First Anniversary of Dampf's Modelling Page

It is exactly one year ago today that I started this Blog.

One Blog
Nine Followers
A dozen post labels
140 Blog Entries
Hundreds of photos and
Thousands of words!

Thank you to all that have written kind comments over the year. When I first set it up, I was not sure that I would be able to find things to say, but obviously I have LOTS TO SAY and still more to go.

As well as the entries detailed in the Blog there are three outstanding articles still waiting to be published, they are;

How to build a Flintloque Windmill - due out next month in the Flintloque Fanzine 60 Bloody Rounds/Notables Compendium from Alternative Armies.

The Crashed Rocketship Terrain Board - I am still hopeful that this construction article will appear in the Rattrap Productions Magazine Thrilling Expeditions Quarterly.

The Japanese Aeronef MONI - a Workbench article due to be featured on The Miniatures Page in the next month.

Once again thank you for the support, and best regards

Tony

Scratch-built - Games Workshop Dreadnought

Tomorrow will be the first anniversary of the very first post on this Blog. I wanted to commemorate it with something special, unfortunately I have not been able to do much modelling or painting this week. So instead, I thought I would up-load a set of photos showing a scratch-built Dreadnought that was built some time ago, well over six years ago!

The first four photos show the model in its 'naked' form showing the bare cardboard, plastic card, pen barrels and pieces from my 'spares box' that went into building this monster. The photos were originally taken on a 35mm camera and these photos have been scanned and cropped. I apologise for the poor quality.

The second group of four photos, show the model undercoated with white acrylic paint. I have often thought about painting this model - but can never decide on a 'chapter colour' I like! Maybe one day I will get around to painting it but for now I hope that you enjoy seeing how it was built.

The model was built from photos and illustrations in White Dwarf, however once finished I realised just how much bigger this model is compared to the metal (or plastic) Dreadnought. The model stands nearly 100mm tall and is mounted on to a 90mm coaster. I would estimate it to be at least 50% bigger than the Games Workshop models, maybe more. The plastic Space Marine in the top photos gives some idea of how it towers over a 28mm figure.

Tony

The Dwarf Sauerkraut Wars - the Regiments part two

Regiment Two - Von Rotte's Hessian Dwarves

Allegiance - Finklestein

There have been many stories of the allegiances and history behind the forming of this notorious Grenadier regiment, even today the true stories behind the decisions as to exactly why Baron Von Rotte (the Red Baron) decided to support the Finklestein side is still shrouded in mystery! Rumours of 'red coat' and his favoured method of eating cabbage abound, but who will raise such comments within earshot of the Baron?

As a leader of men (Dwarves) the Baron is amongst one of the most charismatic figures to be found in the land of Valon, his troops are well drilled and beautifully uniformed, they are immediately recognisable in their dated but traditional mitred hats and red uniforms. Armed with the mk1 Dwarf Musket the Dwarves are trained to fire in volleys to produce the devastating results they are so loved/hated for.

This particular group of eight Grenadiers is made up from both the 4 miniature blister - 52012 Baron Von Rotte's Grenadiers and the 10 miniature boxed set - 52503 Baron Von Rotte's Grenadiers.

Tony

Two new paints

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been taking advice from other miniature painters about the colours they use and why. These two recommendations are both from Vallejo, the first - Model Color 70918 IVORY and the second - Game Color 72098 ELFIC FLESH.

The Ivory was bought as an alternative to white for adding to other colours as a highlight. I have been told that this gives a more natural highlight. I'll report back once I have tried it.

The Elfic (or Elf) Flesh is a very pale flesh colour that I intend to use when painting a female miniature (see earlier post), giving the figure a very palid, pale look. Once again I will report back when I have tried it.

Tony

Please identify this Ral Partha Miniature

I recently bought this miniature from Waylands Forge, Birmingham - it was sold as a pack of two second-hand female figures, both undercoated and un-based.

I would like to confirm the identity of this particular miniature - A female warrior or priestess with snakes. The base was marked Ral Partha 1995. The miniature stands 45mm tall (head to toe) or 75mm tall (to top of sword).

I intend painting it as a Priestess for my 40mm Flash Gordon collection. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Tony

Stop Press;
With thanks to CmdrKiley and Palewarrior on TMP and Dane of War replying to this post, I now know that the miniature is The Goddess of Evil (code; 01-007) from the Ral Partha 01 - Heroes and Horrors range - thank you for the prompt responses. See;

https://www.connectstores.com/ralpartha/sp_16763.html

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

This is my latest book recommendation - The Lies of Locke Lamora (Book One of the Gentleman Bastards Sequence) by Scott Lynch and published by Orion Books.

