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Made in pt
Regular Dakkanaut






 Tommygun1918 wrote:
That does look like a fun project. Do you think plaster would work in them?
I have worked with Hirst Arts silicon molds and dental plaster.
Dental plaster is just plaster of Paris with finely ground concrete mixed in.
It's really strong.


Plaster might work since the acrylic resin I am using is apparently essentially acrylic plaster. Unless real plaster hardens in a way that is a bit more aggressive on the moulds I think it should work.
I will have a look at what I can find locally to see if I find something suitable but so far the pieces I have made with the acrylic resin seem sturdy enough for what I want to do.

   
Made in fr
Boom! Leman Russ Commander





France

real plaster, to my knowlegde, is a bit aggressive and I don't know how well moulds would hold up.

40k: Necrons/Imperial Guard/ Space marines
Bolt Action: Germany/ USA
Project Z.

"The Dakka Dive Bar is the only place you'll hear what's really going on in the underhive. Sure you might not find a good amasec but they grill a mean groxburger. Just watch for ratlings being thrown through windows and you'll be alright." Ciaphas Cain, probably.  
   
Made in pt
Regular Dakkanaut






 Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:
real plaster, to my knowlegde, is a bit aggressive and I don't know how well moulds would hold up.

Yes that was what I also thought, but I have enough material for my current pieces so I don't need to worry about finding alternatives for the moment.


First of all, I would like to wish everyone a great new year!
Moving on to new updates, I have managed to paint 1468 individual models in 2024, most of them fall under what I categorize as infantry (basically everything that doesn't have a mount or something similar, including characters), which brings me a bit closer to my objectives, although I still have 2 or 3 more years of work ahead of me to get everything painted.
The overall status of my collection at the end of 2023 was as follows:


To simplify my method, the green bar is painted and the yellow bar is the full amount of assembled models (converted from extra parts + built as bought), so the final objective would be to have the green and the yellow at the same level.

The following is the status as of the end of 2024:


Due to conversions to spend spare parts some categories are a bit worse right now, but overall I am getting closer to my objective of having all of my models painted.
Hopefully when I finish all this I will start with basing and other details that I haven't dealt with so far.


I think I had mentioned earlier that I found a toy motorcycle that was roughly in scale with 28mm models and so I have added some legs to it and created a mould so I can make some copies and convert a few bikers. I am still not entirely sure about what they will look like as I have been considering several possibilities to source the parts, but I will likely go with something post apocalyptic in terms of looks.


I have also taken a photo of a few of the cleaned up pieces from the moulds I got from Green Stuff World just to complement a bit the review I did earlier:


Finally, I started the new year with some painting, so I have finished a batch of 30 converted persians, which get me a bit closer to getting the entire lot done (only 90 more to go). Once those are done I should paint a few stargrave crew minis and then some conversions made using some spare bits from ww2 perry miniature kits.






That is all for today, thanks for looking.

   
Made in pt
Regular Dakkanaut






Not much progress to show today as I have been slowly working on making a few more parts using the silicone moulds from GSW to do a bit of terrain (what I am working on at the moment doesn't quite categorize as wargaming terrain, but it could work as a mini diorama).

I did manage to use the time at home to paint a few more converted persians and get a bit closer to the end of the entire lot.
Only 2 more batches of 30 remaining







Once the last 2 batches are done I should start working on painting my stargrave crew box which should give me around 3 batches of minis to paint (20 minis built straight out of the box and 60 more done with the spare parts and some miliput bodies).

I have decided to make the bikers with a mix of parts from stargrave scavengers and potentially the frostgrave cultists, so if things go ok I should order those closer to the end of January to get started on the bikers and to convert a few scale model cars I got as a present during Christmas (they were gifted with conversion already in mind).
Lets see how it goes

   
Made in pt
Regular Dakkanaut






I have another quick update today with a mix of painted stuff and things that I have been building over the last few days.

Home Progress Update
On Saturday I managed to finish the small diorama I was working on, but since the air drying clay was to humid I only took some pictures today after it was fully dry.
It is essentially a small garden with the areas covered in clay being meant to be painted as the ground with some vegetation, along with a stone paved path in the middle and some pots for plants which will likely be filled with aquarium plants and other small plastic plants I have once the rest is painted (I have some sectioned aquarium plants that fit the pots quite nicely).



