Finish it! - WIP TT Combat Warehouse

 Date started: October 2024

Original topic: Warehouse for STALKER

 

 Right, I need the space for a Groupbuild so this one has to be finished by the end of the weekend tops. Need to finish the glazing today so it all can dry overnight, then final detailing on Saturday, Sunday at the latest.

Sarissa Precision P041 Drive In Entrance WIP

 My Black Friday purchase arrived today, so instead of chucking them in the later box. I decided to build all of them this week. Good thing I only bought 4 kits....so starting off with the Drive In Entrance.

This is what it is supposed to look like >>

But you know I have a very hard time keeping anything original, so....

I trimmed off the nubs for the big and long sign, reused just the Drive In section and glued that to roof. Reinforced that with some spare MDF strips on the base and behind the letters cause you know those will break asap. Added 2 supports as well. I snapped the part above the front door cause I was talking to the girls and not paying attention (so that is all on me) but that too was easily fixed with some spare strip of MDF. Then I snipped off the 4 nubs it had for the original sign, and added rim all around the edge (even if only to mitigate warping once painted) and now it is sorted.

Tomorrow I'll try and work out if it is worth the effort to use some soldering wire to weave around to make it more of a Neon sign.....but we will see if that will be worth the effort.

 

Otherwise, nice kit. No fitting issues that I noticed, will look grand once painted up.
 

And the whole reason I bought it in the first place....I already have the movie screen I made in the week(s?) after I got ran over 10 years ago, and it will be nice to close that. 

 

 

 

 

Another N610 - But now a lot more weathered WIP

 A lovely (albeit solitary) hobby evening, and all of the weathering is done on the new (well, is it really new.....) house ruin. Let it all dry and tomorrow evening it's time for the leaves, debris and other plantlife. 

15mm can paint up really quick if you stop (over)thinking about it. 

Sarissa Precision N610 and N613 WIP

 Another N610 ready for paint, but this one will be painted as something that has been destroyed years ago. We will see if I can get that done tomorrow evening.

Also assembled N613 Single Storey Souk. This can dry tonight, tomorrow magnetise the front so I can add signs so it fits Afrika, Vietnam and any Arab speaking country. Just swap signs when needed. I'll leave the roof bare so I can add water tanks or little gardens on top, again when needed. 

Repainting Buzz Light-year Fighters - Decals done

 Added a sampling of decals from various sources for that Fighter Jock look. Now to dry, varnish tomorrow and then weathering. 

Edit: Can't find the bleeding varnish anywhere so bought new. My pots were plus 10 years old anyway. Stay tuned...

Bamboo Test Model #1, #2 and #3

 Decided to test of the basing looks just as good, better or worse by substituting plastic leaves for Dill, so #1 is 100% plastic leaves, #2 is 50/50 plastic/Dill and #3 is 25/75 plastic/Dill.So far it looks rather good, but won't be 100% sure till the lot is painted, but I think it will be ok.

LtR - #1, #2 and #3

Scale wise they work for my needs, 15mm and 28mm.

28mm Stargrave figure (that I REALLY need to finish) and 15mm Peter Pig Citroen Car

Storage is also sorted, a RUB 9 Liter box will hold quite a few

 

Bamboo test model #1

 Made 10 test bases of bamboo for Nam'68 and am now looking where I can speed up things for reasons of not going completely mental. I'm not stripping the stems, that might be fine for one or 2 bases if you want to use them for photography backgrounds, but not when I want 40-50 bases of these. Same goes for cutting off individual leaves, ain't nobody got time for that, so now looking for a suitable bunch or other workaround for something resembling the shape. Other than that, just dandy.

 

 

A bit more work on the Radio Bunker

 I had 2 hospital appointments today so had a bit of time to kill in the afternoon. And to cheer me up a bit, as my Health Bingo card now has Tinnitus crossed off as well......Gotta catch em all should not be my theme for ailments.....

Anyway, a lot more work done on the Radio Bunker. A lot more to do (inside, radio mast, details, base) but pretty happy sofar.

Warbases Groundsman's Hut WW2-GMH Built and upgraded WIP

 Took some time today to build this after putting the kids to bed. Small, simple, quick to build. Covered the roof with card for another tinned roof and added a doorknob to the door. Should all have set by tomorrow, will prime it and get the basics done I think. Might even finish it on old year's eve, kids will be at Kim's place and I'm in no shape to go out and do anything, really.

I'm aiming for this "paintjob". Roof will either be rusted tin of weathered asbestos fibre.

Whether it will look anything like this....we will see.

