Merka 5 and some scatter terrain

Finally finished up my Merka 5 from Rebel Minis. Been sitting on this one for a while. It's the first of the Republic of Hestia Army. They are the first group to have broken away from the interstellar mining corporation that first colonized Hestia, the main planet in the setting that's been roiling in my head for a couple years now. The RoHA uses fairly standard equipment for a remote colony world, mostly chemically propelled projectile weapons and explosives with some limited access to energy weapons. Their vehicles tend to be tracked and due to the resources available on Hestia use advanced armor produced locally.

The Republic of Hestia shares the planet with the remnants of the Interstellar Mining Conglomerate and another breakaway from the IMC, the People's Democratic Republic of Hestia Coprosperity Alliance (PDRHCA) a communist entity which is rumored to have an extremely oppressive regime. Occasionally Hestia is beset by the Terran Expeditionary Force (TEF) intent on destroying the facilities of the breakaway colony or raids by alien mercenaries and pirates.  The RoHA will be comprised by Rebel Minis Earth Force Marines and vehicles and a Khurasan Siler tank.

The TEF are GZG UNSC and grav vehicles. I've not decided for the IMC or the PDRHCA, but I'm leaning towards Khurasan Federal Army for the IMC and New Vistula Legion from Oddisal Osmy for the PDRHCA.  For raiders I've got a squad each of Khurasan Felids and Mekanoid Grenadiers.

I also completed a couple test stands of bushes/hedgerows. I try to keep my terrain scale neutral and these work well across several scales. They are nothing more than craft sticks painted brown and lichen from the Hobby Lobby floral department glued to the craft sticks.

Nifty Fifty

Been a while since I posted. Nothing major going on, just haven't been doing much hobby stuff lately. Not being able to reliably take decent photos has been keeping me from wanting to post here because I like to give yall some eyecandy unless I'm going off on a rant.

Anyway, what inspired my muse this morning is that at some point recently this blog has hit 50 followers. Thanks to the long time followers and greetings to the new ones! That's not a lot considering how long I've had this blog, but let's face it, my posting habits are...intermittent...at best.  Hopefully with recent changes at work I'll be able to spend a little more time on my hobbies and that includes painting and playing more. Now if I could get a camera with a decent macro mode without dropping a few hundred bucks...

I have gotten a few things done hobby related though.  I've taken some paper boxes from Hobby Lobby and  glued the lid upside down to the bottom to make buildings. I want to detail and paint them, but then I'd end up locking them into a specific scale. I suppose I could always get more seeing as how they're cheap, but I'm cheap and lazy. I've also purchased some vinyl tiles and laid them out on a 2x2 piece of plywood to create a quick desert board, mostly for use with 15mm infantry games and maybe 6mm if I ever decide to go that route again, though I'm still debating just selling those. Here's a picture of the board and the box buildings taken with my cell phone, a couple of CAV Emperors (1/160th scale) for reference. The smaller boxes are from 50-round boxes of .22 long rifle ammunition turned upside down. They are just large enough to be cargo containers in 15mm and smaller.

I've also finished the Car Shop model railroad building to be used as a generic factory building. I've finished one of the two Krakens, but the second has sat stalled on my table for a few months now. I also finished up the Armored Heavy Mortar Team stands for CAV after playtesting my ideas for streamlining indirect fire in that game.

In my recent affinity for board games, I've received my copy of Mantic Games' Dreadball. I didn't get in on the Kickstarter, just pre-ordered the game through The War Store. So far I've got the Human team, 40% of the Orc/Goblin team, the Referee, and balls ready for primer and paint. I think I may want to switch back to white primer for these guys though, so the colors come out brighter. Still waiting on that copy of OGRE: Designer's Edition though.

So, that's what has been going on with me lately, now to figure out which tags to put on this post...

CAVscraper Part 2

Put together the second high rise tower I bought for CAV. This is another Atlas n-scale model kit. Please forgive the somewhat over exposed photo. A Dictator 60, Wolverine, and a stand of infantry are included for scale as well as the first tower I put together.

Started working on the Krakens and am about 70% done with them.

