Heavy AAA: Scratch Build!

I think most of you have been seeing this Anti-Aircraft support vehicle appearing in the Round by Round posts for the Operation Sting tournament.

To try and accentuate the Anti-Aircraft theme of the Fallschirmjagers at Monte Cassino, I wanted to have something like this in the tank slot.  While there were many SPG's available (and certainly better all around choices), I went with this.

There were a few minor details, however.  Foremost among them was my lack of having one!

A few mix ups in timing meant that I would not have one in time for the tournament... which meant a final alternative...

I would have to build one from scratch!  Yes, that's right.  After gathering as many reference images as possible (and I mean several dozen!), I decided to give it a go.  Sculpey, plasticard and other random bits of junk were going to be utilized as rapidly as possible.

Here you go, and it certainly looks like a right mess indeed.  There's plasticard, resin sprues, Sculpey, Apoxy Sculpt, Green Stuff, plastic brush protectors, and even a left over metal chunk from a Gates of Antares kit!

This is certainly not the first time I have scratch built vehicles and monsters.  I have a video showing how I painted a few scratch built objective markers on my YouTube channel.  Here's a link for you!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2GrlbpDT0o

All of the crew for my artillery support teams were made using the figures from the boxed set.  I accidentally used the second crew member here for something else, which is why you see the kneeling figure behind the gun.

As you can see, the gun was removeable so that I could paint it and the crew.  It was also pinned, so that it could rotate.  I had to choose from a number of different reference images, since there was no definitive version of this. No manufacturer produces this exact vehicle anyway, which meant I was going to have to go this route.

I will be doing more late war vehicle painting videos now that I have a late war army.  Up until now, I have been focused on France 1940, which you can see in my battle report videos:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LgWEoymVQw

I also have a number of painting videos on my Patreon Page, including a 12 hour, 5 part series on painting my Winter Soviets.  This is something I will do for my Italians, DAK and Desert Rats.  Here's a link to the page: www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Chaos Reigns

This is the largest scale piece that I have done so far, as 72mm.  I have done a few other figures in this scale, but they are not mounted on a giant steed!

This one is covered in freehand, as each of the 4 chaos gods are represented.  It is pretty obvious which one is featured in these views!

He is also on ebay at the moment:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/323279256553?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

On this side, you have the Slannesh and Tzeentch markings.  I have to say, it was nice to be able to do this kind of freehand on a much larger surface than the usual 28mm!  I felt like people would actually see all the subtle designs.

The penny gives you a sense of just how massive this is!

The entire base was scratch sculpted using Apoxy Sculpt, one of my favorite materials.  I did a number of base sculpting videos using that as part of the Painting Pyramid project.  There's forest basing, swamp, rocks, and more!

It has all of the advantages of milliput and green stuff, but none of the disadvantages.

Panzer Wrecks #2: Painted Objective Marker

Next up in the objective marker/terrain piece project is the Panzer 1.  This one made me even happier that I didn't need to deal with recreating the wheel and track assembly!  It is very spindly and would have been quite fragile, so having a burned out hull in the mud was a much simpler prospect.

I needed to get both of these ready for the tournament very rapidly, so there were many elements that had to be simplified in shape and texture.  I knew that I could paint in some of that, which I had done many times before.  Also, the burned out nature of the vehicle would make it easier to sculpt more basic shapes without the need for great precision.  

For instance, the extra firm gray Sculpey clay can be carved and sanded once it is baked.  This would have made it possible to file down some uneven spots, or sharpen up and edge that had become a little fuzzy due to handling and fingerprints.

I have a previous post which shows how the vehicles were sculpted here:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/04/objectives.html

As I have mentioned in previous posts, the Panzerwrecks series of books was very helpful.  There are dozens of them, covering all theatres and eras of the conflict.  

It details how each vehicle was destroyed, the weapons involved, and the effects they had on the vehicles.

I didn't actually get to use these in the tournament, as specific objective markers were not necessary.  However, I needed them for my own battle reports, and you will soon see them in my own games in the Barabrossa and Ardennes campaigns:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78AWDqiSgH4

Here is a test video that I recorded using XSplit, which is a new format that I was exploring for the Patron Page.  This is how I will create my new painting videos, which involves a lot less editing!  Instead of dozens of segments that need to be heavily edited with fades, text and images, it is all right there on the screen.

That means that I can do far more video tutorials, on a much greater range of topics!  They are more like the Facebook Live sessions, but more focused since I do not have to greet people and answer questions:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/04/objectives.html

Panzer Wrecks #1

Now that the Bolt Action tournament has come and gone, I have had some time to take images of the completed objective markers!

This first post will show the wrecked Panzer II, which was sculpted from scratch quite rapidly using the Extra Firm Gray Sculpey clay (which you bake in an oven).

Here's a link to the Facebook Live session where it was painted:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10212742054440330/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

As I have mentioned many times, I heard about the event at the very last minute, so I had to act very quickly.  There was no time to order intact vehicles to turn into wrecks, nor were there funds to do so.  Sculpting them from scratch took a few hours, and the total cost of materials was less than $5.

I took a great deal of shortcuts making these, which is OK as they are supposed to be wrecks!

Speaking of wrecks, one of my key references was one of these amazing books that Cathy had gotten my for Christmas.  Not only did it have a lot of images, but it went into great details on how each vehicle was destroyed, and the effects that had on the metals, interior, etc.

The key element was learning that as tanks burn up, the tortion bars of the suspension are weakened, and the hull settles into the mud.  This meant that I could save a tremendous amount of time on the most difficult part of sculpting any tracked vehicle... the tracks and tires!!