I also managed to paint another batch of converted persians, only one more remaining.






Farm Progress Update
I finally managed to have time to put the crows/ravens and the nests on the small tree, so now the tree is finally done.














That is all for today, hopefully more progress to show soon!

   
Made in fr
Boom! Leman Russ Commander





France

wow, very nice details these ravens!

40k: Necrons/Imperial Guard/ Space marines
Bolt Action: Germany/ USA
Project Z.

"The Dakka Dive Bar is the only place you'll hear what's really going on in the underhive. Sure you might not find a good amasec but they grill a mean groxburger. Just watch for ratlings being thrown through windows and you'll be alright." Ciaphas Cain, probably.  
   
Made in pt
Regular Dakkanaut






 Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:
wow, very nice details these ravens!

Thank you! I got them for decoration of some characters and decided that the spare ones deserved some sort of mini diorama as a home.


Farm Progress Update
Time for another update, I have managed to build another small diorama style terrain, this time a small garden with a fountain in the middle, which I plan to use as a base for an experiment with clear resin for water effects. The bark will be painted as rocks and the strange things sticking everywhere will be small plants and bushes.


I also worked on a bunker that I am planning to use with a set of trenches that I want to do one day (not sure when that will be but hopefully sometime soon).


If things go well I should get both of these covered in sealant soon, along with the fortress made with matches I have shown earlier (I recently realized that I started to work on that fortress over 20 years ago), since my current plan is to use the evenings at the farm to get the fortress painted, before proceeding to tackle the terrain and vehicles I built there.

   
Made in pt
Regular Dakkanaut






Today I painted the last batch of the converted persians which means next weekend I should work on my stargrave crew models and do something a bit different compared to the last batches of similar models.







I also primed a few mechs I converted using some of the spare parts from the mantic striders I got some years ago, but the ones I built with the metal weapons are proving hard to keep in one piece so I might have to reinforce them before I paint them.
My plan is to paint a couple of those mechs each weekend when the infantry batches are ready (or ready for what I intended to paint on that specific day), which will hopefully help me tackle the sudden increase of converted vehicles that are lowering the percentage of painted models.

On the farm I also managed to give a first layer of spray primer to the fortress made with matches, but it needs at least another layer before I start painting with a brush due to the large surface and the fact that some areas didn't get fully covered (the weather was wet so that also might have made it a bit worse).
If everything goes well I should start painting the fortress during the evenings and finish it this week or the next one.

   
Made in us
Ragin' Ork Dreadnought





Deep in the Outer Boroughs of NYC

You are making fantastic progress! Keep it up.

Waaazag da Kan't Stoppable (ORKS) ~6,000 points
Orks-in-Progress, Finished Orks.
Terrain I'm making.
The Darion Sector War Campaign.
Into the Jaws of Hell 40k campaign. 
   
Made in fr
Boom! Leman Russ Commander





France

Plus I bet matches soak up the primer on the first run...

40k: Necrons/Imperial Guard/ Space marines
Bolt Action: Germany/ USA
Project Z.

"The Dakka Dive Bar is the only place you'll hear what's really going on in the underhive. Sure you might not find a good amasec but they grill a mean groxburger. Just watch for ratlings being thrown through windows and you'll be alright." Ciaphas Cain, probably.  
   
Made in pt
Regular Dakkanaut






Warboss_Waaazag wrote:You are making fantastic progress! Keep it up.

Thanks I try to keep myself busy!

Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:Plus I bet matches soak up the primer on the first run...

Not as much as you would expect after all the pva glue and the sealant, but given the large surface area it actually covered rather well.


Now onto some updates on new things I have been working on.

Home Progress Update
I finished building a set of small structures made with the sci-fi moulds I got from GreenStuff World. I used some cardboard to reinforce some of the areas I thought needed a bit more support but overall the parts were quite sturdy on their own (certainly not as good as HIPS but I am not planning to use them as a replacement for hard plastic).
Overall the moulds will serve their purpose of giving me parts for detailing some larger buildings like the large walls I am planning to build in the future or to be used to make doors for bunkers in a trench line.







