From LeeH: Winter War Bunker (10 Points)

I hadn’t planned on making any terrain this year at all. Fate, however, had other ideas in the form of a gammy leg and an unexpected week off work. Painting miniatures turned out to be a bit of a non-starter—too much sitting still and not enough focus—but pottering about and making something from scratch felt just right. The result was this little Winter War fieldwork, currently occupied by a couple of my Russians. Realistically, though, it’s far more likely to end up sheltering Ray’s Finns, which rather suggests I may have built something that will be used against me. Such is life.

The piece is entirely scratch-built from what can only politely be described as rubbish. A few weeks earlier, on a walk in the park, I’d picked up a selection of sticks and bits of bark that looked suitably rough and utilitarian. The irregular base measures just over five by three inches, and the snow banks were built up using offcuts of high-density foam. These were glued down and partially filled with stones and putty to create a roughly U-shaped mound, giving the whole thing a sense of purpose rather than symmetry.

Once that had set, I cut some of the larger sticks into roughly 1.25-inch lengths to form the vertical supports of the bunker walls. Smaller sticks were laid across the top to suggest a crude roof structure. At this stage, the build relied heavily on liberal applications of PVA glue and, just as importantly, patience while everything dried properly. This isn’t fast terrain, but it is forgiving terrain.

With the structure solid, I went back in to fill gaps, add extra layers of sticks, and glue on bits of bark to break up the roofline. When that had fully dried, I moved on to a simple paint job. The ground was blocked in with an Earth Brown basecoat, while the sticks were left unpainted so the natural wood could show through. The earth was then drybrushed with London Grey and lightly highlighted with white. At this point, you might reasonably wonder why I bothered, given that almost all of it would be buried under snow. Two reasons: first, I hadn’t fully committed to 100% snow coverage at that stage, and second, I think painting the ground underneath gives the snow a more natural, convincing depth. It may be subtle, but it didn’t take long, and I think it helps. The exposed wood was then given a very light drybrush of white to give it a frosty, cold-weather look.

With the painting done, it was time for the snow. On the roof, I used Woodland Scenics Soft Flake snow mixed with PVA and water into a paste, spreading it carefully between the wooden beams and letting some of the timbers poke through. For the U-shaped bank, I applied several layers of snow in varying thicknesses to keep it uneven and rough, rather than smooth and sculpted. The final touch was the addition of a few tufts, poking through the snow for a bit of visual interest.

I probably spent a couple of hours on this over a couple of days, working in short bursts while things dried. It wasn’t planned, it wasn’t expensive, and it wasn’t complicated, but it was deeply satisfying. Even if it does end up giving the Finns yet another place to ambush my poor Russians.

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What a great looking piece Lee, it left me wishing I could award points for the actually building of the model as that is where most of the work is, and lovely work it is at that!  Everything looks very natural and it will look great on the table.  The painting itself though and the size of the piece doesn't add up to a whole lot, but I am going to bend my own rules a little bit and award 10 points because of the end effect and the work that went into the piece.

 Great work, I think most of us would love to have something like this in our terrain collection.

-Byron 

From FrederickC - Another Quartet of Library Challenges [Nature][Gift Shop][Oversized Books][Biography] (112 points)

 This is the second half of today's Challenge Library Visit, and consists of another two rooms with two sections in each.

First we have Nature in the form of some jungle terrain. Years ago I spotted some foliage mats in a dollar store, each consisting of 36 plants in a 6x6 spike grid. I thought they might be useful for as jungle vegetation, but beyond cutting up some of the grids, not much happened with them. When I saw the Nature category, I thought they would fit the bill. About the same time, my wife found a set of 'Desktop Easter Island Heads' while going through one of our cupboards, and they were just the thing to add a bit of interest to the terrain pieces.The palm trees are from Michael's, and the bases are obsolete CDs. I formed small hillocks on the discs with polystyrene,  and glued down the bases of all the plants. I then applied a layer of spackle to smooth everything out, followed by a coating of sand. Once the bases were painted, some flocking was applied, and the plants stuck back on their bases, as well as the Easter Island Heads. I am quite pleased with how they turned out. A successful 'proof of concept'.

