Terrain and Toy Soldiers

54mm Alamo front

2012-02-29T14:09:00.001-08:00

This is a quick one. I was asked to make the facade of the Alamo chapel- the iconic view of the compound.
I decided the key to the look of the facade is the look of the pillars and the statues.
Here is a drawing of the famous building

I found an interesting statue so bought a couple of them and then made the rest of the building to fit them. The pillars were hand sculpted from dowel covered in green stuff. The rest of the detail around the doorway was made from balsa wood covered in Daz Pronto clay and then carved to look like stone.
The rest of the building was also covered in the clay and then carved when dry.

The final touch was painting. I used a base coat of yellow ochre washed with raw umber and then dry brushed with creams and sand/ buff colours to bring out the detail. The final weathering just dirties it up to make it lived in. The final result looks good and I have now been commissioned to do the rest of the building.

I said this was a quick one!

54mm Roman marching fort

2012-02-29T13:47:00.001-08:00

This project was a very new one for me- a Roman structure. Most of my work usually involves gun powder in some form or other so it was great to get involved in something a bit older.
The brief was to make the gate along with about 2 or 3 feet of wall with a circular hut in front of it next to a small stream.
The board ended up being 4ftx4ft split into 4 2x2ft boards so it could be shipped more easily to the USA.
There are no real secrets to how I did this dio. The grass was a mix of Woodland Scenics flock with the long bunches of grass from John Gittens in Sheffield. The water in the stream is made using the two part solid water mix from Delux. I add a bit of green ink into the mix just to dirty up the water a little. I also add vegetation and small stones into the bottom of the stream before I pour the resin and they show up nicely. I should try adding some fish one day, but that is for another project!

The walls are made from 'distressed' dowelling that I get from any good DIY store. My fingers are a mess after I have finished but the effect is worth it.
The hut was made from arranging thin strips of balsa wood into a circle, sticking bristles from a yard brush onto it and then rendering it with lots of the brush showing through. I was pleased with the effect.
These first fur pictures are ones I took before I shipped it. You get a good view of the stream and the hut.

These next photos are taken by the customer with the figures on the diorama. It really brings the whole thing to life. I love it when I get photos of the diorama populated by figures- it always looks better than the bear photos I take.
I think the figures are a mix of First legion and Collectors Showcase and they go together very well.

That is it for this one. Thanks for the photos Joe.

Petrol Station

2012-02-21T13:36:00.000-08:00

This project was a real first for me. The commission was to produce a petrol station for 28mm zombie/post apocalyptic gaming. The base was to be no bigger than 30cm x 30cm and I had a few photos of actual stations to use as a reference.
The photo that hit the spot for me was this one

I loved the Shell 'fin' coming out of the shop so I thought that would be the centre point of the whole thing. I was in danger of making something a little flat and uninteresting if I wasn't careful and this fin solved that problem for me.
The next thing I needed was petrol pumps and I couldn't find any anywhere that I thought was suitable so I got them made by my lase cutting friend, Andy Slater. He was able to make four for me in Shell colours and they looked great.
As I was making a Shell station I needed the Shell logo recreated and again Andy came to the rescue with a couple of Shell logos laser cut for me along with the SHELL letters.
I now had pretty much everything in place to begin and it didn't take me long to come up with the finished item-

You can see how well the pumps came out. The broken concrete floor is made from cork sheet that I tear and ends up looking just like cracked concrete.
I was pleased how the red fin did make all the difference and I was very glad I saw it on the photos.
The final touches with the weathering finished it off and gives it the feel of a deserted station ready to be fought over by a pack of marauding zombies.

Russian Church

2012-02-19T13:08:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted for over a month- where does the time go. I have been busy with projects so over this next week I will try to cover all the stuff i have been working on in February.
One of the first projects I needed to have finished was a wooden Russian church. It had to be ready for a demo game at the York show on the first Sunday of the month so there was no room for a slipped delivery.
We had a look at quite a few designs before my customer came a cross a pretty little wooden church that fitted what he was looking for

We decided the windows were a little ornate but otherwise it was a good one to match.

The dome came from an upside down Christmas decoration but everything else was built from my usual collection of things- a foam board frame covered with dowelling for the logs. The roof was Daz Pronto Air dry clay rolled out and scored to look like copper sheets.
All the roofs come off and the pointed tower has a large enough platform for a figure to stand in.
This is the third Russian Orthodox church I have made, the second in wood, and I think they are wonderful things and make a centre piece in any game.

Here is the finished model:

The logs are all notched so they fit together as you can see. It takes hours but the effect is well worth it. This model was the first time I painted green copper sheeting. I was a bit worried that it might let the model down but I was pleased with the result. I built it up in layers of green dabbing it on with a stiff brush, getting lighter as I went. The final touch was a few areas of copper showing through.

The day of the show saw it in action. Wargaming terrain always looks better with figures around it so here are some shots of the game

That is it for this one.

Mountain base project Pt3

2012-01-18T14:39:00.000-08:00

The project is just about done now. I left it at the end of part two just about looking like a base but otherwise you needed alot of imagination to see the finished job.
The three big jobs I had left was to paint it, add the snow and do the railings.
The painting was straight forward with a base coat of a mid grey, all washed in raw umber. Once that was dry I dry brushed with progressively lighter tones of grey with a last dusting of white. I also painted the ground work to look like mud so if I missed any areas with the snow it still looked good.
The railings ended up being worth it but each 30cm of railings was made up of about 65 pieces so patience was the word- it took me about one hour a foot to complete!

base coat added. Raw umber wash improves the look- sort of!

before the snow

a good shot of the railings

The snow is snow flakes from Deluxe Materials. I painted diluted PVA glue on all the areas I want the snow and then sprinkle the flakes all over the board. To help seal it and make it tough, I then spray it with very watered down PVA glue with some surgical spirit added to help it mix with the snow. I keep going with the process until I am happy with the look. It means the board is very wet so leave it to dry for a good 24 hours. Once it is dry you should have hard snow. If you have missed some areas then just repeat the above process.

The cable car was finished as well with me building a steel support structure from plasticard. I have added some icicles to this but the photos haven't worked so you will just have to imagine them or come and see them at Salute this year at the Crooked Dice game.

You can see how the cable car works in the above picture. A wooden dowel painted black is pushed into a hole in the villains lair and then it is supported by the steel structure at the other end. The cable car then rests on top of the cable so it can be moved during the game. The car has movable doors so you can get figures inside it so it should catch the eye during a game.

That is just about it for this project. I still have to work on the interior design for the lair but I am coming to the conclusion that this isn't my strongest skill but hopefully it will look suitably 60's in style.
Once I have delivered it to Karl at Crooked dice, the next time I will see it will be at this years Salute. I understand the figures are being painted by Kevin Dalimore so the whole thing should look terrific.

Normandy village part 5

2012-01-18T13:54:00.000-08:00

I thought part four would have been the last post for a while with this project but my customer has very kindly sent me some photos of the buildings in action. The figures in the photos have been painted by Artmaster and the vehicles done by Troop of Shrew. The whole thing looks great. I don't think there is anything else to say so here are the photos:

probably my favourite photo.

Normandy Village pt4

2012-01-10T14:11:00.000-08:00

I finished part three off by saying part four would show the finished job so I have waited a bit longer than I had expected to post this final part but I have finished the models!
The last stage has been all painting really and adding a few little details.
I started with the usual base coat of yellow ochre and then washed with raw umber. The result at this stage is scary as it looks terrible-

Could it look worse!

Once you start adding dry brushes of cream, buff and other colours you like then it soon starts to come alive. I then start to paint in the details such as the windows and shutters. I give them a wash of brown as well and then go over them again. I find this blends them in with the rest of the building.
The final painting touch is to add some brown staining just to age it and add more colour variety.
Once I was happy with the paint job I added the street lights. These are plastic kits. They are 1/35th scale so over sized but somehow look right.
The very last thing was to add some telephone wire from house to house. I wanted to add them so they wouldn't be too vunerable during gaming so I made them detactable.
That is it!
Pictures tell the best story so here is a pile of them-
The first set are of the single house with the ornate front and front garden.

28mm Tiger I there to give you an idea of size.

This second batch is of the 'island' of houses. You can see the telephone wires, the street lights as well as a few house numbers and street names.

I used two styles of window shutter

Different colours for the shutters add variety and colour to the street.

Street light and telephone wires.

The wire over the court yard is detachable so won't get damaged in play.

Street names add detail

This is the end of the first part of this Normandy project. Now these two pieces have been built we can now decide what to do next. I won't be adding to it for a couple of months though but when I do you will see progress here.

Sudan Village pt1

2011-12-22T14:01:00.000-08:00

just painting this one

The Sudan village project has moved on over the last few weeks. I have been working on eleven buildings that come from kits or are already made. Four of the buildings are finished resin, 3 flat packed resin kits and 4 laser cut models.

laser cut gateway

laser cut house

laser cut big house

laser cut big house 2

resin flat pack with additions

flat pack again at an earlier stage

flat pack 3 just stuck together

I will also be making a number of scratch built houses so I need to blend all these model styles into a common theme. I am therefore plastering all the kits as well as adding extra details. Hopefully, that will make them all fit together nicely. Here are a couple of stages shown on the gatehouse-

plastered and base coat of yellow ochre

finished

The other buildings have been added to where necessary and now all eleven are well advanced- here are some photos. I must admit, I thought I had taken more.

plastered, base coated and washed laser cut house

plastered, base coated and washed resin flat packed house

It won't be long before these first 11 are done so I can then start on the scratch built pieces including a mosque.
I am pleased with how the different styles are blending together so the finished town will look good.

Mountain base project pt2

2011-12-22T13:36:00.000-08:00

I have been hard at work on the mountain hide away this week so again, here is a last update before the end of the year.
I now have built the whole layout and textured most of it so you can really see what the finished base will look like.

The first time I have cut a base board into this sort of shape!

The cable car in position. when finished it will hang from a cable

The whole thing is 4ft x 4ft so you can guess how much foam board I have used- sheets and sheets of it!
At this stage I now sorted out the laser cut windows for the villains liar. It needed large imposing but perfect windows- ideal for laser cutting.

The windows have to go around the lair as you can see above- about 90cm of window altogether at about 5cm high. The plan was to sandwich a sheet of clear plasticard in between two window frames. The frames arrived this week so was able to fix them in place, keeping my fingers crossed that I had the right measurements. All was well.

I had another set of frames for the room in the bottom right- alot smaller but still best made by a laser cutter.

these windows are 3cm high

The rest of the week was taken up finishing off detail-

rock face and supporting pillars added and a shaped roof

more roof shape detail

mdf roof added. I have to sort out the finish on this

another roof shot

windows and roof.

