Bogenwald

Posted on April 4, 2020 by maenoferren22 · 2 Comments

Sengoku…I hate Sashimonos!

Ooh I forgot why my huge two Dragon Samurai army never got their back banners… tonight I remembered!

Their helmet rims stopped them running up the back so instead I had to angle them into bits of the body where they could have some form of connection (rather than a couple of mm where it touched the helmet). I put 22 on and it took for evvvvvvver! There is more glue on me than there is on the miniatures. But never mind, these are done (guess who forgot to get any more from Tin Soldier! So it looks like it will be pins and paper for all of the foot Samurai and Ashigaru.

Some how I believed that the amount I got would be enough. Yeah right… 30 is just about enough for the cavalry, the 15 Ashigaru are going to have to wait for theirs.

The other thing I did was to add various weapons to the peasants. As with most things the weapons wouldn’t go in the gap for their hands… superglue saw to that… eventually!

My original plan to get these glued and sprayed today fell short. I will get them sprayed tomorrow and see how I get on from there.

Posted on April 3, 2020 by maenoferren22 · 5 Comments

Sengoku… So it Begins

Tonight I decided to get all of the Samurai I had put onto their bases. And … because I am me, I have just ordered some more! Well there weren’t enough foot Samurai or mounted monks or…. yeah I think you get the picture!

This lot is DBA army list 127. But because I am me everything goes on 30×40 for cavalry and all infantry on 20×40 apart from the horde who use the cavalry bases. Makes buying bases in bulk a doddle 😂.

On the left we have five bases of Ashigaru archers, with a base of Ashigaru and monks in front of them. Next big block are the peasants led by a monk (well I had one figure spare). In front of them is a champion and General. Next up a set of three bases of cavalry and then three of mounted archers with a unit of Ninja next (well you just have to don’t you 😱).

I have still to add the Sashimono to everything as well as put the various improvised weapons into the hands of the peasants.

The army is from Tin Soldier. I do like the style of these. They are a little cartoony for some people but they do work for me… the Ninja are Battle Valour Games. Luckily the UK supplier is a mate of mine and he had some in stock to buy (handy when he lives on Shetland). They fit in quite well scale wise.

The other thing I did today was to print some of the funky trees. These were done at 75% and 50% of the full size. They are shown next to the unfinished full sized one from yesterday.

I am printing a full sized one again just now. It will finish after midnight which is a bit of a pain. The 75% one took just under 3 hours and the smaller one just under an hour and a half to print. I did add a raft to help get them off the bed so they would have been quicker without.

Tomorrow I will use the remainder of my white spray to get the Samurai undercoated.

Posted on April 2, 2020 by maenoferren22 · 4 Comments

3D Printer… User Error

So today I printed my 120 x 90mm base for my allosaurus. I also spent ages finding various jungle/fantasy plants to go with the various bases.

I even designed a big base with multiple plants on it, but as it was going to take 8 hours plus to print then I thought sod it and just sliced various plants instead.

Anyway the base was a success, it is the same size as the GW one… so I will get it onto it tomorrow and then based up.

I then decided to print a tree thing… kept going back and It was taking forever! So after 4 and a half hours I went in and noticed that some of the support had fallen over, so after a bit of swearing I cancelled the print and took it off the plate. It was only then that two things struck me… then first was that it didn’t need supports and that second the actual print was perfect!

I will re slice it tomorrow, without the supports and hopefully get a nice tree out of it.

Didn’t get any painting done today as we played Journeys in Middle Earth. Four of us went on an adventure. I think it was a bit slow paced for my 9 year old but the girls and I enjoyed it.

We ended it, with Legolas and one of the others about to get their backsides kicked very hard by three nasty orkses.

Posted on April 1, 2020 by maenoferren22 · 2 Comments

Printing and Painting

Today the Printer has been running quite a bit…

We have the big pool I started last night with a smaller version from today. I decided to print off some more deadly plants as well as a couple of low stairs. The stairs are the same print, just put in different orientation. My plan for these is to make some kind of a plaza with the throne on it. The stairs will allow entrance to it.

I also managed to repaint the back banner on the hero.

A bit brighter than yesterday. I also added a bit more to the skink oracle, he is drying as I managed to snap his wand off!

Tomorrow I will build a base for this in 3D builder. I might see if I have any STL’s for plants etc that I can add into the designs.

Off to play on Hunter: Call of the Wild… my go to chill out game

Posted on April 1, 2020 by maenoferren22 · 20 Comments

A View from the Window

So I am sat here drinking tea and eating cheese and crackers (we have run out of shop bought bread – time to make our own) and I just glanced out the window. It is a pretty good view, well it would be if some pillock hadn’t have parked his car just outside the gate…

Apologies for the doggy nose prints on the glass.

It’s a pretty nice place to live. Social distancing isn’t a problem here, we basically live in the middle of a field. It is great as the kids can get out and run about to their hearts content. Once my bow comes (hopefully tomorrow) then I will pick up theirs and we can go out and practice – well that is if the snow doesn’t come!

So as we have people from all over the world I wondered what the view out of your window was.

Here is the view without the car in the picture…

We live in the bottom of a valley, you can just see one of the roads going up the hill on the extreme left of the picture. This route is a bit of a nightmare in the snow and ice, the other way has a 90 degree junction followed by a short, but very steep rise, meaning it can be tricky too.

