Sometimes You Need Forty Feet of Bocage

I've been playing bolt action for a while now, and have grown to really enjoy how interesting battles are that take place in Normandy. In order to do the French countryside justice, I finally decided to make a boat load of bocage. I think these will work equally well at 1/72 scale as well as 28mm. (yes I know one of those is a height and the other is a scale)

With 40 feet of the stuff, I think we are going to be able to set up some really nice tables. Once an old stone french church is added it will be perfect.

Bocage Recipe

1. Buy a green natural air filter and cut into sections
2. Base coat bocage sections with brown paint
3. Dust bocage sections with tan paint from above
4. Spray 3M adhesive all over sections
5. Roll bocage around in tray of woodland scenics tree tufts. (use at least three colors)

Stug Zug For NOVA Open

A while ago we decided to give Bolt Action a try at 1/72 scale. When we finally have forces painted, this will allow us to play with all of the 1/72 scale models on the market. The scale is also helpful in that individual infantry are still individually based. That satisfies our group need to not abstract a squad into a single base. I had not intended to put these into the painting competition, but I think these came out pretty well.  What I am most excited about, was proving to myself that I could paint at this scale, and produce models that make battles more interesting to watch.

So, with only two days left before the NOVA Open, I'd like to invite all of you to partake in the speed painting competition, and to watch me compete. Please steal techniques if I happen to have any techniques that are new to you. You are also welcome to kibitz during my painting session Thursday at 3:00PM.

NOVA Open Narrative Event Model

I was lucky enough to receive the NOVA Open 2015 event model from the man himself, MVB. Using the only artwork I've seen for these guys, I tried to paint the Virtue in various dark metallics with blue overtones towards the face. One of the things I like about the model is the scale. It looks closer to 20mm rather than 28. I've thought heroic 28mm was too large for a while. After getting into Bolt Action and painting Perry Brothers Miniatures I find it hard to like heroic scale. Smaller scales mean there is more space to maneuver making battlefield terrain more important. If you like this model, then I think the nova store will be selling them. I challenge our community to upgrade the piece to show the marine winning the fight. Seriously who wants humanity to loose!

Krieg Macharius WIP

 

This guy was banned from the narrative event at the nova open along with all of the other super heavies. So rather than let it go to waste, I decided to add detail and submit it to the Capitol Palette. It is probably a good thing I can't use it in the game, since it is one of my stronger pieces. I am very happy with the overall feel the model imparts. I've got some more painting to do next week before the event.

Ferdinand Color Modulation And NOVA Speed Painting Competition

This year at the NOVA Open, there is a speed painting event where the goal is quality. Instead of painting blind folded, or while balancing on one toe, or with a house painters brush, this competition provides real hobby tools, and is aimed at producing great models. It is also sort of a public demonstration, which means you can watch all of the competitors paint. If you'd like to come and chat with me while I furiously attempt to paint a tank in 2 1/2 hours, please do so. I may be a little distracted due to the time constraints, but if you've ever wondered how I work, you'll be able to see it first hand. If you are competing as well, come watch. It might give you ideas for when your round comes up.

Now that that is out of the way, what are you looking at here? This is one of the coolest tanks of ww2 a Ferdinand. This tank was build on surplus Porsche Tiger chassis which ended up not being used. These things were enormous, and bizarrely lacked any anti-infantry weapon systems. After Kursk they were pulled back and refitted with machine guns, vastly improving the survivability of the crew. When they were not busy catching themselves on fire or otherwise breaking down, these were delivering long range pain. If you were a tank, and a Ferdinand had you in its sights, you were dead. This is an actual tank as delivered to the front. Later in its career it gained light green spots. This depiction of it is probably a too dinged up for the pre-spots incarnation, but I liked how it was coming along and stopped at this stage.

The first shots in the series show the pre-shading prior to details and weathering.  The model is meant to be looked at from the front, which allows the high lights to draw the viewer in. The weathering was accomplished with Mig brown oil wash, SWM weathering powders, and a pencil.


Nova Open speed painting competition Thursday 3rd from 3:00-5:30

Building A NOVA Display Board Step By Step

This year I needed a simple, lightweight display board that would show off my DKoK army well. The DKoK force is so large that I needed to maximize space. To that end, I decided that less was more, and simplified the design. this board cost probably less than $30 dollars to make. This board was fairly easy to build, and if you avoid some of the traps I fell into it can look really good. 

Step 1: Cut pink foam to the desired dimensions using home depot wooden yard sticks as a frame. 

Step 2: Use a wire brush scrape the detail into the board

Step 3: Make a slurry of magic merlin plaster and coat the entire board thinly. This will dry hard to the touch in 30 minutes. All of the details need to be added now. Add sand, small rocks, balsa wood, jerry cans, oil barrels, and chains as necessary. I just pushed these into the wet plaster.

Step 4: Without priming, mix alcohol with weathering powders and paint on the gunk. I used two types of SWM rust colors, as well as their green color. These were essentially wet mixed.

Step 5: Dust the entire board with weathering pigments. Again, this was done with no primer. Once the board was coated in pigments I dumped a lot of alcohol on the board to set the pigments and get them to run. 

Step 6: Dust the board with the mid-tone pigment and highlight pigments. I used SWM green earth and SWM yellow earth to do this. I dusted yellow earth along the embankment.

Step 7: Steal a pot from the kitchen and melt woodland scenics realistic water in it. It comes in little pellets. Pour the water onto the display board and let it cool. I used popsicle sticks to spread the edges of the water/plastic out so a raised lip was not formed. I also poured the mixture into the craters. This is where all hell broke loose. The craters melted and the water started eating through the display board. One you are happy with the water, using a cooking torch I heated the surface to remove bubbles. It was at this point that I noticed that the debris in the river had started to melt, and that paint had come off large sections of it.

Lessons Learned: Use resin for the water, and don't dump so much alcohol on the board that it requires napkins to soak up.

DKOK Army With Display Board

With an army this large I had to keep the display board relatively flat, and simple. I did want a little bling though, so I followed my earlier sketch and added a river of gunk. It should have been a tiny creek of gunk, but I over poured the water effects, so this is what I have. The real novelty of the board is not something you can see, but something you can feel. The board is extremely light. I made it out of pink foam, but then covered it in merlin's magic, which is a type of hard plaster. Another new feature is a set of guide rails under the board that keep it from slipping off of the stand.

All of the painting on the board was done with pigments. It wasn't even primed. I won a box of SWM pigments last year, and I have been working my way through them at a furious rate. They are simply awesome. The water effects were a hot pour, which meant a lot of my plastic details melted, and a few of of the wooden debris caught fire. There is some cracking around the craters, but I don't think it is bad enough to warrant fixing. Fingers crossed for the car ride over to NOVA. That is when the real damage happens.

let me know if anyone wants to see WIP shots of the board.