It’s only taken two years and ten months, but the Eastern shacks I bought from Mike Parker of Battlefield Accessories are complete! They turned out very nicely too. I recommend them.
As you can see, the roofs are detachable and each shack almost holds a fire team.
I think I have enough Russian buildings for now. I really need to concetrate on AFVs and guns. 
I’ll only buy more Eastern Front buildings if they turn up for good prices at Swap & Sells.
Experimenting with a plastic rod
May 12, 2013
I purchased a transaprent plastic rod from a manufacturer last year. I wanted to use it to place aeroplanes on when basing them for wargzming, so that rather than having to disguise a piece of wire or solid rod, its transparency would negate the need.
The rod was a metre long (and has a diameter of 12mm), which might make the height of the plane on the wargaming table more realistic, but it would be impractical. Altering the length and shape of the rod would thus be crucial.
A hacksaw cut through it nicely: 
– so perpendicular cuts are OK.
What about a diagonal cut? To position the plane on the rod so that it looks like it’s dive-bombing or strafing, a diagonal cut (or a few of them) would be required. Well, here’s multiple attempts: 
– as you can see, a bit ‘iffy’. Now, I need to acknowledge that I was not using a clamp to hold the rod still, nor was I using a new or very fine hacksaw blade. Both of those things would help enormously.
Then I needed to know if I could file it: 
– I filed the end of a perpendicular cut, then began filing diagonally to see if there was any difference. As you can see, it files very nicely (and I wasn’t using a good quality file).
Lastly, I wondered if it could be cut, or at least shaved, with a good knife. The answer was no to cutting, and not really with shaving: 
– filing would be a much better way of getting rid of some girth, instead of trying to shave it off with a knife.
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Today’s swap & sell was cancelled. Next one is the IPMS one on Queens’ Birthday weekend monday.
Armourfast’s Normandy House
May 6, 2013
I see this on the shelves of a hobby retailer in the city last Monday. $22 was the asking price. I was going to buy one, but I felt that it was too Western European and so not much good to me at the moment.
It’s very straightforward…glue the four walls together, glue the corner brickwork on to cover the seams where the walls get glued together, glue the roof together then do the little detail bits and pieces. Apart from waiting for glue to dry, should be very quick.
A bit smoky in here…need to do some cleaning and re-organising
February 1, 2013
Two years ago I explained and demonstrated (with photos and all) how I made my wargaming smoke markers – if you don’t remember, click on this link. I’ve been very happy with them ever since and they have been serving me very faithfully, with no problems whatsoever.
Well, Paul from “Plastic Warriors 1/76 & 1/72 Plastic Soldiers,Armour & Aircraft” has shared on his blog how his mate Dave makes wargaming smoke markers. I was very impressed! Not only are the materials pretty easy to come by, there are times when a smoke marker having some sort of flat base to correctly position it (or anchor it, if you play outdoors and it’s a bit breezy) is a great idea. Mrs Funker, like Paul’s wife, would not be happy with using the family oven for drying – I think sun-drying during the summer or indoors for a few days in a quite-warm, low-humidity room in winter would do the job adequately…after all, if not perfectly dry after a couple of days, it’s very easy to just put them outside again during the next sunny spell…
Anyway. This is something I will remember for next time I need to make smoke markers…and I may even ‘base’ a couple of my existing ones using my current supply of caulk, sheet styrene cut to appropriate sizes and shapes, and paint. Thanks Paul, and thanks Dave!
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The blog ‘War and game’ is gone – it ceased being accessible last year, and I mentioned this on this post here.
But I didn’t remove the link and kept forgetting to do so every time I logged in to WordPress.
Realising today that I really need to do a little cleaning up and re-organising around here, I have removed it from my Links…
…
…and added a new link!
Chris Kemp’s blog “Not Quite Mechanised: Fastplay Operational-Level Tabletop Wargaming” http://notquitemechanised.wordpress.com/ is taking up the slack! It’s a blog about 20th Century wargaming, and one tank model on the table represents a whole company (which s quite different to ‘Panzerfaust: Armoured Fist’, which is 1:1). There are great photos, plus progress reports and lots more. So, welcome Chris!
“…Making good use of the things that we find, Things that the everyday folks leave behind…” – The Wombling song, The Wombles (TV show)
January 15, 2013
If you don’t know about the TV version of The Wombles books, educate yourself on YouTube here.
I’ve been doing a bit of Wombling lately…
someone at work had bought an Eee Slate and threw out the box and packaging: 
. The cardboard packaging was of no value to me, but wait…: 
– could that be a useful plastic tray? Let’s have a look: 
– why yes, it is! A nice size for a lap, with a nice, sturdy carry rim: 
and good depth too, probably an inch deep: 
. Great! This will be useful for sorting out bits and pieces when assembling individual 1:72 scale figures, or for sorting out vehicular stowage and other small odds & ends. I might even use it to catch the pieces of flashing when cleaning sprues with a scalpel. So, useless plastic to one is a handy hobby tray to another.
