Weed it and Reap

The latest Jihadistani model is this walled garden. The walls are the usual foamboard mock-plastered with filler. The plants are plastic aquatic ones, but spaced so that figures can get between them. With the more usual gaming trees that’d damage them, but the flexibility of these allows for some movement.

The world’s worst bricklayer has paid a visit to put these supporting pillars at the gate, a welcome piece of detail for a building like this as they’re typically quite bland.

There’s also a hole in the wall in one corner with most of the rubble on the inside. A handy entrance, exit, or just somewhere to take a sneaky shot from.

In another corner a few poppy plants, seeded by the wind I imagine. A straitforward little scenic but it adds a splash of colour to an otherwise dusty scene.

Bazaar Enough

This was a very quick build using foamboard, filler, PVA glue and a few pins and  set on a piece of MDF to add a little weight.

For the shutter I scored the card on one side of a piece of foamboard, then peeled away the foam and bent the shutter to shape and doped it with a little liquid superglue.

For gaming simplicity the roof comes off, it could have been fixed but as you,  gamers, know that’s just asking for trouble when someone wants to get a figure inside or even forgets there’s a figure in there and it’s found a week later battered and bruised from being moved with a scenic.

One end is delicately ruined with plenty of room for figures, and a small hole in the wall for the occasional sniper.Although probably one of the simplest buildings I’ve ever made I think it’s a little cracker. I may well add open shutters to the other shops because it’s a small detail which brings it to life.

Hovelly Versatile

The great compound building spree starts to grind to a halt as all three near completion, spurred on by me discovering Channel 5’s “Royal Marines: Mission Afghanistan” on demand via the Xbox and boring the whole family with episodes back-to-back, leaving them feeling like they’ve done a tour themselves but in a single Sunday.

My idea was to cast a building several times and in laying it out differently make a village which didn’t look like a housing estate. Having managed a trio to start with I must admit the roofs done this way is not as good as the way I did it before.  Not sure why I changed style, some half-arsed idea about doing seperate roofs for added variety I recall. It didn’t really work did it?

Roof problems aside I’m happy with how much this speeds up making compounds, as the walls are simple. Above they are made from foam board carved for irregularly,  boshed with filler and a light sanding

For this one I’ve added a dome on the roof, more of a gaming tradition than anything I’ve actually seen in photos.

The walls have been made differently on this one reflecting an observation on the different styles of Afghani walls. Many seem to have been made with large dried mud bricks, which is then rendered with a coating of mud. This often crumbles in places but the brick pattern is still slightly visible.

The effect has worked and was made easy by using Cork Expansion Gap Inserts, or strips of cork to you and me. I’ve seen these in Wickes for around six quid a packet, which as a modelling material is well priced. However my Domestic Goddess found me a pack in the PoundlandQuidKingdomNinetyNinePee shop and there’s miles of it. Hurrah for marriage!

I’ve then cut these to brick size and laid them into walls, taking care to make the walls based on the brick size to keep it simple.Then the usual rendering with filler and a light sanding.

This is the final one and I fancied something a bit different, so it’s set on a slight mound, has a smaller yard and the gate is on the corner with a few steps down. One corner of the roof is missing and there’s a small hole in the rear, ideal for snipers.

It also has the bricked walling which blends fairly well with the more regular irregularity of the building’s wall. It has a fair amount of height to it and therefore more variety.

Together this trio works well, so I’m looking forward to putting them down with the other four. I have one more casting in hand at the moment but having started a wrecked market from seeing one on  Royal Marines: Mission Afghanistan”  it’ll just have to wait.

There’s some small detailling left on these but I got so excited with them I couldn’t wait to post them up. A feeling I imagine you share.

In for a compound in for a penny

This humble Middle Eastern abode is very much a work-in-progress,  hopefully another Slug Industries product soon, borne from my desire to have a few more compounds from reading about the Royal Anglicans time in Afghanistan in book “Attack State Red”. The reports of inter-compound fighting reminded me of fighting in Stalingrad, which explains why Sangin has earned the nickname “Sangingrad” amongst our brave forces.

For a good skirmish game you do need to get inside the buildings, hence the lift off lid. I’m happy with the scale as the rather fine Eureka figures shows it’s a good fit. There’s three of these on the bench, which will take me up to seven compounds in total, which is just enough for the game I have in mind. The others can be seen here.

Here’s one in place for it’s fitting of walls. These are foamboard, which is very easy to work and they’ll get a coating of filler to get an irregular finish. The other two will be cork, as I’m after a certain effect on those which you might be lucky enough to read about later. Bet you can’t wait, eh?

You can see how these developed here.

 

Rubble and Concrete

It’s been quite a productive week here at 6mil mansions. First I bashed out these three small rubble piles, which were very quick after the ruin set which took a full week to put together. The result can be found over at the Slug site.

Also a couple of pieces I needed for an approaching 6mm game. So rather than just make the pieces for my own use I decided to make pieces I could cast from. This is also handy for my pillbox needs, as I don’t fancy building more than one of them.

The sharp-eyed amongst you might have noticed how there’s no opening on the bunker, a deliberate step as I wanted it for something a bit different, but I have build a gun port for it, which I’ll attach to a casting and make another mould from, and that’ll be a proper gun toting bunker.

This Radar station is what I wanted, so you can see my thinking. The screen for this was some of that brass etched stuff which is getting cheaper. If you do try something like this my top tip is make sure your brass is totally flat before working it. Mine wasn’t but I added the plastistrip anyway and then I had to flatten both that and the metal.

