Dusty spaceport town building Pt 2

Hello and Welcome back, 

Some progress has been made on the peices I started back in this post.

The ruined walls got a dry brush of Coat d Arms sand while the coated portions of the wall got a dry brush of Coat d Arms Light grey. They then whole of the models got a light drybrush of Coat D Arms Bone. I like it as it gives everything a nice dusty feel. 

Here are the finished power generators. 

All the other buildings also got a dry brush of Coat d Arms sand followed by a light drybrush of Coat D Arms Bone. The bottoms of all walls got a drybrush of Barbarian leather to give a dirty appearance to them. 

The pipes and control panels were picked out and detailed. After this the compulsory graffiti was added using Posca Markers. Posters and signs were added from pictures I had printed off. 
I fancied some graphics on the building so a corner was masked off and purple craft paint was sponged on. Once dry extra graphics was masked on and white painted on. This was followed by a yellow top coat. Weathering was added.

As I want the models to look like they have a purpose I made a sign from plastic card salvaged from some packaging. Two peices were cut and glued back to back to add some lamination and strength to the sign. 

It was painted to look a bit rusty as I thought it would make a good contrast with the shiney letter stickers I picked up on ebay. I envisioned this building being a some sort of munitions dealer that adventurers (or ship's crews) could go to stock up before going off to explore the world. 

The Ammo Shack could be a interesting tabletop hazard too. Anyone hitting the building in a fire fight might cause the munitions within to explode causing further tabletop mayhem. 

The compulsory graffiti was then added using Posca Markers and posters and signs were added from pictures I had printed off. 

I have yet to decide which Fogou Desert buildings are going to be worked on next. There has been a flurry of activity digging through bits boxes looking for stuff to add details to the next bunch of buildings. 

Keep watching for the next thrilling installment of Dusty Space Port Town Building.  

Thanks for looking, take care out there.

Some Figure conversion WIPs

Hello and Welcome back. 

A quick figure WIP of various figures that I am working on. 

The first up are a bunch of Space Dwarves for the Big Red Mining Corporation for the Skirm game by Bill Making Stuff. They are based on old plastic Warhammer Dwarves.

This guy is sporting Mantic Games Forge Fathers arms and back pack. A visor/goggles has been added with greenstuff. 

The Squat has a big arse gun that I am unsure of the origin (possbily Mantic). It kind of reminds me of the Tribarrel power guns fitted to the Combat Cars in the Hammers Slammers universe (I need to re read these novels one day). 

His pickaxe arm is from a Heresy miniatures Dwarf Miner. Some hoses and eyepiece was added from green stuff. The eye peice is a tiny nail art gem, which also make excellent rivets.

This guy sports his hammer arm but has a plastic Void Viridian machine pistol added. Some green stuff shoulder pads were added along with a similar eye peice to the last mini. 

The colour scheme for this faction will have red highlights or details to tie them together. This should also make them look like members of the Big Ded Mining Corporation.

Then we come to some Ramshackle miniatures currently sat on the bench.

This Vulcan miniature on the right has had a head swap from a Void Plastic Junkers figure. He is planned to join the Skrapknights. The original Vulcan will be joining the opposing faction of the Rust Lords. 

The Staveley figure on the left has a fantasy shield (with some Combat damage added with a scalpel) and a 40k Space Marine power sword arm. Out of sight around the back there is a Space Marine Scout shotgun holster. The converted Staveley will be joining the Skrap knights while the orginal will join the Rust Lords.

These two are Khordal Pattern Armour figures. I chose these as they are ripe for kitbashing and using up all those space Marine spare parts. Plus they make good Post Apocalyptic power armour.

The figure on the left has Space Marine and some Chaos Maurader parts from the bits box and a Anvil Skull helmet adding. I am thinking he will become Mattius Black, the leader of the Last City. The figure on the right also got Space Marine arms and pads. The head is a old Void Viridian helmet. I plan to add this figure to my Guardians faction (think Fallout Brotherhood of steel). 

Hopefully soon they will be added to the paint queue...it's anyone's guess when these figures will be finished. Future kitbashes are also planned as I need to build a DEAP (mutated bio weapons that will become a kind of GELF for my setting) and Rusters (rusty tribals which may become a new MBW faction) factions for Skirm. 

Thanks for looking, take care out there.

A couple of bits of 15mm terrain.

Hello and Welcome back, 

In addition to various bits I have been working on for 28mm, I built this pair of models for my 15mm collection from spare Robogear platformer bits. 

There is a habitation building, which somewhat reminds me of the buildings found on various worlds in the No Man's Sky video game. 

There is also a platform which can be used for defence. 

This reminds me, I need to get my finger out and finish painting my 15mm terrain from various places. 

Thanks for looking, take care out there. 

April Hobby Progress

Hello and Welcome back, 

Time for my hobby Progress report for April.

