The right tool for the right job.

 I picked up and assembled a jig for my dremel. Drilling almost 1000 holes by hand would kill me otherwise. And none of them would be straight either! 

Concept test - concrete post perimeter fence for Stalker

 While I was cutting holes in bases for the 15mm fences I was looking at some of the wooden bits in big box of wood stuff, and suddenly had a epiphany. Glue 2 of them together and they resemble those old fashioned concrete posts I'm used to seeing at various factory and defence locations.

So, while I was working anyway, a bit of glue, a spare base and some time later....

10 inch base. Nothing is fixed so it is a bit wobbly, but you get the idea. Nice and imposing, quick to build in a factory line,waste is absolutely minimal. You can replace the wire with cut fly screen if that is your thing, or hang that metal gauze stuff from it. I'm thinking of adding a roll of concertina barbed wire on top.

I think I will make a tutorial for this, easy as it is, and I think I have a way of making these in 15mm as well, so that is even better.

Guardhouse for S.T.A.L.K.E.R

 First up...I'm dead on my feet. Decided I was tired of making stuff 3/4 of the way and letting it die.

So I started something yesterday, on a whim, by picking up the Sarissa Precision N136 Guard House / Bike Shelter.

Reference so you know what it is supposed to look like.

I converted it (last year I think?) after picking up 3. 1 for Stalker, 1 for a (Post Apoc) Motel check in and I completely forgot what the third was for.

The conversion, if you could call it that, was purely replacing the brick columns with flare sticks (from New Years eve) and trimming down the awning into a much smaller and slightly tilted one, and covering the roof nubs with a sheet of cardboard like always.

Then left it for 6-12 months ( I guess?) and came back to it to see the roof very, very warped. So grabbed the foamcutter and card and made a new, angled roof. Fully reversable if I want to. After that I added a star to the facing wall, and used the railings I removed from the 15mm Factory Chimney building as gates. If you are wondering why the side is open, in my planning I'll be adding a concrete wall on the side  (part of the 3-4 metres of concrete wall I have to make....jay for the foamcutter). Not visible in those pics is the length of chain I picked up and glued in place to lock the gate. My punch was used to make a round bit for the "lock".

Yesterday I grabbed the cheap craft paints that are a bit chalky as I find those to work great with MDF, and made sure I got it all to the monochrome stage and did the basics in (to me anyway) Russian Blue, painted the Red Star. And for the heck of it, painted the inside in dual colour as well. And that is where I left it yesterday.

 Today, my coach cancelled as she had a new client that was a bit of a handfull, so I suddenly had a lot of free time (kids are at Kim's today as well). Which takes me back to the beginning, why not finish the model today? I need to learn the art of less is more, and I want to get stuff done as I want to game, dammit.

And so I began. It took me about 5 hours in total, 1 hour of that just for the glazing. it may not look it to you, but this is what I would call Wargaming standard (mine anyway) as I could have done and added so, so much more. But I'm now of the opinion I could go at it for another 5 hours....but no one will notice (except me). So here you have it, the Guard House for the Research Complex for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Hope you like it. It took immense constraint to keep myself focussed (jay for Autism) to get it done, but I did it and I'm over the moon so to speak. I can still do it, I pushed myself over the edge and it is done. Now a 2 day break to rest my hands and clear my head, and a little bit of light painting on friday I think.

No 3D printed parts were used in the making of this model, just good old fashioned card, glue and blood. And yes, cutting all the glazing was fun.

Quickbuild - 15mm Fishing boat WIP Part 2

 Well....primed it ready to be painted tonight, but my donor mentioned it did not look boaty enough. All right, I got this. A toothpick or 2, copper wire and some UV resin later...

Boaty McBoatface!

Quickbuild - 15mm Fishingboat WIP

 Was chatting to a friend online tonight and told him I had refound one of his gifts. Had a brainwave then and there, turn it into a fishing boat. Some gauze, beads,  and 5ml of super glue later.... Quickest build by me in years.

Amazing shit picture for your frustration added

 Ship is one of those cheap basic plastic ones like I used on the Iraqi patrolboat. I will not add a base as I have a big river now (will be debasing the Iraqi boat when I fix the MG that has broken). Tomorrow use some putty to fill in the holes on the beads, and give it a respray in gray, and try to get it fully painted by the end of the weekend so I have another scenery piece for 15mm done. Planning on a painted hull African style, blue netting, orange floats, and plenty of weathering.

Another rock on the floor

 Did the basing, finished most of the Milliput work on the ruin. Needs a bit more work on the inside. Picked up some plastic boardgames piece ( I think it is anyway) that suits the fantasy setting well. That or it is Xenos filth deserving only the heavy flamer.

 

When I have some more free time I'll finish the Milliput and run them both through the primer stage.

Another brick in the wall.

 Well, more than one.

It's Tuesday, 32 outside so I guessed Milliput would dry pretty damn quick today. Using the foam I glued in earlier as a base I layered in Brown Milliput and went to town with some tools. Nothing too neat, I don't have time or energy for that and it's just a scenic piece. Also started filling in the gaps on the base with some detailing in places. It's now drying and I'll get back to it in the weekend.
I'm having fun.

