Scrap on the painting table

Stupid me. Asked Modhail to pick up a bottle of the GW Niksomething Oxide, he passes it to me on friday before the game and.....now it´s gone. Not in my boxes or bags. So goodbye weekendplans of finishing the statues and making even more of them. No sir.

So I grabbed the nearest box and out came )some of' my sci/fi scrap. Black basecoat didn´t go on too well, looks to be a combo of almost empty can doing funny things and maybe a bit of mould release agent on some of them, but another blast of grey primer sorted them.

Going for fast and simple in combination with learning more about filters. I ordered a couple of new ones lastnight, they should arrive by the end of the week, but till then I´ll keep my focus on using the streaky grime and learning what it can and what it can´t do. Less is better, for a much lighter tone.

Anyway, pics talk better then I can.

4 on the right have a not-so-matte varnish applied and are almost dry, the one on the right I had prepared earlier so I went with that. Just streaky grime, applied a bit too heavy I think but not a bad result. I will tone it down on the others. Decided not to paint the base first this time as I wasn't sure how much of the washes and filters would pool. Turns out I did not need to worry, but keeping that stage for last isn't such a bad idea anyway. Some well placed tufts will cover any unsightly holes underneath the scrap.

Two Minute Tutorial - Making Tiny Trash Bags

Two Minute Tutorial - Making Tiny Trash Bags  (for some reason I can't get the video to show in my Blogpost, so forgive me for linking to Youtube)

I tried this tonight, having watched the video yesterday and thinking "Gosh, this looks so easy!"

Well, I tried the 2 types of trashbag we use at home and created a big molten mess every time, it melted quicker then I could react and not a straight seam in sight. So my Gf comes in and hands me some plastic trash from our recylcing bag, some old plastic bags of various colours, a empty pack of huggies babytissues, more of that stuff, all thicker plastic. One of them was a black plastic shopping bag, so I tried a piece of that. But again, it melted very irregularly. Dammit. What to do?

Eureka moment. What if I use a pair of tweezers to protect most of the plastic and only leave 1 tiny sliver available to melt? Tried it, and it works brilliantly every time sofar, it is even quicker then the method shown, so I'm now sitting here processing plastic bags ready to be filled.

My GF actually kirred and found it to be "so damn cute!" :D

I'm tying them down with a piece of string as I simply don't have wire thin enough for it (well, I do, but it is solder and it keeps breaking) and it looks just fine. I've made a few 28mm scaled ones now, and I think I will start doing a few 20mm ones tomorrow, as this is just so damn easy! (now that I know how)



Top tip, this one :)

Back to the junkyard.

Finally, another addition to the junkyard. During my last stay in Ireland I got some miscatst from Brian at the Hobbyden, and this is from that lot. If you like the model, it is a 20mm Mercedes, code HD16 and reatails for 6.50 euro. Makes for a great Middle-eastern taxi cab or a bit of scenery for your Cold War games in Germany. Or in my case, as a hunk of junk.

Anyone recognise the stickers on the windshield? :)

Trailer (trash)

Added a trailer to the set. A bit bigger then the ones you see in Fallout but trailer wise it is slim pickings. I picked this up from TMP but can't remember from whom. Missing the chimey and plastic flamingo, one fell off and the other one didn't really fit for what I have planned. 15mm Khurasan Mantis bug for scale, based on a 1 eurocent.

If anyone knows who made/makes these, let me know as I want a few more.

Baddies 11, Goodies 14, Scenery 6

Big piece of junk

Big piece of junk this time.

I cobbled this together from a HO junk lot I picked up quite a while back that had a ton of used and abused refinery towers and silos. Lots of cleaning, removal of old glue and some chopping made this, a old, used silo, on its side, with a faded paintjob. The girders removed, propably cut up for scrap as well.

For 20mm this is a big piece in my junkyard, but I will be using it for the 15mm one as well, for which it is massive. I have several more of these pieces, might turn 1 or 2 into massive booster rockets lying around as scrap.

