From MikeW: Tales from the Construction Site plus other stuff [Under construction][Limo](365 Points)

As with the last submission, I will start with a ride in Lady Sarah's Limo, this time taking me to the Under Construction Site. For my Limo fare I present a 28mm Female Apocalypse Survivor figure, this woman being painted to represent a member of the Highway Patrol or maybe a State Trooper.

This Female State Trooper or Highway Patrol
will escort Lady Sarah's Limo!

I've gone for a Blue uniform, with dark blue trousers with a light blue shirt, timings on both shirt and trousers being reversed. She has a light blue helmet and black boots and night stick, whilst she also carries a M16 rifle and nightstick. Her dress is somewhat relaxed, likely the stress of here survivor status meaning that usual uniform care is no longer possible!

I made an attempt at Police Badges on each shoulder

Again the base is make to look like an urban wasteland...

Final shot

The figures I have worked on this week for the Under Construction are a batch of forty, 28mm Vikings. These figures were acquired some time ago from eBAY and are a mixture of Gripping Beast and Victrix plastics, now the reason that these are an 'Under Construction Lot' is because the original owner had partially painted them and affixed them to square Games Workshop bases for use in a Lord of the Rings setting, the standard bearer even came with an 'evil' icon and three skulls hanging form it.

A 'large' project lot arrived from eBAY,
I put it off as there was a lot of re-construction work to do...

(I did momentarily consider leaving this in place to increase my Side Duel Skullz score - but no, historical accuracy won out! )

First job was to rebase the figures,
removing the old square bases and affixing to nice round bases

Second Left was the Standard Bearer as delivered,
I removed the skull laden icon and will replace with a nice flag

I have put off doing anything with these figures as there seemed to be quite some work to be done to get the ready for a reasonable paint job.

As expected there was quite some construction work just to get these figures ready to paint! - A number of the figures (5) has broken spears and or arms that needed replacing. Two heads needed to be refitted and several arms needed to be reset to make them serviceable to my eyes. Finally all the square bases needed to be removed and then replaced with round MDF bases to fit in with my basing standards for the period. Not a quick job, especially as I ran out of bases and had to resort to the good old 2p piece standby for a handful of these figures!

Typical figure and painting standard as supplied,
they need quite a lot of work!

Test figures, with base colours blocked in,
note - I ran out of MDF bases so had to finish batch with 2p pieces!

Final state of the 'test' figures, I was pleased with the transformation

The figures had been sprayed with a rattle can to give them a silver finish and then many had had a gloss brown paint applied to cloth and leather areas. In general I thought that I could salvage the silver figures and apply inks to make the chainmail work whilst I'd need to redo the leather, clothing, skin and shields on all the figures.

A group view of the final figures, all forty of them.

And possibly a better view of the finished figures in video format

So not all my own work but I think that I have stamped my vision of the Dark Ages on these little guys. By way of showing the process I have a snap of a figure prior to my first painting steps, using him as a test for the rest of the batch.

The command group, Leader, Standard Bearer and Musician

I added belts, repainted wooden spear shafts and shields, dressed them in browns and greys before redoing their skin and hair. I liked how it was going so two more test figures joined the original to have Dark Tone ink applied to the chainmail and then Agrax Earthshade added to the clothing. Skin, unsurprisingly had Flesh Tone applied and the spear shafts and shields had Light Tone applied to give a shaded appearance.

First of a series of close-ups of the figures, most figures came with Gripping Beast shields, smallish with leather bindings. Some came with larger shields with steel rims. Again, rather embarrassingly I did not have transfers the right size for these shields - so they have been painted plain colours.

Once dry I put on the shield transfers before applying matt varnish and allowing to dry overnight before completing the bases in my usual manner. Overall a pleasing result in these three little guys. I just had to repeat the process 36 more time!

Five more Vikings, I'll let you determine which are Victrix and which are Gripping Beast

When people ask me how I can paint so many figures my usual answer is determination and a steady hand, what I should also add is a high pain threshold and shear 'bloody mindedness'! Anyway I got all 36 figures done, eventually!

Almost all figures originally came with Spears, any non command figures with a sword or axe have been subject to repairs in their 'Under Construction' Film Set.

Another five guys, most came wearing chainmail,
some wore leather and a few were unarmoured.

The Victrix and Gripping Beast figures go pretty well together,
although the differences in the sculpts are clear, height is about the same.

And still they come, I made extensive use of ink washes over simple base colours on these figures

And the final four, with pesky large shields!

Before I stop move on - just a comment about Dark Age shield types and the debate as to if they were steel rimmed or bound in leather - both are depicted here. I always assumed that they would all be the former but a few years back I was talking to a Viking Re-enactor in Largs, Scotland who made the comment that steel rimmed shields would be stronger but much harder to repair when on campaign.

After a battle the shields would not surprisingly be in bad shape, if it has a steel rim the warrior would need a blacksmith with a forge to repair it, taking time and money as dozens or even hundreds of warriors would all want their shield fixed at the same time.

Binding shields with stretched, wet leather would likely be quicker and easier in the field to get a warrior's kit repaired. Each warrior would soak leather strips and stretch around the edge of their shields and then these would be dried by a fire. As the wet leather dries it shrinks and hardens, creating a tough binding.

It should also be noted that shield designs form damaged shields would often be cut off and then attached to new or captured shields, reusing existing artwork where possible and again held in place by leather bindings.

I assume the re-enactor knew what he was talking about - it seemed logical to me

Thank goodness I also had a fun batch of Grechin to get completed this week!

So I've been banging on about the Great Gobbo Rebellion under the leadership of the much forgotten 'Red Gobbo', to date, however, I have not really done many Grechin to populate the ranks of the GLA (Grechin Liberation Army) or is it the UGF (United Grechin Front), who knows - and it'll likely change every time the force is fielded. Anyway here are a group of 28 Rebellious Grechin.

The Grechin Mega Mob, 28 little guys

They have been painted in the same manner as earlier posts, with the skin highlighted in a lighter colour than their bigger, uglier cousins - the Orks. These figures are all plastics, collected form a number of eBAY lots that I have obtained in the last few months. Many have had the 'Red Star' on their arm bands or elsewhere about their persons.

In groups of four...

Most of these guys have 'Red Star' armbands

A couple have looted imperial Guard equipment, namely a Laser Pistol and a Grenade Gun, the res have the usual miscellany of pistols and out of date 'Sluggas'.

Another four

A fun group with Grechin Boss left, middle
two ammo carriers and right a guy with a looted grenade launcher.

So what else am I working on? Well there are more Marian Scots Pikemen edging towards the workbench, along with some Late 17th Century French Militia (which have been on the workbench for almost a year now, in a plastic bag) and even more Ork happiness...

There's more...

... and more...

... and finally the last four!

.. Until next time! Oh and here's my map from the film sets

POINTS
Lady Sarah Figure 5 Points
Lady Sarah Bonus 20 Points
40 x 28mm Viking Foot @ 5Pts ea 200 Points
28 x 40K Grechin @ 5 Pts ea 140 Points
TOTAL 365 Points

SIDE DUAL POINTS
Squirrel Points +1 (Vikings)

From TeemuL: You forgot to include the 20 points for Under Constructions, but I kindly added them to you and added the labels etc, you know all the manual work, which Minions are not supposed to do, but which they nevertheless do. :) I like the state trooper and gretchin are always nice. There is nothing wrong with the vikings, either. Good and varied entry again!

We will have a small break now, waiting for the New World to wake up and be ready for the last posts of the day.