Roebeast's Magical House of Sunshine

Trash Bash 2012

2012-01-25T14:40:00.000-08:00

Trash Bash 2012 Contest Rules:

What is This?

In the spirit of Rick Priestley’s classic grav-attack build, this contest challenges converters, hobbyists, and scratchbuilders to create a vehicle or building to be used for tabletop wargaming using random bits of stuff and a lot of creativity. Many of the skills of being a strong miniature hobbyist will be needed to do well in this contest, not only construction and painting but also photography, concept creation,miniature painting, and terrain set-up.

What to Enter:

Contestants will construct and paint a vehicle or structure that is primarily used for observation purposes. It can be for military, scientific, or civil usage. Scout vehicles, forward observation towers, scientific survey vehicles, etc. Any time period or setting is allowed. They can be armed but combat should not be the primary function. There should be some visual identifier to show that the construction is used for observation purposes.

The required bit is a plastic candy container such as those used for Bubble Tape, Frost Mints, Mentos Gum, etc. Pretty much any small, plastic container that holds gum, mints, or candy.

Stuff like this!

Each entry must contain at least one plastic candy container as part of the construction. All other parts can be from any model kits, toys, throw-away plastic items etc or scratchbuilt from other materials. Judges will be looking for clever repurposing of items and skill in making them unrecognizable on the final model. Simply sticking a Leman Russ turret onto a bubble tape container will not garner many points.

Other materials such as plasticard, putty, wire, etc are acceptable but fully covered over and sculpted entries will not score well.

Any scale supported by existing miniature ranges is acceptable. This will be necessary for the final picture of your entry unless you wish to sculpt your own troops as well.

A 200 word or less description of your model should be included with each entry. Explain what type of vehicle or building you have constructed, where it is usually found, what its capabilities are, etc. The scale of your model should be given in this description.

A total of five images must be submitted to be eligible for judging:

3 pictures of the final painted vehicle or building on a neutral background showing the three views that best show the construction and finishing of the entry.

1 picture of the unpainted vehicle or building along with a list of what materials were used in the construction. If you don’t remember what a particular bit is don’t put it on the list.

1 picture of the final painted vehicle or building set in a gaming environment along with painted miniatures of the troops associated with it. This will be a showpiece image and a great chance to really sell your concept. Use of terrain and foliage is expected for this final shot.

No retouching or special effects other than basic photo correction will be allowed on submitted images. Any images showing added effects will be disqualified.

Good, clear photography is expected and will be considered in final judgement. Images should be high quality jpegs no larger than 1 MB per image. Each image should be titled as follows: your_name1.jpeg, your_name2.jpeg, etc. And anyone sending me files that are actually titled “your_name.jpg” will be an automatic ninny-hammer. Please include 200 word description and parts list with the same email.

Limit one entry per person. Only entries that have not appeared elsewhere will be accepted.

Our panel of judges will choose a first place, second place, and third place winner. All decisions of the judges are absolutely final.

How to Enter:

Send an email containing images, model description, your name and country to hellbox45@hotmail.com beginning February 1, 2012. Entries will be accepted until March 1, 2012. Winners will be announced on March 5, 2012.

Judges include:

Brian Roe of Roebeast’s Magical House of Sunshine, Tears of Envy, Illustrator and concept artist Des Hanley, Carlos Fernandez ofThe Game Preserve, Bryan Steele of Ursa’s Den, Jeff Wilhelm of Dragon Forge Design, and Jeff Rodman of Mississinewa Miniatures.

Prizes:

Prizes will be given for First, Second, and Third places. So far we have prize support from The Game Preserve and Dragon Forge Design. UPDATE: Prizes added from Forge of Ice and Secret Weapon.

Other prizes may be added through the course of the contest. Winners will be responsible for all shipping and handling costs unless otherwise stated by retailer.

This contest is put forth in a spirit of fair play and mutual respect. Any entries that contain offensive material will not be considered for entry. Be cool and creative but don’t build anything you wouldn’t show your mom. Any entry can be refused for any reason especially for not adhering to the basic spirit of fair play.

Please contact Brian Roe at hellbox45@hotmail.com for any further information.

SPONSORS:

Servo Skull.

2011-12-13T12:20:00.000-08:00

The eye socket lights are just placeholders in this shot.

Here's a project I've been playing with for a while. Using an old Lindberg skull kit and some other bits and bobs. The Imperial Aquilas are made using Instant Mold pressed onto the GW luggage tag and a vintage Predator tank hatch. Casting them out of green stuff allows them to be bent easily over the shape of the skull. The hoses are electrical conduit and a flexible part of a barbeque lighter. The connecting rings are PVC pipe and plastic hemisphere stick ons, the same ones I used on my Landstrider build. The hook latch on the front is carved from plasticard.

Still lots of work to do on it inluding a purity seal and lenses for the sockets. I'll be wiring the eyes to have red LEDs and eventually I'd like to convert it into a desk lamp.

Freakin' Awesome Network Interview.

2011-12-05T19:48:00.001-08:00

Check out my answers to 10 Questions on the Freakin' Awesome Network:
http://www.freakinawesomenetwork.com/2011/12/10questions-wbrianroe-a-comicbook-giveaway-thingie/

Plus there's a Twitter contest to win some great comics!

New Art of Chelsea the Chainsaw Cheerleader.

2011-12-01T11:47:00.000-08:00

Art by Phibbz Abando. Colors by Brian Roe.

Chelsea is set to be our second miniature if we succeed in our Kickstarter goal. Please help!
Zombie Plague Kickstarter

Zombie Plague Crissy Hot-Rod Concept Art

2011-11-29T18:48:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post of the concept art for Crissy Hot-Rod from my game Zombie Plague. I'm currently running a Kickstarter campaign to create a comic and revamped rules for ZP. The first miniature sculpted for ZP will be based on this concept art.

I'll be posting new art as I get it and in the meantime check out the Kickstarter campaign:
Zombie Plague

Mummies and Pterro-Man from Forge of Ice.

2011-11-26T22:01:00.000-08:00

My northern brother Alex Bates recently sent me a package of his newest Forge of Ice minis to check out. The Forge has some of the most creative minis going as they seem to be following some dark logic and twisted narrative of Alex's imagination. He's making up a story with these, he just hasn't let us in on it yet.

First up in this batch are four creepy Nyarlathotep possessed mummies. These poor suffering buggers are being torn apart by sprouting tentacles and don't seem to be enjoying it very much. These are sculpted to a true 25mm scale so are a bit small compared to other miniatures. But they match up perfectly with the pre-painted Arkham Horror minis so I can see them being useful with these.

Painting these was a blast. Basic damp-brushing then Citadel Washes followed by picking out more detail with simple layers. A coat of 'Ardcoat gives the tentacles some slime.

The possessed mummies with a couple of Arkham residents.

Basic attacking with tentacle.

Tentacle with mouth and nasty little teeth.

This fellow seems resolved to his fate.

And the creepy crawler mummy. Being a fan of Resident Evil
I decided he needed a massive eyeball popping out of his back.

You ever have one of those days?

Next up is one of the Pterro-men. From Alex's description:

"The Pterro-Men rule whatever parts of the Lost World that they inhabit, using their mystical/mental powers to enslave the brutal prehuman races that inhabit the land..."

