All aboard!! Heading to Wappelville station

No, not the Petticoat Junction... that's the town of Wappelville and its glorious train station, provided by Burn In Designs.

Here we see the station with its component parts assembled...

At first I was going to put shingles on the roof, but I decided to cover it with Valllejo black lava flex paste.  Since I wanted to put a sign on the roof (and allow minis to stand on it), I thought this was the better plan.

Also, if a train is sitting there potentially spewing ash from the stack, you might not want a bunch of flammable wood shingles there. :-)

The painting of the wood planks is done just like the Jail.  I had a few basic browns and yellows on the palette (even a gray), and used a large brush to apply the paint.

This meant that it stayed wet, and I could blend the planks together.  This meant that I would get all sorts of fantastic weathered wood colors very easily!

Once all the surface was covered, I could then pick out certain planks to be lighter or darker.

The Badger airbrush paints were excellent for this, as the wood absorbed them nicely, but they are already so thinned down, they flow across the surface with ease!

The basic outer planks have now been covered, I can pick out those individual planks now.  If I have worked quickly enough, the paint is still pliable... thus allowing me to blend those lighter or darker colors easily.

Now you can see that some darker and lighter planks are added.  Just a few accents here and there... don't get too crazy.  They are also varied in color.  The darker planks were done with a dark brown/gray mix.

Don't forget the stairs!!!

The interior floor planks are done, with a slightly different set of shades.  These didn't have to be quite as weathered.

Speaking of weathering, there will be additional aging done on the outer planks with Secret Weapon weathering powders.

The color choices for this station were set many years ago when the first Wappelville station was constructed for our model train set sixty years ago.

The building was eerily similar to this structure.  It was also in "S" scale (American Flyer), which is pretty close to 28mm.

The building was white with green trim.  So, that's what I wanted to do here.  I decided to make the walls a light green, because I want the signs and posters on the interior to have some color other than white to provide contrast to those pieces.

I had to paint the green sections first, since they were quite heavy and deep.  It would be easier for me to go back in later with the off white for the wall planks.

It was odd to proceed that way, but that's necessary sometimes!

In the next episode, you will see the painting of the exterior, and all the signage! Stay tuned...

Back to Base(ics), Grey Knights style

Since it was time to start basing some Grey Knight terminators, that meant it was also time to bake some Sculpey!

Whenever I bake a set of Sculpey pieces, I usually roll out other items that I am running short on, or experiment with something new.

Lately, I have been making more sizes of bricks and columns, as well as thinner than normal pieces of Sculpey.  I have found that this makes a nice substitute for plasticard.

Last but not least, a new method for cutting rivets!  I don't know if you can see them, but there are some very thin tubes of sculpey down towards the left.

I have grown tired of cutting polystyrene tubing, as the pieces pop off in all directions, and the static cling means that the pieces want to stick to you, or your knife!

The sculpey slices off very nicely, and has none of those nasty properties, thus allowing me to cut an infinite number of them in a very short period of time.

For this project, however, all I needed was my standard thickness sheets of sculpey.  You can see the cork, rocks and gravel all set up as well.

The construction of these bases is not terribly complex, as the real purpose is to set up the painting of those marble pieces!

To get a general idea of the kinds of designs I needed, I had the figures out to determine 'footprint' and center of gravity.

After setting down the cork, I put the sculpey sheets over the top.  Watch out for excessive unsupported overhangs, as those will be quite fragile.  That can be supported later on with oxide paste or even rocks and gravel with glue.

Here you see a few of the bases with the rocks and gravel in place.

Now all of the bases have the rocks and gravel in place.  I have also drawn out the basic designs so that I can carve them.

Using the basic white Sculpey is very important, as this is the only version soft enough to do this kind of carving.  The other styles are too hard or rubbery.

The tools.  We have some basic wood carving tools, as well as a scribe tool.  That device is designed to cut into plasticard and even some soft metals.  It's great for more detailed carving.

The set is almost ready for painting.  A few little details have been added, such as bits, Secret Weapon skulls, and even shell casings.

A little brush on primer unifies all the varied pieces, and gets them all ready for painting!!!

A new day at the quarry

Many of you saw the post earlier in the week which contained the new reference images taken at the cemetery.  Once I got back, I had to try to transfer what I had seen on an actual base.

This was going to be more complicated than the usual marble effect, as the veins were structured quite differently, and the colors were more exotic.  There's a combination of warmer and cooler colors, and that would have to be achieved somehow!

I started out mixing deep reddish brown with green, lightening it in places with a light seafoam green.

The paint was wet, which allowed me to mix right on the base.

Now for the much warmer shades!  A rust colored red was mixed with the seafoam green, and it was applied rapidly so that it would blend with the existing layers.

I added the lighter veins, but the pattern was far more complex than usual.  I also had to add 'dots' of lighter and darker colors, which I noticed in the reference images.

This shows those dots developing.  I am also putting the lightest shades in the veins.  I could not go as light as I normally do, as it seemed that the whole effect had to be more subtle than usual.

Now you see that the darkest colors have been enhanced, and finer dots added...

