Wreckin' Time! - another 50 cent challenge

 This Mercedes Benz van was picked up at the Goodwill a while back, based and had some small tank road wheels added for burned rims. Then sat gathering dust. as I could not make my mind up if it firt 15mm better or 20mm.

The Mercedes Benz L 406 D T2 (Alt) is a chonky van.

Well, works for both I guess, is what I thought this afternoon....so a bit of sponging and washing later....Done!

Finishing a old build of a 50 cent challenge (gaslands wreck)

 Took me long enough.

Remember this? Gaslands wreck Only took another 2 years, oh well.

 

It's done. Will work for gaslands,  modern combat zones, Stalker and Post Apoc tbh. Nothing special but great for background shots.

 

 

Change is afoot

A few changes are happening (or are about to happen).

I'm currently halfway into my course on Chronic Pain Management, and, as I was warned beforehand, my pain levels and pain killer use seem to be maxed out on a daily basis. Excercise is going ok-ish, saying no to people (as not to overextend myself) could be better, but at least some progress has been made. It's nice to be back in a regular small group of people, who more or less have the same issues. It's costing me a small fortune in parking fees though, sheesh.

It's been 4+ years since my accident, in this time I got another degree, did internships and looked for jobs that my physique and mind can handle. Sofar....no luck. My benefits will run out on the 18th and I've been to the benefits agency to be tested by their physician to see what my future possibilities are with my current (and future) limitations. This could mean I'm 100% cleared for work, or 100% not, or anything in between. As much as I want to work again, I aso have to take into account what I can handle on a daily basis. Which to be honest, isn't much. I can do a bit of work, either physical or mental, and need frequent breaks just to keep going for a few hours. Hardly alluring for employers...and bloody annoying to run a house hold with2  small children. Anyway, I should have a decision from them in 1-2 weeks and from there we will see how my life gets turned upside down, again <sigh>

Moving on up (into the attic) is going rather well, but in bursts. As I'm being taught now to put myself (and my family) first I just planned 2 afternoons a week to work on getting stuff up to the attic. The occasional box or item in between is fine, but by planning I can get some help from Kim or a friend to lift stuff up. I'm quite happy with the results sofar, even if it is going slow......steady wins the race. Also, it's very relaxing to be uphere with the wind and rain tapping on the window.

(Ignore the labels, they all need to be resorted and reprinted....at a later date)

And I've even done a bit of modelling <shocker>

A old Airfix Chi-Ha I picked up for 3 euros, now a wreck for Vietnam. Well, it will be once painted and tufted.

Right, I'm knackered.....more later this week.

Gaslands wreck - before the gazillion washes, tipping and dust. (basically a 50 cent challenge)

Not much to see....picked a car out of the bag, one of the many bought over the year. Based it, added some spare roadwheels and bits. Left it. Picked it up again for the holiday.

The idea is a Gaslands car that hit...."something" during a race as burned out completely. No team colours left. armour plate on the side and rear windows, a oil or smoke tank on the back with some kind of dropper underneath. This car was meant to lead. And now it is dead.

It is pretty rough now, just basic stippling of a few mixed colours to get the basics. Now it is time for wash after wash after wash......then detailing and dust.

Rust in peace, Part 1

I rustcoated a lot of stuff and made my own washes today to speed up things.

Grabbed the old derelict steam tractor and went to work. Still lots to do.

Tarp needs to be done as well, and muck on it, and then plant high grass everywhere.

Dead Dingo - a British scenic piece

Wife and kids were out today to a funfair. Took the time to do all the things that bother them like varnishing, basecoating and what not ,(it's the smell you see). Prepped a ton of stuff and started and finished the wrecked Matchbox Daimler Dingo. Another one for the wreck drawer.

(The base isn't warped, but my desk is a tad messy and I didn't have a proper setup to take pics, so I improvised a bit)

Goobye Photobucket.

After a week of downloading photographs, hounded by errors, automated "Are you a human" checks and really weird download times, I have just finished downloading the last of my folders and deleted my last account.

Photobucket

May 2006 - July 2017

If you had been worth the money I would have supported you. But now you died because of your own greed.

With my exams finished for now (Passed my last Sales exam with a 9/10) and the holiday started I can take some time in the evenings to sort out all of the folders and see if I need to upload it to the Blog or find the funds for a paid hosting site. We'll get to that eventually.

A shout out goes to the Yodel courier company. As in: "My God, you are bunch of c*nts". They stamped my express package to Piers 2 days after I sent it, and then it went missing and you can't complain about that untill a waiting period of almost 3 weeks. So I complained right away, and complained again on the 10th as I was told to.  This morning his wife found it when opening the door to walk the dog. Nobody knocked or rang the door. She didn't sign off on it (so they forged the signature). The box has a large tear in it so god knows what is broken or missing. FFS. I've looked at using courier companies but the quotes I get for a 1 kg package of the same size are ridiculous, as I get quotes ranging from 65 euros all the way up to 130 euros. I can fly myself and the package to his place for cheaper!

Right, back to business.

