Tag Archives: Workbench

WWII Train Track “How too”

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Several of you have asked how I did the train tracks for my WWII 20mm set (featured in the last posts Battle report) and I remembered that I had taken pictures of the process done a few years ago intending to do a “workbench” article. So, digging deep I found them and wrote up a bit on what I did.

I use HO scale for my 20mm WWII games, yes it is just a bit small being 1/87 scale and 20mm being 1/72 but it is hardly noticeable and given how much is out there and how cheap you can pick it up for its a winner. I had done several games using the HO scale track before but it looked a bit phony just laying on top of the game map. Most train tracks are on a raised “roadbed” and I put my mind to trying to figure out how best to accomplish this. The raised roadbed would not only look better it would make the track stay in place better on the game table, as well as create the “berm” for troops to hunker down behind and tanks to go “hull down”

The first step was to determine the “roadbed” size for the different pieces of track I planed to use.

The roadbed is made from 3/16 plastic PVC sheet that you can pick up from plastic supply vendors (sign shops carry it many times). It comes in 4′ x 8′ sheets but most suppliers have some cut offs or will split a sheet for you. It’s a very handy material for all sorts of wargaming projects.

After determining the different sizes I would need I made a master for each type and then traced enough outlines to the PVC

Care has to be taken at each step to make sure the “ends” all match size wise so the track is interchangeable from piece to piece and end to end. I then used a bandsaw to cut the “angle” on each side. If you do not have a bandsaw you can use a small hobby copping saw. When doing this “angle” I created irregular sides to make the pieces more natural looking. Just take care to make sure the ends remain uniform. The first saw cuts are made straight, the second pass the cut is made at an angle and irregularly.

All the basic roadbeds done.

A Dremel rotary tool with a rough grinding tip followed by sandpaper smoothed out the sides again to make it look natural.

While not essential I went an extra step and used magnets on each end of a section so that they would stay together better. If you do this pay close attention to the polarization on your magnets.

I should mention that in the picture above the magnets are all FLUSH MOUNTED! The picture shows how I made sure the polarity was correct by using my “master” track, then sticking the next track pieces magnets to that “masters” magnets, applying a small amount of super glue and using the “master” track to push the other tracks magnets in to place. This assures a flush mount with no gap. By then sliding the track pieces sideways to separate them instead of just pulling them apart the glue can dry without bonding the track pieces together. When finished the magnets on both pieces are flush to the ends of the track.

All the PVC was primed using a good automotive primer. I use fast drying Krylon black primer.

Cheap brown poster paint did the trick for the earth color berm.

The tracks received the same treatment, Krylon primer, then brown poster on the tracks as well.

The next step is to mount the tracks to the roadbed. Take your time and get the track EXACTLY centered so no matter what combination you do they line up! Do one track as the master and then you will line every other track to match that one.

Once I had the “master track” set and pinned in place I glued the track down with Super Glue (not cheap stuff hobby quality) then carefully painted white glue in between the tracks and sprinkled rock “ballast” in and around.

When done right all your tracks should line up no matter the piece or order the are laid out in. The track on the left has only the black primer coat and a thin coat of cheap brown to give the wood, iron and rust effect. The track on the right has been finish painted. Wood, bare steel, and rust highlights make it look real!

Green flocking, the same shades that I have done my game mats with is added to help blend in the roadbed. Bushes, brambles and tufts were the used to break up the sameness and again make it all look more natural and realistic.

The finished product! I was pleasantly surprised at how good they came out and how well they work in games.

Next project is to do just a bit more track, 1/2 sections and end sections with bumper stops. I also want to do a few bombed out and destroyed sections. Then onto repainting the train engines and rolling stock to make it look more WWII period European. If you enjoyed the article please leave a comment!

 

Dogs of War has a brighter future! Lights, Saga, Action!

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Well just a few bits and pieces from “my world of wargaming”.

The family did a lot of last-minute shopping for me this Christmas and since “dad” likes weird stuff (wargaming stuff) many of my gifts didn’t arrive until long after Christmas. Not a bad thing since all through January the mail was full of great items to brighten the work week!

