Casting French Buildings For Bolt Action

The first step is  building a master. I took a kitchen knife, and carefully sliced off the paper backing of once side of a piece of  foam board. Then I carefully cut windows. After that I threw away the first attempt and tried again. Rinse and repeat. Eventually I settled on this master set of building parts. Using a metal stamp made out of an old brush, I stamped bricks into the soft foam. A gentle coat of vallejo texture paste provided the non-ruined areas. I tried to leave a lot of bricks exposed, because I will cover some of those up after the parts are cast.

With those master parts, I could move onto mold making. I made the mistake of using super glue to glue the buildings down. Super glue interacts with the two part silicon and keeps silicon from curing properly. Fortunately the bad cure was not in a visible part of the model.

I mixed up a 1:1 ratio of Mold Star 16. This stuff cures in 30 minutes, so for the impatient like me, it allows same day casting.

The resin cures in 6 minutes, which is fast enough for me to get a fair number of casts in a single day. In the image above you can see the resin going from clear to the cured milky white color. I found this stage mesmerizing.

After a bit of casting I had a whole village. Now, to spice up the terrain a bit, and not have all identical buildings, I started pouring partial casts. This produced the ruined sections you see above. I think those will look really nice with exposed floor boards and torn up roofs. I also experimented with really shallow casts in order to produce open windows. Unfortunately I discovered this after I had made a load of buildings, so there will be plenty of solid windows.

There are still parts to mold. I just got carried away with my test casting and kept going.  I plan to  add shop fronts with large windows and signs, new end of row sides, and smaller buildings to fit back to back in a row.  After that will come sheds, chimneys, drainage pipes, and maybe a precast ruined floor to pop in.

Castable Building Masters Using Pressed Foam Board

I've been wanting to upgrade the terrain on my Bolt Action table for a while in order to create a village in normandy. One of the things I need to do is scale down the buildings so they fit better on the table. At the moment the buildings are quite large. What I am going for is blocks of row houses, and corner houses. To to do this I need to create some master parts which I can mold and customize. One of the things holding me back was the tedium of creating windows and window pane glass. Micro mark solved that problem for me with one of their 1:48 scale packs of architectural details. My intention now is to keep windows, signs, and doorways separate and add them to the modal as needed . This will also allow me to model the buildings with slightly different window designs, and shutters open or closed. Key towards doing this casting job, was creating masters that had brick and stone detail. The idea is that once the basic parts are made, the exposed brick areas can be puttied over as desired to make houses in various states of repair. I had planned to use actual scale bricks to do this work, but that proved tedious. Instead I took a foam core poster board and removed the paper from one side. Once that was done I cannibalized the ferrule (metal part that holds bristles) from a brush and made it sort of brick shaped. Then I was able to just press the brick tool into the exposed soft foam and create bricks. The last step is creating a silicon mold of each side of the house so I can case the main sections. Once that is done I should be able to make any number of houses, and damage them individually. I plan to create roof sections as well as flooring. I might even make the 2nd story removable. I am just not sure it is that important for the game.

Historical Bolt Action Army Nearing Completion

I am in the home stretch with my Bolt Action army for Historicon next week. The big hurdle was basing. I decided to mix magic merlin plaster with pigments to create the earth tone you see here. I then added leaves, twigs, and scale model bricks. After that I had dried I applied a very dilute mixture of alcohol + water + weathering powder. That toned down all the colors on the bases and made them recede a little to the background. All I need to do now is touch up all of the base rims with black and add random tufts of static grass. I might even throw in some yellow flowers to make the vegetation look more interesting. After all, plants don't grow alone.

I just realized that I forgot to paint chip the vehicles. So thee steps forward, one tiny tedious step backward.

The Difference Oils Make

These models have had a single pin wash of oils at this point. Despite that, I thought it was worth sharing, since it shows how big a difference such a little thing can make. I think I could probably get these on the table at this point, but there are a few more stages that will make them look better. The next step, chipping, will be as big a leap forward. Once the models are covered in chips, a second layer of oils will be added. The final step is weathering powders. I love using powders and usually can't wait to get them on the model, but they really need to go on last.

I know SDKFZ 251s are not great in the game, but I think they add a huge flavor to the tabletop. With these guys coming to completion, I'll finally have an enemy for my Soviet and American forces.

Army Color Pallet

Today I finally got to see what the finished army will look like. Even though the vehicles are still in their base coats, and only a few bases are done, I can see how the color pallet works. I am pleased. If I keep up at this pace, I'll have the whole army done Friday, which means I can paint up some Fantasy miniatures for Age of Sigmar.

Age of Sigmar.

From what I see I like it. The rules are short and sweet, with complexity built into the war scrolls. Free rules and war scrolls also appeal. If the game is as fun as I think it is going to be, then you'll start seeing some high fantasy miniature painting show up on here.

Bolt Action German Medium Howitzer For Historicon Force

My late ware German force continues to grow. This time it is two medium machine gun teams, one medium howitzer, and an assortment of guys to ride in my SDKFZ 251s. (weird german tracked troop transport) I really cranked these out, and the lack of subtle blending is fairly prominent. Despite that, I am really enjoying these. I like painting them, and I think they look pretty good. This is almost gestural painting, which is very relaxing. A few minor touchups, and it is time for me to move onto the vehicles for the force. Then I get to have fun with basing. I really think these guys need some pastel red on their bases, so brick rubble might end up the default basing. A much faster way to base would be to go with brown muddy earth with pockets of flowers and plants. I like the idea of pairing these bastions of evil with something beautiful like a patch of flowers.

I had planned to jump into my 40k army project after these guys are done, but Age of Sigmar might derail that. I read the rules and really like them. I wish GW had gone for alternating activation, but having random player order for each game turn is an ok compromise.

German Heer Awaiting Bases

I finished the last batch of German soldiers this afternoon. I'll take close up photos once I have bases on them. For now, it is just nice seeing them all together as a platoon. I am hoping that between this box, and the Pioneer box, that I don't need to paint any more German infantry. When the vehicles for this force are completed I should have enough models to play a wide variety of games. This platoon will play far differently than my early war platoon given the inclusion of assault rifles and panzerfausts.

German Infantry Platoon WIP

I began painting this platoon for another one of our Big Bolt Action Games, but I had forgotten about a mini-camping trip my wife had planned. Given that, there is no need to paint at blistering speed. I can slow down and take my time with the last batch of germans to the right of the completed bunch. However on the off chance it rains this weekend, I think might press on, and completed the army. It would be nice to have a new force for Historicon.

How shall I base these guys? Should I go damp earth with fall colored fallen leaves? Should I bases them on wet mud? Should I try to make ruined city bases for them. That would lighten the base providing contrast, as well as allow me to add little splashes of urban debris such as as bricks and wood. I suppose a basing bake off is in the making.