Next up: Christmas present packaging. Two presents came with transparent plastic lids: 
. The first one is a perfect, flat sheet – I’ll cut off the 90 degree angle sides and discard them (they are too small and I can’t be bothered keeping every last scrap of everything): 
. I have used pieces like this to make wargaming rivers in the past (for a smaller scale of wargaming, different period and different rule set). They turn out really well, too! The second one has some shaping moulded into it, so it’s not a single perfect sheet: 
. With the shaping bits removed, there’s plenty left to use for windshields, aircraft canopies, building windows, etc.
So, some rubbish that might end up as landfill will be given a second life on the wargames table. As Paul from Plastic Warriors would say, “Model on!!!”
Thanos, over at his Miniatures and Terrain blog, recently did a great post about making your own sandbags and then painting them.
I like it because he is working with some of the same paints that I am (Citadel, by Games Workshop) and he makes everything look so easy and professional.
What are you waiting for? Go have a look!
Final Sd.Kfz. 251/9
May 14, 2012
On saturday, I completed a Hasegawa Sd. Kfz. 251/9 that I was doing on the side: 
. I know have two sections of two vehicles each, or one platoon of four vehicles. I actually only need two (a section of two vehicles) but at the time I did the first two I had a third, and did it up at the same time. I got this fourth back in January via a private sale and the price was fantastic, hence why I bought it.
(Plus, a platoon of fire support that can also transport some footsloggers…worth trying even if I sell the second section off later).
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Weather was pretty horrible for the rest of saturday and all yesterday, so I wasn’t able to Dullcote and photo some buildings I’m working on…
Winter is clawing at the windows nowadays – our second morning under 5 degrees Celsius two mornings ago – and so I’ve finished with making large terrain pieces until warmer weather returns.
You’ll recall that I was working on some more “commercial-style” wargaming hills. Last weekend I was able to photograph them and move them inside, and clean up the table in the shed for more ‘house and garden’-type activities.
So, here are the two hills I made – one large and in two sections, the other much smaller (and it can go on the large one to make a two-level hill): 
. Because these hills have flat tops, I’ll be able to put some based trees on them. It looks a little bit funny to only have beautifully sloping hills that have no trees on them…but if you want hills to be durable and easily stored with other hills in one box, then my opinion is that you can’t make hills with trees stuck on them.
I have three criticisms of my work: 1) I probably brushed off too much loose flock that was left behind after the glue dried. I could’ve left some on when I sprayed the hills with Scenic Cement to seal them. There are some patches where you can see the brown undercoat a little too easily. Oh well. 2) I touched these hills before the glue under the flock had even had a chance to harden,so one on of the two hill halves, you can just see a thumbprint. Oh well. 3) I used too much of the Heki green scatter material. Originally I said I’d use none, and really strive for a very “commercial”, modular appearance. Then as I was undercoating them I decided I’d better use some of the Heki scatter material to represent weeds, as I have done that one so many figure bases, other scenery pieces and some of the other hills. If I don’t, they’ll stand out from my other pieces too much. In practice, I applied too much. Oh well.
So, no big terrain items now for quite a while.
The sIG-33’s are complete:
The pair together: 
.
They turned out very well! Well made, Caesar!
I’ve used the SeeNiks Earth Blend flock once again, to represent the trodden-on ground/churned-up mud that would eventuate whenever a field gun is set up somewhere and fired more than once or twice. I’m not so happy with the results…the SeeNiks Earth blend flock looks great when used on a hill or as a scenery piece, but here on a base trying to represent freshly-disturbed earth, I don’t think it’s so goodl. I’ll go back to using Woodland Scenics’ Earth blend for freshly-churned-up earth/mud.
I am having trouble with doing extreme macro’s/close-ups with Mrs Eastern Funker’s camera. I’ll do some reading to see if there is some setting I haven’t utilised properly…but it might be that her camera is not cut out for detailed closeups of 1:72 scale troops’ faces.
The shed is alive with the sound of hill-making – part 2
April 18, 2012
I was a bit keen with the sand-paper, so some bubbles came free completely. Otherwise, the edges rounded nicely with the sand-papering: 
.
Putting two layers of paint on will help fill up the tiny holes a bit…when I cover them with Aquadhere, that will get rid of all the small holes and tiny grooves completely. Finished product this weekend, if this freaky Autumn warm spell can hold until then…
Eastern Funker's 'Panzerfaust: Armoured Fist' blog 