The Blog of Michael T. Murphy and his lifelong obsession with "little army men" and their imaginary glory, miniature wargaming, and other things...

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Of Gencon, unemployment, and needing to paint...

August is pretty much done, and with it, goes the summer...
Gencon came and went, and the lady and I spent a day at the con just in the dealer room.
While there I cleaned up on Starship Trooper stuff, and bought some more figs, including some Pulp Figs of Bob Murchs' from RLBPS, (and sometimes dealing with Bob reminds me of the thing called "customer service").
Other than that I haven't really done that much.
I've re-read "Achtung Schweinhund!" (again), and looked over the new WI mags...
And now that my job is played out, I think I will have much MUCH more time to paint and build...
*sigh*
And pics to come...

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Hard Armor and Low Rent Housing...

(Aka, what's on my worktable this week...)
Well I've gotten photos of some of my recent projects and thought I would share them with you.
This week I am working on exclusively armor. A nice order to Scale Creep, brought me 6 T-55's, 3 T-62's, 1 ZSU-23-4 and a ZSU-57-2.
This is the last of the major "Hard Armor" purchases for Bongolesia.
The T-55's and ZSU-57-2 are allocated to form the new tank units of the NDF, while the T-62's and the ZSU-23-4 are allocated to the Presidential Guard, and the Shilka pulls double duty as tactical ADA around Sudekia in the event of an airstrike AND is used as a possible riot deterrent / crowd control device
I'm going to admit that I have a love/hate affair with QRF minis. The love part is that they make some great stuff that no one else does and it closes the gap of stuff that is needed for modern 15mm gaming; but the bad part is that oftentimes you get a mini that is very flash heavy, and has a little bag of "fiddly bits", that you are not sure where they go, and because QRF doesn't include instructions or diagrams to show you where they go.
This was the problem with the ZSU 23-4. I finally figured it out with some illustrations, but it's a common gripe that I hear.

On the worktable, 6 T-55's and 3 t-62's...A ZSUs 23-4 and 57-2. Primed and ready for assembly and painting...To be done this week....(fingers crossed)....

A close up of the T-62's and the Shilka...The T-62's are a nice kit. Less flash than the T-55 and just seem to be of a higher quality casting. Perhaps the T-55 molds are wearing out some? A thought for an email to QRF this evening....
Meanwhile not all vehicle work is military or has a big gun and goes BOOM!.
I took one of the 69 Cent tanker trucks that I got a year ago, and took off the fuel tank. Putting a flat bed on it, I'm going to make it a heavy cargo truck...will it carry goods, troops, weapons, or black market items?...Stay tuned to find out...
Here's a comparision shot of the modified truck. Dremel made this soooooooooo much easier...

The flatbed awaiting further work...

For 69 cents you CAN'T go wrong with these little sweeties...
Even Bongolesias need housing and unfortunately some of them DON'T qualify for what is termed "public housing" there in Bongolesia, so the really poor and down on their lucks, create small shanty towns or "Slummie-villes" to live in. I've already got a few of these done, (and featured on the Bongolesia blog), but here are some more in "rough fashion...
As the week wears on, I'll post pics and reports of them as they get finished, painted, and weathered to look like the rest of the slummies that I have...Just remember...In these places, the ten second rule DOES NOT APPLY...ewwww....

A side shot of slum shanty project #2


Front and side shots of slummy shanty #1. One can almost hear the constant buzzing of the numerous fat flies as they swarm around you in the sultry, sweaty, sticky, heat...
Stay tuned for further updates!