This flying terror has pulp villain written all over him. With his sinister and commanding pose I imagine him ordering forth great flocks of pterosaurs and quetzalcoatlus to attack foolish interlopers. Why? Because I imagine stuff like that all the time is why. Jeeze...

I love being a miniatures hobbyist in this day and age because we have so many choices for interesting miniature subjects. Alex is keeping this idea going by creating some very personal miniatures and sharing them with us.

Check out The Forge of Ice miniatures here: http://www.forgeofice.com/

Warbots Destro Walkers.

2011-11-22T16:03:00.000-08:00

In 1984 Grenadier Models Inc. was producing some of my favorite miniatures. I was just getting into Dungeons and Dragons and Call of Cthulhu and Grenadier had both covered with their Dragon Lords line and the official CoC miniatures. I used to get the Grenadier Bulletin and stare with covetous eyes over the assortment of new minis, read every word of the adventure scenarios, and groan at the unfunny cartoons. Getting to go to my local game store was next to impossible so I would often re-read these bulletins over and over, memorizing certain photos or drawings and instilling them into my personal mythology.

One of the Grenadier Bulletins that I most remember was dated November 1, 1984 and contained a small article stating "Robots Invade!" The grainy black and white photo included with the story showed two insectile robots that seemed to be peering down at a small tank or hovercraft in front of some oddly out of time buildings that looked like something out of Ireland in the dark ages. The article explained that these two walkers were the beginning of the Warbots range and that there were rumors that other game companies were interested in created giant robot games as well. Oh boy, the industry scuttlebutt back then was fierce.

The article from The Grenadier Bulletin.

The Warbots designs and setting were the brainchild of John Dennett, at the time long known as one of the industry's best sculptors of fantasy miniatures, and were such a complete departure from his normal sculpting that these came as a bit of a shock to me. The designs were widely varied from the strange amalgams of the Activoids, the previously mentioned Runner Pods, and the mecha that I'll be talking about here, the Destro Walkers.

There were two boxes of Warbots released, The Runner Pod Attack Team and The Armored Destro Squad. The Armored Destro Squad contained three Destro Walkers and a much smaller Type IV Battle Trooper (this little fella will be discussed in a future review). The three Destro Walkers were meant to be very large walking mecha that could mount varied load-outs of weapons depending on their usage.

Much like the destroids from Macross all of these walkers shared the same leg sections. Although this must have helped somewhat with miniature production it also worked within the design framework of giant robot design from Japan. The torsos and arms also implied a modular system so that a gamer could create the weapons load-out that they wanted.

The three designs included in the Armored Destro Squad are as follows:

Devastator

Code Name: Devastator. Armed with dual cannons, a long range missile rack on its back, and a battle claw this walker appears to be useful for long range bombardments. The front seems to have a huge radiator system which might be useful for long range units that don't require as much frontal armor.

Pulverisor

Code Name Pulverisor. Armed with a gatling gun and and larger single barreled cannon. This walker seems to be more heavily armored and more of a close assault unit. It is designed to go in all guns blazing with a fast firing rotary cannon for quicker units and a large bore tank gun for more heavily armored foes.

Eliminator

Code Name Eliminator. This walker again appears to be a long range bombardier with a arm mounted pod of swarm missiles, the lovely kind you see streaking through the sky before any Macross engagement, plus three cannon which seem to be battleship weight weapons. Although the claws on both the Devastator and Eliminator could be used in close combat I also see them as useful for loading munitions on these walkers.

One of the super cool things about the original Warbots sets were the filler sheets that explained paint schemes for the various Warbot units. I chose the Tigersharks scheme of overall yellow with black and red trim. I used some microscale decals to add some unit markings and even attempted a shark's mouth marking on the Pulverisor gatling. Unfortunately this decal was really too small too look correct but would have fit right in with the Tigersharks' markings.

The Warbots line was originally designed for micro-armor scales but I think that they work equally well with 15mm minis. They are very cleanly sculpted which makes them a breeze to paint and gives lots of surface area for graphics or camo schemes. And the modular design allows them to be modified or converted easily. It would be really useful if the arms and torsos could be bought separately at some point to allow for other load-out combinations.

With Combine Infantry from OGRE Miniatures.

With 15mm Titan Marines from Rebel Minis.

I scored an original box of these, thanks to The Dozing Dragon from The Lead Adventure Forum, and was amazed at how crisp the castings were from twenty eight years ago. They are very smooth and even, something that the sculptors of Battletech miniatures struggled with during the same period. It's pretty amazing to see how John Dennett could switch from excellent biological to excellent technical sculpting without missing a beat. I guess he's just that good.

All of the original Warbots miniatures have been re-released by Mirliton in Italy and can be found here. Thanks to Stefano from Mirliton for making these available again and to John Dennett for his support.

The Terror of Shindig Sandbar Now Available!

2011-11-11T09:20:00.000-08:00

From the depths of a radioactive ocean comes a terrifying hybrid straight from your worst nightmares!
SEE! Part Corpse! Part Fish! All terror!

SEE! Beautiful young women ravaged by undead creatures from the sea!

HEAR! The swinging rock and roll sounds that all the kids are crazy for!

Nameless Design Miniatures presents: The Terror of Shindig Sandbar!

Here we see the fetching zipper option. Available at checkout.

Based on my love I of black and white monster movies I have sculpted this homage to the creatures from the Horror of Party Beach. This movie dares to ask the question: How can you defeat mutated fishmen that seem to be immune to bullets and basic common sense? Answer: Sodium! And although it's not logical it's really a lot of fun.

The costumes for Horror of Party Beach seemed to be made from garbage bags and novelty store monster gloves, topped off with papier mache heads. The actors inside must have looked through the teeth of the head as they hunched around stalking nubile young women and drunks.

These crazy monster minis can be used as deep one stand ins, atomic era fiends, or simply for a guy trapped in a monster suit. The Terror mini is 38mm from the bottom of the foot to the top of the fin and comes with a 40mm base. I'll even sculpt a zipper on the back if you want one!

Price is 8.00 USD plus shipping and handling. S&H for The US and Canada is 2.00 USD and International is 4.00 USD. Please click on the Paypal Button to pay with Paypal or a credit card. Email me at hellbox45@hotmail.com with any questions.

Just for fun here's a Horror of Party Beach tribute by Indianapolis punk legends Sloppy Seconds.

Some New Stuff from Gen Con 2011

2011-08-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to show off some of the great new minis from Mongoose for the Judge Dredd Miniature game.

If you read my last blog post about painting Citi Def troopers for John Blanche Block you'll remember that I ended by hoping that Mongoose would do some new CD troopers. Well apparently the scryers at Mongoose heard my plea because they have created a brilliant new set of Citi Def heavy weapons troopers.

The set includes a Citi Def Trooper with a heavy spit gun and his loader as well as a missile launcher trooper with her loader. Each loader is armed with a spit gun as well as ammo for the heavies. The heavy spit gunner comes in two pieces and assembles into a dynamic yet sturdy looking model. The missile launcher trooper, also in two pieces, is a female who wears what appears to be a blast skirt and is posed in a nicely dynamic pose. One of the elements of these models that really appeals to me is the authentic 2000AD design of helmets, knee pads, etc. These troopers really seem like inhabitants of Mega City One and not just random sci-fi folks. And each figure has a raised "CD" marking which will make painting them even easier.

