Coming soon! Stay tuned… I’ll be setting up another Dwarven Forge table for a fun game of WARMACHINE.
Tag Archives: MODELING
Magic Superglue Activator
The Army Painter has some cool products, and they recently emailed me the following:
For those of you having endless time to glue together your metal miniatures and never get glued fingers – stop reading!
For the rest of us, the Magic Superglue Activator will be relieving you of stress and be your own little anger management conductor. This spectacular product will be released alongside the new fabolous 20gr. Superglue in October 2010. This product comes in a glass bottle and it is the quality used by US dentist so it simply does not come better. One dose will instantly dry superglue speeding your gluing time up no end! Christmas comes early this year… Also, check out the other upcoming products here
BRIDGE OUT!
On many rail lines railroads have relocated the tracks to ease grades or reduce sharp curves. Often the new tracks are only a few feet away from the original alignment. In some cases, small bridges have been removed from the old line but the abutments left in place. To model this, choose a spot next to your line where it crosses a small creek or ditch. Build up a subgrade of similar height and elevation where the railroad used to run, roughly parallel to your present railroad grade, but leave a gap where the line crosses the creek. Add bridge abutments, but no bridge, and finish the surrounding scenery. Remember, because the old abutments are near water, vegetation growth will be thick around the abutments.
Now get busy!
Broken Wolves of Orboros
I won an auction on Ebay a few months back that included several Circle models. Two of these were Wolves of Orboros which were broken. The previous owner had tried to glue the hands into place and managed only to break them. So I was going to order replacement parts but decided to mess around and convert them the best I could. I like the fact that I got them to “work” well enough that when they are included on the table within a full unit that they will probably look just fine. The first one (on the left) just needed a few small pins to get the arms and weapon into place. It was annoying drilling such tiny holes in the model but it payed off in the end. The second one (in the middle) required different work. I cut the remaining shaft from the hands and filed them down enough that I could add the hands to the stumps of the arms. Using the head of the spear, I took some necklace tubes and a piece of brass rod and made a new shaft for the spear. I planted the spear in the ground in front of the model. I guess maybe this guy isn’t quite ready to enter the fray yet. He’s thinking about it. Just wait until he picks up his poking stick.
That’s all for now!
Keep Rollin’ Sixes!
- Q
WIP: Coffin Factory
Howdy Folks!
If you haven’t figured it out yet, I really like playing WARMACHINE on cluttered urban war style boards.
Pirates Run the Streets!
If you want to watch a Slideshow of pictures from my sectional Urban Comat Board Mk 1 then click here. The board is 4×4 but made of 2×2 sections.
I am working on a new building. It is going to be a coffin factory. It is based on a prototype building located in Erie, PA. Check it out.
Prototype Building
I have built the model using a combination of Design Preservation Model (DPM) sections and Korber Model Master Builder sections. The DPM line has recently been picked up by Woodland Scenics, although I think they were independent in the past. The DPM sections are made of styrene, and are very sturdy for making buildings. The sections are sold in small packs that range in cost from $0.89 to $2.00 depending on scale (HO, O) and type (Door, blank wall, windows.) You can also buy DPM kits which include all the pieces needed to make a building. As far as the Korber model pieces go, I found them at Gene’s Trains in Duncansville, PA on sale. They work about the same way. They are made of plastic and fit together on a skeleton of plastic. The Korber parts were available in small packages orignailly priced between $0.75 to $0.89 each. However Gene’s Trains had then one clearance for 50% so that was a bonus! Korber Models is located in Medford, New Jersy.
Coffin Factory
I have to reset the date on my camera! Anyway, the coffin factory is put together and ready for painting. I made it so that it has more than enough roof space for deploying units to the top for sniper opportunities. I will add stairways or catwalks to the rear of the building to make it obvious how models get up to the building without Flash or Teleport.
So that’s all for now. I’m going to have to post an update when the building is done.
Thanks for checking in, and keep on rollin’ sixes!
- Q
NEED TO CLEAN THE AUTOPSY TABLE!
Okay, so the clutter is getting out of hand. It’s time to clean the autopsy table.
Don’t you agree?
The Autopsy Table
Yeah, time to clean. Everyone likes a clean autopsy table.
MECHANIK SHOP
Now, this is a blast from the past. I have posted this twice on Privateer Press’s terrain making forums. Usually the reaction is what it should be: amusement. I got the idea while reading through this article. At the time, there were several Goodwill stores in the area that constantly had Fisher Price buildings for under $1.00 and I used to look at them and say “too bad that can’t be made into terrain.” And then after I reading the Park N Blow article, I thought “Why not.” So I took the challenge and had some fun trying to turn a Fisher Price toy into a Iron Kingdoms terrain piece.
