New Engine

Modifications are done except a painting touch up on the new version of the Train To Triesta engine.

Gave it a more European look. On to the modified cars:

Flat car and two passenger cars. I started making domed roofs for the passenger cars... then realized they would stay on for about the first 30 seconds of the game till the players needed to move their characters about!  On wards with out.

Time for a train Ride.. hmmm all I have is this wild west train set...

For 28mm figures ... bit way to small, cars are about 6 inches of train car and short hook up assemblies.... so..

Train Cars are now about 11 inches long. Planning on 2 passenger cars, 2 box cars and 1 flat car that the Team will be escorting... secretly on a regular passenger train.... what could possibly go wrong!???

Filled in side walls. This is the basic form for the passenger and box cars.

Next.... work on some windows and such for the passenger cars... nope, not going to cut them out...print and glue is the way to go with the short time frame I have......

NEFs Under Construction

With the Lunar Campaign about to explode in war....finally... I need NEFs models at hand and ready, but with plenty of scratch building supplies and a want to make them duel purpose, air or land, I'm sticking to a more conventional build for the moment:

So first lets make a 4 inch long battleship hull. Six of them at once, clamp and file sand all the hulls...
For those not in the know, NEFs are a type of air borne ship of war in an alternate universe gener, sailing in the atmosphere and when battened down, sailing to the moon and other planets where their VSF armies wage war for expansion.

Here are the first 2 hours efforts from myself and the Mrs, working diligently away. After taking the picture she said they need barrels on the turrets..........so back to cut cut cut cut and she put on the magnifiers, grabbed the tweezers and glue bottle...

So, allow to dry fully and then prime and some dry brushing, put on a up lift base of some sort...hmmm probably cut some clear thin acetate and put a peg base under them for now.

Its Gotta Move Damnit!

Berated by the Missus, "well just how does it get about?" So back to the Endless Bits Box...and tread system positioned. Have to work on some major support elements to keep them in place and balance the model so it doesn't tip one way or the other.

Maybe add some "support legs" that would be deployed in the forward corners. Also waffling over the choice of company color / markings. After this picture, I added a rear Deck next to the ladder for crew access to the cab. So many things I can add.... hmmm...

Lunar Mining Facility Crane

Lunar Campaign is kicking off and so is the need for a Crane to represent the mine head facilities that form the main target of the opposing forces; seize other powers resource mines , deny them resources and gain them for their own power.

Couple hours of kit bashing and I just have to suspend the bucket to the end of the chain. ... and paint the bloody thing!

New "Organic Artillery"

So steam power, Spark powered, horse drawn, artillery comes in many forms, now; ORGANIC

On the left are the start of 2 Gatling artillery pieces made from plastic stock. To the right is a picture of the guns nearly ready to be mounted on their "self propelled unit".  I removed the rider and his legs, cleaned up the saddle area a bit. I will be adding a "contraption" to the brain case of the giant insect next, for "remote control" . I'm tempted to put a few more Bits here and there. Also working up 2 that will have 3 pound-er guns on a mount similar to these.

Done as its Going to be

Added on rear deck metal segmented dirt deflector grid over the engine, Front co-axial machine gun bullet deflector, storage boxes, jack and tow cables, turret access hatches for machine gun turrets, bit of spare track, deflector exhaust elbows to the ends of the muffler, the bogie plate cover has the dividing line and hinges that allowed sets of bogie's to be exposed for servicing. Enough!

Its Got Paint

Another shot, orange and multi colors gone:

T 28, 28mm scale

Its got Treads

Here we go, creeping up on painting, head lights, some other gee gaws to attach and then prime it all up in time for our next game.

T 28 Update

16 bogie's per side... all tiny.... all hair pulling.... Found some passable buttons to fill in for the way to many that I need.

Here I have the wheels assembled and built into the side board as on the real tank. The stick on the Fender area is just to show spacing of the Track width to be as it were. Fender and treads are being nicked from a Stg III tank model. 76mm cannon mounted as are machine guns in the forward turrets, the coaxial machine gun is mounted but on the opposite side from the viewing angle.

American Civil War 2, Foreign Lend Lease

So my forces in an ACW2 campaign gathered enough points to get a real Tank! Mahahaha... er, now to find a tank with larger than 37mm, preferably 75mm or larger, not just a proto type, around for a few years and exported to other countries so I can justify "getting" one.

Settled on T 28, 76mm cannon, 3 or 4 Mgs, if you include one for the top turret access hatch. Moderate armor and road speed, was exported, saw action in the Spanish civil war and sent to Turkey. Now.. search for one suitable in size for 25-28mm figures and not cost tons..... grrrr ...

So settled on Kit bashing one from a Stg III model for track and bogie's... lots of bogie's...

So on the left is a photo reduced track assembly picture I am using to guide assembly of the tank wheels and tracks. On the right is the wooden body assembled and first coated with Kel Seal. I let the Kel Seal dry and then use a new xacto blade to trim off the bumps and such. The 2 small turrets are upside down at the moment for the shot, the mounting pins are freshly glued in. Still have to shape the small turrets some. Kaptain Kneemo's Shipboard marines are showing a little progress on further painting. The hull of the tank is raised on a bit of wood scrap to show the approximate height of the finished tank. Scale here is 1 inch = 5 feet for the record.