The rest of the work on the base would involve the surrounding areas such as the rocks.

Just about ready for some tufts of grass!!!

Finished!!

This was a very fun marble effect.  I just wish that I could have had more time to snap lots of images!!

Curtain call: The Great Drapery Dash

When we last visited the town of Wappelville, the Outlaws were smuggling in desperately needed drapery material at the behest of Miss Fannie May, proprietor of the Chateau Du Wappelville.

So much was needed, they decided to bring it in using an Ironhide heavy support vehicle.

The Outlaws were joined by another fashion concious member, Apache Kid.

His nifty glowing bow and Spirit Aim could prove quite useful in keeping the marauding bands of Lawmen at bay.  You can see him hiding behind the control house of the RJ-1027 plant.

As you might recall, the Ironhide got itself hung up on the train tracks momentarily.

The Lawmen would seize upon this opportunity, in the form of Deputy Berenger and the Quad shotgun light support.

We see the Deputy (who hates fancy drapes) taking lethal aim at the Ironhide.

With all firepower available focused on the Ironhide, it was inevitable that it would suffer a fiery end!  The passengers were forced to disembark and make a run for it!

With that threat neutralized, the Lawmen could move on to other targets.

Fatman and Robin take shelter behind the Train station.  Doc Long Tree would attempt some Bad Medicine on a wounded hired hand, but the snake oils had the opposite effect, killing the Outlaw!

Perhaps Doc is an agent of the Lawmen after all... nobody would be surprised if the Earps hadn't made it part of their devious plan for Wappelville.

With the Ironhide in flames, and the occupants in full retreat, the rest of the Outlaws attempted to hunker down, as you can see by the pink "take cover" markers on the left.

This is another aspect of the game that we enjoy.  A figure can go prone, take cover, and so on, thus improving its defensive position, even when 'out in the open", so to speak.  These additional choices mean more unpredictability of your opponent's moves, and thus you have less of the dreaded "inevitability" that permeates so many game systems.

As the Outlaws hunkered down, the Lawmen decided that now was the time to launch an all out assault.  Waves of close combat hired hands dashed across the street and over the tracks to reach the water tower.  Many were gunned down along the way, but Lawmen ignore such trivial things.

Lucky Lou and Nickelback Nate survived countless shots as the bullets whizzed past them.

Lawmen don't need cover, they have their badges, glowing hot red to let you know what your fate will be when they catch you.

The Outlaws made a few desperate long range shots with their missile equipped Iron Horse, to no avail.  It seemed as if nothing could stop the Lawman onslaught.

As more shots rained down on the Lawmen by the water tower, they proved their mettle by never flinching.  They knew that Karl Fredrickson would soon be on his way, teleporting to the tower by way of his Portal Glove.

If the center could be held, the battle would be won!!

Deputy Berenger cut down more Outlaws with his dreaded grenade launcher.  Fat Man, Ike, and many more would either succumb to the blasts, or simply flee in terror.  I think many of them regretted ever leaving interior decorating school.

It was all over by the time Fredrickson appeared right in the midst of the few remaining Outlaws.  They were terrified of his rail gun, which would cut a swath of devastation right through their hiding places.

Slinking away from the outskirts of Wappelville, Billie knew that Jesse would not be pleased.  Those fabrics had come from Europe, and would be hard to replace.

The despairing citizens of Wappelville would have to live with the aftermath of the violence, and the hideous decor of the Lawmen.

Let me show you my club

Rhino time again!  Another big guy from Mierce Miniatures.

As with all these huge figures, the base is dreadnought sized at 60mm.

Believe it or not, these get even bigger.  Wait until you see the champion and the standard bearer!

Digging in: Trench Warfare

One of the new Wild West Exodus posses that I am working on is the Union faction.

While a few of the figures include sandbag defenses on the bases, I wanted to create something that was a little closer to the style of trenches that were constructed during the war.  

This was typically a set of stacked logs back filled with earth.

So, let's set about making those trenches! 

We begin with some sticks, some tin foil, and oxide paste.

The sticks are cut into shape, attempting to leave the knots showing, as I thought it would add a sense of scale.

Instead of wasting a lot of sculpting material, I wadded up the tin foil into the rough shape of the dirt pile, and glued it in place.

Doing this also makes the base a good deal lighter!  

Out comes the Oxide Paste!!!

I applied it to the vertical surface as well, for added holding power, and to allow it to flow through the gaps, just as dirt might.

The outer 'skin' is covered, building up towards the logs.

You can see that I have added the vertical supports, and the Oxide Paste is sneaking through the log/sticks.

After all this dried, I added a few select sections of rock and gravel.  I tried to concentrate them in areas where perhaps the dirst 'fell down the slope'. of were tossed over the top of the parapet by the occupants.

As always, the heavier rocks are put down first, followed by finer and finer gravel and sand afterwards.

I decided to add a few sculpey planks to the inside floor of the trench.

Sculpey pieces in place.

What we have so far.  I added a Secret Weapon skull and a few shells.

Stay tuned for the painted version!