Spare PSC Panzer IV hatch came in useful :)

Whole wheat logo.

Old Shelter

Shelter off a Military Wheels AS-3 truck kit. I picked up 2 of these trucks cheaply at Crisis. I'll propably do something with the chassis and maybe build the other one properly, who knows :)

Fits in with the scrapyard, Fallout as well as Stalker. Decal is from TL-Decals.

A busy WIP table

I have a very busy WIP table at the moment, and these are just a few of the vehicles.

From left to right:
FoF Renault UE, a bit of cleaning to do and then convert it to the Wurfrahm version, my first model for KGN.
Hobbyden Technical, based and washed, ready for weathering. Just a display tester as I won't be doing Militia (any time soon that is).
Hobbyden Shorland, based and ready to be turned into a ZNN news car for the Africa game and propably quite a few other things.
Hobbyden Mercedes, suitably trashed and based, a bit of detail needs to be added before it is ready to be painted for the scrapyard.
The hard shelter of a Eastern European truck kit, based by itself, meant as a small (guard) shack for my Stalker project.

Decided to replace my MD-500 gunship (it just didn't look right)) with a old Matchbox Dauphin that I am turning into a Harbin Z-9W. So far so good, fit isn't that good but filler helps as does crossbracing the cockpit area. As the weapon mounts are quite thin my usual magnet trick didn't work so I opted for aluminum tubing. I've started out with turning 2 modern 500 pound bombs into 7.65 gun pods, just need to add the barrels, good excercise. After this I need to make a set of 23mm cannons and a set of AT missiles. Their rocket pods are a bit different compared to anything in my collection so not sure how to work my way around that. Decals weren't really easy to find but with some assistance from Sgt. Scream these have been sourced as well. Lots of work to do though, sensors, tail, more sanding, weapon pods etc. But the Rutger Base (TM) works like a charm.

I've been updating these Britannia M35 trucks into M35A2's by adding an exhaust system.

I also removed the winch from 2 of them and need to change the soft top into a hard top, basically add a bit of putty.

They are meant for transporting my US troops for Fire in the North and TW:2K but can double for almost anything as you see them second hand all over the world.

This one will double for TW:2K as well as my mercs for the Big game Africa, but is has been on and off my table for a dozen times now. I can't seem to make up my mind about what course to go with it. Uparmoured the cab area but took it all off again as it looked like shit. Anyone got ideas?

A objective for modern games (or something for the junkyard....) with Fire in the North in mind, a F-111 cockpit:

Picked up a few ECM F-111's after the holiday sales for a few euros each but their wargaming potential is minimal. At least this way I'm getting some use from it and the rest can go into the spares bin.

More letterboxes!

Even more junk

A never ending flow of debris it seems :)

A beat up second hand Majorette trailer with the wheels and towhook removed and suitably based.

A metal door from The Scene. I added a spare Heller Blitz steering wheel to it.

I had a go at making a fridge and a toilet bowl. Neither came out quite the way I wanted but I didn't want to let them go to waste so based and painted them with a HO scale door for added colour. I'll be making more refridgerators and assorted items, might get them casted up as well.

And a teaser for the future:

Lots more junk

Added more items to the junk yard.

Ruined bed and cooker, both from Frontline , 20mm Blitz Bits

Diecast Beetle convertible, 2nd hand purchase, brand unknown

Finished 2 more water tanks from The Scene, red tap and yellow tap. Don't drink from the yellow tap! ( I like these loads, when I do a future purchase at The Scene I'll be sure to include more of these)

Scrap I beam from Sgts' Mess and part of a HO oil refinery

Airco unit from The Scene. Now just scrap.

2 skips from The Scene and a experiment in painting weathered yellow. I added the tarp myself.

And a bigger picture shot:

Not sure what is next. Picked up some 2nd hand kits for the scrapyard, but might also get back to a few figs. We'll seee, the day is still young.