Finished... Well for the most part.

This has been delayed by real life, other projects and a job that keeps the bills paid but the Vardo is finished....  Mostly.  I cannot find my spray adhesive so I am unable to felt the bottom yet.  When I dig that out I will get this completed and on the table. 
I finished the roof in coffee stirrers sheeted with adhesive backed metal ducting tape.  Added the chimney and some ad-hock repairs to the roof.  Painted weathered and based.  I am trying out some new basing teachniques so please give feedback weather good, bad or indifferent.  Thanks for looking.

Hope you like.
Snitchy sends.

A bit of paint.

Not completed yet bur I have the majority of the blocking done on the vardo for the basic colors.  Once I finished the blocking I managed to drop it and broke the rear axle off.  That is glued back on now.  Here are the images.

Once I finish this basic stuff off I will complete the roof and get that in place permanently.  I also still have to get the base done.  Hope you like.
Chris.

The Vargo gets some rims.

Sorry if I ramble a bit here but I just got off work and am a bit tired.  I added a bit in the last day or so.  Some windows, shutters, sheets and the frame for the wagon itself.  Windows  and shutters were made with metal ducting paper backed on graph paper.  The sheets and hanging clothing were made with wood glue soaked paper towel.  The frame was pretty straight forward.  I only need to make some spacers for the wheels to attach to the frame and do a bit of hardware on the bottom.  Because the green stuff wheels are not as strong as I would like I will need to support the whole structure somehow.  I am thinking about a subdued black rod supporting the bottom of the whole structure.  It should blend in.  Here are the images.

Hope you like.
Snitchy sends.

Finally got a bit done.

My Vardo has been on hold for a couple of weeks due to work on my hobby room.  I finally got a table and storage shelving.  For now the table is an oak tabletop on top of saw horses and I cannot swing a cat in the room but it will work. 
For the Vardo I have added a folding table, stove and some small bits cast in green stuff out of a Hirst arts mold.   I also managed to putty all the gaps so they should not be visible unless you are looking at the top of the walls.  The wagon wheels are from a Instamold press mold of a wagon wheel that I made some time ago.  Onto the pictures.   Sorry about the picture quality but it is night in an old house with crap interior lighting. 

Hope you like.
Snitchy sends.

Don’t tell me it is not in!!!!

I got a bit hacked off this week.  Here is the story.  I read this great article by David Neat.  I got all excited and decided to get some stencil card and go to town.  I went to my local store for a national stationary chain with my money in hand.    

It turns out that that paper is being removed from their inventory and they will not be restocking it.  They did not have any on hand but there were three stores in the UK that had some so I immediately ordered all that I could.  I am on week four waiting since it their stock system requires it to go to a separate warehouse prior to being dispatched to the local store.  I decided to take matters into my own hands.  The paper is linseed impregnated so I picked up some for three quid. 

Next I needed paper so I picked up some nice A4 card stock for inkjet printer

  I soaked the paper in the linseed oil, wiped it off with newspaper and let it dry.  It turned out ok so I tried the tutorial.  It worked great.  Hopefully this will be helpful if you need stencil paper.    Total cost was about thirteen pounds with enough to do about 200 sheets.  Three sheets from the national chain will run you about 12 quid.  I will pick it up to see if there are any differences but I do not think so. 

Snitchy sends.

Got a bit more work done.

Had two hours this morning to work on the Vardo.  Did some cabinetry. 

Hope you like.
Snitchy sends.

WIP Vardo

I figured that I would do something that was a bit different.  I wanted to do a wagon or two that could be used as scatter terrain on the field.  After looking at laser cut kits I decided that they did not have enough detail. 

I started researching Gypsy Vardos on the internets and found a bunch of interesting photos. 

  After a couple of sketches I started.  The base material is card stock.  I framed it out with coffee stirrers.  The green stuff details are made using insta mold to make a press mold.  I still have to do the cabinetry in the interior and work on the actual wagon portion but I am happy with two afternoons worth of work. 

 Hope you like

Snitchy sends.

Corn Fields

Acquiring and building fields has been a bit of an obsession of mine for quite some time.  Many of the game tables that I have come across have had fences defining where fields should go on the tabletop but lacked the actual crops.  My boards replicated this problem and it always seemed visually wrong to me. A farm with no crops or a ranch with no animals.  My first foray was to build large scale doormat fields that are usually seen on the 15mm boards.  That worked after a fashion, but when I had to sell all of my terrain prior to my move I decided that I would make something a bit more realistic for my 28/32mm tabletop.

 I had the opportunity to pick up some JTT O scale corn from Hobby Lobby before I left.  I should actually say a lot of O scale corn.  The local Hobby Lobby said that the whole line was being removed from their stores and they were all on sale for over half off.  Each pack contained 32 stalks and normally sold for $8.00.  After waiting a week for my order, I picked up fifteen packs at $3.00 a piece. Turns out it was just enough to finish three bases.  I based them on plasticard shapes and painted the groundwork prior to drilling a hole for each stalk. 

 I did three bases in all.  Two in rounded triangular shapes and one in a rounded rectangle.  The plan is that they will fit within a walled/hedged/fenced area that will ultimately define the edges of the field.  

  It is hard to see the field boundries when they are base to base. 

 I still have to attach felt to the bottom of the templates with spray adhesive and do a bit of highlighting on the stalks with a brighter green.  So far I am pretty happy with the results. 

 Hope you like.

Snitchy sends.

Forest test

Just a quick post with some photos.  I have made two forest stands as a test to see how I am going to proceed with my actual tabletop terrain.  I wanted the forest to look like it was not only a stand of trees but difficult terrain too.  The center is removable to leave a template. All four types of represented trees are home made and I added some small home made plants and vegetation too to test how well they could be seen and what the overall presentation would look like.  I know that I need to work on the lower level groundwork to represent the dead stuff.  Please let me know what you think.
Snitchy sends.