October End of the Month Update: "Finished figs, more projects, and other things..."

 So since my last update I was able to jump right in and get some more figures not only painted but "COMPLETED"!!!!  Color me surprised.

Yes I have been a busy Murphy!

As October is rolling around to it's inevitable conclusion, I did a check of my painted figures status:

For the month of October:

Purchased: 0

Painted: 20 (15 18th Century/Pirates, 5 Fury of Dracula game piece figures)

This brings my total yearly count to:

YTD total:

Bought: 5

Painted: 136

Net: +135

I don't see myself finishing up any more figures for this month.

And while my numbers look good, Bob Murch (that evil man), of Pulp Figures is putting out a Colonial Kickstarter later on next week. And well...there goes my figure count, (As well as my money)....

Fops and Cutthroats! (My continuing journey into the 18th Century and Pirates)

(CLICK ON THE PICS FOR LARGER VERSIONS).

My foray into the 18th Century and Pirates continues!
First off we have "D'nembo the Pirate"...
Pirate, (Either Foundry or Dixon, I can't remember which)...
Mounted on a 1/4" base. Flocked with a mixture of GF9, GW, and Woodland Scenic groundwork.
Painted with a mixture of Reaper, GW, Vallejo, and Craft Paints.
Shaded with GW shades, and Dr. Martin Inks.

             

"D'nembo moved slowly through the countryside, pistol and cutlass at ready. His eyes slowly and carefully scanned the tree-line up ahead for anything. Truth be told, he would he happy to hear the sounds of life around him; the squawk or chirping of birds, or the occasional sound of a large animal. 

But here, there was no sound. 

Only silence.

Which to D'nembo meant "Nothing living was around him."

And this worried him greatly..."

Next up is:

Naval Officer, (Either Foundry or Dixon).

Mounted on a 1/4" base. Flocked with a mixture of GF9, GW, and Woodland Scenic groundwork.

Painted with a mixture of Reaper, GW, Vallejo, and Craft Paints.

Shaded with GW shades, and Dr. Martin Inks.

               

"Lord Mitchell looked on with slight contempt before sneering at what he saw in the town that he had recently arrived at.

Muddy, badly constructed cobblestone streets; dirty, ramshackle buildings, mongrel dogs wandering about, screaming women and their crying brats, drunkards everywhere....

And the smell.

Good Gods the smell!

"No matter." He said to himself. "A few quick roundups of the press gang will clear this dung heap of the drunkards and put them to good use for once in their miserable lives.  The whores will be cleaned out, the dogs shot down, skinned, and the meat given to the natives as they will probably eat anything. It'll take a bit of work to make this into a proper English town under the Governor's rulership and his Majesty The King's command, but it'll get done. But first, I need to try to figure out where I can find a decent claret, or a bottle of sherry, or even a decent bottle of port in this miserable place...."

This figure is named in honor of my best friend Mike Mitchell, who probably shares his need for a decent claret, sherry,  or bottle of port right now.... 

Next up were have:

English Duelist/Lily-Livered Gentleman Adventurer

(Foundry I think)...

Mounted on a 1/4" base. Flocked with a mixture of GF9, GW, and Woodland Scenic groundwork.

Painted with a mixture of Reaper, GW, Vallejo, and Craft Paints.

Shaded with GW shades, and Dr. Martin Inks.

               

"Cheppley Epperson was not a stout hearted fellow.

He never had been.

At his first riding lesson, at the age of five, the moment he was sat astride the horse, he wet himself thoroughly while bawling loudly to the situation he had been placed in.

At the age of six, when he met his first music tutor, he vomited loudly and horribly.

At the age of nine when his mother and father took him to his first operatic performance, the large lady in the Viking helmet with spear, shield, and loud screams from the cavernous maw that she called a mouth, unnerved him so badly that his bowels let loose.

He still doesn't like opera to this day.

His first kiss with a girl left him in a swoon and in bed to recover for almost three days. Thanks to a caring house nanny, who made sure he had plenty of weak tea, milquetoast, strained fruit, and bland vegetables, he was able to recover his strength, (As it were).

He has a weak stomach, a weak constitution, and a constant feeling of his senses being completely overwhelmed by anything out of his ordinarily scheduled items of his day. 

He is also a very picky eater.

He does like poetry however.

So imagine his unpleasant surprise at finding himself deposited in Port Haven, to establish a family estate, and improving their social station, status, and standing, and yet then realizing that he now had to resort to his brains and skills with weapons, (as well as what funds he was allocated, as well as only a small limited staff of servants), to help establish himself and create a profitable, socially acceptable, and powerful family estate in the rough and tumble harsh burg full of peasants and lower scum that called itself "A towne..."