Also from Mongoose is a new mini of the infamous Judge Cal. Well sculpted and imperious this megalomaniacal menace to Mega City One will be a great part of an assassination based scenario. Rumors of a Judge Fish mini have also been floating around.

It was a great Gen Con this year and I'll be posting pics of the minis that I picked up as I complete them.

Citi-Def Squad for John Blanche Block

2011-07-20T20:31:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to show my recently finished Citi-Def squad for either Gangs of Mega City One or the newer Judge Dredd Miniatures game. I picked up two sets of GoMC1 as well as one of the Street Gang expansions for 5.00 a piece about three years ago at Gen Con. I figured that the minis would be useful for random sci-fi bad guys and they were a good price overall. I've been using them as examples on several blog posts but never sat down to finally paint some.

Here's what I learned from working with these minis:

They are not very well thought out at all.

Although I love the idea of modular miniatures based on the Judge Dredd comics these minis really don't capture the design style of 2000AD. Sure they have knee and shoulder pads and some of the guns look like they should but the biggest issue is that they don't want to go together in a way that looks good at all. Trying to get these Citi-Def troopers to look like they are actually holding their spug guns correctly was going to take a lot more time than I was willing to invest. And the poses are very static overall even if you use the various arms and leg combinations.

One thing I do like about them is the inclusion of two helmeted heads in each set that can be used to make Citi-Def troopers so I set about making some for my first city-block The John Blanche Block. Even this proved to be a bit more work than I cared to put into them. The mold lines are brutal and the previously mentioned wonky parts fit made them a pain to assemble.

I painted them in red as that always seemed to be Blanche's favorite color when he was painting for Games Workshop. I was planning to do more text painting on them, which is one of my favorite stylistic ideas from the Dredd comics, but honestly I couldn't be bothered. So they get a quick CD on the helmet and then off to the Block War.

As a fan of Bob Naismith I'm not sure what caused these to end up so badly. Mongoose seemed to have some plastic production problems with their Starship Troopers line as well so I'm going to assume that Mr. Naismith turned in lovely sculpts that were changed drastically in the casting.

Maybe next time we'll get some Citi-Def troopers from Mongoose that really look the part.

Messing Around with Instant Mold.

2011-05-27T20:51:00.000-07:00

So Cool Mini or Not carries a product called Instant Mold that promises to help you create pretty much any bit the you'll ever need for miniature modeling. Having some experience with metal and resin casting I was at first skeptical that this would work well at all. Boy was I wrong.

I have been using green epoxy putty for a while to replicate small details on miniatures like amulets or purity seals. This can be a hit or miss process since the putty likes to stick to the mold and often details can be very soft. Instant Mold has several great properties including a tenacious un-stickiness. The only putty I tried it with that would even stick while uncured was Aves Apoxie Sculpt and even this released immediately once it was cured. I did tests with Kneadatite green stuff, Procreate, and Apoxie Sculpt and they all released perfectly once cured.

Instant Mold comes in a pack of separate bars. Each one is plenty to replicate a small part and you can combine them for larger bits. Basically you soak the Instant Mold in boiling water for two minutes. Take it out of the water and dry it off. This helps to keep water from making distortions in the mold. Then you can press the Instant Mold over a part for a flat piece or wrap it around for a complete casting. The basics of this are shown in the following video. But be warned: This dude's knife handling is flinch inducing.

So after ordering a pack of Instant Mold from Cool Minis Or Not, I set about seeing how much cool stuff I could make with it.

I started out with a Capital assault rifle from Warzone. I wrapped the gun in IM and then put it into the freezer to set up. A few minutes later the mold was ready to be split. Since the putty is translucent I was able to see my XActo knife blade as I cut the mold. Be careful with this step! I can see a lot of cut fingers and thumbs coming from this. And you want to be careful so you don't damage your original.

Once I had the mold I used Aves Apoxie Sculpt to cast the rifle. I filled the mold with a little more putty than I thought I would need and squeezed it to form the part. Try not to twist the mold and keep your pressure even. This squeezing will produce a huge amount of flash but it tends to be very thin. One of the reasons that I use Apoxie Sculpt is that it is very sand-able once cured. This is especially important for hard edged mechanical parts.

A gang member from Gangs of Mega City One

Once painted the gun looks pretty good. I can see this being very useful for special weapons and for older bits that are hard to come by.

The next part came from a little Tiki fellow from a magnetic skill game. The sculpting on these pieces is very sharp and clean and this helps when making a part with Instant Mold.

I cast some of these in Procreate and used them to make a pulp inspired base. Casting architectural parts is one of the most suitable uses for Instant Mold. Toys, keychains, jewelry, or knick knacks can all be used for creating small detail bits for larger buildings as well as for miniature bases.

I've heard a couple of folks discussing the possibility of using Instant Mold to copy entire miniatures. I decided to give it a shot using one of my own sculptures of a cult leader and his evil Cthulhu cult sword.

This mold was more difficult to cut and had some problems with trapped air and parts that didn't fill in. Since this mini is such a simple design this wasn't a huge issue but it would be a real pain with a more complex miniature.

A Cthulhu Cult Leader surveys the ruins of Tiki Island.

Besides the ethical issues, using Instant Mold to create whole miniatures is frankly too much of a hassle to do much. I'm glad that I can use it with my own sculpts to give me an idea of what a painted version will look like or to replicate parts that I will need several of. I also imagine it will be useful for texture stamps. But it's really a pain and doesn't create a detailed enough piece.

The final bits that I created were shoulder guards and a shield for an Imperial Champion. The splinter guard shoulders are from a Games Day limited edition mini and the shield is a Storm Shield from a vintage Thunder Hammer Terminator. I cast the shoulder guards as solid pieces and then ground out the inside with a Dremel tool. The shield was cast flat and then sanded to the thickness that I wanted.

Overall I was very impressed with Instant Mold and for 13.00 bucks it is a value, especially since it can be reused indefinitely. It is best used for small details that can be cast in one piece but even two part molds can be made to work with a bit more effort. For the scratchbuilder, convertor, or sculptor it provides a very quick way to replicate parts and should be added to your hobby toolbox.

Trash Bash 2011 Final Results.

2011-05-08T21:25:00.000-07:00

First off a big thanks to the participants, sponsors, and judges who helped to make Trash Bash 2011 possible. It has been inspirational to see how contestants have solved the challenge of using a discarded deodorant container to create a vehicle. And it's been a lot of fun to read the back stories and parts lists that accompany all of these models. Check the comments box below for links to each contestant's blog or website for more information on each entry.

Great work everyone!

First Place: William Burke- B86 DROF Motors Road Utility Surface Buggy

Judges really responded to the completeness of concept for this vehicle and its somewhat odd configuration. The final paintjob ties it all together and the backstory of a beleaguered Quar named G'wible really added to the concept of the vehicle. William used the clear, green plastic of the deodorant container to great effect and his use of decals looks realistic and well thought out.

