Hobby night

 I have an open house 2 nights a week. One week it's board games on tuesday, and hobby night on thursday, the week after tuesday and thirsday are both hobby nights. 

Tonight was a hobby night. Mirella is making nice progress on her H0 scale church, Sjors has decided to stop buying GW stuff and move to Gunpla as he just doesn't like painting, and I planned out next week to get my group builds done in time. With 3 days of just not being here I'm cutting it really, really close. Even more so as I've hurt my wrist, again. 

 

The flight stand insert hardend during the night....but of course not before tilting. Luckily with my method that is not really an issue. All the externals are on except the mounts for the rocket pods, and I need to grab those pods from one of the kits in the attic. Needs to be done and primed by monday evening so I can bluetack it and do the rest of the sprays, then decals and detailling. Update the decals, etc. Fun. 

The New Life teaster shot of where I am now:

Can't show much more till it is done.

The girls helped me out this week after I twisted my wrist.

They saw me struggle and volunteerd to smash hamers to remove the 5mm round inserts....400 times! I did another 100 today so the 500 pcs bag is now empty, which means I have more than enough 25mm round bases ready for the magnets, those should arrive next week or so. I also did quite a few bags of 30x30 square bases for AK-47. Tomorrow I'll pick up the 20mm round bases with the same hole and repeat. 

AK-47 Air Support Group Build - Wadiyan Close Air Support - Filler time!

 Right, I could not find the proper plugs I used to use in 3, yes, 3 DIY's. They don't seem to make that type anymore? So I resorted to grabbing a length of aluminium tubing of roughly, cutting the hole and adding a nice blob of Brown Stuff and shovving the tube right in. More puttyy for the front, the gaps and the hole for the radio antenna (I always leave those off as they will break eventually) and now to let the lot dry. Tomorrow smooth out with Milliput, insert and glue in the proper magnet inside the tube. Then glue on the exterior parts and repeat filler timethe next day till she is ready for priming. Gotta keep going as the end date is soon.....

Factory Frame basics done

 Basics are done. This covers an area just shy of 3x3 feet, so a table all by itself. Now to pack it all up as the kids are back tomorrow, and then next week add some minor gritting etc and prime it. 

 

 The rest of the week will be spent with the kids, painting, and the Crisis show in Antwerp on saturday. Depends a lot on how I feel, not at my best atm.

Editing files to get more bang for my Euro

 I wasn't quite happy with the lack of damage variants (Pristine, damaged or destroyed, that is it) so trying out new things and learning on the fly. 

I wanted more broken side columns for the latter 2 bases, so snipped the original down to size and added 6 cylinders of various lengths for the rebar. 

Original on the left, my version on the right

 

I need to testprint a few to see if it prints ok, and start editing the other colums as well as I want one fallen one that snapped off at the base, but that is for later today.

I also remoddeld the roof trusses, starting with the destroyed one and slicing less damaged parts into it. for variation.

Literal factorylining

 Glued the spans, glued the legs, now superglue squares of paper over all of the seams (bolt plates) to give it extra rigidity, and then calculate out the base distance so everything is centered. After that glue in the longtitudenal beams. Once that is done check for cleanup and dremel some pieces for extra wear. 

This is enough for 4 bases. The other 2 bases will be much more knackerd. 

Working a a large factory frame - Ctrl+C > Ctrl+V and slice the night away.

 I picked up the Large Hall Construction from Patrick Miniatures last week and I started printing. After finding out it really is a bit massive.....I started printing more. 

But with 1 intact, 1 damaged and 1 destroyed part for each part it started to get repetevive quick. So I started with just cutting the lengthway beams down the middle and adding a mirror copy of the sliced side to it. Nothing rocketsience. Then I raised the bar a bit and spliced the underside of the broken column onto the top of the damaged column, to get that fine quality Russian concrete work feel that makes you eat a OSHA book. And then repeated that for the side columns. 

They printed off fine, and I just got back from picking up some MDF sheets 40x23 so I can base it up 2 spars at a time, going from ok to knackered. The slots in between I'll use a marker mould to drill in holes for putty and magnets so I can click in the lengthway concrete beams. If I place down the full set you cover a space over a metre long and 40 cm wide.....a table all on its own tbh. 

It was meant for Stalker....but tbh, should work fine for Historical, Necromunda, other Post Apoc etc.

BSSCF2025 - The (off) White House

 And that is the last pic of the whole building for now. Hope to get most of it done by the end of the weekend so I can focus on other builds and do the final detailing on my leasure. 

Calling it a bukake house might be the wrong thing for a fertility clinic.....

AK-47 Air Support Group Build - Wadiyan Close Air Support

 This one is running till November 9th so I'm getting a bit short on time. I had planned to do a MiG-15 but I can't find the bloody box.....typical.

Went into the attic and grabbed a Tamiya 1/100 MiG-19. Partially built it so I can fill the gaps with filler tomorrow and clean it up. Need to go out and find those plugs that go with my flightstands, but that is for tomorrow.

