ARMADACON 2019

This Friday I shall be travelling down to Plymouth to attend Amadacon, held at the Futures Inn, it was orginally called the smallest con in the country ( by them) with an attendance under double figures. It was basically a group of people who loved Sci-Fi and fantasy in all forms, and has grown from there.
I haven't been for a few years as they moved their date to the same weekend as Crisis in Antwerp, as I will no longer be going to Crisis I am going back to Armadacon.
Each year I make them a coaster which they give out as thank you's to people who help make the event.

Last year they asked for a figure to help celebrate their anniversary, so I built them and cast up a number of Gary the Orc, beneath his picture is the art he was based on.

Looking forward to seeing everyone and catching up, but have managed to get all the beds done for Michael before going, and even got them up and available on the website.

Doing this bit for Michael and helping with his project was very rewarding, and was happy to help out.
That's all for this post and will try and catch up with everyone's blogs when I'm back home on Monday, so until next time have fun !
Cheers Dave

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST !

Here is the last entry for my suicide squad box, until I can find the missing pieces, Deadshot, played by Will Smith in the movie, and will be replaced by Idris Elba in the next one. The model comes with a choice of heads with or without the mask, I decided on the one with.

Here is a group shot of all the heroes

and the villains that I've already shown, but makes it easier for my entry into this months painting challenge.

That's all for this post so until next time have fun !
Cheers Dave

WHEN IS A ROAD NOT A ROAD ?

When it's a board !
In a recent post on Frank's blog nickelandimeproductions the comments got to discussing how to have movable roads with the paths and buildings being higher and road markings, but still being flexible to change around.
Here are a couple of ways you can achieve this.
1 K.I.S.S.
keep it simple stupid this isn't a slight on anyone but me as I tend to over complicate things, it's just my nature !
If you paint all your base board the colour you want your roads ( this could be black or mottled grey, depending on what material you want) then place your buildings and paths where you want for the current game. then using white and yellow sticky labels add in the road markings you want, for extra detail you could make manhole covers and drains in thin plasticard so they don't rise up too high. Once you've finished your game remove all the markings and your board is ready to go again. You could also do it with paint, and paint over the markings each time, but you may get a build up of paint over time.
2 Dave's lots of work way
This way is a lot more involved but does mean it's completely interchangeable and you can add all the detail you want,  and only have to do it once.

The straight sections need to be made to the length of your buildings, if all your buildings are the same length you can make all the straights the same, if your buildings are different lengths  then you need to make road sections the lengths of all your buildings.
The cross roads and T junctions need to be made to the dotted lines.
Don't forget to add extra depth at the base of your buildings to equal the depth of the pavement.
Hope this helps you John, Frank and Greg.
That's it for this time so have fun !
Cheers Dave

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED

Recently the horror channel has been showing the series Space 1999 from the beginning, as a child I loved this series, so have been watching all the episodes. When I watched them the first time round I had the model of the Eagle and the Hawk, sadly no more ! Although I'd probably be horrified at my earlier modelling and painting skills ! LOL
The other year Sarah and the children got me a new Eagle kit, so as I started to make it, I also started looking for reference pictures. This was when I noticed the kit wasn't 100 % right and put the bits in a box and left them while I tried to figure out what I would do.
Fast forward to starting to rewatch the series and I happened to notice the box on top of one of my piles of stuff, and thought let's do this !
Instead of changing the model physically I decided to use this as an opportunity to practice paint techniques instead, this still doesn't change the fact that the four landing pods aren't right but the model still has the iconic shape, and my OCD will just have to leave it alone.

Having never been a fan of transfers, I've painted all the patterns on instead, I will add the alpha symbols at a later date, once I purchase some micro sol to blend them in. I've also had a go at tromploy, which is the art of making a flat surface look 3 dimensional, quite pleased with how it turned out.
That's all for now, so until next time have fun !
Cheers Dave

A TALE OF FIRE AND ICE COLD ASSASSIN !

Have finished another 2 of the suicide squad box, this only leaves one I can finish, 1 I need to find and 1 I need a replacement base for. In all honesty this means there will only be one more done for the time being.
First up is Diablo, this was one of my favourite characters in the movie, with his Aztec powers and cool tats, but meant I wasn't looking forward to trying to replicate him.

Next up is Katana, the film really didn't highlight this character very much, but hopefully that will be rectified in the next movie.

