Modellers Corner

[Chainsaw]

Nice thread, love a bit of vicarious modelling!

Been messing about since I was a kid and never really stopped, just got a little intermittent when family appeared. Started off with the usual airfix stuff which didn't survive but then got into wargaming at high school. Got into 40K for a little while but always preferred the historical stuff and even contributed to the Alexander book when GW briefly wandered into Warhammer Ancient Battles. Was actually clearing out the loft this weekend and sorted out stuff to sell and stuff for 'future projects' Laddie has inherited the 40K stuff.

Old circa 1990(?) WH40K eldar and whitescar armies, apparently illegal under current codex's... I hated GW for the never ending arms race and escalation, still they have money to make I suppose...

Whitescars with scratchbuilt Baneblade... where did I get the time!?

Some historical stuff, WWII 25mm, French Napoleonics in 25mm, Sassanian elephant, 1/1200 ships

Apologies for the crap pics, these were taken back in the day when a good camera had a 3M sensor...

When the kids were very young and we were pretty much trapped in the house for 5 years, I built this Artesania Le Hussard, loved the complexity of the build, the woodwork and rigging. very slow but very satisfying

Hate the planking on this...

Also scratchbuilt a trebuchet with some left over bits and pieces... Great for launching cat treats!

In the last couple of years I've got the modelling stuff back out, bought an airbrush and built up a small stack of projects to do... Liked watching all the videos on weathering etc so was using these models to test techniques.

That's all, will stop boring you now! The last 3 pics were taken on my phone which is way better than the old cameras could ever be! Next projects are a Tamiya 1/35 WW1 mark IV male tank with infantry and a modern Challenger II with infantry, to show how armour has developed in the last 100 years. Mark IV is build, started on the Challenger now.

 

[Trig]

Could you not do those sails on that boat with a sewing machine? A cheap singer would work for straight stitch,

Sewing machine would be ideal, i never looked into it though as i dont have much room,and assumed they would be more than i wanted to spend anyway, but i see you can get fairly small cheap hobby ones which would probably do me. Got the second big sail nearly done now though, the rest are quite small so probably not worth it for this build. Definetly in the future though.

Great stuff Chainsaw ! You never get interested in the Warhammer Fantasy armies? Never had any, but always liked the look of the Brettonia armies and colours.

The boat looks great. Like how tidy your ropes and rigging are, thats something ive struggled with, cant seem to tie knots that small (or tidy) and have them actually hold. Been putting a bit of super glue on them but it doesnt look great. Your lines look quite stiff also, did you run them through wax or something,or is it just tension? I read somewhere else recently to run your lines through beeswax to stop them fraying and help them hold shape, which i havent done, which i think has been a mistake. (of many!)

 

[Chainsaw]

Nah could only really afford one Warhammer addiction, fantasy would have bankrupted me. The WH historicals did it for me, good system and cheap(er) figures, what's not to like! Imagine a sassanian elephant and crew from GW, you wouldn't get much change out of 50 quid!

A trick I got from a guy on a boat building forum was to use watered down wood glue, some suggested PVA but I found it went a bit flakey sometimes although it's almost the same stuff. I used evostick wood adhesive. Put a wee blob on a palette and water it down a bit. Put a little on your fingers and then draw the length of string through the glue, quickly wiping off any excess before it drys, then lay it aside for a bit. Helps keep the wee fibres smooth against the main rope and stiffens it a little. Apply a little of the wood glue to knots and to the serving on the standing rigging to seal them up and stop them coming undone then trim off the excess tails.

Cheers
Alan

 

[Wander]

Here's a 1/72 P51 Mustang I did a while ago.

We had a game of Lion Rampant at the weekend. I had the job of trying to attack this wall...

 

[John Fenna]

I used to do a lot of modeling - mainly 54mm Napoleonic and Victorian British and 25mm Napoleonic as well as a bit of larger scale stuff...but my eyesight ain't what it was and I will probably be selling all the bits tht have sat in the loft for years....
I mainly used Historex, Airfix and some metal bits for 54mm models and have loads of stuff (broken down into categories such as "heads" and "Right arms" or "Swords" aetc) plus loads of "Senic" accessories (inc a lot of Verlinden PLASTER walls etc) that are sitting idle - too much to post but if anyone is interested in buying them I could bring them to the Moot...
I used to sell my finished bits - first through a a shop in Gallery Agora off the Grande Plas in Brussels and later Cavaliers in St Albans.. and still have a fair collection of pieces I will not part with!

54mm


Betty

 

[Trig]

Nah could only really afford one Warhammer addiction, fantasy would have bankrupted me. The WH historicals did it for me, good system and cheap(er) figures, what's not to like! Imagine a sassanian elephant and crew from GW, you wouldn't get much change out of 50 quid!

A trick I got from a guy on a boat building forum was to use watered down wood glue, some suggested PVA but I found it went a bit flakey sometimes although it's almost the same stuff. I used evostick wood adhesive. Put a wee blob on a palette and water it down a bit. Put a little on your fingers and then draw the length of string through the glue, quickly wiping off any excess before it drys, then lay it aside for a bit. Helps keep the wee fibres smooth against the main rope and stiffens it a little. Apply a little of the wood glue to knots and to the serving on the standing rigging to seal them up and stop them coming undone then trim off the excess tails.

