Battlefield in a Box appartment buildings

 Cleaning these up for Cold War and suddenly thinking, oh surely I can play Stalker in 15mm as well. Then I get drawn back into reality and remind myself it's time to quit sniffing super glue.

It would look good though, with some paint, beech trees on the roof and in front of them....

Don't sniff glue kids.

Time to add more depression, I mean happy people efficiënt dwellings to my table. Clean off the resin snot blobs, weather them, paint in the windows, add seperate water tanks, maybe make a few unfinished floors out of foamboard, or even blown up ones for that Civil War feel.

Statue for Stalker (recycling old stuff)

 I found this statue I made for my 20mm Stalker stuff back in the age of the dinosaurs. I stripped off the beech seeds and replaced them with my current leaves technique. I have no idea where the model came from, it is metal, 1/35 and that is all I remember. Base is a few MDF discs stacked together covered with filler, and sanded. 

 

Good enough, now on with the rest of the stuff.

 

 

Metal thieves strike again? Arnhem war memorial stolen

 In the news today (taken from Nu.nl):

A bronze plaque from a war memorial at the John Frost Bridge in Arnhem has disappeared. 

The municipality believes that the plaque, which reminds people of the Battle of Arnhem in 1944,

has been stolen and will report it. The plaque is part of the Airborne monument and is located 

at the foot of the John Frost Bridge. According to the municipality, it is "a sacred place" 

for the city. It is unclear since when the plaque has been missing. The municipality has been

aware of this since today. De Gelderlander writes that someone already noticed on Friday that 

the record has disappeared.

According to the municipality, there is no other way than that there was intent. The bronze 

plaque is firmly attached and cannot simply be removed. "It goes beyond all bounds that 

people do this," says councilor Bob Roelofs. "And it hurts even more that it happens in 

this period of commemoration and liberation." He calls the disappearance "too bizarre for 

words". War memorial plays a major role in commemoration

The John Frost Bridge and the bronze plaque play a major role every year in September in 

the commemoration of the Battle of Arnhem in 1944. "It is the place where we commemorate the 

lost battle. Then it is full of Arnhem residents. The bridge is closed and everyone reflects 

on freedom with dignity," says Roelofs.

The Radio Bunker - finished

 "Я, Стремоусов, Кирилл , вступая в ряды Всесоюзной пионерской организации имени Владимира Ильича Ленина, перед лицом своих товарищей торжественно обещаю: горячо любить и беречь свою Родину, жить, как завещал великий Ленин, как учит Коммунистическая партия, как требуют Законы пионеров Советского Союза"

Translation:
"I,Stremousov, Kirill, joining the ranks of the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization, in the presence of my comrades solemnly promise: to passionately love and cherish my Motherland, to live as the great Lenin bade us to, as the Communist Party teaches us to, as require the laws of the Pioneers of the Soviet Union.

After a short pause, it started again, with a different name. Over and over and over....

Oleg turned off the receiver of his headset. Using any kind of radio in this area was useless, the continuous transmission burned through any channel he switched to, the transmitter was just too powerful. At least you knew you were getting close to the deserted Young Pioneer Camp. It would be a dry place to rest and recover for a bit with some food and heat, and very welcome it was.

 He turned to Dimitri and Mikhail. "We will stay for one night, no more. Keep your radio's off, save the batteries, using them here is useless. We will leave again at sunrise. no iffs, or butts.

 The young men looked confused, but knew better then to go against the old man. Oleg had seen most of the Zone and had been here for years. They, mere weeks. 

<the team spends the night at the camp and moves out at sunrise>

While on the trail, Mikhail pointed out to a rusty metal tower between the trees, just a bit beyond the path. "What is that?", he asked. Oleg stayed silent for a second, then explained it was the transmitter for the messages flooding all the channels. No need to go there, we need to press on. "But.." Mikhail said, "We could turn off the power, stop the transmission, clear the airwaves!". Oleg wanted to explain, but then just said: "Follow me"

Clearing the brambles, the team approached the transmitter. The base was a hexagonal brick bunker, with a rusty steel door, slightly ajar, weeds and flowers surrounding it, trash and rusted equipment littering the concrete pad beside it. A electrical buzz hung in the air, something with a lot of power. No other noise could be heard, no birds, not even the rustling of leaves in the wind.

Oleg looked at Mikhail and Dimitri. "Go check it out. I know it is a safe place, but just see for yourselves". The two stared at each other, and made their way to the door of the bunker. Getting closer they could almost taste the static in the air, tingling the hairs on the back of their necks. The door opened with remarkable easy, and they stared inside the small, dark, cramped bunker. It was empty,damp,  musky, with some plants growing in through a window. Their eyes slowly adjusted to the dark and then it revealed itself.

