Keeping the wolf from the door!

What I love about this most wholesome of hobbies that we all share is the sense of community that pervades around our cosy corner of the infoweb.   This will often manifest itself through the generosity of others, whether it is in the time devoted to leaving comments or perhaps in a more physical, tangible sense with items freely given away in order to celebrate any number of impressive milestones.  I, myself have been a grateful recipient of a good many treasures and this odd couple is one such case. 

David Docherty Esq. of ‘One man and his brushes’ fame, is one of these splendid generous types, for when he is not giving freely of his time in the case of running the much lauded Serenity games at ‘Blog-Con’ he is putting random miniatures in the post to lucky and yet unsuspecting recipients. 

I say random, but Dave knows only too well of my penchant for weird and wonderful miniatures and so this mixed bag of Weird West miniatures from ‘Ainsty Castings’ was only ever going to be favourably received.  That said, I am somewhat embarrassed to admit, that I had all but forgotten them until just the other day when flicking through the ‘Witchfinder General’ rules, I realised that I would need to get my hands on some werewolves; faster than a speeding silver bullet, I went in search of Dave’s gift that I knew contained a likely lycanthrope.   

It is always the way with such things that the last place you look is exactly where you will find what you are searching for, but finally after covering the entire dining room table in lead* I stumbled upon the elusive packet.  Although it was the Werewolf that I was after, it seemed churlish not to paint his companion, who is a good likeness for a certain American President and wielding a fearsome looking axe, not unlike the title character in the wonderfully absurd, 'Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter'. 

*I sensibly waited until the Saintly Mrs. Awdry had left the building!

This is a hugely enjoyable romp through the life of, arguable, America's greatest President and reveals just how the battle of Gettysburg was really won!  Dressed in his overcoat and resplendent with his bow tie and waistcoat, Abe may well find himself pressed into action with my other Victorian misfits, perhaps even in the somewhat stalled, 'secret project'.  The werewolf, however will certainly see service in the new ruleset of choice or might even inspire me to take a closer look at the Gothic supplement for 'In Her Majesty's Name'.  He has a wonderful, Big, Bad, Wolf feel to him, but I'm not overly sure about the tail; even so he is based on a 'Warbases' 30mm MDF disc, decorated to match those of the Noctelinger.

Run to the Hills...

...run for your lives.

More 'good ol’ boys' for the ‘secret project’!  Once again a selection from the wonderful ‘Perry Miniatures’ American Civil War rioters pack, this time with hand weapons as opposed to firearms.  I have selected those that I thought could pass for woodsmen, farmers or local businessmen from late 19^th to the early 20^th century.  Half the fun has been coming up with colour palettes that have a bit of individuality to them whilst still holding the chaps together as a unit.

As with the Dinosaurs, the ‘secret project’ continues to be a huge distraction, but at least I’m starting to write some of the ideas down now.  Broadly speaking it all happens somewhere that is not that dissimilar to what is now known as the Pacific Northwest of America, sometime in the final throes of the 19th century and early 20th century.   A series of seemingly unrelated and bizarre incidents plague the area and its inhabitants; at present these gentlemen.

"They're not from round 'ere!"

But what are they running from?  Wolves, bears and large-footed beasties aside there would appear to be an even more mysterious and potentially dangerous creature hiding in the woods.  All will, hopefully, be revealed soon!

Perry American Civil War Rioters

"Why?"  I hear you ask.  Well they just seemed to have the perfect look for the huge expanse of wilderness, in or around the Pacific Northwest at the turn of the 20th Century.   It is all to do with that with that thoroughly distracting 'secret project' again! 

There is of course nothing secret about about this, nor can it really claim to be a project more a collection of disjointed thoughts that are slowly knitting together. In essence the idea evolves from the Dinosaur hunting in Lost Lands that I was playing about with earlier in the year.  It occurred to me that just as much fun could be had in a more realistic setting and informed using the natural fauna or perhaps incorporate the native mythology.

Now I know I put some spare cartridges in this pocket somewhere!

If I am honest then it is really just an excuse to  go and paint what I want around a very loose theme, but with these additions all manner of possible scenarios could start to be penned.  Certainly a cursory glance at the painting queue would suggest that I haven't grown weary of the idea yet, so stay tuned for more '28mm Tales of Adventure!" 

Wilderness Camp

The 'Wilderness Camp' marks the completion of this latest little project that was heavy inspired by the wonderful 'Colonial Camp Set' created by 'Silver Whistle' over at 'Wargaming with Silver Whistle'.

The concept was to create a base camp that could compliment the wonderful 'Perry Miniatures' American Civil War, Union camp set that I painted up to represent the cantankerous Professor Challenger and chums; characters from Conan Doyle's 'The Lost World'.

Although billed as a 'Wilderness Camp', a possible jumping off spot if you will for intrepid explorers, I was also mindful that I wanted it to be fairly generic so as to encompass other periods from late 19th to early 20th Century.  To that end the 'camp clutter' consists of various versatile items including 'Ainsty Castings', crates, 'Renedra' barrels and 'Empress Miniatures' Anglo-Zulu War accessories.  I also pressed four 25mm MDF bases in to the pumice gel to form character stands, allowing for a choice of miniatures rather than four permanently fixed ones.   

