World war 2 Terrain

 Its been an interested month.  I've half-painted about 30 figures and assembled some french cavalry but I've been Pretty unmotivated about actually finishing anything. this past weekend I was looking in a box and I found a 4Ground Polish Rural Dwelling model, and a pack of 4Ground Yard Panel fencing with Gates.  both of these will work well for eastern front terrain so i decided to get them assembled and based up. I also had a pack of Wizkids Deep Cuts log piles, that I tossed into the pile to work on.

4Ground Polish Rural Dwelling with
scratch-built fence

I built a wooden fence using 2 types of balsa wood(posts and planks) and  matchsticks(crossbeams).  i used a steel wire brush to accentuate the wood texture.  the building kit came with fur for thethatch roof.  I soaked it in PVA to harden it and then I highlighted it with light cream colour. i then applied patches of GW Agrax Earthshade wash(brown) and Athonian Camoshade( green-brown) wash to mottle the colour a bit.  I also added a pile of stacked wood from the deep cuts pack to one of the walls on the opposite side of the base from the fence, and added a trio of matchsticks to the peak of the roof to cover up the seam of where the teddy bear fur pieces meet. Otherwise the building is unmodified, other then some Scenic Express  Super Turf  texture foliage around the base to make it look less like a building glued to a piece of HDF.

4Ground Polish Rural Dwelling internal detail.

 this kit is well designed and is much nicer looking then some of 4Grounds early, more simplistic looking buildings. the interior has a nice stove/fireplace and the front door opens and closes. it also comes with matte board blue shudders.

Wizkids Deep Cuts Wood Piles(3). I fixed the
stacked woodpile to the building.

I left the remaining 2 wood piles lose so they can be placed as needed. they aren't big enough to affect anything so they are just around to add some character to tables. still they are nice and not hugely oversized like some end up being. the Wizkids Deep Cuts line is as always wonderful. 

4Ground Yard Panel fences with Gates.

 

The Yard Panel fencing is nice looking and easy to put together, but badly designed.  They have the fence panels situated along one edge of the base, with no overlapping bit to improve stability. As a result if left unmodified, they fall over if you breath a little too heavily.

lower angle of 4ground fences for height comparison

As you can see below, I added some pebbles I have kicking around to help counterbalance them. this makes the fence sections much more stable. the fences are tall enough to lock infantry LOS, and give concealment to even large-ish tanks. I didn't check but it may actually completely block a 1/56th BT-7 or T-26.

Rear view to display rocks needed for stability.

If anyone is interested in what makes the models i used for size comparison, the tank is an Army Group North Miniatures T-28 medium tank, the infantry in front of the panel fences are Crusader Miniatures  Soviets, and the soviet infantry inside the fences are 1 each of The Assault Group and Black Tree designs.  the AT gun on the building base is a 47mm at gun I got from AGNMiniatures (old force of arms model?) with crew from Warlord Games and Black Tree Designs.

Given my fickleness with painting, I'm now aiming to have at least one new post a month. if I'm in the painting mood, I'll post more often. when the mood strikes me I paint a ton, so I'm sure I will end up with a good deal more then 12 posts in 2021. But i think otherwise that is a more reasonable way to ensure I get some progress done on something regularly.

Pandmic Projects 4: Terrain Making and Casting

 I've had a few terrain projects dangling near-finished for a while, but I lacked the motivation to get the over the finish line.  some like gun position has been sitting around needing to be grassed for 9 months. others like the walls have only been sitting idle for 2 or 3 months. then there is the bridge, which I bought at HotLead(I think?) in Ontario 6 years ago, before i moved to Edmonton.either way i decided i needed to get some  finished.


The bridge was a great find.  I bought it at the HotLead fleamarket 6 or 7 years ago, broken in two.  I knew I could pin it and fix it, and more importantly, it fits 50x50mm bases perfectly! it also happens to fit my river system well.  it also painted up really nice.

It had broken right at the middle point to the side of the central arch stone. I pined it in 4 places for extra strength.

Side shot of bridge

 

50x50mm bases fit perfectly!

 Next is gun position. I built this a year ago as a test bed for some techniques in making wood texture. it was a general success. I used Renedra wattle fencing and gabions, but I intent to make my own for future projects.  in the future I'll probably also make the walls higher. they came out a little lower then I'd want.

The texture on hte wood planks was created by "scrubbing" the wood with a wire brush. The wood used was basswood.

Position occupied by Napoleonic British guns

Lower angle to show the height of the position walls.

Reverse angle. Note the texture on the planks.

 

This wall project started both because I wanted some more walls, but also because I wanted to try my hand at casting in 2-part self-skinning polyurethane expanding foam.  i started by making some dry stone walls. I had to modify how i cast them, but they ended up working ok.  there are some bubbles because I don't have a vacuum chamber I can't really do much about it. Note on the drystone walls the moss/vines on the walls furthest from the camera. I did that to cover up places where walls were damaged coming out of the mold the first few times. the skin would separate from the foam. I managed to solve the issue after a few castings.  Each wall section is 6 inches long. for this set, i have a single straight wall, one with a gate, and one with a corner on the end like the old GW stone walls.

the 3 unique lengths of wall.

A three sided paddock defended by the Buffs

From a lower angle so you can see the height

 

The second set of walls is more of an attempt to replace my old GW fantasy stone walls. you can't get them anymore, and they are slowly breaking.  I built these out of individual styrofoam blocks textured with a foil ball. the blocks are on average under half the size of the massive 200lb blocks the GW ones are apparently made out of. I also varied the block size a bit more. So there are some that are very small and some that are almost the size of the GW ones, near the bottom usually.  I built two unique straight sections, one section with a corner, and one with a gateway/opening. I've seen these style of opening in several pictures of similar style old stone walls.

These cast nicer then the dry stone walls. I thin there are less extreme changes in topograghy for air to get stuck in. there are still air bubbles but they are generally less noticeable.

the four unique sections of wall

Three of the master walls shown with a GW
Fantasy stone wall for comparison

From a lower angle so you can see the height

And finally, a well I bought on Friday this well is from the Wizkids "Deep Cuts" line of scatter terrain and accessories.  They are cheap ($6.95 CDN, or about $5 USD) and are full of detail. This one came with a little water insert that pops out easily.  good 28mm wells aren't easy to find so I'm glad I got this one for really cheap.

Deep Cuts well with water insert out

Well with water insert in

As some of you might have noticed, I'm trying to update once every week or two now. we'll see how long that lasts.  being unemployed certainly makes finding the time a bit easier.  Its also nice to have some Motivation to paint. The lack of historical gamers in Edmonton combined with lack of gaming during the pandemic had certainly taken its toll.

Cheers!