How to make: Saxon Huts

Hi Chaps,

Hope you are all well.

These past few days, I've been working on some new projects, for a new game, that I think you already know, it is called Dux Britanniarum, which is a is a set of rules for wargaming and campaigning in the Age of Arthur.

Apart from painting figures, as you may have seen in my previous post, I have also taken the initiative to prepare some terrain pieces, such as the ones you'll see below.

Basically, I wanted to make some Saxon Huts. Generic huts. I took some balsa wood, pieces of vinyl tiles, an old towel (yes, towel - if you don't believe me, see this excellent article by Matakishi's site) and paints. 

The building procedure is shown in the photo sequence below. Simple really, not many fiddly parts to make your life difficult.

Hope you like them.

Ramble on!

Thanos

How to make: Stone Walls

Greetings everyone,

Today I'm going to show you my latest addition to my ever growing collection of terrain pieces (mostly handmade, as most of you that follow this blog already know).

Since I'm a cheap git (my fellow English friends may raise their fingers for my misbehaviour - I heard it in a movie and I liked it), I was trying to come up with a way of making some cheap, durable and respectful (in terms of wargaming feasibility) stone walls for my little men.

I browsed the internet for some ideas, but the answer came through one of my wargaming buddies, Vaggelis, who's trying to entice me into the world of Chain Of Command rules - he didn't try much tbh, since I didn't need much of an effort to indulge myself into something new hobby related thing.

He told me to use PVA, and plastic decorative gravel. Yes, you got that right, some PVA and plastic gravel. Below, you will see how easy it is to make some - good, for the eye at least - stone walls by combining these two, and easy to find materials.

I started from this:

And got into this:

Watch the video and spread the word, spread the word guys, so we can all play!

Have a great Monday evening everyone. :-)

T.

P.S: If you care to see how I made the small barn next to the stone walls, see this post. 

Penny Diameter -‏ for a mold.

Good afternoon L&D!

Hope you are all well. 

During these days, I've been reading the Fighting Wessex Wyvers book, written by Patrick Delaforce. What I noticed (among other things and aspects of course) is that, soldiers whilst fighting and refighting their days through Normandy and other battlefields, they were constantly digging foxholes for their protection. Since this was the 'staple' element of an occupied position, I came up with the idea of making some foxholes for my little men, and perhaps making some molds for multiple copies both for me and for you in case you are interested in buying some.

Since I want to make things right and not amending them afterwards (I am a rather tempered person - it must derive from my origin), I thought that I should ask you about your country's currency penny/cent diameter. If this seems odd to you, wait till you get some terrain pieces, and your figures don't fit it... It's not very nice, trust me. Nowadays, every penny counts, and we should consider every aspect that might arise to a problem for us. ;-)

As you all know, I live in Greece, where, for the time being at least, we are still in the Euro currency. I know about the diameter of 1cent (15 mm) and 2cent pieces (18 mm). 

Could you please help me about your country's pennies? England's, Australia's, US, South Africa's and any other country's I may have missed??

Thank you in advance - you are the best! :-)

Have a great Thursday night everyone!

T.

Normandy Town House‏

Greetings from warm Athens.

Hope you are all well.

As most of you remember, my last post was about a new terrain piece I was preparing for my Normandy Project. A normandy town house made from stone - well, it was made from Plasticard and foamcore card but, for the sake of our hobby, let's all pretend that I am telling the truth. :-)

If you have noticed, the whole project was done in a pile of paints, brushes, cutters, pieces of plastic etc etc....

My inspiration for the house you are going to see below, derived from the links below (not in any particular order), which helped me 'envision' the finished result. So, in case you were wondering, yes, I am a crazy tosser, I see a wooden gate, and ask myself ''what can I make out of it''....? Other people think about cancer curement, famine extinction...well, I don't. I see plastic people (and metal occasionally) everywhere... :-)

http://www.hfmodeling.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=5683 

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSSvjoOxawO8DRgp7yh9D8fLAPy-CcWBnvwmvXcRnMCjeNysMsw

http://www.armorama.com/photos/news/5683/a085-jp-modelers-5_copy.jpg

It was a rather time-consuming work, because I decided to develop my modelling approach, by adding some new features, such as round pieces of foamcore for the gate, pieces of needles for the window cases, a new-mix for weathering stonework and other building parts etc.. :-)

The dimensions of this piece are big, compared to other previous works I've done. The base only, is 30cm x 30cm. I reckon that if I carry producing behemoths like this in the future, I won't manage to get married, cause my girlfriend will throw me out of the house (or my models - sth anyway, to save some space). :-)

So, on with the photos......

What do you think? Will it serve its purpose?

Any C&C are more than welcome!

Have a great Monday night everyone!

Cheers. 

T.

Figure on Cheap Lighting

Hello everyone!!

It's been a rather busy weekend for me in terms of painting and modelling. I have managed to paint the whole lot of the German Artillery men from Fantassin Miniatures. But, before I share my photos with you, I have to share a link I found regarding the ways of taking good photos for miniatures.

This link is called ''Figure on Cheap Lighting'' and it comes from Happy Soda. 

It contains an excellent tutorial of how to take nice photos of your models with some materials that us fellow modelers can all obtain at a cheap price.

Enjoy:

http://www.happysoda.com/88/figure-on-cheap-lighting 

Have a good Monday night everyone!

T.

P.S: Now I have to find my self some tracing paper..... ;-)

How to: Make a Pig Sty

Hi everyone!

Hope you are all well.

If you've seen my last post, I have made a tutorial about making a chicken coop. Today I am showing you a tutorial on how to make a pig sty.

I was inspired by  Morrissey's song, ''Life is a pigsty''. I am sure you all know it.

To be honest though, my main source of inspiration, was an article of how to make a farm, from Matakishi's Tea House site (www.matakishi.com). This guy, has produced some excellent terrain pieces, and I simply couldn't help it, but to try to make some of my own. Please, do visit the site, it's like the Ali Baba's cave, full of riches!

Anyhow....

Again , all measures are in centimetres. The photo thread below is (I believe) self explanatory. If not, you can always ask! :-)

The pigs are from Pegasus Farm Animals set (#7052). 

Have a great Christmas eve night everyone!
T.