Two Styles of Acheson Creations Barricades Painted Up

    Concrete barriers from Acheson Creations manned by some of my post-apocalyptic survivors

My favorite terrain manufacturer for many years was Acheson Creations. Through my decades of miniature gaming, I've bought many buildings, walls, scatter terrain, and more from this company, which unfortunately has stepped back from active production. There are a few companies out there, such as Miniature Building Authority, that carry some of their scatter terrain. Another was a regional vendor at local conventions, Armory Hobbies. At Drums at the Rapids this May, he also decided to hang up his business and was selling his remaining Acheson products at 50% off.

    I got 8 of the barriers for 50 cents each -- an awesome deal from a vendor going out of business

I snagged two types of barricades up there, among other items. I figured it was time to get them ready for the tabletop. I had no pressing need for them in an upcoming scenario, but these concrete barriers and tire and oil drum barricades are generic enough they'll fit with just about any modern, post-apocalyptic, or Sci-Fi period. The one thing you have to know about Acheson Creations products when painting them, though, is to beware the very strong mold release agent. I have always been able to remove it by placing the pieces in the dishwasher and running them on a quick cycle. This time, I made the mistake of not adding soap because we had switched from the powdered to the "pods," and I didn't want to use up a full pod. As Short Round said in my favorite quote, "Big mistake, Indy!"

    Concrete barriers can be used in various modern, post-apocalyptic &  Sci-Fi games -- you name it!

I detailed that a couple posts back when talking about the Acheson Sci-Fi building I had painted. Once taking them out of the dishwasher, I spray painted them with Krylon Fusion Acrylic Matte Black. I followed that up with my usual 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water. However, I noticed quickly that any light scratch or rough handling of the barriers was removing the black layer. D'oh, not again! I touched them up and decided to be even more careful handling them during the painting progress. I would definitely NOT be using the same clear coat sealant on them as I did on the Sci-Fi building!

    What are the barriers keeping out? Zombies? Rival gangs? It's up to you and your scenario...

Anyway, painting the concrete barriers was easy and quick. I did a medium to dark gray wet brush, then a lighter gray dry brush. I went over them with my black wash, and then did the bases my usual brown ground color. I painted the surface of the ground with white glue and then sprinkled on Woodland Scenics Blended Earth Turf. After it dried, I did a couple green grass patches and glued in some clump foliage, as well. I went back and forth whether to put graffiti on the barriers. However, I felt this would make them a bit less generic, so decided to keep them plain. Finally, rather than spray sealant on these pieces, I painted them and the flocking with a 50/50 mix of white glue and water. Hopefully, that does the trick on protecting them from wear and scratches!

    I bought six of the tire and oil drum barricades at Drums 2024 - should I have bought more?

The tire and oil drum barriers took a few more steps, of course. I prepped them exactly like the others (yes, they were in the same dishwasher batch as the Sci-Fi building and the concrete barriers). Once ready for the brush, I did a wet brush of a dark gray over the tires. I followed that up with a medium gray dry brush. Finally, I painted the rims on the tires in Iron Wind Metals Steel. 

    It was a great idea to design these pieces as Acheson did -- they look realistic and convincing!

Switching to the oil drums, I pulled out six colors: pale blue, pale green, Parchment Yellow, terra cotta, tan, and a lighter gray. I did the math. There were four oil drums on each barricade piece and six pieces. That's 24 drums to paint. So, I used each color on four drums -- never using the same color twice on a single section. I tried my best to mix it up, so the green and blue ones weren't always together, and so on. I let them dry overnight and then dry brushed them in an appropriate lighter color.

    I was happy with the rust effect on the oil drums -- these are very handy and versatile terrain pieces!

Finally, it was time for a rust effect on the drums. I pulled out my brown Rust color (appropriately enough), and did various splotches and speckles and lines of rust to match what I saw in some Google Image searches. Once dry, I used my bright international hunter orange and dabbed specks of it inside the rust. Finally, the drums and tires got a black wash. This was followed up by flocking them with just the blended turf. Both the flocking and the paint was sealed in with a 50/50 mix of white glue and water. I'm thinking this worked. I believe I have averted the disaster of not sufficiently getting rid of the mold release agent before painting.

The pieces look great on the tabletop. It was nice to be painting Acheson products, again. I understand Craig Acheson's desire to retire -- heck, I'm retired! I just miss his excellent, easy-to-paint, affordably priced terrain...!