"Still if there is yet to be something "good" said about this place it is that it is graced by the presence of two wonderful ladies, Lady Anne and Lady Sabrina. Both of whom are wonderful, delicate creatures also placed upon this abode of rock, sand, heat, misery, and foul aromas. Perhaps a tea and proper invitation and courtesy's should be arranged for myself with them, and if luck would have, fate could move things from there. Perhaps to courtship and even...ahem, marriage. It certainly would do well for both of us, and make life more pleasant here for everyone, as well as improving the station of our families, and father did say that I needed a wife soon, or people would start to talk." He said to himself as he pondered his own thoughts.

At that moment, (as if in response to his words concerning courtship and marriage), his innards let loose an obnoxiously loud, rumbling, sound.

"Oh dear...."

This figures last name is taken in honor of my friend Frank Epperson, who has a much stouter, and heartier constitution, and disposition than this fellow....

And what is the 18th Century, as well as gaming and pirate adventures without a hard as steel adventurer of Prussian origin? (And with only one eye also!)

Prussian Officer/Adventurer/Special Envoy/Agent to His Majesty King Fredrick Wilhelm I  of Prussia, aka: "The Soldier King" (1713-1740).

Mounted on a 1/4" base. Flocked with a mixture of GF9, GW, and Woodland Scenic groundwork.

Painted with a mixture of Reaper, GW, Vallejo, and Craft Paints.

Shaded with GW shades, and Dr. Martin Inks.

               

"Wolfgang Stahlherz, (of the "Von Stahlherz's"), takes aim with his pistol and does what he is trained to do best; put a lead ball on target and drop it like a stone with one shot. Many people have seen the eye patch of the one eyed Prussian as a weakness, and haven't lived to tell about it.

He handles his duties with the efficiency, drive, and dedication that is expected of upper crust highly trained sons of Prussia. 

His journey's may take him all over the world, but his heart though still remains in Bavaria with a young lady named Katrina, whom he hopes to return back to one day soon..."

*Historical note: After a successful assignment in the Carpathian Mountains in 1742, Wolfgang Stahlherz was found brutally murdered one night in a back street in Vienna, Austria. His lady love was never seen or heard from ever again....

English Duelist/Gentleman Adventurer

(Foundry I think)...

Mounted on a 1/4" base. Flocked with a mixture of GF9, GW, and Woodland Scenic groundwork.

Painted with a mixture of Reaper, GW, Vallejo, and Craft Paints.

Shaded with GW shades, and Dr. Martin Inks.

Not really happy with the GW violet shading as even after 2 spray coats of matte sealer, and 2 brushes of matte varnish, there is still a bit of "gloss" due to it.

               

"Lord Williams made sure that his pistols were ready to fire as he carefully approached the mausoleum, in the back parts of the old forgotten cemetery. 

He licked his dry lips, and felt his heart beating faster than normal; a sure sign of his excited-ness and anxiousness as to what could be waiting within past the greenish copper door that was halfway open, and seemingly trying to lure him into the darkness within.

"Hmmm..." He thought to himself. "Doors like that are only meant to be opened when a coffin is being carried in..."

He sucked in a breath of air before his thoughts turned to a darker side. "....And it's usually left that way when something is very busy wanting to get out..."

His thoughts ran back to the previous three evenings ago when he met the charming young girl at the ball. A beautiful young lady full of poise and grace, and yet there was something unnatural about her, that despite her charms, set off warning bells inside of him. She seemed so familiar...so...tempting."

He cleared his head of the image and thoughts of her, and checking his pistols yet once again, his hidden dagger, (along with his crucifix, and three vials of salt and holy water that he had concealed within his vest), he steeled himself for what he was there to try to find out, and it seemed the answers he wanted and needed, were to be found past the halfway open greenish copper door of an old, decrepit, mausoleum.

"Right." He said to himself. "If I can face the Spanish and the French, and my cousin Abigail, I can face whatever is in there." 

He swallowed, sighed, and stepped forwards towards the door..."

English Officer, (Mounted. I think Foundry).

Mounted on a 1 1/2" base. Flocked with a mixture of GF9, GW, and Woodland Scenic groundwork.

Painted with a mixture of Reaper, GW, Vallejo, and Craft Paints.

Shaded with GW shades, and Dr. Martin Inks.

               

"Major Hawthorne, sat astride his horse, Zeus, and looked over what would soon be the garrison buildings of the newly acquired island, claimed in the name of His Majesty, The King.

