Saturday, February 13, 2021

Paint What You've Got Update


Despite the brick wall I've hit regarding my original plan of completing the MV Australis I have been doing quite a lot on other projects and getting them completed, which I couldn't be more pleased with.


The biggest project that I've completed was this Hudson and Allen castle - 12 full pieces. I picked up several job lots on Ebay last year while I was in South Carolina and they have sat unpainted since.


My original plan was to build something ala the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie where the fort was perched atop a cliff for Historicon last year, which of course never happened.


I was playing around with quite a big idea as you can see by these early idea photos. Always the visual presentation first and foremost at Back to the Tabletop.


I wanted different heights for the walls to give it some variety visually, and this will definitely be something I will do with the castle in whatever capacity it is used in the future.


Anyway, back to what was actually completed and not pipe dreams lol. Here's how the all the castle pieces come, with an initial light gray prime.


I put a black prime put on all the pieces.


Then a dark gray drybrush, and light concrete colour drybrush.


Details with some washes to create moss like effects. 


Though I do think I'll actually put a bit of flock or maybe ivy in some places just to enhance that look a bit more.


Those with a keen eye will notice that I still need to track down a gate to complete the overall set, doh! But regardless I have always wanted to have a castle ever since the Dungeons & Dragons days of my youth and now I do.


I've also been blasting through a lot of 4Ground kits.


When I won that contest from 4Ground a few months ago I used the gift certificate I received to pick up several 15mm kits.


The idea was for a possible tank game in the future as I have lots of 15mm Flames of War tanks sitting that I think would be fun to try to get on the table with maybe What a Tanker by Too Fat Lardies. 


This was a really neat farm complex. 


Why this was never done in 28mm is honestly a real head scratcher to me.


I've built so much 28mm stuff that building the 15mm kits went incredibly fast.


There isn't nearly as much detail on interiors, windows, and doors so I'm not quite sure what I will do to add and enhance the look of these buildings like I do with all the 28mm ones. Roof shingles and tiles are definitely something I need to sort out.


And none of the doors open and close so you have to make a decision on which you want and glue away.


I also built up this stagecoach.  


But decided that I didn't want it to be red so out came the black paint. I think it looks much better black.


I also finished this prison wagon.  This was going to originally be used in the Zorro scenario I made up a few weeks ago. 


The last thing I built was this neat white barn.


Jeff and I got a bit of the ACW bug and wanted to give Sharp Practice a go so I thought this would be a perfect addition to the table.


I really like the roofing material 4Ground have used here, but I'm not sure I'm sold on the weathered effect from the laser "burn" on the outer walls. I think that this is something that will be addressed in the future.


A really nice and big hay loft inside.


I think I will go in and do some detail work on the interior of the barn in the future as well, but she's good to go to hit the table now which is always the goal.


And the last thing I've been plowing through is re-doing all of my tree plates. Something that always bothers me is how when you use store bought trees is that they are all the same height.


So I went back and added some wood dowels randomly to the trunks of the trees to make them a bit taller and I really think it improves the look.


The other thing I did to make the plates easier to play with on the table was to add magnets to each tree.


And of course on the actual plate. When models move into cover in the trees this will make that much easier to manage.


Lots of bits and bobs finished to 100% so a big win for me overall.

Until next time, when the results of that ACW bug mentioned above actually made it to the tabletop for a game of Sharp Practice, thanks for looking!

Ivor

22 comments:

  1. Wow! That’s a lot of cool stuff. Who doesn’t want a castle? That came out looking great.
    I really like 4ground kits. Though I can easily imagine that in 15mm you don’t need thin like removable roofs and interior details since at that scale the buildings are more just to look at.
    I’m REALLY interested in seeing how you come along with the ACW. 😀

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    1. Much appreciated Stew! Agreed, who doesn't want a castle, I just need a gate lol!
      Just sorting through photos and text so hopefully in the next couple of days the ACW post will be up 😀

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  2. Who's been a busy boy? Great work Ivor and the magnetism of the trees is a wonderful idea 👍

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    1. Cheers Frank 😀 The magnets work a treat during gameplay for sure, now I just have to seal those damn trees to stop all that foliage from falling off lol

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  3. Excellent work on all Ivor, you've been very busy indeed ! Hopefully you'll still have some scenery left to do for the Season of Scenery challenge in August/September

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    1. Thanks a lot Dave! Oh believe me, I've always got plenty of unfinished scenery sitting around so I'm sure I'll have no problem for the August/September challenge lol 😀

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  4. Excellent work Ivor, the castle is a great piece!

    Cheers
    Matt
    French Wargame Holidays

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    1. Thanks Kieron, once I get a gate she'll be ready to go 😀

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  6. Where do you even start with that post.
    The castle is properly epic! I'm having some serious jealousy about that as I type this.
    The 15mm farm looks amazing too. I'm impressed that you can build so many so fast. I tend to run out of steam after a building and have to have a break.
    The stage coach too has caught my eye. I've been tempted by that kit for a while and, I agree, that it looks good in black.

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    1. Thanks a lot Mike! Pretty chuffed myself with the castle 😀
      Compared to the 28mm kits I could take on the 15mm stuff all day long lol! Highly recommend the stagecoach kit, well worth it - when putting both sides together it can be a tough go but you'll definitely be happy with the end result.

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  7. You have been busy !
    Evryone wants or has wanted a castle - I made my own to use with my Airfix Ronin Hood and Sheriff of Nottinham figures but it wasn't as good as your own! (Mine wasnlt even painted).
    Four forund make some excellent buildings but I'm with you on the barn, I think I;d have like the outside looking more like the inside!
    Seeing all your progress has made me feel guilty, so thanks for that!

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    1. Cheers Joe! Airfix Robin Hood figures sound perfect for the castle 😀
      It's very interesting that you mention the inside of the barn looking more like the outside should, I actually thought the exact same thing. When I was test fitting everything I inverted everything and had the white as the inside walls just to see how it would look. Ultimately though I felt it was going to be easier to fix the white walls if they were on the outside as opposed to the inside.

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  8. Freak'in sweet ass castle my man!!! Love it. And the table mock up ... can't wait to see that puppy in play! :-)

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    1. Thanks Jay! Working on finishing up the post here soon - now granted, it's no where near as epic as one of your ACW games 😀 but it was a lot of fun!

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  9. That castle is so cool. I want one. (No idea where i'd put it though. LOL)

    For FoW games, you don't need modeled/furniture'd interiors. All that stuff will just get in the way else the troop bases won't fit inside nicely. Not a system like 28mm ones where the interiors have much of an impact other than to basically store the infantry bases for when they enter for cover and that's it really.

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    1. Yeah, I'm kind of saying the same thing Dai, I'm not quite sure where I'm going to store it - and I still need a few more pieces to complete it 😂
      Coming from building only 28mm kits I was really surprised by the interiors, but you're 100% correct - and it makes completing the 15mm buildings go much quicker which is great.

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  10. Sorry I missed this entry when you first posted it because I also spent a lot of time painting up a bunch of Hudson and Allen castle pieces last summer. You can see my post below at the link in case you missed it. I thought I had finished and then decided to buy another eight wall sections/towers! Madness...

    https://miniaturescrum.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-castle-pandemic-painting-part-ii.html

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    1. No worries Joe! Good to hear from you 😀 I'll check out your link right now

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