The first job I have when I start again is the railings. If you look at the original sketch you can see there is alot of railings-

There must be 10 feet of railings

I thought it would be a good idea to design a more interesting railing rather than just a normal metal one so I got in touch with the laser cutter with a few ideas and I got this back-

A great idea especially if I can make it look like concrete. I got the pieces at the same time as I got the windows-

hundreds of pieces!

I think it will keep me busy for a while. It should be worth it though.
That is it for this year on this mountain project. I need to add details inside the villains lair (a bit of interior decorating!), work out how to get the cable car to hang on a wire convincingly and then paint it all and turn it into a snowy scene.

Normandy Village pt3

2011-12-22T12:45:00.000-08:00

I thought I would do one last post on this Normandy village before the end of the year. I haven't got quite as far as I had hoped this week as when I came to get some paving stone embossed plasticard I found I hadn't got any!
There was still lots to do. I have been able to finish off the plastering and texturing and add the shutters to some of the windows. I have used two types- one wooden planks that I have had cast in metal and then some louvred shutters that I had made in resin. I used the two types for variety as that will add impact when it comes to painting.

The resin shutters get lost on the above photo as they aer white but the metal ones show up very well.
You can see from the photo that I have also added roofs and guttering. The roofs are my own sheets of resin tiles that I have cast. This saves me many hours as I used to stick individual tiles down. The guttering is metal and I get that cast locally. I find it very fiddly to do but the effect is well worth it.

The roofs all come off although only the backs so I could get the best look from the front. When the roof is loose it is almost impossible to get rid of gaps and gaps ruin the effect.

I have played with some of the ridge tiles. I have used them to hook the loose piece of roof to the attached piece. Some of them are just plain strips but others I added a strip of plastic rod and then covered it in miliput to end up with a decorative ridge tile.
The above photo shows how the roofs add to the covered and hidden feel of the court yard and the whole thing feels as if it is really coming together.

I realised I had forgotten the chimney so added one here.

I now glued half of the buildings to the base just leaving the stone one off so I could easily paint the back of all the buildings. I also added some random stone plasticard to the court yard just to make it different from the pavement. I was then able to start painting. I could only do the rear as the pavement was still missing. I have used the usual pallet- yellow ochre base, washed in raw umber and then dry brushed with lighter and lighter tomes of cream. I haven't got all that way yet so can only show you a couple of the stages.


base coat added- not a great look

washed brown

The final job I did this week was paint the roof a base coat of dark grey. I then need to wash it brown and then dry brush up a few shades of grey- but that is for the new year.

grey roof and now with pavement added.

That is it for now. I have realised that I haven't taken any photos of the single house. I have started painting it as well as completing the roof so it has moved on nicely but photos will have to wait until next time.
The next post will be of them finished I hope!

Normandy Village pt2

2011-12-07T14:17:00.001-08:00

I have also been working on the Normandy village. It seems I have spent along time on the project this week but not made alot of obvious progress. The last post showed the start of the 'island' of buildings but I have also been working on a single, grander building based on this photo-

You may recognise it as the 54mm building I did a while ago. The customer was so impressed he wanted the whole thing so this time I am doing it front and back along with some outhouses. I suppose this has taken up alot of the time this week as adding the trim you can see on the front of the building takes time. I got the various patterns of the brick work by cutting up brick embossed plasticard. The tiles were made by scoring plain plasticard into small squares ready to be painted to look like individual tiles. I have now got this building up to the same point as the other houses

a close up showing the brick details

the outhouses and the house has a much plainer rear.

The 'island' of houses have become more substantial with internal walls and floors added (the windows are open so I think it looks odd to be able to see straigth through a house so the internal walls stop this happening- I haven't laid the walls out to creat rooms, just to cut out views from one side of the house to the other).
I have also carved the stone on one of the corner buildings as well as adding card to the others to add detail and interest. I have tried to vary the patterns on each model. I can also vary the rest of the plastering of the walls as well as the colours so each one will be unique.
All this preparation work is necessary but is one of the most frustarting stages because very little seems to happen but if you don't take your time here the finished building won't look as good.
The final bit of detail I added was the corner shop frontage. I just built it up with balsa wood and plasticard. I may add more later- I will see how I feel.

the carved stone ready for painting

the whole thing- not alot of difference from last time!

a better look at the addition of card to creat interest

the rear showing the stone work and the card detail

the corner shop front detail

the card details and shop start to lift this row

details of the card work and I have started plastering

The next stage is to finish the plastering on all the buildings and then start painting. I can't fix them to the base until they are painted as I won't be able to do a good job on the rear of the houses once they are down on the base because they are so tightly packed together. I can also be working on the roofs.

The next post should look far more impressive (I hope anyway!)

Mountain base project

2011-12-07T13:35:00.001-08:00

I have been working on the mountain base project over the last few weeks but expect to accelerate with it now until it is finished. I mentioned it in my November summary but since then we have amended the design a little. The layout is still 4 ftx 4ft but we have created a better feel of an enclosed and protected base. The final drawing is now

The new bit is drawn in the darker pen.
The first piece of the project that was finished was the cable car-

The figure is just for scale

This was made from laser cutting the panels and building it as a kit. I just need to weather it and add some snow but that is for later. I thought I would use this car to size up everything else but in fact when I came to start I began work in the opposite corner and the redesigned area.
The structures are going to be a series of concrete bunkers and buildings. The winter base from the film Inception helped with the look of the place.

It took me ages working out the shape, size and other design issues- even with such a good drawing. In the end I built up the edges of the boards and then built in from that.

the rough shape starting to appear- this is the gatehouse.

Throughout the build I am using 5mm thick foam board. It is light, easy to cut and strong as long as you brace it well. I use PVA glue to stick it together and then pin the joins for a couple of hours at least.
I now had the basic shape sorted out and all I had to do was build on it and add a bit of details.

You can see how I build up the levels. Each one is about 5cm tall.
Once I had made the basic structures I added some bastions to give it some variety along with adding card on the flat wall surfaces to give it some interest and some ledges for the snow to rest on.

the build so far

the gatehouse taking shape

the added bastions

wider shot of gatehouse

from above- where the villains lair will be.

This half is now pretty much ready to have the texture added to make it look like concrete but I won't do that until the other half is completed to the same stage. I can then texture it all in one go and hopefully will keep the effect consistent throughout the layout.
Thats it for now. The next post should be the other half of the table up to this stage.

London Show and Figarti display

2011-12-07T13:23:00.001-08:00

The London Toy Soldier show has been and gone. It was a weird one for me as we no longer have the figures to sell so I was selling off the last of them along with bits and pieces that I no longer needed. It meant the stand looked a bit like a market stall! It means the decks are now clear ready for a new look for the next show in March.
I didn't get as many photos as I had hoped but I did promise some shots of Figarti's snow layout with figures on so here they are-

You can't beat the effect good terrain and great looking figures give you.
I also took a couple of shots of a dio I did for Figarti a couple of years ago. It is still one of my favourites.

Mr Figarti UK himself in the background

Add caption

54mm ruined house

2011-11-30T15:07:00.001-08:00

Here is another quick post. One of the November jobs was a 54mm scale European house that would go with First Legion's Napoleonic buildings.
It ended up being very ruined as I designed it to be able to get into all the rooms without taking off any roofs or floors.
The chimney stack is carved out of Daz pronto which give the bricks an old worn look. I paint the bricks and then wash over a coat of buff paint which gets into the mortar lines and once I rub it off it leaves uneven but effective looking mortar.
The tiles were put on individually and made out of plasticard. The wall paper on the ground floor is from a dolls house supplier. I find the splash of colour the wallpaper gives the insides is really eye catching.
The final size of the house is about 14" long, 8 or 9" wide and about 12" high to the tip of the chimney.

The front

Inside detail- lots of space to place figures

A good view of the chimney stack

The rear showing the 'extention'

Chimney stack from inside

54mm Snow scene for Figarti part 2

2011-11-30T14:47:00.001-08:00

It is finished. I was able to add the snow to the boards on Monday and then patch it up and add a bit more on Tuesday which leaves the rest of the week to dry off.
I use alot of watered down PVA glue so it does need a good 48 hours to dry.
I photographed the boards outside and there wasn't enough room to place both boards together so I had to photograph them separately. The final shots from the show will have them together full of Figarti figures.
Here are the final results:

54mm snow scene for Figarti

2011-11-26T16:23:00.001-08:00

The London Toy Soldier show is fast approaching and the 54mm snow scene is taking shape about as quickly as I had expected.
The display is a 4ft x 2ft diorama for Clive at grey Goose who is the European distributor for Figarti. The layout is designed to display their new winter vehicles- Tiger tanks and artillery and limber I think- Clive has the details I am sure.
If you read my November plans post then you will have seen the plan but just as a reminder here it is again-

I think the idea is to have the limbered artillery along the road and the tanks in the fields behind. The whole scene is to be snowy and wintry. I want to make the fields covered with fresh untouched snow except for the tracks of the tanks whereas the road will be churned up full of ice, snow and mud.
I began a couple of weeks ago with the base boards, cutting the ditch out of the polystyrene and adding a couple of small bumps in the fields that will look something like soft dunes when finished.
You can see from the plan that there is a ruined wooden house in the bottom right corner. I wanted it to have a stone chimney that stood up while all around was destruction so I started making that with a frame of foam board covered in Das Pronto clay and then carved to look like stone.

As soon as that was done I stuck it to the board for no better reason than I wanted to see it in place. I then added logs that I had roughly squared up. I ended up being a bit short of space so had to use the chimney as a house corner as you can see in the photo.Over the next couple of days I added the texture to the road by coating it with grout mixed with some builders caulk (I buy it is tubes from B and Q and I use it for all sorts of things- a very useful general purpose bit of kit). I then ran a plastic wheel along the road which left lots of tracks in it- a good base for a snowy, muddy road.
The rest of the board was covered in grout and the ditch had lots of rubbish thrown in it to give it texture. Once it was dry I could start painting and adding the wood work for the fences and bridges

basic undercoat of grey for stone and yellow ochre for wood

texture added to ground work and the start of the fences.