Next is a visit to the Library Gift Shop. Two years ago, my friend, fellow gamer and re-enactor, Dallas, picked up the 'Battle of Pelennor Fields' boxed set from Games Workshop. It contains a lot of great figures, including a Nazgul on a Fel Beast. What is doesn't contain is a figure of 'Gothmog, Lieutenant of Morgul'. Luckily for Dallas, I had an extra metal one in my inventory. Now he will no longer be 'sans Gothmog'.

Now we will move on to the back room to check out the Oversized Books. Initially I wasn't sure what I had that would fit, but then I came across a plastic English Civil War/30 Years War musketeer that was a freebie with an issue of Wargames Illustrated a number of years ago. Perfect to go with the massive tome on my shelves,  'European Weapons & Warfare 1618-1648' by Eduard Wagner. The book weighs in at 1.8 kg, so it definitely qualifies as 'oversized'. The musketeer was a multi-part figure that came with a choice of arms and hats. The broad brimmed hat went to the 'Aragorn to Captain Alatriste' conversion, and the musketeer got the Montero cap.

My last stop, pending approval to visit the 'Rare Books' section, is Biography. In my case, it's going to be something autobiographical. I got into the re-enacting hobby in 1984. In the past 40 years I have worn uniforms of the Seven Years War, the American War of Independence, the Napoleonic Wars, the War of 1812, the American Civil War (both North and South), the First World War, and finally, the Second World War. I like 'total immersion', so I didn't just learn the appropriate drill manual. I also researched aspects of period music, games, cuisine, etc. For the earlier time periods, that included period tailoring, sewing my own uniforms, as well as uniforms for unit members. By far, the fanciest uniform I ever sewed was that of a grenadier of the 40th (Hopson's) Regiment of Foot, circa 1759. I posted a picture of our group being rowed to the Halifax docks from the frigate Rose in my last submission. Shorty after that event, which occurred in 1999, I purchased a 54mm figure from Border Miniatures, designed by Pete Armstrong, of a British line regiment grenadier, circa  1751. Almost a quarter century later, I finally got it painted as a 'self portrait.

Guarding the gates at Fortress Louisbourg

 

 

My Library progress thus far:

I have my cotton gloves ready

 

The points being claimed are as follows:

2 x 28mm foot figures @ 5 points each = 10 points

 

1.6 cubes of terrain @ 20 points each = 32 points

 

1 x 54mm foot figure @ 10 points

4 x Library sections @ 20 points = 80 points 60 points

 

Sylvain: Another impressive submission! I really enjoyed reading about your passion for re-enactment. I also found interesting the miniature of the "mini-you" :-). The jungle fits the bill as well and your creativity is really inspiring.

However, sadly, I will rule that your submission for "Oversized Books" does not match the criteria for "Oversize Books": "For those things that are better when bigger." I admit that the book you are referring to is quite big, but the spirit of the location is to present a model or a project that says "big" by itself. Given the creativity and productivity you have demonstrated so far, I am sure you will find something suitable in no time.

Great work on your SECOND submission of the day! 

 

  

 

 

From FrederickC - Roaming 'Round the Rotunda [DIY][Literature][Graphic Novels][Sci-Fi] (321 points)

Since my last post two weeks ago, I have been bouncing around between nine different projects, and having trouble focusing on just one until it was completed. I am sure other challengers have experienced similar problems in their own quests. Instead of trying to cram all of the final products into a single post, I will split them into three separate submissions. We will carry on with our exploration of the Challenge Library with a visit to the two levels of the rotunda.

First up is the DIY section. In November 2020 I painted up the first of my growing early war Polish army, and I was keen to play a scenario with them. I was attracted to one found in the Bolt Action 'Germany Strikes' campaign book which was based on the defense of the Polish Post Office in Danzig on 1 September 1939. In preparation I constructed a model based on the actual building, and I painted up some additional German forces specific to the battle. However, when we played the game, I still didn't have the correct type of fence for the front of the building. That has now been rectified using a combination of polystyrene foam (cut with my new Proxxon hot wire cutter), thick cardboard, and some miniature wrought iron fencing that dates back to the 1950s. The sections of fencing were 'collectibles' made in a white hard plastic that came with a German margarine brand called 'Ei-fein' and included all manner of zoo animals, trees, buildings, etc. My grandparents had saved these over the years, and passed them on to me when I was still a young boy. While the trees are more two-dimensional than one would like for use on the table top, and the animals aren't in a useful scale, the fencing was perfect as a starting point for this project.

The longest sections of fencing are 11" long and 2" tall. I built the shorter sections without a column at one end so that they can be butted up against a long section to either make it longer or form a corner.