The first items were the “new” SAGA rules, meaning SAGA II, the basic rules, along with the Vikings and Crusaders supplements, and finally the Book of Battles. There are lots of game systems out there that redo their rules, some that do it with annoying frequency (and not always to make them better as much as make them money!) but Studio Tomahawk has done a good job with the “revamped” rule sets, tons of great reading and I believe an even better game justifying the expense in upgrading.

The rules do not really change in spirit or basic structure, its more a re-balancing, clarifying, and expansion of the first set. I have played 2-3 games using them and the transition was very easy and felt smooth.

I liked that the designers have continued to look at their product, the feedback provided by players directly, and through the active Studio Tomahawk forum then made the right changes to improve and expand the game without making original players of the game feel like their previous experience and armies were now useless (a common occurrence with several other well-known companies).

I’ve also been chipping away at my wargamers “to do” list and a big one on the list was to build some improved lighting for our game table down at the “Dogs of War” gaming group. Over the last year or so the “dogs” have been working to make the “Dog Pound” a better place to play, cleaning, building storage, tossing or selling unused / old gear, and one project was better lighting so we might better see all those beautiful miniatures on the table. This project took over a year of “thinking and research” to figure out just how and what would be the best way to do this. I / we wanted lighting that was easy to use and lite the table / miniatures without making the rest of the room look like an outdoor sports arena. I wanted the solution to look good, fit in with the club space, and not impact the members house much. Cost to build and cost of operation was also a factor. I wanted the unit to light our entire 10’ x 5’ table as evenly as possible so in the end I went with a 8’ long LED setup that would be dimmable as well! The unit hangs over the middle of the table and the design contains the majority of the light to the table exactly like pool table lights.

“Thar she blows” Lighting installed down at the “Dogs” above our 5′ x 10′ table!

I wont go into the building of the lighting fixture now, maybe latter in a “how to post or “Workbench page” but here are a few pictures to let you get the idea.

A dramatic improvement in my opinion. There is still a lot of work to be done on our remodel (chain will be swagged up out of the way)

Switch allows quick on and off as well as dimming.

To break in the new lighting Chris and I played a game of SAGA II using the Viking supplement. Chris took Vikings and added a Banner man while I played straight up Normans heavy on cavalry. I didn’t take many pictures but the game was fairly even for the first few turns until his Hearthguard charged up the hill to take out one of my Hearthguard cavalry units only to be counter charged by another of my cavalry units and wiped out.

Chris’s Viking hearth-guard charge up the hill eliminating one of my hearth-guard units only to be charged and wiped out by another of my Norman hearth-guard units the next turn! With our old lighting set up the excellent paint jobs on these guys could hardy be seen! This shot was done with no flash and no tripod!

The battle for the top of the hill raged on with Chris’s Warlord entering the fray hoping to end it. My Norman cavalry used the “Gallup” Activation/Reaction” option and moved off leaving his Warlord standing there surrounded by angry Norman infantry. A finial charge by my Norman warriors sealed his fate and outside of a few parting bow shots by both sides ended the game with a Norman victory.

One of my other gifts was the Studio Tomahawk rules “CONGO” they look great and I’ve already played one “test” game that was quite a bit of fun. I’ve always had a great fondness for the Darkest Africa figures from Foundry, Coppelstone, NorthStar, and others! I think CONGO will be the spark to get me painting sore of the pile of Darkest Africa figure on the shelf! I have played lots of Darkest Africa games in the past but some of the rules are a bit dated and no-longer available. These follow some of the same concepts from Studio Tomahawks other rules so may be a bit easier and acceptable to players familiar with those rules.

 

 

The first game under the new light, Darkest Africa isn’t so dark!

We used a pre-made scenario, basically capture the flag. Of course to make it interesting the flags were in the middle of a crocodile infested river flanked by enemy figures trying to put hole in you!

More on CONGO in the future…..

The finished light being test in my shop with a game of CONGO.

Swedish Army (Figures for a Friend) part 2

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Just a quick post to increase my sad flow of content here…lol! I do a lot more painting, building, and even playing than I post because posting is just not near as much fun or rewarding as “doing”! The last month though I have been making a real effort to catch up on projects that have been sitting on the shelf in various states of completion for one reason or another. I started by cleaning up the workbench and trying to make my painting process quicker without sacrificing the quality of work, since for me the building and painting are the most fun, playing is just an excuse to build and paint. Churning out mediocre troops in large numbers is not my thing. To do this I built a pretty cool painting accessory and changed my method of handling with the figures while painting slightly, more on that in a future article.