Upgrading the Warbases Brick Workshop

 Just finished the upgrade of the Brick Workshop. Styrofoam offcuts for the roof and dormer, cardboard and newspaper for the roof, scrap MDF for other details and some milliput and staples for the win.

Shedding

 My Warbases order from the tail end of October arrived, after sp-ending 2 weeks in Customs limbo. Their MDF scenery is a bit different from Sarissa, the doors feel smaller (still have to measure) and their floor pieces don't nock into the walls on the 3 items I've built today.

In this case it's Large Concrete Hut, Small Concrete Hut and Lean-to Greenhouse. They are ok, nice detail. While taking everything from the panels of MDF I noticed they had used the empty spaces to cut bases out of, so you get less weight and they get more bases to sell. This also means you have a lot less waste.

As I said the bases on the Huts are not keyed so you just glue the walls together around the base. Just make sure the working surface is flat and you should be fine. The details of the door and windows are seperate MDF parts you glue in. I left out the door on the smaller one and left out the MDF section with the window as well and just glued in a bit of left over MDF sprue, Works just as well. Then added windowsills to both and a doorknob to the Large Concrete Hut door. The Greenhouse is lovely if a bit ....barren? 5 pieces including the door and that is it. I've added a bit of scrap MDF as a ledge to put plantpots on (I'll cut up some beads for those) and left the door off for now, but I will glue that in tomorrow.

Now, I've run into the slight issue that what I intended to use the Greenhouse for....doesn't work. The door opening is on the wrong side. I've asked Warbases if one of my friends can pick up some more of those at Warfare this weekend. He should be back from the UK somewhere mid January and then I can build one mirrored. The brickwork will be on the inside, but the outside can just be weathered concrete. No issue there.

Oh, I did add card strips to the small of the 2 huts. Will do the same with the big one tomorrow, it really helps with the look and the paint job.

A few more weeks and all the renovation of the house should be done, I'll be out of the noise and back to peace and quiet and back to more painting.

Only the Greenhouse is...well, was, meant for Stalker, the other 2 are more generic. But more about that once they are done.

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.

One is not like the others

 I ordered some items from Warlord last week and they arrived yesterday at dinner time. After clean up and the kids starting movie night I grabbed the Sarissa bunker set I set to work. I'm liking these, quick to build, good fit, the moveable door is a nice plus. Lift off roof gives acces to a 60mm circle inside to fit in a HMG team of your choosing....not for me, but again a nice feature.

Again, fit is great, it takes only a little bit of force to make the parts slot together an after that glueing in the card strips solidifies everything. Rubber band in place to make it even easier (tip: watch where the glue goes, don't glue the rubber band in place ....)

Made the doors left and right swinging on purpose, and you can easily do this on this kit, which is a nice bonus. Not that it really matters, but hey, options!

In my plans I only ever need 2 bunkers, so what to do with the third? Well, it's brick (the other 2 are concrete), has small ports and a steel door....and I've been in plenty electrical and telecom buildings just like that, so transmitter base it is. A quick rummage in the parts bin for a real metal H0 pylon that I picked up a box full of a few years ago for next to nothing for the transmitter tower. Using offcuts from the thin strip of card that held the card parts for these bunkers I turned 3 of the openings into vents (electrical stuff needs to breathe with all of the heat). Did the same with the door after turning the door upside down (again, venting), added a doorknob and drilled through the top to glue and screw the tower in place.

Slice to size, shove in place, add superglue, vents it is.

And at 0:00 stop the clock. An evening well spent. Need to trim and sand the base on the transmitter as well, add superglue to the cardboard rim (helps against fraying when painting) and go over them one more time to see if I missed anything. Primer next week I suppose. 

All fenced in - almost all built

 Decided to spend 2 days of my time on the fences. Cut the remaining bases, sanded a few but will need to sand the remainder, drill holes, make the poles etc. Still, over 4 metres of fence now. And I really want to get it done.....but not today.

What is ready for cleanup

What I still need to drill/sand and build

RUBs are really useful as projectboxes as well

Progress on the Industrial sidebuilding for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (WIP)

 Had a nice afternoon with the girls, painting and chatting. I just give them free reign of my big box of Vallejo and they just get creative. Both painted a Space Marine, and Emma painted her doplhins as well. A lovely 2 hours spent together while I worked on the side building.

 

Fortunately, my house is not sliding into a sinkhole, no matter how much this photo would prove otherwise....

Emma's Marine on the left, Nikki's on the right

 Getting there, but need to do the brickwork, add a doorknob that I somehow missed, somehow, and find something to dress up the big open spaces on the left and back of the building.