Rogers Rangers

Here is the 'Rangers in caps' pack from Galloping Major. http://www.gallopingmajorwargames.com/

fallen trees

Here are a couple fallen trees that I've been working on.
I started by gluing polystyrene tiles to old CDs and when dry, I trimmed away unwanted material and roughened up the surface a bit.

The central part was cut out to form the root ball and then large twigs were pushed into the top to form the dead tree and smaller twigs were pushed in the bottom to make the roots. A few smaller twigs were also pushed in the base section.

I then glued the root ball in place onto the base section. It helps to push a couple twigs into the base section to act as pegs for the root ball to make the structure more secure.

Basing material is then applied and left to dry.

All that is then required is to paint the basing material and add flock to taste.

I then went on to use the same method to make a larger, completely fallen tree.

Quebec Militia

Here is my first bag of Galloping Major http://www.gallopingmajorwargames.com/page4.htm figures.
They are Canadian Militia and I painted them up as Quebec militia. They are really lovely figures and a joy to paint.

Galloping Major

This is my first attempt at painting http://www.gallopingmajorwargames.com/ figures. All in all, I really like them and they seem to paint up quite easily.

Portage Party

28mm figures by http://www.redoubtenterprises.com/
This is actually two sets. You get two Indians carrying the canoe and one walking and the canoe in each pack.

Peter Pig American artillery casualty markers

Here are some artillery casualty markers by Peter Pig http://www.peterpig.co.uk/
British versions on the way.

Artillery redoubt

Just working on an 1812 skirmish scenario which requires an artillery redoubt so thought I'd better build one. 
First step is to cut out the base from chip board. Great way to recycle some old crappy furniture. 
























Glued a few gabions in place. Gabions are from Hovels.  http://www.hovelsltd.co.uk/










Earth banking made from balsa wood. 

Gun platforms cut and glued in place then scored planking into them. 

Added some log protection.
















Basetex applied. 

Sand dry brush on the soil. 




















Made a few tools to scatter about the place. The shafts are made from cocktail sticks which are split at one end and then the card spades are slotted in.  Gun platforms painted with a watery flesh ink wash and the gabbions are painted sand and then given a chestnut brown ink wash.




















Finished off with a bit of flock and leaf scatter. Will take some 'in action' pics later in week. 

15mm trees

I have been unhappy with K&M trees for some time but they have served their purpose. I wanted to make some more realistic looking trees but didn't want to spend a fortune. Having looked around, I discovered some tree armatures at the local model railway shop which weren't too expensive and it wasn't too difficult to throw them together to make some nice (I think so any way) trees and you can make loads from the pack. I also bought some additional flock to beef them up a bit but per unit, they still come in cheaper than K&M and I am much happier with them.

 

Queen's Rangers Highlanders

Just finished this unit of Queen's Ranger's Highlanders. The figures are by Peter Pig.
http://www.peterpig.co.uk/

They always get their man!

These are figures by Redoubt http://www.redoubtenterprises.com/ from their Zulu War range and are in fact Natal Mounted Police which I have painted up as Royal Canadian Mounted Police for wild west / North West Rebellion games. I did a little converting by cutting off some of the pith helmets and replacing with pill box hats which I made from Milliput.
Since completing these, I have discovered that similar figures are produced by Empress http://www.empressminiatures.com/ and they are absolutely gorgeous. To expand my collection, I will definitely go with these.

Small fort

Here is another model which I made a while ago. The first step was to work out how big I wanted it to be and then to cut out an appropriately sized base out of chip board. I then glued polystyrene sheets to this with pva (pva doesn't chorode the styrene) and allowed a day or two for drying time. Once dry, you can easily sculpt the styrene to the desired contours.

Next thing I did was to start constructing an out building I wanted for inside the fort. I made the basic shape out of artist card and glued them together with super glue. You can use pva but the dry time is much longer. I then cut out and glued thin pieces of balsa to the outside of the construction and scored planking marks into it. After that, I added shingles and the door and window frames etc. The door handle is a shot gun pellet.

I now placed the block house in position on the board. You can build a blockhouse in the same way the out house was built but the one I used was bought from Redoubt Enterprises http://www.redoubtenterprises.com/

I then marked out where I wanted the palisade to go and then started sticking BBQ skewers along its track. I found that it made the structure stronger to tie them together near the top. That done, you can position the out house into place.

I wanted a firing step inside the fort so the next step was to work out how high it was to be and to place balsa supports for it along the inside of the palisade and other areas.

Now you can start to put the basing material down. First thing I did was to place several large rocks into the styrene and then I began painting on the basing material. I used a mixture of sand and brown emulsion paint for this.

You need to start painting now as there are parts you won't be able to get at once the firing step is glued in place. I used a leather brown colour which was then given a black was when it was dry.

That done, you can start building the platform for the firing step.

Finish painting the remaining parts and then when dry, dry brush the whole lot with a cream colour and maybe a little white. Go easy on the white though.

I also dry brush the basing material with an ochre colour and then add some rocky patches with a bit of a white dry brush. Again, go steady with this.

Next step is to flock the base whilst leaving a few bare patches. I also add a few areas of longer grass. All sorts of material for this can be bought from local hobby shops of model railway shops.