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Thanks very much, Olthannon!

I'm still at a very early stage of making greenstuff look like something I want, rather than a happy accident- at the moment I use a plastic picnic (disposable) knife (it has a smooth blade, no serrations or anything) and a toothpick. Some of the people on here are absolutely wizard with greenstuff. Two tricks that I learned the hard way was to stop being so cheap and when the two parts of the epoxy start getting old- throw them out! There is nothing more frustrating than trying to work with stiff or hardening greenstuff (except wet toilet paper). And I wasn't using enough water whilst working the components together and shaping them, now I frequently add more water- just dunk the whole thing in a plastic cup. All of the haversacks, packs and tarps on the Athena command and control vehicle several pages back are greenstuff.

I've got two pieces I used cheap hairnets to make camo netting- one bundle up and strapped to the deck of a converted T28 twin turret model and the other strung up as cover for quadcannon position. Armies use camo- even tanks carry it around and deploy it (although tankers in my experience are much prone to jettisoning camo netting and support poles to move out quickly than are gunbunies and grunts; but tankers also have every gun on the battlefield hoping to take them out, so speed is part of their defense). Adding bundled, draped or deployed camo netting is a really nice touch for a lot of models and very realistic (in a rivet-y kind of way).

Appreciate the comments- more follows soonest.



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Consisting of a single Cougar MBT and two self-propelled anti-tank guns and accompanied by a squad of Snow Pixies, a tank hunter/killer team moves out across the frozen wastes of Manx-5:









More follows soonest- got an arts 'n crafts project to show off soon.

Great group shots of the tank with their infantry there Meer_Cat. Love the weathering on the armour - looks great but also ties them into the bases of the cat ladies.

I feel your frustration on working with old greenstuff but haven't been able to force myself to throw it out yet when I've only use a few cm of my 30cm bar :(

I'll echo the praise for the latest round of bags/kit too - they look shmick.

Thanks for sharing!

Very much appreciate the kind words, tzurk- thank you for looking in!

I've still got some of the Resin Munitorum Nekomimi shotgunners that I'm using for Snow Pixies- 'way too much armor for 'way to little infantry in this shot- gotta get busy!

So here's the arts 'n crafts project I started last night- I've been thinking about this for months and was encouraging my wife to floss six times a day as I wanted the empty container:



Which broke apart into these components:



I needed a couple of extra bits of styrene from my scraps heap for a total of these parts::



Did some trimming of the observation window, which made the little palstic window come out very easily and made things much easier to paint:



Glued the diamond plate to the fronts (to hide the raised printing on one section and the decal on the other) and all three pieces to the base:





Added some ham-handed dry-brushing, a firing step made of popsicle stick scraps and some diorama bits and bobs and got this:







Like I mentioned, I've been thinking about how to use one of these dental floss containers ever since I noticed the little glass window, glad I finally got around to it to try.

Incidentally, today marks me going over 2000 images in the gallery here on Dakkadakka (2004, with this project).

Forward Observers and their ride is next, if I can find the danged FO's!

More follows soonest.

Those dental floss baracades look great

Thanks for looking in and the kind words, Carlos!

The wife (aka: Lipstick-6, CinC House, She Who Must Be Obeyed- bu t a great sport about the hobby and a keen collector of 'odd shaped bits of plastic') found another empty floss container for me, so I've started a different section of Aegis Fortifications: a heavy weapons position:





Hopefully there will be some time tomorrow night to paint and attach the weapons pod.

More follows soonest. Thanks for looking in.

Several different things going on this week, first up: progress on the second section of Aegis Defense Line:







The basic structure is done, I just want to add some diorama bits and then there is just the heavy weapon to mount on the platform.


Next up, I finally settled (mostly) on a color scheme for my Space Samurai. This went through several iterations of various browns and dark greens, before realizing I wanted something much more like the Imperial Japanese Army uniforms of World War II. Just a start on the forward observers here, but most base colors are block ed out and ready to get into detailing next, then washes and finally drybrushing:




Finally, here is their ride:



Seriously thinking about finally adding a camo pattern to the hull, but am afraid I'll lose a lot of the detail (the purpose of camouflage, after all). But I intend to add a lot gedunk and gribbles and bits, which will be on top of the camo and will both obscure the vehicle's detail anyway and retain their own.

