Three-time Petrichor City 400 winner

The art busy-ness is increasing. Today, I did some minor work on my samurai, but I also found time to throw this "Mouse and Friends" acrylic painting together (1' x 2'.)

It commemorates Raccoon's third win in the Petrichor City 400. Raccoon, before he came to meet Mouse, at one time raced for the Quick Pickle Team. Quick Pickle manufactures and sells pickle-dispensing vending machines.

42mm Japanese civilians

Here are all of the new figures. The kago is not yet glued to the carriers, so I can get them easily painted first. The two figures in the center of the photo below are converted from the baggage carrier figures (I like my fisherman.) And the lady with the walking stick is also a (very slight) conversion of the core figure with the parasol. All other figures are as-is, save for the addition of brass rod and thread lashings here and there.

I still need to doublecheck for gaps where arms are attached and fill'em with green stuff, but otherwise, all the figures are cleaned up, assembled and ready for priming.

I did make one big mistake: There were two large panels to make up the kago roof, and the two pieces are supposed to be peaked (like an upside-own "V") over the beam. I actually prefer my flat roof, and there are enough kago/norimono styles to justify it, so no biggie. I'll assemble the next one as it's supposed to be modeled.

Kago retinue wip

Just keeping you up to date on the kago progress (and trying to get back to good blog-posting habits.)
Here are my two baggage carriers, dry-fitted together. I replaced the yokes with brass rod for durability, and some thread lashings for added strength and stability. I filed out shallow grooves on the shoulders of my carriers so that the yokes settle in nicely; they are also and are balanced.

I have four baggage carriers, but I'm converting the other two into peasants. One will have a yoke with two buckets, while the other will be carrying a bucket in one hand and a fishing rod over his shoulder. I may commission a couple more civilians/peasants in the future; I'd like to have a few for a nice little scene on the tokaido. The core figure that makes up the kago and baggage carriers is ripe for conversion ideas; all I need are some different arms (the left arm comes separate) and maybe a new head or two. Maybe I can get Steve to sculpt me some Japanese buckets, too -- I hate making my own :)

The whole retinue is coming along slowly but surely. I just do a little bit each evening, which is all I have time for right now. Plenty of other things to do: I'm working on a children's book; I'm reading Moby Dick (and enjoying the hell out of it); and I'm working longer hours at work while one of my staff is on vacation. But I think this set is worth the wait and patience.

Steve Barber's 42mm Norimono

Thanks to Allison for letting me know that the "Kago" is actually the simpler, commoner's version of the Japanese palanquin, and that the more elaborate versions are actually called norimono, though, I think mine is a little on the low-end side of elaboration compared to some of the museum pieces I've seen.

Still, I will continue to call it a kago, only because it's shorter to type :)
Anyway, here is mine all assembled. Ideally, the larger kago should have four carriers (I think,) but I didn't want this model to get too overwhelming.I think a four-carrier version of this model could easily be made with the addition of a longer yoke and two more carrier figures.

To give you an idea of the size, the base these are on is 50mm x 100mm (figures are 42mm). The next thing I'm trying to figure out is if I'm going to paint the carriers and then afix them to the kago yoke, or assemble the how thing and paint it all at once. Has anyone here done something like a stagecoach or wagon with team? How did you approach the paint? Everything as one piece, or each element separately and then assemble?

Seriously cool set from Steve Barber

My little retinue (with extra copies of the baggage carrier and an extra lady. The ladies come with parasols, but I will give one of them a walking stick for variety. The kago is dry-fit here, hence, the gaps.

My "kago" arrived from Steve Barber Models, and it is seriously cool!

Window screen up or down? Mine will be up.

I commissioned Steve a few months ago to start working on these figures, which include the kago (the Japanese word for palanquin,) its carriers, a baggage carrier model, a lady and a bodyguard.

Steve had the foresight to put an option for one of the kago windows to be open or closed; this leaves the possibility of commissioning a passenger in the future -- diplomat, tax collector, concubine or daimyo off to serve his time in Edo. Whoever the passenger might be, that commission will have to get in line (I do have another project on Steve's desk once I pay my money.)

Her majesty's matched luggage! (Sorry, no mogs in this set.)

It will take a little work to get everything cleaned up and assembled. I'll probably do my usual routine and replace some bits with brass rod for added strength and such, but the set is excellent as is, and I think it's going to look great on the table.

For a paint scheme, I will paint a uniform design on all the baggage- and kago-carriers.
To pull everything together, the bodyguard will probably have a similar uniform, though, not the exact same as the carriers.

The ladies present an opportunity for some unique floral patterns. I'll have to do a little research, at least to find something I actually have skill enough to paint.

The other side of the kago (sorry for the cruddy photos; I was in a hurry to share pics of my new toys.) Also, I noticed my dry-fit is wrong: the side windows should be toward the back -- just a matter of swapping sides with the sidewall pieces.

Zombicide: VIP zombies

I'm slowly but surely getting back into painting. I thought a good way to take it easy but still feel like I got a lot done was to finish up some more monochromatic zombies. So I painted my VIP zombies from Season 3 of Zombicide.

I used the same old method as the normal gray zombies, adding white (light gray, actually) around the edge of the base to denote their VIP status. I didn't pick out as many (or any?) details as I usually do -- I wanted to finish these fast -- but the effect still works, and these will look fine in a game.

Since I'm not using zombivors in any of my games, I think I will paint them (around 30) also as VIP zombies, but I will paint them to fit in with my skinner zombies. Hopefully, Guillotine Games will offer a separate box of skinners so that I can paint up some crawlers as VIPs, too.