 Partisan 75mm mountain guns are built and based. Just need to drill out the barrels and add the hand spikes of these and the German guns and then they are ready for paint.

Also started work on another Blitz wreck and I'm trying something new.

Opening up the door is a lot of hard work but I will hope it will look the part.

 

It's wrecking time!

Decided to make good use of a underscale Daimler Dingo, in this case the one you get in the Monty's Caravan box.  As I prefer the S-Model version, this one will get a second lease of life as a completely burnt out model. Wheelnubs come from the 1/76 Matchbox LRDG set.

Waiting for everything to dry and set and then it is straight in line for the stuff I want to prime this week. I've left off anything that dates it too much, like fuelcans, so it can be used as a fully burnt wreck for the BEF, Afrika and Normandy etc as well. The green blob to the right of the vehicle is a officers hat btw, salvaged that off of the hard plastic officers inside the box.

30 day kit challenge! Day #8 was a fast one!

Day #8 (29th of May 2017) was a fast one.

• 2nd Polski Fiat is now finished.
• Bison is now based and ready for for concrete and final finishing.
• Salvaged a ZIL-157 from the bottom of the bits box. It had a built cab, but broken rear axles, no headlights,, broken load bed. All fixed now, with some salvaged Blitz headlights, glue and extra reinforcing plasticcard. Plus a base. Will be painted as a beat up civillian truck, either Russian markings on the rear or just plain.

•  Picked a new PST T-55 from the recent stash, looked at some pics of one with a gutted engine bay and went to work. Needs some clean up but basically done. Will be a (recently) gutted one for any area really, no roadwheels, just a few swing arms, no engine, turret is still there but it is basically dead and just weatherd scenery for a warzone or scrapyard.

 

Looks good enough for Government work. 

Done for today, already have some stuff lined up for tomorrow but that will be a short evening as I'm meeting up with a fellow builder for a small chat.

So, on day #8 I'm at 5 items finished, 4 WIP's. Going strong :)

Christmas book purchases - a small review

I picked up a few books for reading and adding to my book collection, though they are mostly picture books. I tend to use those as inspiration for things I need/want to build. And to practice my German (Reading I can do just fine, speaking....better then most but still bloody horrible :D )

First up is Waffen-Arsenal - 8,8 FlaK an allen fronten ( 8,8 Flak on all fronts)

It's a from the looks of it brandnew copy that I paid 7 euros plus shipping for. I got it for reference pics of the 88 in use with very nice shots of Flaktrains, 88's deployed ad hoc or long term, summer and winter, with and without shield and the bloody mess they become after use as they just left the expended empty shells everywhere which was a bit of an eye opener.....you'd think they chuck em to the side as not to trip over them? Then again they probably had other things on their mind when firing at the enemy. Great shots of markings and other small details too from all fronts. Very useful, this is a keeper. Here are some more shots of the inside.

Next up is the Waffen-Arsenal Deutsche Kustenbefestigungen in Belgien 1914-1945 (German coastal fortifications in Belgium 1914-1945).

Yeah, about that one......I paid 4 euro plus shipping for it (also a brandnew copy) as it peaked my interest as it was listed as German fortifications in Belgium 1914-1945, and I can use some intell on that. But I should have read the cover and did a search on it, as it focus only on the shore based artillery fortifications which isn't really what I was after. There are quite a few very clear pictures of the Belgian, English, French and Polish guns used in the fortifications, as well as some quite heavy WW1 guns. Really nice for someone, just not for me. The sea defences shot was nice though. Artillery shell with fuse on a stick anyone?

Last book of this short review is Concord Publications 1024 After the Storm: Iraqi Wrecks & Fortifications.

I paid 10 euros for it, rather cheap as most Concord books tend to sell in the 12-15 euro range (and sometimes more). It's also brandnew but the spine is discoloured and there is a faint tobacco smell to it (which I loathe. Ex smokers are the worst :P ) Tons of pics of wrecks (what I bought it for) and some excellent shots of fortifications. Nice colour pics too. Well chuffed with this one. Here are some samples.

And that is it for now. I'll do a review on the new Kampfgruppe Walther book soon but I'm still going over it......there is a lot to see and take in!

Figz 2016 - a really short review

A week before Figz I got a cold. On Friday and Saturday I was in bed with a fever. I came this close to cancelling my "Working with foamboard" workshop and going to Figz at all. But I went anyway (after taking a ton of painkillers - I'll be reporting to the doctors office first thing on monday).

As it is, I spent most of my time at the table for the demonstration feeling rather unwell, but making the best of it. In the end, a little over half a dozen people actually spent time with me, asking questions about how to approach this and that kind of scenery, but no one took my offer to have a go at foamboard modelling themselves, sadly, so I had brought quite a few extra bits for nothing. Such is life. I did spend some time however trying out a new cutting method from my regular one, by leaving 5mm openings in the foamboard before glueing the wallsections together so you would have a seamless cut, but I either cut too deep or made the gap too narrow so it ripped when folded over. Since I find just wallpapering a bit of paper over the seam to be just as quick if not quicker I don't see any ups to the method and I will not be trying it again.

