15mm exchange 2012

There was a figure exchange on TMP recently, and I was lucky enough to receive these from the estimable Eclipsing Binaries...

Very nice, thank you very much!

Playing Gruntz... 1947 style.

Alan and I were playing around with Gruntz - here are a few pictures of our Weird World War 2 game, complete with hover-T43s with vibrocannon and Sherman Lasertanks...

Hellboy and Captain America were there on the US side, though I don't seem to have any pictures of them.

Alan has also put some pictures and notes from this game on his blog...

MicroPanzer SAS

It's about time I painted up some of the 15mm figures that have been hanging about on my painting table, and this seemed a good place to start.

Very simple colour scheme; overall green, grey weaponry with orange 'business ends', a wash of Devlan Mud over the lot and a pale grey highlight on the guns. Forty figures painted up in a couple of hours...

Nice figures, though I am not quite happy with the heads; the helmet / mask / face combo seems somehow awry. In the end, I just assumed a full face helmet and didn't put any flesh in there at all. It looks okay.

15mm buildings from scraps

In December 2010, Wargames Illustrated did an article on how to build 15mm desert buildings. Unfortunately that article hasn't made it onto their website, but they were dead easy. Foamcard for the basic box, some blue foam for bits and pieces, and scrap card for detailing. Oh, and plenty of white glue. I ran masking tape over some of the joins to hide the raw ends, but it's probably not necessary under a coat or two of textured paint. I'm going to make another four of these, then try something similar with corrugated card roofs and walls.

They'll end up being used in 15mm sci-fi games; I have a game of Hammers Slammers planned for the new year so I need to get some scenery together before then.

15mm exchange programme - part 2

I received a little package from TMP user 'Blambi' in Sweden yesterday morning, and was really pleased with what was in it.

Not only were they really nice looking figures, but he'd sent me the painting recipe as well! Which is great, since I like the figures and I want to add a few more to make up a couple of squads for Gruntz.

So thanks to TMP user ThorLongus for coming up with the idea, thanks to Blambi for sending such a great set of figures, and I'd be very happy to do it all again sometime.

15mm exchange programme

See this page on TMP for the details - send off a painted squad, get the same back. I'll post a picture of what I get when it's over; if you're into 15mm sci-fi, have a look. I just hope I get something 'out of the ordinary'.

15mm sci-fi - update

Over the last week I have painted up another few 15mm tanks for Hammers Slammers...

Most are my own sculpt, but there's also four Brigade Models 'Rhino MTB' as well. I can't remember what the walker is, but it's painted up quick and simple in the same colour scheme. I just need some infantry now...

Strike Platoon - completed

Well, I have finally finished these vehicles - a coat of Army Painter Anti-Shine Matt Varnish and they look very much the part.

All the markings are hand painted, as a reverse colour-way of the Apex Dragoons. Bases are 2mm MDF.

Trojan command (right) and Trojan missile launcher (left)

Slingshot MICV

Slingshot calliope

Geckos - not actually in the platoon, but lovely Old Crow vehicles

The whole platoon, plus those Geckos

I may put a coat of gloss onto the windows in the Geckos and the cabins on the others, but that's basically it. Dragoons next...

Painted Strike platoon

I am trying to get an update a week for 2011, so this is my progress. The Strike platoon has been base-coat painted and given a coat of spray varnish. Next up will be a wash of GW Devlan Mud and a gentle drybrush to sharpen up the edges, then I will paint in all the windows. I'm considering adding bases to the vehicles; the wheels are a little uneven and while it's not noticeable on a gaming cloth, I know it's there.

The next detachment will be the Dragoon platoon, which also has some Slingshots; I am considering differentiating between the Slingshots and the Trojans by moving the turrets to the front for Trojans, which would mean I need to replace the two at the front-right of these two pictures. Or at least, I would re-cycle the hulls with new turrets, and the turrets with new hulls - nothing wasted.

And I also picked up this mech on eBay - a 'Robotech Mac II Monster Destroid Cannon' according to the box. It's rather beaten up, but with some Araldite to fix the joints, fine sandpaper, a file and a good coat of primer, it should be recoverable.

And boy oh boy, does it tower over the 15mm figures! I know it doesn't fit the Hammers Slammers universe, but what the heck, it's fun.

Stowage in 15mm

All those vehicles were looking just a little bit clinical and clean, so I decided to add a bit of stowage to them. I found this really useful article on the Flames of War site and it didn't look too difficult, so I had a go.

In retrospect, I may have got better effects with milliput rather than greenstuff, just because greenstuff has a tendency to bounce back to shape, but I'm happy enough anyway.

There are also a couple of Geckos in the first picture. Old Crow's stuff is well worth waiting for; the quality is excellent.

More Slammers

Here are the other vehicles in my first Slammers detachment; two missile calliopes, a command vehicle and an ATGW vehicle.

Once again, the hull is my own sculpt, the turrets are from Old Crow. The missile pack on the second vehicle is from plastic rod, the calliopes are from a 25mm scale Old Crow missile pack; I will probably replace them at some point.

I need to add hatches and stowage over the next week or so, then I can choose a paint scheme.

And finally, the whole detachment - a Strike Platoon with 9TUs, clocking up 1620 points.

Hammers Slammers in 15mm

There's been a bit of a run on Hammers Slammers in 15mm at the Warlords, and I have finally decided what to do with my little tank sculpts. They will be an Apex Dragoons force, though since Jim already has one under the brush, I will change the name and colour scheme and keep the same organisation chart.

