Foam Walls and 40mm Saxons - finished

I have varnished the whole model with Galleria matt varnish and picked out the metal areas with gloss varnish. The groundwork has been detailed with both ground foam and static grass tufts which have been glued in place with superglue.

The base is 100mm wide x 70mm deep and the wall section is 65mm tall.

The diorama has taken a lot longer to finish than I thought, but has been great fun and I'm pleased with the natural stone effect on the painted and scratch-built wall.

Tony

Oldhammer Kickstarter from Apocalypse Miniatures goes live

The Oldhammer Kickstarter from Apocalypse Miniatures is now live, full details can be found here.

Most of the masters were sculpted by me and then cast in resin by Hysterical Games.  Further details can be found on this Blog, by searching the Label - Kickstarter or Oldhammer, there are also updates over on The Lead Adventure Forum, see this link.

Good luck with the project.

Tony

New Tools

I have recently upgraded my toolbox by purchasing these new tools. First we have a pair of Padsaws from a company called Neill, basically hacksaw blades with green plastic handles. I already had a similar saw so when I spotted these in a local hardware store, I thought I would treat myself to two. They cost just £1.99 each and I use them for cutting foam blocks into manageable pieces.

Then a pair of spring-loaded side clippers or cutters that were purchased from the internet. I tend to go through these as I damage the cutting edges when chopping metal. I will try to be good and keep these for cutting softer materials. They cost less than £2.00 each and there was free P&P.

Tony

An Industrial Narrow Gauge Adventure

For the past six months, I have been working on the new Pen and Sword book that will feature a selection of scratch-built wargame terrain for the Napoleonic Wars. This book is now nearing completion and I have been looking around for a new project - something for me.

My plan (and remember that this is still a paper plan) is to build a small shelf layout featuring a couple of industrial narrow gauge engines, more than likely diesel or petrol narrow gauge engines and some simple skips. My ideas are based around some scratch-built narrow gauge engines that I built some time ago to 1.43rd scale or 7mm = 1 foot. For details see this post.

For anyone not familiar with this type of modelling, the engines are built to 7mm scale to run on modified HO-OO track - 16.5mm gauge which gives an actual track gauge of 2 foot 4 inches. Sometimes referred to as NG O-16.5.

I have looked at a number of options;

1 - Repeating the same scale/gauge formula - 7mm = 1 foot on 16,5mm track.
The modelled prototype would be 2 foot 4 inches/2 foot 6 inches.

2 - A much larger scale of 11mm = 1 foot on 16.5mm track
This would equate to a scale of 1:27,7 (1/24th - 1/25th) or a six foot man being represented as a figure 66mm or 2.5 inches tall. The modelled prototype would be 18inch gauge.

3 - A compromise between the two - a scale of 1/36th or 8.47mm = 1 foot (one third of an inch = 1 foot or a six foot man being modelled as a 2 inch figure - think 1/35th scale or thereabouts).
This would mimic a 600mm gauge on 16.5mm track.

As I said earlier, I have still to decide on the actual scale/gauge mix I will use, but I'm tempted with the 1/36th scale as 1/35th scale models and figures could be used with little modification.

I understand that these formula could be a little confusing to a non-narrow gauge modeller so here are a couple of links that might help;

Ogam and Stone - a 7mm Narrow Gauge railway layout, see this link.

Nystrup Gravel - a 1/35th scale narrow gauge railway running on 16.5mm track, see this link.

Hook Basin - a 1/25th scale narrow gauge running on 16.5mm track. see this link.

Keep checking back for updates and progress.

Tony

Update 30.06.17
I came across these images of a diorama layout by Marcel Ackle and thought the link was worth posting;
Link

Runemarks by Joanne M Harris

Runemarks by Joanne M Harris is a book that was given to me as a Fathers Day gift from Holly.

For details see this link.

Thank you Holly.

Dad
XXX

Foam Walls and 40mm Saxons - part ten

The painting is now done and I have varnished the whole model and base with Galleria matt varnish. The metallic areas have been gloss varnished and it is just a matter of adding some static grass and ground foam decoration to the base and the diorama will be finished.

Tony

Foam Walls and 40mm Saxons - part nine

I have mounted the two 40mm Jim Bowen miniatures onto the small diorama base, actually into the base or groundwork.

