another cherub with book, oops!

I was waiting for these. A new varnish to try out, a new bottle of Pale Sand that I use for drybrushing my dirt bases as the old one was really spent, a red primer to try out, and plenty of Ammo stuff. I'll be using the green slimes on rocks, buildings and the fountains, looking forward to that. I will play a bit with the rusts too.

Other then work on the sci-fi junk I only based up 6 rats that I got off some Skaven sprues I got for free a while back. Sure, they are not giant rats, but good enough for me, and free.

Mouldine cleaning, sand on the base and a quick paintjob. Can't remember ever painting rats though, will have to look into that.

Slow progress on the Inca temple base, filled in the holes (needs a bit os fine sanding) and covered the hole with a plate so I can use still water effects to create a shallow pond (well, I'll paint it pretty dark, so maybe not that shallow).

Also made a few printouts of a Fallout 3 building that I want to copy for my foamboard try outs soon. I noticed a similarity between the Terrain Tutors foam building build tutorial here >

And this building:

...so I will use that as a reference to copy it as my first building for TNT.

I'll be darting between 28mm Sci-fi and 28mm Fantasy for a bit now. Get more games in. 20mm can come later, no worries.

Now, to score some more Space Marine bikes for scenery conversions and rust painting skill enhancement. Already traded some wolves for 2, and I just got offered 6 more so out come the bits boxes or in this case the promise of a scratch built building or 2 for free! (and thats enough, thank you, these will be for scatter scenery.)

OOP Forgeworld Sewer Hatches/Entrances

I picked up these Forgeworld Sewer Entrances for 17 euros I believe at the local FB Wargamers market, unpainted, new in the bag (still counts as 2nd hand) back in March 2015. They look rather nice, with the hatches being numbered 1 till 6 in Roman numerals. They are long OOP like most of the good Forgeworld stuff. They are not all perfectly round as FW has a habit of taking things out of the mould too soon, but at first glance that is not very obvious. They do use a ton of releasing agent, mine were actually shiney from it. Several good scrubs managed to take that off. A bit more effort later removed all of the casting stalks too.

I based them on hexes as a the time I did not have suitable round bases and the hatches come with a circle of sculpted on crap that I did not want to remove. And a hex stands out to me like a round base does not. As these will be used as objectives or scenario specific encounter locations, I prefer it that way.

Originally these were painted with a mix of black metal and flat brown, but you can't see any of it after some stippling, washes and a bit of filter. After 2 coats of flat I went over them lightly with a pencil and rubbed it around a bit to get the current effect. A good healthy dose of tufts later and voila.

My idea beind these are the sewer hatches you see in Fallout 3, leading to underground areas.

(Necromunda model for scale (not painted by me))

I'm rather happy with them and will come in handy for games of Zombies, Pulp, Necromunda, Inquisitor/Munda, Modern and Horror as well as being more then suitable for Mordheim.

Pity they are OOP.

Going to try some new things (for me anyway) tomorrow.

Instead of my usual method of doing all scratches and marks by hand, I tried the foam method tonight. Doesn't always do what I want, but can't beat the time won doing it like this, it is fast!

Did some extremely heavy weathering on these canisters, but I like it. The hatches I repainted with a mix of black steel and flat brown for that high manganese kind of look. Want them to be as generic as possible.

I just finished coating them all with gloss varnish cause I want to try something new (for me) tomorrownight. Got 2 bottles of Ammo MIG, Streaking Grime and Fuel Stains. I've never done this and I'm curious to what the results will be on the canisters. I've also got a bottle of AK Interactive Earth Effects that I want to use on the hatch covers, but if that doesn't work out I will experiment on them with weathering powders, I'm dying to try a few of those out as well (as I should as I have had quite a few of them for years now!).

Also, I repainted the statues according to some I saw on the Frostgrave FB page.

Loved the way they looked, so asked for the recipe. Turns out Shining Gold, Agrax Earthshade aka Brown Wash and then yada yada oxide (I just can't remember those dreadful names) is all I need to do. Repainted them with Vallejo Model Air Gold (well, more of a heavy drybrush) followed by a good wash with an old pot of Devlan Mud. And it did the trick. Painting bronze by painting them gold first. Huh, who figured that one?