Second Place: Ward Shrake- Russian Heavy Hovercraft Tank and German Scout Car

Ward created two models for his final entry and the level of finish on both vehicles is amazing. The back story for these models not only assassinates Joseph Stalin but also implies a future of man portable beam weapons. Ward is truly a mad scientist of modeling, using heat tools to fuse plastic and "Sharpie Juice" and model glue to color and texture his creations.

Third Place: Duke Dreal- Pirate Hovertank

This entry was created in the true sprit of trash bashing. Other than a few Hirst Arts castings the whole thing is cleverly constructed out of household refuse. The paint scheme and design concept are pure Star Wars and the tank fits right into a game of Star Wars Miniatures. Duke has used a stockpile of discards to create a really useful gaming piece.

Honorable Mentions:

It was exceedingly difficult to choose only three winners for this contest so I'd like to also recognize the other contestants and their entries. Everyone single one is inspirational in its use of trash bashing techniques and overall creativity. (The following are listed in no particular order.)

Clarke Payne- Yiksossi Reaver Raiding Skimmer:

Tom Perrin- The Shark Amphibious Assault Vehicle:

Larry Hammer- The Coarse Hare River Gunboat:

Jess Carver- Star Frontiers Explorer:

Retro Review 1: Chainsaw Warrior with Reaper

2011-05-01T23:04:00.000-07:00

When I first got into the wargaming hobby I was young and constantly broke. My 1969 Chevelle Malibu took any extra cash I had and extended sorties into various gaming arcades took the rest. So when new miniatures came out I was often without funds to pick them up. And prior to the internet, ordering miniatures from Citadel, all the way in England for crying out loud, was a daunting task indeed. My local game store did a fine job of trying to get new product but often by the time I got there all the cool stuff was gone. All that was left were the many packs of Space Marine heavy weapons that all seemed to have conversion beamers. I still believe that there was a severe overcasting of conversion beamers in Nottingham and they made sure to secretly pack away as many of the as they could to The US. So many dopey conversion beamers.

bleah...feh...yech...

But I'm off topic. My idea for Retro Reviews is so that I can revisit miniatures that I used to to have or that I could never get my hands on. I'm a better painter now than I was at nineteen so I'm looking forward to painting these figures without the stress that I used to feel. Time to have some fun and check out some classic miniatures!

I'll be starting out with a Chainsaw Warrior from Citadel Miniatures. This miniature was sculpted by Bob Naismith in 1987. It is one of four Chainsaw Warrior minis that Citadel produced. They were created to support the solo-play game Chainsaw Warrior but were sort of shoehorned into Warhammer 40,000 as Imperial Guard troops since there was actually no need for them to be used to play Chainsaw Warrior. First lesson of making miniature games: make miniatures necessary to play the game.

After picking up this little fellow pretty cheaply on Ebay, I took a long look over it to see what kind of shape it was in and how I might improve it. And other than sharpening up the edges on the shoulder armor and reaper cannon I didn't have to do much since Naismith had created such a really impressive miniature. The sculpting is on par with other things that Citadel was producing in the day. The details are a bit soft and there is some interesting anatomy with the gloved hands. But honestly this mini is still really groovy.

The proportions and stance of the Chainsaw Warrior are outstanding. The reaper cannon that he carries is instantly recognizable as what it is, basically a big autocannon for making bad things die. The mini is also equipped with a combination headset microphone and camera (a pretty obvious inspiration from Aliens), two pistols, a communications device, and a canteen. The overall look is very 2000 AD which makes sense as the lead comic artist on Chainsaw Warrior was Brett Ewins of Rogue Trooper fame. Naismith does an excellent job of capturing the 2000 AD vibe while creating a character that works within the Chainsaw Warrior storyline.

The mini was cast in a lead based alloy and this helped to remind my of why I hate lead miniatures. My needle file gummed up just like in the 80s, my X-Acto knife stuttered along seam lines instead of gliding smoothly. And I know that a lot of detail has been softened over the years by simple abuse. All that being said the mini was in pretty good shape. Overall cleaning was followed by a matte black undercoat. I wanted to use all military colors but still break up the figure so that armor was clearly defined from cloth, boots from pants, etc. I settled on a mix of olive drab, black, and urban camo for the BDU pants since for some reason all super soldiers in the 80s had to wear camo pants. I went with an olive for the gun housing since I wanted it to look like it was made of various types of materials. Drybrushing the whole thing chainmail would just be boring anyway.

A face only a mother, or drill sergeant could love.

One of my favorite parts of this mini is the face. Overly craggy and almost Neanderthal this guy seems like someone who has been around a battlefield or two. His crew cut is easy to paint and the headset really makes him seem like he's on a mission.

I built a quick base using a piece of corrugated plastic, a plastic tube and some wires to make a broken electrical conduit, and some scattered shell casings made from aluminum tube. Since the Chainsaw Warrior game takes place inside of an abandoned skyscraper I didn't want to add foliage or grass. It adds to the post apocalyptic feel anyway.

Overall this miniature still holds up as a tough as nails super soldier type character. It is big and bulky and wouldn't look out of place with today's standard "super heroic scale" minis. I'm looking forward to tracking down his three other brothers, even the sort of goofy Timescape version, and giving them matching paintjobs. It's been great to finally find a miniature that I've wanted since 1987 and have the time and skill to enjoy painting it.

Go deep into your lead pile and look around. Find some of those orphaned minis of yesteryear that you might have forgotten about. I think you'll be surprised by how much fun they still are.

Next Time:
Winners of Trash Bash 2011 Announced!

Land Dominion Strider Build Notes

2011-04-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to do a walking robot for a while. Primarily inspired by the quirky independent film Automatons, I decided that I wanted to use a walking toy robot and build on top of it. This would create a model that I could paint and detail like a wargaming model but that would still be able to move on its own without all of the hassle of trying to rig the motors myself.

I also got a lot of ideas from the mighty Rob Schrab's video on Drawless Animation, a technique that he uses incredibly well for cartoons and music videos.

So I finally find a decent walking robot for $10 and decide to start hacking and gluing. I've been collecting various bits for a while in preparation for this build so I pretty much had everything on hand.

The main carapace is made from a football helmet from a giant Pez dispenser. I built an armored skirt around the back of it with strip styrene. I cut this crudely to make it look more like a battlefield add on. The mulitcolored studs are actually meant for scrapbooking. I found these and other very useful craft stuff in a Canadian dollar store called Dollarama. And honestly, Canadian dollar stores are so much better than the ones down here. I'm glad that I get to go back up in June for a bit.

I wanted the helmet to be studded like the shoulder pads on Mark VI Space Marine Armor or like the helmets from Rollerball.

The Corinthian helmet came from a chunky action figure of a soldier from the Trojan War. I'm not saying the helmet was historically accurate, just that it was cheap. The samurai helmet is one of the many odd little bits that I collected when I lived in Japan. The horns are from the horned skull icons from Games Workshop's Arcane Ruins set.

The cockpit is from a toy from the late 1990s called War Planets. These were actually pretty neat little toys that included several types of infantry, aircraft, and vehicles all contained in one little planet. They would have been great fun when I was a kid but I bought them primarily to chop up.

Most of the other bits are from a large scale AT Votoms Scopedog kit. A couple of las cannons from an old style Predator kit and styrene tubing complete the belly guns. A few ball turrets were made with parts from an Acguy kit and an RX-78 Ball. A shield was added to the back made from a Tallgeese shield and a small oni mask made with a push mold.