Farm Progress Update
I finished 3 more armoured vehicles made from egg boxes, this time equipped with rocket launchers (or what I will paint as such).







The fortress made with matches is progressing nicely and I have painted the main colours except the base grey, so the expectation would be to do some corrections and finer painting tomorrow and then take care of shading and other detailing.

   
Made in fr
Boom! Leman Russ Commander





France

Love the sheds. The egg cardboard ranks look very weird at that stage lol

40k: Necrons/Imperial Guard/ Space marines
Bolt Action: Germany/ USA
Project Z.

"The Dakka Dive Bar is the only place you'll hear what's really going on in the underhive. Sure you might not find a good amasec but they grill a mean groxburger. Just watch for ratlings being thrown through windows and you'll be alright." Ciaphas Cain, probably.  
   
Made in pt
Regular Dakkanaut






 Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:
Love the sheds. The egg cardboard ranks look very weird at that stage lol

Almost all of my scratch built vehicles look weird before paint, most look better afterwards, lets hope that is the case as I haven't painted any of the egg tanks yet.

   
Made in us
Ragin' Ork Dreadnought





Deep in the Outer Boroughs of NYC

Might I suggest that you give your egg tanks a coat of sealer before you paint them? They look like they are made of compressed paper pulp and I worry they might dissolve or distort when water-based paintsbare applied to them.

Also, those sheds are looking quite nice so far.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2025/01/14 18:35:43


Waaazag da Kan't Stoppable (ORKS) ~6,000 points
Orks-in-Progress, Finished Orks.
Terrain I'm making.
The Darion Sector War Campaign.
Into the Jaws of Hell 40k campaign. 
   
Made in fr
Boom! Leman Russ Commander





France

Very wise advice you give, I support this

40k: Necrons/Imperial Guard/ Space marines
Bolt Action: Germany/ USA
Project Z.

"The Dakka Dive Bar is the only place you'll hear what's really going on in the underhive. Sure you might not find a good amasec but they grill a mean groxburger. Just watch for ratlings being thrown through windows and you'll be alright." Ciaphas Cain, probably.  
   
Made in pt
Regular Dakkanaut






 Warboss_Waaazag wrote:
Might I suggest that you give your egg tanks a coat of sealer before you paint them? They look like they are made of compressed paper pulp and I worry they might dissolve or distort when water-based paintsbare applied to them.

Also, those sheds are looking quite nice so far.


I was planning to coat them with sealer before spray painting, so in principle I should have no major issues. I am planning to do the same with all cardboard stuff that won't get covered in glue and sand for texturing.

   
Made in pt
Regular Dakkanaut






I have managed to finish painting the fortress made with matches yesterday and while it might still need some work on the edges of the cardboard base, that will likely only be done when this is inserted into the city diorama I am planning to use it with. The idea is to have the fortress on a hill made with styrofoam which will likely cover most of the edges of the base and then the city buildings on a lower area, surrounded by a large wall made with more styrofoam (the foam came with some tiles for the roof so I have quite a lot to use).








I don't have any human models at the farm for size reference, but you can check my gallery or the picture of the fortress I shared earlier in the thread which has some WW1 germans from wargames atlantic to give some reference.

Currently I have been working on using styrofoam from a box of something my family bought to make some trench lines. No pics yet but I have started to place some matches to make the sides of the trench and will use other matches for the bottom. I am planning to use the doors and door frames from the sci-fi moulds I used to make the small buildings with acrylic resin to make entrances on the sides of the trench lines.
The intention is that the trench lines can then be used with bunkers and other buildings in between so it looks like a continuous defensive line with permanent positions between the wooden trenches.

   
Made in pt
Regular Dakkanaut






A quick update today, as I had mentioned I have been working on a series of trench lines using styrofoam as a base for the trench cavities.
Yesterday I managed to add the fourth vertical wall with matches and the plan is to continue next week with the doors on the side and the floor.
As mentioned earlier the doors will be made with the sci-fi moulds and acrylic resin. The floor will likely be more matches.


