Watching Paint Dry

Nope not the BBC's "Changing Rooms" program. Although I doulbt forgive you if you thought so. If I ever rename this blog that's what I'll call it 8-) I know It doesn't look any different from yesterday, but it has now had a second coat of the same mix as yesterday. Now I'd best give it a couple of days to thoroughly dry out. Several places the tape had come unstuck, but this second coat should cure that once dry. Water and tape don't really mix but with the wood glue it should bind it all together. (I say that with confidence as I have managed this technique a few times in the past.)
Waiting is quite hard you always want to fiddle with it and touch it to make sure it's still wet. SO I will walk away and leave it from tomorrow. I will give the board a shake to remove any excess sand. but that will be it in this project till Boxing Day I think.

My nephew is here again and I can't believe he has not seen Lord of the Rings. SO I have had a couple of quiet hours as he watches the first film. Talking of films I did manage to see enough of DEATHWATCH to know that the DVD works OK but drifted off to sleep so I still need to watch it. Me falling asleep is no indication of a film quality I can fall asleep on the back of a horse so while watching a film is just too easy.

The only other wargamy thing I've managed today is to send one of my club members a sketch of the club shirts I want to make. Still waiting for his feedback before I take it any further. And as only a sketch I won't bore you with it just yet. Maybe if they ever get taken to completion, but at this stage it's too early to say more.

Take care till next time. Clint

Post Script: I'll try to dig out some other free standing craters that I have done in the past as Sheldrake mentioned them.

First Coat

Well as you can see the first coat is on the moon board.Some of the masking tape might start to lift especeially when it gets wet. This is not ideal so before painting quickly check and push it back down. Don't over work it it should be fine as long as you have got at least 3 layers overlapping as described previously.  I use a little water some ready mixed poster paint from "The Works" and some wood glue. It's not an exact science or mix but about 3 times the paint to glue. And just a splash of water. Mix it all together until it is a single consistent colour. Mix more than you think you'll need as it's a real pain to mix half way through this stage. Using a paint brush, 2 inch is ideal but bigger or smaller as you have available. Common sense but don't use a figure painting brush that would take far too long and we don't have time for mucking about. The slopes on the craters will seem flimsy and it does have a moments concern as this is the most vulnerable process. A little bit of movement is to be expected, it is only tape after all.
Before it dries "Sprinkle" sand on top. U have used "Builders" Sand from B+Q as it was the cheapest I could get in the amount I wanted. You can use any sand I think as long as it is DRY before this stage. (I think it would work with wet sand, but take MUCH longer to dry therefore make your life easier and use dry sand. If I could have gotten silver sand at the right price I would have used that as it "Tends" to come in a more dry state than builders sand. I use a sieve when sprinkling the sand as t takes any lumps out and gives a better control. By control I mean it allows you see more clearly just how much sand you are putting at a time.
That's where I shall leave it today and allow it to dry over night.
On other projects (Can you tell I have had more time today).

I have sent for the "Cutlass" rules by Black Scorpion mostly as an excuse to buy some of their lovely miniatures. I like the idea of a "Smugglers" game as I can in my mind see the set-up and I like what I see. Once the boards are built I see no reason that they can't be used for other time periods. I have also thought of using it for a 7TV game "Margate Vice" But that's in the future and I'll put it on here anyway so you can see it happening then..

I have had two EBay purchases turn up. The DVD Deathwatch which I am told is a WW1 horror film cost me £1.27 including postage so if it's rubbish who cares. If on the other hand it's good it will kick start the WW1 Zombie game.

The other purchase was some 10mm Dwarfs for Warmaster. Six packs in all so I guess I might have to think about getting some painting done. I have two figures that NEED to be finished very soon, as they are part of someones Christmas Pressie. (Yeah I thought I was all done, but then found them). Oh well at least I found them last night and not Christmas Eve.

SO Now I'll watch this film and see how it goes.

Cheers Clint

Same ol' same ol'

Well pretty much the same as yesterday. Only managed to do the tiniest bit. But now at least have all the craters taped in for this board.

Now being pestered to watch Harry Potter DVD. Best go.

