Down in China town

Well, not quite :-)

A nice little commission that's been ongoing for a short while is a set of six Chinese shops from the latter half of the 19th century. I was lucky enough to get a couple of period photos from the client and they gave me the basis to work from.

Made from different layers of acrylic for the frontages and just a simple box construction for the rear they were rather fun to make. I'll be making some more for myself at some point soon when I get back onto doing the Boxer Rebellion.

Here are a selection of photos of what's gone on so far. I'll take some proper shots when they are all complete (and when I've finished my decent backdrop).

The detail fret work is either a simple mesh with various bits cut out for a Chinese feel of lasered acrylic. The roofs are Wills pantiles sheets which work fine until I get my own tile sheet sorted.

Unfortunately the pictures are a bit yellow but hopefully the difference in tone etc will be apparent. I've also altered the sizes ever so slightly to help break up the monotony.

ttfn 

Edo period buildings

Having recently been to Hakodate on Hokkaido got me in the mood to make some Edo period buildings. The town itself is full of Edo history, it being one of the major ports to open up when Japan came back onto the international scene and there are several excellent examples of preserved buildings just waiting  to have models made of them.

First off I started with a simple kura (storehouse) from the period. Brick instead of the usual plaster construction. This, like many of the buildings I will be releasing in the next few months, is in kit form. I haven't got a picture of the kit parts as this one is the first to see if it went together (it did, rather well :-).

It will be a sort of multi media kit as the roof tiles are resin but are cut to shape and already stuck to the roof plate so there isn't any real difficulty.

Like all the kits I produce, the roof is removable.

Just got the windows to shortcut out and it's good to go :-).

The next one I've started is quite possibly the first proper 'department store' in Japan, certainly in Hokkaido. All the goods would have been sold on the ground floor and the upper floor was for storage etc. Again, this will be multi media and will also have a wooden floor attached to a floor plate to give better texture. More pictures over the next week or two as it gets finished.

I've scaled it down since I made this one as it was a little on the large side and a bit impractical for cutting etc.

The figure is from Bac Ninh miniatures who will hopefully be adding to their range very soon. When this happens I'll be able to play something from the Boshin War or Satsuma Rebellion :-)

ttfn

Army painter

Not the product but a little project on the Lead Adventure Forum.

The idea is to paint an army unit a month to try and clear the backlog of unpainted figures (a problem that the vast majority of us suffer).

I think there are about 20 people taking part with many varied armies being done. My choice to start the Games Workshop Dogs of War figures I've had lying around for a good many years. Excellent figures by the Perrys (there are figures by other sculptors but I'm not so interested in them) of pike and crossbow armed units with the galloper gun in support.

At the moment I have done a 'unit' of ten and will continue to do so but I might up it to 15 or even 20 a month as I have a fair few to get through.

First unit as stated and I'm rather pleased with the result, a simple colour scheme and bases. I also have the idea to use them as a free company in our Game of Thrones games.

Leader chappy (obviously).

And the standard bearer. I did think of doing something a bit more special for the banner but realised that I probably wouldn't finish it.

I can't find the picture of all the figures I have to do which might not be a bad thing...

The next ten are primed and I will make a start on them tomorrow.

ttfn