Shield Generator/Power Plant Finished

As the title implies the shield generator is finished. I didn't take pictures of it primed because, well I figured you all knew what a primed terrain piece looked like.  As I normally do with terrain pieces I used craft acrylic paint for it, I use Apple Barrel due to it's almost guaranteed availability no matter where I seem to be because Wal Mart carries it. I know there are better craft paints, but these have always worked well for me, including my first few armies.  For this I used silver with a touch of black mixed it to give it a worn steel look. The recesses on the top got ProPaint blues ending in Ghost white. They could've turned out better, but I got in a hurry. The ground got my usual AB Country Tan, then it got all flocked up. (hehehe, he said "flocked up")  And now the pics:

Here's the generator with a selection of 6mm, 10ish mm, 15mm, and 28mm models. I think it works best with the 6mm, but doesn't look bad with the others either. Though with the 28mm it'll be a power generator more than anything else. At 6mm it could a full on facility of some sort.

Yes, Lord Vader. I've reached the main power generators. The shield will be down in moments. You may start your landing.

(Thanks to Zachary for letting me borrow his WotC AT-AT)

Shield Generator/Power Plant WIP

Today I finally got around to starting a terrain piece that's been floating around my bitz bucket for a while now.  At some point last year my kids had left a Hubba Bubba Bubble Tape container on the floor. I saw it and had an attack of Scratchbuilditis, as I knew instantly what that little container really wanted to be when it grew up. Not too long later the kids had left another empty one in the van. Only problem was I needed something to dress it up. A few weeks ago I saw the cover for one of my wife's disposable razors and it looked the part, so I looked around for a second. Wait about six months, and today I finally got off my butt and started on it.

Here's the parts:

2 bubble tape containers, 2 ladies disposable razor covers, and the base is a wood flat from Michael's (Hobby Lobby has them as well, I'm sure most general craft stores will).

First step was to separate the halves and trim the bottoms so they'd sit flat. I used a combination of hobby saw and X-Acto knife for this. After that, removing the stickers. Getting the sticker glue off was a real pain in the ass though that resulted in me getting a blister on the side of my thumb.

Test fit

Next was to scratch up the sides to be glued together with some 80 grit sandpaper so there is some tooth to the surfaces to be glued. The plastic on the side is extremely smooth and non-porous. Had to do the same with the area that the razor covers were attached as well. Superglue (your typical cyanoacrylic glue) was what I used. I glued them together in sets of two them together, starting to look like something now...

Another project that had been sitting around, a little something to pass the time while glue dries.

All glued together now. I used some regular Milliput (found it at Hobby Lobby) to fill in the openings where the gum strip used to come out. I've decided I really like Milliput for it's ability to be smoothed with the application of a little water. Greenstuff and I have never really gotten along all that well. Had a little extra over so tried my hand at making some vent panels. Only one of the two turned out semi-OK-ish enough to use.

Since I wasn't sure what kind of plastic it was, I used Krylon Fusion black spray paint to cover the model as sometimes I've done work with plastic that went all tacky on me due to interactions between the plastic and the clear coat. Hopefully the Fusion coat will help prevent that. I'm going to let the base coat dry overnight then I'll glue it to the base and smear some artist's gel to the base and prime the whole thing with my usual primer (Duplicolor sandable auto primer - usually in grey rather than white or black). It looks good in black, but I know that it hasn't reached it's full potential yet.

Thoughts on painting are metallic silver with a good dark wash and glowing blue in the recesses along the tops. I'm purposely trying to avoid anything that will give this piece a scale reference to increase it's potential for use. Right now I'm looking at is as a shield generator or power plant for 6mm to 15mm and as a small power plant for 28mm or maybe a part of a Cygnar research project for Warmachine (though I still have yet to play that particular game). I'm hoping to get it based and primed tomorrow, maybe even a little paint. Though to be honest I'd like to play the last game of the Klingon Armada campaign tomorrow as well.

Terrain Project Idea

Just what I need, another project, but this has been bouncing around my head for a few days now.  Reconstructing Blood Gulch for 15mm. Figure I'd make it a 2'x4' board, insulation foam around the outer parts at least three layers high to allow for the sniper ridges. Use round electrical boxes for the bases. Get some GZG New Israeli figures, about five per side and paint them red and blue (though slight variations, to include one lightish red model for the red team). For what I intend I don't think Tomorrow's War would work so well, so would probably either use 5150 (not a first choice), Frag! (not all that familiar with it), or work on something myself (unlikely to be actually finished).