As Yul Brenner says in the King and I: is a puzzlement. But not a question that needs to be answered just yet.

More follows soonest.

Thank you for looking in.

Very cool what you made and are making with the dental floss containers, Meer_Cat. Dental floss comes in cool shaped containers. I would love to get my hands of more of the free samples from my dentist in the past, they were a cool elipsoid/cylinder like shape. I used them for dreadnought shoulders. Sadly, my dentist give out boring rectangular dental floss, now.

Very nice, Syro! Yep, it's hard to look at a piece of flotsam with some nice curves and not think to yourself: Now what can I make with that?

Finished the second section of defense line tonight, what took longer was adding the weapon platform- and what made that longer was trying to do a better job on the lens:



Overall I'm pretty pleased with the effect, but still some practice to go, I think:



I tried coating it last with some glossy polyurethane, but I don't think it helped. The colors aren't smooth, which is a factor of the paints themselves and trying to rush. I may paint it out and try again.



I glued a 5mm magnet in the base and a small washer to the bottom of the pod, so it rotates.



I haven't posted this week because I was working three separate projects- and one of those had three disparate components. This is now out fo the way so I can focus on finishing up the Space Samurai FOs and their ride.

Thanks for looking in, more follows soonest.

Looking good with two sections of the defense wall, now. I like that the weapons platform can rotate. Do you have any more of those dental floss containers, to be able to continue? They looks great! Maybe try to work a milk pull tab into the next one?

Man, you make a good point: I haven't messed about with milk tabs in ages!

I'm afraid I don't have another floss container at the moment, will have to wait for another to get emptied at home (I'm not opposed to rooting through peoples' trash for things, but am not yet desperate enough to do so).

Meanwhile, I'm finishing the forward observers for the new Space Samurai Imperial Guard regiment, then need to wrap up their ride (need names for both the regiment and vehicle) and the infantry have shipped from the Etsy vender so I can start in on those soon.

I think this will be the 'Lightning' Regiment, as it is a Japanese symbol I believe I can reproduce fairly accurately.

Thank you for looking in, more follows soonest.

Looking forward to seeing the forward observers

Really like what you've done here. Great scratch building.

FO's are done tonight- but I'm pretty pleased with how they came out so am going some extra lengths on their basing, Syro- so hopefully finishing up tomorrow with some pics to show.

Blockade- thanks for looking in! I enjoy kits and 3d prints and all, but am never so happy as when I can take a piece of junk and make it into something. I must admit, I like how the walls turned out. When we empty the net container, I have an idea for either a 45 degree turn section or a 90 degree lunette to join the two straight sections.

More follows soonest, y'all, thank you for looking in.

Forward Observers are done:









Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the end result: very WWII Imperial Army uniforms and I'm downright chuffed that the samurai-looking helmet came out exactly as I was envisioning, with a mahogany brown basecoat, then a heavy Nuln Oil wash and then a very dry Wine Red drybrush to try to get the look of antique lacquered armor.

I haven't done Catachans before, but I think these guys will count as my 'jungle warfare' specialists.

Their Type 1 Ho-Ha variant vehicle is surprisingly nearly finished, requiring only the obligatory (for me) stowage that show that an armored fighting vehicle is actually a mobile home for soldiers and some detailing and that's it.

Thank you for looking in. More follows soonest.




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Tried to take some closer up:

Very nice. I really like the look of those helmets, too. Is all the foliage aquarium plants?

Thanks for looking in, Syro! Yep- I found a couple three plants at a yard sale ages ago and clipped off what looked like usable bits. They're a little glossy though, so to really finish this piece I'll paintt he lens on the telescope silver and hit the whole thing with matte varnish to dull it down a bit.

Love those jungle bases. They look fantastic, great work on the helmets.