As you can see from my previous blog posts April has been a productive month hobby wise, somewhat helped by the Easter bank holiday. I got various bits Fogou terrain finished and blog posts written. I also began work on building a dusty space port town, featuring many Fogou desert buildings (and hopefully some reworked models from my collection). 

This cool model from the recent Diehard Miniatures arrived. I am looking forward to seeing this jet bike zooming around my Maddans world table.  As it is from a Kickstarter from last year, I am not including it in my Figures Bought stats.

In addtion to this I have cleaned the paint off a couple of Ebay finds. Yet more 40K Oldhammer space Dwarves. I still haven't managed to find time for a game.

The order from Ramshackle hasn't arrived yet. But then given the avalanche of work Curtis has I am not expecting them any time soon as he clears the backlog. I also put a order into EM4 and Heresy for some figures to flesh out various gangs. I expect they will pop up on my May Figures Bought stats. We shall see as Andy from Heresy also has long lead times.

Figures finished* = 7 *Figures that needed bases finishing from 2024

Figures painted = 12 (total so far 18)

Figures reworked = 6

Vehicles finished = 0

Vehicles reworked = 0

Figures bought = 0 (total so far 1)

Vehicles bought = 0

The figures painted is still more than the figures I have bought, so I am happy.

That's all for now.

Thanks for reading and take care out there.

Post Apocalyptic Nomad Warriors

 Hello and Welcome back, 

Typical, you hang around for ages waiting for a blog post and loads of them arrive at the same time. 

I am not getting many post apocalyptic figures painted lately. My focus seems to be on Science Fiction lately. But I did manage one that has sat in the to finish queue for some time. 

The post apocalyptic wastelands are filled with lone wanderers. Individuals who are often scarred and damaged in some way by the horrors of the apocalypse. They are unable to settle down or join settlements. 

Some blame themselves for the loss of loved ones or those they should have helped. They become bitter burnt out desolate shells. Out here in the wastelands, they learn to live again. 

Some of these wanderers believe that they have a personal mission to wander the wastelands, helping those in need. They believe they have a quest to help rebuild the world and call themselves "Post Apocalyptic Nomad Warriors". 

This figure is by Lead Adventure Miniature "the last heros" that I picked it up many years ago off Ebay, already prepped and primed. I suspect it is inspired by Eli, from the film about a bloke with a book wandering the wastelands. 

The Post Apocalyptic Nomad Warrior moniker was taken from a novel by Benjamin Wallace (part of his Duck and cover series) . Search them out, they are worth a read. 

Thanks for looking, take care out there. 

Star Port Scum 9.

Hello and welcome back, 

It's Starport Scum time. Hanging about the Space port bars there are many colourful, often dodgy (and usually not very sober) characters. 

Captain Kruces Magnusson

This armoured guy covered in animal furs toting a Shurkien Catapult (a weapon manufactured by the Fey GELFs), will happily tell many exciting tales of his exploits (for a drink) in the bars around the space ports. In addition to scrounging free drinks he uses these tales to encourage young and impressionable people to sign up for his crew. None of them think to ask why Magnusson needs new crew members regularly until it is too late. It is also a disappointment for them when they find out that they don't get fancy armour or weapons when they sign on with Magnusson.

There are many rumours about Magnusson circulating around the spaceports. One sayes that he is a pirate, while another claims that he takes his new crew members and sells them as slaves to the Fey GELFs. A rumour which is reinforced by the GELF weapon he sports.

The figure is a old metal 40K Space marine found on ebay. It was painted with Deep Coat Studio speed painter marker pens over grey primer. As you can see the colours are somewhat duller than over a white primer (see my last blog post). An army painter quick shade mid brown wash was added, while the metal and darker parts were treated to an Army Painter quick shade Dark Tone wash. Some details were then picked out with Coat d Arms and Nostaliga paints.

Oin Brassneck of the Big Red Mining Corporation 

Oin Brassneck is a Dvarg of the Big Red Mining Corporation. He hangs around spaceports listening for opportunities for the Corporation to exploit. The Dvarg have a practical approach to humanites pending encroachment of GELF space (good luck getting past all those war hungry ORCS). They are happy to trade and exploit business opportunities with the frontier worlds and colonies. Another reason is that Dvarg space lies beyond GELF space, so humanity isn't considered a threat.  

Brassneck is the first figure of my Big Red Mining Corporation squad for the Skirm game. There will be more figures for this crew in future. I am planning more than the 6 required figures for a Skirm squad, possibly 10 or 12 so I can use these guys for other games such as Stargrave. 

The figure is a old metal 40K Squat/space dwarf, I found on ebay. The figure is missing the combat accessory. That seems to be a regular issue with old figures. It was painted with Deep Coat Studio speed painter marker pens over grey primer. As you can see the colours are somewhat duller than over a white primer (see my last blog post). An Army Painter quick shade mid brown wash was added, while the metal and darker parts were treated to an Army Painter quick shade Dark Tone wash. Some details were picked out with Coat d Arms and Nostaliga paints.