With some time left over I did another once over my decals box to see which one I can modify for Wadiya. Now, there are no known markings for Wadiya, so anything goes. As I have a lot of spare NVA decals, I decided to go with that and use them as the basis. A bit of work in Paint using the colours of Wadiya and there you go. I have a nice pile of 1/300 black or white stars around here as well. This should work. In theory....

Northag in 3mm - British Cards

 On the Northag FB Group Ian Garbutt posted a set of ID cards for the British, so I printed this off and laminated them. Will come in handy.

BSSCF2025 - Sign me up!

 After a nice week with the girls and focussing on family time, the final details for the house.

Magnetised two 15x30mm MDF bases from my bases box so I can make a Afrikan and a Vietnamese sign, added a card square for the streetsign and fixed up the chimney. And that is it, she is ready for priming. 

 

Northag in 3mm - British (de)basing standards and inspiration

 After foolishly looking for 3mm painting tutorials and realising a day late and a dollar short that 6mm painting tutorials work just as damn well......I've got enough set aside inspiration wise to get started. 

The basing standard I have chose for now is:

• Round 25mm for all the vehicles and infantry teams
• Round 25mm and/or 40mm for command team bases
• Rectangular with the top shaped like an arrow 20x20mm for Recce 
• Air support I'll use my 30x30 and 40x40 air combat bases
• Offboard artillery on 30x60 and 60x60

Everything magnetised so it fits easily into the RUB boxes, and I need to make/get inserts so I can stack up inside the basic 4 Liter ones. 

I have a couple ideas for objectives as well, but I need to put that down to paper first.

Inspiration wise I'm going for this (but in my own basing style) 

painted by Little Ninja Painting, not me!

 

Northag in 3mm - cutting, cleaning and testing out bases.

 2nd evening of using my clippers to remove the resin print bases off of the Oddzial Osmy tanks and APC's, and glueing them with water soluable glue to icecream sticks. Using the 2 lists I have printed off I'm working my way through them and marking stuff off.

 Nothing earth shattering, it just takes a a lot of prep time, but I'm not in any rush or anything. Still not decided on the basing format, though nudging towards round bases for the on table assets and squares or rectangles for off board stuff.

 Like testing out a Sovjet 120mm Battery and a Grad battery on 30x60 bases. If I were to build a 122mm support battery I would have to get 60x60 bases to fit the 6 guns of such batteries. A lot, but not impossible. 

WIP Silver Bayonet ......Roman Undead? Sure, why not.

 Read that the new Britain book needs a few Roman zombies. It's not a period I would ever be interested in, but zombies I am, so.....why not. Traded some bits for a sprue of Warlord Romans (which apprantly are the worst, so great for Zombies then) and gave them heads from the Wargames Atlantic Pulp Zombies kit. They fit perfectly. Now to do cleanup, basing, arms etc. Might trade for another sprue so I have 16, and maybe another sprue to make skeletal ones just for funsies. 

BSSCF2025 - Nest Egg

 Decided to forgo electrical work and add more nests. Bird and eggs are oversized to help with painting, and the Storch nest will get extra foliage once painted. 

 

BSSCF2025 - Broody Birds

 Finished sanding down the walls lastnight and had a discussion about the build with my daughters at breakfast this morning. I suggested I would add some Swallows nests to the house as those tie in with the whole New Life theme.

A mention of the word Swallow must be accompanied by Monthy Python. Sorry, I don't make the rules.

 

The girls, rightfully so, said that a Storch or a Storchs next should be there as well. That presents a bit of a problem as the rules stated the build must fit inside a 4x4x4 inch cube and I'm hitting those limits with not a lot of room to spare. But I'll give it a try, so in comes a chimey. Plugged it in, glued it down and filled it with superglue and cornstarch to make it solid. I'll add a nest at a later date, the same for finishing the connection between the roof and the pipe.

 The Swallows nests (I went with Barn Swallows nests) are basic balls of Brown Stuff (my Green Stuff has gone the way of the Dodo ages ago) pressed into place with a toothpick and left to set. Once those have hardend I'll add a few tiny balls so I can paint up a few little Barn Swallows. Don't expect too much, those balls will be about 1mm in diameter max, with tiny stripes of red, white, black and the occasional yellow stripe. 

 

BSSCF2025 - Slurrpie House

 I could have used another term but you get the gist of it.....

Slurry mix of cheap wall filler, some wood glue and a drop of water, mixed into a fine paste. Use a brush that you have no emotional relationship with to spread it along the wall and let it set. It dries really quick but this is all I'm doing today. It looks rough now but once I've gone over with some fine sandpaper it evens out and will help with painting a weathered look. 

Shout out to the lady who gave away 100 small espresso cups for free on the local Free FB page, these are just perfect for this :)

More tomorrow. 

