Things are on the move finally. I finished the top
which is styrene covered in modelling clay. I also managed
to get the connection between the sail and mill sorted
which took an eternity to get just right.
Its presently had a few starter coats of paints on it and I am
about to base it on something a bit bigger. The basing will
help it stand up and keep it safe from big clumsy hands like
mine.
More soon.
I have been wanting a windmill to sit on
my terrain boards for ages and fed up with the
lack of ready made terrain to do the job I
decided to have a go at building one myself.
So here is the plan. First,I cut off a small
length of black plastic drainpipe tube. After much
thinking I decided to achieve the stone effect with
DAS modelling clay as it gave me the ability to get
exactly what I was after. Its simply moulded around
the drainpipe and I used a small knife to mark out
the stone relief, windows and door.
Next up I need to create a roof, build some door and
window frames plus add lots of paint. I have found a
windmill sail from a bargain bucket which can be adapted
to the correct type. This should help speed things up.
Below is the DAS modelling clay after sculpting.
Only got to wait 3 days now for it to dry lol.
As promised a closer look at the other end of
the village which is still in progress especially the
water course.
The 1st picture is of the Loic Neveu Manor house and I
was considering changing the picture to black and white
to make it more brooding but the swastika, the colour of
the building and the sunlight makes it creepy enough.
Just click on a picture to enlarge.
🙂
Warning, lots of large pictures. Just click on
a picture to enlarge.
Just wanted to show you how I have been getting
on with my continuing Normandy boards. Still a long way
to go but all 3 boards are coming along nicely. As you
can see from the pictures the 3 additional boards
allow me to crawl out of the Normandy bocage and right
into the local village for a bit of street fighting.
The name of the church and village are fictional so
don’t bother looking for it lol
The buildings are all mixed manufacturers and the centre
piece church is a Loic Neveu masterpiece. If you really
need to know who makes any particular building just contact
me for the details.
)
As mentioned in previous posts I have been using Google Maps
to get inspiration and ideas from,especially the church. Most
French villages have a church surrounded by a circular wall and
often sit right in the middle of the village with a road curving
around the church. There is often a war memorial right next to
the church as well.
A few bits of info on the church. The gates to L`eglise Saint Andre
are scratch built and the stained glass windows are a combination of
free hand painting and see through plastic. The roof is removable
so you can fill the church with soldiers to your hearts content.
All buildings on the boards are removable except the walls which are fixed
in position. Also to help with storage the telegraph poles are fixed to the
board with magnets so easily moved.
Lots more to do especially at the more built up end of the village but
light is shining from the end of the tunnel.
If your wondering that’s a Panzer Lehr Division rolling through 🙂
I have been concentrating on the rust and that is
where all my efforts have been going as to date.
Nothing is fixed in stone at this point and I`m
still moving bits around as I decide on what goes
where.
So far I have got the basic rust colour I wanted
sorted its just the fine detail that needs to be
completed.
If I am happy with the rust effects nearer the end I will
do a quick tutorial on how to achieve it.
Like the small rusty bridge ? Can you guess whats it made of ?
More of an update than project movement. I am
still working on the first board and still not sure
where everything is going to go, but its slowly
getting clearer.
I will let the pictures do the talking :
As you can see I have also been experimenting
with scratch buit rust covered corrugated buildings.
The test piece in the picture is have way through
the rust painting process.
More soon 🙂
Another day and another terrain project on
the go. This time its terrain specifically for
the game Infinity and as per usual I`m going
to stamp my own interpretation on it. Now nearly
all the terrain I have seen so far for Infinity
involves modern Sci Fi type city areas. Yes the
game needs lots of buildings for cover but I think
people need to be a bit more daring with their terrain
and just imagine that not everywhere in the future will
look like something out of a Judge Dread film.
Somewhere I have always been fascinated with is a little
known place at the bottom of the world. Its called Leith
harbour and can be found on South Georgia. Specifically
I love the old whaling station which is still very well
preserved but slowly rusting way. One of things that
attracts me to this location is the fantastic rust
colours against the landscape and the vast amount of
various metal equipment that has been just discarded.
