Dinosaurs!

I have been trying to collect a decent set of scale (1/48th, O, 28mm) dinosaurs for awhile now.
I've been pretty lucky so far and have quite a few now. I found these guys the other day at Tuesday Morning for $5.99. I figured $2.00 a figure isn't bad for these guys.

They're pretty close to the correct scale (and hey, who says all dinos are the same?). Here they are with a converted Heroclix mini.

They're aren't perfect by any stretch but they can be with a little help. The good? Close to scale. There is some nice detail in them, the T-Rex even has the bottom of it's feet sculpted (for making footprints), and they are pretty cheap at $2.00 each. The Bad? The seams are really clunky on them, but I figure a little x-acto knife magic and, probably, some green stuff and they'll be in good shape. They definitely need a new paint job, though the T-Rex is pretty OK.

One final bit. The side of the box pretty much sealed the deal for me. These bullet points make absolutely no sense. 

Game Board

Awhile back I realized that I would never get anything done if I didn't figure out a way to focus on my projects. I start on a project, get about 1/4 of the way into it and think of how I could make something else. That would then draw my interest into the new project leaving the old one sitting on my desk. Repeat that thought process about a 100 times and you can paint a picture of what the studio looks like. I have an area of "to paint" miniatures, and an area of "to convert" miniatures, some random 1/48 scale cars to weather, a few 1/48 scale motor homes & ambulances to convert, a pile of white plastic fences that I'm building a gate for (that opens, of course), there's some mesh to make chain link fences, a box of o-scale train tracks, 4" card board tubes and fake brick to make some subway boards, some black grout and plastic strip that will eventually become a paved road set, boxes of 1/48 scale city building models to put together, and on and on and on...

So... my idea to focus came to me as a game board set. I figured I had most of the parts to set up a farm house and surrounding area.
I had made some wood fences .
http://confessionsofaminiaturemodeler.blogspot.com/2013/10/making-fences.html
I had bunch of trees and I had made the fields already.
The silo was painted.
http://confessionsofaminiaturemodeler.blogspot.com/2013/10/thrift-score.html
I had my Machine Shed.
http://confessionsofaminiaturemodeler.blogspot.com/2014/04/ertl-farm-country.html

And I found an Ertl farm house (which I had started working on how to add some interiors to). Most of my grass boards were in pretty good shape and I felt like this was my best shot at getting something done. There is a TON of stuff to do to it still but it's coming together.

Baby Girl

My wife and I had a beautiful baby girl.
She was born June 27th and was 19.5" and 6lbs. 10oz.
Her name is Olivia and she is a healthy and perfect little baby.

She will likely be taking up lots of my time but I will try to find some hobby time in the mix.

The ERTL Machine Shed conversion Part 2

I built up the area around the door and added some side supports.

Then I sprayed the interior pieces with the metal spray. I'll have to write it down next time I go to the studio so I can post it here. I really like the look of it on the structures.

Some miniatures for scale purposes.

And the door pieces (again, I forgot my camera so no step by step pics).
I glued a thin piece of plastic down to the inside of the door, then added some strips of plastic to give it some depth.


Next I will add a black wash to the inside to give it more depth, then add some rust spots.

After that,  I have to mask off the interior and spray the exterior of the building and the roof.
And finally,  I have to create a poured cement floor for the interior.
And since nothing is ever really finished. I might add an interior office type structure, or some work rooms on one end, or along the side maybe? Dunno. We'll have to see what happens when I get closer to finishing.

Make room for baby!

The last couple of months have been pretty hectic. I'm working a lot and busy trying to get the condo in order before the baby comes in June. This has involved some couch swapping between the condo and the studio and now my space in the studio has gotten smaller. To be fair I am using way more space than my wife right now but I'm trying to get things in order. I have also replaced the old formica counter tops in the kitchen with new ones (a simple-ish job that became a nightmare of small troubles), I removed the old queen bed and desk from the nursery, then bought, carried (solo) and assembled the furniture, I arranged the living room to house the computer with a new (smaller) desk, and I still have to finish a BUNCH of other little projects, like building some shelves for the nursery and getting and installing a new cabinet in the kitchen. All the while trying to get some hobby time in. Wish me luck.

Don't get me wrong, I'm super excited to be a father and will gladly suspend my hobby time in favor of time with my child. But I am hoping to be able to balance it out so that I get "some" hobby time.

The ERTL Machine Shed conversion Part 1

Recently, I posted about the ERTL Farm Country Machine Shed set. (http://confessionsofaminiaturemodeler.blogspot.com/2014/04/ertl-farm-country.html)
I'm really happy with the way it looks with all the 25-28mm/O Scale/1:48th mish mash of stuff I have going on so far. Once I finish I'll take some better pics for scale purposes.
So far, I've glued the roof pieces together and sprayed them with a gun metal-ish silver spray paint.
I had forgotten my camera for this step so there are no step by step shots. (I can't afford to waste any time in the studio by going back home to grab the camera). Here's the roof.
I plan to spray it with a dark(ish) green.

And the inside of the roof.

I scraped off the numbers and mold marks so that the interior would be smooth. Then I cut some strips of plastic and glued them on to give it some character.

Next I cleaned up the wall sections and glued them together.
Inside walls (you can see the circular mold marks)

 Outside walls

Then I took some of these drink stirrers (Not sure where I got these, which is a bummer because I can see lots of uses for them now) and cut them down to make support beams for the walls.

Pic of the stirrer support beams,

Then I used some plastic to cover up the joints.

I'll spray the interior with the gun-metal silver and the outside with white.
Here's a shot of it (mostly) together.