Once the basic structure is done I will add some material to fill some of the spaces and create the areas of ground/soil between the trench lines.
The narrow trench line should be wide enough for 2 28mm humans to be side by side on 25mm bases and the other one might even allow 3 to be side by side (I haven't measured it accurately to know for certain).
I have another symmetrical bit of styrofoam which should be used for the same purpose once this one is done.


On another topic, I started to prime a few of the buildings I built when I started this thread (the ones made with Mantic's kits), so hopefully I should paint a few small buildings next week and keep things going so I don't have too many things waiting in the paint queue.

   
Made in pt
Regular Dakkanaut






Another day another update

Today lets start with some stargrave Crew that I painted over the weekend:





Then I painted a few wheeled "mechs" based on spare parts from Mantic Striders (those metal guns are really heavy).
Unfortunately the lamp I used for lighting was not enough to get the crew on the pic from the two vehicles with open crew compartments (well forced open based on the damage), but I assure you both vehicles do have a driver.





Last but not the least, I have been working on a small diorama related with a ruined building:






Rainy weather changed my plans for the week, but I have made the doors for the trenches over the weekend, just need to get them to the farm and try them out, to see if I need to make any adaptations.

   
Made in pt
Regular Dakkanaut






Despite the rainy weather changing my plans, I managed to work on a few more things over the past few days, including a couple of watchtowers made with cardboard and the plastic centre pieces of thread for sewing.






I managed to bring the doors I made for the trenches to the farm, so I should work on adding those this evening, before starting on the floor for the trenches.
I have made some progress on the Mantic buildings I primed with spray last week and primed a few more today to work on after I finish the current batch.
It is a total of 33 medium or small buildings, but if everything goes well I should be able to finish most of them this week.

   
Made in fr
Boom! Leman Russ Commander





France

That watch tower misses a ladder or entrance of sorts I think. Maybe give it a door and hatch on the top, or make a ladder on the side?

Nice work though, I like looking at what you're doing. And still love the match castle!

40k: Necrons/Imperial Guard/ Space marines
Bolt Action: Germany/ USA
Project Z.

"The Dakka Dive Bar is the only place you'll hear what's really going on in the underhive. Sure you might not find a good amasec but they grill a mean groxburger. Just watch for ratlings being thrown through windows and you'll be alright." Ciaphas Cain, probably.  
   
Made in pt
Regular Dakkanaut






 Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:
That watch tower misses a ladder or entrance of sorts I think. Maybe give it a door and hatch on the top, or make a ladder on the side?

Nice work though, I like looking at what you're doing. And still love the match castle!

Actually there is a hatch already just no external stairs/ladder (the pinkish rectangle with a metallic bit glued to it to make the handle). The idea is that the towers are part of an underground defensive line so no door visible from the outside because the access is made through a ladder inside the hollow cylindrical part of the building.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Today I come bearing a short update about a lot of painting. I had primed 12 buildings last week from my modular fortress concept using Mantic's Military Compound and Landing Zone boxes, along with 3 weapons and 2 small decorations from the same boxes.
After some work between yesterday and today I managed to get the entire batch painted, although it took me longer than I had anticipated.














Next on the paint queue are a few more of the buildings, since I made a total of 33 from those 2 boxes, but not sure yet on many I will paint as I have primed everything yesterday but might cut into 2 batches rather than 1 huge batch with lots of buildings.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2025/01/23 17:30:44


   
Made in fr
Boom! Leman Russ Commander





France

Ahah m'y Bad I actually thought the pink square was juste a colour of the cardboard piece you used! I stand corrected!

Real nice scatter terrain in addition!

40k: Necrons/Imperial Guard/ Space marines
Bolt Action: Germany/ USA
Project Z.

"The Dakka Dive Bar is the only place you'll hear what's really going on in the underhive. Sure you might not find a good amasec but they grill a mean groxburger. Just watch for ratlings being thrown through windows and you'll be alright." Ciaphas Cain, probably.  
   
Made in pt
Regular Dakkanaut






 Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:
Ahah m'y Bad I actually thought the pink square was juste a colour of the cardboard piece you used! I stand corrected!