There is, however a little more to this camp site!  I have already credited 'Silver Whistle' with the initial conversion idea but there is another gentlemen who must be mentioned at this juncture, 'General Wilde' . 'General Wilde's Civil War in Miniature' (formally Captain Richard's) showcases some of the most imaginative and creative terrain I have ever seen, but in addition to this he often illuminates his pieces, bringing them to life, as it were.  So if you look closely under the bell tent you will see that the 'Wilderness Camp' is concealing a little secret.

I've been desperate to have a go at this, simply because it looks so atmospheric and just damn cool!  I was determined that  this was the project to attempt my first illuminated work, but I was suddenly struck with the grim realisation that I had absolutely no idea as to how to achieve this!  I had gleaned some tips from the good 'Captain Richard' but was still mulling over the problem when a work colleague, Jemma, suggested actually casting the camp fire itself!

This, then, is exactly what I did.  A silicone mold was created of the campfire, then a small, red LED was set into clear resin.  Once everything was hardened a simple circuit was created, including the addition of a switch and a home made battery case (Jemma's idea again!).  I say simple, but this was actually my first attempt at soldering!

LED set into clear resin cast

Once the circuit was complete and tested it was then buried under off-cuts of foam board, a liberal coating of pumice gel and 'camp clutter'.  The switch and battery were to be accessible by lifting off the tent and so this was not permanently stuck down, but instead a housing groove was created by simply pushing the tent into the foam board, creating an imprint.

That was that; ridiculously fiddly, but great fun to do.  It was the following passage form Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's,  'The Lost World' that ultimately made me want to try this for myself:

"Well, suddenly out of the darkness, out of the night, there swooped something with a swish like an aeroplane. The whole group of us were covered for an instant by a canopy of leathery wings, and I had a momentary vision of a long, snake-like neck, a fierce, red, greedy eye, and a great snapping beak, filled, to my amazement, with little, gleaming teeth. The next instant it was gone—and so was our dinner. A huge black shadow, twenty feet across, skimmed up into the air; for an instant the monster wings blotted out the stars, and then it vanished over the brow of the cliff above us."

The Lost World - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

A hugh thank you should go to 'General Wilde' for his inspirational work and in you haven't seen it before  then head over to 'General Wilde's Civil War in Miniature' to see for yourself, you will not be disappointed.

Pterodactyl by Papo

The same scene in daylight. 

addendum:

What a wonderful day this has turned out to be; not only is the inspirational 'Captain Richard's Miniature Civil War' reinstated to the blogosphere but '28mm Victorian Warfare' made it onto an honours board!  Thank you to everyone that posted comments or have subsequently linked the post elsewhere.  I am absolutely delighted that you all liked it.

Still giddy that I made it on to 'Honor Roll 55' thanks chaps at 'Santa Cruz Warhammer'.

Professor Challenger & Chums

One of the greatest aspects that I have come to enjoy about blogging is the sharing of ideas.  This little group  came about as a direct result of a wonderful post over at 'Wargaming with  Silver Whistle'.  The post entitled, 'Colonial Camp Set' was such an inspiration that I was determined to have a go myself!  I ordered up the 'Perry Miniatures' American Civil War, Union camp set and had in mind to replicate what 'Silver Whistle' had done with his.  It was about the same time that I had picked up a copy of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Lost World' and was first introduced to the memorable character that is George Edward Challenger; I knew straight away that I had to try a create the man himself with his intrepid team of explorers.

Original 'Perry Miniatures' ACW camp set

Deciding which of the 'Perry Miniatures' was to represent each of the four adventures from the story became rather straightforward; Edward Malone the enthusiastic young reporter for the Daily Gazette is now returning with logs for the fire, Lord John Roxton, adventurer and big game hunter stretches out languidly beside a camp fire while Professor Summerlee can be see preparing the vittles.  For all three, I simpled followed 'Silver Whistle's' example and snipped off the kepis, replacing them with 'Empress Miniatures' pith helmets.  I knew I wanted something a little different for Professor Challenger and drew inspiration from the words of Conan Doyle himself.  The character of Ed Malone on his first meeting with Challenger describes the Professor as follows;

His appearance made me gasp. I was prepared for something strange, but not for so overpowering a personality as this. It was his size, which took one's breath away - his size and his imposing presence. His head was enormous, the largest I have ever seen upon a human being. I am sure that his top hat, had I ventured to don it, would have slipped over me entirely and rested on my shoulders. He had the face and beard, which I associate with an Assyrian bull; the former florid, the latter so black as almost to have a suspicion of blue, spade-shaped and rippling down over his chest. The hair was peculiar, plastered down in front in a long, curving wisp over his massive forehead. The eyes were blue-grey under great black tufts, very clear, very critical, and very masterful. A huge spread of shoulders and a chest like a barrel were the other parts of him which appeared above the table, save for two enormous hands covered with long black hair. This and a bellowing, roaring, rumbling voice made up my first impression of the notorious Professor Challenger.

