Biting the (Silver) bullet

 After making 2 French Army zombie testmodels with the free sprue Warlord sent me, and thinking about it......decided to get a team and some stuff for it.  

2nd French team (1st seems impossible to find), 2 Priests/Monks ( liked those models), a flock of geese (cause reasons) and another Russian House (Actually 2 as it was on sale and technically 1 is for my Stalker build).

I'm still looking for a affordable bag of Victrix late Napoleonic troops as those have 2 poseable arms and I would like to make a few more zombies. 60 is a lot though....

A little depot for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (WIP)

 

I felt I was lacking a small depot building with a few small rooms, but no one makes what I want. So I ordered a Small workshop from the Gangs of Rome series from SP and that arrived this afternoon. I just finished cleaning up the table and the tools and I'm calling it 99% done, will add some electrical switches/cabling when I have some free time again. I've added a pic for reference to see how it scales with the rest. Roof will be fibreboard with a smashed section on the right side, the awnings will be tinned sheet so I can have a go at rusting, especially the section on the right. The extended baseplate will be painted as concrete slabs. No idea when I have the time for it but hopefully this year.

Oh, as a mate pointed out....great to change into workshops in a Vietnamese or Chinese alley as well. Might make another one someday in Cyberpunk style. Just sell that kidney first for funds.

 

 

Well, guess next year is Post Apoc year I guess

 I try to spend a few hours each week in the attic to sort stuff for selling, keeping and binning. This morning I realised I've collected quite a few brownstones and Appartments for post Apoc and it would be a shame not to use them.

So I guess somewhere mid 2025 might be a good time? I'm enjoying painting and building for Stalker way too much so that still has priority.

Perimiter Bunker 1.06, known as the "Icon Bunker" to Stalkers

 1st of the set of bunkers for the perimiter. I wanted this one to be a bit wilder in looks but also serene. It is from the Sarissa set of 3 Pillboxes, "British Pill Box Set N089". Simple, easy to build, looks the part. 

Tufts used from various sources, mostly Greenstuff World this time. Hope you like!

To the Stalkers Perimiter Bunker 1.06 is known as the Icon Bunker. Its door is always open for those in need of a dry place to rest, and exudes a calmness not often encountered in the Zone.

2nd building for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. finished.

 After a week of pondering (plenty of time to think when you are sick) I decided glazing the second building would kill my will to live, so finished the detailing on the inside, added a doorknob and the 2 missing lines and called it a day. I have plenty of other stuff to work on.

Group shot

It's the little things...

Sneezing, coughing and scalpels - a builders tale

 Sick and tired but at least no more fever, so I'm on the mend (I hope). Painting went a bit shit and licking my brush in between coughs.....not reccomended. So grabbed the scalpel and glue and built a part of the Factory Scenery set. Plenty of more work to do on it. Stairs and the shed I'll keep seperate, easier to store  everything. And what a difference a new roof makes! Did accidentally smash in one of the windows but after dousing it in superglue it will remain like that forever.

Now to add the lead covers to the roof, clean up the chimney, add the pipes, replace the roof on the smaller one (I've epoxied the buildings together btw), add card to the steel doors for a bit more raised profile etc.

Crates

 

Lifelesson: a fever, construction work outside your house and the finicky art of laying glass in your model house don't combine..... So i painted the crates (-1 that I managed to forget somehow) that came with the TT Combat Warehouse as generic scatter. Let's call it Tractor Parts. paints used (sans primer) included in pic.

 

 I'm actually liking these more then the ones with over the top banding on the side. The 2 thin crates I just wrapped with card and not the supplied 4mm sticks, looks better this way.

Wish I had more of these now. Suitable for any kind of 28mm game depending on the paintjob, so I kept these as generic as possible.

Barrier and Barrels

 The barrels are another completed 50 cent challenge - the rims form a trashed bulldozer (that I'm also changing into something nice....eventually). And will work for anything really. Just scatter for my 15mm sci fi stuff or 28mm scifi/modern/post apoc.

