April 27, 2025
My 28mm pigeons arrived from PintSizedPeople on Saturday, and I got them mounted on the loft and painted on Monday.
I found three wonderful resin buildings at Savers thrift shop last week. They are part of a series called Beyond the Call. They had a few chips out of the resin, but those were easily repaired with Milliput. The biggest obstacle to using them with 28mm was that their doors are too tall. To correct that problem I built steps leading up to the doors to reduce the height of the doors and make them more compatible with 28mm figures.
A couple weeks ago I saw a really nice looking toy stable at Savers. It was missing one roof section and the lower half of two stall doors, but it was only $7. The missing roof section was not a problem because that will allow my granddaughter to play in the interior of the stable, and I was sure I could make the missing stall door sections out of Evergreen plastic. My granddaughter really likes horses and stables so for $7 I bought it and decided I would have some fun fixing it up. When I got home I looked it up on eBay and found that it was called Farm World and the cheapest one I found was $130 and the most expensive was $250.
I closed out the week by adding new decking and a new cabin area (Evergreen plastic v-groove) to the hull (Mega Bloks Empress) of what I believe will be my last Victorian Sci Fi airship.
April 20, 2025
I began this week at the workbench completing my collection of worker dorms (cutting down trailers I picked up at Savers thrift store for $4 each). Originally they were probably at least 1/35 scale, but I cut them down so they would be compatible with my 30mm Aliens’ collection. The only change I made from the first dorm I did last week and these is that I put a yellow stripe around the bottom of each building so they would be more visible in the dark. I still have to add the Scenic Effects ground cover.
With the dorms done, I turned my attention to a Chicken Run air machine I purchased at the swap meet for a dollar several years ago… I had completely forgotten that I had it. Over the years I have purchased three of these at the swap meet for a dollar or two each. In each case the landing skids were missing, and I replaced them with scratch-built wheels made from Evergreen plastic. But in the case of the third I decided to give it new skids made from a child’s sled (a Christmas decoration) I found at the swap meet, and I gave it a couple of fuel tanks (also found at the swap meet). I then built all three of the air machines’ lift bases so they could join my other airships in flight.
April 13, 2025
I began this workbench week painting my mobile pigeon loft that I repurposed from Vinny’s Tinderbox from the Atlantis the Lost Empire collection.
Several weeks ago, I was at Savers thrift shop and found four trailers/caravans in the toy section for $4 each (I probably got another 20% off because of a coupon). While they were significantly too big for my 28mm figures, they looked like they had real modification potential if I cut them down. I decided they could be repurposed into worker dorms for my Aliens-style terraforming project. Yesterday I did the structural changes to the first of the four trailers. I cut off what amounted to the lower third of the trailer leaving a door and windows with more appropriate height for 28mm figures. I scratch-built a roof air conditioner and added flap shutters to the windows using Evergreen plastic Metal Siding… an important addition given the extreme windstorms on the planet in question. I set the entire structure in a base of Milliput. I kept the paintjob simple.
I brought the week to an end painting several 28mm figures by Artizan Designs, Wargames Foundry and one by Eureka Miniatures.
April 6, 2025
I completed the basing and painting of the Arkanaut Ironclad and its replacement crew (Crew of the Hesperus… much modified).
With the Games Workshop airships done, I turned my attention to another small kit. This one is by Highland Miniatures and offered the option of a large helo blade or a small gas bag. I went with the gas bag.
I have a 28mm collection that I call the Gordon Institute for Archeology and Paranormal Study. I have been adding to this collection for years, and I recently decided that the group needed a mobile pigeon loft as another communication option for their many adventures. For years I have also been repurposing vehicles marketed with the release of Atlantis the Lost Empire to serve as the transport for the Gordon Institute. I decided to use Vinny’s Tinderbox as the vehicle I would use as the core of my mobile pigeon loft. I have nearly finished the construction, but I’m tired so the remaining windows (two on each side) will have to wait until tomorrow (next week’s posting).