Instead of trying to create an entire track assembly with bogie wheels, sprockets and idlers, I could create toned down versions and sink them into the mud.  Also, the tracks could be broken down into strips of Sculpey, slightly textured and bent into the kinds of shapes that I saw in the photos.

I was shocked at just how close I was able to match actual model kits in such a short period of time as a result.  Utilizing the reference images that I found in a quick web search echoed what I had seen in a few tutorials, that the extreme heat not only burns off the paint, but alters the metal itself.

Initially I would have avoided rust effects, but it seems that the superheating and scorching of the metal cause some instant oxidization, resulting in a band of rust in between the blackened steel and the painted hull.

I would love to do a sculpting video on making one of these, so any support that could be offered on my Patreon Page would be very helpful, providing me with a little extra time to create a YouTube instructional video!

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Objectives

When I learned of the Bolt Action tournament at Little Wars just a few weeks ago, that set off a scramble to prepare.  The army was painted, but I didn't have a display board, nor did I have objective markers.

While I am not sure if they are actually needed, I figured that have the standard 3 objectives on hand might be a wise precaution.  One of them is already set, but I needed 2 more that could cover a few different aspects.  They needed to fit my early war "what if" French army, but later on I wanted them to be potential terrain pieces which could work for both France 1940 and for our Barbarossa campaign.

This meant breaking out the extra firm Gray Sculpey, and seeing if I could get these sculpted, baked and based in a mere 2 hours!!!

The hulls of the Panzer 1 and 2 were a more simple task to create, but the wheel and track assemblies are always much tougher to construct.  I had to save major time, and after reading a book series called PanzerWreks, I discovered that burned out tanks had a tendency to end up on their belly armor buried in the dirt/mud. 

This is due to the rubber on the drive wheels burning off, but more importantly the tortion bars melting.  Once this happened, the weight of the vehicle made the remaining hull sink to the ground.

This was perfect, since it meant that I could set the hulls into the wood filler, as well as the scattered drive wheels and sprockets.  I could also make some very quick and easy folded track lengths, and bury those too!

This alone saved hours of painstaking work on something that was "destroyed".  Yet another reason I did not want to spend very long on this project!

I used my clay extruder/pasta machine to create metal 'plates', which I could cut up with the exacto knife and turn into hatches, hinges, viewports and so on.

I was hoping to keep the hulls intact so that I might even be able to make temporary "complete" wheel/track assemblies in case I needed a working tank, but this part of the vehicle is simple enough to sculpt that I could make more in a pinch.

It is mostly a matter of creating 'blocks' of the Sculpey clay, and cutting away at it to get the desired shapes.

Once the pieces were set into place, I added some more wood glue to cover up bits of the tracks, as well as provide a little more 'grip' for the shattered wheel assemblies.  It was pretty funny to see them sitting at such odd angles, but after looking at dozens of images of wrecks, this is fairly common.

I had a collection of debris from my previous terrain projects (the roads and display board), which made some very nice large rocks and other scatter bits.

The original bases were going to be larger, so that I could potentially have miniatures standing on them, but space on the display board is at a premium.  Also, this is a lot closer to the normal recommended size of Bolt Action objective markers.

These have already been primed, and I will try to paint them in some form of video tutorial.  It might be a facebook live, or an instagram live.  Not quite sure yet!!

As always, any support on my Patreon Page makes it easier to create how to articles such as these, terrain making videos, painting videos, and so on.  It is a lot of fun to do them, but they also add a lot of extra work to every project.

Any support is greatly appreciated!

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Jungle Hero

This conversion was made for my Lizardman army to keep "super weapons" from wiping out my very expensive Temple Guard unit.  It's been a while, but I believe that if Chakax fought in a challenge, the opponent's magical weapon would only count as mundane, thus eliminating the 400 automatic unsaveable wounds those stupid things did!

The base for the conversion was a standard Saurus figure, of which I had many!  I attempted to make it as close to the original metal version as possible, but I did take some liberties to keep it in line with my scratch built Temple Guard unit... made from those same plastic Saurus.  

At the time, there was no plastic Temple Guard set.

A few more views for you.  There were a lot of interlocking surfaces which certainly made it more challenging to paint!

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/322517855142?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

I used a lot of brown stuff for the sculpting, since that holds an edge better than regular green stuff.  It is also a bit stronger and rigid, which is why I use it for things like horns, banners, parchments and other unsupported pieces.

Above the Jungle

This is another one of my original scratch sculpts for the Lizardman army.  Some of you already know that I wanted a Skink based force, which meant several units of Skink/Kroxigor, Salamanders with Skink handlers, Chamelon Skinks... and of course Terradons!

I didn't have any of the GW Terradons, so I originally used some Void Sci-fi creatures with Skinks perched on their backs.  Once I discovered the wonders of Apoxy Sculpt, I thought I could make my own!

It was a multi step process, starting with tin foil armatures.  The wings were the most complex operation, as I had a membrane of tin foil which would get a thin sheet of Apoxy Sculpt on one side.  As the sculpting material cured, I bent the wing into the position that I wanted.

After that cured completely, I repeated that process on the other side. It was a little less harrowing on the second step. :-)

Apoxy Sculpt has many interesting properties.  It air cures like Miliput and Green Stuff, but it combines the advantages of both, but excludes most of the disadvantages.

Even after it has partially cured, you can still push it around, especially if it is supported by an armature.  This means it is a lot easier to get a dynamic pose.

Like Miliput, you can use water over the top to smooth things down, and even carve/sand it after it cures.  That is not really possible with green stuff.

Of course, painting it was very fun, and quite satisfying!

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/322434359890?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649