Medium Sized

While I was waiting on some laundry the other day, I tried to get some work done on the medium howitzer for my French Bolt Action army.

I could not find one anywhere in 28mm scale, so I knew that I was going to have to sculpt my own.  I had plenty of Flames of War examples to work from.  Using the 75mm gun as a sample (which I also have in Flames of War scale), I was able to make something that would work well enough on the table.

I have plenty of plasticard and polystyrene tubes for work with.  In this case, I had an extra flying stand, which I cut down to fit... and sanded on one side.

I kept adding additional details to both the gun shield and the barrel assembly, using strips of plasticard and flat polystyrene pieces.

The wheels had to be simplified from the original versions, to save time.  I cut out some sculpey pieces, and used the polystyrene strips to make some spokes!

More bits of the tubing was used to make the elevation mechanisms to the side of the barrel.

I used the thinnest of the tubing to make more details on the gun shield, which will look very nice once it is painted!  These smaller extra things will make it more convincing... using weathering to cover any flaws.

I had to abandon my original plan on the stabilizers, changing to a heavy square shaped polystyrene tubing instead of carved pink foam.  The foam would not have been strong enough, even though it was much easier to create the shape that I wanted.

Also, I wanted to be able to use super glue for everything.  If I brought in the foam, I would have to use elmer's glue, which is not as strong of a bond.

The added benefit of the change was the nice detail of a hinge on each stabilizer where it attached to the gun shield!

To make the stabilizers look more like the Flames of War example, I made these additional details on the top and sides.  Once again, these are going to be the little things that will make it all seem more convincing!

I could not find my very thin plasticard, so I took some blister pack cards and wrapped them around the wheels.

Time for rivets!  Just as I did on the pirate bases, I sliced the polystyrene tubes into tiny coins.

I put them on the wheels first.

They would also be the last detail on the stabilizers as well as the gun shield.

Time to hold my breath and see if it all went together as I hoped!!

Presto!  A new Medium Howitzer in under 2 hours!!!  Here it is next to the Flames of War 105mm gun which I used as a template.

Stay tuned for the finished pictures, as I have it alongside the Bolt Action 75mm gun for a comparison.  It's being painted now!!

Hell has arrived

Now for the moment you have all been waiting for!  Apparently I took a number of photos of the completed vehicle, so I will be making at least one more post... perhaps two. :-)

I did forget to have a miniature or two around this to show you how enormous it really is, but I think the surrounding 28mm terrain is adequate.

Those tiny plasma cannons that you see are full sized plasma cannons!  The rear tracks are easily bigger than those of a Land Raider.

The main gun mount is not glued in place.  It is actually possible for it to rest in the designated slot, while the four hydraulic pistons hold it in place.

From ground level, it gets even bigger!

I suppose that I should mention the gun itself does not rotate.  It looked like it might when I first saw the pieces, and the circular mount.

The sandbags in the right hand corner can easily hide a 28mm human sized mini, if you want a size reference.

These overhead views probably give you a better sense at how open and exposed all the parts are, creating a lot of extra work.  

What's more, it is a lot of work that is likely to never be seen, unless you are unpacking it!

However, you might be able to detect some of the blue powders that I used on the forward wheel assembly just under the glowing gun.  It's just a tiny hint, and I feel that not even an airbrush could have done that subtle of an effect.

I scrubbed that dusty pigment deep into the existing paint, so that it did not look as if it were simply "dusted" on.

This is why I wanted to have those areas of minimal weathering effects, to break up those endless spaces of gray.

Many more images to come, showing how this articulated, a few close ups of hard to see areas, as well as some front and rear views.  Stay tuned!!

My first death ray laser!

Some of the most challenging parts of this monster were the largest.  This was the heaviest of all the pieces, even without the extra pipes and tubes!

I had to keep the colors on this relatively simple, due to the nearby object source lighting on the gun itself.  I didn't want the viewer to get too caught up in this maze!!

Slight weathering began on the other pieces as well, so that it would match the previously painted vehicles.  Also, with this many exposed parts, the weathering was the only real method of preventing a sea of endless grays!

Sometimes it was difficult to orient the pieces to tell which way gravity might affect them.  Again, I felt that a few rust and grime streaks here and there would give a low level boot to areas that could get very monotonous, without drawing undue attention to them.

The main coupling/gun carriage really benefited from a touch of rust and streaks.

Did I mention that this came in a few pieces?

As some of these sections were assembled, I came to the conclusion that I would not be permanently gluing the giant gun or the front wheel assembly in place.  Not only would it be nearly impossible to ship, but taking it to a game or tournament would also be very hazardous.