Thanks very much, Olthannon! The infantry came in this weekend, so I can start putting together a squad, or I've had some Samurai Rough Riders for awhile, could do those, or I think I have a heavy weapon somewhere about, could do that. Probably go with the grunts, to try (for once!) to have some force balance in an army detachment. Not like my Nekomimi Winterguard- three squads of infantry and a dozen tanks!

The FO's scout vehicle- the Type 1 Ho-ha, is finished:



I thought adding some mud ramps was a nice touch- they're from the customizing bits sprues from Maelstrom's Edge:



The concertina wire coil marks the front of the vehicle:



The smoke launchers are actually from the last tank print that I built up:



This shows the Japanese kanje for 'Lightning', the name of this regiment, freehanded as best I could do and also replicated on the front hood:





Overall, I wanted a jungle, fecund, rusty, moldy feel to the model, rather than my normal dirt, and I think I've gotten that. Your comments always welcome.

Lots of other things going tonight, should be some more pics of everything tomorrow. Thank you for looking in.

More follows soonest.

Looks great! Love all the kit on the sides!

That vehicle looks great, Meer_Cat Did you start it before August? The weathering in really nice, it fits nicely with this month's Dakka Monthly Painting Challenge.

Hey Syro! I started the Ho-ha around the end of July, so not that long ago. I don't know quite what got into me: I was working on Aegis Defense Line, the Ho-Ha and the Forward Observers all at the same time! Not big on looking to get into painting challenges anymore, I really humped back in the day to get the Unobtanium Extraction Unit done in time for the League contest, and then everyone kind of drifted away and we never completed that one, so no winner. It can be hard to find the time to meet the deadlines.

Howdy Olthannon! Thanks for looking in and the kind words. Other than for parades, there is almost no time that vehicles actually used by real solders won't have a bunch of junk lashed onto the outside- largely because if you want/need it and it isn't out there, it rides inside with you. And there already isn't a whole lot of space to go 'round!

I felt a little bit like Vejut yesterday, highly productive and somewhat varied: finished the Type-1 Ho-ha, primered and base coated the pieces for another Aegis Line section and a tank hunter-killer team (hopefully more on that tonight) and built the first squad of Space Samurai Lightning Regiment infantry. Crazy productive, for me!


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Another good night to work (The fever is on me now lads, the fever is on me now; I must be getting married, for the fever is on me now).

Started base coloring the infantry squad:



Got the Aegis Defense Line pieces glued down and touch up primered; these arranged to be a lunette in the line, to allow for enfilading fire:



And got the Lightning Regiment's tank hunter/killer team vehicles primered (which is also their basecoat color):



More about this last later.

Thanks for looking in,

More follows soonest.

More work done this week, although delayed somewhat fighting a summer cold Monday and yesterday, some good work tonight to catch back up:

Another section of Aegis Defense Line, this time angled to form a lunette:











Gonna add some angle iron in the joins between the sections of the new, middle piece- I see a light gap that wasn't visible to the naked eye that ruins the effect of 'impregnable bastion' . May also take some shots with infantry figures and the wall sections displaced outward- like the fortifications in the second Starship Troopers movie, or the movie The Outpost where the sections are not joined, but overlapping.

Got more base colors done on the Lightning Regiment- mostly the haidate, or thigh guards. Each figure had five, times ten for the squad (I was told there would be no math) and that was a lot, in addition to everything else. Next will be the do- cuirass or breastplate, but I'm going to do that in black lacquer, to look more like the photos of real armor I've been going through. It will also provide some color contrast.

Also started working on kitbashing the guns on the tank destroyers of the tank hunter-killer team, they came with short, siege mortar type barrels which aren't right for a tank killing gun- need more calibre to generate muzzle velocity for HEAT or shaped penetrator rounds. More on them when they become the close focus for work. With the latest Aegis done, the infanrtry are next, then the vehicles.

Thank you for looking in, more follows soonest.