What's up next? I have six 28mm Sci-Fi figures that I have begun sitting on my desk right now. They're meant to be random figures that could be used by a number of factions. They're definitely unusual figures, so I'm looking forward to how they turn out.

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 208

Stormtroopers, Walkers & an Acheson Building

    A platoon of 3-D printed imperial stormtroopers, supported by some Wiley Games walkers

As part of getting ready for some Star Wars themed Sci-Fi skirmishes, I would have to paint up some stormtroopers sooner or later. A couple CincyCons back, I had bought some 3-D printed ones from JS Wargamer Printing's "Galaxy Far, Far Away" line. I decided to give them some heavy support and painted up three walkers alongside them. These were actually a figure from Wiley Games' resin line of minis called BLST3R. Painted up almost simultaneously was a large Sci-Fi building from Acheson Creations that I had purchased at Drums at the Rapids this past May.

    Painting the black accents on the white stormtrooper armor was a royal pain, I discovered!

We'll start with the stormtroopers. There were 10 figures in the pack with only a few duplicate poses, so that was nice. They came printed with a "slotta" style base, which I despise. I had recently bought a pair of sprue cutters at a hobby store and this assisted in my snipping them free from their bar of shame. I did lose part of the foot of one of the figures while doing so, but was able to recover the figure (unlike with the Mon Calamari). I glued them to plastic round bases with modeling cement and then sat back and pondered how to paint them. 

    I actually had to do a light wash on these figures to be able to SEE the detail to paint them!

As most people know, stormtroopers have white armor, but a black undersuit, as well as black accents on the armor. Do I paint them black and dry brush white heavily? I didn't think that would work. I would cover up too much of the black areas, or not get it white enough, I felt. So that meant I would have to paint them white and paint the black parts by hand. I correctly surmised that it would be a royal pain -- wait, an IMPERIAL -- pain in the butt! However, since I wasn't spray painting these 3-D figures black, it gave me a chance to try out something my friend Jason M (check out his blog) recommended for priming: artist gesso. Jason warned me it seems really thick going on, but shrink wraps around the miniature, looking better in the prepainting stage than it does while applying it. What's more, the gesso surface absolutely grabs the paint and makes it every easy to cover. One coat of brushed on white was all I needed. I was impressed and will continue to use the gesso for figures I would normally prime white. Apparently, they also make a black gesso, so I may pick up a bottle of that, too. I also feel the thickness of the gesso coat may provide similar protection against the brittleness of 3-D printed figures that my normal Krylon spray paint and 50/50 acrylic and water does.

    The stormtroopers and walkers with their coat of Gesso from Liquitex -- I like using this as primer!

    The second squad of five stormtroopers: 'What's that? You two go over and investiage..."

Painting the stormtroopers reminded me a lot of when I did the Bronze Legion awhile back. It was a similar question. Paint the armor first and then do the careful detail to pick out the black joints in the armor? Or paint it black and laboriously do the bronze over it? Both ways were a pain for those figs. Similarly, doing the back was tedious on these stormtroopers. Interestingly, when I went to paint the black, I was struggling to see the detail even under my lighted magnifying glass! It was really hard to tell where to paint the black. So, I improvised and did a very light black wash over the figures first. This pooled in the recesses enough to be able to see what I needed to paint black. After the careful black step was done, I went back and added white highlights to areas where I felt there was too much black wash. Next, were the trooper's blaster rifles (Iron Metals Steel and a full strength black wash). I am happy with how they came out. I am also happy that, considering the scale of skirmishes I am doing, this should be the only batch of stormtroopers that I have to paint!

    The Wiley Games resin walkers come in two pieces, are easy to assemble, and look good, I think

The BLST3R walkers had been assembled (upper half and lower half) and based on round, wooden bases months and months ago. They also got the gesso priming. I decided I would go with white as their base color to match the stormtroopers and give them metallic colored accents. I chose three of my favorites, a deep red, dark blue, and "Christmas Tree" green. I experimented with one first, deciding which areas should remain white and which should get the metallic color. After finishing all three, I wasn't as happy as I thought I would be. I wondered if I should have gone with non-metallic colors? Oh well...too late now! I am definitely NOT going back and painting them, again. Like the stormtroopers, these figures also had a minimum of colors to paint. I picked out a couple areas on the weapon "arms" to paint black and give colored buttons or dials accents on. All in all, I'm happy with how they turned out, too. They are not Star Wars imperial walkers, true. It is a big empire, though. Who's to say the imperial forces did not have walkers similar to these BLST3R models deployed to some planet in the galaxy far, far away? I gave them a watered down black wash to pick out some of the depth and recesses on the miniature. They'll make tough enemies for the rebels on the tabletop!

