Tuesday 7 February 2017

Pottering About

It has been a busy week on the hobby front, but not a lot to show in terms of finished items in part because I have been pottering about with various projects and in part because on the holiday weekend just past, we nipped across to Melbourne for a couple of days.

That said, I have managed to complete two of the four battalions of Russian Napoleonic jagers required to finish the infantry component for that army.



Also on the painting table are the first of the Russian Napoleonic militia. I have completed the  command groups for all three units, plus a couple of packs of pikemen. These are great sets from the Perrys. The flags were taken from an image on the Warlord Games forum and edited in Photoshop.


On the terrain front there are three projects under way. 

First is the East African Hotel, which is really taking shape now and just requires the roof crest and the verandah to be completed. The verandah will need to be a separate piece fitted after the front of the main structure is painted.



Second is a next batch of native huts - I need to make ten of these to go with the four I made some time ago. The three phases of construction are shown below, left to right; the polystyrene form, the first layer of epoxy putty applied, a finished item.


Third is a bunch (the best way to described them) of bush terrain pieces for East Africa. My friend Keith at the Bydand blog found this stuff at the Two Dollar Shop. I am not really sure what this stuff is, perhaps it is some fish tank foliage, but whatever it is it works for my purpose.

The "stuff"

The foam core board base rough cut...

...with red earth railway ballast applied...

...and finished

Three completed pieces - the one on the left has a small pool, but the water has not set clear yet.

8 comments:

  1. Wonderful job Mark, terrain and figures!

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  2. Replies
    1. Thanks Nathan. They are a bit of a pain to cut out, but they do the trick!

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  3. The bush terrain looks good Mark - did you separate the individual fronds and remove the central circle of plastic, or have you just concealed it in some cunning manner?!

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    1. On one of the stands I used the central circle by cutting a cavity on the foam board. But getting the glue to hold was difficult and in the end I gave up, cut the fronds off and poked them into holes in the board. It was quicker this way. I will make a bunch more this week.

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  4. Such fine works all! I agree that the Russian Orthodox icons are fantastic and add much to the overall look and feel. Reminds me of paintings I have seen of the Russians seeking solace before battle. Great stuff!

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    1. Thanks Jonathan. I was surprised that thr flags were on the web in such high resolution, which made it much easier to edit them and get greater variation. I have kept the source file so that one day, when I have sudden rush of blood to the head and buy more militia, I can print off more.

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