For me its the perfect playground for a fight and I
intend on basing my terrain on that environment and
adding a modern Sci Fi theme into the rusting arena.
Big picture of Leith below:
Added to that will be a large amount of snow and ice.
I have recycled some 15mm Flames Of War terrain boards
and got straight to work. I aim to make the boards
(which are 2 X 2 in size) modular and will start with
four boards and then add more.
So far I am just working on board one which will be
a dock type area. The picture at the top shows the rough
layout with the blue representing the water.
I had to build up the edges of the board
with additional battens. The boat is 1/48 scale kit that
will be turned into a rusting hulk. It will be next to
run down jetty(which was a 15mm FOW Russian scratch built
recycled bridge). There will also be a small modern bridge
leading to a small island/sand bank which will also have
some modern looking bit of equipment on it. Perhaps the
radar of my recent diorama ?
The theme sort of goes along the lines of run down whaling
station to the casual observer but on closer inspection not
all as it seems ? Time to send out a 5 man Pano response
team for a closer look.
I have now built up the dock area and added a balsa wood
wall. The white paint is just covering the annoying green
underneath lol
Next up will be the jetty and island construction .
I`m done until I build some more boards and yes
I hear you all groaning… not more boards !!!!
No my next project will be some Infinity boards so
rest easy.
Anyway back to the Normandy boards. I have added and finished
two new boards to make a total of six for the playing
area(4 x 6). The latest two have a nice river obstacle with
hump back bridge. They also contain a fixed defensive trench
line and artillery battery area. The artillery battery area and trench
line are camouflaged to stop the allied Typhoons rocketing the
hell out of place.
Please note you can click on all pictures to enlarge
and some of the pictures are quite big.
I have added a full Panzer Lehr Division and the British 11th
Armoured Division to the board so you can see how it all feels
to play with.
Arty preparing to fire.
Target spotted.
View from above.
Look out the boss is watching.
Life in the trenches.
Ok whos walked mud into the trench ?
British forces prepare to enter the bocage.
Panthers trying to deploy in bocage.
Panzer Grenadiers moving up to join the action.
German infantry moving up.
Panthers stuck in a sunken lane.
MKIV in ambush position.
Moaning minnies at home in the thick hedgerows.
Halftrack traffic jam plus a bit of anti air.
Anybody bring any hedge cutters ?
Hold on, hump back bridge.
Lost Panzer IV.
JagderPanzer IV`s defending the left flank.
Thankfully the sun came out and allowed me to take the
photos above.
I will post up a battle report soon to see how bocage fighting
pans out 🙂
I know, I know I`m still doing the Normandy board
thing lol. Its been on hold for a while but my
creative juice has returned and its back to the
grind stone. I have been working on a small river/
stream and its taken some time to get it right. I hate
the lovely blue rivers you get on most wargaming boards
and wanted something a bit more disgusting looking to be
exact. Thus I need multiple coats of varnish over lots of
greens and browns because that’s the colour of the nearest
stream to me.
Click on a picky to enlarge:
Now I have got the basis of the river in place I can
start to work on the bocage around it. I hope to cover
a lot of the river with overgrown stuff so it really looks
like a silted up, stagnant , slow running river.
Loads more work to do on the trench section and gun battery pits
but that will be a lot easier to do than the river.
Sorry if you thought I was done but I needed
another two boards. Specifically I wanted a
river/stream, a bridge, trenches and just a bit
more bocage.
To save time I borrowed two old flat terrain
boards from the shed and started converting
them. I have made and painted the bridge and
found a pillbox going spare which will look
right at home hidden in undergrowth.
Click on a picture to enlarge :
The two boards look a bit rough but bare with
me because as mentioned they have been re-used.
The first board sits on the left and contains the
trench system I am currently building out of balsa
wood. Its raised ground so will be able to cover
and arty spot all six boards eventually. It will
also be buried under bocage and have a stream
running above it as marked by the stick.
The trench will go under ground at the right hand
side of the board and reappear on the next board.
This way the join marks are nicely concealed 🙂
The board on the right has two artillery emplacements
either side of a road with the stream running in front
of it with a bridge.
The trench system comes in from the left side.
Sorry if the pictures are hard to understand,
but all will become clearer shortly.
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