He would need more men; lots of men, as well as powder, ball, cannon, shot, and all the trappings that made a port safe and secure. Right now, his main worry wasn't the Spanish, The French, The Dutch, The Natives, or even the Pirates out beyond the horizon, but it was the scum that walked and prowled the muddy cobblestone streets of Port Haven.  "A few rounds with a press gang and the sharp tips of bayonets will set this place right and proper." He said to himself.  His thoughts turned towards Lady Anne and her friend Lady Sabrina; both very beautiful and charming creatures of the female species. "Both of them perhaps the nicest things on this accursed island. Either of them would make me a wonderful and appropriate wife for my station." He licked his lips at the thought of them both...."

And of course we cannot forget "The ladies..."

Lady with dog.

(OG I think)...

Mounted on a 1/4" base. Flocked with a mixture of GF9, GW, and Woodland Scenic groundwork.

Painted with a mixture of Reaper, GW, Vallejo, and Craft Paints.

Shaded with GW shades, and Dr. Martin Inks.

Main paint color for this one was a mix of Craft Paints, "Jadeite Green", which didn't go on and work as well as it usually has, so was alternated with a mix of "Pale Mist Green".

Trimming on the dress is Reaper MSP Troll Green, I think.

"Lady Sabrina slowly strolled the cobblestone street of the market square of the town, allowing her dog, (a pampered black and gray cocker spaniel named "Precious"), to get it's required daily exercise before it would find it's spot back at their home, and sleep for the next sixteen hours.

She walked the area slowly, her sultry brown eyes gazing at the goods in the stalls being sold, and the people buying them. She wondered once again, what it was that had been done or said that required her family to "try to establish themselves in this new world".

She sighed softly.

True it wasn't England, and she missed her friends terribly, but the weather was nicer, the breeze from the sea was usually enough to keep the stench of the lower parts of the city where the uncouth, and what her father called "The two-legged vermin" away from assaulting her nostrils or that of any of the other better people here.

And there was always delicious fresh fruit of some sorts here in the market.

"This place is it's own adventure waiting to happen." She said to herself as her dog trotted next to her on its' leash."

Lady with dog.

(OG I think)...

Mounted on a 1/4" base. Flocked with a mixture of GF9, GW, and Woodland Scenic groundwork.

Painted with a mixture of Reaper, GW, Vallejo, and Craft Paints.

Shaded with GW shades, and Dr. Martin Inks.

"Lady Anne strolled along the upper harbor way with her gray-white poodle, ("Ferdinand"; a gift from a Spanish admirer who was now long dead; his bones supposedly resting somewhere on the bottom of the ocean), and gazed at she merchant ship sailing off into the horizon. She sighed wistfully, and thought back about how she yet had to return back home and sit in the garden with her parents, friends, and social significant others, (as well as those that weren't significant, yet tried their best to become significant by attending these silly social callings), as well as the seemingly obligatory reading of poetry and discussion of things mundane. "How dreary." She muttered to herself. "My life on this island purgatory seems to be a long, and painfully slow death sentence. Of course I could end up married to Major Hawthorne, or heavens forbid, Cheppley Epperson, or one of his ilk. At least back in England, I could pretend to go on a shopping excursion and spend a few days of freedom in Dublin, or Edinburgh. Here there is no escape...no adventure...no...."life" for me of my wanting or choosing..."

How oddly ironic that at that moment she was wandering the upper harborside, just beyond the horizon, out of sight of both the coastal fort, and the merchant ship making it's way through the waves, was a frigate flying a black flag; just holding position....and waiting...."

After painting up these two, I decided to do a side by side comparison of them.

(Not too shabby I believe...)

And of course, what's a good pirate yarn without well..."pirate ships"?

So after this batch of figures were done, I sat down and started looking at what I could put upon the waters of my future Spanish Main, geography.

Years ago, I made a score on a small batch of Hobby Lobby fishing sailboats. 

I modified one of these to be a coastal tramp trawler for my 15mm figures.

The others sat in my project drawer for years.

Until now.

The two here have all the fine basic makings of small Bermuda sloops.

I also had a "toy pirate ship" that I had gotten off of eBay, and low and behind it came with some cannons.

The ship looks like it might be another sloop, or at least molding parts. While the cannons are definitely way too large to look like ships guns for 28mm figures, they will look good as heavy cannons for forts.

(A quick view of the boats, guns, and figures...)

( A closer "close up" of the toy pirate ship, (with the HL boat in the background), showing the size/scale relation of it to 28mm figures.)

Location, location, location, (and prime real estate)...

So I then started thinking about the size of the stuff in comparison to my gaming table.

My gaming tables (the black ones in the photo below), are 8' X 2 1/2' Ft each, (96" x 30"), and when put together gives me an 8' X 5' playing surface, (Approx. 40 sq ft). I can add extra tables at either end, (such as the small white one), if needed.

