Blogging and the future plans for this Blog

My Flintloque themed, One Mini at a Time month has meant that I have finally based and painted another regiment of eight Alternative Armies metal miniatures, minis that would otherwise have continued to languish on my Lead Mountain. I can report that I have continued to pull figures from my 'To-Do' box and my plan is to have a couple more themed months, showing what I've painted - but more on that later.....

Blogging! Dampf's Modelling Page is now well into it's 12th year and I'm still finding things to Blog about. When I started back in February 2008, it was never meant to be so encapsulating. But here we are 12 years on and I'm so grateful for my followers and readers and those who comment. During the last couple of years I have thought about 'where is this Blog going?'

Well maybe I can now answer that question.

I can report that it is going to remain in a similar format to what you see now. Blogger have in the last couple of months, informed me that they are making changes to the platform, but I'm over that and have decided to remain with the older format - the one that I am more familiar with. In addition, my daughter Holly has dragged me onto Instagram and you can find the odd post at dampfpanzerwagon on Instagram. I'm not planning on having the Instagram account taking over the Blog, but at least I now have another account to show off my models and modelling projects.

I'm enjoying You Tube and some of the fantastic video tutorials you can find there. I have thought about opening a channel myself, but as I normally work in my shed-at-the-bottom-of-the-garden in an area smaller than a typical computer table (and it's more-often-than-not a right mess), I don't see You Tube as a realistic option for me as the changes needed and the investment in funds would be too restrictive, but who knows, it might change in the future.

Regular readers will know that I am now a regular contributor to both Miniature Wargames and Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy and I see both continuing - at least for the foreseeable future. The Pen & Sword books have both been well received and I have commented on this Blog about the possibility of a fourth book in my Dampfpanzerwagon Guides, for details see this link.

I've also thought about monetising the Blog and although I'd be interested in finding out more. I'm not sure that is for me. I might ask for donations as I have seen others do - but again, I'm not sure.

So what of my future plans?

Covid19 lockdown has meant that a lot more of my spare time has been spent in the garden, model making/painting miniatures and I'm not seeing any major change to this - well not in the short time anyway. So at long last - my plans for the next two months are;

August - A Pax Bochemannica themed month
I still have a number of figures from the original box set to base and paint and this should be the impetus for me to start (and hopefully) finish painting them and some of the other Pax Boche minis I have in my Lead Mountain. Here is a little teaser.....

September - A Typhon or Greek Myth themed month
Like the un-painted Pax Boche minis, I also have a number of 40mm Greek miniatures that I bought some years ago from Spartan Games (now out-of-production), another part of my Lead Mountain and rather that going out and buying NEW miniatures, I will be trying to finish off some of my stalled projects. Typhon is one that I really should get back into and again I have included a teaser.....

So I hope that this gives a little 'flavour' as to what to expect over the next two months. I'm sure 'other' subjects and new projects will also be included but for now, here are my plans and I hope to have the first posts up-loaded on Saturday.

For now - stay safe and

Keep Calm and Carry On Modelling

Tony

One Mini at a Time - part twenty-five

Here he is at long last - the last of the finished naval boarding party.

The figure has been both gloss and matt varnished before the base was decorated with static grass and static grass tufts. And here is a view of the rear of the painted Ogre. I know it will never win any awards, but I'm proud of the finished figure and the group.

The last two images show the finished group of Flintloque miniatures ready for the table. I hope you've enjoyed this Flintloque themed month. Next month my plan is for another themed month, but more on that later.

Stay safe and

Keep Calm and Carry On Modelling

Tony

One Mini at a Time - part twenty-four

The flesh areas were painted in my usual colour scheme with the uniform painted dark blue.

Trousers were built-up over a light cream base and highlighted with white. The red sash was basecoated with Red Gore and highlighted with red acrylic tube paint.

I changed the red scarf to a white one as I thought it looked better and allowed me to have a near white strap for the loot bag. The gold areas were painted over a dark brown/Dwarf Bronze base and highlighted with Gold and some extreme Silver highlights.

Finally for now, I painted the base in my Snakebite replacement mix and highlighted with some white and washes before the odd stone was picked-out in grey, highlighted with white.