    The rear of the walkers - you can see the watered down black wash I did on them, too

Once the miniatures were done, it was time to work full time on the Acheson building. I used my favorite Chocolate Brown metallic craft paint as the base color of this interestingly shaped building. I went back and forth over what color to make the "ribs." I ended up choosing the deep, burgundy red metallic because I knew those two colors went together well. The steel plates festooned over the building were painted in Battleship Gray metallic with Pewter highlights. I added bright bronze to a few other places and made the dome a pink metallic. I went with pink because it is in the same color palette as the deep red, I felt. I finished it off with my usual black wash and was very happy at this stage. 

    Large Sci-fi building from Acheson Creations -- I really like the interesting shape and very cool door

And then something unexpected happened! When I used my clear spray coat it caused a crackling effect on the top and some other sections of the building. I had never had this happen before, and am still not sure why it happened. One possibility is that I did not completely remove Acheson's very strong mold release agent sufficiently before I primed it. I normally run it through the dishwasher on a light wash. Did I forget to run this one through? Perhaps. More likely, my decision to not use soap (and the fact that it is a different dishwasher) meant the cycle may simply not have been enough. The crackling effect looks kind of cool, though. I am worried that the bubbling up is going to eventually cause the paint to chip and peel away. We'll see.

    Three quarters view of the building -- I love how the colors all worked out on this

I'm going to try to work on terrain alongside batches of miniatures going forward. Most of the figures will be Sci-Fi, for the time being. The terrain may be a mix, but with an emphasis on Sci-Fi. Right now on my painting desk is about a dozen robots or droids from various sources. These are meant to be "civilian" types -- not war bots like I've painted in the past. In essence, I want them for eye candy or objectives on the tabletop. Stay tuned, and hopefully I'll have another update soon! 

    A close up showing the crackling effect that appeared after I sprayed it will my clear coat

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 196 

Sci-Fi Terrain - Scatter and a Building

    Captain Alistair Valentine & Zorina Valthea investigate some newly-painted Sci-Fi terrain

Since Advance the Colors 2024 is coming up, and I will likely be tempted to buy yet more terrain. To keep my conscience clear, I felt I should hurry up and get some that I previously bought painted up! So, expect to see more added in over the next couple weeks until ATC weekend, Oct. 11-12. Plus, I want to have some variety to use in my Sci-Fi scenarios, whether Five Parsecs from Home or games I plan to run on Sunday nights. Three of the pieces are from Diabolical Terrain, who will be at ATC 2024, if you're looking to pick up some really cool 3-D printed terrain. The last is from a vendor at Cincycon 2024 called, A Critical Hit. I learned something new about it when I sat down to paint it, as you'll see below.

    A look at the detail on the tops of three pieces from Diabolical Terrain

All three of the above pieces are from Diabolical Terrain. I believe I purchased them at DayCon 2024. I did my usual method of prepping them -- spray painting them black with Krylon Fusion acrylic black primer. I follow that up, as readers of mine are quite aware by now, with a brush-on 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water (premixed in its own battle). For the large domed structure (which I will likely buy at least one more of if Ron has any in stock at ATC), I painted it a craft metallic paint called Chocolate Brown. I really love its subdued bronze look and use it on a lot of my miniatures. The door and overhead vent fan were painted in a craft metallic called Battleship Gray, with Pewter highlights and bronze accents. The door itself is painted a metallic green ("Christmas Tree" green, I believe). After it was completed, I did a black wash on it to give it a realistic, dusty look.

The piece on the left was by far the most time consuming in this batch of four pieces of terrain. I used a dark metallic red as a base color. I find that the darker shades of metallics tend to look better on the tabletop, for some reason. Brighter colors look almost too cartoony or childish. For the various accent pipes and fittings I used a variety of my metallic colors. For control panels, I painted the surface black, then added in bright yellow, red, and light green buttons. The small video screen is a bright light green. I really like the color combinations for this piece and how they turned out.

