A return to Weasel Town

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Work on Weasel Town has been plodding along slowly and now that the nice weather has started I can work outside. Originally the floor ducking (correct word?) was laser cut card but since I no longer have access to a good laser machine I have started 3D printing them. Work had stalled because of a lack of them. The home laser I have lack power because it is a cheap Chinese tube and it’s life has expired. My Blender skills and confidence have improved a tiny bit so I used it to created the ducking which I then printed out on my Ender 3.

One regret is that I didn’t look at my original card tiles as they are slightly more elegant. Mind you once they are coated in mud and grime and observed from three feet away I don’t thing anyone will be criticising the design aesthetic.

I had started designing modular tiles as way to to have a flexible tabletop. One lesson I have learnt, is to to be consistent. That way I could have integrated my ruined desert city tiles with the trench system. Possibly the way to go is to make a series of risers so the tile heights match up.

The reason I had started going modular was because of this Kickstarter.

However by the time I actually get the book I probably will have moved on to something else, rendering it redundant.

Anyway, grumbling aside, The author Michael Martin has a Youtube channel. TWS Tabletop Workshop. One of the videos was about making a diy crackle paste.

The ingredients were diatomaceous earth. This looked interesting as I want parched earth for my terrain tiles. Amazon had some but it was a touch out of my budget. Which let’s politely say is near zero.

Owning pets sometimes has an upside. We needed cat litter for our seventeen year old cat. She spends her days curled up on our bed and doesn’t venture out much. We had got a new brand which looked soil like. After she had used it, she is a prolific pisser, the litter started to crackle when dried. Interesting. Are you pondering what I’m pondering? I took some clean litter mixed a bit with PVA and stuck it on a piece of MDF. The result was really good. I then mixed up some more and applied it to one of my terrain tiles.

Rookie mistake! Make sure you put an under colour down first.

I have to experiment now and work out proportions so that consistency is maintained.

https://www.mueller.de/p/pet-bistro-klumpstreu-2572035/

This is a link to the product and for eight litres I think that is a pretty good price. The only ingredient is Bentonite which is an absorbent swelling clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite (a type of smectite).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentonite

I will report back with further information.

And tomorrow, if you are lucky, I will post some painting and reflect on life with eleven cats.

Putting off writing

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It has been a bit like writing a thank you letter as a child. I have been putting it off for ages, then I looked and my last post was in February.

There is loads to post and I will start tomorrow (honest).

BUT I do have to make a quick post about a Kickstarter.

Full disclosure, I am not paid by Keta Minies however we are Facebook friends and we do chat a lot about random topics and occasionally he sends me the odd file to play with.

This project is tempting me, I have never felt the need for a Daemonette army. Until now. Have a look at at the project, as always Keta has produced some superb sculpts.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/keta-minies/daemon-damzels-army-to-3dprint-digital-stl

Weasel Town

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I’ve been hankering after making some modular trenches for a while. I started but when I laid them out earlier this week it seems that I do not have nearly enough. Plus I did not have any “kinks” (not sure of the correct terminology) to stop a gunner standing at one end of a trench and taking aim down the entire length.

One of the rule-sets I was reading, “The Last War” talks about a settlement in the wastelands. For some reason it caught my fancy. A tidying up job at the beginning of the year was sorting out my movement trays and I had a whole lot of crude plasticard ones that I had made about twenty years ago. This has left me with a big bag of plasticard. I also have some big sheets of pink insulation foam recovered from some building work nearby.

I wonder…….

Weasel Town surrounded by trenches
The finished group

I added detailing with resin parts from Ramshackle Games and 3D printed parts from Knucklebones Miniatures. The tin roofs were made from Red Bull cans run through a corrugator from Green Stuff World. I found out later that this is just a toothpaste squeezer rebranded for twice the price. Painted with household emulsion paint. The rust was done with Green Stuff World Rust paint, which is frankly rubbish and I wanted to use it up.

I thought I had documented the making process, but when I stuck the memory card into the computer there was nothing to be seen.

The Heroquest update

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I have finished painting the board.

It has only taken five years to get to this stage. I have painted it, mostly, with household emulsion paint. I am still deciding on the finish. High gloss for toughness or semi matt for realism?

Here is an original board to give an indication of of scale. Each square on the new board is 40mm. Something I didn’t notice is that the central left/right corridor should only be one tile wide.

Ooops!

Now to paint the doors.

Some news, some is important, some middling and some trivial

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This is the important one!

Some of you may know Heresy Miniatures?

Creator of this huge beastie

Well he is in a spot of bother. His words about it.

“Hi! My name is Andy Foster, I’m a miniatures sculptor who has run a tiny indie wargames miniatures maker for the last 21 years. Unfortunately, this means I can’t afford to buy a home in the UK because our housing market is nuts, and the average starter home costs over 12 times what I make in a good year, so I am only able to rent.