Real nice scatter terrain in addition!

No worries, on the first tower it wasn't that noticeable because of the colour of the cardboard below, but the second tower has the brown side up so it is easier to see.
Thanks, the barriers/barricades are quite good for breaking up a board into different areas or to create defensive positions near a gate or something similar.


Yesterday I managed to finish the first set of trench lines using the styrofoam as a base.
I was worried the doors might be too tall, but they were just the correct size for the trenches. I had some issues with the glue I was using for the doors, so I had to do a bit of fixing around the door frame, but overall it should look ok once painted.
Today I should start with the second set of trench lines using the other styrofoam piece that I have, hopefully with less issues.







In the meantime I started to paint the next batch of Mantic's buildings, but I will likely only finish them next week as there is still a lot of work to be done.

   
Made in fr
Boom! Leman Russ Commander





France

man these doors really add to the realism, I can imagine the shelters!

40k: Necrons/Imperial Guard/ Space marines
Bolt Action: Germany/ USA
Project Z.

"The Dakka Dive Bar is the only place you'll hear what's really going on in the underhive. Sure you might not find a good amasec but they grill a mean groxburger. Just watch for ratlings being thrown through windows and you'll be alright." Ciaphas Cain, probably.  
   
Made in us
Hurr! Ogryn Bone 'Ead!





USA

WOW - so much terrain goodness here! You've been hard at work building all these things. Do you do dioramas for fun or commission? I'm jealous of your storage situation if you can hold onto all your hard work. Mine gets circulated into the club to eventually cover whole terrain boards.

Guard, Templars, Dungeons & Dragons, Terrain & More. - https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/800909.page

Way too little free time. 
   
Made in pt
Regular Dakkanaut






 Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:
man these doors really add to the realism, I can imagine the shelters!

Thank you! The doors do add a bit more detailing to the overall trench setting


This weekend I have some more progress on building and painting. Starting with the building part, I have created a third watchtower similar to the ones I have shown earlier.



On the painting side, I have finished the first of 2 batches of stargrave crew conversions, which include a cloaked figure meant to represent Inquisitor Bisaltes (a character from one of my books). Except for the cloak, Bisaltes is a mix of different stargrave kits, to make sure the end result matched the partially damaged left side of the Inquisitor's body (including a prosthetic left eye and arm).








I have made half of the doors required for the second set of trench lines and hopefully I will get the other half done later today.

   
Made in pt
Regular Dakkanaut






Today I managed to finish the last batch of terrain from Mantic (the parts of my modular fortress concept), a total of 21 terrain pieces.

Below are some of the pics that I took of the end result:












The next thing on the paint queue are some of the mini bunkers I made with plastic cups.

   
Made in pt
Regular Dakkanaut






Today I managed to finish painting another batch of buildings, despite the fact that the weather isn't making it easy to paint as it all takes so long to dry due to the cold and humidity (lots of storms over the past few days).
The batch of 12 buildings consists of the mini bunkers I had built earlier with some plastic cups, bottle caps, some spare bits and sprue.














This should be pretty much it for this week in terms of painting, but I managed to paint 236 miniatures this month, so 2025 is starting relatively well in terms of hobby activities (it is good that some things aren't going poorly right now).
Over the weekend I should paint the last batch of the stargrave crew conversions, before working on a few other batches over the next week.
I should start with the conversions of the bikers soon, as my order for stargrave and frostgrave kits is apparently on its way, so there should be some futuristic/post apocalyptic bikers appearing on this thread over the coming weeks. In preparation to the arrival of my order I will start making the bikes using the mould I created earlier, trying to make sure I have a few bikes ready when the rest of the parts arrive.

   
Made in fr
Boom! Leman Russ Commander





France

How did you render concrete that good?

40k: Necrons/Imperial Guard/ Space marines
Bolt Action: Germany/ USA
Project Z.

"The Dakka Dive Bar is the only place you'll hear what's really going on in the underhive. Sure you might not find a good amasec but they grill a mean groxburger. Just watch for ratlings being thrown through windows and you'll be alright." Ciaphas Cain, probably.  
   
 
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