Russian Quad Mechs WIP

It has been a moment too long since I last posted any what's on my workbench. What can I say? I've been distracted by real life. It is what it is.

So, as slow as I am, I've managed to work out what was niggling me about the scheme I'd used on my Russian combat walkers aka Pokhodnaya Boyevaya Platforma. And above is where I'm at, below is where I was.

Obviously, duh, this is me we're talking about, they're not finished. But, proof of life. Given the adverts I've been seeing on YouTube, the algorithm seems to suggest otherwise.

Catch you all on the bounce.

Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance

Finished watching Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance on Netflix last night. We enjoyed it.

The whole white demon is going to kill us all vibe is excellent. 

Others disagree, for reasons that I get about it not doing as well as it could've, but I don't care enough to allow them to get in the way of watching giant mecha action.

In other news, I took my truck down to Lasham to have it serviced and renew the MoT for another year. It was a day to remember, but not in a good way. The phone app said an hour twenty minutes trip, which was the first underestimation of the day, as I reckon it took way longer that that to than that to get to the M25 ( I wasn't paying attention to the time as traffic was nose-to-tail bumper car goodness).

Usually getting to the M25 takes about 45 minute, so you can see where this is going.

After coming off at junction 5 on the M3 things went really Pete Tong. Lost the internet connection, and ended up in the middle of nowhere when I realized I was no longer being nagged to take a turning. That will learn me to pay attention.

Anyway, after circling around endless country lanes that all looked alike, I get the GPS back and proceed again to my destination, and then the phone battery died on me, despite having a full charge when I set off.

After a major panic, I managed to park up outside Alton, and find someone to help me out. Drew a map on the back of the old Mot certificate, and finally got to Lasham. Total trip time 4 hours.

And the icing on the cake, got a lift to Alton station to catch the 15.4, but didn't get home until 19.30; a normal journey back to Clapham Junction turned the trip into a nightmare, due to the West London route closing at short notice for maintenance with a bus replacement service.

All good, right?

After waiting half an hour for the bus, it's late Friday afternoon and traffic is solid, I was informed by another bus replacement service driver that the one I'd been waiting for wasn't coming. Ever. So, I was guided to another regular bus stop, and the handy-dandy clock said it would arrive in 20 minutes.

It did not arrive. Cancelled on route for reasons unknown.

So, back to Clapham Junction station to ask, given the state of everything, whether or not I could use my ticket, only valid for travel on the West London line to go into Waterloo and use the underground? I could, and so had to wait for the next inbound train, and then negotiate the commuters and travel on the tube to get home.

Arriving at Hammersmith, the connecting train to my stop departed with the next reported as not departing for 20 minutes. I walked from Hammersmith to Shepherds Bush at a rate of knots that left me frazzled.

I have spent today chilling.

Russian Quad Mech Repaints

It has been a year since I posted anything about my Russian four legged walkers. I seem to be suffering from the time loss equivalent of the MCUs Infinity War snap. Instead of half the population disappearing, it's time.

I start writing something, get distracted by something else, then look around to find the whole day has flown by.

I was going to apply decals, but I wasn't happy with the paint job. I wanted more contrast and to also make the models look sharper. Make them pop. So here's a comparison shot of the revised paint on the left versus the old paint on the right.

And I'm still not convinced this new look is the look I want (edit to add first version of this scheme).

My painter's lament, sigh...

Paint Haul

Went to my FLGS for some Citadel base layer red and found they were having a clear out of old paint. So, I got all of the above for seventeen pounds sterling, which is a bargain.

OMWB: Subatduku Alien Mecha

This is RattapoomK Gorgon Frame (Lancer RPG Mech) Machinegun and Grenade Launcher. Printed by my beloved, her first resin print. Woot!

Took a while to clean up supports, and while the arms detached, everything came out looking pretty spiffing.

Okay, so what's this all about?

Well, you might remember I had a short story in this collection, Clash of Steel, an anthology with a number of much better known writers. This model is going to represent those alien mecha that Sargent Jones unit faced.

You can buy the anthology here and at other good retail outlets.