I added rivets by using various sizes of paper punches to make disks out of thin styrene sheet. I have several sizes of these from a tiny 1.5mm punch to a big 38mm cutter. The standard office punch is usually 6mm or so. My favorite is a Marvy punch that has interchangeable heads.

I needed to be able to get to the battery compartment of the robot toy so I made sure to keep the carapace separate. Luckily it rests perfectly on the torso so I don't even need velcro or blue-tak to hold it on. I've been thinking about adding springs to connect them so that there is some movement in the carapace as it walks but this will depend on how it looks in slow motion.

I used a soldering iron to distress and damage as well as to add "welded" plates over the carapace. Once I used the soldering iron I then sanded over the damage areas to keep it from looking as much like simple melted plastic. Then on to painting.

The model was first sprayed with Krylon Texture spraypaint, much like I did with my Camel model, but in more of a misting action as I didn't want a super heavy texture. After this was dried I lightly sanded the whole thing to knock the texture back even more. Flat black undercoat followed by dampbrushing, drybrushing, and then washes with Citadel washes. A few hand painted markings and a couple of small scale decals to break it up a bit.

Thanks for checking this project out and please let me know what you think.

Preview of Land Dominion Strider

2011-04-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

Just a quick picture of my latest project. This was created to be used in a music video for one of my favorite bands. I'm currently awaiting approval from the band and then he'll be shipped out to Los Angeles to be filmed. I'll post updates as things come together.

I wanted to create a model that actually walked on its own so I used a cheap plastic robot toy and built everything on top of it. The walking action is actually pretty cool when slowed down. The main carapace is a plastic football helmet from a giant Pez dispenser. The other various bits have been kicking around in my junk boxes for years just waiting for this project.

My main inspiration is the artwork of Michel "Away" Langevin from the band Voivod. Voivod's imagery and storylines have always struck me as very gamer friendly. This artwork from the album Rrröööaaarrr could certainly have helped inspire some of the Ork Titans in Adeptus Titanicus. There is an unskilled but extremely cool style that I love about Away's drawings. He's like the metal kid at school who always drew during algebra class and made his own t-shirts. And since I was pretty much one of those kids I've always dug his work.

Next blog I'll show this little beauty unpainted in all its hacked together glory and explain some of the construction techniques.

Remember Trash Bash 2011 ends on April 30 so good luck with your entries!

Rick Priestley Added as Judge for Trash Bash 2011!

2011-04-08T07:56:00.000-07:00

Due to the beneficial machinations of my cohort Des Hanley we can now welcome gaming-overlord Rick Priestley as a judge for Trash Bash 2011. Besides being the primary inspiration for this contest Mr. Priestley's contributions to gaming are pretty much responsible for getting me into the hobby in the first place. And he hasn't slowed down since his departure from Games Workshop. Hail Caesar looks great and has made me consider a nice sized Celt army (since I can't have one in real life).

I'll be accepting entries until April 30th and there's still time for some garbage gluing goodness. So get those bits boxes out and get to Trash Bashing!

Rick Priestley's original deodorant container conversion
is still a fine example of original, fun gaming creation.

Trash Bash 2011 ~ Scratchbuilding Contest

2011-03-25T15:02:00.000-07:00

Trash Bash 2011 Contest Rules:

What is This?

In the spirit of Rick Priestley’s classic grav-attack build, this contest challenges converters, hobbyists, and scratchbuilders to create a vehicle to be used for tabletop wargaming using random bits of stuff and a lot of creativity. Many of the skills of being a strong miniature hobbyist will be needed to do well in this contest, not only vehicle construction and painting but also photography, concept creation,miniature painting, and terrain set-up.

What to Enter:

Contestants will construct and paint a miniature of a vehicle designed to be used primarily on the surface of a planet, moon, asteroid, etc. Vehicles can be hover, tracked, wheeled, walker or any other form of propulsion that would primarily be useful on the surface of a planet. Submarine or subterranean vehicles are also eligible. Aircraft and spacecraft are not eligible for this contest.

Each vehicle must contain at least one disposable underarm deodorant container as part of the construction. All other parts can be from any model kits, toys, throw-away plastic items etc or scratchbuilt from other materials. Judges will be looking for clever repurposing of items and skill in making them unrecognizable on the final model. Simply sticking a Leman Russ turret onto a deodorant container will not garner many points.

Other materials such as plasticard, putty, wire, etc are acceptable but fully covered over and sculpted entries will not score well.

Any scale supported by existing miniature ranges is acceptable. This will be necessary for the final picture of your entry unless you wish to sculpt your own troops as well.

A 200 word or less description of your model should be included with each entry. Explain what type of vehicle you have constructed, where it is usually found, what its capabilities are, etc. The scale of your model should be given in this description.

A total of five images must be submitted to be eligible for judging:

3 pictures of the final painted vehicle on a neutral background showing the three views that best show the construction and finishing of the vehicle.

1 picture of the unpainted vehicle along with a list of what materials were used in the construction. If you don’t remember what a particular bit is don’t put it on the list.

1 picture of the final painted vehicle set in a gaming environment along with painted miniatures of the troops associated with vehicle. This will be a showpiece image and a great chance to really sell your concept. Use of terrain and foliage is expected for this final shot.

No retouching or special effects other than basic photo correction will be allowed on submitted images. Any images showing added effects will be disqualified.

Limit one entry per person. Only entries that have not appeared elsewhere will be accepted.

Our panel of judges will choose a first place, second place, and third place winner. All decisions of the judges are absolutely final.

How to Enter:

Send an email containing images, model description, your name and country to TrashBash2011@hotmail.com beginning April 1, 2011. Entries will be accepted until April 30 2011. Winners will be announced on May 9, 2011

Judges include:

Brian Roe of Roebeast’s Magical House of Sunshine, Tears of Envy, Illustrator and concept artist Des Hanley, Carlos Fernandez of The Game Preserve, Bryan Steele of Ursa’s Den, Jeff Wilhelm of Dragon Forge Design, and Jeff Rodman of Mississinewa Miniatures.

Prizes:

1st Place: $25 from Mississinewa Miniatures- $25 from The Game Preserve- $15 from Dragon Forge Design- $10 from Ursa’s Den- $15 from Forge of Ice- 1 pack of Post Apocalyptic Mechanical Legs and 1 pack of Post Apocalyptic Rippers from Kromlech.

2nd Place: $15 from Mississinewa Miniatures- $15 from The Game Preserve- $15 from Dragon Forge Design- $10 from Ursa’s Den- $10 from Forge of Ice- 1 pack of Khopesh Vibro Swords from Kromlech.

3rd Place: $10 from Mississinewa Miniatures- $10 from The Game Preserve- $5 from Dragon Forge Design $5 from Forge of Ice- 1 pack of Orc Running Legs from Kromlech.

Other prizes may be added through the course of the contest. Winners will be responsible for all shipping and handling costs unless otherwise stated by retailer.

Please contact Brian Roe at TrashBash2011@hotmail.com for any further information.

SPONSORS:

Deodorant Container Scratchbuilding and Contest Announcement!

