Tuesday 21 July 2015

Safe and well.

When starting this mad dash into the comic book world of Batman, I was greatly inspired by a series of posts by the 'Dark Templar' and 'Bullcher Feb'. Both gentlemen were busily building their crews ahead of an initial showdown when their attentions turned to terrain building and objective markers. If truth be told this is where the original idea for the 'Rocket Penguins' sprang from, but it also spawned another idea with regards to a solution for the 'Loot Marker'.



When stumbling around the '4Ground' stand at 'Salute 2015' my eyes fell upon a curious pack, simply entitle 'Safe'.  I would imagine that it was conceived to play a part in some sort of western game, but I initially thought what a wonderful objective for the villains of Gotham City.


From the the outset I need to stress that this was a bit of an indulgence*, but I do like putting together these models.  That said a closer inspection of the assembly instructions might have prevented a couple of schoolboy errors, namely putting the back on the wrong way round and allowing my fat fingers to manhandle a particularly delicate piece of infrastructure.  Still both obstacles were overcome with aplomb, and in the case of the glue mark, I simply covered it over with a rust effect to give the piece some 'age'.

*£6 worth or indulgence to be exact!


When completed I could't resist adding a little detailing to make Gotham's nefarious ne'er-do-wells' efforts more worthwhile.  Some pieces of plastic rod, beads and gold coloured glitter became the much sort after loot.  I have to say that I was feeling pretty pleased with myself, believing that I had stumbled onto a rather ingenious and original solution until, quite by chance, I saw that 'Element Games' were stocking a new release from 'Knight Models', yes a safe pack that not only gives you two models, but is cheaper as well - originality, it would seem, is fleeting! 

72 comments:

  1. What a wonderful piece!
    i'll steal your idea for the golden bars!

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    1. Please do Luca, nothing would make me happier my friend.

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  2. Insanely impressive Michael - those rust effects are masterfully done!

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    1. Thank you, I was just pleased to turn a near disaster into a workable solution.

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  3. Great job Michael, an amazing rusted piece!

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    1. Thank you Phil, it certainly seems to have some character now.

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  4. Love the rust effect. Did you "pin" the door..ie: use a pin stuck in the top and another in the bottom as hinges? If not, it would be a way of getting rid of the bit (I assume it´s a break) circled. I did it with a laser cut house..the doorframe bust and the door fell out which broke the hinge.
    Simply slice through the hinges already provided (again an assumption..they are Balsa?) with a razor blade, fill or cover the "break" and then pin the door in by pushing Pins in through the top an bottom into the door. The top one can be pushed full home (head of pin cut off). dab of paint..fini.

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    1. Thank you Paul and a great idea. You are right in that the hinges are small MDF lugs so it would be easy enough to slice those off and replace with pins, but I will need to lift the top off to place the final pin - not a problem though. In fairness the break looks worse in the photographs than it does in real life, but that said, I know that it is there so might have to be changed.

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    2. You don´t need to lift the top off. It´s made of Balsa? All you Need do is line the door up (Holding it in place when it´s open..and push the pin in through the lid. When it´s hit home..ie it goes into the door, push it in a bit more, Test to see if the door Closes...Clip the pinhead off and drive it home (flush with the top of the lid) with a hard surface..tip of a flat screwdriver. Repeat for the bottom hinge. If..and it´s a big IF..you feel you could..use a Long pin (or needle) and drive it all the way through from top to bottom..it means getting the angle dead right though.

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    3. Paul, I am such a numpty! Of course, I see what you mean now, definitely have to give that a go, thank you.

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  5. Excellent work. The rust paint has come out very well it gives it a nice grotty feel, just right for something which is not moved very often!

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    1. Thank you Clint, I do like my pot of rust effect.

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  6. That is a nice little piece! I like the aging and rust effects.

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    1. Thank you, I wonder if I would have thought of that if I hand't messed up the build?

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  7. That looks amazing. Really adds to the feel of what you are trying to achieve. Great job.

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    1. Thank you Mike, starting to get somewhere now.

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  8. That looks great! I should really crack on with my Batman stuff, so far I've mostly organised it and re-organised it in its storage box!