And because the housing market IS so insane, rental property prices are also incredibly high, and I’ve just been told that the house we have lived in for the last 8 years is having its rent increased by the landlord from £800 a month to £1175, which I absolutely can’t afford to cover.

The problem is, because I am living hand to mouth, as a lot of indie miniatures manufacturers do, I don’t have the funds in my bank account to pay for a deposit on a new rental home, or the fees involved, which amount to around £1500 for a tiny 2 bed terraced house in the UK, so I must turn to you, dear friends and customers, to help me out. Any amount is gratefully received! Any extra may need to go towards a new bed, wardrobe, etc if the house ends up with a bedroom that is too small for our current one to fit in (and I suspect my existing wardrobes won’t survive another move, they’re decades old self assembly things that are already a bit fragile!)”

There is a Go Fund Me set up and it would be really nice if everyone reading this was able to donate a little something. Even a quid would be amazing.

https://gofund.me/811fdb7b

Now to something of middling importance.

I mentioned the “Not Nog Ball” medball Kickstarter a few days ago. There has been a new addition to the campaign.

We’ve just got permission to add the Noggin character pack to the Medball Kickstarter which is great news! It consists of 3 miniatures; Noggin as a referee, Nogbad as a fan (with separate rattle) and Knut waving his scarf.

And finally some trivial news.

Last summer we were looking after two kittens that were dumped on a friend’s farm and were going to get them re homed.

Two kittens and that shirt

One of them decided that he adored me and decided to stay. I now have a constant companion wherever I am.

My painting knee warmer Jasper

Why Heroquest is so great

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Before you read any further please watch this instructional video.

https://youtu.be/Cx8sl2uC46A

Part of this year’s aim is to finish off any half done projects. There are quite a few. One I had started about four (or more) years ago was to make a Heroquest board. I had acquired the components eight years ago from EBay. Four years I laser etched the board double size. That took about seven hours. Then over the years I made doors and 3D printed the player characters.

Here is a progress report.

Base paints applied with a little sponge work. It was a bit dispiriting in this stage because it looked a bit crap.
But I persevered. This is with black between the tiles and edge highlighting. Much better. After this I will airbrush shadows around the room edges.
I have printed two versions of the player characters, classic for the purists. These came from Thingiverse complete with mold lines. The second is from StoneKing. Chibi stylee. Behind them you can see the various enemies our brave questers will have to face. They are wooden flats with some Oldhammer illustrations.
The doors ready for some paint.

I will keep you updated with further progress reports.

There will be updates on my: SpaceHulk, Bloodbowl and Battlefleet Gothic. One day.

Not Noggin the Nog

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For many of you I expect you are unfamiliar with the works of Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin. Their work was a staple, along with Thunderbirds, of my youthful viewing schedule. Charming animations made by moving pieces of painted paper around.

Nogin the Nog was one of them. You can read a little about it here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noggin_the_Nog

Why am I bringing this up? Well a friend of mine, David Wood, had a Kickstarter a few years back to produce a set of figures based on the series. And rather nice they are too. They are on my to do list for this year. As a plug you can buy them and many more lovely things here…

https://thelittlesoldiercompany.co.uk/product/noggin-the-nog-the-characters-white-metal

Now Mr. Wood has a new Kickstarter for some totally not related at all fantasy football teams.

These do look rather lovely and if you are a fan of whimsical sculpts, especially of Martin Buck, I would recommend you have a peek.

Starting off 2023

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As promised here are some photos of this years painting progress. One plan for this year is to have a dedicated space for photography. At the moment I am taking them in a variety of places with different light sources. No consistency in quality or standardisation. One I have everything set up I can work on fine tuning white balance and depth of field. Ideally I want to revamp my gallery, maybe trying to look a little more professional….. just an idea.

The first few were half-done figures that had been sat on my desk for over a year and just after Christmas I emptied my desk and finished them off.

A mad scientist. From Crooked Dice
3D printed dice cup for my Orc Bloodbowl team
A Grot tank, cobbled together from stuff from the bits box. My first attempt with the Dirty Down Rust.
From Crooked Dice Colony 87 range. I started this on New Year’s Eve and almost finished it that day.
This comes from EM4 Miniatures (I think) I really enjoyed painting this one.
Might be another EM4
Again from Crooked Dice Colony 87
Again from Crooked Dice Colony 87
Again from Crooked Dice Colony 87
The Duke, his Wife and his Daughters

I am building up a collection of scifi NPCs which I rather enjoy painting.