    The Alien Nodule and its infestation actually changes colors as you look at it from different angles

The small, cylindrical piece in the center has a duplicate which I just finished painting up, but not in time for the photos. It looks like a control terminal or something similar. Diabolical produces three different sizes of these. This is the largest. I also bought two each of the middle and smallest. I think I am going to turn those into droids. This has a very Star Wars droid look to it, I feel. I love the way the dark blue metallic and battleship gray look together. Very sleek. The bronze accents and the control panels with bright buttons all around it really set it off, too.

Watch this video which demonstrates the color shift effect as I clumsily spin the piece

And now for what I am calling the "Alien Nodule." This looks like a piece of machinery that's been overgrown by some form of infestation. The really cool thing about this piece is that apparently a color shift material was used in the filament. I am providing photos showing three colors and a video showing me spinning it around to give the color shifting effect. I honestly don't remember realizing that when I bought it from A Critical Hit at Cincycon 2024. Had I known that, I would have bought more than one!

    The material takes looks purple at a certain angle -- I have no idea how the physics of it work!

Molded onto the outside of the cylinder are what looks like tendrils of alien vegetation growing up from its base. I painted that dark green and later dry brushed it light green. This was just in case any flocking came off, though. I followed that up with painting white glue directly onto the green areas. I poured Woodland Scenics Blended Grass over it and tapped off the excess. Next, I painted little blobs of white glue on the dried flocking. I pour over it tiny orange spheres that are from a railroad hobby store and meant to represent oranges, I believe. I tapped off some excess then let it dry. Finally, I painted over the flocking and the blobs (some grotesque alien plant life...??) with a 50/50 mix of white glue and water. I'm hoping that I don't get too many of them shedding off while using this piece, and that the glue keeps them in place. Quick update, I know. Look for a longer one on my fourth mission for Five Parsecs from Home soon!

    Now the Alien Nodule takes on a green hue - is it mimicking the clothes of my crewmen?

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024 (Next year, I want to tally terrain and scatter, too. If anyone has any ideas how to do that, I'd love to hear!)

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 170
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 170
  

Fortified Trailers for Post-Apocalypse from Bad Goblin Games

    The first of the two fortified trailers with some of my survivors keeping watch

My favorite "find" at Historicon were the products from Bad Goblin Games. Even before I played in their Trailer Park Apocalypse game on Saturday, I had snapped up two of their 3-D printed, fortified trailers. They had six different varieties. I purchased my two favorites (#1 and #6 on their packaging). I wanted to use them in my Zombie RV games at the upcoming Hold the Line convention in Port Clinton, Sept. 13-14. So, it was time to put work on the horde of zombies on hold and get cracking on "them thar trailers!"

    The rear of the trailer - note the gaping hole and the cracks...this trailer has seen some battles!

They were incredibly easy to prepare for painting. I saw no flash or strings or anything that I needed to clean up. If I were to do another one, though (check that -- when I do another!), I would shave some material off the top, bottom, and side of the doors. They open and closes easily until you prime and paint them, and or in my case, put patterned paper down as the flooring. All those layers of paint and paper add to the thickness, so to speak, and I would rather it not scratch it every time I opened or closed it in a game. This is an incredibly minor point, though. I am very happy with these models.

    Roof of the first trailer. All of the fortifications are part of the 3-D print -- none of this was modified

I cut a piece of 9"x5" plastic styrene to base each trailer on and used two-part epoxy to attach them. I did my usual method of prepping -- spray painting it first with Krylon Fusion Acrylic Black Primer, and then following that up with a 50/50 mix of water and acrylic black paint. For the base coats of the colors, I had to apply two coats to get it to cover over the black undercoat, though. For the first one, above, I used a light straw color and then did a white dry brush over it. Next, I painted the brick a dark red and dry brushed it Howard Hues Middle East Flesh. I used a light Terra Cotta color for the trim to keep it in the same color tone. I dry brushed the trim pieces tan. The door was painted a dark red with window frame.

   Zooming in on the first trailer -- I did a heavy black wash over the surface once it was all painted

The roof was painted Georgia Clay, then dry brushed with Middle East Flesh. All of the woodwork was painted dark brown first, dry brushed Camo Brown, and then tan. I thought it was cool how they added street signs into the fortifications, too. So I painted them up to as "STOP" and "YIELD" signs, with appropriate gouges in them. The oil barrels were painted a light blue, dry brushed a bluish-white, and then I made them rusty with several colors: light brown, Georgia Clay, and then bright orange. 

