Tokyo Was Not Built In A Day... [2]

Hey Internet,

A little while ago, I started construction of Japan City, Asia.

Originally, I'd planned to do the whole thing with Resin buildings, but after some reflection on the hideous cost involved, I've decided to switch to 'papercraft' terrain.

I've never been a fan of paper terrain. To me, its always looked a bit..well...crap. That said, the buildings in the classic monster movies that inspired this project were hardly a lot better...so if anyone asks, its a homage, not me being cheap!

Two down, a fifty or so to go. 

I've made a start. Two buildings - took me about an hour each. Turns out folding and gluing paper really isn't something I was born to do...

Some 'free papercraft building' links;

http://www.sarna.net/files/media/cardstock/

http://dathbain.tripod.com/id1.html

http://www.timewarpcomics.com/gamesite/btech/?what=terrain&pagenum=1

MM.

Tokyo was not built in a day

Hey all,

This week I've made a start on a small city. Not a big start by any means, just three buildings, but a start all the same. After a little bit of experimenting with wibbly-wobbly paper buildings, I decided that it would be better to just bite the bullet and make my city out of good 'ol resin. However, this is going to cost a bucket-load, so I'm going to chip away on this project a little bit at a time with the plan to make a decent 3'x3' urban layout by the end of the year.

The two smaller buildings are by Scotia and the larger one is by Battletech.

I make a point of not doing 'bad reviews' on this blog out of common courtesy, but recently I ordered a fair few Scotia buildings, after being impressed by their low price and decent looking quality. However, when I got them I was less than pleased. Most of them were not terrible models, but were terribly cast, with nasty flash obscuring their detail, and the bottoms on many of them being 'hollow', as if they had not quite pored enough resin into the mold when they were being cast.

In fact, for the first time ever, I asked for my money back for a few of the buildings that were so bad that I just couldn't see any way of using them!

In a similar trend, the Battletech building was also badly cast, with the same 'hollow bottom' problem that the Scotia buildings had. I've had some Battletech buildings before (that I irritatingly got rid of a few months ago, before starting this project) that were superbly cast with almost nothing in the way of air-bubbles or flash.

I did not buy either variety of building direct from the manufacturer, and what with the bad castings, I am more than a little suspicious that they might be poor quality re-casts, rather than the genuine articles....

In better news, I also painted up a Federation 'Long-Track' AT-T mobile radar recently. Its a GHQ model, and as with everything I've had from them recently, its nothing less than a miniature work of art.

Better luck next time, eh?

MM.

Zomtober 2013: Week 3

Hey Internets,

I'm a little late uploading my Zomtober entry this week, but I don't really care. I had everything ready Saturday morning, but to my infinite displeasure all my friends wanted to spend loads of time with me over the weekend, leaving me with very little time to sit alone in the dark and put pictures of zombies on the internet.

But, well, yes, anyway...

This week I have painted a trio of Zombie Nuns, and the ruins of their devastated Church.

The Nuns are repainted Hero/HorrorClix models. I got them as part of a big collection of Clicky stuff a few years ago, so cost almost nothing. I've had them laying around in a box somewhere for ages, with no real idea what to use them for - but a dab of blood on just about anything makes them a zombie!

^ Sister Bleeding From the Eyes 

As ever getting the mold-lines and chunks of thick paint off them was a pain on account of their rubbery nastiness, but otherwise the models are all-right. Like most clicky models the detail on them is very light, but they aren't that bad. Their poses are a touch strange, but the whole ' flailing-arm whilst twerking' thing lets them fit in fairly well with 'the horde'.

^ Sister Nosebleed

Having little in the way of details and wearing habbits, the Nuns painted up really fast and were great fun. After a few layers of drybrushed grey and a couple ink washes for the black, and a few layers of palid flesh tones all there was left to do was crack out the Clear Red to do the gore.

^ Sister GapingMaw

I spent far longer this week working on the church itself. I'll show more pictures when its finished, as its part of a much larger Post-Apocalyptic terrain project. The intention is to build a shanty-town come fortress established inside the blown-out remains of a cathedral, called 'Cathedral City'. I know the pun is terrible. You don't need to tell me.



Anyway, what do you think?

^ Well, Priests will be Priests....

Narrowgauge Railway Engine.

Heres a little Railway Engine that I have recently knocked together. It was a ‘thomas the tank engine’ die-cast that I have sawn apart and turned into a 28mm scale model (I don’t know what Die-Casts are made of, but its not easy to rip apart with a jewellers saw!) All I have done is set the wheels so that they fit on the track, cut open the cab and added a platform from a 25x25x3mm base, chiselled off the little engines face and replaced it with a 15mm Troll’s shield and added a few internal details. 

 

It’s mostly just a bit of table dressing but I can see it being an objective for a few future games. I’ve got about 6’ of track (with every other sleeper cut away to make it look more in-scale) and a few bits of rolling stock. I’m rather happy with it. Tell me what you think! Thanks for looking. 

Generic Un-English Buildings.

I made these, start to finish, in the space of two afternoons. They are made out of Foamboard over Polistirene cores, with doors and windows either cut out or added out of balsa wood. I gave the things a good coat of a 50/50ish mix of PVA glue and Polyfiller to add a little texture, then painted them up. I’ve made them with VSF Turkistan in mind, but they will do for everything and anywhere East of the Holy Roman Empire. Hope you like them.