For AMESFA

Stage-by-stage of an Empire spearman from games Workshop. In other news- the Nile steamer is primed and ready for painting!

Tedious work, fittings and framing

I've finished framing the windows and doors. It's just a simple basswood, 1-beam frame. I'm not doing molded, double-hung windows here- this is an amateurish effort at best anyway; though I still want the final item to look nice. I've also received some fittings from Bluejacket, a ship model supply company in Maine. The fittings are priced OK; shipping was a bit on the high side, but everything arrived inside of two days. I also have attached hinges to doors and just have to install the doors. The ships wheel and a custom-built binnacle (by me) is primed and will be the first thing to be painted! The ship is essentially done after the doors and wheel are installed! I'll actually prime the ship before installing the doors. Other details like rope, tarps and railing can be put on after painting. This way, I'll have a finished ship that can be gradually "campaigned." My original estimate of 20-30 hours (is that what I said?) seems to have been an accurate one; I'm up to about 20 hours now and have just the painting and minor details. Oh- and I still need to find a gun for the foredeck; this also can be added after painting.

Nile Steamer upper deck planked and overview of project

Nile river steamer pilot house

Here's exterior detail from the pilot house. I'm waiting for the wheel being sent by post right now. The interior will have just the wheel, a fold-down bench and maybe, if I can work one out, a binnacle- though that piece of equipment won't be necessary for a river-craft.

Nile river steamer update

OK, so as far as it is coming, the class of ship my recent project most resembles, I would say, is that of a turn-of-the-century Nile river steamer. But this one is meant for rivers across the world including the Congo, the Yangtze and the Amazon.

I ordered a few extra bits- liferings, hatches, wheel and anchor- that will be arriving in he next few days. I still need to hunt down a gun for the foredeck, and a couple machineguns. I'd like some Lewis guns, but it looks like my best bet will be maxim machineguns. I hope to be able to get the armament from Copplestone Castings.

She still has no name, but I have a few ideas: Fleuve Perdu (French for Lost River); Kurtz (after the famous Heart of Darkenss character); S.S. Reckless, a good pulp name; S.S. Daring- also pulpish; and the Sophie, just a nice woman's name.

Update on my shallow-draft ship

Toot toot!

Three guesses as to what I'm building here. I hope I can get it built faster than the last one. The last one's hull sat around for 6 months before I got the guts to plank it and finish it. This one shouldn't be too hard; Just needs to be planked and a couple deckhouses put on it (as well as a pilot house.) I'll eventually have to find a crew as well, but the crew will have to match the scale of Copplestone's figures pretty closely. So we'll see how it goes the next few weeks. I'm predicting only about 20 to 30 hours of actual work on this boat at the most. Planking the hull will take the longest, and adding details (such as anchors, fittings, whistles, pipes, guns etc) will take the second longest. The hull is 29 1/2 inches long with a 5 1/2 inch beam. In (28mm) scale, this puts this ship about 120 feet long with a 22-foot beam (roughly.) I'll use it for games as well as a scenic base for many of my Pulp figures (mostly Copplestone.) Should be fun!!

Expedition

Here's an expedition made up of white men, sherpa porters, bagage yaks and various guides and assistants. I use them for pulp gaming including "Lost World" dinosaur hunting games.

Wargames Painting and Modelling

So if you haven't heard of Wargames Painting and Modelling (online magazine) yet, go check it out over at http://www.thecourtjestersstudio.com/WPM/home.html

Great articles all dedicated to the art of painting figures (of all scales.)

AND ... in issue 3, is an article on painting miniatures in black and white..by me :) I hope you enjoy.

I like the magazine both for its content and its use of LARGE photos so you can see exactly where the paint is being layed down on the figure. The magazine also takes contributions and offers free advertising (for wargames and miniatures companies that is.)

transition

So, while I await the mood to strike me to put together a bunch of 15mm scale Tiger tanks, I picked up where I left off (MONTHs ago) on my Back of Beyond 28mm figures. They have been going very fast compared to the 40mm cowboys. Maybe because there's less space to cover with the paint?

I figured it would be a little harder going back to a smaller scale, but if anything, it feels easier! Part of it could be that the sculpts are Copplestone's- a painters figure sculptor. Part of it could be that I am familiar with the subject matter.Part of it could be that the 40mm figures allowed me to loosen up.

Whatever it is, I've been completing 2 or 3 figures a day the past week. I'll post a group picture when I'm finished. I'm working on a pulp Lost World expedition. My interpretation includes a yak train with Tibetan porters, guides, hunters etc. I hope to add a truck to the group soon. All of the group (except for the truck) are Copplestone. He's my all-time favorite (and the reason I started this blog.)

Nothing new

Sorry I haven't posted in a couple weeks. I'm switching projects from 40mm old west to 15mm WWII Flames of War minis. Sometime in the next few weeks, I also will be doing that Sash and Saber stagecoach as well as a stage-by-stage painted Games Workshop spearman for a local club.

So I have stuff lined up, just nothing yet to post. So check in once a week or so, and hopefully I'll have something for y'all!