2011-03-17T10:41:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite parts of wargaming in the early days was the need to construct most of our own vehicles from scrounged parts. It seemed like a natural cycle somehow that many of the kids I used to play 40K with would repurpose their GI Joe toys into vehicles for Orks or Space Marines. Toys long ago abandoned to the deep recesses of closets and garages were given a second life as bodged together death machines.

I had been building my own robots and spacecraft for years from model kits and junk. So when I found Rogue Trader it was like finding my true tribe. From issue #98 of White Dwarf and for years afterward I painted and played various chapters of Space Marines. Although I painted far more than I ever played I love the openness of Rogue Trader and the fact that so many of the pieces in the game needed to be created from imagination, junk, and glue. Lots of glue.

The staff of Games Workshop in those days seemed like the coolest people I could imagine. They liked heavy metal, drinking, and playing sci-fi and fantasy games. They seemed smart but not too disciplined and had a work ethic that got things done. And in the early days of Rogue Trader when someone realized that the game had no vehicles to speak of, a brave man armed only with some junk and toy parts hacked together a legend. I am of course referring to Rick Priestley’s deodorant Grav-Attack Vehicle.

And the Michael Immig mini is aces as well!

Created from said container, spoons, and various Zoids bits this vehicle captured my imagination and led to an extended period of deodorant container shopping. Who cared what the scent was? I was looking for suitable transport for my Space Marine Chapter! (The Archangels sadly fly no more). And as my bits boxes were already overflowing with junk I was quick to get into the gluing and painting of these great little models.

It even got painted purple and fought in The Horus Heresy.

Over the years I developed what I jokingly call “trash bashing”. This involves using primarily discarded plastic bits to make terrain and vehicles for the various games that I wanted to play and rarely had time for. Building stuff was always more important to me than rolling dice anyway. Trash bashing tends to focus more on actual junk than model kits or toys, although these often get used for extra details. There’s a legend that on a dare I even made a piece of terrain from a used coffee filter. But like most legends is probably better left under-researched. Trash bashing was, and still is, great fun to me but it has one drawback: We all tend to accumulate mass quantities of cool looking garbage that never gets used for anything.

It is to address this gaming societal ill that I created the Camel Class Storage Transport or Camel Crawler. The main hull is of course a deodorant container with a scratchbuilt undercarriage and bunches of junk glued onto it. Since I’ve been working on buildings and miniatures based on our comic Yva and the town of Colton’s Curse I thought it would be fun to start building some of the vehicles found around town. This Camel is part of Tasker Mining, a mining company run by the unscrupulous Chad Tasker. Although it is not armed in any way it will be useful for gaming as a moving objective or just good cover. And since I only used bits that I already owned it helped to use up some of my garbage trove.

Tasker Mining for all your deep desert mining needs!

I based the design on one of my favorite classic arcade games, Moon Patrol, as well as Judge Dredd comics. Early 2000AD stuff is something that we draw from for a lot of Yva’s settings so I wanted something that looked like it was designed by the 2000AD crew. And if I ever get anyone to play the new Judge Dredd miniature game it’ll come in handy in Mega City One as well.

The game was tough when I was a kid but I've always loved these cabinet graphics.

I used a combination of cyanoacrylate glue, JB Weld epoxy, and standard model cement. Bondo polyester putty for gap filling and rebuilding some parts. Sheet and strip styrene for detailing. And a pretty odd collection of other greeblies.

This project was 100% inspiration and 0% perspiration.

After going over the whole model with sandpaper to roughen the surface, this is especially important with the deodorant container since the plastic it’s made of doesn’t like paint very well, I used Rust-oleum Multicolor Textured spray paint to texture the surface. This gives a very rough and pitted surface, one that is great for drybrushing but might be a little over the top for most vehicles. It works really well for buildings or for a vehicle like the Camel that must endure powerful sandstorms of the planet Coronus. I think it might also work well for any kind of cast metal like Victorian iron plate.

I then used Rust-oleum Ultra Cover Flat Black spray paint to prime it. This is one of my favorite parts of trash bashing, when the first complete coat of primer makes all of the odd looking parts suddenly come together as a cohesive whole. I then drybrushed the daylights out of the thing before adding some grime with Citadel Washes and adding some Tasker Mining signs to the sides. These were printed on an inkjet printer and varnished before being decoupaged onto the sides.

There we have it! The totally trash bashed Camel Crawler ready to roll over the sands of Coronus. Now to make a stega-tank out of my next container of deodorant...

CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT

This build was so much fun that I’d like to see what my fellow builders can come up with. Beginning on April 1st (no it’s no joke) and ending April 30th I will be accepting entires for the First Annual Roebeast’s Trash Bash Contest! I’ve already got $150 worth of prizes lined up from various companies and a group of gaming celebrity judges to make the big decision.

I’ll be posting complete rules and information next week (March 21st) so you’ve got a month and a half to use up some lovely smelling deodorant and get building. Check back at Roebeast’s Magical House of Sunshine for more information!

Fantasy Modeling Issue #4

2011-02-21T20:01:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! Here's another issue of the mighty Fantasy Modeling magazine from way back in 1981. This is a special issue for me since number four was the first issue of FM that I ever saw. It was laying in a pile of other mags in the back room of the Game Preserve when it was still in Glendale. From the Zaku model on the front to the serious way that the MPC Empire Strikes Back kits were treated it grabbed my attention and I've been a fan ever since. And dig the odd little miniatures by an equally odd little miniature company called Citadel, Tom Meyer looking like he's 15, and Martin Bowers kind of creepy "cool guy" picture.

Enjoy!

Contents:

Editorial
Willy Whitten's Wizardry
Model Girl
The ESB Snow Walker
The ESB Snow Speeder
Ral Partha Exposed
Role Playing Games
Aerial Photography and Rockets
America's Premiere Competition
Collectables
Book Reviews
Odds and Ends

Fantasy Modeling Magazine No. 4 -

Grave Yard John Now for Sale!

2011-01-11T13:11:00.000-08:00

I now have castings of the new Nameless Design Miniature, the despicable freelance gravedigger Graveyard John. This miniature comes with a body bag, pick-axe, and shovel lantern combination and it includes a black resin base. For a limited time each miniature will include one free random gravestone from Miss Minis.

Price is 8.00 USD plus shipping and handling. S&H for The US and Canada is 2.00 USD and International is 4.00 USD. Please click on the Paypal Button to pay with Paypal or a credit card. Email me at hellbox45@hotmail.com with any questions.

First Look at Graveyard John.

2010-12-19T21:43:00.000-08:00

"He shambled out from behind a decaying headstone like a clumsy ghost, a man of dubious industry who always seemed to appear after a funeral or before somebody was about to die. He glared beneath a soiled top hat with eyes as cold as a snapping turtle and stood crouched over as bowlegged as a gandy dancer. There was a bag on his back bigger than him that was lumpy and stained with who knows what. And all the people of Mortimer's Corners wanted to know, did he put people into the ground or take them out?"

This miniature will be available soon.

Giant Deep One Now For Sale

2010-11-28T19:53:00.000-08:00

The first miniature from Nameless Design Miniatures is now available! The Giant Deep One is a massive monster from the depths, certain to frighten the most stout of heart adventurers or investigators. The miniature comes in three parts and includes a 40mm round base.

