I’ve added the following links to their respective headings in the column on the right:
Warning Order (MAGS)
Sasquatch, by Team Frog (sculpted by Pedro Ramos)
Team Frog Studios (COMPANIES)
Miniature Heroes (COMPANIES)
Grey aliens, by Tengu Models
Tengu Models (COMPANIES)
Mad Puppet Miniatures (COMPANIES)
Things have slowed down around here lightly due to an impending international move, but will pick up again once I’m resettled in August.
Comments Off on Administrative Update, 07 July 2010
Posted in 28-32mm fantasy, 28mm historical, 28mm SciFi, Administrative, magazines
The latest addition to my 1/72 Blitzkrieg Commander terrain project, the bridge. With this and two basic river tiles finished, I’ll have the whole river done soon. Stay tuned.
Posted in 1/72 WWII, Blitzkrieg Commander, hobby, terrain
Anakron recently uploaded an excellent video tutorial for making simple yet highly effective bases for 28mm miniatures. Click on the image to view the video on his homepage. And while you’re there, be sure to check out his other offerings, including a variety of hobby tips and a stunning range of extremely limited (only 30 castings per model) resin miniatures.
One word of caution: the video is in French. That being said, it is so well made that you shouldn’t have any trouble following his instructions.
Anakron recently acquired a special camera mount to make video tutorials of this sort, so you can expect more of the same in the future from one of the industry’s most talented artists.
EDIT: Anakron has kindly shared his paint formulas used in this tutorial. You should have no trouble substituting similar colors from other brands, should you be so inclined. Don’t forget to check Color Match over at Silicon Dragon when in doubt.
Rocks:
– Dark grey: Prince August 867 Blue Gray
– Medium gray: Prince August Games G50 Cold Gray
– White: WhiteGrass:
– Dark green: Vallejo Game Color 028 Dark Green
– Light green: Prince August Games G31 Green CamouflageSand
– Dark Brown: Prince August 822 German Camouflage
– Medium Brown: Prince August 819 Iraqi Sand
– Light Brown: Prince August 837 Light Sand
EDIT 2:
Plants shown at the end of the tutorial were made using the following:
Grass: static grass, which can be found at any good hobby shop.
Dry desert plants: zeechium, which can also be found at most hobby shops.
Green plants were made using a product called erica foam, which might be available at a local hobby shop, but may require some searching online to locate. Here is a link to the manufacturer (in French): LINK
Comments Off on Anakron Miniatures Studio, base tutorial
Posted in 25mm fantasy, 28-32mm fantasy, Anakron Miniatures, basing, hobby, tutorials
I’ve slowly been assembling a modular 1/72 scale terrain board for my groups Blitzkrieg Commander games. Due to the types of tables available to us, we normally play on a 120cm x 200cm surface. The terrain board I’m building will fill the center of this area, and be comprised of a variety of 20cm x20cm MDF boards, including a railroad (WIPs below), a river, farm plots, roads, and a village. The board, once complete, will fill an area 120cm x 120 cm. The remaining 40cm at either long end of the table will be empty and reserved for deployment space, rulebooks, dice, etc.
There’s still a ways to go with the railroad, but it’s getting there.
The hedges, in combination with stone and wood fences, will surround the 20cm x 20cm plots of farmland. To make them, I cut a heavy-duty scouring pads into strips, spray with Mr. Hobby Dark Green, apply white glue liberally with a brush, and add flock. I’ll also apply a mix of water and white glue with an atomizer bottle once complete to encourage the flock to stay put.
You can see some of the raw materials for this project in an earlier post.
Comments Off on Blitzkrieg Commander, terrain WIPs
Posted in 1/72 WWII, Blitzkrieg Commander, hobby, terrain
This is my entry for the recent painting duel sponsored by the Dragon Painting forum. You can see some tremendous expressions of talent in the work from four other participants (and vote if you’re a member) in this thread.
For more information on Studio McVey products and efforts, visit their store for a growing line of beautiful miniatures and their blog for announcements and inspirational hobby tips.