Although I was going to cover the whole thing in snow I still set about painting and finishing it as if I was going to leave it without snow. The only extra things I do is to highlight with a white dry brush over everything to help give the feeling of cold and frost as well as in places over exaggerate the texture so I can have stuff coming up through the snow. This sort of thing really works with the snow effect.
The paint job was just basic browns, washes and high lights. Once all that was dry I added the vegetation, again planning for it to show through the snow so using long grass and highly textured ground work.
The final effect, all ready for the snow storm has turned out OK-

You can see that I have added lots of wood in the ruined house as well as finishing off the fences. The vegetation is concentrated in front of the road and around the fencing with nothing on the roads, as they will all be mud, and the fields behind the roads as they want to be beautiful untouched snowy fields so having grass underneath would be a waste of flock.
You may also notice the heavy white dry brush on the fencing and roads. This doesn't look quite right in these photos but once the snow is on then it will just help the whole wintry effect.
There is just one week to go so the snow will go on on Monday and Tuesday leaving the rest of the week for it to dry. It needs that length of time because I really soak it with PVA glue to make sure it stays and I also mix some of the snow powder with PVA to make a thick white paste to put onto flat surfaces and I can make it droop over the side. I really like the effect it gives.
I am going to try a new product to me and that is the Deluxe shoveled snow that they say you can pile up and squash detail into it and it the detail stays (such as tank tracks) and I hope to be able to pile it up like cleared snow. We will see how it goes. Also, there is a shell hole in the road and I want to try to put a watery puddle in it with smashed ice around it. It should look good if it comes off.....
Anyway, that is it for this one. I will post more photos of the finished job and then photos of it on display at the show.
Talking about the show, if you are in London on the 3rd December then come along. It is a good day out if you are into your model soldiers. Details can be found here:
www.thetoysoldiershow.com
I am sure I met a lardie last December (it was you wasn't it Thomas?)

Normandy Village Pt1

2011-11-13T09:33:00.001-08:00

The week has been pretty productive for the first Normandy base. The first 24x12" base is just about populated with carcasses and they all seem to fit together OK.The first building I added (that I mentioned in the earlier post) was based on a Normandy building that the US Airborne fought over.

The original building

I liked the small extension on the side as well as the small pillar in the small alcove. I think it is a water pump.

You can see how I decided on the layout from the original photo. I wanted to add the double doors to the left of the small extension but it might be a bit tight so will have to wait and see.
The second structure was in the opposite corner from the first and was based on the following photo.

I tall 3 story building with an interesting corner. It fits beautifully into this first base-

I have put different window frames in but otherwise I have matched it pretty well. I had now got two larger buildings built so it was now a case of fitting things around them and I photo I saw of another building was just right to add to the left of this corner building.

I really like the roof line and how it finishes off a corner so I just had to use it

I am using laser cut windows and the door comes from my stock of home made resin doors. The two buildings together now make a very cosy back yard and I am starting to see the effect that I wanted with a tightly packed set of houses.
The final building has not been inspired by one photo really although the detail I am planning comes from this one-

I like the dormer windows and the shop front detail so I will be incorporating most of that into this next building.

You can't see the similarity between the photo of the real buildings and the model yet but by the end of the process some of the details will be.
I was now in a position to see if I could fit the double doors I mentioned on the first building as this last one backs onto it. You can see from this that it was impossible so it became a tight walkway into the courtyard in the middle of the base.

the overall layout

You can see there is not alot of room in the middle for the court yard so the only gap that is left will probably be filled with a gateway and maybe a small lean to shed or outhouse. If I added another house in the gap then the courtyard becomes unusable as a space.

The only gap that is left

The photo shows the space that is left and it makes sense to just add a wall and a gate. There will be 3 vehicle sized entrances to the courtyard and one walkway as well as numerous back doors so i think there will be lots of opportunities for mischief in any games this is involved in.
The next stage will see the buildings starting to be clad in whatever finish I decide such as stone.

November plans

2011-11-09T14:37:00.000-08:00

It is well into November already and I have finally planned what I have to do. This is a post summarising the jobs and introducing them and then I will post with individual updates as each project progresses.
I surprised myself when I realised I have 9 jobs on the go this month! I don't have to finish them all by the end of the month but they all need to be started! Saying that, 6 do need to be finished by the end of November as the London Toy Soldier show is on at the beginning of December and they are all for then.
I will be detailing progress of 4 of these jobs. The largest is re creating a Normandy village in 28mm and that will develop over the next 15 months, ready for Salute 2013. The second is another 28mm job but for Salute 2012 and it is for Karl at Crooked Dice and I need to make a snowy mountain hide away for a James Bond type game. Staying in the same scale, the third job is building a Sudan town from a mix of scratch built, laser cut and resin models. This will go into next year I am sure as there is a alot to do. Finally, the forth job, that has to be finished for the London show is a 54mm snow scene that will be used to display various WW2 vehicles.

You will be able to follow the Normandy village development by looking out for posts headed, not surprisingly, Normandy village. The village will be built up over time with me making individual modules that can be placed on top of a cobbled area so creating streets and lanes. The first module I have just started is 24" x12" and is a series of small houses and shops that surround a courtyard. It struck me when I visited the area a couple of years ago that there are alot of gates and entries that must lead into courtyards etc so I thought this would be a good start.

a rough sketch to start with

I have found it difficult to visualise how all the buildings will fit on the board so I cut out the base board and started to sketch some ideas down. You can see the result above and at this stage I decided to build the bottom left sketch and then revisit the plan after the first house was in place. I flicked through my collection of photos I took of Normandy buildings to get some inspiration and came up with this. I cut it out of foam board and used laser cut windows

Once I cut out all the pieces and glued the windows in place and glued the whole thing together

I haven't glued the building onto the base yet as there is alot of detailing to add (this will be a stone building) but by placing it on the base I find it alot easier to see the space I have to add the next building. I hope to add a couple more building carcasses this week to the layout and finish off early next week ready for adding detail etc.

The mountain hideaway can be followed by looking out for the mountain base project header in the future. I have been given a very good preliminary sketch from Karl at Crooked Dice so you can see from it what an exciting project this will be

This will be a 4 foot square table to give you an idea of the size and will be snow covered. I have the bases ready and have had the cable car made by the laser cutter. It looks great so will post a photo of it next time. I have found the cable car a very important part of the design as I now have something to design the rest of the place in relation to the car. It sounds odd as the car plays such a small part in the overall layout but it just gives me something concrete to work from. I often find the more complicated projects need something small to kick off the rest of it.
We are currently discussing a few changes so should finalise that soon and hopefully you should see regular signs of development over the next 3 or 4 weeks.

The 54mm snow scene is a 2 ft deep by 4feet long display. There will be lots of snow and ice with the highlight being a ruined log cabin but nothing too over powering so it takes nothing away from the vehicles it is designed to display.

This is the sketch I have to follow. It should look pretty good when it is done. I can see me working on it fairly steadily for the next 2 weeks and then accelerating with it as deadline approaches!

The final project I will be keeping you up to date with is the Sudan. When this is finished it will be spectacular. The challenge I have is to blend the laser cut carcasses, the resin flat packs sets and my own scratch built buildings into a town that all belong together. The laser cut models are beautifully done but are perfect so will need some roughing up. The resin flat packs will have alot of joins where the pieces meet so will need some careful building. The scratch built stuff can be modified to fit the other building style so they should be fine. You will be able to follow this project under Sudan village. I will give details about the resin and laser kits later.
I had better stop now and start model making as I have a busy month!

Gandamak Diorama

2011-11-03T13:00:00.000-07:00

The last Toy Soldier Show in June saw me get a commission to re create the last stand of the British during the first Afghan War, depicting the bloody end of their retreat at Gandamak.
I love doing these sort of jobs as it involves fixing figures in place so I can go to town on the landscaping not having to worry about where figures can stand.
The figures are from Time Machine Miniatures in 1/32nd scale (or maybe 1/35th- I am not sure). The company does a range of kits of individual soldiers and vignettes set around the British retreat from Kabul during the First Afghan War. All the work on the figures had already been done including the painting so I just had to concentrate on the landscaping and composition of the diorama.
To get me started I was given the mdf base and a booklet written by Kevin Townsend on how he made a diorama of the same scene with the same figures. This was a great source of information for me but the big difference to what I was doing was that I had a base that was wide and thin (to fit into a display cabinet) whereas the diorama Kevin made was pretty much square.

the dio in place in cabinet

As you can see from the photo I had to re create very snowy and rocky ground. It is also on a slight incline. I had to judge the incline so the figures could be set up so they were level and looked natural. If a person stands on a hill you generally don't lean forwards so if the figures did then they would look very odd.
I made the rough shape from insulation foam and then added lots of flat areas using plaster cast rocks. I then covered the foam in grout and added various stony texture and left it for a day or two to dry.

When I came back to it I painted it earthy colours as if I was going to leave it at that. I then added a bit of vegetation. I tend to put on long bits as then they can pop up through the snow and look very effective.
Once that was dry I came to the part I was least sure of how to go about it. I needed to add the snow and the figures. Should I add the snow and then the figures after the snow was dry so I could make sure I got everything stuck down properly. The problem I had with that was if I had designed the landscape wrongly (so I couldn't get all the figures on) then it would be tough to change it. also, I was having to drill into the landscape as all the figures had wire sticking out of their feet and I thought the dust from the drilling would infect the snow.
In the end I went for doing the figures as I did the snow. It meant I could press the figures into the wet snow so they looked as if they belonged. This makes the figures belong to the scene so far out weighed any other disadvantages there were doing it this way.

I really enjoy doing snowy scenes as I get alot of satisfaction from seeing the result.
The first thing I do is to finish the landscape as if you weren't going to add snow to it. It means that you don't have to worry if snow doesn't cover an area where you have left unpainted but also, the ground underneath the snow can effect the snow effect somehow- whether colour does show through I don't know but it works.
When the ground is ready, I cover the area in watered down PVA glue that includes a bit of surgical spirit in it. This reduces the surface tension of the water in the glue and allows the snow dust to soak into the glue. I apply the snow (I use Woodland scenic snow) by shaking it onto the scene just as if it snowed. It then lands on the landscape as snow would so it leaves areas clear but the piles up in other parts. Keep shaking until you are happy with the result but I wouldn't let the snow get much thicker than a 1mm before you secure it. The original coat of glue you added will only glue the smallest amount so I then spray the scene very heavily with watered down pva glue (again with added surgical spirit). Once this has dried the snow should be stuck down properly.
You can add more snow at this stage and if you add alot more then give it another spray. At this stage you can add footprints, blood stains and any other effects you want.
While the snow was still wet I added the figures. I could push them into the wet snow so they looked as if they were walking or standing in the snow rather than on top of it- a small detail but one that is important to make it look good. That is it really.

The last word goes to my customers camera when the diorama was in place......

15mm Arnhem part 3

2011-10-27T15:17:00.000-07:00

The next three buildings in the project are not on the same scale as the church but were just as interesting to make.
The Arnhem museum model is the third time I have made it (but the first time in 15mm) and the only source I have worked from is of the original model by Colin Rumford of Rapid Fire. The main block is hexagonal and two stories high and there are two wings coming of that to make a very odd shaped structure.

a good view of the shape.

Once I had the hexagon shape worked out, using some school boy geometry everything else came together pretty easily.