The interior was purposely done in what I felt would be tacky, "trailer park" colors. For this one, I chose a light salmon color. Once again, I needed two coats to cover the walls sufficiently. However, with all of the explosion or fire damage on this model, I did a lot of black dry brushing to simulate smoke stains or fire damage. For the floor, I used patterned scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby left over from an earlier project. It is a light gray, which I dirtied up a bit with black dry brushing to simulate smoke and dirt accumulation since the apocalypse.

    The floor is patterned scrapbooking paper dirtied up with black dry brushing

I admit I was definitely going for an Appalachian vibe in my decorations for the walls. There are pictures making strident statements about gun rights. There is a hunting painting. And, since you-know-who seems to be very popular in Appalachia, there is a political poster honoring their leadership choice. For these, I simply did Google Image searches, downloaded suitable files, and resized them, gave them a reddish brown border for a "picture frame," and printed them off on a laser printer at the local office supply store. I cut them out, painted white glue onto the backs of them, and applied them to the walls. 

    Another look at the trailer without any miniatures to clutter up the picture. The couches are my own.

I gave the trailer a couple coats of clear matte spray. I did have to go back and add a black wash over the warning signs on the doors, too. They looked too bright white without it, I felt. Note in the photographs, I posed some couches, love seats, and recliners sitting outside and look worse for the wear (in true hillbilly fashion). These are my own and were not included. A friend of mine molded them in dental plaster -- not sure where he got them from (maybe Hirst Arts?).

    The front of the "blue" fortified trailer, with its bullet holes, rounded end, and cinder block stairs

One of the things that I really liked shopping at Bad Goblin Games booth at Historicon was the sheer variety. If I remember correctly, there were six varieties of fortified trailers and just about that many of ruined or partially ruined trailers. It allowed me to pick out the ones I liked best and were different from each other. If you go to their website, I'm not sure why they are not showing up, yet. Maybe they don't want to put them up there until the convention season is over and they've built back on their stock. By the end of Saturday at the convention, their shelves and racks were looking pretty sparse. I wasn't the only one who was buying up their stuff (which is very affordably priced, by the way)! Another thing I liked was the choices they give in staircases leading up to the doors. They give you both the wooden one shown in the yellow trailer, and the cinder blocks in the blue one, above.

    The rear of the trailer, which has two doors, allowing me to use both types of staircases on this model

I used a pale blue for the exterior of this one, dry brushing it a light, bluish-white. The trim was done in a Denim Blue craft paint, also dry brushed to give it a worn and sun-bleached look. For the roof, I decided to go with a light gray-green, dry brushed a very light gray. I love the wooden boards covering the windows and the crack in the walls. As with the previous one, I did a black wash on the exterior to make it look dirty, run-down, and possibly abandoned.

    A look at the roof of the blue trailer, which is a completely different style than the first one

Not only is the vinyl siding pattern different on this model than the first, the roof is completely different, too. Rather than a ribbed, almost corrugated steel look, this one looks more lilke siding. Instead of the sandbags and wood barricades atop the roof, this one used piles of cinder blocks. Apparently, Bad Goblin Games also sells bags of 3-D printed cinder blocks, but they were so popular they were sold out by the time I made it to their booth! I love the tire, open hatch, and random cinder blocks that come printed on the roof. These would normally be a customization done by the modeler, but Bad Goblin does it for you! This saves tons of time compared to my MDF trailer from Sarissa Precision, which I spent hours and hours modifying!

    A good look at the posters I put up on the walls of my trailer -- "America" & "Dogs playing poker"!

Really, the only thing I tricked out on these two models is the interior. My choice of tacky colors were blue and green for this one. I painted the walls a medium "Leaf Green". Next, I dry brushed it a lighter green, and finally went over it in a dark, black wash. The interior door was painted dark green. For the flooring, I cut more of the patterned paper you can find at craft stores (I think they are intended for scrap booking). For this one, I also did a black wash on the flooring after I had glued it in place and done a first spray clear coat. Big mistake! After a few minutes, the water began to warp the paper. I took a paint bottle and smooshed it down (technical term). Then, when it was drier, I smoothed it down with my fingers. It looked better. Unfortunately, the black washing of the surface was left a little streaky. In the future, I will follow the method I used on the yellow trailer, above.