Dear comrade MeerCat

I love the bitsbashing for these Aegis pieces- that's a great use of random bits and it looks really good! How about a little graffiti here and there, either by the defenders or local ragamuffins?

Lovely painting efforts on that armour and the recent spotter team, nice use of plastic plants there. My only minor note here is take care on your base rims- they would benefit from getting the sprue gates sanded away a little more but that's a very minor quibble.

That latest armour looks promising, I recognise those Thunderers from my random trawling on evilbay! I love that design so much.

Thank you very much for the kind words and constructive criticism, Ragsta!

You're absolutely correct about the bases- the sprue joins are the result of being too much in a hurry to get a picutre up, and not taking the time to pay attention to detail. I'll go back and fix those and touch up the paint.

It's a different experience for me to use a historical precedent as a painting guide- for the most part these Lightning figures are a combination of Tokugawa Shogunate and WWII Imperial Army colors- like the old GRR-Animals mix and match clothing pieces for kids: no thinking on my part required. (Not like all the different uniform colors for the Doom Pixies, Snow Pixies, Aero Pixies, Panzer Pixies, etc ).

Hopefully more pics follow shortly!

I concur with Ragasta's comments about the grafitti - it always livens things up! You could also stick a few larger tree trunks or rocks to break up the aegis line structures too so as to provide more variation in the layout. Are you going to build a bunker component as well?

Thank you for looking in and commenting, blockade23- some good advice! I have some 'For the Emperor' type posters and will add some freehand graffiti, I like that sort of customization. Same/same with the rocks/trees, etc. I considered doing something like that from get-go, but had set three victory conditions so I didn't get bogged down with the dental floss containers whilst painting Space Samurai: keep the Aegis Lines pieces fast, simple and cheap!

Now that they're done, no rule against going back and adding some detailing!

A bit of a divergence up next. I put off working on Chip Marshal's shadowbox for so long- nearly a year (was up to my elbows in the Kittyhawk project and missed ole Chip and just couldn't get myself to work on his memory box for the longest time)- that his battle buddy Sammy (registered name Sandtracker) has now passed. Same story- he was a rescue from the kil pen at the auction and just needed a place where he could rest and live with a little dignity. He and my wife were very close, a very special relationship. He was as comfortable and well-cared for and unafraid as we could make him for four years with us. He was 24.

The shadowbox he shares with Chip is now complete.







The vignette in the foreground shows them playing 'g-nap' with a tethered jolly ball- they'd do that for hours sometimes. It's basically keep-away, with occasional bouts of bashing your opponent over the head with the ball. They loved that game.

I have other photos of some recent work also, but will leave this alone for the moment.

Thank you for looking in. More follows soonest.

Here are the other projects going at the moment:

The Lightning Regiment figures now have all their armor pieces base colored:



I didn't realize it doing the Forward Observers, but I used the same Model Color Mahogany paint for the equipment harness, pouches and the armor pieces. I don't think it's going to be a problem, as the armor gets two different washes and the belts/pouches get drybrushed a lighter color, yielding very different final results. If needs be, I'll go back and redo the equipment pieces in a green, canvas webbing color.

All smaleer pieces of equipment left to base coat, then the washes. I should have these guys done fairly shortly and can start in on their Rough Rider brethren.

Also puttering along with the inexpensive 'grab bag' vehicles:



Still need to bring some heat to them to smooth the FDM filament sprangles they've got and am looking at extending the barrels into tank-killers, not siege mortars. The mortar tubes shown here are from some Bronakorps vehicles I got some time ago and might do- they fit right into the existing muzzles. I also got some more styrene tubing in as part of a regular supply drop (I was running out) and I'll check if the biggest diameter tube will do, if so I can easily add muzzle brakes and bore evacuators as the tubing set is graduated up from smallest to largest in 1/16th inch increments (it has like ten of each size).

I also got in tank hunter Space Samurai figures to go with the Rhino- it's going to be configured to have a load of anti-tank 'lunge mines' stowed on top, and a bunch of convicts running around with them looking for bad guy armor.

Thank you for looking in. More follows soonest.