BSSCF2025 - Window framing

 After a semi decent nights sleep I came to my senses, and reminded myself that someone with reumatoid arthritis must be a complete idiot if he wants to cut out 20 windows by hand :)

That and I bought this printer for a reason, so printer go BRRR. 

Mental note: Do this again when you build the 2nd part of the Fish Factory as you no longer have card windows in your stash.

Putting in the windows in the right locations was very straight forward. So straightforward I only took 1 picture. That got corrupted. Son of a.....

 Basically I use The Chopper to cut a lolly pop stick into a large and a small section. Large section goes lengthway along the floor, short section goes upright againt the corner. Add glue, add window, push inward a bit and remove the sticks. Repeat.

 Added 2 roofing nails to the front for the signage.

And that is all I had time for tonight, now to let everything dry and tomorrow or wednesday spackle the walls.

BSSCF2025 - The core build

 Right, basics are done. 

 I put some thoughts to paper and grabbed what I needed.

Used my Proxxon to cut a 9x9  and 6cm tall block and cut out a overhang on the front. Recycled a old unused rooftest and cut that to size, and flattend off the top. Glued and pinned it all down. 

 

Grabbed some thin card (thick paper?) and made a nice 4 layerd front door for a bit of 3D . Fresh scalpel blade and my trusty punches, nothing else. No fancy Circut here (mostly cause I can't afford that).

And glued that into place, with a bit of scrap MDF as a step up. Easy peasy.

And the same for the back door, but a bit lower, nothing fancy here.

 Cut a high end sateh stick into 4 pieces and used those as support columns, trimmed the tops of the floors with swizzle sticks. A bit rough, but will be cut and sanded on the ends....it's just easier that way to do once it is all dry.

 My usual method of tinned sheet roof in progress. Some painters tape keeps it from lifting off....I could pin it down but this works fine and saves metal (for the War effort, you see?). 

And thus endeth my lazy Sunday afternoon...well, evening now. Roof in place, everything drying.

Next up is cut 20 windows (after replacing my scalpel blade, amazing how quick they blunt) and glue them on, strengthen the roof with prodigious amounts of superglue, sand the wood, do things I forgot and then plaster the whole thing up. Then let it all set for a few days so it is rock solid and then go to town with whites, greys and browns. I'm talking about paint btw....

Build Something Small Competition Fall 2025 - Fertility/Maternity Clinic for AK-47

 There is a new build over at the LAF, and I'm shortening it to BSSC - F2025

The Theme is "New Life/New Beginnings"

Naturally, I will join. I looked at adding something for Verrotwood, but that game is pretty much the Antitheses for Life, so no. So, AK-47 it is. Nothing like blaming yet another fire on the Rebels ey, think of all the headlines in the worlds newspapers and the support Wadiya would get :)

As with prior Building Something Small, the maximum size is 4 freedom units (inches) cubed. Or 101.6mm cubed for those in the rest of the world.

I grabbed one of my precut tree bases, selected a 10cm square and cut off the offending bits. With that sorted I grabbed the foamcutter and cut out a 9x9 block out of one of my 6cm thick not-Styrodur sheets and grabbed a old roof from the bits box that turned out too small for one of my 28mm builds. Cut out the middle so I had a nice pointy roof, but that would have been too tall, so flattend it. Glued it to the base and pinned on the roof and let the lot dry.

This building will be spackled, so I can add the windows, doors etc with card on top of the foam core. I'll add magnets to the front so I can change the sign. I might make one in Vietnamese as well, for reasons.

White exterior, nice on the front, bit weathered on the sides, seen better days in the back (keeping up appearances). Weathered tin roof. 

And that is it really. Make up a name etc I can do in the coming week.

Timelines (all times are midnight Pacific Standard Time of that day stated - yes my timezone means you get an extra 8 hours you lucky European sods)

• Start Time - Oct 1st
• Last Registration Day - Oct 8th
• Construction Completed - Nov 7th
• Painted Photos Due - Nov 10th
• Voting Begins - Nov15th(ish)

 Deadlines popped up in the Calendar, I have the time this month, just not sure about the energy as I'm getting plenty of frequent flyer miles back and forthing from my place to all of my check ups, blood tests and new meds to test. Plenty of pain , now with inflamed and open skin for extra oomph. Ain't Eczema great.

3mm test print 1

 Sliced the base off of the 6mm model and printed it at 40% to see if that works ok for 3mm. Might run another test tomorrow at 50%.

And somethimes it just doesn't work.

Multi part in 15mm and 28mm are coming out fine, the 15mm with a loss of detail but nothing terrible.

Starship engine printed at 15mm and ready for cleanup.

Scifi trams at 28mm and 15mm, ready for cleanup

Scifi train reay for assembly and cleanup, for the Stargrave scenario the Heist. Might add a passengercar to the list, the flatcars end up too thin on the sides to print safely so I will need to mod those a bit. 

But then I try one of the WoW files again and it fails (again) at the 2nd layer. 

Oh well, such is life