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| Some 3-D printed rural scatter terrain and water buffaloes that I painted up a week or so ago |
All of these items were finished more than a week ago. However, I never got a chance to do a blog post on them before leaving for vacation to
Dominica last week. I pulled them out after painting up the
Japanese Fishing Village scatter set from
Miniature Building Authority. I remembered that I had also picked up a couple 3-D printed
Asian water buffaloes from them, as well. I pulled them out, and said, "What the heck?" Let's go full-on rural and get that 3-D printed cart from
A Critical Hit done, as well. And while I was at it, I pulled out the wattle fence sections I bought at
Advance the Colors 2025 from
Diabolical Terrain. The cart and buffaloes I simply primed with Liquitex White Gesso. The
fence sections I figured it might be better to do an acrylic black spray prime with my usual Krylon Fusion. Next up, was a 50/50 mix of water and black acrylic paint. There are a lot of crevices and recessed areas in the wattle as the branches thread in and out of the posts. I didn't want any gray peaking through.
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| 3-D printed 28mm Wattle fences (one section with gate) from Diabolical Terrain I got at ATC 2025 |
For painting the wattle, I scaled my usual wood tones a bit lighter. Instead of using a dark brown base like I normally do for wood, I went with a wet brush of a medium to lighter brown called Autumn Brown. The next step was a Khaki highlight. I skipped the brown wash with the black undercoat still showing in some places. I flocked them and added a couple tufts on each side, and these were done! Quick is the theme for this update. All three items painted up extremely quickly. My biggest decision was whether to put them on a base or just flock the thin base they come printed on. Or I could also make them into an enclosed field using the gate sections...what to do? In the end, I decided to leave them "as is" and place the wattle fence directly onto the tabletop when I use them. That gives me flexibility in both length and width of the enclosed field. Of course, if I don't like using them this way, they are so inexpensive I could buy more from Ron the next time I see him. In fact, when I picked them up from him at Advance the Colors 2025, I joked, "Do you know how much time you saved me for just over a $1.50?"
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| Miniature Building Authority sells a pack of 2 3-D printed water buffaloes for my Vietnam games |
The water buffaloes painted up very quickly, too. I pulled up a Google Images page on them and they look pretty dark furred, in general. So, I used a dark brown base coat. I did a medium brown (Autumn Brown from Ceramcoat) dry brush over that to bring out the highlights on the figure. Next, I did a khaki dry brush along the undersides of the buffaloes, as some of the photos showed them a lighter color underneath -- like many animals. Their wide, curving horns were dry brushed a light tan ("Wild Rice" from Ceramcoat, again). The only real details I had to do with a small brush were their black eyes and detail around their mouth. Yep, painting buffalo lips!
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| Base coat and a couple dry brushes and these big boys were done and ready for the tabletop! |
I did a brown wash on the horns, but none of the rest of the figure received a wash. Once again, I was concerned that it might cover up the medium brown and khaki dry brushing. Flocking was done in my normal method. The large round bases came with the figures, and I went ahead and used them. Of course, I forgot until AFTER the figures were done to put some magnetic material underneath. Sigh. Still, my Vietnam rural scenes just got a nice bit of eye candy, as they two took very little time to get ready.
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| 2-wheel carts for only $1.50 from A Critical Hit - I need to pick up more of these next time! |
The two-wheel cart was even easier. It comes in four parts -- the main "basket" of the cart, the undercarriage with long handles, and the two wooden wheels. The hardest part was epoxying it all together, as I had to dig out the notch for the wheels fit into. As printed, the wholes weren''t big enough. No biggie! Just using an X-acto knife widened them enough to dry fit them into. I pulled them back out and used some gray tac to hold the cart in place and epoxied them all together.
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| Wattle fences and carts will also work for Fantasy, Medieval, and about anything up to modern age |
Once that was done, it was simple. I did a dark brown base coat, Camo brown dry brush, and khaki highlight (my typical wood recipe). There were a few metal bits to paint Iron Wind Metals Steel, with a dab of Bronze for the bolts. Once dry, I did a black vehicle wash over the cart and it was ready for the clear spray coat! And actually, that's where this update ends. The wattle fence sections still need their 50/50, so I guess it wasn't a "full-on" rural post. Still, I was happy at getting the water buffaloes done and the cart. I know that when I see A Critical Hit next (Cincycon 2026?), I will definitely be buy several more of these. I think they cost like $1.50 each. How can you beat it?? They work for a huge number of periods and regions of the world. If you see them at a show anytime soon, pick some up (after I am able to get mine, of course...ha, ha!).
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| I went back and forth whether to base the fences as an enclosure or keep them as separate pieces |
On the painting desk at the moment is my Orc and Goblin horde commander and his bodyguard. They're mostly completed, though, I still have to do some details like their shield design and eyes, teeth, etc. This morning, I pulled out another batch and attached their weapons and shields. It will be four orcs/goblins and two more trolls. For terrain, I have a giant stone tower that I bought from RRB Minis & More spray primed. I may. not work on it much, though, until I even things up in the Acquired vs. Painted for Miniatures. I am have 27 more figures to complete to do so, and 19 days to do it! Will I make it...? Time will tell...
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| Final look at the 'Rual' items I painted up, accompanied by my 28mm Empress Vietnamese civilians |
MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025- Miniatures acquired in 2025: 306
- Miniatures painted in 2025: 279
TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025
- Terrain acquired in 2025: 62
- Terrain painted in 2025: 80
SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025
- Scatter acquired in 2025: 144
- Scatter painted in 2025: 213
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