the library at Cthluedo Mansion part 3

nothing like a Sunday for putting up some shelves...

even managed to do my planned secret door...

which meant I had a lasercut door going spare, and seeing as I'd made too big a hole for the other door, I got creative and continued the general Gothic theme that seems to have happened by making the door a large double door instead...

(and now I look at it, I forgot to emphasise the join in the middle - so not quite done yet)

now all I need are books... lots and lots of books... I've plenty of bought 28mm books which will be 'hero' books and very visible out in the room, but for the walls I've tinkered with some faux spines... these will be made longer and with Siligum and some casting resin reproduced at a cracking rate hopefully...

but I'm kind of ready to paint... not sure what colour to do the floor... or what (or who) to hang from the very necessary beam...

EDIT: anyone keeping track will notice that there aren't 42 units of shelves there... originally I had plans for freestanding shelves within the room, but once the table was included, the other shelves didn't really help any...

and finally found a pic online of what has been nibbling at the back of my mind the whole time I've been building this... the Hammer version of Dracula...

of course it looks nothing like that, but with the table and the 'hero' books scattered about you never know...

Frothers' Charity Thingy final chance!

From the ebay listing:

"LIMITED EDITION OF JUST ONE!
Cast by the talented and incredibly generous guys at
GREY MATTER FIGURES
This is a one off set of three Master Castings produced in
Funky Purple Resin

Original Sculpts by
Andrew Rae (Statuesque Miniatures)
Kevin White (Hasslefree Miniatures)
Seb Archer (Guild of Harmony)

Sold in aid of the MS Society via the
FROTHERS' CHARITY THINGY 2010"

All the other castings are spoken for so this is the last chance to get these figure. And you'd be doing a bit for charity too. And they're purple! Nearly £6000 raised so far!

Go here to bid: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270702418929

more knobrot iDaleks...

I can't imagine anyone following this doesn't already know about these... but this weeks Doctor Who Adventures magazine has yet more iDalek figures as a freebie.... 17 of the buggers this time, as opposed to 5 previously...

you get 5 orange (although a strange orange) Scientists, 5 red Drones, 1 white Supreme, 1 yellow Eternal and 5 blue Strategists (the Supreme and Eternal being unique amongst Daleks)... as you can see there are some gaps, so like before will need popping apart and realigning, but that shouldn't be a problem...

and of course, they are a perfect match again, the older release (orange again, just not a strange orange) has a rounder dome which matches the prop better, the new releases have a lower tommy helmet shaped dome which is odd as otherwise the models are identical... the new release also seems to have slightly crisper detail as well... not sure why the dome change, perhaps it signals a slight redesign for the 2012 series and they are getting in the change early... dunno...

oh and while I remember, they are too big for 25mm slottas... as they were before and should be with that massive bumper... you can however get 30mm slottas from EM4 which do the job nicely...

next weeks issue is Cybermen and Sontarans, but they look crap...

the library at Cthluedo Mansion part 2

the basic shell is up and running... there were a few teething problems with the prototype walls (as the room kits are planned to be available for sale at some point I believe) which I had to tweak with foampvc the same thickness of the plywood... but even that was nothing too big...

the window bay has had some plasticard put over the windows, there will be detail there and I should be able to work more easily on the plasticard (hopefully), I'm also thinking of giving that area a ceiling for some atmosphere and just to reinforce the structure as a whole... the other walls should be book cases... I've had to change my original plan a little bit, which had book cases within the room as well as around the walls, but the sheer scale of building those as well is a bit daunting... it may yet happen, we will see... there will be at least one massive table covered in books though (think end of the Hammer Dracula)...

Witch Hunter WIP

whatever anyone else says, I really enjoyed Solomon Kane, especially the battle at the start, where it was lose one weapon, draw another and keep moving... a 17th century terminator... and when I saw the Warlord ECW command sprue going cheap on eBay, I figured I'd have a punt...

the drummer/standard bearer body had a nice forward motion, but as he was of a lower standing presumably, had stockings and shoes, so off came the boots from one of the commanders - I've made the turned tops of the boots smaller, they just looked weird even though it was the fashion, but now the troos look a bit too baggy, so may bulk the boots out again... using the command arms gave him the right tools for the job and a better quality jerkin, but his face was a bit too chubby and homely, so the head had to go and was replaced with a Hasslefree head... haven't decided on hair yet - kind of liking the bald look, maybe shaved, a late Renaissance Bruce Willis... the g/s may not be brilliant I'll admit, but paint should hide a multitude of sins... EDIT: I've my eyes on some ECW era yokels and civilians from Warlord Games (and maybe Foundry if I feel flush) and some Mantic Undead to join him - luckily, it shouldn't require any new scenery as it will all fit in with my never moving English countryside for Doctor Who... and the ruined tower can get a showing with them as well... huzzar!

Chieftain tank WIP

finally moving on the diecast Corgi 1/50 Chieftain tank... glossy bits are wear the paint was chipping far to easily while I was still working on other bits of it, so nice and varnish in spots for now...

the toy originally fired missiles which I didn't have anyway when I got it off eBay... the raised turret hatch doubled as the firing button and sections of the upper turret had the handy slogan PRESS TO FIRE... the barrel also had a huge raised section that appeared to be just somewhere for a secure bolt to go - presumably those missiles really shifted... either way, out came the Dremel and out flew some scalding hot flakes of metal at speed... much sanding and g/s'ing later and it looks good I reckon.... and differences regarding the turret and anything else can be put down to UNIT modifications to the armour... so there...

the black bits on the barrel were originally plastic and had apparently at sometime been attacked by a small mammal judging by the teeth marks... these came off as the plastic was too soft to sand and repair and were replaced with plastic tube and g/s... need to paint these and finish the lower hull which has only just been attached (hence the silver screw head which can't be hidden), then touch up the lights and gloss varnish for decalling... toying with a brown over the tracks and dry/wet brushing black over them... need something...