So here are the first half of the Strike Detachment; five Slingshot MICVs with gatling railgun and missile support. I need to cast another four hulls, then I can do a pair of Slingshot hypersonic missile calliopes, a Trojan ATGW missile carrier and the Trojan command vehicle.

The hulls are my sculpt, the turrets are from Old Crow. I will be sculpting some stowage for them once I have all nine ready to go.

So that's two different scales and two different armies in the last two days.Not that I have a short attention span or anything...

Wildebeest completed

Woo hoo! I managed to get the paints out last night after work, and this is the result. Wheels by Brigade Models, machineguns by Battlefront, hull by me!

Again, painted sand and granite, washed with devlan mud, drybrushed sand. Quick and easy, and I'm really pleased with the way they have turned out; I have another four assembled waiting for their paint jobs; I am tempted to give one of them a searchlight rather than a machine gun and make an ambulance. Then I must get on with the job of making some turrets to create an IFV version.

I know that they have cost me far more than I would have paid to buy four APCs from a 'real' manufacturer, but I am so pleased to have my own unique models that I don't care. There's something really satisfying about working through a model from start to finish.

Twenty-six grams

Well, this resin casting lark is a piece of cake - I can't see what I was ever worried about. ;)

I have started casting myself some of the APCs, but first things first. I was as careful as I could be while I removed the master from the mould, but I still managed to tear a small section. I think there was a fine gap between the hull and the plastic card base, and this allowed a small amount of rubber to get into that space. When I lifted the master out, it tore a tiny section of the mould out as well, so one of the axle stubs has a flaw beside it - indicated by the knife-blade.



Anyway, I cleaned up the mould, removing the wax and generally tidying up the edges, and then I tried a casting.

I measured the size of the void I wanted to fill, and I mixed up a little resin. A very little resin. Twenty-two grams of resin, to be precise. Fortunately I went and got a set of electronic scales from Tesco at the weekend, so I can get this accurately mixed up. I mixed, I poured, I realised that twenty-two grams may be precise, but it's precisely wrong. It's slightly shallow, but probably usable... or maybe I'll just keep it for posterity.


Anyway, since then I have cast another four APCs; twenty-six grams of resin is the correct amount to fill the mould and have just enough resin left over to make the hatch. It takes about 15-20 minutes to mix and pour the resin, wait for it to bloom and cool, remove it from the mould and clean up for another run. Not bad... and they are all small and solid enough that I don't have any problems with warping and flexing.

Final stage - attach some wheels to the hulls...


I have to say that I'm well chuffed with the way this has come out.

Making the mould...

And this is where it gets scary - making a mould from my lovingly-crafted master. I have stuck the masters to a piece of plastic card; my assumption is that I want a flat surface so that when I have poured the resin, I can run a blade across the top while it's still wet to ensure I have a flat bottom and minimal sanding after removal. I hope.


I popped the plastic card into a lego frame, and filled the gaps around the edge with wax. Then sprayed with mould release.


And mix and pour the RTV101 rubber from Tiranti. I am slightly worried about the number of bubbles surfacing, but I have knocked, tapped and jogged it as much as I can to try to get them all to surface. I will pop it out of the mould tomorrow... watch this space :)

Back to the 15s

As I said a couple of posts ago, I have an awful lot of spare wheels for my 15mm APCs. Well, here is the initial work on the hull; created from a cut-down Rhino, with the detail all removed and sanded back to a block of resin. Everything has been added with plastic rod, tube and sheets except the stowage boxes, which are the originals, removed with a razor saw and turned sideways. I still need to make a turret and a hatch for the top of the hull so that it can be an APC or an IFV.

I would say there's another evening's work in making the master with some greenstuff to fill gaps, then I can have a go at making an RTV mould and doing some resin casting - not something I have ever tried before, so wish me luck!

Update:


Here are some comparison pictures between Brigade Model's 6mm version of the Wildebeest and my 15mm version. The hatch is made from plastic card and tube and a KV2 return roller for the hatch doors themselves; the wheels just press-fitted onto the axle stubs. Though I say it myself, it's looking pretty good. Next I have to make the alternative turret...

A diversion in 15mm

My big problem is sticking to a project. My solution is to not even try! Let me explain what I mean... I will try to have a couple of mutually exclusive projects underway at any one time. At present, I have my Warhammer 40k Imperial Guard on the painting table, but as a diversion I also have these rather nice 15mm figures and vehicles as well. The tanks are from Brigade Models, in their South African Confederation range, and are called Rhinos. They have an APC / IFV equivalent in the 6mm ranges, but unfortunately not in 15mm.

However, I have a plan to get around that, and to that effect I have some RTV rubber, a lot of plasticard, and 96 spare wheels from Brigade Models. I will be sculpting a hull based on the shape of the 6mm Wildebeest, casting them in resin, and Bob's your uncle.

The Rhinos are painted in Vallejo acrylics; Dark Sand and Granite Grey, I think, with a GW Devlan Mud wash over the whole thing. A quick dry-brush of the sand colour and they're good to go. I still have to add some detailing (lights, markings, that sort of thing) but they're basically done.

Next up are the figures. They are from Critical Mass's ARC Fleet ranges; again, they have received the sand / granite / mud treatment and they're very quick to paint. The visors were in a random pale blue... I tried gold but it didn't show very well against the sand and grey so they got a repaint.

And just to finish up, here's a shot of the whole lot together. Even with the bases incomplete and the detailing on the vehicles missing, they look good to my eye. I'm looking forward to doing a few more in between the Imperial Guard...