[W.I.P] Martian Tripods.

Welcome back,
                                well after a long absence they are finally back. After a long delay, a lot of pondering and much worrying I finally plucked up the courage to do something with my three Martian tripods, I wasn’t that keen on the idea of drilling into these fragile resin models but I decided that the only way that I could reasonably support them was to drill some holes and mount them on brass rod.So on my way back home the other day I popped into Model Active at Durham and bought a couple of lengths of brass rod. Cue more worrying and thinking and well mainly procrastination if I’m completely honest and it’s taken me a further week to get to this stage.

I began by using my pin vice drill to drill some little holes in the underside of the tripods, a brief test fit and it was obvious 

that the hole was about 0.5mm too small, fortunately I had a larger drill bit that unfortunately wouldn’t fit in my drill, so I had to gently turn it in my hands. I was kind of glad about this as the soft resin was easily drilled and I felt that I had much more control this way. I made the hole in the bottom of the tripod quite shallow and added a blob of greenstuff to the top of the brass rod to secure it in the hole. The brass rod was attached to the base (an old unwanted CD) with more greenstuff, as were the legs. The base was covered with sand and pieces of cork to break up the flat surface. 

Since I'd feared moving on from the previous stage for so long I decided that whilst I had the opportunity I would basecoat them straight away, once that was done I couldn't resist splashing a little paint around (no pictures of them at the moment but an update soon hopefully.

Haarken

[PROJECT NEWS] Brief Update.

Welcome back,
                                It has been another extended break from the project unfortunately, with life once again intervening, this time in the untimely demise of my girlfriends Mac Book, still it wasn’t all bad, I finally realised I was spending too much time looking at other peoples projects rather than getting on with my own. Without an internet connection I decided it was about time I got something productive done and so hobby work has resumed on the project and hopefully that means I’ll be able to start creating a little momentum.

So what have I been up to? Well I’ve converted one of the Pendraken miniatures 10mm Mark V Tanks into a British Landship, this was subsequently base coated and then painted, just a few finishing details and the basing to do and it will be complete. I also began work on the York and Lancaster Regiment, these were base coated and painting is in progress. I’m hoping to get these finished and based by next week.

Then there is the question of what to do next? With the completion of the York and Lancs I’ll have completed the original three infantry packs from my initial order to Baccus, out of that order there are just the Lancers and the Naval machineguns to complete, so I’m aiming to do those if only for a little variation, that of course means that I have to place an order for some more bases from Renedra, 100x50mm for the Landships, 50x50mm for the Cavalry, 50x25mm for the infantry and 25x25mm for the guns.

Anyway pictures will follow in my next update, hopefully there will be another battalion of infantry and a landship to show off.

Haarken

[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

[W.I.P] Martian Tripods.

Welcome back,

                                   well it was almost inevitable that I would post another tripod related update today and well here I am (So much for slow and steady). I just couldn't resist having a crack at putting one together if I only so I could get a better impression of their size. I have to say that after one false start where I'd picked up two right legs rather than a left and a right, it went together really easily, I used a combination of green stuff and super glue to hold the legs in place . I'm still mulling mounting it on a metal rod to attach it to it's base as it's rather delicate, I figure I can probably disguise it as a tree or piece of terrain but I think it would lose the effect of the open space under the legs. Much pondering will commence shortly. Anyway more pictures.

Martian Tripod & Baccus 6mm Colonials

Martian Tripod & Baccus 6mm Colonials

Martian Tripod & Baccus 6mm Colonials

 

Size Shot

Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Haarken

[PROJECT NEWS] The Fighting Machines Emerge.

Welcome back,

                                    Well the Martian tripods have arrived and let me tell you I am incredibly happy with them, whilst they are not exactly what I was looking for and they're probably not most people's cup of tea, I think that they are simply fantastic and that they will be a brilliant addition to my project.

Tripod

Slight and spindly really doesn't go far enough to describe how very fragile and delicate these little beauties are, cast in resin and reinforced with tiny steel rods for support, they are the most fragile models I've ever handled, still can't let a little fear get in the way, they're just models at the end of the day and they just one purpose. Wargaming.

Tripod

There were a few bits of flash to clear up, but nothing too difficult and nothing unexpected, still dry fitting them at the moment, seeing how they fit together and trying to work out if I need to add some extra support (I'd rather not have to but it might be necessary to mount them on a rod through the body and let that take all the weight).

