Update for the Quar.

As I said in my last blog update, I've added more stuff to my quar.  Some of these were new vehicles.  I purchased a couple more of the Trucks of Yesteryear line off of Ebay. The first truck I made into an ambulance. This is a 1919 Walker Electric Truck. It seemed to fit the look quite nicely. I gave it a repaint to match my Atkinson steam wagon and printed out a couple Red Cross symbols. I just need to make up a couple medic figures to go with it and its off to the field hospital.

The second truck I picked up is a 1922 Foden C-Type Steam Wagon. This truck I didn't paint, as I liked the color of the model. I did give it a coat of matt sealer to make it not so shiny. Unfortunately the coat clouded over on the plastic parts. However it gave it a dirty, gritty look to it, so I figured it was better to leave it alone. The one nice thing about this truck is the canvas canopy is removable. So I can put troops or supplies in the back depending on the scenario.

One of the things I came up with for our games were blood markers. I took red felt, cut them in circles and then cut irregular shapes out of them. We use these to signify when someone is "Out of Action"  or "Killed". When a figure is out of action, we place the figure on top of the blood. If the figure was killed, we place the blood on top.  Or if its a gory death.... Well we just throw a lot of them around......

We have also been getting terrain together for our games. JoAnnes had some neat "Pot Toppers" which worked well for overgrown termite mounds.

I also made a number of bases from some hex blanks I had. In JoAnnes floral department they had some small pine cones that I turned into a cactus like plant. Since we are redoing the new house, I have tons of spackle and joint compound laying around. I covered each hex with stucco texture. Added a few rocks here or there and painted them.

I added some flock then attached the cones. I tried using a new glue I had only used on fabric before. It is called Tacky glue, made by Aleene's. I have to say it worked amazingly well. It certainly works as the name implies. Its very tacky. It almost feels like its partially cured as well. I'm not sure if that is what causes the tackiness or not. But I like how it worked. I globbed some on the base of the cone, and stuck it to the base.  It didn't move from where I placed it. In the past I know using elmers glue, I would have had to prop it in place to keep it from falling over. The tacky glue held every one I put down. No muss, no fuss.

I recently made a new house as well. But I will need to get some pictures to  throw up. But here are some more pics from our last game.





http://s31.photobucket.com/albums/c372/Usrivoy/Quar/

Talk soon,
Scott

The New Year

Happy New Year!

Blatantly stolen from Laughing Ferret.... ;)

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Lots of food, drink and fun. Possibly some new toys as well.

Wow has it been that long.... I'm sorry I haven't made any updates. The second half of this past year has been rather crazy. Then the wife and I moved into a new house over the course of Thanksgiving.  So getting that ready has taken most of our time. The house is one of those fun project homes. It is a turn of the century farm house and we are looking to return it to its original form.

In October my computer also decided to blow up.  Luckily I was able to save the hard drive and updates that I had planned to put on the web. Since I have a new computer and was able to find the old files I will to post those updates shortly.  I also have the added bonus of being able to use voice recognition to dictate to the computer, so hopefully I will be able to put more regular updates on as I don't have to sit here and try and type them up any more. Ahhh...  Technology. Isn’t it great.

I have managed to get quite a bit done with the various projects I have sitting around.  I've included two more vehicles for my Quar. My friend Tom and I have played a number of games of SOA. So I’ve built some new terrain pieces for our games. The more we play and get used to the rules the better it gets. We've even started looking into the other Genesha Games sets.

I've also managed to increase my number of Flames of War figure's.  I have been working on the 3^rd Canadians as well as finishing my Fallshirmjager and Heer companies.  But those will be coming up after I take some pics.

I want to thank those who have subscibed to my little corner of the web. Its nice to feel someone is interested in what I'm doing. So keep an eye out. There should be more to come.