There was nothing there! No equipment, nothing! There had been something, at some point, as the stubs of the cut cables still stuck out of the concrete, but there was nothing now. Dimitri switched on his headset and regretted it instantly. It was painfully loud! The pain made him pull the receiver from his ear with a yelp. "...Pioneer Organization, in the presence of my comrades solemnly promise: to passionately love..." reverbed bounced off the walls of the bunker before he switched off the headset. He stared in amazement at Mikhail. And Mikhail stared back, white as a sheet.

As they walked back out of the bunker, Oleg was standing there. In a almost fatherly voice he said: "I could have told you, but would you have believed me? Best to see it with your own eyes. The Zone still has many mysteries, and this is one of them. Now, let's make haste, we have a few more hours to go before we get to our destination and having every hair on my head singed with all of this static isn't making me any prettier".

He chuckled, and then let out a good laugh. Tension broken, Mikhail and Dimitri laughed as well. Relieved, they headed back on the trail, leaving the Radio Bunker behind them. As they broke from the forest edge, and walked into the sunshine, Oleg felt the sun warm his big bald head.

Switching his headset back on, all the channels were clear except one, which still, very faintly, repated the same message over and over, with a new name every time.

Time to move on. Time to head deeper into the Zone.

The Radio Bunker (or Transmitter Pillbox, both work)
 

It's a Sarissa Precision British Pill Box from their set of 3 British Pill Box Set
I blocked off 3 of the slits anc added slats, turned around and reversed the door so it has vents on the lower part. The door still works. I used the insert that comes with it to add the cables, made from aluminium tubing and brass wire. It is removable so I can swap it out in the future, if I have a need for it. Added a collection of tufts, leaves and a decent paintjob. The top is  a metal H0 tower for supporting overhead lines for scale trains. Magnet imbedded in the top, and a round MDF base with a nail in the bottom. Card punch for stars.

This was the 2nd bunker of the set of 3.

Radiation Signs

 A long, long time ago I made these in 20mm, then destroyed all by accident when the lids depressed down into the box. Considering the time spent with decalsheets, plasticcard and braswire I was a bit gutted. A couple of weeks ago I found myself going over some of the colour prints I have with lots of signs on them and wanted to give it a go, but cheaper and quicker.

20mm round MDF base, drill a hole, glue in a toothpick. Snip  off the pointy bit and smooth the underside of the base. Use a scalpel to slant the edges, add glue and sprinkle sand. Let dry, preferably not for 3 weeks like I did :P Snip the top to the required length and use a scalpel to get a nice flat surface where you want the sign. Cut out signs ( I use colour laserprints as those don't run and are very durable on regular print paper), add supeglue to the post and stick on the sign. Use a pointy toothpick to smear the excess superglue all over the back of the sign, this hardens the paper to make it really durable.

Then paint and weather to your desired needs.

Inexpensive to make and quick to replace if they have accidents.

Another bit of scifi scatter.

 Tonight there wasn't a online paint session but I painted anyway. I grabbed one of my primed sci-fi scatter bits and made this. Looks the part in 28mm as well as 15mm I think. 28mm figure and previously painted twin columns for scale.

 

And in case you are wondering....it's a upside down pencil sharpener that broke, with half a plastic 1/35 HEMTT tire glued on top and some other parts.

 

15mm Pacific (cause we all need more distractions)

 With the upcoming release of Battlefronts Pacific 42-43 (with a lot of dubious stuff purely put in there to sell tat) I've pre ordered the Marine and the Japanese army deals. I never pre order stuff but in this case it felt warranted.

I've been looking forward to the Pacific for a long, long time. I don't have much in stock for it, a couple of 70mm guns, knee mortars, LMG's and infantry for the Japanese. So, with a few child free days on the horizon, why not start cleaning and basing what I have. Fortunately, the 70mm guns are the old blisters, so they come with extra command and spotter figures that are perfect for Battlegroup. I'm guessing those figs will be sanitised in the new edition (higher cost, less figures....shrinkflation much) so I'm happy to have them. I'll look at Peter Pig for additional gun crews for loader teams, casualties etc.

I need to make something to hold these figures when I sand down the bases though, I've noticed my hands cramping up even quicker so I need a work around. 

And I thought my IG18's were small guns!

I need to get some detailing done, ammo containers etc but this photodump will help me with that :)

Let's pretend this weekend hasn't happend

 As there other things in life Hobby, I picked up a used door to replace the rotted out one in the 2nd shed, and to widen the entrance. It turned out to be a high quality back door, double glaazed, the works, for a tenner. It barely fit in the back of my, admittedly, small car, but I got it done.