It is very difficult to review the story without giving away to much. The books cover states; The Thorn of Camorr is said to be an unbeatable swordsman, a master thief, a ghost that walks through walls. Half the city believes him to be a legendary champion of the poor. The other half believes him to be a foolish myth. Nobody has it quite right.

The book was recommended to me by my Brother-in-Law and my Daughter, both avid readers. It took me some time to take their advice, but I am glad that I did. I thoroughly enjoyed the book - the story moved quickly, with some fun and humour but also darkness and horror.

Ten out of ten, a great read and I cannot wait for book two. "Wickedly enjoyable, outrageously ingenious. Dark, complex and utterly compelling." - Sarah Ash

Tony

The Dwarf Sauerkraut Wars - the Regiments part one

Regiment One - Rudolf's Raiders

Allegiance - Finklestein

Possibly one of the most widely respected and feared group of Dwarves from either side of the Civil War, The Raiders are led by Kolonel Rudolf von Schantar, "Rudolf's Raiders" are a crack team of Finklesteiners trained in the art of sabotage and assassinations. Earning their spurs on the Kartoffelberg front, destroying supplies and murdering key figures in the Krautian League."
Extract taken from The Flintloque Limited Edition Miniatures Rudolf's Raiders LE022 statistics sheet.

The limited edition blister pack of three miniatures has been added too with conversions of existing Flintloque miniatures - adding fur lined green 'pixie hats' and white beards! In keeping with the theme, Rudolf has a red nose and the bases have had some snow added.

Tony

The Dwarf Sauerkraut Wars - the inspiration

"The Dwarf Sauerkraut War was, as every school boy knows the Second Sauerkraut War, to understand its context, we must study The First or Notable Sauerkraut War and the Great Cabbage Controversy of 1479 which led to it."
Extract taken from the historical reference book (part one) Halbritter's Armoury - An introduction to the secret weapons of history by Kurt Halbritter, first printed in Germany in 1978 and later translated into English by Jamie Muir.

Photo one - a reproduction of page 128, Digression: Famous Battles 1480

Photo two - a reproduction of page 129, showing the weapons used in The Sauerkraut War, namely; the Two-Handed Cabbage Shredder, The Vinegar Sprinkler and The Sauerkraut Shovel.

Photo three - further reading, Harbritter's Armoury - An introduction to the secret weapons of history, which include amongst others; The Thunder Barrel 311B.C., The Pepper Bellows 1501, The Tree Helmet Battalion The Age of Reason, The up and Over Twenty Pounder Seventeenth Century and Breastworks used around Bristol during the English Civil War 1642-1648.

For any military historian wishing to purchase this book, the details are;

Halbritter's Armoury by Kurt Halbritter, translated by Jamie Muir and published (English Edition) by Ernest Benn, London. ISBN 0 510-00039-8. A search on Amazon has highlighted a number of copies for sale.

Tony

The Dwarf Sauerkraut Wars

"Think of Dwarves - think of gold. Think of Dwarves - think of beer! To any self respecting Dwarf gold and beer are a matter of life and death. But porridge that's a different matter altogether - its much more serious! And sauerkraut - well wars have been fought over lesser salads."

The Second Sauerkraut War is about to be fought on the gaming table. Broad-leaf sauerkraut against narrow-leaf sauerkraut.

For some time I have harboured the idea of developing a Flintloque based Dwarven Civil War scenario, Baron Munchausen meets Terry Pratchett with Allo, Allo accents plus typical and obvious Krautian humour. After many false starts I hope that over the next couple of months I can at least start fleshing out a background story and post photos of Dwarven regiments.

See; http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Flintloque/message/2326

The following scenario by Tony Lee and featured on the Advent Calendar 2008 - Orcs in the Webbe, gives an idea of the style of writing I am looking to for inspiration.

http://www.orcsinthewebbe.co.uk/index.php/flintloque/scenarios/271-the-league-of-extra-curricular-not-so-gentlebeings

Tony

Inspiration

This illustration is of a beautifully painted Brigade Aeronef miniature, the Japanese Mikasa Patrol Nef modelled and painted by Rabbitz and featured on The Lead Adventure Form, see; http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=9480.0

The reason I have featured it here is at long last here is an Aeronef miniature that I really want to reproduce in my preferred 1/300th or 1mm = 1foot scale. I have already produced drawings to this scale and production of the hull and superstructure is well advanced. The reason that I am not featuring work-in-progress shots is that over the last two years these builds have been featured on The Miniatures Page as workbench articles. I intend to do the same with this model, look out for it either later this month or early next month.

Tony

Flash Gordon - Ice Giant part three

Following on from the last post - these photos show the painting finished, gloss varnishing, matt varnishing and the the completed figure, based and flocked.

