An August Workbench update

So, what is this free 3D-file I recently found and printed?

Here are a couple of hints:

When mounted on a LGB-wagon it becomes a G-scale camera-wagon:

And here is a video when I tried it out at a friend's garden railway yesterday:

Here is a link to the stl-file to the mobile-phone stand if you would like to print one for your self.

...more 3D-printing:

I recently played an 'Old West' game and realized that I was lacking some essential scenery for such scenarios. At Thingiverse I found some free Cactus-files, but since they would take some time to 3D-print, I decided that I would run a testprint with low resolution as it would be quicker and I could se how they turned out.

I painted them to get an idea how they would look, but even if they're printed in low resolution I think they turned out just OK, so I'll probably just keep them as they are.

Since the cactus' turned out OK, I was curious to see if other scenery and terrain for model railways could be 3D-printed an still look OK. This tree is actually a wargame scenery file, but if it's looks good I might consider using it with my model railway.

Painted:

And this is how it looks compared to another spruce which is actually made as 'model railway scenery':

With snow added and temporary 'planted' on my H0e/H0n3O Pizza-layout:

It would be interesting to hear your point of view and opinions on the 3D-printed scenery in the comment-section below. Yea or Nay?

...findings at the local 'Pound Shop':

During a visit to a my local 'Pound Shop' I found a couple of modelling and wargaming related items:

4'x6' Grasmats for only $8.85/ £6.88. I guess they will work great, either modified or unmodified, as 'battle-mats' for wargames:

I also found a very cheap set of make-up brushes in the shop as well, and decided to get them as I've found a YouTube-video that recommended make-up brushes for drybrushing miniatures.

The only 'challenge' was to get them passed the Cashier as he was the talkative kind of type that might have been likely to use them him self. -Off course he asked if I was using them for make-up or technical purposes. - I was tempted to answer 'for make-up' like he would belive me when I answered the latter anyway...

Some new,  and very long lasting projeckts are about to hit the 3D-printer:

PS: More info on the drybrushed miniature (and his colleagues) above will shortly follow in this blog. Please follow.

A July Workbench update - Concluding some miniatures, and starting some new ones

I'm really impressed when I see fellow bloggers and wargamers just paints a lot of miniatures in a short time. Due to nice weather and 3 garden railway running sessions within a week, my recent painting projects has actually taken quite long time to finish. Here follows some updates on my Airfix Cowboy knock-off since my last blog-post. Here they have finally got their basic colors. I've taken 'liberties' with the painting scheme, but perhaps you can see where I got the inspiration from?

I think they looks good this way, but I prefer to give them a 'dirty - brown wash', and bring out the details with drybrushing in lighter colors. The details were not so crisp on these knock offs. I also added sand to the bases.

Then they're sealed with another coat of ModPodge as this will give them a though surface which alow handling during games without the paint coming off again.

Even if the ModPodge is flat I prefer to give my miniatures an even more 'dead flat' looking, so I give them an overspray of flat varnish.

When the final layer of flat varnish dries, I think they are about done...

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I think these miniatures are ready to see some action on the tabletop now. I like my home brewed 'Wild West' rules, but perhaps any of you recommend some other free, fast and easy to play 'Old west' rules as well?

More Knock-offs

A while ago I fond some really cheap Army Men in my local toy store. In the blogpost I asked if someone knew the origin of these knock-offs? - I found an answer to that on an excellent (new?) Army Men website and blog called Toy Soldier Central. The 54mm soldiers which looked like WW2 paratroopers, was originally knock-offs of Forces of Valor's WW2 82nd Airborne miniatures:

This photo is from Toy Soldier Central 

This made me think if the more modern Army Men in the same bag perhaps was Forces of Valor knock-offs as well, and probably they are:

So, what's next?

I've had a bucket of 'The Force' 'Starship Troopers'-looking  space marines for years and haven't quite decided what to use them for. Now I've finally got around to start painting a handful of them for an upcoming wargame.  I really hope that I'll not use 'a billion years' to paint these miniatures as well. 

I don't think a bayonet is needed on a blaster rifle, so I removed it. I also added visors to their helmets.

Another thing hitting the workbench this month is this 3D-printed model:

Even if they are printed as 'kits', the fit are usually far from perfect. In this case sanding was needed...

...followed by a good portion of filler.

I'm excited to see how this turns out.

Now I'm eager to use my recently finished 'Cowboys' in a game soon. Please stay tuned for updates.

A June Workbench update

The Cowboys mentioned in the May Workbench update are slowly coming together. A little slower than I planned though due to the nice weather we have in Norway these days making it more tempting with outdoor activities than indoors, and I got tempted to do someæ further conversions before painting them.

