All City Kings- N Guage style

 ALL CITY

I visited an old friend a few weeks ago, and he was showing off his cool N Guage train and set up he had. I painted this up to sneak onto his track next time I visit. :)

I really had a blast with this one night project: lots of good weathering practice and getting my old Graf chops back. I could totally do more of these! 

Fort McHenry Project: US Volunteers

US Volunteers 1812: Baltimore boys

Finished up 24 of these bright and bold lads for the Fort McHenry Project. Overall super happy how they came out. Even better, weather permitting I'll be taking photos of all the troops I've done so far and then packing them up to send off to the Fort. 

Ready for Review

What commanders usually see

These Woodens take about 2 hours each to paint. Most colors are three layers, especially all the Non Mettallic metallic bits, like buttons, gun barrels, etc. 

The over all look gives them a "printed page" effect similar to the period. I'm super happy as to how these guys turned out. 

On the march- Regulars and Volunteer troops side by side

What's next?

I have a few naval officers to paint up, and then 3 sets of 3 civilians do design and cut (and paint), including Mr. Francis Scott Key himself. Then I move on to finishing up the ships for the project. The Hulls are all done, but I am still noodling with the best way to make the masts and sails so that the park rangers can use the models in exhibits and teaching moments without them being too fiddly and fragile. 

Thanks for following along on this adventure! 

Fort McHenry Project: US Regular troops

US Regular troops casting big shade over the British

Been working hard to bring the Fort McHenry National Park commission to a close. Definitely gaining steam, and only have one more unit, some officers and a squadron of ships to go!


These 80mm wooden soldiers represent the US regular troops that helped defend Fort McHenry during it's bombardment and siege in 1812.
 

These guys were a bit of work, but a joy to see them finished. I am still trying to figure out why I thought that painting non metallic metallic was a good choice :)
 Next up are 24 of the volunteer regiments that fought along side the regulars. I've actually got them about half done on the painting table, and have to say adding red is a nice break from all the blue.

Volunteer and Regular infantry

One Day Build: Command and Colors City Hexes

5 inch hex "city" marker for 6mm Command and Colors

One Day Build:Aspern and Esslin-ish

Well, its convention season again, which means that one of my gamer friends comes to me with a " hey- can you help me make this- like before the con?!" Request.  Don't tell them this, but I actually enjoy these challenges, both as an exciting break to what I'm doing, and that I get to help them out.

On my end I challenge myself on how quick I can flip the request. This was basically a one day build, ala Adam Savage. This particular project was to create a series of hex squares that have a "city" in them to represent Asperg and Essling  for a 6mm Napoleonic Command and Colors game.

The Challenge: 
Create 9  5 inch hexes with representative buildings which can accommodate command and colors stands on the hex.


 The Build: 
 I already have a cache of "stage flat" style buildings from a project that I worked on with Jay Wiley of Wiley Games    which I used as a starting point for making the buildings. I then scaled them down to a 6mm-ish size and made templates on how they would fit and slot into the bases. This worked out to one main longer center piece and two shorter side wings.  Once I had that all figured out, I made some quick variations and then got to cutting.

Not optimally layed out, but remember- one day build!

Buildings are Birch ply, with MDF hex bases.

28mm White walker for scale!

Assembly and Painting:

I pre-painted the MDF with a couple of Rattle cans mixing a Krylon moss green and Army painted Desert sand (?)  to get a bit of variation.  This saved a lot of time especially drying time if I had painted them with brushed on paint.

The buildings are slotted so assembly was just glue in place. Before I did that though I looked on line at some cool period buildings, or models other folks had made, and then went to work getting a paint theme down.  As I would not have time to paint them all, I wanted to create an easy to follow set up that would hopefully read well on the table.   Here are the paints and inks I used.

The color swatch was for my friend to take. I ended up also giving him some ink as I had a spare bottle.

Painting these is very quick and easy. The first step was to pick an angle from which the sun was coming and stick with that. I chose kind of an 11 oclock as the angle. First I painted down the roof colors, then went in with Agrax Earthshade and added shadows across the buildings and on the roofs (once dried) . Next grey was mixed  in the with some blue grey (AV dark sea blue) to create "slate" colors, or to add a stone color to some walls or buildings. the light tan/ unbleached titanium (actually called Menon White Highlight, a P3 color) was used to add highlights to the buildings on edges, cover up some sins from over paint, and added into the roof colors to bring out a bit of dimension.

