May 31, 2026
About 10 years ago I bought a steampunk-style bridge off the clearance table at Brookhurst Hobbies. At the time, I had no idea how I would make use of it, but it was a great looking piece that I had never seen before, and I was pretty sure I would never see it again. Since buying it I have learned that it was by Armorcast. This past week I decided to incorporate it into my Trench Crusade collection as a bridge over a dry riverbed in no-man’s land. Because the riverbed would be about 5 feet long, I thought scratch building one would take a huge amount of time and would be expensive in terms of material. I decided to use the Pegasus River Set and while it is not cheap, I was pretty sure it would be no more expensive than building my own plus it would take very little time to complete since all I needed to do was paint it and add a few Army Painter plants.
With the dry riverbed complete, I returned to building the Heretic frontline trenches. I’ve completed 55” inches of that trench line which leaves a 5” opening for tank passage. I’ll be blocking direct entrance to the inner trench position with a stone wall set out from the opening much as what the Romans did with their marching forts.
Next on my agenda was the construction of another Heretic artillery position much like the one I made last week (Duplos and Evergreen Plastic), but I gave it a different look than the first to keep things interesting.
My wife and I have Disneyland annual passes, so today we took a ride to the Magic Kingdom. While there I looked for the Jabba the Hutt's Sail Barge popcorn bucket. It was released for May The 4th Be With You this month. Fortunately it was still available. It's about 18" long and about 7" to the top of the sails. It's a great looking piece and will work well with my 28mm Star Wars collection.
I ended the week building my third scratch built Heretic gun emplacement. I only had time to do the finished painting on the gun turret itself. The gun’s trench work base is completely built and has its base black paint job, but the finish paint work remains to be done.
May 24, 2026
A few weeks ago, I bought the Lemax Spooky Town Mt. Gloom Observatory. I removed the large skull from the town and was planning on using/modifying only the building and buttresses as part of my Trench Crusade collection. This week I was looking at the big skull that was still sitting on my workbench and decided I should look around for a way to incorporate it into a Heretic shrine for my Trench Crusade collection. I had some leftover pieces from a GW project and some Pegasus columns, so I brought them together for a Heretic shrine… weird and funny but I think it works with Trench Crusade.
I needed more Heretic artillery for my Trench Crusade collection, so I decided to build a gun mount out of Duplo blocks, Evergreen plastic, pieces from a bracelet, and a GrimGuard hatch. I followed that with my third Heretic artillery piece. It began its life as a GI Joe Long Range Cannon that I found at the swap meet for $1. I removed it from its wheel carriage and set it on a base I made from Evergreen plastic.
Throughout the week I have been building Heretic trench platforms/bases for the guns and shrine I did.
Years ago, I bought a resin Steampunk-style bridge from the clearance table at Brookhurst Hobbies. I had no plan for how to use it, but it looked great and I knew that if I didn’t get it, I would probably never see one like it again. This week I decided to paint it and incorporate it into my Trench Crusade collection.
I closed the week out building and painting two more Heretic frontline trench sections.
May 17, 2026
A while ago I scratch built a mobile pigeon loft for carrier pigeons using Vinny's Tinderbox (Disney Store version) as my starting point. Yesterday I received a stationary pigeon loft in the mail and immediately began painting. These two lofts give me both ends of my Trench Crusade communications network.
I recently bought a towed artillery piece to go with my B6 artillery steam tractor. It came with a stone wall defensive position and three piles of spent shell casings. I loved the artillery piece and the shell casings, but the stone wall defensive position didn’t go well with the rest of my entrenchments so I used the wall for the core around which I constructed what I consider a more suitable artillery emplacement. I did that by attaching Evergreen plastic to the original stone wall and covered the enemy-facing side with Vallejo Diorama FX texture. There were a few pieces of the stone wall left so I painted that up as it came with a Milliput surround at the base.
The above artillery piece came with an open shell box and some single shells. I made that into an ammo shrine.
Still obsessed with detail for my no-man’s land, I made more.
Made my first Trench Crusade Heretic gun emplacement. I did it with odds and ends I had been hoarding for the right moment… this looked like the moment. I also worked on some Lemax stone walls that I think will be part of my Heretic defensive line.
May 10, 2026
Several years ago, I purchased an armored, steampunk-style train and tucked it away for the right moment. Years passed and this week I decided I would untuck it and paint it for use with my growing Trench Crusade collection. It’s too long for one photo so I’ve provided three… two that show all the train pieces and one that gives an additional view of the engine. A fourth picture is an ad photo in case anyone is interested and wants to Google.
I’m really enjoying making small terrain pieces for my Trench Crusade no-man’s land, so I made some more this week including some shell holes.
I didn't have any cargo for my Trench Crusade/Steampunk flat cars so I made some using Duplo blocks covered with a piece of paper towel.
I discovered that I had another Atlantis’ Vinny’s Tinderbox of the Disney Store version, so I repurposed it for use with my Trench Crusade mobile force.
Several years ago I found a great consignment deal on a bundle of really nice pieces at Brookhurst Hobbies ($35 for a ruined building, a gris mill, a beautiful sailboat, and a bearskin rug). This week I decided to add the ruined building to my Trench Crusade collection. It already had a very nice paint job compatible with my style, so I dirtied it up to be more compatible with the look of Trench Crusade, adding a McFarland Toy’s ruined roof and two GW buttresses.
The rest of the week was spent working on more detail pieces for my Trench Crusade no-man’s land.
May 3, 2026
I began the week painting another set of building ruins for my Trench Crusade collection. I got these from a company called Toadstool Studio. I’ve provided front and rear views.
I next decided to dive into making the detail pieces for my Trench Crusade no-man’s land. I used metal washer cover with scrapes of Evergreen plastic for the base. I then covered the base with Vallejo Diorama FX texture material… great stuff. When the bases were covered I added dead trees, roots, stumps and crosses from MungosMarvelousMinis (Etsy). I also added a couple of unexploded bombs that were originally Heroclix pieces.
A few years ago a friend gave me a pack of Pegasus Gothic Rubble #1. Until I got hooked on Trench Crusade, I really had no plan for how to use them, but they will make great no-man’s land ruins. They came nicely prepainted, but they were not a color match for the rest of my Trench Crusade structures so I added a little highlighting to dirty them up a little.
A few days ago I saw Mark Fuller’s WWI artillery tractor and that inspired me to do something with the Thomas Train steam tractor I purchased at the swap meet about ten years ago. I scratch built a driver’s seat, added a removable roof I found at Saver’s thrift store (originally part of a small Disney locomotive), added a GrimGuard driver, and gave it a new paint job. It will now serve as a Fowler B6 steam artillery tractor for my Trench Crusade collection.
A couple years ago, I found some beautiful terrain pieces at Brookhurst Hobbies that were being sold on consignment. I had never seen any of them before. They were beautifully done, well painted in a style that is compatible with my own. They included a grist mill, a stone building in ruins, a Romani-style wagon, a very nice sailboat (unpainted) and a bearskin rug. The shocker was that they were being sold as a bundle for $35… a real steal. This week I decided to modify the stone building ruins into something I could include with my Trench Crusade collection. I had a McFarland Toys stone hut that I had gotten at the swap meet several years ago for a couple of dollars and decided to remove its raggedy roof and added to the stone building’s tower/circular section… it fit well. I then dirtied up the paint on the building to make it look more like the other structures I am using with my Trench Crusade collection.
Near the end of the week I found the Lemax Mt. Gloom Observatory at Savers thrift store. I got it for $6. It looked like a good structure to use with my Trench Crusade heretics. I took it home and immediately began taking it apart to give it a less comic look.
