FIW: UD 13/5 More Warlord plastic conversions & a skiff

[Koppi]

  Fantastic. Which boats do you use for this project?

[Silent Invader]

Thanks all 

Fantastic. Which boats do you use for this project?

They're each from a

Heller 1/150 Corsair

I didn't buy them specifically, I just happened to be rooting around for something else and found a partially assembled one in the bits box. A lengthways slice of the hull looked promising for a bateau (though I did add 3cm inserts from deck planks to accommodate an extra mini) and as it worked I dug out the second kit I already had and made that in the same style. All-in-all, most enjoyable usage of prior purchases. 

[pocoloco]

Off to a great start with the boats! 

Will follow keenly 

[Silent Invader]

Ta  

As mentioned previously, I'll be using my The North terrain for this project, but will be adding extra tiles that will also be useful for the other projects its shared with (GOT, WotR, Jamestown).

The tiles aren't well forested, which was/is a conundrum, though I have taken heart from reading that pre-colonised NE USA wasn't as totally and completely covered in trees as the movie Last of the Mohicans might have suggested, with areas having been cleared for agriculture by a combination of ring-barking (called girdling in the US?) and burning followed by natural regrowth.  For a slightly different take on the FIW I'm therefore planning open areas and relatively short-lived trees.  Others' views on the 'purity' of this - conflicting or otherwise - are always appreciated!  

Anyways, the plan showing existing and proposed tiles (the green 'circles' are obviously trees):



I already have the trees, which are by my favourite supplier

www.themodeltreeshop.co.uk

who was recommended to me by Jimbibbly. I particularly like the Twisted Wire trees, which I 'plant' in spigots in the tiles and remove for storage/swapping.

For completeness (to save anyone interested looking elsewhere) the following images show show some of the existing tiles that will be used;







I'll be adding a 'loose' blockhouse and possibly also a frontier homestead or trading post, for variety. I won't be rushing ahead with the new tiles though, as the minis (and other projects) will slip in and out of priority so this is just to give a sense of where the project is headed.  

[mikedemana]

Wow -- it all looks great! Especially the boats. Those look spot-on. I agree that the weathering is fantastic.

As for the proliferation of trees, it all depends on what part of North America you are recreating. If most of your battles are going to be raids on settlements and such, then you are quite right to have relatively open boards. Even Native American towns are going to have cleared fields surrounding them.

Great job -- I look forward to watching this thread as your project grows...

Mike Demana
www.firstcommandwargames.com
http://leadlegionaries.blogspot.com/

[Silent Invader]

Cheers Mike! Very much appreciate the comments about settled areas, which has me thinking about scenarios. 

[Codsticker]

Those are great terrain boards - I especially like the rocky out crops.

[Malamute]

Nice to see how the new boards will be integrated with the old. 

[Silent Invader]

Thanks Nick, with apologies for the late reply. My only excuse is that over the holidays I've been sticking together:

25 Woodland Indians
5 Coureur Des Bois
1 officer of the Compagnies Franches de la Marine
31 TOTAL

Versus

5 British-American Colonists (male)
2 British-American Colonists (female)
1 Tracker/Scout
1 officer of the 44th (Essex) Regiment of Foot
10 men of the 44th (Essex) Regiment of Foot
19 TOTAL

Anyways, have started on the extra terrain. Here's an image of the additional section of cliff   with rockfall. Or rather, a very purple chopped up Yoga Block between foamboard templates cut to match the tiles they'll butt up against:

[OSHIROmodels]

a very purple chopped up Yoga Block

Question of the day. What's one of them

cheers

James

[Silent Invader]

Question of the day. What's one of them

cheers

James

They're EVA foam blocks used to facilitate stretching in yoga (for example if you can't bend far enough to touch the floor).  One of the daughters bought some from China and then got bored with yoga..... so I repurposed it. 

[Captain Blood]

Wow. That is vivid! Is it slightly spongy? Presumably won't matter once you've covered it with filler and texture...

[Silent Invader]

Wow. That is vivid! Is it slightly spongy? Presumably won't matter once you've covered it with filler and texture...

Not really spongy - dense so that it doesn't compress but soft to the touch. Sticks well with UHU and seems to take PVA (I'll know for sure later). But yeah, it'll be covered in filler, glue and sand so will transform idc. 

[OSHIROmodels]

Ah, it's a type of callogen foam.We use 5mm thick sheets of that at work for making transport friendly packing boxes.

Careful it doesn't flex tough as you'll get cracks in your texture.

cheers

James

[Silent Invader]

Ah, it's a type of callogen foam.We use 5mm thick sheets of that at work for making transport friendly packing boxes.

Careful it doesn't flex tough as you'll get cracks in your texture.

cheers

James

Thanks for the tip. It's stuck to the 6mm MDF so it should be ok.