One of the first things to move to the finished pile was the last stage of the Swedish Army circa 1600 I had done as a commission for a friend. I had finished and delivered the main army last spring but the last part was the artillery section. Now my friend had pointed out that he had extra crew members for the piece and that one of them (the guy fusing the cannon balls) looked like he was making Swedish meatballs and could I possibly do a little vignette based on that. Well that itched my scratch building bones no end!

There was a lot of scratch building, the fire, frying pan, meat balls, spoon, mugs in the figures hands, “picnic cloth”, Rocks, bases, and trees. I’m not going to explain what I did as those of you who build will know and those of you who don’t wont care, I’ll simply present them and answer questions from your comments.

I did them as two bases, a sort of serious one and a fun one.

While one group mans the guns the other prepares the “Swedish Meatballs”

The “Assault Group” figures are very nice and a pleasure to paint.

Logs, fire, pan, spoon, and meatballs all made of two part kneadite epoxy.

This little vignette was just a hoot to work out and build!

The figure priming the guns is just a great sculpt and fits very well kneeling on the gun. Really makes the whole scene work!

What figures are those?

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“Who makes that miniature? I want one!” Most of us who game have heard that countless times and we reply “oh so & so miniatures out of England” or “such and such minis in New Jersey”. Some of us answer this way “I did” because we either did the figure from scratch or modified an existing figure.
Compared to 30 years ago when I started gaming the selection of figures, terrain, and miniature accessories has grown to a point where even some of the most obscure armies and periods are easily found and, in several scales, things we before only imagined are now found with just a few mouse clicks! For most people this is great, wonderful, but there are still quite a few of us who like the scratch building and customizing side of the hobby and that many times creates the problem that now commercially produced item do not fit the bill. When this is the case, for me out comes the saws, drills, sculpy, kneadite, green stuff, x-acto knives, and all the different materials and tools the scratch builder uses to bring his imagination to the table.
I thought for this post I would just toss up a few of my recent conversions.

These are 28mm “Old Glory” figures from one of their American Civil War packs. My buddy Steve has been painting a US force for use in battles from around 1880 to 1910 (Spanish American War to the Boxer Rebellion) and wanted some artillery limbers for them. He found some ACW limbers that would work but the figures all wore the Kepi style hat that would be wrong for the period. I took up the challenge to modify them with new headgear.

They came out better that I expected and only took about 15 minutes each to do.

On the right figure with “Kepi” style hat still in place. On the left, Kepi cut off and sculpted replacement.

The “Western” style wide brimmed hat was very popular with the troops in the sunny hot climates.

I think the hat conversion gives them the feel and look of a late US artillery crew.

“Escort Service” part 2

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These will make a great unit for the “Escort” scenario in SAGA

So for Part 2 of my “Escort Service” I finished up my pig herder and his swine. I also based these guys for ease of movement but tossed in a bit of a twist in that I did it like a movement tray. I did this because I wanted the ability to use these figure singly in other situations.

To make the base I used some sheet polystyrene the same thickness as my “LITKO” bases used for SAGA infantry, about 1/8 inch. I arranged the figures to my liking and then traced onto the polystyrene the area that would be the base. The base was cutout using a hobbyist sized band saw from Micro Mart.

This is a great tool to have in anyone’s tool arsenal! If you do not have one a “cooping” saw will do the job as well, well almost as well! The cut was done with a sloping angle edge to make it blend better with the terrain.

 

Next a sheet of thin magnetic sheet stock was cut in the same shape. This will later be contact cemented to the styrene base to both hold it to the storage drawer’s metal lining and help hold the figures in because of their magnetic bases.

I arranged the figures on the base again and this time traced their out lines onto the styrene in preparation for cutting the holes the figure will sit into later. My figure bases are round and 1 inch or 25mm. I used a 1 ¼”  “Fostner” bit in my drill press to cut the holes. A “Fostner” bit cuts perfect round holes not possible with a regular drill bit. Not cheap but you will only ever need one and used for cutting plastic will last your lifetime!

