Picking up those brushes again.

Hi and welcome to the occasional mutterings of Dave Doc, a military modeller and some time gamer. Gaming and model making has given me a real education, History & Geography(obvious really), Artistry, Politics, Economics, Logistics, Project Management -you try building miniature armies without the last 3.

I will use the blog to record my creations & the odd occasion I actually do some gaming.

I have always been inspired by the aesthetic side of gaming. Playing on well constructed terrain using excellently painted units is always a joy.

Tuesday 28 October 2014

Public Enemy #1 The Shamrock Hotel

I have completed the second building for the collection. The Shamrock Hotel, complete with snazzy working Neon sign - with 32 different options for how to make it flash! The paint job is fairly simple, a base colour , and highlight and then pick out odd brick work to break it up. This building is a different base colour to the larger warehouse for variation too.


I may just add another floor to this building yet - they are nice and expandable
 Ok i cant use the interior of this building - but worth it for the lighting effect

I have also now done 6 base boards and painted them an asphalt grey to give give a basic city look - bit more work to do on them yet , but I will wait until I have more buildings sorted - and there are another 6 on the way to complete the set up - an early Xmas present to myself..

I think I need to source another backdrop for the rear wall - something suitably Cityscape in black in white I think.

I have a few busy sessions in the man cave coming up in preparation for the winter season - I intend to also get the Sudan Colonial finished over the winter for a summer game.

Sunday 12 October 2014

Public Enemy #1 The Warehouse Part 3

Well , that is the summer season over with , back to darker more productive nights. So what do you need with dark nights - you need some lighting.  I picked up some LED street lights from e bay and have added one to the warehouse. One of the problems with model making / gaming in a more urban environment is the requirement for street furniture. I also picked up a classic Fire Hydrant to add on as well - and no I won;t be connecting to any water distribution thank you!

I have picked up a number of "neon" signs - these were O gauge items from model railways - the "Shamrock" hotel is also now open for business.


 I cant resist the black and white shots here - reminds me of old gangster movies.

 
 
 As for the electrics it's all pretty simple to connect - a battery box, a push switch and the LED light. The warehouse is a large building and has false floor with is about 25mm deep , so it was a case of cutting a hole to drop the battery box and switch in leaving the thin wire under the base and mounting the light into the pavement.

Now I know it's not going to be practical to do this with every building in the collection, but this one is the real centrepiece , and no doubt will be the scene of many a battle. Also i know the reaction when people see lights etc on wargames models - its invariable a smile! so worth doing I think.

While I do have some more bits n bobs in relation to furniture to do I will leave them them for now as they wont be fixed in place but switched between buildings as and when - so for now I am calling this one done.