The original Polish Post Office circa 1930 showing the fencing

Work in progress

Sections complete

Fencing in front of the Polish Post Office

Next we have Literature. I wasn't sure what I could do for this section, until I spotted an extra Games Workshop figure I had of Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn from the 'Heroes of the West' boxed set. With a little bit of conversion work to cut his coat shorter, change his sword and give him a wide brimmed hat, he became Viggo Mortensen as Captain Alatriste, the Spanish Musketeer.

 

Captain Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

 

Viggo Mortensen as Captain Alatriste

Image in background is a Spanish Tercio at Rocroi

Taking the stairs  up to the upper level we come to Manga and Graphic Novels. For this one I painted the rest of the retro Star Wars miniatures sculpted by Nevile Stocken of Archive Miniatures within weeks of the first Star Wars movie hitting the theatres. Alas, Stocken couldn't get a licensing agreement, and the line was modified to become 'Star Rovers' with enough changes made to circumvent copyright. These were a gift from a friend who got them from the estate of a mutual friend who had passed away. A total of sixteen figures consisting of Obi-wan Kenobi, Greedo, R2-D2, a Tusken raider, four Jawas, and eight Stormtroopers. Obi-wan's light saber, and the gaffi stick of the Tusken raider  had broken off at some point. I rebuilt them using lengths of florist wire. 

I was initially going to build a Gondorian tower for Minas Tirith, but the materials I had weren't giving off the right vibe. I decided to add another building to my Tatooine collection instead. It stands 8" tall and the base is 8" on a side.

 

Star Wars - A Graphic Novel

 

Somewhere in Mos Eisley

Stormtroopers

Tusken, Kenobi, Jawas, Greedo, and R2-D2

More Stormtroopers

Our last stop in the rotunda is Science-Fiction. For this section I painted up five resin cast vehicles from Scotia Grendel, consisting of two of their tracked Sci-Fi APCs and three of their wheeled A.T.A.C. APCs. I had purchased these at least fifteen years ago when I was still running an after-school wargames club, and I needed more vehicles for the large number of students who attended. In the end, I never found time to paint them and, after I retired, there was little incentive until now. Once again, the Painting Challenge has provided the necessary motivation to paint up items that have resided in a storage box for over a decade. 

The wolf's head on the back of the tracked APC is actually detail that is cast on the model in slight relief. I painted them white on both vehicles.

A group shot of all five vehicles

6-wheeled APC, right side and front

6-wheeled APC, back and left side

Tracked APC, front and left side

Tracked APC, right side and back

 My Library progress thus far:

 The points being claimed are as follows:

17 x 28mm foot figures @ 5 points each = 85 points

 

5 x 28mm vehicles @ 20 points each = 100 points

 

2.8 x cubes of terrain @ 20 points each = 56 points

4 x Library sections @ 20 points = 80 points

Total = 321 points

Sylvain: Another point bomb this week! This is also quite a diverse submission. I especially like how you converted Aragorn, keeping the Viggo inside. Seeing the quantity and quality of your production, I can only wish to retire as soon as I can. Keep the projects rolling!

 

 

From DaveD - Bootleggers Barn (44 points)

 A little extra left field entry this week. Myself , MartinC and JamesM will be at the Hammerhead show this coming weekend. As all the games are participation we wanted something nice and quick to run , so we decided on a little bootleggers scenario. 

The gang has a hidden still and storage place in the back woods - the G men will raid it . It will be quick and brutal I am sure . Martin recently completed a still for this . So I have built the barn this week from balsa, coffee stirrers and cardboard it’s on a 2mm MDF a4 base board .

Damn that’s the infamous Ray “the Badger” in his trademark yellow run away trousers - he must be out of Sing Sing - it’s so long since this  collection had some love . 

The still will be installed by Martin into the barn . 

 

I used the airbrush to paint and weather up the wood - followed by a bit of dry brushing .

Size wise it’s 12x8x5 so equals 2.22 cubes . = 44 points .

The other building was built back in 2014 as part of the challenge then . So the gangsters will need their eyes sharp - wakey wakey Ray . The G men are ready to pounce. 

I hear that fink Ray wears those yellow pants 'cos he sang like a canary when he was in Sing Sing. Sold out the whole budgie smuggling ring.

That's a great looking barn, Dave!

Tamsin