Mad Max Motor Mayhem

If you are into 28mm Future Wars/Post Apocalyptic scenarios this might be of interest. For some time now I have been adding various terrain elements to my bombed out city. What better than add a few wrecked cars.

Todays poundstores, 99p outlets and major supermarkets sell a range of cheap diecast cars that just about ‘scale’ up to 28mm. Better still is the car boot sale where a multitude of vehicles can be bought. Word of warning – sellers at carboot sales tend to think that a 47 year old rummaging through the used car bins is an expert and as such always want premium price – better to let your kids dig out what they think is right and you step in with the pocket money !

So you now have the cars....first job is to separate the body from the chassis. In most cases this is very straightforward with a couple of screws to remove. Put the chassis in your bits and bob box – we are going to use those later.

The body of the car should be just a metal shell. If necessary tap out the plastic glass. Then spray the vehicle in an even matt coat.

Personally I like to mount my car bodies on a base with other accumulated detritus. I typically tend to make up a rubble mix of blue foam, cat litter, grit and sand. Stick the body and rubble on the base (hard as nails a good option). Once dry liberally cover in black acrylic paint.

The rubble is then dry brushed in greys and browns and the car body dry brushed in a suitable metallic colour – I used tin GW bitz and boltgun metal. Once dry wash the car body in ink – nut brown is my favoured choice. This gives a better metallic sheen – my preference.

Hey presto car wrecks....

Let’s go back to those chassis you put away. Well these can be the basis of ‘new vehicles’. If you make enough wrecks you’re going to have several components that can be mixed and matched. Most of the car interiors can be reused for steering wheels, dashboard and driver seats. By mixing up the wheels on big and large cars you can create some dune buggy style cars. The judicious use of plastic bits, plastic-card, grating, sprues and the odd fuel barrel all help to create the effect.

My son (12 years old) and I have had great fun making these as we can let our imagination run riot.

The first three cars roll off the production line.

into the paint shop for the first coat of primer. I quickly realised that black would be better - hence the following images. All the figures are 28mm.

We built a total of 11 cars.. just ready for painting.

Come back in a few days time to see the finished articles...which can be found here

http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/out-of-paintshop-and-into-town.html

More of the Mohicans

With the Musket & Tomahawk Rules on the way I thought it an opportune moment to take some piccies

Building the Boat part 2

Last weekend I decided to crack on with the Freighter project -

The infrastructure is now all complete, the stairways all marked out and built - so a coat of paint was in order.

Finally I started to lay the wooden deck.

At this rate of pace I might be finishing this project by the end of the year.

The figure in the shots is 28mm.

Eric

Front & Side views - eventually whens it is all painted it will be weathered up..

The rail posts are in...the cables (wire will be added at the end.

The decks will be covered in lollipop sticks, then stained and varnished.

The covers for the hold hatches are plastic airvents. Theses will be raised and painted dark brown.

Each Staircase leads to a corresponding hole in the higher deck.

The internal rooms are all now constructed. Doors & Portholes will be added shortly.

It is the intention to 'furnish' each cabin with a paper picture of furniture etc.

The River

My old rivers were looking  a bit tired, I made them over 10 years ago and I think since then my terrain building skills have improved.

Inspiration to create these new ones came from a recent foray to Homebase where I found some vinyl floor tiles with a water effect.

The tiles have a ripple and a series of blue shades. In addition they are self adhesive which makes life a lot easier.

Each pack comes with six tiles (30cm x 30cm)  - at around £7.00 more than enough for my needs.

The river sections I wanted needed to extend across the 3 metre table and would be no wider than 8cm at any point. This way they could fit all my 10mm bridges.

Using hardboard as the base I began to cut out a series of lengths and curves.

Eventually I had enough to stretch across the table. In addition to standard curves and straights I also created one fork.

Using each hardboard base as a template I began to cut out the river sections from the tiles. A sharp stanley knife is more than sufficient. 

The river laid out - now for the banks.

Using copious amounts of white glue I covered each bank in grit, ballast, sand and cat litter. I prepared the 'mix' prior to starting.  The sand is children's green sand not flock. These were left to dry for 48 hours. 

Once thoroughly dry I shook off the excess grit and painted each bank solid black. Thick acrylic paint works well and this help 'binds' the loose material.

(sorry no photo at this stage)

Again leave the paint to thouroughly dry. Once complete the banks were then dry brushed dark & light browns, with a final topping of static grass.

The following photos show the finished river..

Estimated cost -

Tiles £7.00

Hardboard - £8.00

Static Grass. Paint & Glue

Total probably about £16.00

Time taken 10 hours (estimate)

A Diamond Jubilee March Past

With the Queens Diamond Jubilee upon us I thought it appropriate to dig out my old toy Britain's soldiers - these boys are nearly 50 years old  and I have very fond memories playing with them. I owe my father a massive debt of gratitude for buying them and one day I may pass these on to my children.

Let the bands strike up and in honour of her Majesty - Attention !!!

The Mass Bands of the Grenadier Guards

The Bands of the Household Cavalry

The Grenadier Guards

The Household Cavalry

The March Past