Since I got 2 of this figure armed with a Winchester rifle, I 3D-printed a 'Lego' Shotgun and replaced it with one of the Winchesters.

These figures are made of a really soft and oily plastic, so to give the paint a chance I'm priming them with ModPodge, a tip I got from James at Quantrill's Toy Soldiers.

Then they're primed with a plastic-primer to make the paint adhere better. This plastic-primer dries clear. Aerosols I do outside.

Then they were given a colored coat of primer, so the paint will show it's colors better and more even than painted on the colored plastic.

I've started to paint them with ordinary acrylics form the craft store, but due to the good weather here in Norway recently I've been doing more outdoor activities than indoor, so I'm not quite done with them yet. They're a fun project to paint, and I'm looking forward to get them done so I can use them for future games.

As I'm going to use them for gaming, I needed some interior as well (3D-printed)...

...and a simplified false front frontier town.

This is how my (former) Garden Railway looks like at the moment. Probably I could throw in some tracks and have a real 'Trench Railway' now...

A May Workbench update - just preparing some miniatures for painting

I've been finishing off some few small projects that's been on my workbench for a while, and they will show up in an update later this month. This month I'm also involved in a 'modelling project' that's not on workbench it self, which I will describe closer in a blog-post on friday...

It's a battle to get time for doing my hobby-things right now as daily life is quite busy. But in busy times I find panting miniature quite therapeutic, and it's been a while since I've been painting miniatures. So I found some figures I've been laying around for a while and started to prepare them so I eventually can start painting them. I thinks it's nicer to game with painted miniatures rather than those without.

Being China-copies they were made with small bases which made them wobbly. I've 3D-printed some bases when making the 'Ape Army' and had som spares which I superglued onto these figures.

I made minor changes to a couple of them by trimming a hat down, and adding some 'green stuff'. This is the very first time I've been using green stuff.

Next I'' wash them and they will be ready for some priming. Earlier I've been using Mod Podge to sealing miniatures, but this time I will follow a tip from James at Quantrill's Toy Soldiers and use Mod Podge for priming as well as the plastic they're made of is very oily and soft.

I've got some few ideas how to paint them, but suggestions to get me further inspired are welcome in the comment section below.

An April Workbench update - Bombs Away! (Mostly 3D-prints)

As I've been away for almost a month there hasn't been much time for wargaming, modelling or to generate so many new modelling-projects for April. Now I'm back again, so I'm slowly starting to get something on the workbench again by preparing new modelling-projects by firstly making parts for them on the 3D-printer.

A friend and a member of my MRC was inviting other friends and members for a running-session on his garden railway this Easter, and I wanted to give him something back and an item for an 'Easter egg hunt' in his own garden and within my rake. Not making the gift too obvious it needed to be camouflaged into something that could be loaded on my military garden trains. Some few more pieces were 3D-printed. 

Assembled on a bottle of beer it becomes more obvious what kind of load I'm turning the gift into. Bottles of beer are usually best served cold, and they have a shape that can vaguely resembles grenades. That's why I usually just call them "Kalde Granater", which would translate into something like "Cold Grenades", and is a Norwegian jargon for practicing grenades. Despite being an aerial bomb, considering the scale, this is pretty much literally a "Kald Granat" I think.

To make it look like a load which belongs in a military train it needed some further cover. I decided to use the same technique I used when Covering a model not looking so good by adding tarpaulin to it.

I used gladpack between the bottle and tissue-paper when adding the diluted pva glue, so the tarpaulin could easily be removed from the bottle again and uncover the real load. It lifts of easily as a lid and can be reused several times.

Mounted on flatcar I think this looks pretty acceptable. Keeping in mind that the railcar is 1:19 scale, this must be a really big aerial bomb. 

 

This is another 'project' I've recently printed currently working on, and shows the different stages from a 3D-printed model into an assembled and ready for paint:

Some models needs to be divided and printed in smaller parts due to my 3D-printer which limits the maximum building size to 15×15×15 cm

They needs to be removed from the raft (base) and be cleaned for supports. Then I dryfit the parts to see that they fits each other and adjust if necessary 

I use CA-glue to attach the parts together. When fully cured I use filler in the cracks and sand them...

...To a smooth finish. This model is printed to a 'standard' resolution and have visible print lines. If you want to remove them you can keep on sanding the model...

...or use car filler from a rattle can. This is how smooth it gets with 3 layers. You can sand between the layers, but I didn't do so, and like how it turned out.

Due to work anf 'every day life' this project is still ongoing, and will return in a future blogpost when ready.

