Tuesday 31 May 2011

Medieval Church and graveyard (1/72nd)

"More tea vicar?" I got the church and graveyard finished yesterday..:-D
Graveyard with charnelhouse /chapel

A little corner of the graveyard
The windows I got from the web..from a site called Freewareme, re-sized and printed them out....a hole underneath and a small bulb...and it´s evening mass! :-D

Monday 30 May 2011

Medieval Village (1/72nd)

Same construction method as the Roman Town, the only real change is with the thatched roofs. These are done by glueing clumps of Handbrush bristles onto  cardboard.
This time I´ve given a bit more thought to the basing. I´ve made the bases so that each section can be rearranged to give a different layout when needed.
The "decoration isn´t finished, bushes , trees, a bit more grass and a few animals will be added.
Random arrangment. The two round huts (pig keeper on the right) are re-used from this dio...NO TAXES!!
View from "pig keepers" across the square, of  the pub
Set up in a  "the injuns are coming!!"  pattern
Some street pieces, a  church and graveyard with charnel house are in construction

Hello to Wilson Edward Toy Soldiers. On his blog,Wilson Eward Toy Soldiers, he shows a grand collection of 54mm Bods and his other Blog, Land of the Lead, deals with all aspects of bod collecting...with some very clever photos..
Hello to Anubis 88...now this is where it gets a bit confusing because yesterday I saw that Yarik from Yarik Miniatures blog, announced that his friend had set up a blog...called Anubis Miniatures. but he has an Avatar, and Anubis 88, hasn´t. So either you are both one and the same or......different,  which would be a big coincidence :-D Anyway...thanks to Anubis 88 for following and look at Anub
Publish Post
is´s excellent painting on his blog...Anubis Miniatures.
I´d like also to give a shout for Irqan´s blog, Plastic Zombie. He´s been about on the net for a while but has just set up his blog and will be using plastic bods for Zombie gaming...looks fun already :-D

Sunday 29 May 2011

Roman Town (how to)

This is how I created the Roman Town,  Nothing fancy or complicated, as you will see :-D
The following building took about 3/4 of an hour (taking out drying times for glue and paint)
Taking a bit more care..it would probably have taken an hour, but this made was for the article and will be re-used for a medieval house later.
How you build them is only limited by your imagination. The bigger and more complicated they are, they will obviously need a bit more planning, but after a couple of buildings,  it becomes second nature.
The tools and materials. Scissors, Biro, sharp blade, setsquare, wood glue and pins (both not in pic) and some polystyrene 4mm floor insulating sheets
Decide how long, wide and tall (single, two storey etc) the building will be. When you´ve cut the walls, use a bod to mark where the top of the doors will come. (obviously the bod can be any scale) I always mark a bit lower than the head due to "cutting creep" ie;, the cut out doors always seem to end up bigger than marked.  Take care to make sure that the pre-scored lines on the insulating sheet run horizontally along any long lenths of wall/roof to help give them strength..
Cut out the doors. This one will be a shop with a house attached. The doors have already got a bit bigger than intended..
The Gable ends can now be cut using the set square.
Add windows where you want them. These don´t have to be marked as here, you can cut the holes out and add windows, but after doing this a couple of times, I gave up in favour of the easy way.
Add glue along any touching sides and fit the walls together, using pins to hold the pieces in place as you go.     Maximus is measuring up for the wallpare
On all my buildings I add a central wall to support the roof.  This should have the top end cut to the same angle as the gable walls. Here, on the right of the building,  you can see I have added a dividing wall between the shop and house.
Measure up the roof plates. Make sure that they are about 1/2 a cm wider all around the bottom and sides of the building, don´t cut them flush with the walls. Cut top and bottom of the roof tile as shown. This is to make the join along the top of the roof easier, and the bottom to make it seem more like thin tiles.
Using the biro, simply score the tile pattern on the lined side of the insulation tile, making sure that you make cut a bit through on the sides and bottom to create an overhanging  tile effect. Try to pu both roof tiles back to back and make the first markings the same on each side, it looks a bit more like a capping tile when stuck together. After all the vertical markings have been made, run the biro along the horizontal lines to give definition.
Paint. It will probably take two coats to get the walls white. The roof  I painted with red and brown(50/50), then drybrushed with red. I painted the house and roof seperately (it´s easier) Don´t forget to paint the sides and underside of the roof where it overhangs. The windows I do with felt pens...:-D
This house was made at the same time by my 6 yr old daughter (pins are still in to hold the roof on) so if she can make one....;-D
Hello to Staz. Thanks for following. :-D