All told, a set of buildings took about 15 minutes. For fun I added some green to one of the buildings.

A more painted in scene. This was the first set.

A half done version, needing highlights.

Another angle, showing off my Elite Hussars

And yes they stack for storage! 

 This project took me about 6 hours from start to hand off. I only painted 2 of the 9 sets, so figure had I had time to do them all it would have been another couple of hours to maybe complete them. Okay,  call it 3 hours because you know I'd keep fiddling on them, and I didn't do anything to the backs!

I am keen on seeing how they turn out on the battlefield, and look forward to pics from Pacificon!

Cheers!

Saint Colin Dvde

...And Saint Colin grabbed a shield and said unto Pharaoh, " follow me dude- I'll get you out of this". But Pharaoh, was a cook, and wiped out...

Impavidvs dvde Vnam

Saint Colin Dude is patron saint of surfers, wax, and instant noodles

 I've been a devotee to St. Colin Dude for quite a while, and decided that with surf season coming up, I needed a version for the dashboard of my car. So, I made one.

A bit of history of St. Colin Dude

16th century etching showing St. Colin in the line up

 No one is sure where Saint Colin originated but all scholars agree it was from a coast or an island. Although references in the old testament are vague at best, ( mostly found in St Thomas' gospels) as far as we can tell St. Colin was a Roman soldier- most likely an auxiliary as their shields are more oval and board like. Like all good Saints, Colin was martyred by being boiled alive in a vat of top Ramen. Before he died his last miracle happened wherein the Ramen kept growing so much that it fed all around!  (other stories say he was boiled in wax)

Dutch/German Woodblock- most likely after contact with the Japanese 

The making of a Reliquary

This piece was done up on my laser-inator. I imported a drawing I had been noodling with and started translating the vector lines. After a few attempts I got something I was looking for cut wise.

Cut and unpainted. Still a bit tall for a car dashboard

Vector lines WIP

St Colin Dude and his Martyr pals Check out the waves

Over all a good weekend project, but I may go back and do a bit cleaner drawing of the dude.
 Thinking of including these as a goal prize for hitting a level on my upcoming kickstarter. Whaddaya think?

Cheers

Venice Carnivale: When the Muse Commissions

You should treat a muse like a fairy. Paulo Coelho
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/muse_2.html

                                               " You should treat a muse like a fairy"...
                                                                                      ~ Paulo Coelho

Two furies for a muse

A few months back I got a ping from a friend, a very talented artist who has been successfully running her own business of creating corsets and other fabulously acclaimed couture for, well, let's just say for a while now.  She showed me an 19th century print of two furies and asked if I could make a set for her; they would be the "epaulets" for a costume to be worn in Venice at Carnival this year.   I couldn't reveal the project till they were worn, so now I'm very happy to show them off and yammer about them a bit. Maybe a lot.

my original cartoon. pieces on transfer paper to figure wing positions

When some one who daily is creating awesome art  for others to wear asks you to make them something, well, you ask when is the best time to make a measurement.

The Making of Two Furies

After consultation and measurements, I jotted down a few roughs, and asked about location on body, weight as a factor, and materials. The furies had a purpose, to hold tight madame's corset strings, and of course whisper mischief to all around.
 

laser cutting out all the pieces for templating

wings were made out of craft foam, covered in gold and brass leaf, then antiqued

Once I had the right shapes and sizes approved with a fitting, using all wood laser cut templates,
I went to work figuring out how to make the actuals, and parsed out what materials would be both strong and light, plus take a bit of a beating from wear and tear and crowds.  I stuck with birch ply for the body and masks, and used craft foam for the wings and the corsets. Gold leaf was a must, and aside from detail bits like pearls and gemstones, the rest would be painted with a 17th century flair. 

The ladies getting a 23k pedicure.

Sometimes the gold gets into your tea. Drank it all up!