Tank Update Photo

WIP update photo with fenders and head lamps

Trucks and Vehicles

Purchased some trucks and cars from Bluemoon Miniatures. Have to say, they need a lot of attention to detail when cleaning and assembling. A Lot. Pieces were not sent with the stake bed truck, wheels and the back stake walls had 2 right side pieces which meant customizing one to fit the other side. When assembled with scratch built wheels it came out pretty good.

 
Next up is the 4 door sedan. Still working on getting the resin cleaned up. Hats off to RRsize for his efforts in getting the Mechanized portion of the 1st Mechanized Precinct ready for the 2ndACW battles we will be fighting in June.

Self Propeled Artillery

OK next out of the factory is a work in progress that will not quiet make it to priming tonight:

Where I am at at the moment, Gun mount figured out and raised for pivot rather than totally fixed mount gun.

Earlier shots of side skirts and munition boxes being mounted.

Where I started the project with, bits and pieces from the Grant Tank 1/48th model I am deconstructing for parts for the self propelled gun.

Tank Takes Shape

Got out the first piece of armored fighting vehicle for the Expeditionary force. Started with a Bulldozer and did the turn it around for a new front. An old Grant Tank, 1/48th scale provided bits and pieces, especially the armored vision ports.

Bull dozer blade removed and the set piece bogie's also. Refit the stock bogie piece with bogies from the Grant as well as trim fitting Drive sprocket gear teeth over the existing ones.

Gun turret added. Proved to difficult to cut into the upper chassis after I shortened the overall height of the tank by cutting away some of the under carriage. Next was cut and thin the gun port covers from the Grant tank.

Spare bogies put on the outboard back side. Primed and drying for color coat next.

Light Walker Tanks for Kapt Kneemo's Expeditionary Force

Found these vehicles from the Star Wars line of figures and figure that they would work in well with Kapt Kneemo's Force:

Only painting I might do is a Unit symbol or Number.

Painted Wagon

Not that kind of wagon, beer etc, but the basic one that I slapped some paint on for use tonight with our D&D group.

So there is the encampment site, which Im sure will be swarmed with all sorts of bad guys.... :)

Wagon Ho!

I'm in a D&D game group..again.. and our group has been so mobile and traveling that we were stymied at haveing somewhere to stash gear, food, and other assorted materials. Enter... The Wagon! Of course a wagon in a D&D setting has drawbacks, but, at least its mobile vs The Inn, where things that are left seem to just vanish.

After dealing with ink ovals, bits of paper and what have you to represent it, time to model one up. Wagon wheels are store bought Circus Wheels from the Train Store. Coffee stir sticks to the rescue for everything else! Wagon bed is 3 inches long, and 1.5 inches wide. Some paint to go! Figure to stand horses in place when needed, I would have attached the horses but they seem to be in Every creatures food chain!

1912 Truck Project

Just found this model truck today, only problem is that its 1:24th scale. It has entered my TO-DO list to reduce it to 1:48th or so for Dusty's 25mm size to be more compatible.

Having an actual model should allow me to scale it down and then cast my own, varying the type of bed and over head cab detail to fill in a role of differing types of trucks. I expect to have a degree of difficulty but that's what makes it a hobby. Not sure that the interior of the cab may allow for the seating of figures, but that simply adds to the challenge. Got the figure at Big Lots, dug around but did not find any other styles of vehicles or even a tractor. Still have to take the time to do graph drawings and then to the table saw and belt sander to do a lot of the shaping. Might shop around for a suitable tire edging and then cut down the rim size of those on the truck to a usable size to keep the spoke pattern. So at first glance ; engine, chassis, bed, seat/dashboard and top along with 4 tires. Going to employ the KISS methodology, Keep It Simply Stupid. Oh yes! you do not have to model in seat belts! there's a time saver for sure!

Tramp Steamer

When you need a cargo ship for a game scenario encounter and you only have a day to put it together, added to I have never built a ship freehand you launch into a busy learning period!

What I learned from this effort will make the improved ship nicer and more multi use for encounters.

Materials are Foam core, floor tiles and card stock. The curves on the ends of the ship are done by scoring the foam core through the first piece of paper, gluing down to the tile, then covering the outer side with card stock to cover the many cuts. Hull side is 2 inches in height.

Interior shot of the below decks. The pieces of floor tile were cut to cover each room separately so that I could preload figures for the party to encounter. Hull lines and rivet patterns were applied with a fine tip black marker.

Here is the forward interior. Floor grating was cut from needle point plastic grid backing from a craft store and painted metal. Styrene piping used for pipes. Doors are not shown but held open or closed with a bit of Blue Tack paper holder during encounters.

Here is the Aft section of the below decks. My MAJOR mistake was not designating where ladders to above and below decks were.. darn those design by committee's ! I did provide for a small cargo hold in the aft though, to allow a bit more diversity in where Things might be for searching investigators. The superstructure is sectional so that it can be 1 , 2, or 3 stories tall. 1 section has a complete walk around, one has a rear balcony only.

I admit that reality of ship design and my effort do not have much in common on some points. But my design final goal was for the ship to be modular enough to stack into a single box. Pictured to the left is the ready to box stacking of all the ship parts.