Back in the saddle

 Right, the GI's are on track and can wait for a few days till I clean all the bases.

Grabbed some scenery for 28mm Stalker I had been working on before the move. I finally found a proper star punch at the Goodwill a few weeks back so I put that to good use (and found out my big round punch is on it's last legs so need to keep a lookout for those). Used that for the monument (basically a sports throphy with the tacky symbol (literally a sticker) and the much too big base removed). Will be painted concrete and weather paint as just another of the gazillion ones you see around Russia. LOS blocker and all that.

Also finished the sanding work on the 15mm Gazebo dome. And then decideed to fill in the MDF connectors between the panel sides as well but that's for another day.

 

 

 I picked up a resin ruin for a fiver, what turned out to be a Conflix model. Could have fooled me, the cast is so crappy I took it for a fishtank model. It's really weird on the inside, where the mould was, very haphazard and rough sharp casting remains. I took a bit of time and plugged in foam inserts in spots I want to fill up, and added hot glue to fix that all in place so I have a good base to start Milliput work sealing up the openings I don't need and add a bit of a platform on the inside where I do need it. Not that any 28mm model will fit inside, but picked this purely up as decorative scenery, and with 2 or maybe 3 exit/infil points for monsters or what not. Cut and sanded a base for it and glued it down with hotglue cause did I mention the thing is warped too? Hotglue is the great equalizer and a lot cheaper than epoxy for this. Gaps on the base will be filled in with Milliput as well. No rush on this one, will come in handy for Frostgrave, Silver Bajonet, the Last War, my Quar, Mordheim. Eventually.

I picked up several of of the SP Guard Houses. Simple kits, cheap, with great conversion potential.

 

When my built one came out of storage I noticed the roof was badly warped. I looked at ways to fix it but in the end decided not to bother and just make a new roof. I've got the skills and the tools, and in an hour I punched out this. Scrap foam, ribbed card and a strip of plain cardboard forma  cereal box. Didn't go all out for the panels, I can just paint them that way. Added a star was well, but won't paint it too overly Russian. Red star and some baby blue details. A few scrap Russian newspapers around, and when I finally get furniture for it that can get the same treatment. Roof can be reversed to change the look a bit, always nice to increase usability. I found some proper thick transparancies so might even glass the windows.

And cause I could, I grabbed some 15mm railing that I cut of from the 15mm factory add ons and changed that into a steel grate door with kick panels. Just need to find my bag with fine metal chain that hasn't popped up after the move (yet) to put a chain lock on that door. 

The side is open and will stay that way, I have a seperate fence planned on that side.


Today was a good day :)

A fresh start....again?

      Well, maybe not a truck....

                                                          

 

 Yes, another fresh start.

Since my last pots a lot, and I really do mean a lot of things have changed. I've moved to another (sleepy) village, have a house now with rooms for the kids, an attic, a garden, my own driveway....and no gaming room.

I made the conscious choice not to invest time, effort and money in a dedicated games room. My girls, bless their little hearts, offered up a room for it so they would share the other one, but that would not be right. They turned 11 a few weeks ago and need their own space, their own privacy and place to just close the door and be themselves. And we have that sorted now, talked with them what they wanted, where and how....and the rooms are lovely (no pics, their space, their privacy)

Moving has been anything but fun (as anyone who ever moved knows all too damned well) and giving everything a a spot while trawling the recycling centers for furniture was .....interesting.

But (besides the odd box of 2) I'm as good as done. The girls settled in, my stresslevel is now at a manaeagble level instead of 120% and my health is....well, still shit, but hey, change.

Right, hobby wise, also change. Switching from from 20mm to 15mm is in process, started selling off stuff. Picked up a 15mm WW2 US Army (by car, not going through the mail again for that). Picked up a used display cabinet and set that up for "motivational purposes", picked up 2 older Billy cabinets for my rules and reference books, and none of this stuff is downstairs.

The only thing left to do is change my hobby/pc desk into a purely pc desk (this one will be replaced for a smaller one) and then I'm done. From now on, the kitchen table is my hobby table for gaming and building and painting. And what a lovely table it is. 100x160, easily extendable to 240. More importantly, forces me to clean up at the end of the evening. See, I'm smartz.

For the next 3 months I've got an open house each tuesday evening for friends to drop in to build and paint stuff and just chat. Motivation for them, motivation for me. Last night Sjors dropped by (no longer a 30 minute drive but 10 minutes by bike), he worked on his book niche display and I managed to clean up a full platoon for Nam68. Sanded all the bases, added notes to the pockets, planned out a few conversions (yes, in 15mm, I'm still me after all), and will need to toss a bunch of coins in the ultrasonic cleaner later today to prep the basing work. 

Miniature planning or crack dealer?

Really looking forward to the (hobby) future now....God knows it's been pretty bad in the last few years. Body is still effed, I can barely make out the models with my left eye, hand hurt and i take more pills daily than the average Raver.....but we can do this!

More, somewhere in the future.