Terrain: Building under construction

I had a busy weekend. A lot of garden furniture and whatnot had a coat of wood preserver. I only spent a couple of hours on the Saturday, but I was hard at it for nearly six on Sunday. That's what good weather's for, isn't it? As a result, I was a bit zonked out. I'm back at it now, anyway. I saw a few things last week which made me think I should have a go at a Middle Eastern house with a courtyard. One was this new Warlord kit. They do several nice buildings - if only there were more money in the world. Anyway, inspiration also struck in the form of the buildings in an AAR on Warseer by sigur. I'm sure there was a third one, but I can't seem to remember it now. Anyway, I decided to use a bit of plasticard for the base. I'd previously cut it out for another building, which is going to get a somewhat larger base to stand on. I sharpened a few matchsticks and used them to pin the walls together. I did a lot of dry-fitting, added a courtyard wall, and started work on a staircase. Then I decided to add a single-storey building in the courtyard to break up the staircase. I carved out a few doorways and windows, then hot-glued the whole together and to the base.

Here she is as she stands. I am going to apply some filler and sand to the outside of the building next. I don't want to muck up the windows I have waiting, so they'll be stuck on once the gloop has been applied and dried. Hence the roofs have yet to be applied to the main building and the courtyard extension. I've propped them in place for the second pair of photos to give some idea of how the building should look on completion.

40K Tanks: Leman Russ Vanquisher and Punisher

I'm not up to speed on Imperial Guard things these days. Astra Militarum - the stars of female soldiers? My Classicist's bones creak in protest. Eh, that's GW: if you can't stand the badly beaten corpse of Latin moaning and pleading for its life in the corner, stay out of the writers' way. Anyway, today I'm continuing with some work I started last time on converting some turrets I made years ago to serve on Leman Russes. The first one I trimmed the barrel back a bit, and inserted a Punisher barrel I made yonks ago. I recall I had some idea of a twin Punisher cannon on a Macharius variant  (as in forty shots, not 20 rerolled ones), and I still have that turret somewhere. The second I added most of the barrel from an old Vanquisher turret I partly scratchbuilt and partly kitbashed even longer ago. Maybe eight or nine years, that. It seems to me to have a vaguely WWII German look to it - maybe a Panther. The barrel length seems really disproportionate to the hull and turret size, and that tinkles that little bell that says Panther. I may do a couple more conversions of these old turrets. If I wanted to round out what was the Guard armoury last time, there'd be the Executioner, Exterminator and Eradicator to produce. I could make them all, but I don't want to push myself beyond what I'm willing to do.

40K Tanks: Leman Russ and Demolisher

Another blast from the past, this. Several years ago I knocked up a few ridiculously tall Demolisher turrets. I'd like to say, they're more realistic than GW's, but these were early efforts, and are possibly (probably) both less realistic and less attractive than GW's work. Nonetheless, they have a certain nostalgic slab-sided charm for me, so I dissected the base of an old Russ turret, and married it to a Russ I'd made from leftovers and plasticard years ago. More charming by far is the regular Leman Russ. I had in mind a miniature Imperial tank which toted just a battlecannon in a turret, and a Heavy Bolter/Flamer in a frontal hull position. The sole one I made before losing interest and energy is quite adorable, but I knocked up ten turrets before succumbing to weakness. I'm pretty happy with them, and decided to convert a few to fit on the ragtag assembly of hulls I have sitting around these days. If they have a flaw, it's that to avoid creating a shell-trap, I have had to move the turrets quite far back. The turret hanging over the engine compartment doesn't bother me, but the hatches not being aligned with the neck does. But I like them anyway. Expect a few more soon.

Assault on Lead Mountain: 15mm ACW

Some of these models, the larger swisher ones, have been sitting around for a few years, but some of these lads, the small general and the lancers, may have been waiting to be painted for as long as two decades. There was an ad in Miniature Wargames back in the early '90s for both Confederates and Union forces: cavalry, infantry and artillery. I bought them, but I didn't have any paints. I think I made some abortive attempts with Dad's Humbrols, but oils just aren't my thing. They have languished ever since. I'm finally getting to work on them and the more recent purchases. I made a fairly accurate count, and there are about 700 infantry and horse that have no more than a basecoat. This is going to take a long time. Here's the start I've made. I don't think any two of the generals have exactly the same shade of grey jacket. That's the way I like it.