Tripods Legs with Baccus 6mm Colonial Infantry for Scale.

I'll be progressing with these very slowly, I really want to take my time and get them done to a good standard so it might be a while between updates on these, I will of course be updating other bits of my project along the way.

Thanks for reading.
Haarken 

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

Welcome back,
                         as I promised the other day I've made progress on my latest battalion, The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders), I had a day off work so had a lot of time to work on them. Having painted their kilts on Sunday, I set about painting their socks and tunics on Monday night and the rest of them today.

Work In Progress: The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)

As with all of my battalions there are eight stands (one for each company), these are ready for sand and flocking, which hopefully I'll get done tomorrow.

Work In Progress: The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)

The helmets are painted white, not strictly correct for home service uniform but the helmets just wouldn't look right the other way, a bit of a compromise but I think they look pretty good. Now just to get them based up.

Work In Progress: The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)

Hopefully I'll get these finished up tomorrow and a new battalion base-coated, anyway until then...

Work In Progress: The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)

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


                                

[W.I.P] Naval Brigade - Progress.

Welcome back to Martians & Machine Guns,
                                                               I've had a day off today and the girlfriend is at work so I've been able to make some progress with my Naval Brigade. During the week I finished off painting the miniatures, this was mostly just touch up work on bits that I had missed the first time around. Once that was done I began basing them up on their bases. 

Work In Progress: Naval Brigade

Work In Progress: Naval Brigade

As with my DLI Infantry stands these Naval Brigade stands were covered with Games Workshop sand and PVA. As an experiment, I took an officer from one of the Marching Infantry stands for use as a Naval Officer, I think the result is quite nice, but I can't help feeling that he should be in the firing line rather than stuck out on the edge of the base, unfortunately it's too late to change.

As you can see, not a great deal of progress made, but I've also been working on my competition entry for the Build Something Competition over on the Lead Adventure Forum. With the deadline looming nearer I decided that I couldn't afford to wait too much longer before painting and so after a quick coat of black I began applying colour. Unfortunately there are no pictures, but once the competition is over I'll post up the finished result over here.

Work In Progress: Naval Brigade

Anyway that's all for the moment, hopefully I'll be back soon with pictures of the finished Naval Brigade and news on some new idea's I've had.

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

[W.I.P] Naval Brigade.

Welcome back to my blog, 

                                                       This time it's another update on my 6mm project. On Wednesday I posted up the finished bases of my Durham Light Infantry and I was deliberating as to what I should do next, after a little consideration and an evening of preparation work on both the Naval Brigade and the Highland Infantry I was no further forward, a quick look at the Sudan painting guide by Michael Perry (HERE) convinced me I wasn't quite ready for 6mm tartan and so I started work on the miniatures for my Naval Brigade.

Work In Progress: Naval Brigade.

The miniatures are once again Baccus 6mm, this time they are from the American Civil War range, an idea I picked up from "chopperboydan" over on the Baccus forums. The pack I chose was ACW8 - Infantry, Shell Jacket, Hat, Skirmish.   I had a look at the picture over on the Baccus website and it seemed to show skirmish infantry in hats, when I started painting the miniatures up I realised that unfortunately some of them were wearing Kepi's. I'm not entirely sure what to do about this. Do I leave them out and order more miniatures to fill out my stands? Or do I spread them out across the four stands and just live with them? I'm not sure.

Work In Progress: Naval Brigade.

The blue looks a bit light to me at the moment but I'd prefer that to it being too dark, they are a bit messy still and I've i

picked out quite a few bit's I've missed but on the whole I'm rather happy with where they are at, hopefully I should have them completed by the end of the week. 

The initial plan for the Naval Brigade is to have four stands of infantry, two naval Gatling gun stands and two naval Gardner guns. For full VSF potential I'm considering additional stands of Naval Brigade so I can field a full battalion of Naval Infantry.

Work In Progress: Walking Machine.

In addition to the Naval Brigade I began work on a walking machine, it's based on an Epic era Space Marine dreadnought, I've added a boiler and coal bunker using plastic card and a claw from an Epic Ork tank. I tried my hand with a little bit of green stuff sculpting but it ended up rather messily and I'm still in the process of removing it.

Anyway that's all for now.

Haarken