Amazon US

Amazon UK

OMWB: Laser Towers for Ogre/GEV

I received the Combine laser tower set as a gift, and like lots of projects, it has taken me more time getting around to them than I would've liked. I ran out of spoons, but it is what it is.

Anyway, I decided to base them, and I took the opportunity to base my two original Pan Euro ones at the same time.

I also magnetize the new towers allowing the turrets to swivel, but skipped doing the same to the old models, because I didn't want to damage the paint and touch up any damage.

Far too much faff.

The Combine towers are primed so now all I have to do is figure out how to apply the colour scheme I use to these buildings.

Finishing Trees

Some thoughts on making trees. Besides wanting these trees to be robust, as in clumsy fingers proof, wanted them to look really sharp. 

So the amount of work they took to get them to this point is pretty hardcore, amounting to several hours per tree. Probably more than the average wargamer would likely want to spend making trees.

For anyone foolish enough to want to make more realistic trees, I suggest getting Modelling Trees by Gordon Gravett, from Wild Swan Books Ltd. He hand makes the trunks by twisting wire, and uses photographs to replicate specific tree.

He makes me look like a shortcut taking slacker.

So, while there's still some work to do on the bases, and the sabots they will sit in, what I've done so far can be summarized as follows:

Summary

1. Twist up a trunk (I used Woodland Scenics product)

2. Mount on a base (I added a coin for weight)

3. Prepare seafoam branches with hot glue gun

4. Glue seafoam to the trunk using either a contact adhesive, or hot glue gun

5. Texture tree with flex paste, then spray or dip the tree into Plasti Dip, or PVA (I did both)

6. Prime tree grey-green-brown (or other colour to taste) 

7. Spray tree with hairspray and sprinkle on ground foam/tea leaves, whatever works for you (repeat as needed, but don't over do it if you want a lacy see through trees)

8. I sprayed the foliage green, then sprayed a lighter shade of green, followed by a light dusting of yellow (to achieve desired colour)

9. Spray with Yacht varnish (super strong sealant)

10. Spray with mat scenic cement (belt and braces)

11. Admire your finished tree(s)

Notes:

I bought three Würth 500ml Universal Pump Spray Bottles (they have metal inserts in the nozzle) for this project. The ratios for the PVA and mat medium below are more like guidelines, adjusted them as necessary.

PVA was thinned as follows: 6 parts PVA, 4 parts water, plus five drops of glycerin (acts as a flow improver for PVA).

Mat scenic cement. You can use Mod Podge, but I made my own as follows: one part isopropol alcohol, two parts water, and then add three parts matt medium.

Plasti Dip thinned using their thinners, 50/50 mix as recommended by the makers, to make the product sprayable.

King Cobra

This very sad looking RAFM King Cobra came up on eBay at a keen price, that forced me to acquire it. Okay, maybe forced is over-egging it, but it's King Cobra, and I don't have one.

Missing one arm, which is a problem that means either finding a spare, or making a replacement.

I don't know what I'll do yet. Anyway, the first thing to do is throw it in some Nitromors and strip all the gunk off it. Happy, happy.

Catch you all on the bounce.

Stages of Making Trees WIP

 

Making trees has turned into a torment for Tantalus. I could post every week another update on progress and setbacks. I am being tasked and could even rename the blog to Lost in Trees, or something.

However, that would be boring.

And for those of you wondering how long it took me, or why I spent so much time making these trees, all I can say is that I'm not as good a model-maker as I would like to be, but I'm stubborn about learning from failure.

So, here's a post showing the stages of making a tree.

 

In the picture above, left-to-right, shows the process.

The first tree in front Seafoam sprigs glued to an armature next to pair of tree done earlier after flex paste has been applied to blend both together.

In the background is a one armature waiting for me to apply Seafoam sprigs to its branches, and the other is a partially finished tree.

And a picture from above. Note how one can see through the trees.

At the rear and to the left is a tree armature that I fabricated using three pine tree armatures glued together. I wanted to make a Birch tree, but it's really only an approximation because I've taken liberties with its form.