Stream meanders past the house and can just be seen beyond the thick fence post towards the left of the picture. All of the migratory birds are back. The field is usually full of curlew, Oyster Catchers and Lapwing. I haven’t heard any snipe yet, but they will return no doubt.

The stream is full of life too. Some big eels in there as well as various fish, supposedly rainbow trout (my mate is a fisherman) but I have never seen any… we do get these chappies too…

Ignore the date stamp.. time is right, date is wrong

Based on last year’s photos we have at least two possibly three different otters. Once the chance of flooding has gone then we will get both cameras out again. You can see one of them in the shot above. This year I am going to put one of them on the other side of the stream.

So, just for fun, show me your view out of a window.

Posted on March 31, 2020March 31, 2020 by maenoferren22 · 12 Comments

Painting and Printing.

Tonight I managed to get my lizardman hero finished. well apart from his shield that is. I remembered that Ann of Ann’s Immaterium had set up the March might or magic challenge … March Might or Magic . As I said I was going to add in my repurposed Allosaurus, I thought I had better get him done.

To be honest, I am going to redo the banners on the chair as they look a bit dull. Not exactly something that befits a hero. Sadly he never did get his base. Hopefully I will print him one in the next couple of days.

Talking of printing… I have been busy on that front too. Sadly I forgot to write down who designed what… so I can’t give credit, where credit is due.

These came of the build plate perfectly. We have a carnivorous plant selection. A snake and stone ball combo. An Aztec inspired medallion and then a brazier for burning all those hearts and incense. I am busy printing a water feature thing … think large stone bath!

Tomorrow I will see what else I can find to do. I will try and print the base for the Beasty as well as for the magic toad.

Posted on March 31, 2020March 31, 2020 by maenoferren22 · 4 Comments

Undead, Giant Magic Toad Done… sort of

Well that is him printed. I still need to design a levitation base to make him float above the table top but the actual model is complete.

I intend to add some Greenstuff lianas to the top where the disk joint is. You can just about see it on the photo above.

As you can see, he is quite tall. Because I removed the lumps and bumps and horns of the bottom he isn’t much taller than the original measurement yesterday. I reckon the base will be an inch high.

He took over 27 hours to print as he is. Add in the couple of error prints then we are up to 40 hours print time.

For those that were wondering what he is… voila….

Posted on March 30, 2020March 30, 2020 by maenoferren22 · 6 Comments

Undead, Giant Magic Toad

So after 17 hours 10 minutes I have the first bit of him done.

The 45 degree angle certainly helped with the supports as it allowed them to pretty much come away in two large pieces.

I reckon he is now a nice size for then rest of the miniatures. Now onto the rest of him…

The top of the banner is done. Took 5 hours 11 minutes to complete. Not sure what setting I had it at, but that seems a long time. I nearly cocked up big time. (Well apart from snapping bits off it!) I sat there with it and tried to get it to fit onto the top of the main body part. It would not fit, at all. The top of the disk was totally out of line.

I checked it over and over again and nope it wouldn’t fit. So I started thinking what I could do to get it sorted – this included cutting out the top of the disk and redoing it in Greenstuff. I wondered if I had increased the size by accident when slicing it etc. I knew I hadn’t. There was lots of head scratching going on and then before cutting things off I turned around and saw the second one I had printed! I was trying to place a 200% top onto a 150% base.

Funnily enough when I put it on the right base it works really well.

This thing is going to be huge. It is already about 8 inches (20cm tall) without its base. The base is being printed now. After 3 hours 50 minutes the top layers have decided to delaminate. Not sure whether it was temperature or a partially blockage. It was going to be a six hour print so I cut my losses. I have redone it in 3D builder and have removed all of the the bottom bits, the horns and lumps and bumps etc. I will give it a low flying base to give it a bit more stability and also to stop it being very tall.

I have set it away again and I will keep an eye on it to make sure that it doesn’t do anything silly again before bed time.

Posted on March 29, 2020March 30, 2020 by maenoferren22 · 8 Comments

A Bit of Painting

Yep two nights in a row! Flippin’ heck At this rate I will have them finished soonish! Well probably later than sooner, but at least I am getting going.

Tonight I decided to just do the metallics as they needed a few coats to get them to look solid.

I will crack on with these tomorrow evening (I hope). I must remember to find the shield for the old blood or whichever one he is.

As a total aside, the printer is merrily chugging away out there, I am just going out to bum up the temperature a few degrees for the overnight section of the print. I haven’t got a clue what bit it is printing as it is angled and is printing the supports first.

Posted on March 29, 2020March 29, 2020 by maenoferren22 · 4 Comments

Off the Printer…Ups and Downs

Today I tried to get the support off the giant magic toad and it was a nightmare! In the end I gave up as somehow I had clicked on add the supports everywhere…Doh! Wasted 9 hours of print time.

I have decided to redo him at 200% instead of the 150% that I had done before. This time I am printing it at a 45 degree angle, with supports only touching the build plate. It is a 14 hour print so we shall see how it gets on overnight. As with previously, I will crank the nozzle temperature up as it goes on.

I also decided to do a quick print (well 4 hours plus!) of the Leech Queen. The last time I printed her she had a lot of fracture lines right up the body, similar to the Big Beasty. The one below was glued back together in lots of places.

This time I set the temperature at 220 and I got a perfect print.

I will need to hide the joint where the head and body connect, but I am really pleased with it. I have had this one for ages, but I had a quick check and it came from Black Scrolls Games. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/188115

The Giant magic toad should be ready by breakfast time tomorrow. I hope to get some painting done in a bit too.