2023

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Finally it is here. Last year was a bit of a blur, nothing really of note stood out and it really did go quickly. I did hit a significant number complete with upcoming health checks. Nothing major to worry about, slightly high cholesterol and low thyroid function. I don’t have occult blood which is really not as interesting as one would think.

One thing which I do regret is that Grumpy Old Tin laser cutting is no longer a thing. The makerspace I was using changed hands and the new owners, Pioniergarage- Salzburg, have a difference in opinion about accommodating the less abled. Long covid means that it it is impossible for me to stand for two or three hours beside the laser machine and the computer is placed so you cannot sit and operate it.

More tomorrow as I had a bit of a painting blitz this last week.

Finally my Product of the Year is Vallejo’s Model Colour Vermillion. A really good punchy highlight red. I did get on the cool kids bandwagon and bought some Dirty Down Rust. I only tried it once and I realise I need a bit more practice with it.

You snooze you loose

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Or rather gurgle unpleasantly for three weeks with a chest infection. An update from yesterday’s post.

The Old School Miniatures Kickstarter has finished and the figures are now available for pre order.

Thanks Jamie

https://www.oldschoolminiatures.co.uk/tim-prow-space-adventures-102-c.asp

A couple of Kickstarters to consider

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Here are a couple of Kickstarters which might be worth considering.

I was lucky enough to receive some as a Birthday present from OS Miniatures so I couldn’t resist slapping some paint on them. I’ll post some pictures when they are finished.

The second Kickstarter is from Keta Minies. I backed a previous KS campaign and the quality was outstanding.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/keta-minies/alternatives-heads-and-helms-stl-for-tabletop-and-wargames?ref=profile_created

Adventures in 3D printing and some paint

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I’ve been using filament from GST3D for the last year or so. Mainly because it is dirt cheap, if you wait for the sales, and because the quality has been good. That is until recently. My last batch of ten has had three rolls fail. One badly tangled and the other two damp resulting in clogs. Social media has been filling up with complaints about GST3D recently and they have promised to improve. We shall see.

I have started printing some “Vase Mode” models. Specially designed to only print the outside surface.

This is from the Sinister Cities Kickstarter. A free model so you could appraise the results. It is printed with a thicker nozzle, 0.8 rather than the usual 0.4, so the layer lines are noticeable. At arms length not really. This seems to be a good method for bashing out terrain.

https://www.sinistercities.com/the-citybuilder

This little Gnome Spellsinger is from Old School Miniatures, part of their Alpine Gnome range. Have I mentioned how much I love this range?

https://www.oldschoolminiatures.co.uk/alpine-gnomes-3-c.asp

Finally a squad of ten Terminators for the Space Hulk game I am 3D printing. I have printed all the corridors need for the Second Edition, just have to get on and paint them. Batch painting from hell. Starting with a black basecoat, then a zenithal highlight, a colour wash over that, detailing and finally rust and grime. Can’t wait.

A little update on the painting

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I have a few more pictures to add, since May. May? Where did the time go?

This is some armoured centaur legs, from the Makers Cult, scaled up from AT scale to 40K scale. The top half is an Armiger. This was a test of the livery I am using on my Titan, sat in a box awaiting paint. The lesson wot I did lern is to not apply gloss varnish until all the armour is painted. The gold was very problematic because of this. My next big print project is a Reaver Titan mounted on the Makers Cult 40K scale centaur legs. Warlord might be a bit much.

This is from the Tesseract Tomb Patreon. I have wanted a train set for ages and he is going to be producing parts over the next few months.

This is the Marauder Giant which is now starting to fetch eye watering prices on Fleabay. Many thanks to the Delta Squad who made this possible. First rule etc.

Finally a Spaash Mareen. Number One Son and I have been taking advantage of the 9Euro German rail tickets and have been travelling to Munich for lunch, As you do. I thought I would pop into WARHAMMER! and try out this newfangled Contrast paint that all the cool kids are using these days. The Red Shirt gave me a figure to try it on. While I was slappinig paint on he was inanely chatting to me in English, but in German was really (like really) pushing the hobby onto Number One Son.

One of our lunches. Nothing too extravagant, just a pork knuckle, potato dumpling, dark beer gravy and sauerkraut.

BUT as a result of the trip to WARHAMMER! Number One Son has expressed an interest in gaming. So now the modular table is getting some use, perhaps I need to get on and paint it? We are using our own version of One Hour Skirmish.

https://penandswordbooks.com/subject-categories/collecting-games-hobbies/wargaming/one-hour-skirmish-wargames.html

A system which utilises playing cards instead of dice which can make the turn system chaotic and fun. Highly recommended.

I also have been distracted by kittens, we are helping a neighbour rehouse kittens. Her farm is used as a dumping ground for unwanted kittens and she finds it a bit too much at times.

We also have been having family days out.