The Pork Chop Express

I finished this bad boy up today. Now I just have to paint up my Jack Burton Mini.

 

Some zombies for scale purposes.

 

Barrels

I'm totally counting these cause they worked out so well.Which brings me up to 88 painted miniatures!

They started out as part of a set like this. Not this one but a cheaper version that I grabbed at Walgreen's or CVS.

Anyway, I sprayed them with a Krylov gun metal spray that, I think, is now discontinued. I can't find it anywhere. Next I "rusted" them up with some orange and brown paint. Then I printed out some poison and biohazard signs on sticker paper. I cut them down and stuck them to the barrels. Viola!

Here's a shot with a mini in it for scale.

WWII U.S. Soldiers

Here are a batch of WWII era soldiers. These are Wargames Factory miniatures, which are maybe not the most period accurate minis around but are just fine for my wargaming needs. Plus, they were a great deal with 30 miniatures in the pack.

Here are some shots of my finished paint job. I printed out the patches on my ink jet printer and stuck them on the arms. They're a bit bigger than they should be but I wanted them to be noticeable and legible.

Also, the colors are a little off on the uniforms but, again, for my needs they work just fine.

15 more miniatures done, which brings my total up to 80.
40 more and I meet my goal (from last year).

I plan to alter the remaining 15 soldiers to be more of a 50's - 60's style. So they'll match up with the Mars Attacks cards.

I might even try to make a flame thrower unit or two. Hmmm....

Mars Attacks! Martian Replacement Helmets

Somewhere along the way a few Martian helmets went missing. They're small and clear and easy to lose. Mantic is pretty good about giving you extras but, even so, I managed to be about 8 short. No big deal as I happened to have some extra clear plastic lying around. 

Start with a dowel. I'm not sure how big this one is, probably 1/4".

Sand the end until you have a nice round tip.

Like this.

Then grab some clear plastic. This is from a used salad container.

  

Apply some heat to soften up the plastic. Not too close or you'll burn it!

Then, slowly, push the dowel into the heated plastic. Make sure you go far enough into it to make a good helmet. I'd say about 1.5 inches. Let it cool down a bit before you remove the dowel.

Then clip it off with some scissors.

Here's shot of a martian with my homemade helmet.

Here it is with the original helmet. Or is it?...

The Painting Goal Continues...

So... it turns out 10 miniatures a month was a bit too much for me to handle with everything going on in my life. I hit a quick 20 and then had very little time to do much more. I've been busy but haven't had much luck finishing things lately.
I did manage to make 10 Zombie Santa Claus ornaments and sell them on Etsy. I sold out at $20 each, so I made 15 more to sell this year.

I still have to finish the bases and then they will be ready for Etsy.

So... for the purpose of my painting goal, these guys are going to count.
Sadly, at this point, that puts me at 45 of 120 and a year and a half behind. Maybe 45 of 240?
Ugh.
Well, I do have some more painted (post to come) but its still WAY WAY WAY behind where I'd like to be.

Miniature Storage Idea

From time to time I find old wooden silverware boxes at yard sales and thrift stores and if they're under $5, I grab them.

I have to say that I had other ideas in mind when I grabbed my first couple of boxes but, ultimately,  I decided to use them for miniature storage. I know it's not the most practical solution. The tool box type containers are more practical but this is cooler looking. :)

To start, I grabbed some 2" thick foam rubber at Hobby Lobby. Remember to grab your 40% off coupon at their website!

Alternately, you could grab some of the 1" thick foam and lay out a bottom piece, then cut a second layer and add whatever size miniature spaces you'd like.

Remove the silverware holder insert thingy inside the box. There are usually only a few nails holding it in place.

Next, cut the foam to fit the space inside the box. Measure a tad small and things will fit much easier.

Then, I recommend making a template for cutting your spaces out. 

I went with a piece of cardboard and cut mine at 1" x 1/2".

I cut the foam with a "sawing" type motion. Meaning I "saw" into the foam, pull it up and move it slightly forward before going back in again.

Here's a shot of the finished piece. It holds 42 miniatures.

Bonus: The "loops" that hold silverware on the inside of the lid can be used to hold pencils.

I can't really imagine a game where you would require a dozen pencils though.

All that's left to do is to give the box a light sanding and then apply some stain to it. It'll look (almost) brand new! 

UPDATE
Here's a pic of the sanded and stained box.

 With some miniatures

6446

Painting Goal for February. Complete!

The goal: 10 miniatures a month.
Here's 11 for February. 
7 zombies and one fresh victim.

Left to Right: Heroclix Vertigo (with a greenstuff robe), Horrorclix zombie, Zpocalypse Hospital Horde, I forget the next one but it's a metal mini, then another little girl from the hospital horde and another Vertigo clix.

In the front row is a downed zombie from the Wargames Factory Zombie Vixens set and a Heroclix conversion (mostly a HC black Mask mini) victim.

Next up? 2 Survivors and a construction worker zombie.

Superboy with added bats (greenstuff again), another Aaron Cash clix and a Horrorclix zombie with a Detroit Tigers hat on that I can't get a good pic of.

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.

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.