August 28, 2022
I began the week completing the repaint of the last two of the twelve Battlefield in a Box escarpments. The repaint was needed to repurpose escarpments to desert terrain appearance from their original non-desert look. This marks the completion of all figures, equipment, and necessary terrain for my 15mm WW2 North Africa collection. At this point I have no clear plan for my next project though I will probably cast more berms for North Africa if something else does not catch my attention.
At the end of June, Brookhurst Hobbies held its most recent Bring and Buy (a flea market style event). I make a point of attending these and have for years. I generally find something(s) good, even great, at very good prices. On Sunday I was at Brookhurst, and Steve, the store's general manager, told me that the next Bring and Buy would be coming at the end of September which pleased me very much. Since I just finished my work on my latest project (something I have been working on for more than a year), I've been thinking about what big project to do next and also looking for some random small projects to keep me busy until I decided on the next big project. Steve's comment about an upcoming Bring and Buy reminded me that at the last one I had purchased a seller's effort at constructing the Games Workshop Vampire Count's Corpse Cart. It was dusty/dirty, missing the Vampire Count (which didn't really bother me) but only $5. Without another project on my workbench, I decided to clean it up and give it some paint.
In doing a little cleaning of my workbench (I stress the word “little”) I found an entrance that might work with the wall I painted for my North Africa collection, so I glued the gates on and gave it a paint job.
While looking for something completely unrelated I found the two radio antennas that I will be using for my Gordon Institute Frozen North collection. They had the baking soda and white glue snow, so I removed that and painted the Milliput base as I had done with the other Gordon Institute snow removals. I continued my search and found The Thing (1982 version) and my mammoths. All had the baking soda and white glue snow. I removed that snow, added Milliput where needed and painted the bases white (actually Vallejo Off White). I also painted a toy sleigh that I found at the swap meet. I think it will look good as a piece of detail sitting around one of the Gordon Institute’s Frozen North camps.
As the week neared its end my hobby attention returned to the Gordon Institute’s expedition to find the origins of the legend of King Kong. At this point I have completed the writing of four of what will probably be seven episodes for this adventure, and that writing led me to the realization that I needed a cook for the expedition. Fortunately, I have an unpainted Reme from Artizan Designs’ Thrilling Tales. That focus on the King Kong episodes reminded me of the footprints I did for the Creature from the Black Lagoon for my Loch Ness collection, and fortunately, I recently bought another giant gorilla at the swap meet, and this one has very detailed feet, so I made some huge Kong footprints using that toy and Milliput. I ended the week painting that huge gorilla whose footprints will amaze the Gordon Institute’s expedition. In fact, the expedition will first encounter the large gorilla I painted several months ago. That gorilla is dwarfed by this recent version. In the tale of this Institute adventure, I will use both, and it is the huge version that will define the expedition’s outcome.
August 21, 2022
What does a wind pump or windmill have to do with WW2 North Africa? The answer is that it was the dominant landmark at Beda Fomm in 1941. I was fortunate to find one by Woodland Scenics on the bargain table at my local model train shop. In reading about Beda Fomm there is also reference to a water feature which is probably a water tank, but I have seen no written specifics or pictures of that water feature. I decided to reference that water feature with a pool of water I made from Milliput. It may not be correct, but it will add a little color.
With those done, I painted a few more palm trees; probably not needed, but easy to do.
One of my FB group members told me that what I probably needed to go with the wind pump/windmill is a shaduf or well. I decided to make one using Milliput, Evergreen plastic and floral wire.
Next on my agenda was the concertina razor wire. For this I used The Army Painter Battlefield Razorwire (4024). I set each section of wire in a base of Milliput scored using a toothbrush. I shaped the wire by wrapping it around a piece of Evergreen plastic rod.
With the concertina razor wire sections done, I turned my attention to the last major terrain features for North Africa. Over time I purchased six boxes (12 sections, 11” each) of Battlefield in a Box Escarpments. When I purchased them the desert versions were no longer in production, so I purchased the non-desert versions (same casting with different paint job), with the intent of repainting them in a desert scheme. This turned out to be much easier than I originally thought it would be. By the close of the week I had completed 10 of the 12 escarpment sections.
August 14, 2022
While most of this week was devoted to terrain for my 15mm North Africa collection, the week began with two Peter Pig Italian mortar crews that finally arrived through Brookhurst Hobbies. I next had an unexpected find at Arnie’s Trains: a pack of two resin 1940s-era HO scale wood station wagons that I got on the bargain table. I did one in British service and the second as a British vehicle captured by the Germans. They are by a company I have never heard of before called Magnuson Models.
I next turned to terrain. My first terrain work of the week was five stucco buildings. I gave each of them new doors out of Evergreen plastic because the original doors were oversized. I then painted them. With those done I cast more berms… some with sandbags and some without.
I ended the week painting some Peter Pig walls, and basing (in Milliput over metal washers) and painting some cake decoration palm trees I hope to find a use for in my North Africa collection.
August 7, 2022
I began the workbench week painting some Artizan Designs/ Thrilling Tales’ figures that will be part of the Gordon Institute’s campus security team and one member of their field research team.
I took a little break from painting Institute figures and returned to North Africa terrain by building another entrenched tent. I’ll probably do one more which will give me five.
I followed those by painting Pulp Figures’ Surly Servants. They will be part of the Gordon Institutes’ support staff.
Mid-week the unexpected took control of the workbench. Several years ago I did a Gordon Institute collection entitled the Frozen South. For snow on the bases I used a mixture of white glue and baking soda. It appeared to work extremely well. Unfortunately, it did not last. I discovered this week that the snow was flaking off. It was no longer solid, and would not withstand use and adding more white glue did not work. It was a really upsetting realization. The white glue/baking soda combination seemed to be the perfect snow, and now I had to replace it with something that I know will last. I decided to use my old standby, Milliput. There are a lot of bases to be restored so North Africa terrain will probably become a sideshow for a few weeks. I’m posting a picture of the new Milliput bases painted with Vallejo Off White, but I don’t intend to post all the repairs since the figures themselves are not being repainted.
Took a short break from my work on resnowing my Frozen South figures and painted a Heroclix Professor Xavier to be added to my Gordon Institute staff.
While my work on repair/replacing the snow on the Gordon Institute Frozen South bases continued, I didn’t forget that there was work to do in preparing terrain pieces for my 15mm North Africa collection. Having made some molds, I completed 14 resin berms topped with sandbags. I haven’t done any resin casting in years, and I was very happy with the way these came out. I also did another entrenched tent terrain piece.