What did I make? Well, I had a go at my idea of a (very basic) Necromundan Waste Air Processing unit....though if it spews noxious fumes or actually sends out fresh recycled air is a good questions. Just one A4 sheet of foamboard, a vent from the DIY I had lying around for ages, and some cardboard.

Nothing fancy, just a concrete colum (well, preformed slabs really with a bolted steel shell) and a good LOS blocker in the Underhive. Also a logical exit point for a gang that has Vents added to their territory. I will add bolts to the cardboard, cut out a proper cardboard door and glue that in place, and coat the doorway bunker so it looks more like poured concrete. I'll leave it pretty featureless otherwise. Top will stay bare and flat so I can lay plankways from there to other levels and back again. Still plenty of work to do.

I took 2 short breaks to have a stoll around. The area was split down the middle (entree), to the right were the displays by various painters (and me), to the left were the traders and display games. Modern War, Post Apocalyptisch, WW2, there was something for everyone to look at. All the way in the back was a workshop for making your own trees, very nice. Sadly, no pics from me.

In my first round I traded with people who wanted stuff from me (some books and all of my 28mm Germans), in the second round I visited the 2nd hand kit trader stand who is always good for some nice buys. I picked up the following:

A Roden Pakwagen. Some don't like Roden but I never had much of a problem with them, I have loads in my to be built collection, and this one was missing.

I picked up this one to do as a wreck. But I just realised practically all of it is made out of wood! Still, a wreck is planned and so shall it be.

Whenever I can I pick up this box. This contains a complete latewar Panther G plus optional steel wheels and a Panther F turret. The Panther F turrets I have been collecting for Panzer IV Neu conversions ever since I bought one off Piers now.....8-10 years ago.

For future NATO goes Hot games. Goes well with 1/600 aircraft. Can be buillt waterlined with no effort at all.

For future NATO goes Hot games. Goes well with 1/600 aircraft. Can be buillt waterlined with no effort at all.

Normally I would not buy so many kits in one go, but he had a big pile of them marked "5 euro each"  The Roden or the Hasegawa kit alone go for almost 20 euros in the local hobby shops here, the 1:1250 ships seemed more practical then the 1:600 English cruisers and Destroyers he had laying around and a wreck-base for a fiver is a good wreck if you ask me. I also picked up these:

I picked these up from Wendy's Miniatures. Quite expensive, the small left cabinet is 1 euro, the right cabinet is 3,50 euro. They are made for 28mm scale. I will sand flat the backs and make a few greenstuff copies of them to put inside my ruins, be it the TNT ones or the Mordheim ones, they seem to fit both..

 Sadly, I was not able to put more work in La Maisontaal during the day. It was nice to see so many familiar faces again and the output was pretty good for this small but free show on what was a very hot an sunny day (by Dutch standards, 28 degrees Celcius).

And now I'm really knackered. Goodbye.

Edit: I tried to go to sleep. But a friend wanted my take on Tau, as he wants to restart/do over his Tau, so he asked me to draw my Tau as how I want to/will paint them. Pretty simple (even if it took me 15 minutes).

Why yes, that is the Eastern Empire version of the Tau focussed on City Fight. Don't change a winning idea. As I never plan to go beyond a small Kill Team all of the heavy equipment is not of my concern and lots of little conversions are. Must get back to these chaps soon.

Ronson, part 1

I've gotten into the habit, that if I want to do a project I like, I build scenery for it first. If the interest dies, at least you have a nice piece of scenery.

I've been looking for opposition for my 20mm Germans for some time now and I can't make my mind up about British or Americans (and completely ignoring the Guards army worth of T-34's I have for the moment) and as the Sherman works for all 3 of them....

Started by examening this photograph.

Damage, open hatches, ok. I had a ancient Esci M4 Caliope in my stash that has all open hatches so I used that. The Caliope part can be reused on a PSC M4 hull later on. I didn't like how it looked with just 2 holes and open hatches so I added a broken track from the single track whatever the material is, and bonded it to the hull using epoxy. As it turned out, even that wasn't strong enough in 2 places. Fortunately, I only needed to pin it in one place, next to the loop, so did that. Will cover it with dirt or something else later.

 Already removed the barrel lock as it was missing in the original photograph (as it took the hit) and started to fill up the holes for the tools and the wooden cast on tools (cause they would be burned off). Decided to omit the .50 cal too. Also now adding applique armour to the sides and turret with thin plasticcard. Hope to have her basecated and decalled by tomorrow, and painted by the end of the week. I might even find the other Esci M4 I have laying around and give it the same treatment.

Iraqi T-55 wrecks......in 3mm!!

 Don't ever tell me something can't be done, I like a challenge, in this case laid down a clown who was talking down on 3mm being counters. I said I would not only show him, but convert them too....which is almost impossible with the metal they use to cast these models.

But hey, here they are, my first set of 8.

Please look at the match to see what size these really are (and no, I did not put down a giant match). 25mm round base for each wreck marker, each one is a conversion in one way or another. 2 short evenings of work and more to follow.