I continued with a little more weathering as these sections were assembled, because as I did this, more context was provided for me as to how much or how little weathering might be needed.

The monster begins to take form!

Had this been a more standard, closed in vehicle, I would have completed the painting in my usual methods.  With all the exposed parts and difficult angles created by them, I had to use my very rare "powder painting" techniques to complete the process.

This was not used exclusively for weathering, as some might assume.

In fact, this was intended to create more shading in difficult to reach areas, or even more light!  Here you see me mixing a variety of powders, including some Secret Weapon pigments, to paint the housing on the front to rear wheel assembly junction.  

I used the pigment fixer from Secret Weapon to turn the powders into a liquid paint.  This was great, because I could get it into an impossible to reach area, push the powders around with my fingers, and more.

You can even smooth out some blending by mixing the powders together, and painting with them

This was my favorite bit, taking the Secret Weapon blue pigment and working on the glowing gun.  I had set everything up by painting in the lighter shades, even using the Vallejo fluorescent paints.

Now I took the blue pigment and shaded some of the hard to reach areas.  However, where the base colors of the metals or whatever was darker, that same powder created a very nice subtle glowing effect!

I even hit the cooling panels on the left side of the image with this powder color.  Instant glow, but very toned down.  A tiny bit of this powder shade was also placed on the vehicle parts directly below it.

They are so minimal, you may never pick them out.  However, that small hint was all I was after.

I took as many pictures of the completed tank as I could, so I will process those and make a post or two for you all to see!! Stay tuned.

Nerve Center

As work progressed on the massive Mechanicum vehicle, I noticed that the most elaborate work was needed on the smallest and least visible sections!

The Control Center was certainly chief among those concerns.  Not only did you have all the various panels and diodes, but there were two pilots and a rotating plasma cannon between them!

Getting all three of those to fit together was not very easy.  I lost track of how many time I had to reposition those two crew.  Placing them in the best position relative to the control panels meant leaving no room at all for the plasma cannon.  Since the two forward cannons rotated so easily, I felt like this one also had to be able to rotate.

This assembly holds the front tracks in place, and links them to the larger rear section.  It was not easy to get the brush down into some of these deep areas!

While the entire Mechanicum army that I painted was 'red', there was very little actual red in any of the mechs, vehicles, or troops!

The only red on this gigantic tank was the robes on the pilots and the cowlings of the track assemblies.

The smaller front section had the two part exposed interior, just like all the previous vehicles I had painted.

But wait, there's a LOT more!  This large piece had to carry three major pieces... the targeting mechanism, the control center, and a few pounds of resin ray gun. :-)

Oh, and it also had to attach to the front set of wheels!

Here's what it looked like with the control center attached.  

This 'hangs' off the back, which was a strange orientation.  One thing I began to discover with this vehicle is that it has minimal attachment points.  There's a lot of weight hanging on or sitting on tiny little pegs or openings.

When this is shipped, it is going in sections.  There's no way it could ever survive that trip.

I have one more post to show you of all the various pieces.  It will give you a peek at some of the methods I tried to use to get various effects on a somewhat clumsy to handle kit.

Stay tuned!

What could this be?

The next few posts will give you a peek at a massive project that has been under way for some time.  It's not exactly a step by step process, but a glimpse into the realm of the gargantuan.

You are seeing a handful of pieces from a huge Forgeworld Mechanicum vehicle, which I ingeniously labeled the "Ray Gun Tank".  Yes, not terribly creative.

This control center is just one tiny section, barely visible now that it is all assembled.

Some individual parts weigh over a pound... solid chunks of resin.

This is the targeting mechanism, and even this is several inches tall!  Everything that you are seeing at this point is in the shaded basecoat phase.

As usual, there are a few "pilots".

These are the smaller wheel assemblies, not kidding.  The rear wheels are even larger.  Each one comes in two pieces, as there is an exposed interior.

This view is a more finished version of the control center.  Future articles will have a little more action in them... just a tease for right now!

Hello... Operator?

I was really looking forward to seeing this chap join the emerging French Bolt Action army.

You've already seen the article on how he was based... now that base has some fun foliage on it too!

The foliage is from Gamer's Grass, one of four different colors available.  In this case, I used the darker summer shrubs.  I will also be using the lighter spring tufts as well.

These top views give you a good look at those shrubs, and how they look in combination with a few other types.

I'm still nervous about spending points on forward artillery observers and air strikes.  Something tells me that most of them will end up landing on me!!