Monday

Well it has almost escaped my notice but we are on the run up to Christmas I have done my best to ignore it and have been very happy to do so. I have bought pressies already (got the last one in September) as I hate the last minute rush thingie, can't see the point a total waste of time. Little bit of planning and problem solved long before it becomes a problem. Or so I thought.

Well today school holidays have started and I have been "babysitting" my nephew. So how much do you think I could get done.... Yeah about that much or maybe a little less. Last time he came he did not have a coat so there was no way he could "help" up the shed. No way at all. So my sister being very very helpful made him wear a coat, but a brand new one that in no way could get any marks on. So the upshot was a total waste of time again could not get anything done up the shed. So No wargaming terrain made at all today.

I think I might have solved the Broadside game idea however. Which has put a smile on my face.  The terrain I am really good at making is cliffs. (even if I do say so myself.) SO I think a 17th-18th century South Coast smuggling game is the order of the day complete with smugglers cave system. SO you heard it here first.

I will continue to post this week and try to get things done in the dark up the shed before the young one arrives and I have to stop and look after him, but don't expect too much. Although I am now ready to start texturing the first moon board. So maybe tomorrow very early.

More later Clint

And Relax.

Well I am over the disappointment of yesterday and the ballroom double booking. SO that's gone and now forgotten.

So what's happening today.
I went up the shed to do some work on the moon boards, got cold and came back down to the house. But did a few snaps so we can talk about its construction. The first step is to get some 6mm mdf and some battening. Cut them to size nail them together after you first put some white wood glue on all the edges that touch. That's pretty straight forward so no need to detail that. There are on this board 3 sizes of craters, each is made from a cardboard tube cut down to an appropriate height.about 10mm for the small 18mm for the medium and 26mm for the large. It does not need to be accurate, or even level close enough in this instance is good enough so don't sweat it. The small craters use loo roll or kitchen roll cardboard tubes and I would start with them if I was following this guide as they are by far the easiest. The medium tubes are the core from rolls of masking tape. The large tube is mad not found. Simply cut some thin card into a strip I use the width of a steel rule to get the right height. Bend it round to create a circle fasten it somehow, I have used staples and tape in the past so it does not really matter as long as it is fixed firmly. Once you have the amount of craters you want, scatter them in a semi random way. You don't need to think about it much, just make sure that they are not in lines, not to close to the edge (you do want some close to the edge though or players will create clear lines of fire and movement. ) As a general rule an inch is ok for medium craters, think about the slope being roughly 45 degrees and go from their, a lot of it is trial and error so have a bash and see what happens. The next stage is perhaps the most important of the whole process. Use masking tape (as in the second pic) and place it directly across the card tube pushing it down firmly both in the centre of the crater and outside the crater. It takes a little thought and practise to get it to create the right slope. But once you have the knack it's really straight-forward. I tend to work like a spider and scatter them at quite wide angles around the tube say at 90 degrees, then 45 degrees. You don't need to be prescriptive about the angles just roughly as the next step will fill in all the gaps. keep repeating the above process all the way round the rings, overlap the tape and make sure there are absolutely NO GAPS. You really want to do this 2-3 times to give a good and smooth slope. The odd bump or wrinkle makes no difference as long as everything is completely covered and a couple of layers deep.  Unfortunately it does take a lot of tape, but it does work and as I can get 2 rolls in the 99p store it's not that expensive a way of doing it. I would suggest using the low price stuff because there's no point in using the expensive when the cheap will do.

On other wargames thoughts:
I have decided to abandon the secret project unstarted. It was to build some modular Venice boards. I think a three musketeer type game in Venice would be great. Or Zombies in Venice. Or a bond type roof top chase. Even WW2 spies. I think the setting would look spectacular for a game. But for me the realisation that I would need to make about 50 buildings for the plan to work, as most of Venice is really close together. All the buildings would be of a piano-noble 16th-17th century design. So at least 3 stories tall with a shop, workshop or store on the street level and living quarters above. Anyway It would mean I would have to build at least 2 buildings each and every week to a high standard. I still like the idea but can't see myself finishing it ever let alone in time for broadside.

Anyway the upshot is that I am still looking for a game for Broadside, but I do have several ideas no doubt some of which will turn out to be impractical. For now though I'll get Crimbo out of the way and take it from there.

That's it for today.