The structure was made from the usual foam board and the windows were more laser cut windows specially for this project. They are simple casement windows suitable for lots of uses so I fully expect to use the design again in the future.The museum was to be stuccoed (is that a word?) or covered in a plaster coating so I like to add a bit of depth to the walls so I stick on mounting card around the walls. I think this makes a big difference to the look of the finished building. A flat wall is not very eye catching but adding depth and 'contours' to a wall adds interest and gives you opportunities to add extra painting detail.
When everything is dry I then cover it is Quick Drying Pollyfilla (Spacal or something like that in the USA). This gives you time to work with it before it goes off but soon stiffens enough for you to be able to smooth it off or add a bit of texture.

Although it say Quick drying I do tend to leave it for half a day at least before I paint it. In this case, white. I then cover it in a wash of raw umber and then dry brush it again with white before finally adding water marks and other weathering.

finish model based.

the fencing is by Ratio- n gauge railway

The next building was made just like the museum but is a fictitious building. It was to be on the large side for a house and similar to a photo I was given of a model my customer liked so here it is finished..

I used the same windows as in the museum.

The final building was a representation of St Elizabeth's hospital that was in Arnhem.

This was again the third time I had built this piece but the first in 15mm. The most challenging part of the build was the roof.

There are two levels to it with dormers to the front and the customers needed to get in the building so the roof had to come off. The dormer windows are attached to the front wall so I didn't want to make a join there so I designed it for just the back half of the roof to come off. I find this works well with buildings that have complicated roof lines. Gaps and spaces in the roofs very quickly spoil the look of a model so you want to minimise these when you can. It isn't a problem on a straight forward roof as the whole thing can come off but when you have dormers, corners or different heights then I think it is best to consider the half roof option.
The hospital is brick built so once I had the foam board frame and the windows cut out all I needed to do was cover it in brick embossed plasticard. There is some decorative brick work on the front of the house so I was able to just paint a lighter line of bricks on the plasticard and add a small half moon of bricks above each window. Mentioning the windows, again they are the same design as used in the museum and large house above.

the front

the rear- you can just see the join in the roof

There are now 4 buildings complete and just one to go. I am making this now so should be able to post the final episode in this project withing the next week or two.

15mm Arnhem Part 2

2011-10-26T13:57:00.000-07:00

I wrote ages ago about the start of a 15mm Arnhem project. I have now pretty much finished it and I got so engrossed in it that I hardly did any in progress photography and stuff but I do have a few so here goes. I thought updating on a 15mm project in conjunction with the release, this week, of Too Fat Lardies I Ain't Been Shot Mum WW2 company level rules. I will be using 15mm figures with them so here is a 15mm project!
This project involves making 5 buildings for the Market Garden campaign. The original commission was for 4 but another has been added since. The original 4 are listed in part one of this project but the new building was used by the Germans as an observation post in Nijmegan in a place called Hunner park. It looks an interesting brick built building that I will cover in more detail another time as I have only just started it.

The other buildings are a real mix of model making challenge. The biggest challenge was St Walburgis Church.

You can see from the photo that it is a complicated building with all the roof levels and windows.
I had had the windows made so now I just designed it to fit the windows and started off with the usual sketch

my original sketch

The structure was made from 5mm thick foam board. The church was so tall that it was impractical to put figures inside it so I was able to brace the walls very well with lots of internal supports. Foam board is very strong so it soon became a very tough model.

the main hall with window added

structure complete with windows and internal support


the same stage but from the back.

Once that had dried over night I was able to clad it all in brick embossed plasticard. The only large area was at the front so the rest was lots of small bits so it took ages. Once that was done I added buttresses and other small details. I don't have any photos from now until finished so I will quickly skip over the last of the build. I added a ruined tower spire and burnt out main roof. I then painted it and tried to keep it lighter than in the photos to give it a lift and then finally based it and added a couple of small buildings around it. The church ended up being 40 cm long, 25cm wide and about 35cm high. Hopefully it will tower over the playing surface just like the real church towers over Arnhem.

I was very pleased with the windows. They were my first trip into laser cutting and they worked really well.
I will try to cover the other 3 buildings tomorrow evening.

54mm railway station

2011-10-20T14:45:00.000-07:00

Last year I was commissioned by Grey Goose Collectibles (www.grey-goose.co.uk) , the European distributor of Figarti's range of metal toy soldiers, to produce a diorama to display their new range of World War Two German trains at the London Toy Soldier Show. You can imagine how big a 1/30th scale locomotive is so the display ended up being 6 feet long and about 3 feet deep- a real whopper.
Most of the photos of the diorama are taken at the London show so you will see some lights, price tickets and sales literature but look through those and enjoy the layout of the station and the trains themselves.

the quite before the storm!

Clive, at Grey Goose asked for 3 rail lines, two of which ran the whole six feet across the layout, a crane, some warehousing with sliding doors, a gantry over the railway, a platform for passengers and a road bridge across one end of it as well as lots of open space to display the figures and vehicles.
This job involved far more forward planning than I am used to. I had to make sure the trains fitted next to platforms, the buildings fitted into their area properly and really that everything worked.

The first thing I had to do was track down some railway line that was the right gauge and get a sample of the train so I knew how much space I needed to give the track. Once I had that then I could work everything else out. I used G gauge track and was lucky enough to find some 'starter' set that was just right for what I needed and didn't cost alot of money.
I am not a model railway model maker so had no idea what German railway buildings look like so I trawled the Internet and borrowed books from friends until I came up with interesting buildings- buildings that would catch the eye. The water tower, station buildings and the control building are all based on actual buildings. Everything else I made up.

The station and control building behind the Figarti loco

There is a lot of brick work with this layout- all the bridge, the water tower and parts of other buildings all were made from brick. I usually carve the brick work in this scale as I do with stone (see my earlier posts for how it is done) but this tends to be a little irregular and uneven- ideal for old and run down brick work, but this was efficient German work and I felt it had to be clean and perfect.

All that brick work!

I decide to use a new technique that I had picked up from a Dolls House fair. Using a brick stencil and brick compound. Bromley craft products (www.craft-products.com) supply a range of stencils for adding brickwork to walls. You spray one side of it with tacky glue and then lay it onto your wall. You then apply their brick mixture with a knife and pull the stencil away. Leave it to dry for a couple of hours and you have a brick wall. You keep repeating until finished. I found it gave a great result. If you got it wrong you could wipe the mixture off before it had dried and then go again.
The result was good for this job- it is big and industrial but it wouldn't work with everything so you need to pick and choose when to use it.
One of the other eye catching pieces I made was the crane. I think I got a bit carried away with it in the end but it was worth it.

the crane was big!

I looked at loads of pictures to work out a design for a believable looking crane and in the end I came up with the above. The arm mechanism was one I found in a book somewhere and I thought it looked powerful and usable. I added legs and made sure the body could move on top of the legs. That was the only thing that did move on the crane and we never tested if it could carry any weight but my guess is that it couldn't.
The whole thing was built from plasticard and strip of various shapes and sizes and then painted grey. I added a large white stripe to give contrast and lift it a bit. The rust and water marks also help to make it one of the talking points of the diorama.

The gantry was all plasticard as well.

Finally, you can see on the above picture two pillars. These, again came from the Dolls House world. Sue Cook Miniatures ( www.suecookminiatures.com) make wonderful plaster architectural details in lots of different styles. They are a great source for some amazing detailed stuff. Unfortunately the popular dolls house scale is 1/12th with 1/24th scale coming in second so alot of what she does is too big but if you pick and choose then you will find useful things. Also a fireplace in 1/12th scale makes a great doorway in 1/30th scale. In this case the pillars frame the doorway nicely and gives the eye something else to look at rather than bricks!
That is it for talk... here are the rest of the photos.....

view from the bridge

good view of the gantry.

the metal doors at the back open and close

posters from the Internet

a feel of a busy station- except for the price ticket on the vehicle!

the ballast on the track was cork chippings

a view of where I work- my attic

a birds eye view

this was the only tank I had when I was photographing at home

again, ignore it isn't German- it gives you an idea how big the building is

the wholes thing

a good view of the steps down to the platform

the sliding doors now open

the crane in action

the big clock face!

Finally, finally... this job taught me a good lesson. I work in the attic so everything has to leave via my attic hatch. I have extended it but I must remember that at least one dimension of the finished job has to be less than 2 feet otherwise I can't get it out! This is never a problem with smaller scale of work but 1/30th work is a different matter. In this case the boards were both 3ft x 3ft so the buildings couldn't be taller than 2 feet. The water tower had to be taller and the clock tower ended up being over as well. Fortunately I remembered and designed them to come off the boards. One day I will forget!

Stone effects

2011-10-13T13:50:00.000-07:00

I was going over my photos of previous work and realised that I have done alot of buildings that involve recreating a stone effect. I thought I would describe how I do it and show some of the buildings I have made.

English Civil war Watermill in 28mm scale

The key word in the whole process is patience! (I suppose that is true with nearly all terrain making projects). I first of all make a framework of foam board. I use this for all my buildings. It is light and strong and easy to cut with a sharp scalpel. It is important to know that you will be making a stone effect at this stage because the frame needs lots of extra bracing because otherwise it will warp badly if you don't.

A well braced foam board frame for a 54mm Rourkes Drift building.

I leave this to dry overnight as the joints do come under alot of pressure so it is important to make sure you have good strong joins. I then get Daz Pronto air dried clay and roll it out to maybe a 1mm thick sheet- just like pastry!

I use a wooden rolling pin and grease proof paper.

I then have to coat the building in PVA glue as the clay will not stick by itself. Once coated I add the clay to the frame and work reasonably quickly to cut it to shape, get the air out and check it is well glues down. It takes hours to dry but it starts to stiffen after half an hour which makes it harder to work.

covered in Daz Pronto clay.

The clay will take about 12 to 24 hours to dry completely so it can be carved. If the bracing wasn't good enough then the walls will slowly warp and possibly some of the joints come apart. There will then be no choice but to start again!

draw out the stone pattern

I then draw out the pattern on the clay if it is complicated or sometimes just draw straight lines on the wall parrallel to the floor. Once the drawing is complete the last thing to do is to carve out the pattern. I follow the pencil marks with a scalpel. Once the pattern has been cut out I rub it over with a fine wire brush to smooth the edges and then chip away at some of the stones and generally work at it until I am happy with the finish. It isn't a bad idea to wear a dust mask as it can create some very fine dust.

carving finished

The sample I have shown here is fairly straight forward but you can add more detail and interest before you add the clay to the wall by adding card and balsa wood to create depth-

an example of extra detail

I find it is worth spending the extra time adding extra detail as it adds so much more interest than just a flat wall.
Anyway, once you have completed the carving all you have to do is paint it. I usually go for one of two colours- grey or sandstone.

