047 Snipers!

The people spoke...and the people demanded snipers. I hate the Ratling models, so I use these instead.

Well - here's five of them. I was going to do six (I have 10) but wanted to finish something! Please explore the pics below: I didn't crop them as I liked the scale, but the early evening light seems to have given everything a blue tint that it doesn't actually have - sorry! Behind them you'll note the upgraded (read: "rusted") tin-can storage tank, and I've included a back view to display their camouflage cloaks (evidently not chameleoline!). I also did a bit of masonry paintwork on one of them, just to try it out. That's the last pic:


Cheers,

- Drax.

046 Tin Can Alley (Now with 25% Extra Free!)

Hullo, All.

Just thought I'd share somethig I'm happy with. Compared to some of the awesome projects going on in this blogging community it pales into insignificance, but I'm rubbish at getting scenery done, so I was pleased to finish the following storage tank in one afternoon. It's taken from the idea in the Apocalypse book (I think), and since I took this photo I've added a fairly effective rust effect - again, a first for me. Here it is (balanced - for some reason - atop a bedsheet):

Oh, and those snipers are very nearly done. Watch this space. And Kate'll be home soon, so that'll make Drax happy!

Here's an update, in the wake of Ron's query (see comments):

I might do a step-by-step if I make another storage tank (I probably will), but in the meantime, here is the sketch I made on the back of the cereal packet afterwards, so I could remember the dimensions:

NB: This is a standard British food tin (420g of baked beans, in this case). 420 grams is...some ounces. But please note, if you're on t'other side of the Pond, your tins come in different shapes and sizes to ours.

Also, the annotation from the diagonal cross-beam reads as follows: "rule the diagonal; guess the width of beams" (I did this freehand).

Dimensions: In this example, the main measurements (on appr. 1mm thick cereal packet card) are: 232mm x 125mm. That 125mm width is actually slightly narrower than the label, but it's fiddly to measure 125.5mm! The length divides into four panels of 58mm, and all the uprights and horizontals are 15mm wide, as is the top cross (cut to fit from a broader cross). The extra girders on the uprights give it the appearance of rigidity and were just quickly cut freehand, about 3-4mm wide.

Rivets: These were 'drilled' through with a mini screwdriver (about 2mm flathead with a rotating base, like a pin vise. I don't know what these are technically called, I'm afraid,) and although I didn't measure them, they do follow the patterns marked on the first and second panels in the sketch.

There you go!

Cheers,

- Drax.

045 Games Day III

Hey all,

This, then, is the third installment of Games Day pics. There may be more when (if) my mate forwards them to me, but as I think he's about to go to Canada for a while, this may take some time.

Basically, the other thing that really took my notice there was the display from these guys: The Ammo Bunker. I was impressed by the scenery and massively moreso by the IG conversions by 'Digits', one of their senior bods. Digits was also particularly friendly and helpful with explaining his techniques, many of which I'm now itching to try. All these pics are of his stuff, and they're worth looking closely at:




I did sign up for The Ammo Bunker (do check it out - they've some smashing stuff!), but sadly I can't even begin to understand how the forum-thing works, so I think I'll stick to blogging for the most part: Drax has not left the building.

As for my opinions of Games Day UK '08? Well, it was definitely a great deal of geeky fun, but I think I was - at best - whelmed. Not underwhelmed, and not hugely overwhelmed...just whelmed. It didn't help that the sales staff apparently didn't figure that a lot of people might just want to buy the new stuff - they seemed to sell out of all the cool toys (eg: I thought I'd buy Apoc: Reloaded; my mate fancied the new Codex: Space Marines) within about an hour. Surely they could have anticipated such a surge...it's not like they're amateurs at making a quick buck! Ah well...their loss.

- Drax.