As the wearer would be wearing red, erm, I had the furies do the same. I laser cut out glitter foam and then used gold thread to create stitches for the back. I really used a lot of my skills, and enjoyed the challenges. Reminded me when I was making props for big stores like FAO Swarchz back in the day. Many of these skills also apply to table top miniatures gaming, of course.

many skill sets went into the making of the furies

 Design Challenges

I'd like to say that these things were a snap to make,and all fell into place- but some interesting challenges arose. Mainly the gold leaf looked dreadfully flat and dull as it faithfully conformed to the spongy surface of the foam. Normally gold leaf is applied to a very smooth surface or on a "bole" a clay like paint that presses down a bit when the gold is burnished allowing that amazing shine to come through. I had gone through about $50 of gold, double leafing I stopped cursing and switched to brass leaf. Much cheaper, and less archival, due to it's thickness it held it's shine a bit better. afterwards I went back into the gold and painted in areas with gold paint and burnt sienna, creating some shading and form. I even put a bit of gold glitter on the edges just for fun.

The fact that I had all the pieces templated was a huge plus, because I could cut them quickly out of different materials and know that fitting would not be as much as an issue. Yay for planning!

One piece I did not pre-plan was the feather bloomers.Totally forgot about them, really. So, off to the drawing board and, after trying foam and wood, I ended up using layers of good rag paper, painted to get a nice feather layered look. Very strong and light. 

Materials and Time

I put together a list of materials that went into the furies just to see what all I used:

• Birch plywood
• Craft foam, various flavors
• Gold leaf
• Brass leaf
• Silk ribbon
• Pearls
• Rhinestones
• Gold embroidery thread
• 100% rag paper
• Paint
• Glues, various
• Florest wire (to give the wings form) 

I loosely catalogued time spent, which came to 40 hours give or take. In gaming terms, think of that as getting two full napoleonic regiments painted and based. 

On the Runway

More pics of the finished pieces in a studio style shoot. They are a bit burlesque, but what would you expect. It was a fun back and forth dialogue with each fury, thinking on how to make each have their own personality while keeping to form.

Furies on their epaulets bases, which will be covered in material and stitched to the costume

I let the red of the foam come through the wings to create antiquing

View of how think they became. about 20mm with wing spread

our fury in black, inspired by Hugin and Munin

Piece de Resistance

The night of wearing I received a quick message with this image. This was the first I had seen the furies full realized with the costume.  Smashing!

Ah, Venice. The muse is amused

I've not gotten a report on how the evening went, but  I am hoping that mischief was managed. Mind you, this was only one of several Amazing costumes worn by my client over the Carnival festivities.  I was very happy to play a small part in the performance.

If you would like to see more of Madamme Adamme's corsetry, you would do well to check out her wonderful store, Dark Garden Corsetry and Couture

You should treat a muse like a fairy. Paulo Coelho
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/muse_2.html

You should treat a muse like a fairy. Paulo Coelho
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/muse_2.html

Field of Dreams

                               "If you build it, it will be ready for the con"...
                                                    ~ Everyone that's asked me to do a commission...

 Back in the day I used to do a lot of terrain commission work, but with everything going on for Skull and Crown, such things are more of a challenge. Still I have some patrons that are very patient. I was handed this commission last year with a, "pretty please!". Happy to say I've finally gotten it done and ready for the upcoming convention.

Combo Field

for this commission I was handed a bit of resin cast wall, and some cut foot step rug. The challenge was to make a field of x size with a gate and removable "crops" so that as the troops moved through the field the pieces could be removed. 

Built up walls. the plow field is actually the soft sheet foam, scored

 After figuring what size we needed, I laser cut a base, and cut up the wall pieces and fitted them around, and made more wall out of Epoxy putty.  The plowed field is a sheet of 2mm soft sheet foam that you can buy in most all arts and craft stores, which I scored with a pencil in rough furrows and then glued in place. After, I used Golden's coarse pumice gel mixed with flat earth and filled in all spaces where dirt ought to be.

Top down, field  ploughed

Top down field with wheat. Corn fields are also an option for AWI games

After every thing was dry, I painted up the rock walls, did a series of washes and dry brushes on the field to give it a more "rich soil" look and added some flocking and bushes.

RAF pilot is rescued by 2nd armor.

Lastly, I made a gate out of wood, with a base, so it can be opened and closed. Looking forward to seeing this on the game tables at Kublacon in a month- I'll try to get pictures of it in "action"

Cheers