    A look at the interior, with the ugly leaf green walls clashing with the blue and white flooring

For interior decorations, I kept up the tacky, hillbilly kitsch. The famous painting of dogs sitting around a table playing poker had to be in there. An "America - love it or leave it" belonged in there for that well-known, rural patriotism. I also threw in a hunting painting and a Jesus one. I have gone back and forth about furniture on the interior, and have pretty much decided not to do it. I want my terrain pieces to look good, yes. However, I want the miniatures to be able to move around inside, as well. 

    A close up of the blue trailer, including the classic door sign warning away trespassers!

These two post-apocalyptic trailers will see playing time in about a week when I run Zombie RV at Hold the Line in Port Clinton, OH. I have other things from them that I need to paint up and get ready for games, too. The tall water tower will be an eye catcher on the tabletop, as will the dumpster fire and other fun pieces using LED lights. Stay tuned to my blog for those!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 168
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 140

Blast Markers...Finally!

So, I've been wanting to do these for a LONG time. I've used flickering tea candles before to make a log cabin on fire, cannibal cook pot, and such. Most recently, I used one at the core of my downed helicopter piece of terrain. However, I'd been wanting explosion markers that I can use on the tabletop to either mark burning areas in a scenarios or whatever. What finally got me going in creating these was the idea of using them as Suppression markers in Xenos Rampant Sci-Fi miniatures rules. A suppression marker denotes a unit that failed a Courage test on the previous turn and must attempt to Rally. How to make sure you don't forget to do that? Tiny cardboard counter saying, "Suppressed"...? Heck no! 

    My flickering tea candles with the bases spray painted black (after masking the plastic "flame")

Those who know me have realized by now that any markers I create for a game must ADD to the look of the game -- not detract from it. For example, for Wiley Games you need a number of marker types. You need something to show that figure has acted already this turn (well, at least you should in case your friends might conveniently "forget"!). I use a flocked and textured round base from a pack I bought from Michigan Toy Soldier Company. It looks good on the tabletop and is unobtrusive. You will also might need "Shock" markers. I have tiny brown smoke markers (bullets kicking up dust around the figure?). For a figure that is stealthy, we use a tiny flocked piece of vegetation. Long ago, they earned the nickname "hunker bushes" to mark figures that had "hunkered down" to gain better defense.

    The "batting" material used to stuff pillows or teddy bears before spraying black

So, it should be no surprise that, once I'd decided to create these, I bought a pack of small, flickering tea lights from Hobby Lobby. I immediately went out and watched a bunch of YouTube videos on how to create explosion markers from them. In the end, this is what I decided to do, step by step.

1. Put masking tape or painters tape around the plastic "flame" part of the candle. Then spray paint them with matte black paint or primer.
2. Use wire cutters to cut off the flame at about the halfway point. You need a wide enough area to insert three fiber optic cables.
3. Cut three different lengths of 2mm fiber optic material. I had to buy it off Amazon because I couldn't find any store locally that sold it. Insert those into the open area of the plastic flame and press them down against the tiny little LED light at the bottom. Add Tacky Glue where the fiber optic material touches the edge of the plastic flame you cut off to affix it in place.
4. Once dry, take pliers to flatten out and deform the ends of the fiber optic material so it looks like slag or molten fragments being flung into the air.
   
5. Cut a section of "batting material" -- the stuffing you put in pillows or teddy bears. Cut it so it falls just short of the height of your shortest of the three pieces of fiber optic. Make it long enough to wrap around the base of the tea candle.
6. Place the batting material on a box or something and spray paint the material black, darker at the bottom (to cover up the tea candle once you affix it), but more irregularly nearer the top. There should be a mix of white, gray, and black in your plume of material.
7. Coat the outer cylinder of the tea candle with Tacky Glue, then wrap the batting around it. Don't press it in too hard or the glue will bleed through and make shiny clear spots. The material just needs to NOT unwind.
8. Ka-BOOM -- you're done! 

The tea candle with three lengths of 2mm fiber optic cable inserted into the plastic "flame"

My explosion markers are shorter in height than some you may see on some YouTube videos. That's because I want them to be markers to remember which units are suppressed and have to check morale. And with one of these things flickering in front of the unit, there's no way you'll forget!