Sandstone finish

grey finish

Saying that, I did have to re create South African stone walling for Rorkes Drift and that involved a far more intricate scheme-

South African Walling

This looks very similar to sandstone on the photo but it involved painting each stone in one of 4 or 5 colours. I then washed it all brown and finally dry brushed. It took ages!
The sandstone finish is a yellow ochre base, washed brown followed by two highlights of cream and sand. The grey finish is a base coat of meduim grey, washed brown and then highlighted a lighter grey and finally a light brushing of white. I can also add weathering with water streaks amd dirt to give it a bit of age or I may want to highlight something on the building. That is it.
What follows is some examples of the stone effects and where I have used it:

40mm Spanish chapel. Stone with added pillars and pantile roof

20mm Arnhem inspired bridge- see weathering on stone

28mm European church

28mm Lord of the rings inspired hall- I was pleased with the animal carving

same hall from the side- the figure you can see is on a horse so the building was big!

Spanish walled town- the arches on the walls add real interest.

28mm church found in York, UK

York city gateway

gateway from straight on.

small crusader diorama

stone bridge in 54mm

I hope you find this one useful. More next week.

54mm The Reich Chancellery backdrop

2011-10-06T15:20:00.000-07:00

I have just shipped my latest 54mm project- a 54mm (approx 1/30th) representation of the front of the Reich Chancellery building sometime during the 1930's.
I was contacted by a customer who wanted a large- wide and high, model of the Reich Chancellery. It was to be a backdrop for a display of figures so only needed to be a few inches deep. The customer had a road way already in place so all I needed to do in front of the building was to add a pavement.
I was sent some photos and digital representations of the building to base my plan on:

This is the one I worked off most but used the others to allow me to even up the windows either side of the entrance.

The bottom picture shows just how big the model needed to be- the guards look tiny! The above information along with a few emails backwards and forwards finally turned into a sketch. I am very flexible at this stage so I hardly ever do a proper drawing that I work from. This sketch gave me enough information to get going with it:

my sketch that I worked from.

The dimensions on the drawing show the finished model as 120cm long and 60 to 70 cm high- the height did end up around that but the length finished at 140cm so you can tell how things change during the build.
All the pictures I worked from showed a wonderful eagle above the door. I very quickly decided that this was the eye catching piece of the model and I needed to track down something special. I contacted a few companies that sold the German figures along with military suppliers but nothing was right (I needed a wing span of 26cm so I was being quite fussy!). Over the last few months I have been getting more and more laser cutting done so I went to my supplier to see what he could come up with. He did an amazing job on it and I knew then it was going to be a special model.

The Eagle- 26cm from wingtip to wingtip!

The model was going to consist of 24 identical windows along with 4 imposing pillars at the entrance so I arranged to get these laser cut and they were perfect when they came back to me.
Once I had the windows I could start the process properly as I nearly always use the windows to scale up the rest of the building so until I have a window I find it tricky to start the build.
I quickly realised that a model nearly a metre and a half long was going to be very difficult to work on so I decided to split it into three- the entrance and the two wings.
This worked very well and was able to get alot of the work done on each section before I joined them all together. This joining was a bigger challenge. The joins had to be sturdy and well supported and then made to disappear. I think, after a long time working it all out they came together well.
The entrance is the centre piece, not just because it is in the middle but because of the eagle, the pillars and the stone work.

The stone work was done in my usual way of carving blocks into the air dried clay. I had made the basic frame from foam board so I had to brace it well to stop it warping after I added the clay. The eagle was put in a small recess to give it even more presence and then the pillars,over 30cm long, were added right at the end. The steps needed a bit of thinking about as I needed to leave a flat area for the guards in front of each pillar and have them growing at the sides so not the normal stairs.
I was pleased with how it turned out.
The two wings were identical. I used foam board for the main structure. The cornice and trim is balsa wood added in a series of layers to achieve the pattern.

I then coated both wings with a couple of coats of finely textured paint to cover up the grain in the balsa and to make it all look like stone. Once that was dry it was onto painting.
I painted everything that was grey a deep grey and the lighter areas yellow ochre. The whole building was then washed in a raw umber wash. At this stage it looked horrible. I could then start to dry brush so the grey areas got about 3 layers of progressively lighter grey with a final light brushing of white. The yellow ochre areas got some Vallegio dark Flesh followed by Iraq sand highlight. Finally the black window frames had a highlight of black grey and that was about it.
The very last thing to do was to add 4 flags on the top of the building. I got these from the Flag Dude in the USA. I have added a link to his site. If you need a flag then he is your man.
Here is the finished item:

one window is open to add a figure

Two of the four flags

in all it's glory- too big to get the whole thing in shot.

This was a very interesting project to do. I haven't been involved in making many buildings this modern. It was the first building I have made with serious amounts of laser cutting involved and I think it made all the difference. If the eagle hadn't turned out as well as it did then the whole thing wouldn't have looked as good. I used to make all my windows from resin but I think I will be moving away from that to the laser cutting- they are cut perfectly and once I have the design in the computer it can be scaled up to any size. This is important to me as I am doing work from 15mm to 54mm.

54mm diorama- France,WW2

2011-09-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

I was approached to produce a 54mm diorama that would be able to display a large number of vehicles and figures on a number of different levels. If the diorama was on just one level then the displayed hardware could get confused and the overall effect lost.
After quite a bit of going backwards and forwards with ideas we came up with the following plan- a road running alongside a canal. The canal also has a small dirt track at 'water level' running under a bridge. The diorama was to be backed by a number of house fronts that could have figures placed in the windows. The final level was achieved by adding a small jetty to the canal. It meant we ended up with 5 different levels for figures to be displayed on.

early stages where you can see the levels involved.

The above picture shows the diorama at a very early stage. The unique thing of this picture is the drawing I have added to the layout at this early stage. I tend to plan and design as I go so to look that far ahead in a project for me is unusual! It does give you a very good idea of how the finished layout will look and what is trying to be achieved.
The diorama ended up being about 3feet x 3feet and to give it strength and to have good clean edges I had a wooden carcass made (as I do with nearly all terrain boards and dioramas) and filled it with polystyrene. That gave me the basic shape and I then knew I could happily add the detail to it or easily cut into it for the stairways and trenches.
The buildings fronts were inspired by real Normandy buildings- the building on the left is based on Cafe Gondaree that you can find next to Pegasus bridge

I had the original window design laser cut and they came out beautifully- the detail is very delicate and the whole thing is perfectly square. The door comes from my stock of resin pieces and the wall finish is a mix of platicard strips and grout.

The next two buildings come from photos I took when I was in Normandy last summer. I can't remember where I was but this is the photo I took of this wonderfully atmospheric French house. I just had to make it.

the real house

early days with the model

The model again is made using windows I had laser cut but this time in a different design. I used brick embossed plasticard to recreate the brick and tile patterns. It doesn't look much now but you need faith that it works out in the end.
The building to the left of this house, that you can see is red, was based on a few I saw on my Normandy trip and was also influenced by the amount of space I had left. I decided on a stone building to contrast with the other two. It is red in the picture because I have covered it in Daz Pronto- the air dried clay. I then carve out the stone pattern in it. I find it works really well as long as you don't run out of patience!
Once I had the basics done, it was just a case of adding more details and painting it. During this stage I pretty much stuck to the original plan although I had planned on adding a trench to the left of the bridge but when I cam to it it didn't work out. There needed to be some sort of wall there to stop people falling over the edge so I extended the wall from the bridge and added sandbags to that to give it the fortified look.
Unfortunately, I don't have any photos from this stage to when I finished so I can't really explain what I did to get to the finished piece. It is a sure sign that I got carried away in the creative process and forgot about taking photos.
All there is now is a series of photos of the finished project:

the whole thing

the stone house- made from carved Daz Pronto clay

the railings are raised 1/56th scale plastic railings

stairs up from the canal- stone is, again, carved Daz Pronto

view from the canal

added broken glass to the windows adds to the look of battle damage

close up of the brick patterns on the front of the house

the sandbags on the retaining wall

a Wespe coming over the bridge

close up of the garden. I like the bullet holes in the window

posters downloaded from the web- they add colour and interest

I just like this shot!

more posters. The bench is from a plastic wild West Saloon set!

close up of the stairs. More posters and a lamp on the wall-

I can't remember the company who makes them

roof detail- damaged but neglected

That is it for this project. I was very pleased with how it turned out. I have been asked to make the larger house in 1/56th scale so I am looking forward to that next. Details to follow of course.

Omaha beach- the final instalment

2011-09-08T13:19:00.000-07:00

Life is starting to get back to normal now so should be able to start regular postings again.
To get going again, here is the final part of the Omaha beach building story- it is the best bit- when I get photos from the customer of it in action. It doesn't matter how well I make something it always looks better when you get figures involved.
The first few photos are very soon after my customer received the job with just buildings added to the landscape- the calm before the storm.

Now..... day break, June 6th........

The photos stopped after this- I guess the war photographer bought it on the beach. Even early on it looks like a great game was had by all (except maybe for the allied armour commander).
I am glad I was involved in such a spectacle.
The landing craft all came from Ravensthorpe Miniatures. They shipped them to me, I painted them and then shipped them onto the USA. I am pleased how they turned out- it can be tough to make large flat, untextured surfaces look any good.
That is it for this project.

TMTerrain future

2011-08-19T14:21:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted much over the last week or so. I had great plans for when I got back from my holidays but, unfortunately some bad news has got in the way and I have been sorting it out.

The news was to do with our dealership arrangement with John Jenkins 60mm toy soldier range. It has a big effect on us at TMTerrain but really only effects our toy soldier customers so all you wargamers out there, please bear with me.
This is a release we have sent to Treefrog (a toy soldier forum):

Some of you may have heard that TMTerrain has lost the JJD dealership so we can no buy his figures from John. Mark and I were very disappointed when John told us and it dramatically effects our business. John's ranges made up around half of our toy soldier sales and his monthly release schedule helped a great deal with cash flow. Now that this has gone and the fact that the terrain side of the business is going from strength to strength, we have decided to stop selling toy soldiers altogether.

We have arranged for the new JJD dealer to buy all our John Jenkins stock from us so from Monday evening we will be stopping the sale of John’s figures altogether.

We also have stocks of First Legion, Collectors Showcase and W Britain's. We plan to sell these off at 20% discount from today. Our web site still has the full prices listed but we will sort that out over the next couple of days. If you do want anything then ring us so we can sort it out over the phone. When the prices are done on the web site then you can buy using our online store as normal.

The web site lists what we have in stock. Items will disappear off the site as we sell them and that will be it so if you want a deal on First Legion, Collectors or Britain's get in touch with us quickly.

We expect to sell off the last of our stock at the Birmingham and London shows before Christmas so you will also be able to see us there.