I still have to figure out the outer doors and the large sliding doors but it's coming along nicely so far.

Boats

I found the same Dollar General boats at Toys R Us. 

The Toys R Us price?

$5.99

AND...

It has a slightly better paint job to it and looks a bit nicer to me.
Even though it's pretty much the same boat.

The Coast Guard

My wife and I went to visit my parents for a Baby Shower/Easter family celebration. We had a great time and got some wonderful gifts from my family. We have another shower planned for the Chicago area folks. That'll be fun. Home Run Inn pizza. Yum!

Anyway, on the way home we stopped at a Dollar General and I grabbed this.

I  didn't realize at the time that it was a battery operated boat, even though it says it right on the cover.  You could probably use this thing in water if you wanted to (even though it doesn't say either way anywhere on the package). FYI the battery operated part. It's the motor in the back that spins.

I'm wondering if I can use the battery pack to rig up a spotlight on top. I'm going to try and track down another boat (or 2) and try a few things.

Anyway, I figured it was pretty close in scale and worth a shot for $6.00.
Here are some shots showing some different sides.

 I plan to take it apart and spray paint the parts. I'll make the deck white and the gray parts metal.

I also plan to raise the cabin up about a 1/4" to make room for the miniatures.

And finally a couple shots with a mini to show just how close it is.

I'm also thinking I'll have to grab 2 (I think I have a couple Hals laying around) of each of these:

Hal Jordan

Paramedic

  

 Then add some greenstuff life preservers to them and paint up a survivor crew and a zombie crew.

ERTL Farm Country

I had read online that the ERTL Farm Country play sets were good for O scale trains.
I figured it should be close for wargaming minis (28mm-ish). Well... they aren't perfect exactly, but they sure are close. For $24.00 (plus shipping) I got the Machine Shed playset and I think it's pretty awesome. A little small but these things come in all different sizes anyway.
Next I want to get the Barn set, then the Farm House.

I'll clean them up and try to buildup the insides a bit where they lack some detail, then get them painted up and weathered. They're going to look great on the Farm board I've been working on.

Update to my Conversions post

Here are the hospital orderly zombies all painted up.

 

I am very happy with the way these guys turned out.

Original post here:
http://confessionsofaminiaturemodeler.blogspot.com/2014/02/conversions-top-5-list.html

Getting there...

I usually feel like I'm not getting anywhere when I go to the studio. I look around and there are bits and pieces of stuff that I like and a pile of things to work on.

Yesterday I decided to set something up to see where I was in developing a "board" for playing. It's not much but it's better than I thought.

I'm hoping to finish a few more things over the weekend and take some better pics but this will do for now.

I need to finish the bases on the trees, more scenery boards, and I still need to build a barn, chicken coop, farm house, windmill...

More for the Horde 2

Here are some more infected for the horde. These lovely ladies are from Wargames Factory's awesome Zombie Vixens set. I highly recommend it.

Here they are with yesterdays batch.

I also finished a few survivors.

I ran out of Dull Coat so I'll need to grab some so I can spray these guys, then I can base them on some clear plastic bases.

More for the horde

Finished 3 infected the other day. The figure on the right started as a Heroclix Adaptoid. I added some pants with green stuff and the busted up jaw with the tongue sticking out.

More tomorrow.

Conversions! A top 5 list.

I've been trying to build up a big horde of zombies (as cheaply as possible). I love the clix figures because they're plastic and easier to cut apart and glue together. Green stuff sticks to them pretty well too. I've bought a bunch of clix figures and have managed to keep the average to around 60¢ to 75¢ per figure (I bought a case a few years back and it averaged out to about 25¢ a figure after I sold the ones I didn't want on ebay). Anyway, here are my top 5 figures for converting.

Number 5:

Hal Jordan Heroclix.
A new paint job and a head swap with a Horrorclix Hard Hat Zombie and you've got some city workers that hunger for flesh. Why yes that is reflective tape on the figures. I was hoping it would flare up in the photos but so far nothing. :(

Number 4:

Flasher Horrorclix.
This one has LOTS of grabby hands (and a couple arms) that can be used in MANY, MANY ways.
See Number 3 below for a good example.


Number 3:

Insect Man Horrorclix.
This one is a pretty good base figure, you just need a head (maybe from the flasher?) and a left arm (definitely from the flasher), then again, maybe you don't really NEED a left arm. Maybe you just need something hanging from where the arm USED to be. Eh? Huh?
Most of these guys have the Pod Zombie Horrorclix head attached to them.
Also, I shaved off the ankle cuff on most of mine.

Number 2:

Hulk Heroclix.

I remember grabbing a bunch of these as promo pieces when the first movie came out. My idea back then was to turn them into Ogres for use in Blood Bowl. I did that.

Then sold them on ebay.

Years later I would see them as part of the Left 4 Dead Tank. So, I made these guys. With the torso of the Giant Horrorclix figure.

Also, you can use the arm from the Hulk as the left arm for the Insect Man and you've got yourself a Left 4 Dead charger.

 Notice the Chargers heads? Yep, those are flasher heads, one sans mohawk.

And last but not least...

Number 1:

Project Superman Heroclix.

I find this one to be a great base for making lots of different figures. Swap heads and get creative with the green stuff.

Two orderlies and a patient.

And a few more that I've finished. I figure lots of people will be caught off guard during a zombie attack so you need a few in various states of undress.

Honorable mentions that I forgot to take pictures of: Bruce Banner, Lex Luthor & Matt Murdock Heroclix. Does anyone have any other "favorite" clixs for conversions?