    Outer edge of the tea candle painted with Tacky Glue and the batting material that will go around it

Here's a link to the "One Man and his Brushes" blog entry that inspired me, just to let you know that I didn't think of all this myself! What's next on my painting table. More zombies! These the the infected style zombies from the show, "The Last of Us." I currently have the flesh and base coat on the clothes competed. So, expect these early next week!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 80

 

Drums 2024 Purchases

    'One of these days...' I will get around to doing Mesoamerica gaming, so I bought some more terrain

In reading Convention Director Doug Johnson's posts about last weekend's Drums at the Rapids 2024, I saw something about Armory Hobbies going out of business and liquidating their stock at the convention as a vendor. The name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place what they carried. Turns out it was convention regular Dan Straub and he was getting rid of as much as people would buy - 50% off. One of the things he carried regularly was terrain by my favorite, Acheson Creations. I knew that I would be picking some stuff up, as I love me some Acheson!

    A nice-sized Sci-Fi building, and at 50% off, was definitely worth picking up for current projects

He brought quite a few things I had not seen anyone stock for awhile, including the pier/bridge set, the American Frontier blockhouse, Native American palisades, and more. However, I had enough of those, so concentrated on things for current or potential future projects. An example of a "one of these days" projects is my growing collection of Mesoamerican terrain and figures. I currently don't game Maya, Aztec, or Incan periods, but plan on doing it one day. When my friend Bryan Borgman was getting rid of his Acheson stuff, I picked up some of the Acheson line he had in stock. So, I snagged all three of Armory's Olmec heads, his only reclining Chac Mool god, and a more generic tumbled ruin.

    A Marx footbridge (or gallows?) that will also work great in 28mm scale for a number of things

In the category of good for current projects, there was a nice, big Sci-Fi building that I picked up, as well. I have a number of smaller Acheson Sci-Fi scatter buildings that I'd painted up, but this was a bigger one, and I could use a few more bigger ones. It will paint up quickly, I'm sure. Once I get my first game of Xenos Rampant under my belt, I am sure I will snag this one off the shelf and get it ready for the tabletop soon. There was also a pair of non-Acheson pieces that caught my eye. They look like a small wooden plank footbridge, but it could be used for multiple things -- even a gallows! It is probably meant for Marx's 54mm scale stuff, but hey! A bridge is a bridge and it will work fine for 28mm, too.

    At $1 each, it was hard not to pick up a handful of these concrete traffic barriers

And finally, I could resist picking up some more urban scatter for barricades or walls. The tall, concrete traffic barricades can be used in anything from modern to post-apocalyptic games. I have a set of 15mm that I picked up (I believe) from Miniature Building Authority. These were painted up with appropriate African graffiti for my 20mm modern Africa games. I will likely leave these 28mm Acheson ones more generic, though I will doubtless be tempted to paint some graffiti tags on them to make them look more worn and urban. They will also paint up quickly and will supplement my existing (and growing) collection of urban scatter.

    28mm Acheson tire and oil drum barricades -- a bargain from Armory Hobbies at 50 cents each!

The last piece of urban scatter was one Acheson piece I hadn't seen, yet. It was another barricade, but build from a combination of stacked tires and oil drums. I have quite a few Acheson tire scatter, but collected into a barricade was something new. These were marked $1 each, and at half off, were only 50 cents each. I was definitely envisioning these for my post-apocalyptic games. Like all the others, they should paint up quickly, too. By this time, I have painting Acheson terrain down to a system. Its deep detail makes these pieces fairly leap onto the table with just black priming, dry brushing, and a few details. So, hopefully, with me being retired now, they will see the tabletop very soon!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 67

More Zombies and Urban Scatter

 

   Some 3-D printed zombies pick through scatter from my Terrain Crate uber box - Campbell Heights

Since painting the first batch of 3-D printed zombies recently, I thought I may as well do a second batch while how I did them was fresh in my memory. They are the same 10 poses as before, but I tried my best to change the colors so that they weren't identical. Also featured in this entry are a handful of urban scatter that I picked up at a flea market a year and a half ago. They are from the Mantic Games Terrain Crate line. I had been wanting to get them ready for the tabletop for months, and finally got around to prepping them a few weeks ago.

    Flea market purchase 'Campbell Heights' Terrain Crate contains tons of modern scatter!

