"England expects...

... a husband to do his duty!

I have to confess that I am not fond of the craze that is referred to as D.I.Y.; nor, it would seem, am I particularly good at it, often losing interest part way through the project!  I default to prevarication when the topic is raised or fein a a serious sporting injury - paper cut or splinter, that sort of thing!  This summer, however, I have vowed to make this right; if I wanted some serious hobby time then it only seemed right and proper that I 'ticked off' some of those jobs that had eluded me for far too long.

The reward for a particularly strenuous bout of sanding, filling and painting was a day out at the Historic Dockyard, Portsmouth with the prime intention of taking in the newly opened Mary Rose Museum.  This was a tremendous experience and the first time that I've set foot on Nelson's Flagship 'Victory' so a real treat all round.  The 'Saintly Mrs. Awdry' was in charge of the camera so I present the following examples of her work as a record of our day.

I was conscious of just how low the ceilings were onboard Victory.

Nelson's quarters onboard Victory.

Boys will be boys!

My thoughts soon turned to food, the galley onboard Victory.

The ship's bell; Mary Rose.

The extent of the preservation is breathtaking; Mary Rose.

The ship's dog; Mary Rose.

Stunning combination of artefact and modern materials; Mary Rose.

A cracking bit of architecture, the Museum was good too!

"Somewhere around here is Nelson's Flagship" or,  "where is the nearest restaurant?"

The Mighty Warrior

Palatial interior of the Warrior.

The boiler room onboard Warrior.

Warrior

Not, I understand, as a result of the Awdrys visiting!

The Sixth Form

As the glorious English summer continues unabated and many of us, including it would appear the Australian cricket team, seem to be struggling with motivation there has been a notable slowing of productivity here at 'Awdry Towers'.  That said I'm pleased to reveal that the 'Sixth Form' has safely departed the painting table and are ready to do battle with the undead.

The senior members of the school have always had a reputation of getting what they want and a happy to use whatever skills they have at there disposal.  So in a bid to produce a unique group the three bodies used were all from 'Hasslefree Miniatures' with a couple of head swops, using one of 'Crooked Dice's' accessory packs; such is the limit of my conversion skills.  

Pleats were added to the skirt to tie them in to the rest of the group and in this case the pistol holster was removed as I wanted the girls to be armed only with what they could find in or around the school grounds.  

Again pleats were added and the sledgehammer removed, it would go to making Rose's improbable armament!  - the results of which can be seen here.

Now by my reckoning I should now have enough of these teenage tearaways to start the scenario, but I still seem to be lacking a zombie or two not to mention a considerable amount of terrain and of course a board to play it on - it would appear that there really is no rest for the wicked!  I understand  that we might see a break in the weather soon, which will certainly be welcomed by some of us but perhaps coming a smidgen too late for our visiting Antipodean athletes?

A group shot showing how the colour palette links throughout and helps to unify the team along with the patterned gymnasium floor.

St. Trinians on tour...

...the School Bus!

Now those that visit here in the hope that there might actually be something pertaining to Victorian era warfare being posted, my sincerest apologies!  The war on the undead is going to continue for a little while longer, but rest assured normal service will be resumed shortly!

 

In preparation for my proposed game I have been considering the various terrain requirements for the scenario in question, now dubbed, 'The Battle of the Lower Hockey Pitch'.  Once such requirement was the School Bus that forms a substantial part of the barricade and so the madness begins.  A quick hunt of the usual places turned up a few potential possibilities, 'Ainsty Castings' doing a particularly impressive model, but alas the majority of what was available is based on the American model of what a school bus should look like - and this was supposed to be a peculiarly British episode!

In a bid to find something a little more homegrown eBay was enlisted and lo and behold there were a series of 'Oxford Commercials' die casts in 1/43 scale - surely too big you might think?  A bit of web based research suggested that this scale, depending on the model could in fact work nicely for 28mm miniatures, particularly if the miniatures in question were on larger bases, so although not as cheap as I would have liked I decided to give one a punt!

I have to say that I was absolutely thrilled with my London Transport Ford 400E Minibus; this was part of a wonderfully detailed range of models that could have gone straight to the motor pool as it was, however I had a few details of my own that I wanted to add first.  My concerns about the the scale issues soon evaporated as I set about stripping the model down, windows were masked and the whole model was sprayed black and it is at this point that I really should explain my thinking behind the conversion.

I knew that bus had to serve as part of the defences, but at the same time scream 'St Trinians'!  It had to be battered and beaten up, perhaps due to been driven by members of the 'Fourth Form' that could barely see over the wheel and I am eternally grateful to Elladan and his amazing website, elladen.de that listed a variety of ideas that he employed on a series of die cast models that looked so good that I used them all on the school bus!  These included melting the tyre to represent a puncture, scratching the plastic windows for a smashed glass effect, making deep gouges in the paintwork as the 'Sixth Form' park by ear and the obligatory bullet holes - come the zombie apocalypse target practise will prove very important!

