Build it and they will come

It’s been a busy few weeks at 6mil Mansions working on three new models starting with the RV/Motorhome above made by the talented Crouchie. It’s an iconic vehicle most recently associated with the “Walking Dead” series, although my commissioning it was driven by only recently seeing “Breaking Bad” which I enjoyed immensely. If you’d like one, and we’d really like you to buy one, there’s more details here. Folk in the U.S. can get one from Brent at Company B. Brent has a great forum presence over at LAF being always willing to share how to do things and he’s greater to work with. Even before he had received the first shipment he’d produced some decals for this model, including both US and UK number plates. What a star!

Secondly here’s a set of city ruins, inspired by Akula’s need for some govermental looking ruins for his “Planet of the Apes” project which we’ll see at Salute 2013. I hope they’re good enough as his project is quite stunning in it’s scope including as it does the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and a Subway station complete with rusted wrecks of trains. His only problem is finding enough figures as he’s using out of production Eureka apes via forums and ebay. Should you know anyone with any for sale please get in touch. These ruins can be seen over at the Slug Industries site.

Finally the pentultimate Hesco piece in the shape of this command bunker. It’s a massive piece and the mould only just fits in my vacuum chamber. It’s hollow cast to keep the costs down, which is a wise move as there’s been an out-of-the-blue price hike in resin.  The roof lifts off this little beauty, and has an interior ripe for detailing. Not that I’ve had time to do that yet.

Once More Unto the Breach…

… dear Friends once more. Having built a few compounds for our upcoming Jihadistan campaign one thing became became obvious. The British forces do like to make their way through compound with explosive charges rather than just going through the door. Above is my solution and I think it’s rather elegant for what it is, and better than just a piece of paper with “breach” scrawled on it.

I’ve made one and cast half a dozen in the hope of the British player not getting carried away with his charges. I may well need some more given the joy a big bang can bring to a game. These are available from Slug Industries.

Sanger a Song of Sixpence

One of the most different things about making models for casting rather than just the tabletop is just how much longer it can take. Whereas I can have a model like the one above table ready in just three or four days for casting from it takes at least double if not triple the time to make a master. Thankfully I’ve evolved beyond making masters which get trapped in the mould, so I’m delighted with this one.

It started with single Hesco blocks. First laid was the first layer, then the second above it, the planking with scribed woodgrain and finally the steps.

Next came the lower half of the roof, or the table as we came to call it. The only real detail being the woodgrain underneath which you hardly ever see. Well I know it’s there.

Next was the corrugated roof, but that’s not really protection enough from Terry Taliban’s mortars, so it has to be sandbagged. So a line of sandbags went on, which has to be filled before the next line goes on.

It starts to look like this but very very slowly…

Finally got to throw the masters into rubber and lo and behold here’s the very first cast which worked perfectly… phew!

As did both sections of the roof. A peak of euphoria was reached in 6mil mansions.

I did take the roof out a little early hence the curve, but married together a neat piece which I hope others will be interested in.

It’s quite agreeable painted too, although I’m never happy with my drybrushing of the Hesco itself. It takes ages, look passable when it’s inches from your eye but looks a bit scratchy at a distance. Well it does to my hyper-self-critical eyes.

I’m looking forward to seeing this on the table, it’s big enough to hold five figures or a larger heavy weapons base of figures, and very tough – although my Eureka rocket launcher is on the workbench.

This model is now availble, unpainted and sans figures, from our humble Slug Industries.

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.

Trench Afoot

Gutted as I was to realise I’d already used the pun “Last Ditch Effort” I’m happy with this new secnic which I’ve just completed. It’s not only a handy piece but it proved to me how our humble Slug Industries sandbags and planking actually knock together to make a decent model without the hours I’d have spent in the past by hand making every single piece.

It also gave me an opportunity to use modrock, a bag of which I’d bought around a decade ago but never even opened. It’s a great material, gloriously messy with a hint of mudpies making the endeavour an even deeper recession into child-like joy. To start with I glued the sandbags in place, then used scrap foamboard to make formers for the ground. I wanted the look of earth which had been dug up and piled just a couple of months before, so quite smooth, howvere if you wanted more craggy a style that would be possible too. I overcoated it with Woodland Scenics plaster, or wotsit hydrocalifornia as they insist on calling it. It was great fun and I recommend it for that reason alone, anything more is a plus eh?

Then it was a bash of colour prior to flocking. I used three types, short dark for the undercoat, longer on top with a few added sprinkles of a flowery flock. The planking was stuck in place, plus a few crates, an oil drum and some single sandbages which we’ve not released yet and the piece was complete. It comes alive with a few figures, these all Uncle Crouchie’s BEF range now available from the ever regal Warlord Games.

Finally the hour spents cutting the seams on all those sandbags and the grain on the planking has proved itself worthwhile now on with the slaughter!

Wreck and Ruin

After the wildly positive private feedback on the ruins I made recently I decided to make a full set. Rather obviously this involved three times as much work to make it up to a set of four. Not so much a chore as a joy.

All joy has to be tempered by the gods so having boxed up the masters I opened up the twenty kilo drum of rubber to find I didn’t have enough to complete all three moulds. I scraped the bottom of the barrel to get as much done as possible and phoned through an order for new supplies and waited eagerly for delivery.

Lo and behold the completed set, which is available here, which I’m chuffed with and actually excited about getting some paint on. Hurrah!

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.

Euro Militaire 2011

The Boy Slug, Captain Stinky, Daring Dan and myself descended on Folkestone for the annual Euromilitaire show. For those who don’t know it Euromilitaire is a big modelling show on the south-east coast of England which attracts many of our finest modelling cousins from mainland Europe as well as a few eager seppos. Along with some of the world’s finest models in the competitions, there’s a sizeable but quite expensive traders area (£9 models from Modelzone for £13, etc), but also far too many older men lacking in both manners and personal hygene. I imagine their mothers gave them the ticket money. Great models though and here’s my pick of the very best click on them for simply massive versions.