I've asked Modhail for his rock colour mix so I can use it on the big statues, already finished their bases today. Sticking to Flat Brown base, Dark Sand drybrush and Pale Sand drybrush for now, looks good and almost the same as most of my previous work so it all ties in.

And gosh, look at the time. 2:30 in the morning. Good thing it's the weekend :)

CHI-76a Medium Laser Tank " Mazha "

Somewhere in the future, man will colonise other planets and war will break out. With this idea I have been on again and off again penning down notes and ideas about what vehicles to make, looking at modifications and making plans for the future, as I want to do this in 20mm and as some of you may know, 20mm is not a (popular) Sci-fi scale. 15mm you can buy everthing plus the kitchen sink, 28mm just a tad less, 20mm hardly anything.


First off, my sci-fi universe is a mix of various ideas (and shows/movies). It is a period after man colonized many worlds, discovered many alien species, battled a omnipotent AI and came out battered but unbroken (minor win in gaming terms), only to rise up again, start fighting amongst themselves and remnant robot forces and the odd alien. Mechs are available but rare, anti-grav is possible and anything goes worlds wise. Alien ships are common. CHI stands for China Heavy Industries - I tend to focus a lot on China as a colonising power and almost all of my builds will be for this nation as well as looking at various robots cause I always need more reasons to paint robots


The CHI-76a is a general medium tank chassis used for a variety of tasks, of simple build as to keep the costs down, for 2nd line and garission units. I'll be focusing on one PDF (Planetary Defence Force) in particular on a as yet unnamed world, CCM-23 is known for its large copper deposits and earth like climate (well, a bit hotter). No other details currently available.


This PDF uses the Mazha's (Chinese for Grasshopper/Locust depending on which translator you use. (My Chinese colleagues actually got into a argument with each other if this word or something I can't pronounce is correct, but in Dutch a Grasshopper and a Locust are the same thing so I'll leave it at that. You get the idea)) as their main battle tank. This tank is built around defense. It carries 2 main guns, medium to heavy lasers depending on the setting, that can be fired simultaneously or alternating, good for 3000 shots until ithey need to be overhauled. The laser is of a very rugged Indian design, copied by the Chinese. Very durable and low maintenance, the only odd feature is that each discharge is accompanied by a loud chirp, not unlike a grasshopper, due to the way the baffles work to vent the heated air. That and the preferred Chinese tactic of attacking/defending in larger groups while moving from location to location brought about the name, the original factory name long since forgotten.


For maximum survivability, the crew of 3 sits inline in the middle of the vehicle in armoured cocoon front to back (Driver, gunner, commander). For extra defence the vehicle comes with a twin MG turret on top, a small anti missile laser on the rear deck and optional additional ceramic ablative armour on the sides. The vehicle is tracked as that is still the most economical way to get around in most areas. A anti grav version is available, but due to the greater drain on the engine this tends to draw too much power and increases reload time for the lasers. No AI unit is available for this type of tank, but most droids/robots can take the place of the various crew if needed. As it is very noseheavy, no blower version exists. The front roadwheels and suspension wears out at an excessive rate and are rated at 1500 km's max. The engine is either a multifuel type or a small fusion reactor (not for export). Armour is low to average on the sides, but the front armour should be able to withstand hits up to 125mm....in theory. It does not carry a shield generator. Depending on the location and training of the crew, the tank is used as a sniper, lying in ambush, or as a assault tank, supporting infantry.


The chassis is used for various roles, of which later more.


I have a donor chassis selected from my stash, I ordered new barrels for the conversion and I plan to make 3 units of this particular model. Total cost per tank should not exceed 12,50 euro including all of the parts and scratchbuilding. I hope to start these in December/January, though I will base the hulls before that time.


More fiction of me in the future to go with my 20mm sci-fi project :)


I'll leave you with a link to my gaming buddy's Blog, Modhails Meanderings who just finished a beautiful True Scale Howling Griffons Space Marine and photographed in his beautiful 3D Space Hulk sections. He wants a whole unit for them in Inquisimunda. The nutter.