[PROJECT NEWS] A Bit Stalled.

Welcome back,

                                   a bit of a general update on progress today. As things have been so hectic of late, I haven't had time to take any pictures (not that there is much to take pictures of to be honest). So what have I been up to?

Well I built another two of my Martian tripods and came to the conclusion that they definitely need some sort of support if I want to use them for gaming. I'm thinking that I'll drill small holes underneath the body and mount them on brass rod for support (now I just need some brass rod to get on with that), secondly I'm going to mount them on CD's as bases, after a quick test I realised how difficult they can be to pick up so, I'm thinking either a double layer of CD's to help with that or a solid terrain piece that I can grab a hold instead of the models. So basically I'm waiting on materials and a bit of experimentation to proceed with this part of the project.

I've also been preparing the next Infantry Battalion of my British Army for painting, normally this would be an hour or so's work for the entire battalion (to snip each stand of four in two and then glue them to wooden spatula's for painting) but it took me that long to do two company's worth. The problem being that I bought a battalion of Baccus infantry in marching pose which come on a much narrower sprue and which has to be cut three times instead of just once (and I can't quite get my cutters in between the individual models so it's more like 6 cuts). Suffice to say I was a little frustrated, I'll get back to them soon though for once they are finished I can move on to my Lancers and my Machine Guns.

Finally there has been more work on a small terrain project, inspired by Christian's entry in the Build Something Contest on Lead Adventure I'm attempting to make a 6mm version. Progress is a bit slow but I'm getting there, pictures will be forth coming as soon as it looks like something.

And that's about it for the moment, a bit of a rubbish update but an update no less.

Haarken

[Finished] The Floating Islands of Atlantis.

Welcome back,

           Well the votes for the first round of the 2nd Lead Adventure "Build Something" Contest are in and tallied and I placed a distant third behind Malamute and Axelgrunt. The final voting figures for Group B ended up being:

Axelgrunt         - 96 (44.2%)

Malamute        - 81 (37.3%)

Haarken           - 36 (16.6%)

TimHerr1847  - 04 (01.8%)

Congratulations and all the best of luck to Axelgrunt and Malamute who go through to the next round of voting and thank you to everyone that voted for me, I really appreciate the support.

In retrospect I wish I had been a little more adventurous with my entry, it wasn't the most technically impressive build nor did I really push myself to the boundaries of my skills, next time round I'll be aiming for a much more complicated and impressive build. Anyway on to some pictures: -

Up first we have a couple of work in progress pictures that were a little too finished to show at the time, having base coated and dry brushed the whole piece I then decided I needed to add some more interest, cut the green stuff and some Z Scale model tree's off ebay.

Work In Progress: The Floating Islands base coated and dry-brushed.

Work In Progress: The Floating Islands base coated and dry-brushed.

Finally we have the finished piece, I took a fair few pictures for the competition so rather than waste them i'll post them all up here.

The Floating Islands of Atlantis.

The Floating Islands of Atlantis.

The Floating Islands of Atlantis.

The Floating Islands of Atlantis.

And a final picture for a sense of scale.

The Floating Islands of Atlantis.

Naval Brigade of HMS Atropos skirt the edge of the Floating Islands of Atlantis.

Hope you've enjoyed, I know I certainly did.

Haarken

[W.I.P] The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders).

Welcome back,
                          a brief update today I'm afraid. Work has been pretty hectic lately and has eaten in to valued hobby time, a pattern that unfortunately looks like it is going to continue right up till Christmas, that doesn't mean that I haven't been productive with what little time I have had.

After copious amounts of indecision I finally decided on which Highland Infantry regiment I was going, and as you may have guessed it is The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders), I've gone for a pretty simple and totally incorrect colour scheme, but one that I think will work on 6mm miniatures, which is vertical green stripes over blue to give the impression of tartan. It obviously looks nothing like tartan up close but if your at least a foot away it gives the right impression (or so I think). Unfortunately no pictures yet as the weather was awful today and I just couldn't get any taken (I'll definitely post some up on Tuesday though).

In other news, voting is due to start for the Lead Adventure Forum's "Build Something Competition", my entry "Floating Islands Of Atlantis" is located in Group B. There's some extremely good entries in there too and I urge everyone to go have a look, lots of inspiration to be had, you could also vote whilst you're there.


That's all from me for now, more pictures and an update on Tuesday.
Haarken


                                

[WIP] Floating Rocks.

Welcome back to Martians & Machine Guns,

                                                                               There is a great competition over on the Lead Adventure Forum to make your own terrain that fits on to a CD, Well it's getting on towards the deadline and I finally made enough progress with my idea last night to get started on it, so without further ado, my work in progress terrain piece.

Work In Progress: Underside of the Cork Rocks.

Started off with some bits of cork tile that I lying around, stuck them together with some PVA and pushed a nail through the middle, then i added some Games Workshop sand (Yes, I know I'm a fool for buying it) to the underside to give a bit of extra texture. The rocks were then stuck to the CD using some green stuff, I kept the head facing down so that they were easier to base, unfortunately they were a little bit wobbly so I added some extra cork to the base to support the nails. I also added some bits of twig for use as bridges between the rocks.

Work In Progress: Showing cork on the base for support.

Work In Progress: Showing the twigs used as bridges.

Work In Progress: Another shot of the bridges.

I created a top piece for the largest rock, using some more cork, this time I added a ring from a bubble blower for a sort of Stargate/Ring sort of thing and an old bead from the bits box in the centre, the whole thing was stuck down to the cork using green stuff. I then textured the green stuff using a piece of cork but I think the whole thing will probably get a coating of sand and PVA anyway as i'm not all that happy with it.

Work In Progress: The Gate/Artifact.

Finally i created some roots and root pods, they will probably be added to the bottom surface of the cork rocks, they were made out of some green stuff and some knackered spring things we use at work.

Work In Progress: The Root Pods.

Hope you enjoyed the project so far, hopefully will get some more done today.

Haarken