blacksmiths part 2

very productive couple of days... quite surprised actually, I'm such a good procrastinator... anyway, the basic build of the blacksmiths is done...

foampvc with bits of plasticard in spots and dressed with balsa, need to do the render, and add woodgrain texture to the supports and beams of the forge area which are plastic girder and foampvc for strength (balsa would have been a non-starter)...

not sure what to do with the chimney, will probably do a couple of extra layers of brick on the chimney so it has a hole as it were... the forge pieces aren't attached yet, I need to texture and paint the main building first, the base is made from thin plasticard layered to a decent thickness and to allow the forge and bellows to sit in cutaways designed for them... it's reasonably sturdy now, and should be quite solid when finished...

the building is based on the 4ground buildings (obviously), so the room has the same footprint and it will take the same windows... learnt a bit as I was going, and had to add a wee bit to the side walls as I hadn't allowed for the gap once the roof was added (may remove those from the forge sides and add them to the roof)... but it's been a fun job - although the roof was a complete pig, I've got it good now, but it was a bit disconcerting... the roof alone is making me rethink my plan for the pub...

Black Dog WIP

a quick WIP of the lone phantom dog...

it's a GW Wild Warg, the head was cut down, lower jaw removed, back hair removed, and generally the whole head got trimmed down to a vaguely more doggy head shape... loads of g/s so far and it's looking ok, I need to redo the lower lip as that was left from when I'd given it a thicker lower jaw, but that is thinner now to help make the snout more pointy... new ears were a quandry, as I didn't want it too wolf-like but floppy mastiff ears didn't look right and as it looks like it's stalking, the forward pricked ears helped with the body language... the problem is, I don't want it too wolf-like as they are always described as big black dogs - although the last wolf was killed a hundred years before my planned period, the sightings of the dogs go back far enough for the witnesses to know what a wolf looks like... I plan on making the feet slightly bigger, and am pondering on the tail... a short tail would remove the wolfishness of it and a bushier tale would just add to it, so a short tail seems likely... but would make it a bit more hyena-ish, but I can live with that... and of course, as it's a Warg under there, it's big, and is currently on a 30mm base...

now, the various Black Dogs are usually harmless, but mostly the theme is that they were a portent of death... in game terms, aside from some tweaking for the shapeshifting Capelthwaite, this doesn't really offer much in the way of a danger, unless of course the reason that they herald a death, is that they are doing the killing...

erm... and yes, I added the demon dogs lipstick down there as well, just seemed wrong not to... no balls yet though...

blacksmiths part 1

not much to show on this so far, but it's a start and is probably the best chance to show the chimney off as I doubt it will be very visible once the building goes up...

the forge is from Ainsty (and comes with the bellows), the anvil was very nicely donated by a Frother... the chimney is blue insulation foam, brickwork carved on, then liquid g/s to have crisp up the edges a bit and to toughen up the foam...

am really torn on which design to go with the building itself, have been checking out various ones on the market... so watch this space for that...

Who Dares Wins

finally finished the SAS...

enough for a 4-man section plus one armed with pistol when he gets around to rescuing Lewis Collins (who is still headless) and gives him his MP5 - and the addition of a lone agent type with night vision goggles and a silencer (also from TAG) simply because it's a nice figure and fits the SWAT bodies of the other men...

had started these a while back, but got put off with blacks... getting sick of blacks... anyway, when that was done, I started on the bases and had thought of just doing grey concrete, but it looked so damn dull - I didn't want dirt and grass as these are for my urban/bunker plans, so found these bases on eBay...

of course, the new bases meant cutting away the slottas and then the integral bases and all while everything was painted (I must stop doing that), so again, not brilliant work, touched up pj's and some clumsy attaching to the base which was hidden with some extra debris...
I like the bases, detail goes down into the base on a couple of them which is nice and it turns out I have matching plasticard kicking about so I can replicate that flooring on the scenery when it get's started... I toyed with different colours, but white seemed best and a bit of colour was given to the rubble with a top drybrush of Foundry Sand Light and and partial dabs of Gryphon Sepia. I did toy with exposed wires or maybe paperwork, even the police tape I made ages ago, but then that would over clutter the bases just for the sake of colour.

Mast Beast update

as Ian has announced it, I'll share it here...

the Mast Beast that I sculpted has been purchased by Fenris Games and will be in production shortly for those that are interested...

pics of the sculpt can be found here, although it has a new g/s foot instead of the placcy Warlord foot... use of the skull for production was very generously allowed by Ebob...

quite chuffed to be honest, can't wait for it to be made...

brotherhood of the erm... capelthwaite

 or something... Conquest Mini's do some lovely Native American figures for the French-Indian Wars (as luck would have shortly available from Warlord Games), including some cracking Last of the Mohicans figures, of which this is Magua...

I've loved this mini for years and finally picked one up a few months ago and in the best tradition of stealing (partly from White Knight over on LAF - but mainly from the film Brotherhood of the Wolf) and not a million miles away from my original Solomon Kane inspiration, I decided that a strange and dark-skinned companion would not go amiss... no doubt converted by some zealous missionary and brought back to amuse the King, he's now found a higher purpose...

now, that isn't his original musket (which would have been 100 years too advanced, but probably get awayable), as he was sadly bent in transit and it couldn't be repositioned without snapping, so off it came, I took the musket from the Warlord ECW weapons sprue (think it may actually be a matchlock) and tried to pin that in place... sadly, I couldn't get the barrel drilled and pinned, so instead pinned in the stock and built up the barrel with g/s around a very long pin - it may not be the best looking musket in the world, but by god it's all pin and damned sturdy... 

I did him in basic skins and buff leathers - no doubt his more traditional clothing would have long since gone the way of his old gods, so he made his own when called upon to fight...

so, the Witchhunter warband so far... rather character driven admittedly, need some musket fodder....

oh... and a capelthwaite is a large shape-shifting black hound from Westmorland if you were wondering... and yes, I have plans...