Talk soon,

Scott

The 19th gets some wheels

Hi Folks,

As I was puttering along with all my projects I happened across some items on Ebay I couldn't pass up. I'm always looking for items I can use for scenarios or terrain. So I did a search on ebay for 28mm vehicles and came across this.

This is a c1918 Atkinson steam wagon. It was put out by Matchbox in its Trucks of Yesteryear line. I happened to pick one up on ebay for $7. Though most on there are up around $15. This particular listing had it scaled at 1/43. Which should be perfect for 28mm. However when I got it, it was clearly 1/72 or 20mm. Now luckily the Quar are about 22mm. So they actually fit in scale fairly good.

So after throwing some fresh paint on it, this is what I ended up with.

And just for my friend Tom and his Fidwog Fusiliers. 

I may throw a couple of my unit flags on the side.I'm not sure just yet. Whats neat is this particular cab style is also offered with other bodies. I have seen flatbeds with various cargo on them. I'll have to see what I can find.

Hope you like,

Scott 

Carving rocks

My friend Jim gave me some  terrain boards which are too big and bulky for my taste.

So I'm cannibalizing them to make hills and other terrain features which are easier to store.

My friend Dave has asked me to show him how I carve rocks in terrain boards. So I figured I would throw up a quick little tutorial. I'm just using some cut off to show how its done. I will warn you as it does get a little messy.

The basic tools I use are......

• Zip Knife
• Stiff Brass Brush
• Soft Brass Brush

So to make Sandstone or Limestone you start off making horizontal cuts along your foam using the zip knife. You then make a couple vertical or angled cuts against the grain.

 
Using the heavy wire brush you rub it along the horizontal to start removing the foam. Once you have a basic shape you use the softer brush to make the detail. If needed go back to the zip knife to make some more cuts. When you done this is what it should look like.

Once your happy with the look. Its just a matter of painting. I used a yellow ochre base followed by two lighter drybrushes. And this is the final effect.

To make shale or slate, you use the same basic steps but change the direction of the scoring. Your deeper scores will be on an angle with some lighter cuts perpendicular to the deep cuts.

Using the same brush technique as before you score the foam in the direction of the deep cuts. Followed again by the lighter brush to shape the rock. You can always add more cuts to change up the look. Also shale unlike sandstone breaks into small pieces, so run the soft brush on the perpendicular to create small breaks in the foam.

A simple coat of black with a couple drybrushes of grey. And you get.....

The key too is to look for colors that more closely match rock. I've used dark grey for the base color up to slate blue.

The final type is Granite or some other base rock. This is basically done with nothing but the zip knife. Start buy making cuts in every direction along the length of the foam. Some deeper than others.

Once you have your cuts, open the zip knife all the way and rub the blade across the foam. Don't be gentle, but don't snap the foam. ( like I did....) Keep working it until you have an uneven surface. Again, making cuts and rubbing as you go. Finally you end up with.....

I did a quick black prime with a couple drybrushes of grey and light brown.. But you get the idea....

I hope this offers some ideas for you to work on. Its easy to do and gives a nice appearence on terrain when you want a stone face on a mountain or something.

See ya.
Scott

Some new Quar

Hi Folks,

I recently picked up some new units for my Quar. I decided to pick up a couple Royalist that I can have available for a game. I also picked up a couple more Crusaders that I intend to load up as Veteran / Assault troops.

So enough yapping on to the pics.....


First up is the Upper Barro House Guard. The house guards are rarely far from the royal family. But when needed they fall out to provide support to the troops. They have a distinctive Green and Tan uniform based on the royal colors.

Next is the Upper Barro Royal Marines. A major part of Upper Barros history is steeped in nautical lore. Generations have fished the kelp beds off of the Barro shores. And the Royal Navy protected the rich kelp beds from poachers. Now the Royal Navy works to keep open the flow of supplies to the royal family held up on their island fortress of the southeastern shore of Upper Barro.

 

 

And here they are together on patrol.