Saturday 28 May 2011

Medieval Womenfolk

Without them there´s no medieval menfolk..:-D There isn´t many female bods about so it´s a case of having to make do, if you want a large group of them.
From Hat and Atlantic
From Imex...the hats cut back, ruffs and collars  trimmed away.
The baby looked cute before I went and painted it. (sorry, a bit blurred )
All from Valdemar.  Resin and metal
The goose is enyoying the ride but little does it know what lays in wait...."quick G.Gander!! Squeeze out a golden egg"

Friday 27 May 2011

Medieval mortar in action

The crew look a bit like they are firing the thing "by numbers" but I reckon they would have at last kept thier heads down as it fired.
I wonder if anyone will spot the lack of touchhole????? :-D

Thursday 26 May 2011

Gotcha!!!

The quick white toga wearing Velite has got the slow brown trouser wearing Celt.
Hello to Milos of Dreamspirit Wargaming Blog. He has 4 blogs in total...all of which are worth a look at (as are all blogs) Some very good tutorials..in both Pictures and Film form. And you can also look the videos up on Youtube.

Wednesday 25 May 2011

ATTACK OF ARION HORTENSIS !!!!

The silent killer of the garden world!!!!
Don´t be so rediculous Tomkins....there´s no such thing!!!!
Tompkins!!! Stop that mumbling and Speak up man
Hello to djk from DJK´s Fantasy World.. A scratch built terrain builder who produces  buildings from re-cycled materials using standard paints, glues etc, to create  some great looking houses etc.

Hello to scotty from Scotty´s Wargaming. A wargamer who covers mostly these periods, 
WSS, ACW, AVCBW, Dark Ages and colonial, (and some sci fi and fantasy)

Hello to Kem....Kem your bloggers follower function is not on..

Hello to James from Rabbits in My Basement. Loads of BIG wargames to see on his blog...but the last post was about pies....don´t read his list, it will make your mouth water :-D

Bonjour Ć  Maxon from Les figurines de Maxson. He has an amazing collection of 28mm Napoleonics.
His latest post , 1er et 2eme carabinier 1815 will show you what I mean.

Tuesday 24 May 2011

Roman town (1/72nd scale)

A bit of stress this morning..I couldn´t log on here...I finally managed to, by using a "back door".
Made these a few years back, lots of sheets of polystyrene green floor insulating tiles, wood glue and Acrylic wall paint :-D
A shopping street with a balcony
The residential palace
View across town from the palace balcony
The Palace might get reconstructed into an Medieval Abbey and some of the houses will end up (after a face lift) in a medieval town.....maybe.

Sunday 22 May 2011

Fairy Horse

Another flying thing...this time a horse. I made an attempt at using a method of painting called Grisaille, it´s more complicated than I thought, and I will definately need a lot more practice :-D
I think the technique would be more usefull on larger scale sculpts.

Hello to Mario GarciaG...from Nucel Art, The end is near blog. very creative and  wonderfull sculpts, which would be way better for the Grisaille technique.

Saturday 21 May 2011

Avia B -21 (KP Model) 1/72nd

I bought this kit at a trade fair...it said there was three kits inside...which there was..but no instructions and no Decals. A bit outside of my usual WWI period but a fun little kit to build. The Czechoslovakian company that made it (KP Model) has ceased to trade but the models seem to be available all over the place.
Hello to Irqan...thanks for following :-D

I´d like to mention a fellow blogger here, Sergeant Lesch from I LIKE the things I LIKE! Blog. An ACW based blog with ...well, he puts it better than I could;
Occasional postings of things I like that folks may like as well. History,Toy Soldiers,some politics, beautiful ladies past and present.

Friday 20 May 2011

Medieval Peasants (conversions)

From the Zvezda Medieval Peasant Army set. 
The "heavy" and "light" cavalry have already been posted here, but the silly sod whose "caught" an arrow is new.
Arm swops, body half swops and a "marker"
A lucky peasant who has got himself a crossbow!!
Mad axeman Magee, one whose had enough and is leaving and the standard bearer carrying the flag of the Bandshuh movement  (1493-1517)