FREE PRIZE DRAW - We have a Winner

Back in November I posted details of a Free Prize Draw that I was going to run to commemorate the 1,000,000 Dampf's Modelling Page Blog view - for details see this link.

My plan was to have a free prize draw with the names of all the Blog followers/commentators placed in a hat and a winner drawn. In the end, I asked my daughter Holly to choose a name at random. Holly chose Craig Andrews and when I asked he why, she said.

"Well he's obviously Welsh, a Wizard and Mad, what's not to like!"

I will be posting a prize to Craig in the next couple of days. Congratulations and I hope you like it.

Tony

Christmas Presents

In addition to new jeans, jumpers and a polo shirt, I received socks, underpants and three bottles of Port but the gaming/history items are listed below.....

The Templars by Michael Haag which looks like a very interesting book was off Sue.

A History of the World in six glasses was a gift from Holly and reading the introduction this looks like I will enjoy the premise - history separated in to seven ages - Beer, Wine, Spirits, Tea, Coffee and Coca Cola.

The Hot Glue gun and glue sticks was another gift off Holly.

The Lord Aquilor a gift from Gary, Beckie, Finley and Charlie.

Then the real prize - an illustrated book by Paul Kirby showing hundreds of both pencil sketches and full colour illustrations from Terry Pratchett's Discworld was a gift from Dave and Fee.

Thank you to everyone for the fantastic Christmas presents.

Tony

Merry Christmas

With just two sleeps until Christmas day, I think it's time to put the keyboard away and wish everyone a very Happy Christmas..

Tony and family

An Industrial Narrow Gauge Adventure - the layout part fourteen

The signage on the metal salt pan was inspired by The Lion Salt Works, Cheshire and OSO Salt, a small independent salt produces based in Droitwich Spa. I produced an A4 master on my computer and then extended the letters by drawing around a large diner plate to produce the curved lower edges. Once I had the design stencil I wanted, I cut out each of the individual letters and taped it to the black painted pan.

The OSO SALT was stippled onto the pan with a large stiff brush and then I repeated the steps to produce the Ltd.

Once the stippled paint was dry, I used a fine brush to touch-up the edges with slightly off-white acrylic paint..

Please note; the salt pan is not attached to the brick-built base. I still have to weather the rusted iron pan before I can glue it in place.

Tony

Scale Model World 2017 - part four

 Part four and with a couple of exception these are mainly WW2 aircraft with a few What-If's.

Tony

A Stroll in the Park - part two

Following on from yesterdays post; Orcs in the Webbe - A Stroll in the Park (see this link), I have included a couple of additional images of The scratch-built Signal Tower. The Tower was originally built following a request from Henry Hyde (editor of Miniature Wargames) but with Henry moving on, the article was never used.

The expanded article (with additional images) was re-written and is now included as one of the chapters in Dampfpanzerwagon Guide No. 3 - Models for Wargamers. For details of how to order a copy, please use this link.

The final image shows seven of the ten models featured in Models for Wargamers and once again should you wish to order a copy, please use this link.

Models for Wargamers is a limited edition and self published book and is available from me for £18.00 plus postage.

Tony

NB. Free prize draw see this post for details.

Orcs in the Webbe Advent 2017 - A Stroll in the Park

Image 'borrowed' from OITW

Day Thirteen and another short story/scenario written by me.

A Stroll in the Park was originally written for Ragnarok, the Journal of the Society of Fantasy and Science Fiction Wargaming or SFSFW back in 2012. With the demise of the magazine the article was never published. Craig of OITW has included it here as day thirteen of this years excellent Advent.

For full details of this story, see this link.

I hope you enjoy it.

Tony

An Industrial Narrow Gauge Adventure - the layout part thirteen

The metal salt pan was painted with a mix of pure black, Charred Brown and Panzer Grey which I stippled on with an old hogshair brush. The lighter weathering was done by adding Elf Flesh to the mix and applying it with a make-up sponge. I was looking for a well-worn and aged black which will be further weathered later on in the build.

I was particularly careful not to over-do the highlighting as I was looking for a hyper-realistic finish rather than an over-the-top or excessively drybrushed finish.

The interior was painted in a slightly darker black/brown colour.

Tony

NB. Free prize draw see this post for details.

An Industrial Narrow Gauge Adventure - the layout part twelve

With the red brick base now finished (see earlier posts), I have started work on the metal salt pan. I have used the Lion Salt Works as inspiration, but the depth (front to back) has been shortened to fit in with my planned shelf layout.

The salt pan was constructed from 3mm thick plastic card (an old advertising signs which I was given for free) with .5mm thick plastic card detailing to the sides and rim.

I used a small metal cog on a scratch-built handle to emboss the lines of rivets, then cut the thinner plastic card into strips and glued them in place with superglue. The slightly thicker rim to the top was also produced from plastic card and was modelled to produce a slight overhang, hiding the fact that the sides are in fact too thick.

Note how I have distressed the metal sides by gouging with the bit of a Dremel or trimming with the point of a scalpel. Once the superglue had fully set, I 'washed' the plastic card with liquid poly to 'soften' the effect.

In this final image, you can see how I have added a 'make-do' repair (something that was once again copied from the Lion Salt Works pan). The wooden beams (under the metal pan that hold the metal salt pan in place) were modelled from 3mm thick plastic card strips and textured with the teeth of a razorsaw before being glued in place with more superglue.

Prior to taking these photographs, I have further textured the flat metal sides by adding some acrylic gel and very fine sand to show some surface rust.

Tony

Annual Port Tasting

Last night was the Annual Charity Port Tasting and as usual a great time was had by all who attended with lots of money being raised for charity.

The three Ports were;

Dows Special Reserve - Very good

Taylors LBV - OK, buy not my favourite

Dows 2004 Quinta do Bomfim Vintage Port - Exceptional

Tony

Orcs in the Webbe Advent Calendar - day five

Image 'borrowed' from Orcs in the Webbe

Day five of this years Advent and a short story written by me. The Pyjama Pilferer, featuring 'Trickie Dickie' in a couple of adventures.

The character of Foul-Mouth Freddy is based on a family friend. In addition most of the 'Posse' are also based on colourful personalities - friends of my father. This year the last of these characters 'Dickie' passed away and I thought it a fitting tribute to break with tradition and feature a story about Trickie-Dickie rather than Foul-Mouth Freddy. I hope that you enjoy it.

Full details can be found here.

Rest in peace and thank you for all the great stories.

Additional story stories and gaming scenarios featuring Foul-Mouth Freddy can be found here.

Tony

NB. Free prize draw see this post for details.

Scale Model World 2017 - part three

Part Three - Modern Jets or Post WWII Jets.

I have more images and will post them during December.

Tony

NB. Free prize draw - see this post for details.