 

Once the holes are cut the pieces are assembled using contact cement and with a bit of finish sanding is ready for finish decoration. I use a recipe of Durham’s “Rock Hard” as a base material in landscaping and in 20 years found no problems. Mix it 80% with 15% white wood glue and 5% water. Just experiment with this formula until you get it right. It should be the consistency of porridge, easily spread on and a bit flowing. As it dries u can push it around for a natural unevenness. The glue is important since without it the “Durham’s” may chip or flake with table use.

Even though the individual figures are removable with a little effort you can make it blend very well and hardly noticeable in the base.

Once again I get wrapped up in the building and forget the pictures but I think you get the idea and feel free to ask question in the comments. I think it came out great and this now finishes 2/3rds or the “Escort Project” so see you soon for the last installment!

 

Building units for an “Escort Service”

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I always like to set “my” minis apart from the rest of the pack, go the extra mile. I enjoy when gamer’s say “are those so and so manufacture?” because they look a bit different. I do this in a couple of ways, painting, basing, and customizing the figures themselves. I like variety in my figures and sometimes a line doesn’t have enough different poses for me so I’ll grab some sculpting putty (two part green stuff) and have at it. Now I’m no sculptor, I don’t do whole figures, but I’m pretty fair at cutting models up and customizing them.

I’ve been trying to clean up some lose ends on the work bench and one of the projects sitting on the shelf for a while has been some Dark Ages civilians for SAGA scenarios. For the “Escort” scenario I needed three objective units and I had the minis for several carts, and a pig farmer and his pigs.

The collection of figures and carts getting prepped for “Escort” duty!

Most of the minis were from Gripping Beast and they are great figures BUT I was not satisfied with the way they would appear around the carts. I just didn’t think the poses were quite right; I wanted them to really appear as if they were pushing/pulling cart. There was also no wagon driver…. This led to them sitting half done on the shelf.

After looking at the project for about a year while I painted a few other SAGA warbands (Normans, Vikings, and Anglo Danes) I decided to do something about it. I decided that there was no way around it I was going to have to create a sitting driver. Now I’m no sculptor but I’m not bad at taking one figure and modifying it to be what I want, in fact that’s one of the most enjoyable aspects of this hobby.

I have nearly all the Foundry Vikings and consider them the best Viking line available. I have quite a few still unpainted and after going through them I soon found a likely candidate for customization. I wanted to have;

  1. One arm using a whip.
  2. One arm holding reins
  3. Legs easily modified to sitting position.
  4. No armor.

I found a great candidate and prepared for “surgery”

Arms were almost right to start with but the legs would be a lot of work.

The Figure was wearing a sword and that would have to be removed.

Foundry uses a good quality metal in their figures and cutting and filing are very easy. After studying the figure for a bit I determined where and what kind of cuts were needed. Some cuts like the arm were completely through but most were wedge type allow removal of a section to allow bending of the figure into the proper pose. After the cuts and bends the areas were made to look right with Kneadite “Green Stuff” sculpting putty. Cutting, bending, and lots of filing were done to the rear buttocks and leg area to create a sitting figure. To help “blend” the figure into the seat a sheepskin seat cushion was sculpted from more green stuff

Yellow lines show cuts made.

The figure also got a whip made of brass rod and a “Greenstuff” handle in the arm that normally held a spear. The green stuff was give a day to cure and primed and painted.

Brass whip really gives life to the figure!

The cart itself had already had work done to it to make it look better and have more detail. Since I wanted to have the driver holding some reins I wold have to create them and make it look believable. Very little real evidence on rigs from the period really exist but ox carts still in use today use much the same systems so a believable modification was worked out.

Sculpting putty was used to create pads on yoke as well as blend in the area where the horns were glued on.

I keep a lot of small cheap chains bought at a local craft stores “bead” section and used a few links to create the “iron work” as well as some small aluminum wire twisted and painted to look like rope.

Do you need this kind of detail? “I do!” it’s eye candy! The rope wire will be bent under the oxen’s necks, cut to length, connected, primed, and painted.

The white “centra” board is a thick plastic stock that later will be carved and customized into the base

Well it’s about here in most of my projects that I just get sucked to finishing them and forget to take pictures but its mostly done anyway. I did the reins, the base, and few little touches. There is still another figure to do but he will come later. Here’s a few closing shots of the finished project….enjoy! If you like it please leave a comment, it keeps us going!