Feel free to borrow the idea, though I seriously doubt I'm the first to think of it.

Recent Acquisitions

Bought these last month while I was out with my wife on our anniversary weekend trip to Kansas City. (Yep, I know she loves me because we went to a game store on our anniversary!)

The river and bridge are JR Miniatures in 15mm scale, the quonset hut is an IMEX HO scale building (found at a local model / train shop) and the walkers are AT-43 models that were 75% off.  The walkers are going to be repainted and used for my upcoming 15mm games.  Just need to find an army that matches them thematically.  Was thinking Rebel's Titan Marines might be a decent match. Though, being in the Army, I'll have to rename them :).

A quick word about Tabletop Game and Hobby in Overland Park. It's a nice store, plenty of selection (though no 15mm sci-fi which bummed me out a little), clean, and courteous staff. If you're ever in the Kansas City area I recommend you check them out.

That's Some Good Grass Man

No, not that kind of grass. :)

Today I mounted some Woodland Scenics grass mats to 2'x4'x1/8" hardboard panels so that I can swap that out with the hex mat without getting spring mix flock all over the star mat. Also, if I need to change the wood on the table, I don't have to flock it again. Took some pics with various scales of models. (click on the pictures for larger versions)

Here we have CAV (N-scale):


Some 6mm sci-fi (mostly DRM, the aircraft are repurposed Silent Death craft):


28mm Sci-Fi (an Imperial Guard group about to be on the receiving end of an ambush from some Pig Iron troopers)


And 28mm fantasy (a Bull Orc faces off against a Minotaur)

3 More Done!

Finished off a kitbash/scratchbuild spacestation and two more of the JR minis pieces (two comms dishes). They're painted to the three foot and squint standard, but they're done. Took a picture of them as well as the rest of the stuff I've finished this year, but will post them later. I don't feel like putzing around with editing the images at the moment.

You Call That a Terrain Piece?

This is a terrain piece...


To be more specific is it Atlas Model Railroad #2835, Square Highrise from their High Rise Series. It seems to be an older kit as the tape on the box and the instructions were slightly yellowed. I found it in a Model Railroad/RC/Rocket/Model hobby shop in downtown Junction City. Didn't even know the place existed until I heard a radio ad on Thursday. I'm going to go back at some later point and get the other two hexagonal towers they had.

Here's a pic showing some Rach infantry supported by a Dictator doing what Rach infantry do, assault tanks and CAVs.

And a close up of the action


All told this took me about 3~3.5 hours to complete, though to be honest I wasnt' paying attention to the time when I started. On other fronts, I've four more Silent Death minis ready for sealing and kept plugging away at painting 6mm bases.

Forgot mention, it's 16 5/8 inches tall to the roof and 22 inches to the top of the antenna.

A Couple Buildings and What's on the Bench

OK, so the whole prioritized list thing went all topsy turvy. I ordered Sara the Seeress with a few CAVs earlier this month because, well, because I had a few extra bucks in my monthly allotment. Sad isn't it. Anyway, I got that for Aprile on the condition that I actually paint it. The impending arrival of a bunch of DRM minis for use with FWC will most likely also affect things, nay, already have affected things.

In the last week I've finished up a couple of my JR Miniatures 6mm buildings. The paint jobs aren't fantastic, but they match the casting of the pieces. I've also managed use colors other than gray as well on them. :gasp: I'm trying to figure out why all sci-fi buildings are painted gray. So my goal is to have a colorful down in sandstones and blue and steel and other colors.

I've got a start on the Gladiator II and the Centurion. The legs to the Centurion need a touch up though as the gray is nearly indistinguishable from the green. I used the airbrush on them and I have to say that I have to be careful to not obscure detail with the ProPaints when using it or thin them even more than I have. I've managed to add three projects to the CAV list. Mainly a Black Lightning Dictator with the arms having been donated graciously by Lanse (Froggy the Great on Reaper's boards) and two Moguls (Kahns with Gkw-12y Gauss Cannons). Unfortunately the Dictator I ordered has some bad mold lines and soft detail. I'm very tempted to request a new one but don't really want another pair of Dictator arms. Maybe if one of the Kahns aren't up to par I'll ask for new pieces.

