I managed a bit more tonight…
Base layer on the bottom is done and I have started adding different shades and textures to the top…
I will carry on with the top tomorrow and then crack on with the base 👍
Graveyard With Grass
Well I started on the grass tonight… I did have a bit of a panic as I was running out of my small indoor pot. Luckily I still had a fair bit out in the shed. Why the panic? This was the flock I made myself and I haven’t a clue what colour I used to get the green.
I am doing it in a few stages. The top first and then around the hill when the top dries. This green is a base level. There will be lots of textures and colours over the top of this.
I did totally balls up by covering over the spoil from the rabbit hole, but in hindsight, putting the spoil over the grass would be more realistic.
The damp bit has a lot of dark and bright green as well as some tussocks in there, not that you can really see in this photo. The bushes are not stuck down, I was trying to get an idea of what would look good. There is also a climbing plant in the damp alcove.
This is made from rubberised horse hair (or coir matting in this case) PVA was glued in random spots and then the thing was dipped in foam flock. This is very fragile at the moment and needs a dam good coating in watered down PVA to strengthen it up. It’s not a very big bush, as those are 2 mm squares. It is roughly 4cm by 2cm.
As a total aside, I caused a bit of consternation and hilarity at the yard after bringing the horse in. I informed a lady that I was having difficulties getting it up!
Luckily she realised I meant that I couldn’t get the wet horse rug over the top of the stall wall. Well if I find a packet of viagra in my tack box then I reckon she didn’t know what I was talking about.
Tomorrow I will finish of the grass layer on the base, then make a start on the next layers.
Graveyard… Looking a bit Better
I got a bit more done on the graveyard tonight…
It is starting to get there, I cleaned the brush off on the brown hence the weird grey pattern. The brown will be covered in flock so I am not too concerned about it. The deep recess in the front will be wet. The idea is to get reeds and tussocks in there.
The next problem is what colour flock to use, I will have to have a mooch about to see what I have in the shed. I will need some static grass tufts as my intention is that it will be overgrown and uncared for.
I think I still have plenty of stuff to make bushes and scrub.
There will also be other bits of graveyard to be used as scatter terrain. I think I will go for irregular shapes as opposed to old CD’s.
I will get the flock on tomorrow.
I forgot to mention the first of the Fire festivals took place on Friday. There are some very good drone and video footage, mine was time lapsed with the tablet.
We didn’t go down to watch the boat burn on the water, but this is a photo from a couple of years ago.
It’s not the biggest, but to be honest it is my favourite. It’s handy we can sit at my mates house and watch the procession go past.
Graveyard looking Naff
Well it is now at the yucky Naff stage, I had to it the brown base coat to help cover the white, I will lighten it up a bit but most of it will be covered with flock.
This layer has PVA added to help it bond with the bottom layer.
Hopefully some tidying up will help it look better. I will dry brush the fallen rocks and lower part of the cliff face when this lot has dried. When I paint it tomorrow I will not use the half inch brush I used today 😱
A Gritted Graveyard and a BBA
Couldn’t get the groundwork painted as I added some grit to the hill…
It was a very quick job to get the grit down but a very long time to let it dry. It should be okay to get a base coat on tomorrow.
As this was drying I had a mooch around the house and came across the BBA aka big bloody Alien…
The marine is there for scale… I reckon he is shouting ‘sit!’ Now I know a fair bit about the Aliens franchise of films at the very least. The only time I have seen this one appear is in the computer game (oh and the board game). Retail cost for him is normally £30. I got him for a tenner with free postage. Too good an opportunity to miss I thought.
Tomorrow is the first of Shetland’s Fire Festivals, the galley is burned on the water in Scalloway. It looks like the weather will be good. I will endeavour to get some kind of photos of the event.
Graveyard… With Added Graves
Well a graveyard without graves is basically a yard, and a graveyard hill is a simple hill.
These are stuck down with ‘No more nails’. Normally I would just put these down with PVA, but they are in a prime spot to get knocked clean off. There are a couple more gravestones to add in the two indentations in the foreground.
I can’t get anything more done until this glue dries. Once it is done I will get the stones and grit on then get the ground base colour painted.
The big hole is deliberate, this will be shrunk a bit and some grit added at the base of the opening. The hole and slope will be filled with bones and a skull as if a rabbit or something has burrowed into where the coffin was.
