I spent a bit of time this lunchtime getting some more of the crates ‘built’
I still have half a dozen of the larger ones and one of the smaller ones to saw the planks into. I have two sitting there half finished too. I imagine they will look a lot better once they are painted.
By the time I am finished I will have 10 of each size. I was, however, considering making a double length one to see what it looks like. If I had thought about it earlier I would have done it with the smaller ones too.
Making crates – production line method
I decided to do some more crafting this lunchtime. I had sawed lines into a pile of cubes so I brought them in to get them sorted.
I found that the index cards are an ideal thickness as well as having a pile of lines on them. This meant that I would only have to measure the inner widths.
The first time I did this, I used a single length of card and then when it ran out I cut some more.
Each cube uses twelve lengths of card… I can get 6 x 20mm out of each piece of index card. Luckily I can also get 5 lengths of 25mm card.
I did a whole card to start with. I cut the strips out and folded each.
Once they were all folded I measured the required length of each cube face and cut these out.
It was then a simple case of adding them to the cubes with PVA. I like this glue to affix the card to the wood as it soaks into the card making it easier to bond them together.
Although seeming to be tedious, to begin with it actually meant that I did the four cubes in not much more time than I did two.
I am still to add cross pieces to all of the faces, however, part of me wonders whether I should bother.
I decided to get these finished tonight.
I am really happy with how they came out. All of the items are GW plastic components saved up over the years.
I still think my favourite is this one.
It tells a sad little tale of someone being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Poor soul was having a rest behind the chest when a cannon ball spilt him in half.
Next up is another mini diorama
What information does the book hold or what lurks in the chest behind the wheel.
Here we have a scroll left on a barrel. Is it an important communication or simply a list of items sold at market. Perhaps the barrel contains something of value or is a booby trap to confound the unwary.
Finally is the way to Bogenwald…
This is a bit of a wierd one. When I started this blog I wanted a name for it. Rather than my name I thought I would come up with something a bit different. In my Wierd war campaign many years ago the heroes had to infiltrate a secret base near the town of Bogenwald. The name evidently stuck as it came to me when contemplating a title. Roll on a few months and as I am mooching around in my bits box I come across the sign showing the way to Bogenwald, oh and Schwartzhelm too.
To be honest I think I need to do a bit more work on the drum. It wasn’t the easiest thing to paint as there was very little detail.
Because of these my painting of figures has dropped behind tonight.
I managed to add a wash to the greatcoats and that is about it.
I hope to get them a lot further on tomorrow night.
I had a break from painting uniforms…
I built this for a friend of mine. It was pretty much already painted and 90% built. I only really had to make a sail and raise the mast. As it was missing the steer board I scratch built one out of offcuts of MDF.
The kit comes with some MDF shields and oars as well.
I want the mast to be removable and was struggling to vote up with a concept to release the ropes. It suddenly dawned on me to use a nautical device. So I nipped back into the bin and pulled out some more scrap and made some belaying pins.
The mast was made out of three sheets of kitchen roll trimmed to size and toughened with PVA. The rigging etc is made from my linen thread from my leatherwork box.
All in all I am happy with the build. The manufacturer is Dark Ops really not a bad model for £14. The only thing I added was the sail and the rigging.
I didn’t get much done painting wise apart from base coating some more objective markers and a rather large wild boar.
I also went off gallivanting to a beach nearby as it was such a lovely day.
I joined a group of crafters online tonight. It was nice to join up with some others to chat and make things.
I managed to build a coffin out of balsa and lollipop sticks. It needs a bit of work, but on the whole I am happy with it.
I also got some base colours onto the well.
And i managed to get some figures ready to base coat.
Madame Boniface and Egor as well as a Ferach officer, a couple of elite cavalry and a Ferach doctor.
I decided to have another go working on some stamps.
I did three different ones, these were basically to test a theory.
The big tiles were pretty naff to be honest, the joints were too large. I was happy with the crazy paving and the cobblestones, which to be honest, I didn’t think would work.
I made a 9×9 tile with just cobblestones – giving myself a bit of a blister in the process!
I was quite happy with the results. There were some errors, but not bad for a first attempt.
Some of the indentations need deepening as can be seen by the joined up stones in the bottom left above. There were some worse bits but I painted in the cracks as well as added some cobblestones where the gaps were too large.
I might have a bash with the house paint and see how that works. It works out a whole lot cheaper than the Pebeo acrylics. These run at around £4.00 per 100ml tube. The house paint is a bit over £3.00 per 250ml. So a definite saving there. I probably drive them mad in the paint shop with my individual tester pots, on the up side, they have loads of colours to choose from.
The original idea came from DM Scotty
I tried out a stamp on foam board. Sadly it isn’t Dollar tree stuff. This the paper won’t come of style. Sadly I couldn’t find any black or grey card to test it on. By the looks of it, it does work well in the table 🤪.
There might be something in this… However I am not really sure what I would use them for. A few things I have learned from this is to make sure the paint goes on thick enough to leave a mark. I am using extra thick paint, I might see how a thinned down version works.
It looks better if there are no large splodges of colour. I tried colouring individual stones, but to be honest it doesn’t really work.
I painted a dark background and to be honest it looks much better.👍
I am pleased with the results so far.
Thanks DMScotty!
I blasted off another stamp which can be seen at the top of the photo below.
The advantages of the 10mm blue foam is that it is waterproof and can be washed under the tap. It is a bit sturdier too being twice the thickness of the foam board. It also has the advantage of not having to have the paper removed.
The advantage of the foam board is that I can get it locally, it is easier to put even pressure on too.
I will have to make a 3×3 tile and compare the two types.
I do particularly like the planks.
Slight size change. Sort of half way between the larger and smaller versions. The squared paper helped get the angles right for the templates.
Coffins R Us!
I decided to give a couple of coffins a go. They are really just test pieces to see how I get on.
Both are made out of thin corrugated card. I am still not sure on which size to do. I decided to break up the smaller one . The figure is one of my Flintloque casualty ones.
I might also have a go with some thin balsa wood that I have and see how that works too.
I got the idea from DM Scotty. (His look loads better than mine)
As work has been hectic of late and I just about have time to eat some lunch I decided to do something speedy.
Basically some more potion bottles like the ones on the right above.
Not quite sure what I am going to do with them all, but I am sure I will come up with something 🙂
