Category: On the Paint Table

A “Box of Hope”

~ anthony ~ 1 Comment

I’ve mentioned in the last two posts that my job has seen me take a contracted position in India, or more specifically Mumbai, and as part of my shipping allowance I collated a single box of bits, that I now refer to as my “box of hope”. Thrown into this box were half finished projects, project expansions, terrain, figures, paints, and all the accompanying “bits and bobs” that a modeller needs to call himself a “War-Gamer”.

And while I was not successful in remembering to pack everything I would need, I have had to only buy small pieces (think skewers, glue, etc…) while here and the only large purchases have been spray paint which by their very nature are difficult to include in shipping.

The idea was, and remains, that by creating a “box of hope” from a “pile of shame” I might actually get a few things done and feel that I had made some progress in my collections given that opportunities to game in this part of the world are basically zero.

My “hope”…

  • ACW – 15mm – Mainly CSA, but also some USA infantry (paint & base)
  • ACW – 15mm – Seven Pines, Twin Houses (paint)
  • ACW – 15mm – Wilderness Tavern (paint)
  • ACW – 15mm – Generic wooden house (paint)
  • WW2 (Europe) – 20mm – Ruined buildings for Normandy. (build, wreck & paint)
  • WW2 (All) – 20mm – Wooden telegraph/power poles
  • WW2 (Far East) – 20mm – Japanese and Australians (rebase)
  • WW2 (Far East) – 20mm – Jungle scatter terrain. (build)
  • WW2 (Far East) – 20mm – Lanchester Armoured Car x3, (build & paint)
  • Dark Ages – 28mm – Woven fences

…if I can get through all this I will be quite happy, and depending on my progress I might have to swap the finished works into my collection in Singapore for something else to keep me busy.

Hirst Arts – Recycling

~ anthony ~ 4 Comments

So a long time ago, if you measure time in wargaming terms, I dabbled with Hirst Arts Moulds, and to be honest, my efforts were less than what I would have wanted them to be, though to be fair, 3D printing has changed the way I look at the bricks and their possibilities. The buildings I created sat for a long time under the wargaming table (when I had one) and then later in various archive boxes after I moved to be closer to my fiance.

Recent thinking and a desire to not waste was created has meant I spent much of the last few weeks recycling old buildings, breaking them down, cleaning the bricks up, and repurposing them for new ideas and a better understanding of how such could be utilised.

Recylcing: Most of the Hirst Arts bricks I have, are either HydroCal or simple Plaster of Paris. The later has surprised me in its resilience to being immersed for days in water to break down the PVA bonds I used to assemble the buildings originally.

A sample of my original creations, from which I wanted to repurpose the bricks to make a more quality product.

The process of recycling means soaking the building in a bath of water, then waiting *, pulling the bricks apart back to their original units, then rinsing them a few times and letting them soak again and repeat two or three times. The stubborn PVA that won’t break down or refuses to rinse off, is wiped/scrubbed off using a towel (a cheap one purchased for the purpose that can be repurposed for thatch after I am done…hindsight I should have used a cheap scrubbing brush.). The bricks are then left to dry for 24hrs or more (I live in the tropics so AC is a helpful must) before being stored for re-use.

I did consider that it would be quicker to just recast the moulds for the bricks I needed, but there was something about just throwing the old buildings out** that just didn’t sit right, and while I will have to cast certain moulds to give me the exact pieces I might need I have more basic bricks than I can use for quite some time.

The plan is a series of ruined walls, reminiscent of maybe an abbey or monastery for Saga, and my 28mm Dark Ages, with some extra add ons that would not look out of place for my AoS Dwarves & Undead. Oh. and a huge “shout out” to Bruce Hirst for his amazing moulds, they are simply amazing, and really very simple to work with, though they are only scaled for 25/28mm so that is a consideration. (I wish he would do the sandbags mould #340 in 1/72)

New creations coming soon.

* See I keep saying wargaming is a hobby of waiting.

** Storage has or rather will become an issue in the not too distant future.

Thatching II

~ anthony ~ 9 Comments

Following on from my last post.

Years ago I had tried to do thatching using the towel method, and the result was what you see above, the hand towel was something I picked up cheap at a 2 dollar store, and in the end proved too thin to look good, and I got a better result out of a $5 bath towel.

I pretty much just followed the instructions on Hour of Wolves. Strips of towel were glued into position onto the roof with a generous overlap all round. It was then coated with a liberal application of 50/50 PVA and brown paint, in this case Raw Umber. A second coat was added after 24hrs, and then after another 24hrs the towel was trimmed so the roof would fit between the end timbers. A further coat was added mainly at teh ends where the original towel (after trimming) was visible. After drying , dry brushing with Raw Sienna, Naples Yellow, and Buff Titanium where applied randomly to give the roof its colour. The stone work is simply a base of black, then a wet/dry brush with a dark grey, followed, after drying, with a dry brush of a lighter grey. The door is scratch made from balsa with the planks inscribed with a pencil before painting.

There is a lot of waiting in making the thatch with long drying times, but the overall effect of the strips of towel compared to the one piece is noticeable, and I think will remain my “go to” for thatch for now on. Also having got to play with some Hirst Arts bricks again I decided to “recycle” a lot of my old Warhammer buildings, and make some terrain more suited for both my Dark Ages, and for my Dwarves and Undead to fight over.

The only reason I have little to show so far is that “recycling” PVA glued plaster blocks takes time, as does making terrain in general, the wait period for things to dry is often longer than the doing period of action.

Oh well, back to catching up on the last 3 seasons of Supernatural, while I wait.