And for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (and Post Apoc, Modern, Zombie ) a barrier. It is the 1/35 Italeri N0. 415 Check Point kit, with both posts cut down a bit to make it more 28mm friendly, and not a low barrier (hah!) Limbo excercise. Based for stability. Ribbed for pleasure.

 

Brainstorming

 Seems to fit rather well, I think. Just brainstorming. Ok, it's insomnia, I could not sleep and then I play with toys....

Need to clean up the connector but this works rather well I think.

Also found the scheme for the 2 bunkers (on the grounds of a former Soviet nuclear weapons storage site in Czech). If I can pull off this weathering it would be perfect. But skip the fake easgle.

And I need to make a shrine. But one that is more....me?

WIP Warehouse for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Grabbed this TT Combat Wild West Warehouse from my stash of MDF kits. It is OOP and the code is OTS026. The instructions are no longer available ...oh well, not my first rodeo. I've asked them for the instructions but as rate I will have the boxes that are included done as well by trial and error.

It's a pretty bland 1 dimensional kit. All details are Lasered. No attempt has been made for much of a 3D effect. You can open the window frames but there isn't anything to hold them in place so why bother? I don't recall ordering it at a shop, so must have been bought in a used lot.

 

4 walls and a roof, that is basically it. Like any house/shed. Loads of potential but this time I'm only changing the roof into a fibreboard one and raising the window panels, adding thin card to the doors for the slats and rivets and adding the windowsills that I forgot on the other build (but that will be remidied). I could do tons more but time/effort spent vs result....not worth it. 

Started in the afternoon, quite around a bit past midnight.

Basic shape, held together with some tape during dryfit. I inserted slivers of newspaper between the windows and walls on the sides as the windows are only attatched on the top by 2 very thin bits (they are designed to be opened and I don't want that) and that gives the superglue an excellent bond between the 2.

Strips of 4cm wide ribbed card for the pressed fibreboard look glued over the windows that I removed from this side. I'll repeat that on the other side.

Once dry get a fresh scalpel and just cut out the openings

Insert the original window and raise it by a few mm, this will help with the looks and weathering later. Add plenty of superglue and this is stuck for life. I'll add glass once the building is painted.

Punch out a few more stars from card

Cut strips of thicker card for a bit more detail, and used the small punch to make lots of bolts to improve the doors. Added a handle on both doors with staples.

Glued the doors in place and filles up the opeings for the sliding doors. I could have tried to make it work but the fit was already way too tight, and with paint added to it it would never work. (the roof has the same issue, the fit is way too tight, so that needs some sanding before priming)

Added a XXL sateh skewer on the top and covered it with a strip of newspaper soaked with glue and after all of this has set somewhere in the afternoon, she is ready for primer. Also added windowsills with scrap MDF and again prodigious use of superglue.

And that is it. Basic as it is, it tarts up nicely enough. I would not say no to a few more tbh, but with the kit being OOP I'm fat out of luck. Fortunately I also have the plastic H0 one to update so I have options.

Water Trailer progress

 Had our 2 weekly painting night and got pretty far along with the water trailer. Most of the work is the brushwork to do the letters, the rest I don't even have to think about anymore, pure muscle memory.
Hope to have some time this weekend to finish it.

As you probably can tell.....I'm really liking making stuff for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.......

Russian Fall - a old monument for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Also, another 50 Cent challenge done!

Another victorious 50 Cent challenge completed (30 cents in this case)!

                                            

 How it started:

Didn't save the original picture, but it had an even bigger base which I cut off and a tennis or something symbol that I replaced with a star.

How it ended:

Paintjob had been finished for a while and I wanted to get it done, so experimented it a bit. I did a trial with the punch on tyhe previous finished building, but those came out a bit dark. So tried again, but using wash instead of paint and it worked like a treat. I'll not be using Beech seeds again, that's for sure. This is much, much easier to tone.

On with the next :)

Oh, in case you are wondering about the leaves, easy peasy: 

 

Cut from regular prining paper, mix up some water, a drop of wash and a drop of not modge podge and stir. Add that batch, make a new one with a different wash, repeat till you are satisfied. I went with some nice orange and golden colours this time.