  

I also threw together an objective marker for giggles. I used bits from the Quar accessory pack along with some crates I had laying around. You always need something to fight over.

 As always I have a blast when I paint these figures. The detail on the models are fantastic, and the open environment in the game itself lets you really play with ideas and background stories.


More to come,
Scott

I'm still alive.....

Hi Folks,

Yup, I'm still alive. Its funny. I created this blog to give me some inspiration to work on projects in the hopes of posting them on here. The grand irony is I have so many going on, I don't have time to post them. And I'm one of those people that doesn't feel right just posting without something to offer.

So what has been going on. I picked up a huge lot of figs from my friend Tom. I grabbed from him the Battlefront 3rd Canadian box set, plus extras. I also picked up his Germans. It's a mix of HG Division as well as Fallshirmjager. The Jagers will go well with my current lot and fill out a nice sized company with assets. The Canadians will probably end up as generic Brits, or XXX Corps. for Market Garden. I've painted all the vehicles. I just need to take pics.

I ordered another batch of Quar from Zombiesmith. This time it was the Royalists. I wanted to make some additional troops for the SOA skirmish game. I have a couple painted as test figs. I also picked up more of the 15's to fill out my army. I also picked up some of the accessory packs and I am thinking of using some of the rifles and packs for objective markers.

The big thing that has been taking my time is the WW2 hobby. This coming weekend is the Ostfront event that I coordinate with the 272nd Fusiliers. I have recreated the battlefield map from scratch and have been working on scenario ideas with my cohort. Along with that I have been sewing like a fool putting my Oberleutnant uniform. It just dawned on me, I have been to an event every month so far this year..... I must be nuts.

I recently picked up a BC-611 Handy Talky for my displays as well as a Magnetic powered phone. I already have a EE-8 Field phone and these two will make a nice field communications display. If only I could afford a BC-1000 I'd be all set.

I've played some Wings of War which I find is a nice break from reality. Though the gang hates the way I have a tendency to pull all 1's and zeros for damage....

After this weekend, I'll try and get some photos up.

See ya,

Termite mounds

Hi Folks,

Keeping with the recent rash of terrain projects I've got going, I figured I'd throw up the latest one. My wife and I made a killing the other day at our local Michaels store. Much of the stock was marked at a discount for the holidays plus they have their normal coupons in the local paper. So we headed over and I went on a walkabout. I picked up a number of craft paints for $.79 as well as some odds and ends.

Nurgledeathmonkey over on the Zombiesmith forum posted picuters of some awesome termite mounds he built for his table. Inspiring me, I thought I would give it a go. While I was at Michaels, I saw a number of foam cones in the florist section. They ranged in price from $2 - $4. But with the coupons and stuff I figured I would grab some.

These are the hard white foam with the course texture. They had the green florist foam, but I've never had luck with that stuff. So I grabed a zip knife and began cutting out chunks from the foam. Once I had a rough shape, I sanded down any rough edges left on the foam. Then I just gave it a quick brush off to get any pieces sticking to the cone. Note to self: This stuff is very staticy and will cling to everything......

Once the cones were shaped I took some drywall spackle I had and mixed it with water. I didn't thin it down to much as I needed it to stick to the cones. Think soft toothpaste..... Wearing latex gloves I grabbed a bunch of the spackle in my hand and coated the cone. I didn't try to remove all of the rough texture just coat it. Once the entire piece was coated I set it down to dry. Once they were dry, I did the same paint technique I used on the Jakdul piece. I started with a mustard acrylic paint I had. (similar to German Panzer Yellow.) I then used the Krylon textured paint and sprayed an uneven coat. Once that was dry I drybrushed some buff paint over the top. Here is what they look like with some figures.....

They were fun to make. Not a lot of difficult steps. I plan on making some more now that I have seen how they look. I may get a little more involved in the process as far as how they look. I will also look at smaller sizes as well. These are pretty big even for 28mm.

Hope you like,

Scott