Roman Limes Watchtower continued

So I really got in to the modelling groove last night once all had gone to bed, and calm descended on von Browne mansions. Carrying on into the wee hours, I managed to get through nearly all the stages of constructing the Roman Watchtower from 4GROUND Models.

As I mentioned yesterday, this pre-painted model is excellent, the quality of the parts and how they are laser cut is first rate. That said though, there are quite a lot of parts to put together. The construction is not fiddly, though with some of the longer beams and supports you have to be careful when removing them from their frames as they can easily bend or snap (e.g. in the picture above I had to re-glue one of the long beams).

There are three main sections to construct in this model: the base/cellar section, the mid tower/sleeping quarters, which also support the observation balcony, and finally the upper floor of the guard room, with a door onto the balcony, and supports for the roof. (Above and below you can see the three sections before gluing the balcony onto the mid level supports).

 

Above a close up of the balcony and trellis guard rail. The detailing really is superb.
Below you can see the three sections fitting together, and finally with the balcony glued on.

 

 

The final stage was to construct the roof. I found this the most awkward bit, as the piece did not really have a tight fit. It took a couple of attempts to get it right, and then physically hold in place while the glue dried sufficiently. Below you can see the finished article, and some images of the detailing inside the guard room and sleeping quarters. You can also appreciate how many joists and supports have to be glued into place.

 

 

 

 All that's left to do is to sand and detail the base, and then glue the entrance ladder in place.  I can't praise the model enough, and this will be a great addition to my wargaming table.

A little Xmas present to myself

Now just having survived two Christmas days with kids and in-laws (though they are very nice people), it's great to sit back, glass of wine and cheese and crackers to hand. Of course Christmas is really focused on the children, young and old, so as a treat I ordered the 28mm Roman Watchtower from 4Ground (along with some Roman carts). This arrived 2 days ago and was opened today, and a lovely piece of kit it is too.

It comes pre-painted and laser cut into smooth hardboard. As you can see from the various pictures the detail is perfect; really a pleasant surprise. This will be part of the growing Dux Britanniarum campaign at the club, specifically for one of the main raiding scenarios for the Saxons.

Above you can see details of the roof, exterior walls and flooring. The roof now seems to come in a terracotta red, rather than the slate grey advertised. It still looks great though.

Above doors and first floor walls. Below the balcony flooring and trellis guard rails.

This will be thrown together in the coming days in between some frantic Analogue Hobbies Challenge painting. I'll post up more shots soon on the construction of this lovely model, and see if the instructions are any use (thoughts of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" spring to mind...). Now back to the cheese and wine...

Happy Christmas / Vesele Vanoce 2013

Happy Christmas to all from a sunny, but misty and cold Prague. We're just back from a stroll by the river in the centre of town with the in-laws, and of course some welcome hot wine. Now at home and preparing the traditional Czech Christmas day dinner of carp (but salmon for me as I can't abide carp - a dreadful fish). (Given the context, all the Christmas card images are from the Czechoslovak Legion when in Russia).

Then it's Irish Christmas Day tomorrow, so the kids get a great deal with two Christmas Days (but not two rounds of presents...).

It's been a great year for painting and other figure adventures. I'm looking forward to 2014, more new figures (on the Orinoco front), and getting on with the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. We'll see which of last year's resolutions get completed before year's end, and see what's realistic to commit to for 2014.

So best wishes and seasons greetings to all who happen to stumble across this blog from time-to-time, and may your lead mountains continue to dwindle :-)

First submission to the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge

So I finally managed to get my first entry into the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. This was a quick effort as for most of the week I was down in Moravia on work related training (spending Sunday on the train instead of painting at home).

My entry was a dark age priest and his "flock". This chap will actually represent a Saxon Pagan Priest for my Dux Britanniarum army. Really a fun set of rules that I can't recommend enough.

 

The figure is the Merlin character from Gripping Beast, his flock, all from Redoubt Miniatures. This little entry gained me 73 points. Now only another 927 points to go... :-( 

New Spanish Infantry with an ink wash

As promised, here are the new Spanish Infantry after an ink wash to bring out the details. I'll be painting these beauties up for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. I hope you like them.

The figures can be purchased directly from our webstore here:  

http://www.orinoco-miniatures.com/

More "ammunition" for the Painting Challenge

So the Czech Post Office has been busy this week. Various reinforcements for the painting challenge arrived during the week. I was especially pleased to get some inter-war tanks and tankettes from Warlord Games. Above you can see the Vickers  twin-turreted tank and two Carden-Lloyd tankettes (the fore-runner to the Bren Carrier).

 Also, thanks to the boys and girls at UPS (below), I received a large 17kg box of metal loveliness from my casting service. This includes nearly 1000 figures for the new Spanish packs from my South American Wars of Independence range. I'll ink up some of these and post up the pictures later on so that you can see the detail. Needless to say there will be a lot of these painted for the challenge (along with British Legion and Gran Colombians).

I also received two large packs of some new figures I've had produced. These will be launched in the coming weeks as I don't want to muddy my marketing waters with too many releases at the same time. I think it will be a range that people will find slightly unusual but I believe will like (from a fascinating conflict). Any guesses... :-)

Now I am just looking forward to getting started. I'm still painting stuff, but this is not challenge related as I have to get images from the figures range up on the website, so you'll see a few painted shots of the new figures over the next week. Roll on 15th December!

New figures from Orinoco Miniatures, and new wargame scenarios

If anyone is interested, over on my Orinoco Miniatures blog you can find details of new 28mm Spanish figures which will be released tomorrow. I hope you like them. There will also follow news of another exiting range next week.

Also on the blog I have started the first of what will be several wargames scenarios for the South American Wars of Independence. These are primarily for use with the General de Brigade rules, but are easily adaptable for any other early 19th century/Napolenic rulesets, as the tactics and formations used were all Napoleonic, and many of the veterans in both armies had fought in the Napoleonic wars a few years before. The first is for the Battle of Sombrero (1818) between Simon Bolivar's Patriots and the Spanish Royalist Army. The next scenario should follow in a week and will be the battle of Vargas swamp (1819), part of Bolivar's campaign in New Granada (present day Colombia).

The figures can be purchased directly from our webstore here:  

http://www.orinoco-miniatures.com/