Please follow for updates

Since Alan from  The Duchy of Tradgardland showed his 'workbench clutter', I was inspired to show some of mine and reveal a hint or two of what to expect in this blog in the future...

A March Workbench update - Creating an Ape Army

Ready for some action!
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Due to finnising a somewhat longterm conversion of LGB rollingstock into my growing Heeresfeldbahn rake and making a small army for a 'casual wargame in the garden', some other modelling-projects fell behind. One of those projects were the apes I briefly presented in my January Workbench update. 

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They were made up and sliced together by elements from a 'kit file' found on Thingiverse. When put together in desired positions, I found out that they were not so easy to 3D-print, and needed some tweaking and adjustments to suit my needs.

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The bases I'm basing them on did I also find for free on Thingiverse. They were originally made as 'Bolt Action' bases, but I just resized them to fit the Apes.

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After basing them, they were ready for some priming. I just used inexpensive mat black from a rattle can from the car shop.

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Just primed they looked almost ready for the gaming table already as they don't require an elaborate paint job.

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Not a very complicated 'scheme' on these miniatures; How they look after they got a basic coat of paint:

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Washing them with a brownish wash, drybrushing them and texturing the bases really brings out their details.

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My intention was to 3D-print some spears for them from a 28mm 'weapon-pack' on Thingiverse, but I suppose primates like these would only have very simple spears just made of wood. In the grocery store I found such spears made of the real thing and just about the right scale. Since you just can't buy a few 'coctail sticks' I've got enough to arm a battalion. The spears was given a coat of 'brown wash'.

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Bringing it all toghether. I don't think these look too bad considered they are 3D-printed on a FDM printer on not a 'resin printer'.

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Another unfinished project from the 'January workbench' is the 'piece of crumbled paper'. Now I finally got around to paint it, so now it's somewhat more obvious what it is and what it's hiding:

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Please hit the 'follow button' and subscribe to this blog to see updates on how I'm going  to use this month's workbench projects in coming blogposts of wargames and railway modelling.

A February Workbench update

Some few of the secondhand figures I bought online described in the last blogpost, has already found fought their way to the workbench, suppressing some few other ongoing projects.

The barrel on one submachine gun was broken, and since these figures are quite small (40mm) they were too small to drill a new hole to insert a new barrel. Thats why I just glued a rod on the top. Hopefully the paintjob will 'cover' the 'quick fix' so it doesn't become too obvious. 

After they got painted they're up for Sealing using ModPodge as this gives them a sturdier cover for wargame handling.

With these new figures and their new plans orders, some few new 3D-printings seemed neccessary too. More will follow on this blog.

On the workbench this month is also something that turned out to be a not only one, but two small disasters. This distracted me so much that I didn't even take a photo of it, but I'll get back to it in a following blogpost if I manage to fix it, but that suddenly got the highest priority now...

I'm strictly not only doing military or railway modelling, as I like other modelling projects as well. -Like this 3D-printed kit of the Monaco Race Track requested by my son, who is very interested in F1.

Follow this blog for coming updates on these workbench projects 

A January Workbench update

2024 is still very new, and I'm impressed when I read other wargaming- and modelling blogs when I see how active many of those bloggers are all ready starting to realizing their plans for the new year. As stated in my previous blogpost I also have several plans for 2024, but my activity is merely up to the level of some of my fellow bloggers. Just before Christmas I read a fun meme on a Facebook-group I follow that the working space on our workbenches are usually very small, often just a few square inches, due to other projects, mess and general clutter we keep collecting there. -When I took a look at my own workbench, I recognized the meme as mine was just a mess after several projects in December. So I actually started this year not to realize any of my modelling plans, but to just tidy up my workbench, and hobbyroom/mancave in general as it was much needed. Now I don't think anyone who are reading this blog are very interested in reading about my cleaning, but now it was finally cleared some space to work on my planned 2024-projects. -So I'll share some images from my January workbench and those few projects I've barely started so far this year as teasers on what to  expect on this blog in the time to come instead. More info on each one of them will eventually follow in own blog-posts as I don't want to reveal too much yet:

An overview of my workbench and current projects after I made space there for them

Another 'bucket of soldiers'??

What is this, or what can it turned into?? These still  needs some more work, tweaking and adjustments before I'm happy.

Another Top Secret workbench-project just hiding away from the public, or is it crumbled household paper that's so useful for cleaning up spills etc???

And sometimes I try do do some smaller printer-jobs for my fellow MRC members in between my own projects.

If you're not already following this blog, please hit that 'FOLLOW-Button" and do for instant updates on it.

Stay tuned!