ScaleStick by Mississinewa Miniatures

Price is 8.00 USD plus shipping and handling. S&H for The US is 2.00 USD and International is 4.00 USD. Please click on the Paypal Button to pay with Paypal or a credit card. Email me at hellbox45@hotmail.com with any questions.

Quick Mortis Dreadnought Conversion.

2010-11-27T17:49:00.000-08:00

Calling this a conversion is probably too kind. It's really just adding a big skull from the Arcane Ruins set to a Dark Reach dreadnought and then adding four lascannons to the arms. I threw a couple of Imperial Aquila around to further brand it. Aluminum targeter eyes with putty lenses. I might still add more icons and purity seals.

Although I will probably never play Warhammer 40K ever again I still like bashing stuff together and painting it. The plastics make converting so easy and I always seem to have lots of bits left over from painting miniatures for other people. I think this will look much better once it's painted, right now it's too cute. Like a big baby with lascannon arms. Humm, now there's an idea.

I also made up a base for the little fellow using a bunch of leftover vehicle bits, some cast metal conduit, plant roots, and a zombie arm. I think sometimes that I build models just to get to make bases to put them on.

Deep One Miniature Crawls to the Surface.

2010-10-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

Here's my first complete miniature in quite some time. I'm getting back into sculpting and decided to finish some of the half-finished minis lurking in my storage crypts. A great jedi once told me that you learn more from finishing one miniature than you do from starting twenty.

I've always seen deep ones as much larger than most current sculpts. Maybe it comes from having seen Humanoids From The Deep at too early an age or maybe I like my monsters to look like guys in rubber suits. Either way this deep one is about 40mm tall (he'd be taller if he was a Posture Pal), comes in three pieces and includes a separate base. I'm having some cast and will have price and shipping date set soon.

Now where did all of my sardines go?!

Fantasy Modeling Issue #3

2010-09-16T02:42:00.000-07:00

Well after too long of a hiatus I'm finally back with another issue of the awesome Fantasy Modeling magazine. Finally getting caught up with our comics coloring and design work so now I get to do some geeky fun stuff. And I wanted to get this posted so Tom can put down the Thorazine darts.

This issue features an in-depth interview with one of the founding fathers of modern fantasy miniatures, Tom Loback. Mr. Lobacks's company Dragontooth Miniatures released some of the most purely creative miniatures of the 1980s and really set the stage for massed combat fantasy miniature gaming.

This issue also begins the series Odds and Ends which shows how to use common items that might usually be thrown away to create and convert science fiction miniatures. Many of these ideas are still useful and this series really inspired me as a kid to "trash-bash" my own creations.

An interview with artist Dave Cockrum, model rocketry, spaceship scratchbuilding,and tons of other goodies.

Enjoy!

P.S. And I know the Martian Metals ad is upside down. Just like in the magazine.

Contents:
Editorial
Plastic's Modeler Dave Cockrum
The Atlanta Military Miniature Exhibit
The Return of The Backyard Spaceship
Conan Reconsidered
An Interview with Tom Loback
Role Playing in a Future "Universe"
From The Natural to The Supernatural
Scratchbuilding Spaceship Miniatures for Film
Fleets
Collectables
What Kit is That?
Outerspace Odds and Ends
Adventure Gaming
Book Reviews

Fantasy Modeling #3 -

Building Colton's Curse Continued...

2010-06-02T19:58:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post showing a couple of new buildings. Tomorrow I'm off to Toronto for The Shuster Awards and the Toronto Comicon Fan Appreciation Event 2010. Hopefully meet some new folks and promote Yva.

The Dandee Diner is built pretty much like the first small building that I made except that it's a bit bigger and has half round trim along the top for a more decorative effect. I was a bit surprised while doing research on diners that many real world diners used the little buttresses that I use on my Colton's Curse buildings. Merely for decoration but still looks groovy. The diner features two vent fans on top to keep the place cool, portal windows (a rarity on Coronus), and a fume vent coming out of the kitchen. The portals were made from scrapbooking supplies that are in the shape of small buttons. They are self adhesive but I peeled the sticky foam off so that they sit flat. The sign is a plastic cavalry base with styrene bits. I added a few bullet holes since some yokel would have to take drunken potshots at such a bright and smiling face. A bit more painted trim than the other buildings in town classes up the joint.

Next up is an atmosphere processor or air mining rig. It's made from a Rescue Heroes toy bit that I nicked from Chris FitzPatrick while spending the afternoon at Herb Gundt's making terrain. The piece was originally a small tower like shape but I took it apart and laid it flat by glueing it end to end. I made the round ends from an ubiquitous vending machine capsule and then sanded the living heck out of the thing. toy plastic is notoriously smooth and hard so paint won't hold on to it. The sanding also helps to make a more metallic looking surface after it's painted. I added a few pieces of plasticard for access panels and an X wing engine for the stack. the cool thing about this building is that it will work well for 28mm miniatures or micro scale games like OGRE or Battletech. I am currently painting some oil drums and such to sit on the base while I'm using it for 28mm games.

The next major building will be the Sheriff's Office and jail. This one is turning into more of a small fortress than a normal building. But they need the protection since Colton's Curse is such a danged tough town.

Next Time Fantasy Modeling #3!

Fantasy Modeling Winter Issue

2010-05-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

Finally back from the Calgary Entertainment Expo and a general tour of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Now to finally upload another issue of Fantasy Modeling. This issue has some really stand out pieces. The Fantasy World of Rev. Spencer Van Gulick is inspiring and interesting. Andrew Yanchus's history of plastic monster model kits is a fun read with some groovy behind the scenes information. And an outstanding diorama article from the great Sheperd Paine, autographed by the man no less, is informative and impressive. Who knew the The Shire had a red light district?

Enjoy.

Contents:
Editorial
The Fantasy World of Rev. Spencer Van Gulick
Book Reviews
...And They Glow in The Dark
The Age of Conan
Fleets
An Interview with Eric Goldberg
The "Empire" Casts Its Influence On Modeling
Collectable
Three Dioramas-Three Different Problems
Kit Reviews
Adventures In Gaming

Fantasy Modeling Winter Issue -

Building Colton's Curse

2010-04-07T01:32:00.001-07:00

When I first started writing the first issue of our comic called YVA: Blood and Sand I had some very clear mental ideas of what I wanted the setting to look like. Since I build better than I draw I made a small mock-up of the type of buildings that I wanted.

Blood and Sand takes place on a distant mining world called Coronus. One of the small towns where the action takes place is called Colton's Curse (current population 65). Our hero, Yva, has to pass through this dismal hellhole on her way to visit an old army buddy. During her time in Colton's Curse she shows a few ruffians why she's one of the highest paid troubleshooters in the cosmos.

In our story the buildings would be made of fused sand and I wanted an industrial, pre-fab look to them. I used Hirst Arts mold #300 to make the edge pieces and door frame of the first small building. I built the walls with foamcore to save some weight. The building was then textured with Rust-Oleum Textured spraypaint. I use the color Aged Iron so if the outer paint gets dinged it just shows the metal underneath. A custom-made vac-u-formed ventilator, a hatchway from a Platformer set, and a door cut from the bottom of a rotisserie chicken container from the supermarket.

I sent pictures of this building to Des Hanley who is drawing the first issue of Yva and the art that he sent back inspired me to start building the whole town of Colton's Curse. The next building would be the town saloon, Mugsy's.