The middle two photos show the figure mounted to a cork sanding block with hot glue - I was worried that such a heavy figure may have fallen off a Bluetack/wooden base during varnishing.

To sum up - the miniature is a Ral Partha Frost Giant, mounted on to a 50mm round base and stands 71mm tall. I plan on using him as an Ice Giant for my 40mm Flash Gordon games.

The miniature took approximately one week from start to finish, with the varnishing and flocking being completed in a day!

Tony

Flash Gordon - Ice Giant part two

The photos are pretty much self explanatory and show the stages in painting the Ral Partha Frost Giant. The only difference from my 'normal' painting style is that I used a white undercoat rather than my preferred black or very dark brown undercoat.

The colour scheme was in the main, copied from the Joe Videki painted miniature, (see earlier posts).

There is still some tidying up and fine detail to do, but in essence the main part of the painting is now finished. I have used a wide variety of paints from various manufacturers as well as Games Workshop Washes. The skin tones (which I am particularly pleased with) were a custom mix of Vallejo Model Colour Dark Flesh 927 and Games Workshop Snakebite Leather applied in watered-down coats then washed with Citadel Colour Flesh Wash, Games Workshop Gryphonne Sepia Wash, Johnsons Klear and distilled water, hence the gloss finish to the skin. Skin highlights were built up with Vallejo Dark Flesh and Vallejo Game Colour Skull White.

Two final points about the based and painted miniature - I have mounted it on to a 50mm round base. The miniature could easily have been mounted on to a 40mm base, but with a figure this tall (71mm) and so heavy, I felt that a larger base was called for and finally - there are no primary colours used.

The next post will be finishing the basing, varnishing and flocking, but with such cold weather this may have to wait - I do not like to varnish in cold weather.

Tony

Flash Gordon - Ice Giant, a mystery

I have recently purchased an old Ral Partha Frost Giant miniature, see below. While comparing my figure to one painted by Joe Videki it became obvious to me that there were in fact two similar, but subtly different miniatures - both called Frost Giants and the cataloguing of the differences has become a little bit of an obsession! I would love to know why this might be the case?

Figure One (the one I own)
Left arm more down to the side, legs side by side, club spike pointing more down, small disc on belt easily seen, feet are smaller, etc. etc.

Figure Two (the Joe Videki painted miniature, see last photo)

Left arm over groin, legs behind one another, club spike comes across rather than pointing down, disc on belt partially hidden by left arm, feet are larger and face thinner, left thigh sticking out. There is also one other thing, the miniature seams to be sauntering, walking with a swing to its step - think John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever!

Can anyone explain if there were in fact two different sculpts, and why?

Tony

Flash Gordon - Ice Giant

My latest Flash Gordon project an Ice Giant.

The miniature is a Ral Partha Giant with the base marked Ral Partha 1977. Research has further identified it as a Frost Giant ref; PR01 - 057. It was purchased via E-bay for £4.85 and stands 71mm tall.

Photo One - shows the miniature in its bare metal (paint removed) state.

Photo Two - Shows the miniature mounted on to a 50mm round base with groundwork built up from pieces of broken cork, DAS modelling clay and coarse sand. You can also see some of the extensive 'cleaning up' that was required on this model - there were considerable mould lines running down the left side of the body, through the beard and down the left leg. A similar line was found on the reverse. I have used a rotary 'Dremel type' tool to take off the main miss casting and 'green stuff' to remodel the damage.

Photo Three - the figure basecoated with Games Workshop Skull White spray paint and Vellejo Game Colour White.

Photo Four - shows the same miniature in the process of being painted by the master miniature painter Joe Videki. It was this work-in-progress shot that first made me aware of this miniature. I knew then that I just had to have one.

For anyone not familiar with Joe's work, please check out; http://www.geocities.com/jvideki/index.html

Tony

NOTE:
The metal figure I have is subtly different to the work-in-progress shot from Joe Videki. At first I thought it was just the camera angle, or even the fact that the painted miniature might have been modified, but on closer inspection there are a number of definite differences, for example - the left hand comes across the groin, the feet are bigger and behind one another and not side-by-side. Can any reader explain why this might be? Have I got a re-cast?

NOTE 2:
I have seen a Ral Partha UK catalogue entry, shown on the Lead Adventure Forum - showing this figure (rather than the one painted by Joe) but with the reference number ES57.

NOTE 3:
I have now started to paint the miniature - flesh and animal skin. I have noticed another poor miss-match, just below the right shoulder, at first I thought it a piece of beard or animal skin, but now think it is a very poor seam. I have cut it away with cutters and a scalpel and will be painting over soon.