He's nearly finished, so expect updates soon. For now stay safe and

Keep Calm and Carry On Modelling

Tony

One Mini at a Time - part twenty-three

The miniature was spray painted with Tamiya grey primer before I used Vallejo modelling putty (the white areas) to further refine the metal casting. I don't pretend to be a great figure sculptor, I would describe myself as a 'putty pusher' but I do enjoy converting or modifying these Flintloque figures. This model is a perfect example of my style - not too much and not too smooth.....

Once I was happy with the sculpting, I basecoated the figure with a black/brown mix and then 'washed' the figure with a black wash to highlight the sculpt and act as a deep shadow. I am really looking forward to painting this character.

Stay safe and

Keep Calm and Carry On Modelling

Tony

One Mini at a Time - part twenty-two

The eighth member of the Naval boarding party is this much modified Ogre from the Sharke's Victory box set (5004), for more information see this link. I've replaced the legs with parts from a Guinalean Bog Orc and re-modelled the headgear. I have used both Milliput and Green Stuff for the conversion and mounted the miniature onto a 2p coin with the groundwork built-up from Milliput.

I think the model now has a more aggressive pose and stands 40mm tall to the top of the hat. As usual, I'll keep the Blog updated with regular posts.

Stay safe and

Keep Calm and Carry On Modelling

Tony

One Mini at a Time - part twenty-one

The one-legged sailor has now been varnished and the base decorated with some static grass and static grass tufts. It's quite a busy miniature with lots going on, but it was fun to paint.

The boarding party is now up to seven metal miniatures and reminds me of the Terry Pratchett novel Monstrous Regiment, being s miss-match of several races and full of characters. Regular readers will know that I usually model my Flintloque regiments as groups of eight miniatures, so there should be no surprise that I will be including one more figure.

Stay safe and

Keep Calm and Carry On Modelling

Tony

One Mini at a Time - part twenty

Painting started with the flesh areas and as usual this was built-up over a Snakebite Leather colour with both flesh and white added for the highlights. I hadn't noticed when painting this figure just how brown the basecoat was. My normal basecoat is a lot darker - more black.

Uniform colours were similar to the earlier minis, blue jacket, linen or white trousers and the odd touch of red.

The final image shows most of the painting finished, I just have to varnish and decorate the base and it will be ready to add to the rest of the boarding party.

Stay safe and

Keep Calm and Carry On Modelling

Tony

One Mini at a Time - part nineteen

Following on from the last model, I thought I'd choose a simple miniature as my next addition to the group, one that I could get to work, painting straight away.....

I choose this engineer, a one legged character from the Alternative Armies Royul Albion Engineers blister pack (54029).

The mini was mounted onto a 2p coin and the base built-up with Milliput. I could have started painting, but as you can see I added quite a bit of Vallejo modelling putty (the white areas) over Tamiya grey spray primer.

I'll be undercoating in dark brown next. Stay safe and

Keep Calm and Carry On Modelling

Tony

One Mini at a Time - part eighteen

Here you have the latest miniature all varnished and based. I have previously commented on the amount of conversion work carried out on this metal figure and I am already planning the next project - it will be a much easier adventure.

The base has had some static grass and static grass tufts added. While this second image (below) shows the rear of the painted figure.

This final image shows the group of six finished figures.

Stay safe and

Keep Calm and Carry On Modelling

Tony

One Mini at a Time - part seventeen

The first image shows most of the painting finished, while the second (below) has been gloss varnished. I like to both gloss varnish (for strength) and then matt varnish before adding any base decoration. My preferred gloss varnish is Ronseal Gloss Hardcoat, while I usually use Galleria Matt Varnish to finish.

This is the second time I have modified and painted this particular miniature, the first time can be found here.

Stay safe and

Keep Calm and Carry On Modelling

Tony

One Mini at a Time - part sixteen

The basecoat was a mix of dark brown and black which I later 'washed' with a black/sepia wash. As usual, I have mounted the miniature onto a large cork stopper.

The flesh areas were painted over a Snakebite Leather colour base (Snakebite is an old GW colour, which I have been trying to replicate for some time - see this link), and then highlighted with both Flesh and white added to the mix. The last stage is a light wash of the old blue topped GW flesh wash and some red added to the base mix for cheeks and lips.