This building was more involved than the first. It would have two levels and a larger floorplan. I built this in much the same way as the first with the exception of using 1/4 round wooden molding for the edge pieces. This saves a lot of casting time and is much tougher than the cast plaster pieces. The heavier ventilator on this building comes from ArmorCast, Platformer hatchway, more chicken container plastic, and a sign made from styrene. The cow skull and rifles on the front are from Iron Wind Metals. The buttresses on these pieces work nicely as cover for gunfighting miniatures.

The next building is of an older style from the days when Coronus was first colonized. This was inspired by the "bucket of wet sand" domes from the first version of Warhammer 40,000/Rogue Trader. In the terrain section of the book it was explaned how sci-fi domes could be made by pushing rubber balls into wet sand and then pouring plaster in the depression to make highly textured domes. These were kind of cool but sand always came off everwhere and they were heavy as lead.

My dome was cast from Celluclay papier mache using a container from a a microwave Christmas pudding. These containers have a particular texture that seems to release the dried papier mache more easily than other plastic domes I've tried. The doorway was built up from Celluclay and then the entry ground out of it with a Dremel tool once it had hardened. The top of the dome was sawn off and the entire dome sanded. I used Durham's Water Putty (which is also what my Hirst blocks are cast from) to fill the larger spaces in the dome. Then the whole thing was sanded again.

The top of the dome was made from a large Games Workshop plastic base, two angle cut pieces of PVC pipe and a couple of random greeblies. The door was made from sheet and strip styrene. I primed the whole dome flat black since Celluclay seems to absorb paint very quickly and the texture spray works better on a non-porous surface. Since I didn't want the metallic pieces to be overly textured I masked them off with aluminum foil before spraying the dome with texture paint. I did mist a light spray of texture onto the metal pieces but not too much.

After painting the small pieces I realized that they were a bit bland visually so I added a stripe of red ochre color to the bottoms. I picked this up from Herb Gundt who has made several Star Wars Tatooine style buildings. It really helps to brighten up the buildings and I figure that at one time it served a purpose, perhaps to keep out insects, but now has become a stylistic trait.

The miniatures in these images are from Mongoose's Gangs of Mega City One game. Although this is no longer being published boxes of these little fellows can still be gotten cheaply and make a great source of sci-fi thugs.

The full issue of Yva: Blood and Sand will be ready this year. The 8 page ashcan is available now from IndyPlanet: Yva #0

One of the joys of writing comics, besides seeing new art, is the creation of worlds. Designing and creating these buildings really helps me to understand the world of Coronus and why it looks the way it does. I'll continue posting images of Colton's Curse as I finish them.

Next Time: Fantasy Modeling #2!

Fantasy Modeling #1

2010-03-29T18:03:00.000-07:00

Fantasy Modeling Magazine was a magazine devoted to the various disciplines of the fantasy and science fiction modeling hobbies. Each issue was a motley assortment of how to articles, features on outstanding artists, and industry information. In the pre internet years of the 1980s FM acted as a source of mailing addresses for many gaming, miniature, and modeling companies. There was no preference shown in FM for one part of the hobby over another, just an overall appreciation for the craft of making interesting models and miniatures.

Discovering Fantasy Modeling Magazine was one of the turning points in my adolescence. There were a few stray copies in the back room at The Game Preserve game store in Indianapolis and I would routinely read through them and wonder at the fact that "grown-ups" were making models out of spare parts and junk like I had been doing since I was allowed to have model glue. It made me realize that all of the "junk" that I had been building had some value to others and that I wasn't alone in my desire to create these things. The tone of the magazine is a bit "gee-whiz" which still comes across as refreshing in an age when I am constantly beleaguered by the rudeness and childish entitlement of many modern hobbyists.

The contributors to Fantasy Modeling often had to scrounge their hobby together from actual garbage, toys, and parts of things never meant for model making. As somebody who sees scratch building and kit bashing as a justifiable post-modern art form this stuff makes me happy. From the truly brilliant kit bashing of Rick Overton and Michael Sullivan to the charmingly odd work of Andrew P. Yanchus, Fantasy Modeling showed me high end trash-bashing that made me want to make stuff. And that sort of inspiration was and still is invaluable to me.

I decided to scan the six issues of FM to share the wonder that I get from them.

Here is the premier issue of Fantasy Modeling. I hope it inspires you to the level that is has me.

In this issue:
The Popular Imagery of Boris Vallejo
The Plastic Industry Strikes Back
Atlantis Lives
The Military Corner: Historex Walks New Paths
Origins '80
Kit Bashing Spaceships
War Games: the Greatest Fantasy of Them All
Book Reviews
Fantasy Collectables
Adventures in Gaming
And enough vintage ads to make you want to play first edition D&D again!

Fantasy Modeling #1 -

Los Luchadores Mysteriosos by Black Swan Studios

2009-11-23T16:25:00.000-08:00

There are men who choose to be heroes and those that are content to watch and admire them. In the world of lucha libre men who are brave and strong enough often don a mascara not to hide their normal face but to allow their hero's face to be seen. The mask is a totemic object that completes the transformation of man into superman. The idea that all men can become superheroic allows even the normal joes in the audience the chance to dream and to aspire to greatness.

In Evan Quiring's new comic Los Luchadores Mysteriosos the two main luchadores don't come across as super heroes as much as a couple of working class dogs who will gladly give their sweat and blood to entertain an audience. Rey Diablo, the cigar chomping heavyweight, and the lighter weight technico Ave de Fuego drive into the town of La Ultima Copa De Triteza on the promise of a paid wrestling gig but instead find a shifty promoter and a town that is totally dead. Although they start an exciting match for the crowd they soon realize that no one is cheering. Then things start to get weird...

I picked up a preview copy at the Central Canada Comic Convention and immediately dug it. Although there are many hints that this book takes place in a larger storyline it is enjoyable on its own and makes me want to read more. A great combination for an exclusive preview. Art and writing, both by Evan Quiring, are solid and enjoyable and the character designs are spot on. The characters look the way that they act. This allows for quick identification with them and is one of the strong suits of good character design. The colors by Victoria Free are bright and solid on the main characters and oddly eerie on the bad guys, again showing a solid handling of the comic medium and a knowledge of how color identifies characters as rapidly as line.

I'm not sure how to get other copies of Los Luchadores Mysteriosos, maybe Evan will post info soon, but I hope he keeps it going.

This book is good solid fun. The luchador that hides deep in my soul approves even as he wants a match against the mucho rudo Rey Diablo. His mask will be mine!

Check out Evan Quiring at:
http://blackswanstudios.ca/

2009-07-16T18:29:00.001-07:00

To start this blog off here's a Braugh The Slave Ogre that I painted for B. McWhirt. Apparently these things are super rare and expensive so it was groovy getting a chance to paint one. McWhirt bought the mini for quite a chunk of change and it was partially painted and assembled. I stripped it with Lysol and rebuilt it. Some green stuff groundwork and rocks and then paint. His tattoos are based on the slave master gut plate and chains. If you notice there is a small mouth bass on the base as well. Apparently this is a holdover from Mordheim where there are random fish throughout, maybe rains of fish caused by the warpstone.