I didn’t get the chance to do much else due to a small boy contracting Scarlet fever, not to mention the normal day to day Shenanigans of daily family life.
The other exciting news is that U-Boot is starting to be shipped out this month…. very excited!!! French and English are finished, other languages are in production too.
I only hope my table is big enough 😱😱😱
Graveyard… Making Progress
The big blob of foam was trimmed down to something roughly hill shaped. This was stuck down onto the EPVC. I prefer basing on this as it won’t warp when the PVA is used.
I got a base coat of filler onto it, unfortunately it ran a bit thin as the tube was ancient and it wouldn’t mix properly. This was a bit of a bugger, so once it dried I used a thick coat of PVA to help toughen things up a bit.
When the PVA dried I got the cliff faces painted with standard Dulux dark grey with a bit of PVA mixed in.
This will be dry brushed to lighten it up then shaded with various washes.
I then tried out various gravestones in various locations. The idea for this piece is that I wanted an old overgrown graveyard. The hill is there as a line of sight blocker and raised ground (as befits a hill).
I messed around with the broken and leaning gravestones as well as a grave slab.
Off the two above I prefer the bottom one as I like the symmetry. No doubt I will forget where they go (hence the photo above). I intend to use sculptamould or more filler to bed the gravestones in. I intend the grass to be overgrown with bushes and weeds all around. The central dip on the top is to be some form of gravel path.
There will be other graveyard themed scatter pieces to go with this. I have just bought some 3D files that will be useful for the build.
I thought I would give a quick insight into my planning method…
I am totally rubbish at planning. I can’t get it down onto paper, it is all in my head but I am pleased to say that what I have on the table is kind of what I was thinking about.
The weather here is a tad blowy. Pushing 60 mph plus in the gusts. Thankfully the lights have stayed on
Whatever happened to ‘Forgotten Forces Friday’ Wednesday
Yeah, with being off work and then with the run up to New Year I forgo all about FFF.
So to make amends and to allow me to return these to their box in the shed I give you Sci Fi Zombies.
These fine chaps were part of a role play game for Necropolis. They were a mix of GW plastic zombies and catachan jungle fighters.
A great setting by my mate Wiggy. It is a military Sci Fi system set on the Planet Salus and is the final place where mankind has a hold. The Rephaim ( the dead ones) are an alien race of undead beings whose sole aim is to exterminate all life on Salus.
The players take on the role of a soldier of the Sacri Ordines of the third Reformation Church and are instrumental in the crusade to hold back the undead.
I really enjoyed playing this, it isn’t, however, a game where you should get too attached to your character. What with the undead and the corporations trying to undermine the church and each other, then it is a pretty deadly campaign setting.
My character was a knight Scout of the Ordo Templi Novi (Templars). Somehow I survived even though I had taken the sacred vow ‘Non Receptus, Non Concedere’ no retreat, no surrender.
A good write up of the setting can be found here.
Phew…I Made It!
Well that’s my December miniature marathon finished.
I managed to finish my Hussar Officer, well when I say finished….
The kids were great this afternoon, which meant I could work on him and get him done. I have visitors arriving in half an hour so I suppose I had better get sorted 😱.
So here he is in all of his glory
And from the other side…
Just don’t ask me what unit he is from… I picked colours I liked 😉.
Anyway that is me finished painting for another year.
I just want to wish anyone reading this:
health, wealth and happiness for the coming year.
See you all in 2019.
May your brush points stay pointy and your paint keep flowing!
All the very best.
Cheers
Steve.
Aaaarggghhh….One Day Left
I was hoping to get him finished before the end of the month.
I did push on a bit and get the horse finished though…
I still managed to do twenty miniatures in the month (I am counting the horse as a miniature 😁👍😁) which isn’t too shabby. I might get some time tomorrow afternoon, but not enough, I would imagine, to get the rider finished.
As I am bereft of the software to slice the 3D prints then I will just have to get back to painting things again 😉.
I did manage to successfully print a ladder today! Probably took five attempts but getting there.
There are still some issues with the extrusion for the top layer though. I test ran another couple of sundials, but got exactly the same issues of weird printing on the top layer. To be fair though, this is day four of my 3D printer career.
Bogenwald 