Cheers
Alan

When i see those prices im kind of glad i never got into warhammer.

I tried the watered down wood glue before, but it seemed to form a sort of skin. It was Gorilla Glue wood glue though, and i have now liberated some ordinary wood glue from work, so will give it a try out instead.

Nice stuff John. Shame about your eyesight, it must have been something before, going by some of the details !

 

[Trig]

4 sails down, 3 to go !
Ive no idea how boat rigging actually works, and the instructions are pretty hopeless, so im winging it really. Wanting to get this one finished now and start fresh on a new one with a bit more care and research put into it, and less impatience (and sails!) hopefully.




How people moved on these old boats without hanging themselves accidentally is beyond me, ropes everywhere !

 

[Chainsaw]

Years and years ago I picked up a book on ebay but a couple of quid called "The young sea officers sheet anchor" Really good for figuring out how it all works and tbh not too bad a read if you like ropes and stuff.... Maybe for next time! As long as it looks good, only you will notice the mistakes (and they'll drive you mad!)

 

[Trig]

Thanks chainsaw, found an online pdf version on google, very handy for next time !
Already started looking, tempted by the Artesania Latina HMS Bounty, or one of the cross section model kits. From what ive read AL's instructions start off well then sort of run out, but thats pretty much what happened with the current one, so not really putting me off.

 

[Trig]

Meant to post an update a while ago but i forgot all about it.

Finally finished my boat in August. Not great, alot of things i could have improved with a little bit more care and research, but its completed anyway and im happy with it.


Started straight into my next one, the HMS Bounty. Its 1/48 scale, and half the hull is open to show off the interior. So quite a bit more work involved over the Gjoa. A lot of the interior stuff is being built from scratch as the kit doesnt supply very much at all. Intending to add led lighting to the interior of this one, as most of the detail will be lost in darkness without it. I have zero clue on electrics, so that should be... interesting?





Got myself a cheap chinese wood lathe for doing the columns, only £34 but quite surprised by it, does the job.


Almost got most the main walls in the bottom deck done, just some stairs and then led lights to place before moving onto the next deck. Still alot of crates,barrels etc to place, but will probably do that once its partly planked.

Got a notion for doing some Warhammer 40k now though, fancy trying a diorama. So thats maybe my next distraction. Id like to stick to one build at a time, but probably better to take a break every now and then.

 

[jimbo75]

I must say this is a brilliant idea for a thread!
Here are my Bushcraft inspired Finnish 20mm wargames figures.
Mostly conversions and scratch builds.
Hope you like them.

 

[quietone]

Great thread. Some marvellous talent indeed. I've had this mortar vessel on the go for years. Though it's not had anything done to it for a good few years. I'm just too busy with other stuff, even more so now of course.

 

[Robson Valley]

I love the mortar in the deck cavity. Dastardly weapon! Open the doors = surprise!

Is there a line between models and the real thing?
There's a treb frame weathering in my back yard, no more than 3m tall standing with 100kg in the counterweight.
It can fling a 500g ice cube maybe 100m. Is that still a model? Identical frame to yours is no surprise.

 

[Trig]

I suppose its just a large scale model until you start laying siege to your nearest town with it.

 

[Robson Valley]

I built some small trebs of the size you show. I call them "banquet busters".
Olives, cheese cubes, breads, ice cubes, cherry tomatoes and so forth.
Shortens the head table speeches.

 

[jimbo75]

 

[jimbo75]

 

[jimbo75]

 

[tombear]

Lovely stuff!

I'm a bit narked as I've not had time to make owt for several weeks and I'm desperate to try out a new toy that after about 40 years of wanting one i've finally managed to acquire.

For the princely sum of £9.50 in a local charity shop I finally Have a Devilbis Aeograph 63 airbrush, the sort I drooled over in model shops in the early 80s. It has had only had ink through it and apart from some teeth marks in the plastic is brand new.! Anyway herself got me a air line to connect it to my Chinese compressor i';ve been using with a couple of Badgers ( got dirt cheap when Hobbycraft stopped selling them) which cost 50p more than the brush and a bunch of spares ( not needed yet but I wasn't going to say no ) which were going for a song on ebay.

And i've got nowt to paint!

I know there's better more modern stuff, but i cant afford them either and anyway I didn't dream of them!

ATB

Tom

 

[saxonaxe]

One way I found of passing time on long single handed Ocean voyages was to put ships in bottles. Not being a drinking man it always amused me to scrounge empty drink bottles before I sailed..." Why does that strange old bloke want empty bottles?" I could see the question on their faces....

This was my old steel Gaff Cutter that I owned for nearly 10 years and she went into this bottle between the Canary Islands and Martinique..

The bright red 'Vane' right aft was the wind steering gear, not a flag as someone once asked, the Red Ensign is rigged on the peak halyard.
Made of scrap wood, plastacine sea, sewing thread standing and running rigging and her sails really are of sail cloth ( an old Head Sail)..
The faded label on the wooden stand base once read "Homeward Bound," But I'm here now, so I never renewed it...