The right rear you can see the tree that I had finished building in a previous evolution, which I was not happy with.

I decided it needed to be be remade, and this his shows how I inserted new Seafoam into the structure to rebuild it. The next tree post, see what I did there, I will break down the how and whys I did these tree the way I did.

Catch you all on the bounce.

Can't see the Forest for the Trees

So, here it is, the big update, sort of. A breakdown of how my process in making these trees has evolved. Some thoughts and comments, and where I'm going next.

First up. After stripping my previous builds I had to repair one of the trees; as you can see below.

In case it's not obvious, the trunk was covered with homemade liquid Greenstuff (a fifty-fifty mix of Milliput and Greenstuff diluted with methylated spirits to make a paste), and then I glued a Woodland Scenics deciduous tree on top (making a taller tree in the process).

Once I glued the parts, I wrapped some micropore tape around the joint, spread a thin layer of super glue on top, then sprinkled some baking soda on top.

And here is the complete tree repaired in all of its glory.

Below shows how I used hot glue to strengthen the stems of the seafoam. It works, but it is time intensive, and requires a bit of skill to tease the glue along each of the branching stems.

Click to embiggen

And it's not accident proof. I broke a stem when I dropped my tree off the table onto the floor.

However, I then remembered I had some Woodland Scenics Flex Paste, which is some sort of acrylic or silicone paste. It dries hard, yet remains flexible! Worth a try.

I brushed it on all over the seafoam stems and the tree trunks.

I would've used this before, rather than make my own liquid Greenstuff, if I had remembered earlier on in this project that I had a bottle of this tucked away. But, I forgot, as one does.

Besides, I've been working on this project for a month, and my build process has evolved. And this is as far as I've got.

Catch you all on the bounce.

Real Robo Manifesto Size Comparisons

Void Scar Miniatures Taurus APC next to RAFM HG conversion and Abrams

Shocked to find it has been six years since I posted the size comparison shots for what I call my Real Robo Manifesto here and here for the 10/12mm – 1/144th scale Scopedog and Abrams.

These pictures are showing my 15mm – 1/100th scale models.

I placed both vehicles on bases to make their ground be approximately the same. This is one good reason for basing vehicles to match them to figures, but I don't like basing vehicles.

Void Scar Miniatures Taurus APC next to RAFM HG conversion and Abrams

It bears repeating that wargame models are not built to a scale, but made to a size.

This distorts the proportions of objects, which leads to erroneous assumptions about their size. The classic example is the picture of a Sherman tank with infantry next to it in real life versus wargame models.

M4 with men of US 60th Infantry Regiment, Belgium, 9 Sep 1944. Photographer; Spangle

And here's an official picture from Warlord Games. Because figures need to be based, one can see how this starts to throw off the relationship between the size of the tank and the men.

Not helped by the fact that wargame soldiers are broader to make them more robust when being handled see here.

Mr Dave Taylor

And for even better pictures comparing 1/48th scale Tamiya Sherman and a properly proportioned infantry figure and a 1/56/28mm Bolt Action Sherman and soldier see here.

So, the Taurus APC was a spontaneous impulse purchase bought at Salute as a possible conversion to serve as a cybertank from my World of Drei series. More about this in another post.

Now back to making trees for my forest.

Salute 2024

Sidney Roundwood and Richard Clarke of TooFatLardies

I haven't been to a Salute since before Covid, so it was great to go this year. Especially so since the new Elizabeth Line makes the journey really easy.

Schmoozed (which will be the word that best describes my day at Salute) with Big Rich, Nick, and Sidney of TooFat Lardies. The lads are the biggest inspiration to my wargaming hobby.

With Nick Skinner of TooFatLardies

And then I bumped into GZG Jon; long time friend, former SFSFW original committee member, and purveyor of wargame goodness.

With Jon Tuffley

Touched base with Mel Bose, The Terrain Tutor too. He has a book that's worth checking out.

Susan and me with Mel Bose, The Terrain Tutor

And, I met Annie from Bad Squiddo, who has asked me to make her some trees for her, as she loved the ones I posted on Twitter.

