Additional Scatter

Here's some more terrain pieces finished. You can see smaller ones, like the hand carts I started building earlier, a few resin barrels from Green Stuff World; linear objects, two sections of different plastered walls and a fence; a group of stakes liberated from the Perry HYW infantry set; and then a gun emplacement of four gabions.

Besides the barrels everything is scratchbuilt.

 

The gabions are cloned with green stuff from a single master. I made a press mould of the master, but instead of using a two-piece mould, I cut the bottom off and made hollowed out casts from GS using the butt end of a brush to spread it inside the mould. The compression actually helps the green stuff cure to a very firm finish. Once cured I pop the cast out of the mold and that's it. It works well for cylindrical objects and saves you some resin.

I put some dirt and toothpicks on top and used successive layers of drybrush for the paintjob. The base is also raised a bit with pieces of corkboard so figures don't have to duck that much behind. 

I think they look banged up enough, unlike some pristine injection moulded gabions would. There is a recast Bloody Miniatures matchlock placed at the inside (you can see it on the first photo).

'Block Galleys' page added

I've made a lengthy tutorial on constructing 1/350 scale galleys and published it in a page format. You can reach it from the header at the top of the blog.

I will update the page with actual WIP photos at a later date, until then, please enjoy.

I'm going on a round trip in Northern Italy next week, and provided everything goes well, I'll also be able to see the full size galley replica at the Genoese maritime museum.

I have one further post programmed to be published during that time, and hopefully when I return I'm going to have some interesting photos to share.

Down on the Farm

Let me present to you the large terrain project I've been working on. It's a rural farm complex with a bunch of buildings and greenery. I sort of made it up on the go, so things are of a bit mixed styles, but I think they look good together.

Painting Tally April 2025

This month included, for the most part, terrain projects, so the output is way less than in March. However I felt I needed to take a step back and do things more leisurely. At the end of the month I continued with my Italian Wars 28mm project, which I abandon and return to casually.

Completed:

28mm

Farmhouse

Barn

Outhouse

Well

A 6-part hedge section

A longboat

1/350

A large galley

Painted (requires varnish and basing):

28mm

13 Warlord plastic Landsknechts

4 Perry plastic mounted MAA

Assembled and primed (no paint):

28mm

29 Warlord plastic Landsknechts

4 Perry plastic mounted MAA

This brings my Painting Unit total to 571, still a decent amount but nowhere near the March tally. Of course the PU count will become more useful once I have more comparable data.

Purchases:

Only a pair of IKEA drawers for storage. 

We will go to Northern Italy in May and I expect to spend more there.

Whatever floats your boat.

This month has mainly been about terrain projects. I might have mentioned that I've got some pirate themed gaming in mind, and for that I needed a longboat at least. (A one-mast ship with four guns is a work in progress.)

It's made out of balsa wood, the outer planks were soaked then bent to shape as with a plank-on-frame model ship. It includes six oar benches and forks, some equipment for longer voyages, and a swivel gun at the bow.

The pair of random Bloody Miniatures figs are just there for scale. 

Block Galleys WIP

 

No posts in a while, but that's only because after last month's painting frenzy I took a step back and started focusing on smaller scratchbuilding projects, mainly revolving around terrain pieces.

I showed a completed 1/350 scale 'Block' galley a while back, these are the follow-ups on the slipway. I completed the main parts of the hulls and started adding the rowing benches. (They are called Block galleys because I would simulate damage to the ship by removing parts from the model during gameplay.)

The one in the middle is a large 15cm long Capitana or Lanterna, that is a flagship with more rowers and soldiers aboard. You can see one of my printed templates doing its job on the oar banks.

The last bunch of balsa I got is from a producer named Santiago, so obviously these are going to be Spanish...

2 Atak Kampanü, I Bertoldu Armored Battalion, 1st Independent Ebhardu Cavalry Brigade

This time a post with a picture. I made 1/32 versions of the same vehicle before, but now I completed an armored company with the G-93 Kontot Kombatot for my 1/72 collection.

There are four tanks in a Jazygian interwar armored company, but they are supplied with variants on a sort of ad-hoc basis. 2/I/1 Atak Kampanü has the following, from left to right:

G-93ac Ozmot "Rinokerüs" - An open top variant, with the HMG at the back of the vehicle, a 3pdr anti-tank gun on the right side of the chassis, and field modifications to break down hedges. The figures are HäT Prussians with modified caps.

G-93c Astaba with open turret and radio antenna - commander's version. Its frontal armor was strengthened by adding sandbags. The commander is a Zvezda Russian female soldier and she can be taken out of the vehicle.

G-93 reserve/engineering/close support vehicle - standard armament, but with a medium mortar bolted to the undercarriage, sort of a makeshift SPG. This one's got some Green Stuff World shrubbery glued to the front, and the figures are cheap Chinese knights with green stuff modifications.

G-93c Astaba, standard version, closed turret.

Soon the company will roll out on a policing action along the Ahbanian border, we shall see what comes out of that...

Painting Tally March 2025

From January on I started summarizing what I paint, the first two months being the test period for the method. I keep the total tally in a separate diary, but thought it would be a good idea to post it here.

Further on I limit my scope of activities to up to five projects per month, which helps me focus better on the current tasks instead of meandering and starting minor side-projects, never finishing one.

Worry not if you aren't the Duke of Porpoises...

 

... you can still be the Prince of Wales! (pun intended)

Here's a rare WIP shot of a 1/2000 scale scratchbuilt HMS Prince of Wales. I usually post completed products on the blog, but this one looked kind of nice the way it is, and it highlights some of the methods I use for tiny ships.

My main components for this build were: balsa wood, bamboo skewers, Magic Sculpt, 0.5mm plasticard, push pins and broom bristles. First I shaped the hull, and did the rest in five main sub-assemblies (that is the three turrets and two main parts of the superstructure).

Balsa wood has very large grain and soaks up paint/glue like a sponge, so I learned to harden its outer surface with either mopping on liquid superglue or acrylic medium, and then after many passes with sandpaper some PVA. For the quad turrets I also added some magic sculpt for detail.

I made an attempt to sculpt each of the quad barrels, but in the end I just went with my usual solution of using a single slab of bamboo and painting the detail on.

The occasion for this build is that I want to refight the Battle of the Denmark Strait in the near future, so after painting this one, next up is the Mighty Hood.

During the build I came to appreciate the no-nonsense approach of the King George V class design. Everything has its place and works, and that's about all a fighting ship needs. However, I anticipate building Hood for her excellent looks for a change.