KSLI I

~ anthony ~ 4 Comments
Somewhere in Shropshire

The Kings Shropshire Light Infantry was founded on this day in 1881. The regiment was an amalgamation of the 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot and the 85th (King’s Light Infantry) Regiment of Foot, and apart from forming 1/4 of the later formed “Light Infantry”, was also the regiment of my father.

Although he was born in Torquay, my father spent much of his formative, and post war years, living on N.Castle St in Bridgnorth, Shropshire. And were it not for the immigration of his family to Australia in 1960, he used to tell me he would have continued with his military service and how different his, and by extension my life would have been. Without delving too far into family history, in short, dad resigned his commission to emigrate with his parents and sister rather than be left alone in the UK.

The “old man” turned 80 this year, and failing eyesight and Parkinson’s not withstanding has always been a keen supporter of my interest in both Military History and Wargaming, always eager to see what I have painted, or what I have been designing and 3D printing, I think his support sprung from both his interest in things “army” and of his own interest in model railways, he always being particularly keen to see what terrain I have made.

He has, and continues to be my most ardent fan. (well maybe apart from mum*)

So in some ways all this malarky is partly his fault, though I think it’s a blame he would gladly shoulder, and grin cheekily while doing so.

* sorry to my readers from the USA…it’s how we spell it in the Commonwealth. (You know…the yoke you threw off while keeping their antiquated measuring system, while the rest of the world embrace the French loved decimal system. hehe)

Realm Gate

~ anthony ~ 6 Comments
The original before up-cycling.

So part of my recycle and re-use efforts included this “gate”. Originally made before Age of Sigmar existed it was inspired, and poorly so from the Stargate series, and served as nothing more than an objective marker on the tabletop.

AoS of course incorporated the idea of gates between the realms as a central tenant of the new Lore and thus I decided to not just recycle this model, but rather up-cycle it and add some “bits and bobs” to enhance it’s over all look.

Inspiration: Here. (it took me ages to re-find this image to give credit where credit is due. NTS: get better at bookmarking.)

Although I have supported a number of 3D model Kickstarters (Printable Scenery) that included Realm Gates or Portals, I decided to use the inspiration above and create the extra bits I needed using SketchUp and then printing my own embellishments. Thus all the metal pieces, cogs (the small one is Lego), and Dwarf Runes were printed then painted: using Black, a dry-brush of Plate-Mail, a liberal dabbing of Typhus Rust, followed by another dry-brush of Ryza Rust, and then some edge highlights of Plate-Mail (all paint colours are Citadel or Army Painter). The stone work is Hirst Arts, either regular Plaster of Paris or Woodlands Scenics Hydrocal, and the timber bits are simply cut and shaped balsa wood.

I probably went a little heavy on the rust, but I wanted it to look like it was rarely used, or even abandoned. The ramp and bridge section are a separate model so I could swap this out for something less damage if I had the inclination, but again I like the ruined and damaged look that Age of Sigmar sort of inspires. This is probably one of what will only be a 2-3 fantasy specific elements, but I did enjoy the challenge of melding the Hirst Arts with 3D printing, and did give me lots of other ideas for future projects.

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.