Monday, 26 November 2012

You give me a button, I do the rest.

Hi everyone,

After a peaceful and quiet weekend, Monday has come and with it, comes the result of my efforts to make a new terrain piece with the help of my Hirst Arts molds and a bit of plaster (and not only...).

These molds are very handy, even if they are destined to be used for Medieval projects (castles etc.) and similar terrain pieces. As I've already told you in one of my previous posts, I like to explore Normandy towns with the help of Google Map explorer. While doing so, I came up with the idea of making a small terrain piece that could be used and be put between two buildings located in a street's corner. I decided to go and make a small town drinking fountain. I didn't know if it would be correct in terms of historical accuracy (in the mid 40's), but, I thought that it would add a nice form of variety to my never ending town-building project.

With this idea in mind for quite some days now I thought about the materials I had in hand, and what I could make out of them. I used some basic rectangular blocks, made from plaster (Hirst Arts), a small button (yes, button), a small lion-head made from plastic (I had it in my drawers for years), a piece of a vinyl tile and a piece of some Slater's plasticard (PVA glue, gesso and paints as well).

Below you will see the result of my 'block' molding process.



Now, you see the fountain piece, with it's button glued on top of it! :-)


And now you see the finished piece. It was painted grey, and the moldiness is thin strips of Vallejo's Russian Uniform.

On its own:


And between the big houses' walls:


Providing cover to some advancing Brits. :-)


I am preparing one more terrain piece, I hope to finish it soon (I am looking for a WW1 French Infantry man figure (standing position) - preferably in 28mm scale - any suggestions???).

I hope you like it.
T.


P.S: Revell has announced to re-release an old but very good set of figs, on the first quarter of 2013. I am talking about the old Australian Infantry (#2501) set, if you know it, which has a lot of useful figs, that I can use for my 43rd wyvers (with the help of a modelling knife and some super glue - for some minor conversion works - i.e helmets). It's production has been stopped for quite some years now, and during all this time the choices for some nice British figures (in plastic) were not very many - even though there has been an improvement recently, with new sets emerging. So, if you are interested, go to your local hobby store in a few months (03/2013) and get as many sets as you can (you never know, when they'd be done for good for a second time)! :-)

Have a good Monday night everyone! 





27 comments:

  1. Thanos that is outstanding; such wonderful terrain from humble beginnings like a button!

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    1. When you start with something simple you can get far. After all the most effective ideas, are the simple ones. Thank you Michael! :)

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  2. What a terrific piece of scenery! Well done! It looks just perfect for a small French village, and it must be accurate, because I recall a similar stone fountain in the Allo! Allo! TV series. :) Thanks for explaining how you did it, that was very helpful and has me thinking of trying the Hirst Arts products.
    Cheers,
    Mike

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    1. Thank you! These molds are very good tools for making these sort of stuff. I am glad you liked it. :)

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  3. Truly excellent and beautiful Thanos!

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  4. Great modeled scene, Thanos!

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  5. Superb looking scenery sir love the button idea as well.

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    1. What's the conclusion behind this story? It's not good to throw away things. You never know when they come handy! :)

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  6. wonderful wonderful... and if the brits are thirsty they can have a drink :-)

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    1. I am sure they will be with all the German bullets whistling around! :)

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  7. As the others have already written, this is beautifully done work. Your blog continues its excellence in scenery!

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    1. Thank you mate! There are some other blogs that do much better work than mine though. :)

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  8. Excellent!! They came out looking really nice Thanos, Well Done indeed!

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  9. I said it before and i'm going to say it again, you always come up with these greatest ideas for character pieces. Well done it is a great piece...

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    1. Devil hides in the details Greg. And that's where I am looking for him... :) Thank you!

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  10. And something this beautiful from the hands of a man who claims he is not an artist. As you put each new element in place, the scene become more realistic by the end, it was almost like being there. You are too modest my friend.

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    1. It's not about modesty, I tend to value the miracle of building from nothing, something, more than my work. I simply put the nothing to work in order to become something. :)

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  11. I like this a lot! You have taken a nice, simple concept and carried it out with real attention to detail. The button and Lion Head is an inspired piece of work and painting the water stains and mould really finishes it off well.

    Good idea to make it a corner piece. These kind of details really make a tabletop stand out, your Normandy village just keeps getting bigger and bigger!

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  12. With this kind of little pieces of scenery you let your twon come to live! Thanks for the tutorial and sharing it with us!

    Greetings
    Peter
    http://www.peterscave.blogspot.be/

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