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    1. Thank you and I have been doing something similar for a while now - I do like a good sort and reorganisation!

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  9. How safe is this safe? Nice modeling, sir. The scratched loot looks great. Have fun trying to protect, or to borrow it.

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    1. Thank you Jay, just need a large swag bag now.

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  10. Cracking job there (get it? sorry) and I can only admit to suffering from exactly the same occurrence of spotting something cheaper after I've gone to great lengths to create something.

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    1. Very good Roy and I think the answer is not to dwell on the situation when this happens - that or go and buy the cheaper version as well!

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  11. Excellent work on the safe and the treasures Michael :)

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  12. Love it, particularly like the rust effect.

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    1. Thank you mArk, it does seem to add a little soothing doesn't it?

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  13. Wowzers.. that looks great.. more so with the additions of the glitter inside.. oh and that rust effects.. lovely stuff.. They wouldn't happen to be from ModelMates are they? :) great stuff that stuff is ;)

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    1. Thank you Mr. Lee and great spot on the ModelMates rust, which I picked up from Euro Militaire a couple of years ago. I find using it watered down and new brings a range of effects - great stuff indeed.

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  14. Hola Amigo
    MAGNIFICO en una palabra
    un saludo

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  15. Love that. The KM ones may be cheaper but they have less personality.

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    1. Thank you Kieron, that is kind of you to say although I suspect that I'll end up buying some of them as well!

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  16. Great stuff Sir M, love the rust effect!

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    1. Thank you Ray, a great little bottle from ModelMates.

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  17. Excellent work - the loot & that rust effect look brilliant!

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  18. Nicely done once again Mr Awdry! In fact that glue mark likely added to the Rusted appearance of the flaking, bubbling of some metals to corrosion.

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    1. Thank you Terry and isn't it strange how triumph and disaster are so closely linked?

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  19. Nicely done! It will certainly add a nice touch to the games.

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    1. Thank you a bit of an extravagance, but as you say should add a little something.

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  20. Excellent choice and looks perfect with the Penguin and his Henchman. :)

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    1. Thank you, I did toy with the idea of putting it on a base, but was worried that it would then dwarf them a bit.

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  21. Excellent work. As always Michael .
    Cheers .

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  22. That is so cool Michael! Great stuff!

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    1. Thank you Rodger, that is really kind of you.

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  23. This looks wonderful I didn't recognize it as MDF. The rust is pure genius!

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    1. It is amazing what they do with MDF now, I'm sure it is going to take over the world!

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  24. Great objective/ piece of terrain. Nice touches, even if they are hiding some flaws. I never would have known.

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    1. Thank you Sean, it is sometimes in making mistakes that new ideas emerge for the better.

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  25. It looks superb mate and suitably aged looking. Well done!!

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    1. Thank you simon, another great kit from 4Ground.

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  26. Lovely piece for an objective Sir Michael.
    Excellent recovery from the patina incident. The safe contents are sublime.

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    1. Thank you so much Bob, out of adversity and all that.

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  27. Wow - I would never have thought the finished work started out as a laser cut wood kit. Splendid work, Michael!

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    1. Thank you Dean, the really are clever people over at 4 Ground.

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  28. Cracking stuff Mr. Awdry! A wonderful bit of 'chrome' for the tabletop.

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    1. Thank you my good man, I've got a couple more bits to finish off and then I hope to get them all on the board.

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  29. Cracking stuff Mr. Awdry! A wonderful bit of 'chrome' for the tabletop.

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  30. Excellent work on this nice little kit. Really inspiring!

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  31. Great stuff, Michael. The rust gives the piece a suitably grubby look.

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    1. Thank you Mr. Finch more by luck than judgement, but I was happy with the results.

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  32. Genius! There are times when one word is enough and this is one of them. (And there I go and spoil it by adding 14 more words or is that 30). Sigh. (31)

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    1. Thank you for all your kind words, be it 1 or 31 they are all gratefully received.

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  33. Very nice work with the safe Michael.I really like the rust-effect.

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    1. Thank you, I use a model mates product, really good stuff too.

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  34. Rocket pinguins, some guys singing in the rain..Great catching up here, superb painting and modeliing

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