With Annie Norman of Bad Squiddo Games

And my new, bestist fan ever, Gab of OrkAngel. He's asked whether or not I would like to run a model making workshop? We shall talk and try and work out something.

With Gab of OrkAngel blog

And my acquisitions, because no post about going to Salute can be without a picture of what was purchased (though I went with no intention of purchasing anything, which is a forlorn hope at Salute).

 

A God Hand sprue clipper, a Deep Cut Studio six foot long strip neoprene river, a 15mm resin Taurus APC from Void Scar Miniatures, and of course the free Pirate Annie figure.

Seafoam Branches

The box of seafoam arrived, and I made up two bases with five trees. I used E6000 Plus to glue the seafoam pieces to the branches. The trees didn't turn out as well as I wanted, because I had to cut the seafoam into very small branches to get them to not drop off while the glue set.

Starting again, I did another two bases with eight trees.

This time I used spray impact adhesive. This was much better for attaching the seafoam to the branches, but was both smelly and messy. So, while this batch were better, after flocking the trees still weren't working for me.

So I stripped the trees bare, managing to salvage four trees (three seen here), and started again.

I used a hot glue gun this time round, and while the glue doesn't grab as well as the impact adhesive, and can create strings, it is the least worst option for me in a small flat that I don't want to stink out.

So, after a lot of faffing finding the best method to glue the seafoam to the trunks.

Here is as far as I've got. Next I will flock and spray the foliage green. This project has totally kicked my ass.

New Dremel

My beloved decided she would buy me a new Dremel to replace the old one I broke one, which had delivered sterling service for nearly 25 years, before I busted it.

The old one was 125 watts, my new one is 175 watts. So it has a lot more oomph.

We also got a new hot glue gun because working on the trees has led me to the conclusion that sticking seafoam to Woodland Scenics armatures is tricky.

I tried E6000 plus, but it takes too long to set and the seafoam sags. I also got some spray contact adhesive to try, but it's way too messy for the confined area I have to work in.

So, hot glue it is.

Again, I'm doing fiddly small stuff so need to be able to control the flow, and my old glue gun was anything but easily controllable.

Forest Full of Trees

I've assembled some of the large deciduous trees from Woodland Scenics. These trunks still need texturing, which is just brushing on texture paint/gloop.

Super easy to do, barely an inconvenience.

And these are some pine tree armatures, along with a deciduous trunk I've butchered, and three underbush saplings that I'm making as an experiment.

And below is  is my forest, all the trunks painted and based ready to apply the seafoam branches.

Great Birnam wood is one step closer to arriving and delivering the prophecy.

Dremel Embuggerance

Those who follow me on Facebook will know that I broke my Dremel. Too much force when using it caused a stall, and it stopped working.

The saga of trying to find a spare rivals one of the greatest tales ever told (only a slight exaggeration). This armature is no longer made, but we have the internet, and I found samples for sale around the world.

Huzzah! All good, right?

Nope. The Australian dealer won't ship internationally, and the Italian dealer can't ship to the UK either, Which sucks.

So I moved to Plan B.

Plan B was to try a physical repair of the damaged commutator, which Susan did, as it required soldering the delicate broken wires together. Afterwards I did the less delicate gluing, and bodging to secure the broken piece so that it won't come apart at 33,000 rpm.

That repaired failed, so now I moving to Plan C and buy a new Dremel.

Old School Sculpting

I came across this video, Miniature Figurines in the Old Days, quite by accident while perusing YouTube, as one does. I'd heard of the technique, but never seen it demonstrated.

I'm glad my experience back in the day was with wax for making jewelry lost wax masters, because soldering and carving metal is a bitch.

Consider this a public information broadcast.

Types of Forests

Click to embiggen: a perfectly cromulent word.

I always wondered what was the difference between a wood and a forest, or a jungle. So now I'm making a forest I thought it might be good to go and find out for myself.

I now know far more than I ever thought I needed to know about woods and forests.