In addition to these I added some makeshift armour plating in the form of corrugated sheeting riveted to the side of the bus.  Weathered and distressed a gruesome tide of blood is evident where the relentless hoard of undead have been beating against its sides! Wire mesh was added to reinforce the windows and a finally a paint job that placed it well and truly in the early eighties!  Those that know of the original 'St Trinians' films will appreciate the anti-establishment themes, but there is something peculiarly British that prevails, and what could be more British than bunting?  

I would love to say that I fashioned this detail myself but I confess not, in fact the bunting comes from 'Jesse Bunting', where Jesse will craft you a ten centimetre string for a pound.  They really are wonderful, just what I was looking for and I shall certainly be looking to shoehorn my red, white and blue strings in somewhere in the months to come.  I can just see these festooned around a VBCW gaming table and understand that Jesse will consider bespoke requests too!

The final additions are those of the livestock, yes for a few hand fulls of corn you can have a fully functional zombie early warning system installed on this model.  Originally from 'Architects of War', I have absolutely no idea why I originally bought these, but obviously delighted with their inclusion here.

So there we have it, the School Bus complete and ready to take its place as part of the fortifications, now how about a cricket pavilion?

The Fourth Form!

Introducing the all but feral members of my St. Trinians' 'Fourth Form'!  The cast list for my planned '7ombieTV' episode calls for the inclusion of at least one member of the lower school and these fabulous additions from 'Hasslefree Miniatures' seemed to fit the bill perfectly. 

'Hasslefree's' Katie needed little conversion, other than pinning her to the chosen base, and seemed to fit the description of these unstoppable urchins perfectly armed, as she is, with a rounders bat and dustbin lid shield.  Rose, however was to pose another question.

  This wonderfully bizarre, gas mask wearing miniature is so tiny, but lacks little with regards to the quality of the sculpting and detail - that Kev White is a very talented chap!  What she did lack, however was any form of armament and I was really worried about setting about her with my scalpel, what to do? In the end I went for a totally improbable sledgehammer, the ridiculousness of the weapon in comparison to the fragile frame seemed to fit with my interpretation of the rule set.

Using my smallest drill bit and a paperclip, Rose was 'tooled up' with an off cut from another miniature - more of which later.

The final miniature, another fine 'Hasslefree' sculpt, is the rock chick, Alyx, perhaps not as comfortable a fit for the 'Fourth Form' stereotype she does rather match the cast list details for 'Violent' Elizabeth.  To quote directly from my copy of 'Crooked Dice's' For Ghouls and Colleges supplement:

This precocious horror was destined for stardom before the outbreak cut short a promising career on stage and film. This loss has left the poor love in a terrible state, but she is able to focus her rage and formidable set of lungs to provide an excellent early warning system for the school. Elizabeth has developed an odd fondness for the feral Fourth Formers, and they seem to allow her to lead them.

Rock and Roll!

Matching the blues of the uniforms and continuing with the gymnasium themed basing the girls are stating to form a formidable looking unit - even if I do say so myself, but what next?  Well there are some more 'Sixth Formers' in the queue, but more pressingly is the need for some terrain pieces including trees, barricades and even the school bus!  All of which I hope to complete of the next month and a half.

Here come the Girls!

After what seems like an age, I am delighted to reveal the first members of my 'St. Trinians' zombie hunters!  In order to get the team underway there had to be some serious decision making with regards to uniform, basing and even names.   It seemed the best way to do this was to start with a couple of miniatures that didn't require any conversion and the obvious choices had to be Misty, the Zombie Hunter from 'Crooked Dice' and 'Fantascape's' Zeta the Zombie Slayer.

Both these miniatures were great fun to work with and having decided to go for a 'St. Trinians' look, painted up rather easily; Misty (who is now known as Nikki) causing some concern as I tried to figure out how to paint tights!  Although both great sculpts there is a concern with the scale of the 'Zeta' figure, not to put it too finely, she is a giant of a lady and wielding the style of stick my Grandfather would have been more akin to using.  Still as Hockey Captain, I think I can get away with it!

I knew I wanted to link the girls by something other than just the uniform, if for no other reason than the possible addition of staff members later on that obviously wouldn't be as identifiable by what they were wearing.  In the end I decided to do this with the basing and using some precast floorboards from 'Fenris Games' tried to sell the illusion of the school gymnasium with its confusing array of multicoloured lines.

On the whole, I'm pretty pleased with these tentative first steps and now have to turn my attention to the Fourth Form that are proving a tad unruly on the painting table!