 Rooting around the loft space of 'Awdry Towers' I happened across a box of 'Games Workshop' Empire Knightly Orders; another long forgotten project that never got off the ground!  Curiosity getting the better of me I soon discovered, languishing on a dusty, plastic sprue the perfect 'bonce' for this great man!  Much drilling, sanding and swearing later and it was attached, but it needed something more.  Putting aside my irrational fear of 'putty pushing'  I reached for the ubiquitous 'Green Stuff' and before I knew it the great G. E. Challenger was reborn!

All that remained was to give them all a paint job that gave the impression of eccentric British explorers up to their necks in danger, but resolute enough to stop for tea and tiffin. The wonderful Perry sculpts gave me every opportunity to instill little 'Britishness' into each of the characters; finally, with the addition of a little more 'Green Stuff' around  the helmets I hoped to sell the illusion of a puggaree.  Once again a big thank you to 'Silver Whistle' for the initial inspiration and I would encourage anyone to venture across to 'Wargaming with  Silver Whistle' and have a look for themselves at his wonderful blog.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as Professor Challenger 

Below is a photograph used as the frontispiece to the 'Lost World' in 1912.  From left to right we have, Ed Malone, Professor Summerlee, Professor Challenger (Conan Doyle dressing up again!) and Lord John Roxton.  Not an entirely unfavourable comparison in the end and great fun to do; just need to finish off their base camp now!

'Civil War News' page added

Just the briefest of posts to launch the new 'Civil War News' page; the tab is located just below the title banner.  A gift from my father many years ago this hugely impressionable set of trading cards recently resurfaced and I was horrified to find that there were gaps in what was once a complete set.  Fortunately with the magical infoweb at my fingertips and those good people at 'Fleabay' I have been able to put the collection back together again without too much of a financial drain!

The set has already inspired the construction of a diorama with 'Through the Swamp' so it seemed only fitting to give the rest of the cards a permanent page; who knows perhaps  there will be future projects lifted from their lurid and violent depictions of the American Civil War.

Through the Swamp - The Conclusion.

So here it is, the conclusion of my mini project to recreate an 'American Civil War' trading card!

The original card, printed in 1965, was part of a much larger set and a gift from my father when I was a boy.  Known as 'Civil War News', the cards depicted historic events or battles that occurred during the war, their graphic violence leaving a lasting impression on a ten year old Mikey.  

Front

Back

With the figures and alligator safely attached a little sisal string was used to represent the reeds and weeds.  These were positioned with P.V.A. and needed a little bit of colour to tone them into the rest of the piece.  Although the base only had a very shallow lip, it was enough to allow me to flood the remaining space with a clear drying resin.  This was my first attempt at a water effect and so I was a little apprehensive, worried that I was going to ruin several weeks worth of work!  Fortunately a colleague was on hand, thanks Jemma,  to guide me through the curing and colouring process so all went according to plan.  There was just a little more painting and leaf litter to add and then finished.  I have picked up so many useful modelling tips along the way  and without wishing this post to read a little like an acceptance speech, there are one or two people I would like to thank:

'Provost Marshal', whose generous donation started the whole thing off.  See 'a Beer and a Bag' for further details.

'Laughing Ferret' over at the 'Laughing Ferret Lab'; your tutorial was superb and carefully guided me through the pitfalls of constructing 'Spanish Hanging Moss'.

'Captain Richard' of 'Captain Richard's Miniature Civil War'; your piece entitled 'Weeds' was simply superb and really helped me to visualise what had previously been just a collection of random thoughts and ideas.

Finally a huge thank you to all of you who have taken the time to post comments along the way as the project developed.  They really do help to keep the spirits up and make the process have a very definite sense of direction. 

Through the Swamp - Part 3, The Build

Having had expected to have been at work this weekend I was thrilled to find that the event was rescheduled presenting with  a little priceless time to move on the 'swamp' build.  There has always been a clear objective in that I wanted to recreate a 1960s American Civil War trading card using 28mm miniatures.  The Union boys and the alligator safely completed I needed to turn my attention to the matter of the swamp itself.  I had collected together all manner of different bits and pieces and had recently seen some wonderful examples of model making that served as inspiration.  Captain Richard's wonderful 'weeds' post and the Laughing Ferret's wonderful 'how to' for 'Spanish hanging moss' been two of the most influential.

The base is a 10cm diameter 'Fenris' casting bought through 'Hasselefree Miniatures' that I had kicking around and on to it went all manner of things including real stones, twigs and roots (thank you Captain Richard).  There was also bits of aquarium plastic plants, hand sculpted root system even bits of Christmas tree made an appearance.  I had roughly planned where the miniature were going and consequently left a space for them.  

Once the glue and household filler had dried the whole thing was sprayed black and then sprayed again with a couple of different green sprays I had left over from the 'Bamboo' build.

Again once dried I started to pick out details using a suitably muted palette and then followed the 'Laughing Ferret's' tutorial for the hanging Spanish moss.  It really does take you back to play school but was wonderfully effective.

So now its just a case of placing the figures, probably a little more painting and final details and we should be there!