August 30, 2020
The was a week of doing lots of terrain detail pieces for my Gordon Institute’s Loch Ness collection. I did another radio station from Miniature Building Authority. I painted two Pulp figures and four Heroclix (Chef, Deimos, and two creatures from the Black Lagoon style figures). I made a lot of use of Mage Knight tables and chairs covered with detail pieces from WizKids’ Deep Cuts packs. I painted some Deep Cuts’ wells, lean-to’s, and campfires. I did a crystal ball and a telescope. I did two of the Deep Cuts’ cages… one with and without an occupant. I did a meal setting with food platters by Acheson Creations (really nice pieces). The plates are actually nobs cut from Legos and sanded flat. The cups/glasses are cut plastic rod by Plastruct. I felt the need to include a game table. I used a table by Deep Cuts, chairs by Mage Knight, and the game board was cut from the Heroclix figure Despero. Another game board I made use of from Heroclix came with the figure Grandmaster. I included a rowboat by Reaper Bones, and I airbrushed another wooden bi-plane. I even found a piece from a Foundry Victorian street merchant that I hadn’t used. It was intended for his cart, but I used one of the other options they provided. I decided to make use of it, so I set it on a base of Legos covered with scored (for a wood-grain effect) Evergreen plastic v-groove. At the close of the week a light went on and I realized that the Atlantis the Lost Empire Water Tanker that I converted to a flatbed truck would be perfect for carrying the cage. I feel like I got a lot done at the workbench, plus we bought a new car (2020 Outback), and I enjoyed two days with our granddaughter which is always great. A full week all around.
August 23, 2020
It was a busy workbench week. I modified and painted two of the Atlantis the Lost Empire panel trucks… that gives me four. I also modified two of the Atlantis Water Tankers. One I converted to a flatbed truck and the other to an armored vehicle. The armored vehicle version is something I have been thinking about for 10 years. I actually bought the toy a decade ago and took it apart in preparation of the modification. And there it sat in pieces for a decade. But this week I decided to get it done. I built the cab and the large rear box out of Legos covered with Evergreen Plastic. The cab window ports and armor window screen are also made from Evergreen plastic. The rear door was a piece I had in my odds-and-ends box as was the big gun on the roof. Keep in mind that these will be used with my Gordon Institute collections and there is a certain comic quality to that whole concept… Indiana Jones meets the Ghostbusters. The big gun is supposed to look like an experimental weapon developed by the Institute. The gun itself was taken from a Ninja Turtles broken toy found at the swap meet and purchased for its parts. The last Atlantis vehicle I did this week was another Command Car. I added a Lewis gun mount by Eureka to the roof. I didn’t give it its Gordon Institute sign because I found that I had run out of our homemade decals and will have to make some more.
With those done I returned to working with my airbrush. I have a number of the Texaco diecast airplanes that I purchased at the swap meet. The 1935 Keystone-Loening Commuter “The Duck” has been earmarked for the Gordon Institute’s Loch Ness team for quite a while. The big issue has been how to hid the Texaco marking. The airbrush was the answer I came up with and thankfully it worked. During the week I discovered two more figures that I will be using with the Gordon Institute and got them painted.
The big surprise of the week was my realization that seven or eight years ago I had purchased a wagon that turned out to be exactly what I need for the shepherds I will be using with my Loch Ness collection. That wagon is a shepherd hut on wheels by a company called Duncan. When I purchased it, I had no plan for its use. I bought it off the bargain table at my local model train shop because it was interesting and cheap… $3.99. It’s a metal model. It wasn’t easy to put together but I’m very happy with it now that it is done.
The week ended with the arrival of an order from Miniature Building Authority. I decided to paint the radio stations and chem lab. Both of these will be outdoor stations (under pavilions) that will be part of my Gordon Institute Loch Ness collection. Because they will be used outdoors, I set both on raised wooden platforms made of Evergreen plastic.
August 16, 2020
When I began this week I had no clear plan for the workbench other than to spend some time learning about my airbrush. But I didn’t jump right in on that. I did some rearranging in the shed and discovered a couple of pieces that I thought would go well with my Loch Ness collection… a piece of toy terrain and an awning. I decided to begin my week with them. I patched some holes in the terrain with Milliput and then gave it a new paint job. I cut some legs for the awning so that it could serve as a pavilion for the Gordon Institute research team, and that reminded me that I needed to make some removable legs for my Miniature Building Authority pavilion which isn’t as tall as I would like. I didn’t want to permanently alter the MBA pavilion so I used Evergreen plastic to make leg sleeves that would allow me to raise the height of the pavilion when I want to do that without changing the original.
With that done, I turned my attention to the airbrush… set everything out. My wife served as my reader of directions while I worked through putting everything together and giving it its first test run which amounted to spraying shapes on paper. After awhile I got bored with the paper shapes and decided to find something real to try. I found a wooden biplane I had purchased at the swap meet for $2… its rear float was missing. All I wanted to do was hide some of its paint damage and give it a little shading. All in all, it worked out so well that I painted up a Copplestone Castings pilot (upper half) and put him in the cockpit. It will now be part of the Institute’s equipment stockpile.
I followed that with the basing of some plants and an umbrella. Painted a couple of Lead Adventure Miniatures figures (Hammers and Matakishi), and ended the week by repurposing a panel truck from Atlantis the Lost Empire… had to close the ends and hide the side hinges.
August 9, 2020
My work on the team that will staff the two Gordon Institute Loch Ness research stations continued this week, and unless I find another figure or figures that I can’t resist concluded as well. Looks like I painted 44 figures this week… sheep and dogs included. I also made headway on the selection of pictures for my 15mm Peninsular War gallery which I hope will be posted in the coming week or two.
August 2, 2020
My work on the team that will staff the two Gordon Institute Loch Ness research stations continued.
Friday and Saturday were devoted to the set up and photographing of my 15mm Peninsular War collection which I hope to have posted by the middle of this month… I hope.