Finally, although TMTerrain will no longer be selling toy soldiers once we have sold off our stock, this does not affect the terrain building. Mark and I set up the company about 10 years ago to make terrain so we will have really just done a full circle but we now have all that experience under our belt and the dioramas we are making just get better and better. We plan to be around for many years to come.

May we take this opportunity to thank all our customers over the last 4 years. It has been great fun selling toy soldiers to you. We hope we did a good job for you. Hopefully we will continue to see you and talk to you when you want a diorama.

So, as you can see things have dramatically changed at TMTerrain. The good news is that I can now concentrate even more on the terrain and have more time to post pictures and articles etc on the blog.

The situation is just about under control now but I will probably be free to start posting again in September.

20mm Omaha Beach 4

2011-08-06T15:29:00.000-07:00

I am back from my holiday and the first thing I have to do is parcel up the Omaha project ready for shipping to the USA on Monday. I was able to put the finishing touches to it and photograph it before I got the boxes out.
Before I went away, I left the whole board drying after a wash of brown paint so all there is to do now is finish it off with lots of dry brushing and adding bits of details.

I go over all the green grass in a lighter shade of green and then a yellow. The sand that was glued down really catches these highlights and really adds life to the grassy areas. I then highlight the muddy or un grassed areas including roads with a buff or cream highlight. I like this dry brush to go over onto the grass as it helps to blend everything in.
Once this is done then I start on smaller details such as the sandbags and fortifications. The sandbags get a heavy coat of a butterscotch shade followed by a cream dusting. These bags contrast very well with the green grass and gives you something else to look at. The fortifications are all from concrete so I highlight with a mid grey and slowly add more white to it until the final coat is pure white.


close up of concrete bunkers

That is pretty much it but I just finish off with some brown shading and water stains on the concrete and around the sandbags. I find this helps weather the job and highlights any features that I want highlighting. I added some shading around the sandbag lines and that helped the contrast even more with the grass.

The final finishing touches was to make sure the edges of each board was clean and smooth and then painted green- it is just a little thing but really finishes the job off especially with boards like these where they are so deep.
That is it. All I need now are photos of the beach in action. I understand the first game on it is at the end of August and I have been promised some pictures after that. When I post those that will be a good way to finish this thread.
I hope you found it useful with enough information to give it a go yourself or even better to get in touch with me and get me to make one for you! If you do go to the web site- www.tmterrain.co.uk
and all the contact details are there.

20mm Omaha beach 3

2011-07-24T13:59:00.000-07:00

A full week on the beach project has seen it progress well. The polystyrene was carved and sanded to shape. I tried to add indentations and softened the cliff faces a bit so they weren't a regular shape from one side of the beach to the other. There are still loads of gaps and unevenness to the landscape but it will all be OK.
Once I was happy with this stage then I get on with starting to make it look good. I use a ready mixed grout and glue product that is designed to stick wall tiles to internal walls of houses. It is a pretty high spec so when it dries it is rock hard but it takes 12 hours to dry so you have ages to work with it.

beach covered with grout

fortification close ups

I pile the grout on the surface and spread it with a trowel until it covers the whole board. In the process it has filled all the gaps and smooths the whole landscape. I find, though, however hard I try I can't get rid of all the trowel marks so I sprinkle sand all over it and then put a painting roller all over it. That smooths things down and adds a small texture to the surface which is great when you come to paint it. If you don't put sand on first, the rolling motion seems to draw water to the surface and then you get peaking in the grout just like a Christmas cake and it looks useless. The sand is very important.
You can see from the photos that it is really taking shape now. You get to this stage but then have to leave it for 24 hours to dry off when all you really want to do is get on with it!
Up to now I follow this procedure with all my terrain boards but from now on things change depending on the finish the customer wants. In this case we are using the Rapid Fire D Day supplement as inspiration and the beach in the photographs showed painted sand for grass so this was next.

sand added everywhere except the roads

sand around fortifications and sandbags added

All I did was cover the boards in slightly watered down PVA glue and then covered it in sand making sure to miss the roads and anywhere else you don't want grass. This dries pretty quickly so you can then paint it but I like to coat it in watered down PVA glue to give it extra strength and durability. This adds at least 24 hours to the job, allowing it to dry, but I feel it is worth it.
Once the grass is down the temptation is to start painting but I had to resist until all the detail I wanted was added. You can see from the picture above that I added sandbags to all the trenches. I make them from Das Pronto- I make a sausage of the clay about 1/4" across and then gently roll it with a rolling pin to flatten it a little. I then cut it to sandbag length and stick them where I want them. I like adding sandbags as when they are painted they add an eye catching contrast to the rest of the landscape.
I then had to add the sea wall and shingle bank which was polystyrene cut to shape with loads of cat litter sprinkled on and glued in place.
All is now ready to paint. I always feel that I go a step backwards here as my base coats tend to be quite bright and really clash with each other. The grass is very green, the earth is a dull brown and the concrete and fortifications are quite a dark grey. The whole board gets covered and again you need faith that it will all be OK in the end!

the full colour palette in all its glory!

it looka no better when you have another look!

Every inch is covered and in paint and I push my doubts that it will all be Ok to the back of my mind.
Finally, for this post, probably the messiest bit of the whole process occurs once the base coats are dry. I cover the whole thing in diluted raw umber paint- every crevice, grain of sand, inside and outside bunkers; everywhere.

brown everywhere

where did the bright colours go?

This coat of paint starts to bring the whole project together. There is now a common colour running throughout the landscape that blends all those individual colours together and suddenly they look happy together. You can see from the photos that the brown is heavier in some places than others but that is fine and nothing to worry about. The whole thing does look dull and all life has left it but somehow everything now belongs together. The final stages will be to bring it to life again and and bring out the details to give the landscape some variation.
I am away for a couple of weeks now so will post the final edition of this project when I get back. I will also ask my customer to send me some photos of the board in action when he gets his figures on it playing because terrain always looks at it's best 'in action'

20mm Omaha beach 2

2011-07-14T14:30:00.000-07:00

This week has found me hard at work on the beach project. I am still doing the hard landscaping and planning work at the moment.The beginning of the week saw me pick up the wooden carcasses for the whole table. There are 8 boards in total and the profile you can see in the first post. My work table is a bit smaller than 8 feet long so I haven't got them all in this picture but you can see the effect

the empty carcasses laid out

You can see where the cliffs will be and the sloping away into the Normandy countryside. I then had to fill these boards with polystyrene. I use the cheap white stuff as the wooden carcasses protect it from the side and when I have covered it in grout then it is rock hard from the top so I don't need to spend the money on the expensive blue high density foam.
I buy my sheets in 8ft x 4ft slabs and usually 2 inches thick. I use a hot wire cutter to cut them down to size and at this stage I don't have to be too precise as all I am doing is filling in the boards. I glue it all together with PVA glue which has never let me down although it can take forever to dry. I always try to leave the boards stacked up with weights on them for at least 48 hours before I start work on them.

boards being filled with polystyrene

stacked and drying

Once dry enough I just used the hot wire and took off all the excess foam. This was easy as I ran the wire along the wooden sides so I was able to cut the foam to shape very quickly.

the result with the draws cut out as well

At this stage it looks a bit too clean and precise but I wanted to resist hacking it around until after I had sorted out where all the fortifications go. The customer and I discussed in great detail where everything was to go and so over most of today I have been working on fixing the bunkers and trenches in place. This has been a long process but is worth the effort as once they are in place the creativity and artistic bit of the job begins. I don't want that bit of the process disturbed by having to go back and adjust work I haven't done properly at this stage.
So far I have done the fortifications around the D1 draw (bottom right on above picture) along with adjoining trenches and WIN71 the group of bunkers to the left of the draw. This is still a very messy stage as it involves alot of hacking and cutting into the polystyrene and really doesn't look anything special. You just have to believe it will all be OK in the end!

WIN71 and the left of D1

draw D1

WIN71

Draw D1 trenches- they will look better than that when finished!

Most of the fortifications have been bought but you may have noticed a part built bunker on the right of D1. This is built into the bluffs and will be completely covered by earth and vegetation so the only detail I need to concentrate on with it is the firing slit that overlooks the draw and allows a 75mm gun to fire the full length of the beach. I also have to design it so that you can get inside it to place the gun.

That is it for stage two. I should finish the fortification layouts in the next day or two and then when they are thoroughly dry I can finish carving the bluffs and filling in gaps. I can then cover the whole thing in grout and then sand and finally paint it all. That will be detailed in more posts next week.

First Legion Update

2011-07-13T13:52:00.000-07:00

First Legion have been busy so I thought it a good idea to briefly update you with what is about to arrive and what is about to go onto pre order.
There are a couple of ranges on pre order at the moment and are expected to be shipped in early August.
These include the coverage of a new Napoleonic battle- Aspern Essling with the release of 18 Austrian Grenadiers.

The paint job on these beauties is superb and as you can see they make a great unit in your collection
We are taking orders for them now.
More Romans have been added to the range. These are the ones you may have seen in London- First Legion were able to get some samples to us for the show. They will be available from August, on pre order now.


ROM013

We also see some WW2 on pre order. An Opel Blitz truck along with crew loading it. A very imaginative piece. Ready to be shipped in early August but on pre order now

Opel Blitz and crew. More are in the full list

In August we then see a raft of figures going onto pre order. The long awaited Buford's cavalry, mounted Crusaders, 95th Rifles and lots of WW2 Stalingrad

Buford's cavalry

95th Rifles

Mounted Crusaders

Finally, for now, in September will see the launch of a brand new period- The Renaissance. This will be one of their most colourful ranges to date with the initial release covering the Battle of Pavia in 1525. This is a really exciting range and should be spectacular.Here are a couple of pictures to wet your appetite

Full details on prices and individual figures can be found on our web site as soon as we have it. You will be able to place orders on line or just give us a ring and we will sort your order out from there.

New Collectors Showcase

2011-07-12T14:57:00.000-07:00

We have been getting a bit behind with adding new releases to the web site but I have finally added the new releases from The Collectors Showcase. These should all be in the UK from early August or maybe even late July. Prices and more detail are all on our web site TMTerrain web site
This release sees the launch of the new Rome 43AD range- the Roman invasion of Britain. The Collectors Showcase has indicated that more will follow including chariots and war elephants so this is the start of a very exciting range. The following are just part of the range and show three out of a total of six sets.

Roman command set


Celtic warriors

Roman soldiers

As usual, WW2 armour is not neglected. This release sees two vehicles added- The Witman Tiger in winter and Normandy colour schemes and the US M8 Greyhound in the same two schemes.