The trousers were built up over a Linen colour (a very useful colour to have in your armoury) with white highlights. The uniform blue was lighter blue over a dark blue base and the red scarf was Gore Red base, highlighted with Blood Red colour (I tend to use tube acrylics for my red highlights as I prefer these thicker more opaque paints).

I'll try to get more updates later this week, but for now stay safe and

Keep Calm and Carry On Modelling

Tony

One Mini at a Time - part fifteen

This latest miniature is from the Alternative Armies Sharkes Victory box set (5004) and is the most heavily modified or converted figure so far with about 40% being re-sculpted in Green Stuff after the metal original was 'hacked' about with both a jeweller's saw and a pair of clippers.

When I was happy with the re-sculpted figure the miniature was primed with Tamiya grey spray primer while the finer detailing was done with Vallejo filler mixed with a little PVA glue and applied with a fine paint brush (the white areas).

My plan is to paint this character in the same naval colours as the previous models, but I'll have to wait for all that filler to fully harden first. So for now stay safe and

Keep Calm and Carry On Modelling

Tony

One Mini at a Time - part fourteen

And the next miniature, but this time it's not an Alternative Armies figure. I'm not sure where this one is from, but I've based and painted it as part of the boarding party - a wild dog soldier serving on board one of the Albion warships.

The final image shows all five of the metal miniatures, that were until recently part of my lead mountain, but can now be added to my collection of finished minis.

Stay safe and

Keep Calm and Carry On Modelling

Even if it is just one mini at a time.

Tony

One Mini at a Time - part thirteen

The first images shows the painted and gloss varnished Dwarf, the second is after the mini had been matt varnished and the base decorated with static grass and static grass clumps - the finished model.

Finally we have a group shot of the four finished sailors - the Flintloque boarding party all ready for game play.

"What will I do for the fifth member of the group?" You won't have long to wait for an answer, so for now stay safe and

Keep Calm and Carry On Modelling

Tony

One Mini at a Time - part twelve

The latest Flintloque miniature is this Dwarf from the Dwarf Camp Followers set (52017). I have modified his Bowler hat into a top hat and mounted him on to a 2p coin before building up the groundwork with Milliput epoxy putty.

The figure was spray painted with Tamiya grey primer and then undercoated with a black/brown mix and 'washed' with a sepia wash.

I'll have more images posted soon, showing how he was painted and varnished but for now stay safe and

Keep Calm and Carry On Modelling

Tony

Practical and Simple Wargame Terrain - part six

The latest issue of Miniature Wargames (issue 448 - August 2020) features another article written by me. This time a Timber Framed House modelled in the style of the long out-of-production and modular Pardulon resin buildings. The three page article shows how I built this 28mm scale house using the same principals as the earlier articles, namely;

1 - The model should be constructed from simply sourced or everyday materials.

2 - The model should be generic and able to be used in a wide variety of different games or genres.

3 - The model should be robust enough for wargame club use.

4 - The model should be finished to a good standard and resemble the building it represents.

5 - Finally, it should fit into a 6 inch x 6 inch x 6 inch box - for easy storage.

For details and images of this latest issue see the this link.

I have included images of the earlier models in this series (see below).

At this moment, there are still three similar articles/tutorials awaiting publication and my hope is to complete at least one more following the same principals of using scrap materials that are easily and readily available - in fact this particular model was built and painted during the Covid 19 lockdown using nothing more than corrugated cardboard, egg box card, lollipop sticks, balsawood and toilet roll card.

During the recent lockdown, I have been wondering if  this series could be published as a book - Book 4 or Dampfpanzerwagon Guide No. 4 in my series of self-published guides (see links to the right).

Dampfpanzerwagon Guide No. 4 - Simple Structures for Wargamers?

I was wondering if these greatly expanded tutorials or guides (the originals published in MW are just three pages long) would be of interest to readers of this Blog. Self publishing is not a cheap option and would require guaranteed sales of at least 250 copies to make initial production worthwhile and profitable. I have written in the past that I was not looking to write a fourth guide, but I feel this series of simple and practical structures could be a worthwhile project for both the novice and experienced terrain builder.

What do you think?

Stay safe and

Keep Calm and Carry On Modelling

Tony