Note: The Wild Galaxy tweaked Big Red Mining Corporation fluff to follow as soon as I have finished the rest of the squad.

Maurice Ncnann

Maurice Ncnann is a Mercenary who hangs about Spaceports looking for work. He will happily join crews that need some extra muscle and he is not beyond joining pirate crews if the pay is right.

The figure is a old metal 40K Space marine scout found on ebay. The combat accessory was missing so another was fashioned from a plastic Void Junkers machete. The figure was painted with Deep Coat Studio speed painter marker pens over white primer. An Army Painter quick shade mid brown wash was added, while the metal and darker parts were treated to an Army Painter quick shade Dark Tone wash. Some details were picked out with Coat d Arms and Nostaliga paints.

Thanks for looking, take care out there.

Deep Cut studio speed paint marker pens.

Hello and Welcome back, 

I recently picked up some Deep Cut studio Army speed paint marker pens. These brush pens are filled with Army Painter speed paints. I expect most of your reading this will be familiar with contrast paint or speed paints so I won't explain what they are or how they work. 

In my eagerness to try these pens, I dug out the only two figures primed in white from the pile of shame. 

These two metal Strontium Dogs figures by Warlord Games were the first two figures to paint. 

To use the pens, shake them and then depress the brush tip into the end of the cap to make the paint flow. In addition to this the pens come with spare brush nibs and can unscrew the pen to refill it.

I found these Markers to be easier to use than ordinary speed Painter paints. Coverage was good but the work can need touch ups. If you miss a spot it is glaringly obvious as the white shines through. 

The figures look good, however I find it pays to give the painted figures a wash to make some of the details pop. Some touch ups and a little detail work can help, such as the eyes and SD badges. 

I find these paints to be effective and as they are in pen form will be useful if you want to paint figures to a tabletop standard while away from your usual paint station. 

I can see myself using these pens more in the future and I will be trying out the pens on grey primed figures soon to see how they come out. 

Thanks for reading, take care out there.

Fay GELF raiding party.

 Hello and Welcome back, 

Human frontier worlds along the edge of GELF space run the risk of GELF raids in addition to the usual risks of Frontier life. 

This Fay GELF raiding party arrives on world looking for usable loot and humans to kill and torture. The Fay are long lived and long memories of human cruelty. Many Fay are looking for vengance on their old oppressors. 

These figures are old metal 40k Eldar. The blue skinned figure is Sprangdryll the space elf pirate by Skull and Crown. 

Thanks for looking, stay safe out there.

Deep Space Engineering

Hello and Welcome back,

Deep Space Engineering (DSE) is a Corporation from the Liberty sector of human space. 

DSE specialises in building Space Stations, docking facilities, asteroid mining machines, terraforming facilites and other similar constructions. DSE can also be contracted to repair damaged ships and stations. 

Unlike most corporations operating in human space, DSE does not operate a military arm to protect its assets (or to hire out as muscle). The Corporation relies on it's staff to pick up weapons to defend its assets. Any complaining employees are reminded that the company pay, benfits and pension are excellent, so stop whining and go kill that bug! DSE thoughtfully provides weapon training and weapons but the staff have to provide their own load carrying equipment, armour and other military equipment. Sometimes the Corporation will call upon the Liberty military to help defend its assets if the danger to it's own personnel is too great.

The figures are old Kyromek Nexus Marines figures (from Scotia Grendel). There is also figures from Grenadier (from EM4) and Hasslefree miniatures. 

I orginally painted these figures as a penal brigade for a Post Apocalyptic city many years ago, hence the colours. The T shirts were touched up and DSE added to them. 

Hopefully I will get to add more figures to this squad, as they are pretty generic looking. The Void Viridian line do similar looking T shirt wearing figures. 

The inspiration for DSE comes from the Corporation in the old Freelancer computer game. 

Thanks for looking, take care out there.

Fogou's Battle at the Farm set.

Hello and Welcome back, 

After the joy of painting Fogou's Fantasy ruins and Ringfort, I was still in the groove and eager to paint the other stone model set I have by Fogou - the battle at the farm set. 

For those of us of a certain vintage, the phrase "Battle at the farm" may make us misty eyed as we recall playing the battle using the counters at the back of the 40K Rouge Trader book. Even replaying the game once we had miniatures (painted or otherwise), most of us would have been using proxy models to make the farm. 

On seeing Fogou's set, I had to have it. 

The set has a ruined farm house, enough low walls and barricades to make up the defenses. It also comes with some scenic scatter. 

The models were painted exactly the same way as the Fantasy Ruins. The ammoboxes, oil drums and pots were painted with appropriate colours and also treated to the magic wash. Is there any model this wash doesn't improve? Maybe, the magic wash needs it's own blog post? 

This means I will have to replay this classic scenario at some point. 

Thanks for reading,

Take care out there.