Terrain update

Well I started some more work on the first of the impudent Mortal buildings over the weekend. Honestly, I got very little accomplished other than smearing the thing with spackle.

Its a crummy picture but it shows a little of what I have done so far. After suggestions from friends, I will be making some chimneys for it and mounting them sometime soon and base coating it.

Working on Terrain

I did some more work on my Impudent Mortal buildings. They are starting to come together. I bought some styrene to use for window sills (1.5mm x 2.0mm strips). I am cutting these down to a centimeter in length for the window sills. It looks about right to my eyes. Once the sills are applied, I am going to spackle the building. We will see how that turns out. I am nervous about it.

I also bought some more styrene to use on the top of the 3 story Game Craft building. I need some sort of roof access item or chimney up there to use to remove the roof. Have not figured that part out yet. TheScene.co.uk has some interesting looking stuff. These look ideal if they were not out of stock. (http://thesceneuk.com/shop/building-accessories/mv001/)

I am debating on balconies to add to the back of the 3 story one. We shall see what happens.

Messing About with Terrain

I have not managed to do much. But I am happy with what I have done.

First off is the first of the Impudent Mortal buildings. I managed to glue one together. It is fairly basic at this point but that is OK. I am liking it so far. I also purchased one of the two packs of windows and doors from Game Craft Miniatures. In the picture below you can see where I have placed the door and window against the house to figure out sizing.

I am not sure I like the doors. The pack also comes with shutters for the windows. I may experiment with adding some shutters to the thing to see if that looks any better. As it stands right now, I think I will be making my own.

Next up was a three story building from Game Craft Miniatures. Overall, I like the building. You have to buy each floor separately and that allows you to make as large or small of a building as you would like. Thus far, It is good. I have glued together everything but the roof.

Each floor is not glued together so I can lift it apart and put figures inside. Now since the windows and doors did not fit the Impudent Mortal building, surely they will fit a Game Craft model, right? Nope. They don't fit. I wrote Allen at Game Craft and he said they have a pack just for this building but it is not yet on the website. While disappointing, it is what it is. My main complaint about it is that it looks rather plain.

So I have to work on it.
Idea 1: Add a strip of wood around the entire perimeter of each floor. This will give the building some definition and start to look like an urban building.
Idea 2: Add doors and windows to it. I will buy the Game Craft ones when they come out.
Idea 3: Add a cornice to the top of the building. As to how, I have no idea. May have to run over to hobby lobby and check out the doll house wood cuts. Idea 4: Do something on the corners of the building to make it stand out. (just found out they are called Quoins. I know didly about architecture but I found this site on Google which is helpful.
Idea 5: Add a small structure on the roof that I can use to remove the roof and gain access to the floor underneath.

Anyway, that is the plan for it. I am trying to figure out how to successfully create a board that is non-ruined urban terrain. Also, I am trying to figure out how to make a workable train station for one of my scenarios. The station that I currently have is not up to the task. It is more of a rural station and not something that would be used for a large metropolitan area like Kharkov. I am starting to look into N scale and HO scale buildings and see if I can find something suitable that won't break the bank. TT Scale buildings seem to be very expensive.

I found rail cars that I can get of a Soviet engine and a couple of train cars on Shapeways that are 15mm. They are a much further future purchase.

One last item, I figured out how to "fix" the warehouse that I have. I will experiment over the weekend provided that my honey-do list does not prevent me.

Need some help Identifying tanks

I have been working on my tanks that I received from my Santa Clause. They are five really nice M4A2 tanks from Plastic Soldier Company. They are proving to be a bit fiddly to assemble. But they seem OK.

I assembled and put a base coat on one so far. I am going to do two of them as US vehicles and three as lend lease Soviet tanks for late war.

With the one I was working on, I got curious and wondered what the rest of my US armor looked like. Well, I have no idea of what I have. A bunch of shermans and two other types. Can y'all help me figure out what I have?

First picture:

And the next Set:

Thanks for your help.

Now, i did get in my brand new Khtz-16 self propelled guns. Craig over at Gaming Models did a terrific job on these.

I really like these and hope to have them on a table pretty soon.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone. And good riddance to 2015. I am looking forward to this year. I have already painted a tank to 80%. It is one of my new M4A2s that I got from my Secret Santa. Thank you, by the way. I plan on painting two as US tanks and three as Soviet tanks. I will use the 76mm barrel for all of them.

I am planning on knocking out my worker housing for my industrial area next. A friend pointed out some nice bits from Game Craft miniatures to tart them up. If I can swing it, I am planning on picking up the City Hall building they have with the removable roof and internal floors and stairs. I think it would make a fantastic centerpiece to an urban table. I need to sneak online and see what I can do.

Then there is my Kharkov Pint size campaign I am working on. I just got in John Erickson's The Road to Stalingrad today. I am looking forward to see what treasures it has for me. Got a great deal on it. $0.73 on Amazon. I love Amazon.

Anyway, it's a new year with lots of promise.