I wanted the base to look like the forest floor of the redwood forests of California, and used the colors and foliage in the photo below as a guide. In retrospect I probably should have brightened things up more and added more detritus, but I’m generally pleased with the results.
I’ve experienced problems with capillary creep when using Realistic Water produced by Woodland Scenics, and decided to try clear epoxy. My plan was to do about ten thin layers, each of which would get a thin wash of light green before applying the next layer. This would produce, I hoped, the desired look of soupy still water with algae in full bloom. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time for this, and only was able to apply three layers. The effect, as a result, is lost. There’s always next time.
You can find a great tutorial about using clear epoxy for water here.
Finally, for those of you who are interested, my painting formula for this piece.
BASE
Stone
Earth
Tree trunk
Tree trunk rings
Mushrooms
Ferns
Water
Moss
PAN
Hooves
Horns
Hair
Hair beads
Skin
Fingernails
Inside of mouth and teeth
Lips
Eyes
Ears
Leather straps
Flute
Necklace and earring
Bracelet 1
Bracelet 2
Scythe handle
Scythe blade and ring fasteners
Base with VGC 050 Cold Grey
Dark regions with VMC 994 Dark Grey
Highlights with VGC 049 Stonewall Grey
SPRITE
Skin
Hair
Wings
Posted in 28-32mm fantasy, painting, Studio McVey
One of Tor Gaming's Britanana miniatures (painted by atacam)
Tor Gaming recently posted an image of the first painted miniature for their forthcoming skirmish game, Relics. There’s at least two more in the pipeline nearing completion, and likely more to follow soon. Visit the Tor Gaming Web site for more details.
This was painted by my good friend from the DP forum, atacam. You can see more of his amazing work on the DP forum or his Facebook page, Atacam’s Miniature Miracles. Like what you see? Atacam is available for commissions, whether for display or the table.
Posted in 28-32mm fantasy, Tor Gaming
Robert Rodriguez is at the helm of the latest installment in the Predator series, Predators, which is scheduled for a July 2010 release. Judging by what I’ve seen in the two trailers, it looks like this will be a good one (finally).
A clip from the Predators trailer
Believing that the immanent release of this film will likely generatre some interest in collecting and painting Predator alien miniatures, I thought I’d take a moment to remind folks of these offerings from Copplestone Castings (28mm) and Khurasan Miniatures (15mm).
Enjoy! And happy hunting!
EDIT: I’ve added the new European Vacation Alien from Khurasan, Heresy’s Hurn, and a sample of the Inaps by Old Crow (Ainsty) below. Click on the pictures to visit their corresponding Web sites.
UPDATE: Be sure to check out Mikko’s review of these miniatures on his Web site, Dawn of the Lead: LINK
FW25 Hunter Aliens (sculpted by Mark Copplestone, painted by Andrew Taylor)
FW32 Hunter Aliens with Guns (sculpted by Mark Copplestone, painted by Andrew Taylor)
PLA-5 Vacation Alien (painted by Carl Robson)
PLA-5a European Vacation Alien
One of the many "Inaps" available from Old Crow Models (an Ainsty product)
Heresy, Hurn prototype 01 (painted by Wildheart)
Posted in 15mm SciFi, 28mm SciFi, Copplestone Castings, film, Khurasan Miniatures
Snow bicarbonite
Müller has a great article about making snow on his site Minis from Valhall that is worth checking out.
With all the formulas on making snow out in the world, it would be a good idea to write a page devoted specifically to the topic (note to self).
Figone Minotaure (sculpted by Allan Carrasco, painted by Jérémie Bonamant Teboul)
The Figone Web site and store is now live:
BOOM boom BOOM boom BOOM boom
FIGONE heart beats since few minutes!
We let you discover what this new publisher of figurine, to assemble and paint, has prepared during lonnnnnnnnnnnngs months.