Not totally finished though, I’m tempted to come back with a simple camoflage scheme, but it’s ready for a game.  Both these pices can also be found over at the other place.

My Old China

These two china buildings turned up at a boot fair for a whopping quid a piece.

And although simple, perfect for a quick hack with some paint and flock.

Not much had to be done , I liked most of the paintwork and it fits with the colours I use on our table.

Yhe thatch came up well.

and after some flock looked finished.

They fit neatly with figures too.

One flew over the machine gun nest

Regular readers will recall my conversion towards table mats and drinks coasters as bases for structures thanks to Daring Dan. Someone gave me four old drinks coaster for this very purpose and here is the last one finally finished. It’s a machine gun nest for the jungle made mainly of cork cut to strips, DIY filler, and coffee stirrers. There’s a bit of various flocks, a plastic plant but most effective is the spagnum moss donated by Wobbly Steve.

It’s a very simple build, crudely slapped together and saved by the filler render and the liberal use of flocks and moss. I did try to make it as unobvious a bunker as possible. When I find my hessian I will cut some to cover both gun port and door and remove the contrast they produce.

As is my preference I’ve made it so you can get inside with enough room for a based machine gun and crew. The interior could do with further detailing. Perhaps a pin-up of Betty Grable or a photo of the Emporer.

It’s a jolly piece which I like a lot not least for it’s simplicity as well as another coaster based project where the base didn’t warp in the slightest. HURRAH!

Sheddy steady go!

The drive towards using one thousand coffee stirrers in scratchbuilding continues with this farm hut/woodland shack made as part of an ever expanding farm set. Yes I did use even more Army Painter Ivy leaves which have become a regular addition to my rural buildings.

The roof is plasticard, cut in scale correct sizes and quite heavily weather, with a mix of rusty tones of paint and oil pastels, with a lot of smudging and plenty of slightly different coats. On one side of the roof there’s a small repair as well as a missing sheet.

The timbers were coated with mock plaster which is allowed to dry for about 30 seconds and then brushed in the direction of the grain. This not only fills most gaps in the planking but also gives it a very aged look.

I painted almost the whole thing in this delightful green, which you see in a similar shade all around the countryside, especially on corrugated iron. The corrugation on this model is plasticard.

As per bleeding usual, the roof comes off to allow the full doll’s house experience. The interior has beensprayed, washed, gloss varnished and then matt varnished. I have left one corner for a stove or boiler, if I can source one – does anyone know of such a thing? If so please leave a comment.

A relatively simple build except for the roof, but I always have troubles upstairs – but with each one it is getting better.

Barn Again

Aye it’s the other barn I’ve been working on which is now finished – Hurrah! It has around the same foot print as the earlier one but has a proper hayloft with front access, and a lean to section, so the barn is smaller. It has a similar finish but is meant to be newer so has no dry rot nor rust on the hinges.

I couldn’t resist a touch of the ivy though, this time along the foundation wall and up a post. I find the ivy a bit flat in colour, so I do give it a gentle brush of another green and then a green ink wash. This not only brings it to life but also gives you a way to cover the dried superglue which holds it all in place. I use superglue gel to place it, and when finished cover it with superglue liquid – when dried it hardens off and the whole thing becomes a solid object and gives it half a chance to survive games.

The foundation wall is made from cork strips cut to an agreeable sized brick, laid with glue and then rendered with mock-plaster which is also what I used on the roof. It gives a great finish and makes a material, which is identical to the wooden walls, look quite different. Mock-plaster is simply filler mixed with a little water to whatever consistency needed, typical just runny enough to apply with a brush.

The roof comes off, which I insist on with a 28mm building, and as you can see a car can just fit inside. I’ve used the same vehicle and figure for scale reference as I did in the other barn post so you might get an idea of scale – although I doubt anyones really paying that ridiculous level of attention.

Barn to be wild

No I’ve not become Amish but this week I’ve mainly been building barns. As you can see from the first finished one in the picture above. Why barns? Well two reasons really one I wanted something to compliment the rather excellent ruined farm by Miniature Building Authority which my domestic goddess gave me for Christmas. The other reason being how I have 1000 coffee stirrers. So I was looking for a wooden structure and one which might fit more than just one area of interest –  barns being perfect for WW2 and VBCW.

Originally I wanted to make it really simple, and the original build was but then as you’re doing it ideas form for detailing and given how you’re not going to make hundreds of these quality also raises it’s ugly head. If you’re only doing it once you might as well make it as well as you can eh? The Army Painter ivy above is a good example of this, it took about three and a half seconds to imagine, forty minutes to go and buy it, and over an hour to apply it as wanted.

The hay loft is another feature added after the original build, including the ladder. Of course you don’t actually need the ladder, nor can it even be used by the figures, but buildings like this seem to come alive once you get going with them and almost demand this level of detail.

The doors enjoyed the most ridiculous level of detail including rusted hinges and traces of dry rot on the bottom of the doors as influenced by the same detail on Rushcal’s Garage for VBCW.

The timber isn’t so much painted as stained with ink, this helps to bring out the grain in the wood. I started with a dark brown colour, and then dry brushed lighter and lighter shades on top of that. The roof was done with stirrers too, but laid closer to each other and then coated with a watered down filler. I call this material mock plaster.

Even though this photo is rather poor it shows how well the spacing on the walls works, as well as how much room there is inside. One of the finishing touches was to poke a few extra ivy leaves through the gaps, in the way ivy grows.