I used a Dremel Grout Clearing drill bit to make two oval holes in the groundwork and glued the figures in place with superglue. I used small slivers of spare balsawood to act as fillers and made sure that the feet of the two Saxons were level with the modelled groundwork.

The groundwork was then built up with DAS modelling clay before being textured with sieved stones and sand. The base was then painted brown, highlighted with a lighter brown and odd stones were picked out with grey, highlighted with a lighter grey.

I touched up the feet and wall stones where they met with the dark earth.

Before this image was taken, I had 'washed' the base with Dark Tone wash from Vallejo.

Tony

Foam Walls and 40mm Saxons - part eight

I have tried to keep the colours slightly subdued, but couldn't resist painting the second miniature with striped leggings.

With most of the painting done. I will be now be thinking of adding these to the diorama base.

Tony

Foam Walls and 40mm Saxons - part seven

Both Jim Bowen miniatures were painted over a dark brown basecoat/undercoat with the main colours built-up from a dark base colour to mid colour and then highlights. The metal areas on the figure on the left were painted with a bronze/gold palette and the one on the right with a gunmetal/silver palette.

The shield on the figure on the left has been modified by cutting off the moulded decoration and grinding it smooth. I then added a plastic boss with superglue before undercoating.

I have started to paint the large fur cloak by drybrushing with lighter browns.

Tony

Oldhammer Kickstarter - the well

This is a cropped image of The Well, a multi-part model for the Oldhammer Kickstarter which is due for launch very soon.

The model was built by me and comes with alternative bases, a flagstone base and this rough ground base.

For full details of the kickstarter go to this here.

Tony

Foam Walls and 40mm Saxons - part six

I have superglued the two Jim Bowen 40mm Saxons onto a couple of pieces of cork ready to start painting.

Tony

Foam Walls and 40mm Saxons - part five

I thought the walls looked a little too light and so washed the stone work with some black and earth coloured washes. I then gave the upper stones another drybrush..

Tony

Foam Walls and 40mm Saxons - part four

The walls and diorama base were painted using a palette of subdued greys and pale browns with a light drybrush of pale grey. The upper wall has had a number if individual stones/tile added to it. These were cut from thin slivers of green foam and glued in place with superglue.

Tony

UK Games Expo, Birmingham

I have just returned for Games Expo 2017, held at the NEC, Birmingham. I missed last year as I feel that this show is one that I can attend every-other-year rather than as an annual pilgrimage. For anyone who has not attended this extravaganza, I can recommend it as a great day (or even a weekend) out with loads to see and do. Personally, I feel it it a little to Game, and by this I mean Board Game orientated and I much preferred it when it was held at The Clarendon Suite, however the show has grown so much that this would now be impossible for two reasons - the sheer amount of people that attend this show (thousands of em and many dressed up in some truly outlandish costumes) and The Clarendon has recently closed down.

I didn't purchase that much, coming away with a handful of miniatures and some second-hand magazines and books. I found the day to be a little too expensive for me and I think I prefer pure Wargame Shows.

Below I have included some of the many images I took on the day - I hope that you like them.

Tony

Foam Walls and 40mm Saxons - part three

The stonework was inspired by these images of a ruined abbey that I found in a book on Saxon England.

I should have some painted images soon.

Tony

Foam Walls and 40mm Saxons - part two

I have built up the groundwork with DAS modelling clay which has been applied over dilute uPVA glue. The walls have been further detailed by brushing with a wire brush.

There is still some work to be done on the base and wall but I am now looking forward to adding some paint.

Tony

Foam Walls and 40mm Saxons

It's been a while since I modelled or painted something just for myself, rather than book and magazine articles or producing Masters for someone else.....

My On-Line Build for May 2017. Foam Walls and 40mm Saxons.

This is a project that I have wanted to do for some time, a pair of Jim Bowen 40mm Saxons set against a scratch built wall on a small diorama base.

The wall is constructed from some spare Green Foam with the individual stones carved and then textured before being glued to a plastic card base, which is in turn glued to a stone (or reconstituted stone) door number plaque.

As usual, you can 'click' on the images for a larger view.

Tony