All the pieces are from the Campbell Heights mega box that I bought from my friend Bryan's flea market table. The huge box contains the Crystal Peaks Camp, Abandoned Office, Two Trees Mall, and Survivor's Stronghold boxes. After picking it up and looking through it, I remarked that I should be set for quite awhile on scatter! If you're looking for similar things, Terrain Crate items are available in just about every hobby store, nowadays. They're made of hard plastic and I feel they paint up nicely. With this batch, I wanted pieces that I could use as location markers where players might find salvage in either my post-apocalyptic campaign that I've been running or upcoming County Road Z games.

    Piles of boxes, crates, and picnic items were just some of the many things I picked up to paint up

With both the scatter and the 3-D zombies, I spray painted them black first with Krylon Fusion matte primer. I followed that up with a 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water. Especially on lighter shades, the black shows through a bit, and has the overall effect of "toning down" the colors. I like how this gives it a bit of a dirty, abandoned look. All of the pieces received a dark black (or for a couple, brown) wash to dirty them up even more. I'd picked out the pieces from the mega box that I thought worked well for piles of potential salvage, or pieces that will look good in a variety of modern-esque games.

    I thought the small propane tank and trash bin were clever items, so were definitely ones I picked out

I'd already picked through the set last August for the really small pieces of scatter, such as backpacks, med kits, briefcases, and small boxes of canned goods, etc. I don't think I ever did a post including them, so I found the pictures I took and am including one of them here. I wanted them for my post-apocalyptic campaign, pieces that I could set up next to the figure who had grabbed them. I particularly like the backpacks and the briefcases/medkits.

    The smallest scatter from the Campbell Heights box that I picked out and painted last August

When figuring out how to paint some of the various items, I reverted to what I currently own or have owned. The large cooler was painted blue and white (just like the one in my basement, now). The tackle box atop the styrofoam cooler was green and tan like one I have somewhere around here. Of course, the gasoline can was red.

    I actually have a large cooler like the blue and white one and a tackle box like the green and tan one

All of the pieces of scatter were glued down on various round or rectangular bases I had laying around. Some were plastic, some MDF, and others birch wood discs I pick up at craft stores. I flocked them like I have been doing the zombies, though without the added details. I chose bases so each piece of scatter barely fit on it -- mostly to give me something to hold onto while painting. I think the mixed gray ballast with a black wash over it looks fine, and blends into the tabletop.

    Boxes and crates were easy to paint -- I added scribbles as writing on the paper labels

Probably the easiest to paint up were the cardboard boxes. I used a darker tan with a dry brush and wash. I painted the paper labels affixed to the boxes a bone color and used a black Micron pen to add scribbles to simulate writing. I was tempted to add Amazon swooshes but figured Billionaire Bezos didn't need any more advertising from me...ha, ha! Plus, that would "date" the boxes and I wanted this modern scatter to be as generic as possible. The wooden crates were easy, as well, and I followed my usual wood recipe for base coat, dry brush, and highlight (followed by a black wash).

    Close up of the 'picnic' scatter, along with a tumbled cooler and the gas tank and rubbish bin

I found that the more colors involved in painting up the scatter, naturally the more time they took. The tumbled small cooler probably took the most time of any of the pieces. I wanted to paint all the different packages a jumble of colors so that it actually looked like things from a grocery store shelf. The wicker box with the preset picnic is fairly unrealistic, of course. All the food would have long since rotted away in most of the game settings. It looked fun, though. So, I painted it up as if just set up and the picnickers had stepped away for a moment.

    The pile of duffel bags & cooler in the middle were nice, I thought - perfect scavenge material

The ultimate goal of painting up this scatter was to use as objective markers in my post-apocalyptic or County Road Z games. To that end, I really liked the pile of duffel bags and cooler, above. It was the last piece in this batch and unfortunately I feel I was rushing it to get done. The straps could have been done a little better, I think, and given some highlighting in a lighter blue. Oh well -- considering how much attention they'll actually get on the tabletop, that's probably not something to beat myself up over!

    Do you dare risk fighting the zombies to pick up this freshly-painted, Mantic Games scatter?

I am going to take a break from scatter and zombies for my next batch. I'm not 100% sure what it will be. Likely choices include painting two Saga warlord stands to donate as prizes for the upcoming Origins tournament. Another possibility is begin working on the vehicles my players will be using for their County Road Z "road trip" across America. With this batch of zombies, I am now back in the "plus" side of Painted Miniatures vs. Purchased. Woo-hoo! And that's not even counting scatter terrain or similar things...!

    The scatter will be used in more than just post-apocalyptic games - it will work for any modern ones

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 67