(For most of my setup I see approx. 2' of water, and 6' of coastal and land terrain. Enough room for land and water maneuvers.  I could also adjust it to 5 x 3...or even add tables if I needed "more water/land"). But for right now, this will do.)

And at the same time I started doing some work on some scenics.

Two scratch-built cottages and a small garden plot.

(Works in progress...)

One of the issues I have always had when scratch-building buildings is getting the roofs correct. I usually make them too steep, or too shallow, and hence they do not sit on the building correctly.

After discussing this with my friend Michael Brown, he gave me an idea.

Let's try it out and see if it works.

(A piece of cardstock folded on the roof point/angles, and then the roof pieces joined to it. Hmmm..it seems to work!)

So it does seem to work, (I still need to trim down a few small areas, but I am happy with the idea for the most part.

Next up would be doing the thatching for it. 

That will come in a later post.

(Not a bad looking little hovel. I could probably get a couple of million for this on the current California real estate market...)

And I did some work on building a garden plot.

The hole that you see was actually going to be for a swinging gate, but I decided that that was too much work for what I wanted. So it will be covered up.

(Initial construction...)

And later on, after the initial trimming and painting.

(I'm going to do basic dirt flocking here, as I am making the crops and furrow removable and interchangeable so that this can be transported easier and safer without damaging the crops.)

Using LiquidTex to make the furrows. Once these dry, I will sand them down some, and paint them, flock them, and drill holes in them for the crops.

(Barren....REALLY barren...fields.)

For crops, I picked up a while back some O scale flower/bushes, and some O scale corn.

This is what I will use for this. I'll probably make more in the future as this was a test run.

(Pretty, pretty, pretty...)

The O scale corn looks awesome and will look great on the furrows. 

(Corn! It's the food that you eat first, and then see later!)

While digging through some of my project structures, I came across another toy barn from some farm set. I picked this up a few months ago at Goodwill for $1.00 and am looking at doing another coffee stick modification to it like I did the ERTL barn.

Now that I know what to expect from the project, this one should go quicker.

               

Rack 'em up!

So, one of the main issues I have is that I have hundreds of the large bottles of craft paints, (I go through black, raw umber, burnt umber, white, and the various shades of gray very quickly), and yet my problem is that I had no real place to store them and not be able to see what I have in my possession, so I end up at Michaels, or Hobby Lobby buying yet another bottle of Raw Sienna, and coming home to find that I already have four bottles of it unopened.

So I bit the bullet and ordered two more paint racks from Amazon.

These are the five tier nail polish holder racks with each tier holding 11 bottles of craft paint.

So 55 bottles per, 110 total.

Assembly was easy, even with my large blundering fingers.

Below are two pics showing the racks and how they look after they are assembled.

After that if was figuring out "What went where. 

The first rack was primarily metallic, pearls, satins, glass/gloss, etc.

From there it was just getting each of the major colors together. I arranged them as "Darks, Mediums, and Lights" for each color group. 

Well as much as I could. Some of them were so close that I just kinda put them together.

(The colors are added.)

The last rack in this photo (on the right), are the paint colors that I use the most frequently. Thus I want them in real easy reach.)

(Five racks of craft paints, with only 18 empty spaces...)

So now I have eight racks of paint.

My next dilemma though is going to be "Where to set this up at?"

I see some room rearranging about to happen. 

Sigh. 

Stumbling onto something...

So recently I took over a project in a town that is about an hour drive from me. I've been to this town before and it has always kind of depressed me. 

During one of my days there, I decided to try to find somewhere to get lunch other than the McD's that was right near the job site.

I drove down the street heading to where the GPS said that "Taco Bell was located", (thankfully it was there), and at the stoplight I saw this.

(Egad!)

Curiosity getting the better of me, I pulled into the parking lot, and sure enough. I was still open and operating. The sidewalk was weed infested, and there was some litter in the parking lot. I was curious about going in, but the gray paint job had that "24 hr adult bookstore/peepshow/theater" vibe going to it. Plus I was kind of concerned that I would walk in, and when I left I would be stepping out in 1986...

Oddly enough...

There's no food pics in this blog entry this time.

My wife and I have been hit with a nasty stomach virus, so food right now isn't the thing on our minds.

However, while cruising the local Aldi, I did find an interesting new brand of grape soda.

It seems to be a local Aldi brand, and it tastes like a watered down wine cooler. It's a nice diversion but not a frequent buy/drink type. So after this four pack, I will probably pass on more of them for now.

And for now I think I should close out this October entry. Hoping everyone's Halloween was good, and fun.

Thanks for reading.

More to come!