I started with this:
This cost me .99 at Goodwill
And then this is what I did with it … The blue slides were removed … with razor knives and hammers. Sheesh, Fisher Price makes quality stuff. It was difficult to break the toy. I had to get all kinds of incredible Hulk on the plastic at times. I also needed to use a razor knife to cut away some of the orange plastic baseplate to make the building’s footprint smaller. Oh crap, that plastic is thick. I saved bits of the textured plastic for my bases. (Never throw away good bits!) I then used a black spray paint. Then I had to remove the flippity floppy coffee shop thing. It is hard to see in the picture but it’s to the right of the wide red door and to the left of the smaller green door. I had to remove about six screws that were holding the coffee sgop table thing in place. And then to break off the metal hinge I had to go all Hammersmith on it. I got out a lot of frustration that day come to think of it.
That being done, I sprayed the whole thing black. I cut a section of Games Workshop City of Death building to fit into the large hole where the coffee shop had been previously. I chose a wall section featuring a double door. I cut the doors with an X-acto and glued them so they were hanging slightly open. I then spent at least an hour looking through my bitz box for things to decorate the building. Here I used gears, lamps, lamp posts, doors, pipes, and so forth to make it look more like a workshop. I added a crane with a grabbing claw. It was from a toy that I found broken in the attic. I stole a bunch of parts from the toy and tossed the rest away. I then painted the building, and added details to the interior. In the end, the interior ended up being a challenge due to the extensive “dead spaces” that were created when I was removing the bells, clickers, slides, and other fiddly bits that couldn’t stay in if I was going to use it for terrain. The final tough spot was trying to figure out how to make a removable rear wall for the building. I started out trying to use magnets and plasticard, but this failed. In the end, I used textured foam-board from Department 56. I found a bunch of it on sale at King of Prussia Mall while I was shopping there with my Mom. (Two days before I got married to Megan.) All in all, the project took me two months. I had a bunch of fun. You should try it.
Painted Black. Removed the Slides. Tore out the Coffee Shop. Replaced big hole with City of Death wall section featuring doors.
On the side I added bits and pieces. Gears, a door, and a crane.
On the other side: more gears, a lamp post, and other bits.
Adding some paint, chimneys, and such.
Pipes FTW.
Closer look at the pipes.
The size of the building takes up a lot of room on the gaming board. However, it can be situated near a table edge, or in the center of the board as a control point. The building allows for combat to occur on the interior as well as the front, sides, and rooftop. It’s not a piece for everyday use. It’s definitely a special situation piece. But it was a hell of a lot of fun to make, and the challenges I faced took some time for me to reason things out and put some decent thought into problem solving.
The roof
I used railroad and pirate themed scrapbook stickers for the exterior signs and so forth. The exterior brick walls are textured cardboard from Vollmer. I bought this stuff at Modellbahn Ott in Gilberstville, PA. The stuff is amazing, really. You should get some. It made making the exterior walls soooo easy.
Finished
Mechanik Shop ... finished
The rear. You can almost see the interior and its goodies.
The interior was more of a challenege. I wanted it to look like a cluttered workshop so I had to collect some gadgets and goodies for the interior. I decided to use checkerboard scrapbook paper for the floor and it was easy to apply. Just cut to shape and glue down. I had to use some textured foamboard from Department 56 to fill in some of the gaps on the interior. And I also used the same foamboard to create a rear wall to make the building look intact. (As you might know most Fisher Price playsets are open on the back to allow kids to get in there with there little guys and play.)
The Interior of the Mechanik Shop. All kinds of gadgets and goodies.
The walls are textured foamboard and the floor is covered with checkerboard scrapbook paper.
I used a lot of TAMIYA 1/48 scale military model equipment for the stuff inside the shop.
Lego parts were used too but don't tell anyone. *wink* And yeah, that's a Games Workshop Dwarf Forge on the left. Shhhh.
Side with Gears and Crane
Side with sign
Enclosed Rear With Textured Foamboard Arches
Rear with textured foamboard and textured cardboard added
Foamboard swings open to allow models to be placed inside the shop
Thanks for reading. I challenge you to try this out and see what you can do with a inexpensive toy building.
PIRATE SHIP REBOOT … PART 5
The Poop Deck
So here you can sort of see the Poop Deck and Mizzen Mast. My cat, Monkey, decided that the Pirate Ship was perfect for a nap spot. This would be the beginning of the Pirate Ship becoming a cat bed when it was not being used for games or demos. Looking at the picture you can see the Lemax gargoyles (not yet painted in this picture) and the leering skulls on the side of the ship. I also included a ladder that was taken from a WARHAMMER Siege Tower set. The railing is a toy ladder that I found in my bitz box.