M8 Greyhound in winter scheme


Tiger with 4 figure crew set

The final releases this month are a terrific collection of French Carabiniers. There are a total of 8 figures so will make a superb looking diorama especially if you already have some of the other French cavalry from previous releases.

That is it for this release. It is another diverse and very imaginative release and with the introduction of the Romans there really is no excuse for not giving them a go!

15mm Arnhem

2011-07-06T15:06:00.000-07:00

I am about to start on another project. This is 15mm scale and covers some of the well known buildings in Arnhem during Operation Market Garden.
There will be four buildings:
St Walburgis Church
St Elizabeths Hospital
The Museum
A generic town house.

St Walburgis Church

St Elizabeths Hospital

the museum as a 20mm model

I do very few 15mm models so I hadn't got a good supply of windows and I decided to have them laser cut. I thought this would be particularly effective for the church windows. I got them delivered last week and I wasn't disappointed

3 sizes of church window and one small casement window

I got about 15 church windows and 70 of the small casement windows. That should cover all my needs for this project. It is amazing the number of windows you need sometimes. I am planning to sell these windows in the future but I am just sorting out costs.
That is it for stage one of this project. I hope to start building properly next week

20mm Omaha beach

2011-07-06T14:43:00.000-07:00

This is the first of an on going series of posts following the progress of various projects I am working on.
I have been asked to make an 8foot x 4 foot table of part of Omaha beach, as illustrated in Colin Rumford's Rapid Fire Normandy supplement.

photo of drawing from Rapid fire supplement

The customer has a beach cloth so wants me to model from the shingles running along the base of the cliff (the dotted line running along the bottom of the above drawing).
We had to decide on the profile of the table as I have made 595mm x 595mm wooden carcasses that have this profile cut into them. Each board then has a very clean and tough edge and makes butting them up very easy.
After a bit of discussion we decided on the following profile

profile of table- left hand side is the beach

This profile is the same on all the boards so I have to add the D1 and D3 draws in the middle of the left and right sided boards.
Once I get the carcasses I will fill them with polystyrene and then shape that once it has had time to dry.
More details on that in the next couple of weeks.
The last job that can be done at this stage is to buy the large number of bunkers and weapons pits that are needed. These are from Ravensthorpe Miniatures and Sud Modelisme

Once I have the carcasses and start adding the polystyrene we can decide exactly where these bunkers will go so until I get them in about 5 days time that is as far as I can go with this project. More will follow next week if all goes to plan.

London show- the final part

2011-06-30T14:06:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in posting the final part in the show run of posts. A stomach bug, getting children back from university for the summer and generally being knackered from the show has slowed me down for a few days.

Anyway, after the previous posts about the preparation for the show this last show post is about the show itself.
We arrive at the hotel venue about 1pm on Friday afternoon which gives us a wonderful 4 or 5 hours of playing with toy soldiers! Once we have unpacked the van and sorted stuff out we just have to display enough soldiers to cover the 30 feet of display space we have. A couple of friends meet us there so all four of us have a great time. My biggest worry was that I hadn't brought all the terrain and dio boards but it was fine and by 6 in the evening the display was just about there.

The dios themselves looked good and by the end of the show about a third had been sold. All the dioramas are on sale during the show and as usual I sold about a third of them. I make them all 60cm x 30cm now for the show so they can easily be taken home by customers.
The abode building dio was finished in plenty of time and was really worth the effort as it looked great filled with Africa Korp figures. I think the dio was sold by lunchtime so I think another one will be done for the next show in December.

The last minute details and weathering on the buildings made all the difference. The blanket hanging over one of the roofs added a splash of colour and the staining around the wood roof beams made the whole scene look used and fitted the atmosphere that First Legion figures help create.
The Stalingrad scene came alive with figures on it but I wish we had a German Stug or PZIII model we could have added but we had sold out of them. The Russian AT gun was ready for whatever was coming round the corner.

The other dios showed off the figure displays beautifully. Here are just a few photographed with the new releases on them.

First Legion Romans- the stars of the show maybe?

Collectors Showcase winter 88mm and half track

First Legion Highlanders repelling charge

First Legion Crusaders and Mamluks

John Jenkins Spanish Civil War- the armoured car is the newest addition

John Jenkins World War I planes with ground crew and pilot

The show itself was the usual good day meeting lots of regular faces as well as some new ones. It was great to meet a couple of wargamers (I hadn't expected to talk to a customer about the Two Fat Lardies rules sets but there I was was discussing how good Sharpe's Practice is!) that had come to the show for the first time. It would be great to see this continue as the two hobbies have alot of common ground. Two or three customers took the opportunity to have a chat with me and place diorama making commissions with me as well. The best sellers for us on the day was probably the new John Jenkins armoured car and the First Legion Romans and Crusaders.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the organisers of the show. Mike and the rest of them at King and Country have done a great job with the show over the last 7 years and they have announced that this June was to be their last show as organisers. They made us very welcome when we started coming to the show and they have continued to support us and make our show experience a good one ever since. They have passed it on the Guideline Publications, the publishers of Toy Soldier Collector magazine, in a very healthy state. Roll on the December Show- the first weekend in the month.

First Legion and the London Toy Soldier Show

2011-06-22T13:21:00.000-07:00

I thought I would update you with just what we will have at the show this weekend from First Legion.
Matt, at First Legion has really pulled all the stops out and sent us a parcel direct from China with lots of brand new stuff that in some cases hasn't even made it to pre order on their site.
It means we have a supply of all the Romans from ROM001 to ROM008 but we also have 1 each of ROM009 to ROM016.


Roman Aquilifer and Optio- both at the show

The DAK Opel Blitz and other infantry will also be there and I have made a special effort with the diorama so it will look good. Come along and pick one up and be one of the first in the world to own one.


opel blitz and stowage set

MG team

we only have very limited numbers of these new items so come and see us early if you want them.

London Toy Soldier show- part 4

2011-06-22T12:57:00.000-07:00

36 hours to go before we make our way down to London so I am on the very last leg of the diorama building.
I put the last coat of varnish on the river sections today so that will be dry soon so I can wrap them up.
It means the only diorama I have left to finish is the one to display the growing range of Africa Korp figures from First Legion. We will have the new Opel Blitz along with all the new marching infantry on the day so I thought it a good idea to make a real eye catching piece as the figures are wonderful.

I thought about an oasis but then I went for a board with a backdrop of adobe buildings. I also decided not to put any period detail on the board as it will also work for the Sudan display.
Stage one was to build the structures:

building fronts made from 1cm thick foam board.

This gave me a good start but then I needed to coat it in something that would give it texture

textured walls and coated roof

The photo doesn't show the texture very well but it is one of the most important bits of the job- without it there is nothing for the paint washes and dry brushes to get hold of.
Once this was dry I begin the painting with a base coat of yellow ochre which is then washed with a raw umber to get the following result.

washed buildings with a little more detail added.

This dried and all I need to do now is finish weathering it with dry brushes of various sandy colours and then a final addition of some more details which I will decide on when I come to it. I can see this stage being dependant on the amount of time I have left!
Finally, with this post here are a few pictures of some of the other boards that are finished and just waiting to be packed up.
The last installment about the show will be after the show on Sunday or Monday and will have lots of photos of these diorama boards in action so to speak with them being full of figures.

Remember all these boards are for sale on the day so if any have caught your eye come and have a chat and you could take it away with you.

W Britains at TMTerrain

2011-06-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

Diorama with W Britain Zulu figures in place.

Just a quick post to announce we are now starting to stock WBritains figures. To start with, we are just taking their War along the Nile and the Zulu ranges.
We are currently putting them on the web site and at the moment we are just listing the items we have in stock. After the London Show next weekend we will add more to the lists.
Of course we will have both ranges displayed at the show next week so come along and have a look- here is your opportunity to compare John Jenkins Sudan and W Britains.

London show prep part 3

2011-06-16T14:38:00.000-07:00

I have had a good productive day today. The main diorama is finished. I just had to finish off the painting with more dry brushing and then adding weathering in the form of water streaks and bullet holes. The final touch was to add some ruined and fallen down telephone wires. I had found some interesting looking posts and supports so I used those for the wire supports on the house.

out of focus but you can see the wire supports

I have just remembered, the final, final touch was to add the glass in the windows- lots of cracks and holes to make it look fought over. I might weather the glass a bit tomorrow- I will see how it looks in the light of day.

You can see from this that I have high lighted the bricks on the piles of rubble as I know this is to display First legion World War Two figures and this is how they do their bases on their figures so I tried to match them.

This picture shows the wire better. I have tried to make it droop and look fragile.

All the above photos were taken in the workshop where the light is not great so sometime next week I will get it out side and get some shots in the sunshine.

The other smaller dios got more treatment today with the first coats of paint going on as well as more ground work on others.

I do this brown as a base on most of my European and American bases followed by a raw umber wash that highlights the texture and helps to cover up bits I have missed. Once the wash is dry I can dry brush and then flock although there won't be much flock on the above corn field. There is alot of trampled corn that doesn't show up at the moment but the dry brush will bring them out nicely.

This photo looks horrible but it is the first coat for my desert boards. I use a very dark brown as a base and then 2 more lighter brown coats followed by 2 shades of 'sand'. A long process but it gives the landscape alot of depth and interest.
Finally, today I nearly finished a base with a river in it. I had shaped it and textured it over the last few days but today saw the river come on.

For large areas of water I do not use resin. I fill the area with cheap wall filler that is quite watery. Once that is dry I cover with a heavy coat of PVA which smooths the whole thing and then after about 24 hours drying I paint it with lots of washes and dry brushes. This is the time I try to get the feeling of depth. I have found it works really well and the finishing touch is a couple of coats of gloss varnish.

That was it today. The next installment should see some of these boards finished as well as the beginning of the Africa Korp display- a board full of adobe building fronts. This is a worry as I only have a week to go!

Toy Soldier show preparation

2011-06-15T13:36:00.000-07:00

Only 10 days to go to the show and I am finally getting my finger out and starting the displays. It looks like a few late nights next week.
Before I go into details about the display, can I remind anyone coming to the show wanting to get figures from us please get in touch with what you want as soon as you can as we now stock so much we can't bring everything down so to avoid disappointment give us a ring with what you want.
As I mentioned in the last post about the show, we have 30 feet of display space and I have worked out I need to do about 16 new displays for it. They are all 30cm deep and 60cm wide- big enough to get alot of figures and terrain on but small enough to put on a shelf. These boards will cover displays for the French Indian Wars, Sudan, Zulu, WW2 (Normandy, desert and Eastern front), W1, Spanish Civil War, Napoleonics (Waterloo and Russia), Crusades, American Civil War, American War of Independence, Samurai, and Jacobite's- so quite a range. Fortunately, nearly all f them will be on different landscapes, not involving any buildings. The one real exception is a larger layout for the First Legion World War Two display. The layout is being made for a customer in the USA who has given me the OK to use a s a display piece at the show as long as I don't sell it on the day.

basic modelling done- ready for painting

The layout needed to have lots of display space so all the great First Legion tanks could be easily displayed but he wanted some interesting background detail and available cover for the Russian AT gun. The above picture is what we came up with. The ruins either side are very simple but offer cover and the main building is just a couple of inches thick but allows figures to be placed at the windows.
The next stage is to start painting it- the model looks terrible after the first coats of paint and I always worry that my painting techniques won't work this time! So far It has always worked out OK.

basic paint job complete- YUK!