And then there's Sara. When asking Aprile about the base she said she doesn't like my flock. And that she just wanted a sand base. Well, I didn't feel quite like cutting off the integral base because it's a horrid pain in the butt. So I got out the greenstuff and filled around the edges out to the edge of the washer that she's glued to. Then it had the standing on the pitcher's mound look. So using my immense sculpting skills added a rock outcropping. Aprile's out of town till tonight so I have to get design approval before moving on, but the plan is to have Sara done tomorrow. The upside is that if I count the two buildings (which I probably shouldn't) I've averaged a mini a week so far this year.

Wednesday I get laser eye surgery so next weekend probably won't be very productive. Hopefully it doesn't screw with my ability to paint minis. I doubt it will, but I'm concerned about a reduction in clarity when looking at small details...like on miniatures.

Depending on how things go I may take some pictures tomorrow. But I've also got to start getting ahead on my college homework so I'm not trying to do it during my various holiday vacations that are planned.

Two finished minis and a bunch of terrain

Hooray for finished models! The Czar is a new color scheme I'm thinking of using for a Templar force. It's Rainy Grey and Pale Lichen (Reaper MSPs) washed with Pure Black and drybrushed.




Next is a Hasslefree mini I finished up before Christmas, so I'm not going count it toward the total on the sidebar. This is Ray from their Adventurers series. Anyone who's seen Shaun of the Dead will doubtless notice certain similarities. I was going to gore him up some, but ended up calling him done in order to move on to other things. I don't his hair quite the right shade and the highlighting on the pants could be better. Overall though I'm quite happy with him.


Another project finally finished in the last couple weeks was this cardstock flying transport. It's been an on-and-off project for several months now. It can be seen here with a squad establishing a perimeter to protect it from the evil WIPs.


A recent purchase was some Krylon H20 spray paint, which I had heard from various source online doesn't melt styrofoam. So I bought a can of the tan and took it to a bunch of hills I had cut out of the stack of styrofoam I've saved from various boxes and packages that is in my garage. I dries a bit glossy, but a drybrush with some craft takes a lot of the shine out. I may try brushing some artist acrylic matte medium and see how that works. In the meantime I think they turned out rather well.




Another terrain related project was taking some molded cardboard packaging material and turning them into some non-scale specific buildings. I hit the packaging with a grey spray primer, then drybrushed with a medium gray then a bit of silver (these two being craft paints). A little sealer for protection and they were done. I could've gone and added some more details to them, but in an effort to keep them usable across several scales I left them as is, so a little imagination is required. Here's some pics and shot with some 6mm infantry, a 6mm hover tank, a stand of CAV infantry, a CAV Dictator 60 and a Falcon, and a GW Cadian to give an idea of size.




And although I keep saying this, hopefully I can make some time to get decals on my Federation Commander ships before this weekend. Meant to do it last night, but ended up doing a repair job on the front door. Anyway, questions, comments, and critiques are welcome.

Another CAV game and a little more done

Played another game of CAV yesterday. The new rule that flying models are now at 2.5" above the tabletop really changed things. Models I though would be in cover weren't and got demolished before delivering their infantry payload. Oh well, lesson learned there.

Finished up a Czar transport on Saturday. I'm waiting for the matte sealer to dry completely before I take pictures. May need another coat tomorrow. I also finished up some hills today. I bought some Krylon H2O spray paint in tan. The beauty of H2O paints is that you can spray stryofoam with it and it doesn't melt the foam. So I sprayed a bunch of styrofoam hills that had been waiting for me to paint them but I'd never gotten around to because the craft paint I use for terrain tends to clog my airbrush. Mixed up a lighter color of tan and drybrushed them tonight and I hereby declare them finished. Something like six or seven hills and a large troop transport. Not bad if I do say so myself. Maybe tomorrow I'll finally get around to putting some decals on those
Federation and Klingon starships tomorrow.