The iron yoke work shown earlier can be seen here in it’s finished state as well as the base work. Ancient dirt roads looked much different than the ones used by cars today.

I think the finished yoke work came out nicely. the reins are simplified for project, but most just involved turning an animals head in the direction you wanted to go.

Much of the baggage was created from “Sculpy” modeling clay, as well as the tarp.

The reins are thick thread painted as rope and a hole was drilled in his hand to allow pass through. I really like how the figure came out. I not sure how the figure feels being taken from “warrior” status down to “cart driving farmer”?

Well it was a fun project and one of those pieces of “eye candy” that makes the battlefield come alive! I have several more projects in the “Escort” series and they will follow shortly.

Table ready!

 

Byzantine Birthday Build

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My main gaming buddy Steve Gausche had a Birthday approaching and being a guy with everything I had to figure out a gift he wanted, he needed, and something he couldn’t get anywhere else….? Easy! A Byzantine Cataphract! Steve had SAGA Byzantine Warband painted by “Monty” he purchased about a year ago, but it had not come with the very cool fully armored heavy horse cavalry used by the Byzantine Emperor Belasarious! Steve had mentioned several times he might pick up and paint some of these. Knowing Steve I sensed this would not happen soon if ever!

BYZ7So with a couple of clicks on Gripping Beast website a 4 figure unit of 28mm BZC06 Byzantine Kataphractoi were winging their way across the sea to me and my waiting paintbrushes. Within a week they were sitting on my “workbench” going through the pre-paint process. That’s where I trim flash, alter poses, and fix any casting problems a well as make custom changes to the figures. I like to have figures that are unique and a bit better than a just painted of the shelf figure set.

BYZ1BYZ2

One of the first problems I found in the casting was that the riders did not fit very well on the horses, they fit but if simply glued in place there would be huge apparent gaps between horse and rider. I’m somewhat of a perfectionist in my figure work and known for taking time with details that most of the time only I would notice….oh well that’s me!

BYZ6I knew that the gap was way to big for simple filling with glue. Even milliput of other filler would not look right. I decided to use kneadite, blue / yellow, the 2 part sculpting epoxy (used for sculpting figures from scratch) and sculpt the missing space to look like the rest of the figure. This would mostly be some padding and chain armor around the figures legs.

Besides the filling around the legs I would do scratch built steel spears, spear points, copper flags, and a few other additions. I was planning on just using decals for the shields but as usual I was not happy with that and painted the shields by hand. BYZ4BYZ3

The Byzantines Kataphractoi Cavalry used “Kontos” a very, very long spear (some estimate it at around 21’) and I wanted that to be represented on these figures if I could. The only problem with that was that a true scale 21’ spear would create problems with storage as well as their use on the battlefield. I chose to use a spear length of about 15 scale feet as it gave a good “long” look and still worked reasonably well for storage in my case.

To the spear I added some flags and pennants. I sculpted some horse tail pennants as well just to give variety. I was not sure about the job at first but later pictures show it came out great, in fact I sometimes forget it was not part of the factory “sculpt”.

BYZ5On to the prime coat and as with most of my “metal” mini’s I used “Krylon” auto primer flat black. This primer not only works great but is very inexpensive, about $5 a large can.

BYZ6p1

BYZ6p2

No more “gaps” after the additional sculpting/filling.

Well after this point I got into my painting mode and didn’t take another picture until they were based and painted! I think they came out quite nice. I went back and forth as to a shield design, at one point I was just going to decal them, but in the end I hand painted them BYZ9as I like to do. Its a lot more work but I think it then gives you a true hand painted figure. I’m not a real good painter (figures yes but portraits, no!) but I took a stab at painting the “Savior” on their shields as I thought that was very appropriate. This gives them the feel of “being Protected by their Faith!”

 

The “Kicker” of this who story of “Steve’s Birthday Figures” is that Steve was touched, happy, and impressed with the gift of the “Byzantine Cataphract” but let slip that he was thinking of selling the “warband” since he did not like playing them….Lol! So I guess I’ll just do a unit of Viking Archers for him as he will like them a whole lot more….. the Byzantine Cav?  Well I may sell them or I just might paint a Byzantine warband for myself!