That's all for this post, next time may be something completely different, so until then have fun !
Cheers Dave

THE REBELLION LIVES ON

Continuing on with my Star Wars Chess set, I have taken a mould off the sculpture and painted up the first rebel pawn. I'm sure he can't be happy seeing Vader on the other side after the loss of all his friends at the battle of Scariff, or perhaps he's after a little revenge ! LOL

I won't be posting up lots of here's another rebel, I shall just be working on them in the background, the other posts in this series will be the Imperial ships, and work on the Death Star, and finally a completed post.
Until next time have fun !
Cheers Dave

CASUALTIES OF THE MOVE !

So i have found the first casualties of our move, I can't find the slipknot figure that is part of the suicide box set ! Hopefully he is in another box and I will find him as I sort through. I also can't paint the last of Joker's henchmen as when I got the box there was a base missing, that being said I have finished three more henchmen models.
First is the one in the Panda suit.

Next is the white smiler

And last is the black smiler

Here is a group shot of Joker and all his men

I only have three more I can finish at the moment, Katana, Deadshot, and Diablo. I will be showing these in a later post, so until next time have fun !
Cheers Dave

HEROES AND VILLAINS

Continuing on with the Suicide Squad box set, I have completed two more of the heroes, and two of the villains from the set.
First up is one of my favourites Killer Croc, his outfit was interesting to achieve, as his hoodie was brown crushed velvet, and the rest of his outfit is leather

Next up is Captain Boomerang, there was a couple of challenges on his outfit getting the shine to his tracksuit top, and simulating the fur on the inside of his jacket, also the head sculpt wasn't great with definition on his mutton chops beard.

The first villain I've completed was the Joker, where I've tried to simulate his tats, quite pleased with how they turned out.

Last up today is one of his henchmen, now I've seen a lot done in orange jumpsuits, from the reference picture I've included it seemed red to me.

That's it for this post, so until next time have fun !
Cheers Dave

YOU'RE RUINING DATE NIGHT !

Having finished my Armada ships, I was trying to find something to work on, preferably a neglected model to fit in with Azazel's monthly challenge, when I spotted the Suicide Squad box, now it counted on neglected as it has been sat for two years, then I thought it also counted on Zombtober as survivors as the mindless minions of Enchantress were zombie like. Now I'm not entering Zombtober as I should have shown two survivors by now, but would like to have most of the heroes finished this month.
First up is Harley Quinn, this was a tough model to replicate the film version but like to push myself, not happy to do the lettering on her T-shirt or Tats at the moment, so I'm calling this one finished until I get a specific brush for the job.

I also finished the easiest model in the box Batman, the colour scheme was very easy to replicate from the movie.

Here's how far I've got on the rest so far.

Hopefully I should get a couple more finished this week, so until next time have fun !
Cheers Dave

GUIDE TO PAINTING LITTLE SHIPS

As Simon asked if I could do a step by step guide on painting the Armada scale ships I have made this article on how I approach them. Step 1-3 will work on all the rebel fighters.
Step 1 Basecoat

This was applied with a brush in an attempt to not clog the details with a spray can, I used Gw Administraum grey to help give more contrast with the next step.
Step 2 Wash

I then applied an even wash of GW Nuln Oil all over the model.
Step 3 Drybrush

Next I gave a directional drybrush of GW White Scar all over the model, when I say directional I mean drybrushing from front to back as this will help with streak marks.
Step 4A Details

On the A-Wing I added the red markings using Vallejo burnt red next, when dry I then applied black to the canopy, the two wing guns and on the back of the engines to help show there is normally a gap there. If you want you can then add a little more detail on the back by painting the two engines with a dot of yellow, once dry then add a dot of white in the middle.
Step 4B Details

On the B-Wing I added grey to the engine exhaust and intake, when dry I applied a little black wash. The last detail I applied was the red disc markings with Vallejo blood red. As a final detail on the back I painted the engine nozzles with orange, then when dry I applied a red glaze over the top.
Step 4X Details

Here I added red markings with vallejo blood red on the fuselage and wings, then picked out the canopy glass with black, the rear part of the engines had a coat of grey then black wash, and as a final detail I added Vellejo warlord purple to the ends of the four engines, and once dry added a white dot to the centre of each.
Step 4Y Details

The Y-Wing was probably the easiest, first I filled the back of the engines with black wash and window lenses, I also did the back of the engine with a black dot at the same time. Then I painted the markings on the front of ship with yellow.
For Imperial ships you could use a similar process just drybrushing the relevant tone of grey instead of white. Hope you find this useful.
Until next time have fun !
Cheers Dave