In addition to the full product line of Artefactory and Nemrod that you already know, Figone is also:
- Six new “FIGONE” miniatures plus four sceneries presented below (individually available or in a special pack presented on the left)
- The new range of Jacques-Alexandre Gillois named “Miniature Factory“, which starts with four references,
- Six brand new exclusivity from “Degra figurine“
- The range “BC Creation” that only few of you already knew,
- The bust of the “Troll Companion” sculpted by Allan Carrasco for the figurines club “The Company of Trolls“
- And much more soon …
Are you looking to get some sensation under your brush or free your form? Do you want to change your perception of light or amplify your emotions through the use of color? Do you want to bend your mind to the laws of matter or perhaps rule over matter through the laws of your mind?
Give reason to your senses, buzz like a flower landing on a bee (or the reverse, we forget…), abandon your battery or motorized machines, discard your stuffed ladybugs or other artifices… and sink your teeth into FIGONE, a reunion between people who are mad about miniatures, games and imagination?
Enjoy your visit
Team FIGONE
Visit the Figone Web site for more information and to check out their stunning offerings.
Submission deadline is 31 May 2010. More information is available over at the DP forum in this thread.
Comments Off on DP Painting Contest, Studio McVey’s Pan
Posted in Dragon Painting Forum, painting, Studio McVey
I’ll post updates for these projects once they’re closer to completion.
10mm inn (fantasy)
10mm inn with textured faces and future windows
Parts for railroad tracks for my armored Soviet train and optional terrain piece for Blitzkrieg Commander (1/72 WWII)
Future hedge pieces for the modular terrain I'm building for Blitzkrieg Commander games
My solution for modular terrain basing, medium density fiberboard
I’ve been meaning to post a link to this story since it first appeared over at Purple Pawn back in March, a tale full of twists and turns starting with Ral Partha and ending at Iron Wind Metals.
Iron Wind Metals is known today for its Battletech miniatures and its continuation of some old Ral Partha miniature lines. Today, roughly a third of IWM’s income comes from distribution and wholesale, another third from its online store, and another third from producing or fulfilling miniature lines for other companies.
Iron Wind Metals was formed from the remains of famed miniature company Ral Partha. The history of IWM, Ral Partha, and the Battletech miniature line is somewhat convoluted.
For those of you who may have missed it the first time around, you can read the full article and see lots of great pictures over at Purple Pawn.
Khurasan Miniatures recently announced two new additions to their range of 15mm orcs, The Great Enemy, which I first wrote about in a post a couple months ago. Included in this batch are three archers and a command pack. Also, the greens of the troops previewed earlier should be out in a few weeks. Stay tuned!
Orc archers (15mm)
Orc command (15mm)
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Comments Off on Khurasan Miniatures, more orcs coming (15mm)
Posted in 15mm fantasy, Khurasan Miniatures
I’m building an armored train, which will serve as the centerpiece for my Soviet army for Blitzkrieg Commander. I first got the idea when I encountered these models at a shop in Akihabara, but became convinced to take the plunge when one of my gaming partners, Robert, mentioned that a railroad track running across teh table would make for a great piece of terrain (in progress, Robert!). I have no idea what I’ll do about rules for the beast, but am sure I’ll come up with something.
I plan to add a couple more pieces to this train. Another flatbed and a massive engine, which UM is scheduled to release next month (?).
After playing a few games of BKC, I realize that trucks are essential for getting troops into position quickly, thus the GAZ truck. I wish two things: 1) that these were more plentiful, and 2) that they were much cheaper. I’m not buying anymore until those two criteria can be met.
Comments Off on WWII Soviet Armored Train and Transport (1/72)
Posted in 1/72 WWII, Blitzkrieg Commander
Prose for this entry is coming soon; I was extra eager to share some pictures for now. For more information (or to purchase one of these models, which are limited to just 30 castings) visit Anakron at his site and store.
Blister packs of Toorak and Jack
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Comments Off on Anakron Miniatures, Toorak and Jack
Posted in 28-32mm fantasy, Anakron Miniatures