I paint everything is a basic coat- burnt sienna for bricks, raw sienna for woodwork and then in this case grey for the plaster work and brown for window frames. The whole lot then gets a wash of raw umber

Washed in raw umber

You can see that this dulls everything but helps to blend all the colours together. I tend to leave that for 24 hours to dry and then get on with dry brushing and weathering to hopefully bring the whole thing alive. As it is drying now upstairs, this is as far as I can go tonight so the plan is for an update tomorrow or Friday.
The other boards have been started as well:

groundwork done ready for painting

trampled cornfield- early stages

adding depth to the boards

The boards are all on 18mm thick MDF and I add depth to them if I want to create undulations or holes of any kind. I first make a frame and then fill it with polystyrene. Once that is done then I can shape the ground however I want. More photos tomorrow on how they are going.

Warlord Photoshoot

2011-06-15T13:01:00.000-07:00

You will have seen shots of the English Civil War game a customer had at Salute. The game made quite an impression on the guys at Warlord Games and Wargames Illustrated and they invited everyone up to Nottingham for a photo shoot to go in the magazine and a future edition of their rules. Sunday was the day and a good day was had by all.

the game

I won't go into too much detail as I will leave that to our hosts but we all arrived in Nottingham about 10am with the game finishing about 7pm in the evening.
It was the first chance I had had of playing the game and we were able to play to a conclusion in the day even allowing for regular stops for photos and notes to be taken ready for the write up. It was great to be able to move wonderfully painted figures over a good looking table in a purpose built wargames room.

Rick and Neil deciding on a plan- something to do with the right flank I guess!

It was also great to watch Dan, the WI editor 'work' the table with his camera and lighting equipment. I didn't realise you needed to be fit to do his job- I have never seen a wargamer move so fast to get his lighting rig up before the camera shutter went!


Dan and camera

Dan and lights!

The sharp eyed of you may have noticed the church- the new tower from Grand Manner had been bought at Partizan and I had managed to get it painted and attached to the church so now it looks like a proper English church. It also adds considerable height to the table which is always a good thing. The urge to put a sniper in the bell tower was over whelming.

the church with new extention

Here are a few more shots of the game in progress. These are all from early on in the game as I don't want to give anything away for the full battle report published by Warlord later on this year.

Could the gate be open?

Keep an eye out for a full report and some really good photos in a future edition of Wargames Illustrated and a detailed battle report from Warlord games in their new Pike and Shot rules. I can't wait to see them.

London Toy Soldier Show

2011-06-08T12:26:00.000-07:00

The 25th of June sees the next London Toy Soldier show take place. If you collect Toy Soldiers this is the place to go. It happens three times a year- the end of March, the end of June and the beginning of December.
The show is held at the Royal National Hotel, Bedford Way, London and fills two halls with everything to do with collecting miniature figurines.
The show web site is here for more information

TMTerrain has been going to the show as a trader now for about 3 or 4 years and we are now up to 30 feet of display space. We fill the space with figures displayed on some good looking dioramas so it is always worth coming to find us just to have a look. Here are some examples

John Jenkins Jacobite's

John Jenkins Sudan range

First Legion Stalingrad

Collectors Showcase WW2

The last show in March saw me sell alot of the dioramas so I am having to make lots of new ones for this show. I will post updates on how these are going- as there is less than 3 weeks to go and I have no photos of WIP to post you can guess that I am just a touch behind schedule!

The show should see some brand new sets of figures from all our suppliers. First Legion displays will include the new Mamluks and maybe one or two surprises (hopefully we will be able to confirm this nearer the time)

First Legion Mamluks

Collectors Showcase will have the new and very impressive Royal Horse artillery limber and gun set on display along with the even more impressive 88mm, prime mover and crew.

Collectors Showcase 88mm gun

Collectors Showcase RHA sets

John Jenkins will have his normal 4 or 5 new pieces on display but to pick just one out as a highlight it has to be the wonderful Spanish Civil War armoured car

John Jenkins armoured car

We haven't had this delivered yet but I can't wait to see it. It looks good in the photo but they always look better in the flesh.
You can find more information about all these new releases on our web site:
www.tmterrain.co.uk

I will post more about the show and our preparations for it over the next couple of weeks so keep an eye out for more.

Normandy terrain

2011-06-05T09:24:00.000-07:00

I have recently made some 20mm fortifications for the Normandy landings. It has been one of a series

I have completed for my customer and it has been a mix of scratch building and incorporating off the shelf pieces into the bases.

One of the interesting parts of this commission was that I came across two companies I hadn't heard of before.-

accurate armour

PN Sud Modelisme
both companies make some terrific Atlantic wall fortifications. Both companies have a good selection of bunkers and accessories so if you are doing 1944 Normandy in 20mm go and check them out.

example from Accurate armour

This is what I ended up doing:


Gold beach strong point 33- all scratch built

Lion-sur-Mer (Trout) Strong point- tobruk and open bunker from

Accurate armour, the rest scratch built.

Lion-sur-Mer (Trout) Strong point-from above

Morris battery- bunker and Tobruk from Accurate

Morris battery from the front

WN 17 Hillman Strong point at Sword Beach- open bunker and tobruk by accurate

Win 27- Juno beach- wall, bunker and tobruks from Sud Modelisme, rest scratch built

Win 27 from the rear- you can just see the cannon popping out of the bunker

WN 18 Strong point at Quistreham Riva Bella at Sword Beach- all scratch built

WN 18 Strong point at Quistreham Riva Bella at Sword Beach

I had great fun making these. I had been to the Normandy beaches the previous summer so had seen some of the originals so it made the project even better.

I like the concrete effect I get with painting- it is just starting off with a dark grey and slowly adding more white to it as I dry brush each bunker. The final highlight is straight white which just brings the model to life. The final touch is a bit of weathering with raw umber to give the impression of water marks and rust. I was pleased with the result. The originals from both Accurate and Sud Modelisme both painted up well- Accurate needed washing and undercoating as they are some sort of resin where as Sud Modelisme are made from plaster so take paint straight away.

The final set of photos are from the customer and show them in action. You will also see some landing craft from Ravensthorpe Miniatures- I painted those as well. Another interesting project and was a bit different than normal.

Quistreham Riva Bella- you can see the boat moving up towards Pegasus bridge.

Morris battery in action

landing craft and Lion sur Mere strong point


Morris battery and Quistreham in the background

I don't remember doing that many Landing craft!

The game they had must have been an amazing experience looking at the photos. I don't know the size of the table but it must have been a whopper!

I thought I would finish off with one shot of another Normandy commission- this was a 15mm scale job and was a recreation of part of Omaha beach and the table was 8ft x 6ft. The landscaping is all my work (I thought I got the sea looking good) but the buildings are the pre painted Landmark range (available from Timecast now)and the bunkers are the Flames of War bunker sets. I might do a more detailed look at this job at a later date:

Omaha beach in 15mm

TMTerrain Newsletter followers

2011-05-31T13:13:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post for all our customers who get our monthly newsletter.
Last month I mentioned we were planning this new blog and it was likely that it would take over from the Newsletter.
We thought it would be a good time to confirm that this is the case- we will no longer be doing the newsletter. This blog will be able to keep everyone up to date with new releases far quicker and more accurately than the newsletter ever could.
To be sure you get the regular updates posted here make yourself a follower of the this blog. You will then be informed everytime we post an article. All you have to do is go to the follower section on the right of the blog, click on follow and then follow the instructions from there.

There has been no more information on more new releases since my posts last week although here are a couple of tasters from First Legion's workbench:

Rome Vinette

Mounted crusader

German medic

Stug Factory

2011-05-31T12:54:00.000-07:00

A recent commission from a collector involved making a display for his 54mm German tanks. He had been inspired by an article in a model making magazine of a German repair shop with a couple of Stug III 's in it.The brief , then, was to make a 2ft x 2ft diorama set inside a German bombed out tank repair shop. It had to look like the building had been badly damaged and we were able to look inside because a wall and half the ceiling had fallen in due to the damage.

the empty repair shop

The shell of the building was straight forward to make- a square brick building with a big metal door at the far end. The challenges in this diorama was the detail. I needed to try to make it look like a working repair shop but leaving enough space to put the tanks and figures in.
I bought alot of bits and pieces from Verlinden. They are 1/35th scale so strictly a little small for the 1/30th scale figures but by choosing carefully what I got the difference in scale is hard to spot. Verlinden do some very nice bits of machinery along with barrels and bottles that all help to make the scene.

examples of Verlinden machinery.

In the UK, Verlinden kits are available from:
www.historexagents.com
There is a big range so take your time. They also do 1/48th scale stuff which works well with 28mm figures (a bit big but OK)

populated repair shop

You can see there is a fair amount of metal work in the diorama. Most of it is made from plastic strips from Evergreen. They do all sorts of profiles and shapes so makes it alot easier to make convincing metal work than without them. The gantry work was added once the walls were finished and the structure was made from I beams and rectangular support rods from the Evergreen range. Cutting them to shape and gluing together with plastic kit glue the whole thing becomes very strong and certainly gives the impression of a strong metal structure.
The walk way was from my spares box so but was just the right size- the moral of the story- never throw anything away!

boiler

The boiler was fun to make. The parts came from:
www.ema-models.co.uk
These are well worth a look as they have loads of useful detailing pieces for all scale of model making.
The top and bottom are plastic elliptical heads with plastic tube for the main body. I just cut the tube to length and glued the heads to top and bottom and I found myself with a tank. Adding some pipework and other details soon makes the tank a good looking boiler.

Once all the detail modelling was finished then I had to paint it all. It is an industrial working building so I used lots of greys and browns with splashes of colour supplied by posters and bits of equipment painted in bright reds and yellows.
Once all the basic painting was done, I love to go over it all and weather it with streaks of oil and grime. I find this final stage is what often brings a diorama to life. I think it did it for this commission as well. Of course the final touch is when the figures and tanks arrive and that pleasure is always left to my customer!

This reminded me of another German repair shop I made a year or two ago. This was, again in 54mm but was very much an improvised shop-

improvised workshop

If I can find more photos then I will post a detailed account of this commission at a later date