Lower Poop Deck
Below the Poop Deck is a boarding plank. You can see that it fits (just barely) even Heavy ‘Jacks. There is a small railing made from HO scale stairs. Looking at the above picture you can also see the planking I used for the side of the Pirate ship. I used thin cardboard, cut to size by hand, and glued into place. I then used push pins to secure the cardboard into place and to simulate rivets. I used over 200 push pins as rivets. My fingertips were killing me!
And on the second ship I chose to use large balsa ships to form the the deck. As you can see, the second ship is not complete in this picture. It needs planking in the front, and needs to be slapped with paint.
Poop Deck Magnet
Above you can see Eyriss on the Poop Deck. More imortantly, you can see the small magnet that I secured to the deck with super glue. The magnets allow for the Pirate Ship crane (made for me by my friend Gary … thanks again Gary!) to different locations on the deck. Also, the crane can be removed during storage and transport. In the picture below you can see a Khador Manhunter manning the ship’s crane to move a Khador ‘Jack from ship to ship. Using the magnets allows for the crane to be placed in different places in different games. The crane is made from a fire truck toy’s crane. The crane line is made from steel wire, and the hook is metal as well.
Poop Deck Magnet + Ship's Crane
Below is an action shot. The crane is dropping a ‘Jack on the deck of the pirate ship from the Supply Ship.
Crane Drops a 'Jack to the Deck
Below you can see the finished Quarter Deck. The ramps are for the ‘Jacks to move from deck to deck. I intended to install stairs as well, but never did. The Khador ‘Jacks are standing over the grating. You can see the planking pretty well in this picture. I wanted the deck to look like some of the planks were damaged, replaced, and so forth. Plus, ‘Jacks are crashing around on the deck too right, so the planking would be somewhat damaged during combat … I would think.
The Quarter Deck
Below you can see more of the planking as well as the painted Superman toy that is supposed to be part of a steam engine jutting out of the deck.
Gorten and Gunbunnies
Below you can see part of the main mast, the grated vent, and a wee bit of the “steam engine.” See more about the Broadsides Board project here.
Gorten and his 'Jacks
PIRATE SHIP REBOOT … PART 4
And so I continue to discuss the past in order to address the future.
Vents and Platform on the Poop Deck
My wife gave me some Sugar Free Peeps. I ate them, of course, and decided that the plastic packaging had an interesting shape. I used the packaging for some “steam stack vents” on the poop deck. I used about 75 push pins to simulate riveting. If you look closely at the picture above you can see the pins in the white plastic. In the picture below, you can see where the Peeps Package Vents are located. It’s right behind the Mizzen Mast.
The pirate ship is slowly taking shape.
Grated Vent = Lid from Air Freshener
The picture above shows the lid from a, air freshener. I painted it with silver spray paint. I attached it to the ship hoping it would look like some kind of a grated steam vent that allows steam and smoke to radiate from within the ship. I placed it on the Quarterdeck near the “Steam Engine” section. I planked around both after having glued it in place with white glue.
Location of the Grated Vent
The Main Mast
The Mizzen Mast is the one on the Poop Deck while the Main Mast is the one on the Quarterdeck. The picture above shows how I made the skeleton of the Main Mast. I used dowel rods, and floral wire. My cat decided that she was really interested in the mast and so she was playing around with it. It is attached to the ship’s deck with a magnet which allows for it to be removed during storage, transport, and game play. Below you can see the finished Main Mast.
Here are some of the pictures taken during game play and WARMACHINE demos …
The crews clash during a boarding effort!
The Supply Ship Crane during boarding effort
♣
More about the BROADSIDES BOARD.
THE PIRATE SHIP PROJECT REBOOT … 2
So like I reported recently, my cats had a duel on the pirate ship. The battle ended with the ship …. going down. I am taking the chance to rebuild some of the parts that broke off, along with some of the parts that I found out later were not so hot for game play. I am working on making the masts removable, and repainting the deck. I believe I will use magnets to make this work.
Read more about the BROADSIDES BOARD.
Captain Monkey is not amused.
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Monkey made sure to oversee the painting of the ship.
♣
You can see the size of the ship in comparison to Monkey. Remember, this is supposed to only be the back half of the ship.
♣
This is what the Broadsides Board looks like when it’s layed out. I intended the ships to have about two inches between them and boading planks made out of balsa wood. In this picture, I have the ships pushed together.