It fits....sort of.

So in the early morning with a nice bit of sunshine, I set the door againt the house, removed the old one, the bottom part falling apart in my hands. I then started to remove the wood pannels from the side of the shed and was almost then when out of the blue a massive gust of wind scared the shit out of me....and blew over the new door.

....crap....

Bloody thing barely missed me. Fortunately, the previous owner had put plastic sheet over the glass so it did not spray glass all over me. Which I then did myself by using a crowbar to smash almost all of the glass out (gloves and eyeprotection were used). I could not use the door anway as it had fallen hinges down first and 2 of them had broken free from the door, splitting the door as well. Covered all the sides with scrap cardboard box and set aside. Old door as well.

Almost done with cleanup. So. Much. Glass.

Everything sorted now. Will load up all of the stuff on monday and take it to the municipal dump, so that is going to cost me more money. Brushed the yard again and then went over it with a vacuum. I must have looked like a nutter but I don't want my kids walking around here in summer and stepping in left over bits of glass.

So finally sat down, had dinner, put on the tv and then I heard a metallic sound by my right ear. The right leg from my glasses just fell from my head, and the rest just flopped to the side. The internal screw had just snapped for no apparent reason? Most of it is lodged in tight and I can't get it out. I "fixed" it with ducttape, of course.

Motherf......

On the bright side, I already booked an appointment next friday for more tests and a new pair, well 2 pairs, of glasses.

Anyway, let's pretend this weekend never happend, ok?

Next stop: Bus stop - Building it

 I had my foamcutter out to make concrete foundation blocks for 2 power line pylons I need to paint, and I had a bit of scrap foam and some time, so why not make a bus stop for Stalker. Nice bit of cover.

The idea, a old Ukranian Bus stop image I found online from someone who photographed a lot of them. This one is nice and colourful. Most aren't. Mine won't.

Grabbed a base from my big box of bases, cut it down a bit and assembled it. Since added sand and filled in the cracks and weathered the foam a bit. Also added 2 small blocks so it has a seat of 2. if I don't trash the bench. I compressed it a bit as this is just a try out. I have another one in mind but that will take a bit more work to get done someday. First things first....

....like not making promiseses to not make new stuff. Oops. Call me inspired instead of Gunbird I say. I have a weekend without the kids, but I have yard work planned, so not sure yet how my hands will be tomorrow. Might get some paint on it, who knows. 

Trying to figure what name to put on top. This is not from Chornobyl or Pripyat, and I would prefer if it was one that somewhat correlates to the facility. So maybe just a number or something. 

Final steps for the Radio Bunker.....I hope

 Had a pleasant hobby night with friends, lots of chatting and I made some progress on the Radio Bunker. Needs a bit more weathering, foliage, debris and the tower itself needs to be done. The newly magetised top is working fine, chuffed with that. The removable insert needs some extra sanding on the bottom as that is flaking a bit, these new MDF seem to do that a lot. Otherwise, with some luck, maybe done by the weekend? Who knows. 

Progress on the Radio Bunker

 Getting to the final stages of the transmitter or radio bunker. Insert with cut off cables is ready for priming, glued a big magnet in the top of the mast and drilled a nail into the side of a round MDF base and glued stars on both ends.  Nothing earth shattering but the end is in sight!

 

Just a few more lines and the backstory is done as well. Stay tuned!

=I= 28mm back on the menu?

 

I picked up the Blood and Zeal box (84 euros) and found a seller on the used group that wanted 28 euro per set of the Inquisitorial Agents so grabbed 2 of those as that gives you 90% of the build options.

 At first I felt the box would not be that interesting, I could just sell the Chaos dudes and the statue and come out ahead. But after (just) opening the box that changed.

The statue will be stripped into parts. The wings into the bitx box, the lower parts will come in handy for ....something Imperial, the skulls built as a pile and usefull for a pile of dead Fantasy ogres? The candles etc will come in handy as well and the statue will get a new base.

The Chaos dudes actually make nice Techno Barbarians. I might tone down the weapons a bit cause carrying the equivalent of a 3 metre chainsaw in one hand etc is a bit much even for me. 


Will this go somewhere? I hope so. My health took a big knock in the past 2 weeks, I got a painkiller upgrade for 4 days that worked really well but isn't sustainable in the long run (liverdamage being one which I'd rather not add to my long list of "Stuff that is wrong with Gunbird") and I'm not feeling painting....well, I want to, but my left eye is still being a downright b*tch. Several visits to the hospital planned in the next weeks-months for more checks, but I'm not holding my breath. Thus far every test this year had come back negative.

Anyway, enough negativity. I'm getting more and more inspired by Peachy to get stuff done, so let's go :)