1. Temperate Coniferous Forest 

Found where warm summers and cool winters and enough rainfall to sustain the trees. Species found including cedar, cypress, Douglas fir, fir, juniper, pine, podocarpus, spruce, redwood and yew. The understory also contains a wide variety of herbaceous and shrub species.

2. Sub-Alpine Coniferous Forest 

Conifer forests are typically found on steep, rocky, north-facing slopes.

3. Freshwater Swamp Forest 

Either permanently or seasonally flooded by freshwater, they can be found in a range of climate zones: boreal; temperate; sub-tropical; and tropical. Normally found along the lower reaches of rivers, and around freshwater lakes.

4. Lowland Equatorial Evergreen Rainforest 

These forests occur in a belt around the equator, which receive with more than 2000mm or 80 inches  rainfall annually.

5. Secondary Forest (Second growth)

This is where there has been re-growth after a large event: fire; insect infestation; timber harvest; or wind throw, after a long enough period has passed and the effects are no longer evident. One sign of this is that the trees are spaced closer together and they have less undergrowth.

6. Mangrove Forest 

These consist of salt tolerant trees and shrubs that grow in coastal saline or brackish water that thrive in low oxygen (anoxic) waterlogged mud.

7. Boreal or Taiga Forest

Mostly coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces and larches, and aside from the oceans these make up the world's largest biome.

8. Peat Swamp Forest

These are forest wetlands in tropical and subtropical areas with poor drainage and waterlogged soil, which prevents dead leaves and wood from fully decomposing. 

And below an illustration of the typical profiles of temperate versus tropical forests.

Also, click to embiggen.

I, of course, want a generic enough forest that I can use it for tropical and temperate set wargames. So my plan is to swap out specific trees using the bases in my previous post. I'm currently waiting on some E6000 Plus glue so that I can start applying seafoam to the trunks I've prepared.

It's a cunning plan, and we shall have to see if it works.

Forests

Oh no, what have I done? I looked at my old work on these trees with clump foliage and decided they weren't up to snuff. Do many hours later after dipping them in hot water and peeling off the clumps I'm back to square one, bare armatures.

But, the trunks are all based, textured up with gloop, and ready for the next stage.

So what is the next stage?

I've ordered some dried seafoam, and started saving tea leaves for foliage. I've also ordered some Woodland Scenics TR1125 large deciduous tree armatures, some coconut palms (because why not), bamboo shoots (because I didn't have any).

All good. And for shits and giggle I ordered a large plastic tree.

I plan to model an emergent tree (a tree that stands above the primary canopy) using the model in the photo.

Yeah that foliage is going to need replacing, which will need a lot of work to make it look good.  But, it has the big advantage of being cheap.

The alternatives I looked at were triple the price. So, cheap is good.

This is definitely a case of "I may be some time."

Desert Oasis and Ruins

Ta da... three oasis bases completed. Look at the reflections on the acrylic liquid water. Pretty pleased with how these bits of terrain turned out.

Below the fallen pillar.

The ruined head of some ancient god. Could pass as a very stylized Anubis or Khnum I guess. Let me know what you think?

And, the next project. The bases for my forest/jungle. 

The one in the center/bottom has had its edges beveled, which I should've done before painting. However, it was only after assembling them and priming did I realize that I needed to do so.

As they say, things are obvious in hindsight.

An Interlude: Trees

Here's where I am so far with painting the palm trees and the oasis bases from Charlie Foxtrot. This small little project that was just meant to be a quickie has turned into a monster made of trees.

As I said I have a whole bunch of trees, so many trees to finish working on. First up, evergreen pine trees.

Followed by deciduous trees of various sizes. All built from Woodland Scenics sprues I assembled many years ago that have sat in a box languishing ever since.

So many trees that need finishing. Above small and medium trees. Below large trees.

Hear the lament of the tree maker for she has bitten off more than she thought.

Catch you all on the bounce (probably while crashing into some trees on landing).

Birthday Thunderbird

A model of Thunderbird 2 set against the palm trees I've been working on; apropos to celebrating the passage of years, which I thought to share as an amusement, because birthdays are worth celebrating.

And Susan ran my picture through Photoshop to add a proper background.