Birthday Presents from the Kids

I got these two IKEA plastic plants for my birthday Monday - they are now destined to get chopped up and used for some jungle terrain. Which I intend to start doing when my current Vikings project is done. Intend.

Coconut Fibres for my Pile of Shit

A couple of days ago my wife and eldest daughter went to Odense to find some clothes on the January Sale, and I asked them if they could swing by a pet store to look for some coconut fibres.

Dr Zombie of the LAF had told me that he used that material to represent straw and the likes for several purposes, including his Dark Ages dung heaps, which, among others, are some of my main inspiration for making my own. 💩

They came back with this, an expense of only DKK 25, and I can soon get on with my dung project! 👍

There will be plenty of material to use on other projects, and I am now thinking of using some of my newly acquired mini DVDs for a couple of smaller dung heaps, to place in strategic positions around my - hopefully soon built - Dark Ages village. 😉

Two updates about terrain in one day? Yes, I think I am going to spend a lot of Hobby Time this winter and spring on terrain-making, as it is an area I have been leaving wanting for quite some time, and I really want my tables to come a bit more to life.

I am going to need some scatter terrain, too, but as it is something I do not have a lot of stuff for, sadly it will have to be postponed until I have a sizable collection of larger terrain items.

Purchases will be limited to perhaps about DKK 200 per month (and will only be allowed when I have a specific purpose for the stuff in question, so as to not create new backlogs).

I really hope to reduce the amount of stuff I have sitting around unused in boxes, and get a lot of it ready to put on the table(s) instead - after all, that is why I purchased it in the first place 😇

Terrain Bases Galore!

I decided to spend my Hobby Allowance for January on 100 mini DVDs to use as bases for patches of vegetation - for now primarily jungle terrain, but they should also come in handy for other types.

I ordered them yesterday, and they were delivered on my doorstep this morning at 06:45 😎

As soon as I have finished the two Skeleton Hordes I have WIP for God of Battles, I shall make a couple of jungle bases (I think I shall make this into a lot of small partial projects, so as to not get bored by it).

I have an abundance of plastic palm trees and aquarium decoration plants to use for this, so I should be able to get a good 'pulpy' jungle up and running for a small skirmish type table before spring.

I also have my eyes on some plastic aquarium decoration trees that I only discovered recently, but I shall use some of the stuff I have before purchasing any new supplies!

Christmas Wars: Santa's Assistant - With Snow, but Without Lipstick!

Time ran out for me on this, so I did not quite get it to the point I wanted to.

Julia was late this morning (if you know my language, you will get her name), so she forgot to put her lipstick on, and I think she grabbed the wrong pair of silk stockings, as thes eare light grey instead of white or red (or even green).

I like the way her hair turned out, it was:

1. Citadel Desert Yellow
2. Coat d'Arms Buff
3. Army Painter Skeleton Bone

I thin I could have gotten away with another highlight - shall experiment on my next blond mini!

All in all. I like how she turned out, and she is now joining Santa in our winter/Christmas scene on the sideboard, of which I promise to post a photo either later today or tomorrow. No snow landscape though - I think I shall make a mat out of painter felt, then upgrade it with some Woodland Scenics snow later this winter!

MERRY CHISTMAS, HAPPY CHANNUKAH,

and whatever festival YOUR culture/religion is celebrating right now (sorry, I am too ignorant to know them all - I celebrate 'Christmas'  more in line with the original Norse Jól, anyway, without any particular religious meaning).

Christmas Wars: Santa - Now With Snow!

I have now poked the Snow-Tex around on Santa's base, and I think the finish is OK,

It is not quite the effect I was looking for (I wanted sparkling 'postcard' snow), but I may be able to achieve an enhanced result by drybrushing some clear varnish over the Snow-Tex.

I do have a feeling, that I could create a similar compound myself - the Snow-Tex feels and looks very much like 'gloop', which is a mix of paint, sand, and PVA glue (the Snow-Tex even could be only white paint and sand), and if I keep using this stuff for winter bases, I think I should experiment with beach sand and white emulsion paint.

I have all but finished Santa's assistant, and I hope to be able to post pics of her tomorrow morning (before I start bringing in The Tree), and of the small Christmas Village Scene we have on our sideboard.

Let it Snow...

A nice bloke at the LAF, going by the nick 'Hu Rhu', was so kind to send me this tub of scenic snow, so I can decorate Santa's base (and other, season-themed models) in an appropriate manner.

Gestures like this make me all warm and fluffy inside, and I raise a horn of mead in salute to this fine Gentleman!

I am going to make a test one of the next days, and then get some show on the base, just in time for Christmas, and maybe also on the base of Santa's Assistant - if I get her done in time, that is.

Cheap 'Grass'

Just the other day, as i was browsing through a 'Tiger' (Danish equivalent of a Pound-Store), I came across a pile of this.

At DKK 30, I had to buy one for the purpose of investigating its potential for some kind of gaming use.

The mat is 25cm x 100 cm, so we are talking a serious amount of artificial grass, here.

Below I put a 28mm Viking on it to visualize the size. The 'grass' is not very long, maybe abot 1 cm, but it may be possible to cut individual 'tufts' from the mat (the base is fairly thick black rubber) which can then be used on various terrain pieces, and possibly large bases.

LEGO Elves Terrain Project, Part 4

I went to Svendborg today to get some paints from a craft store that match the colours of the LEGO Elves bases.

I also visited a DIY market to get some water-based varnish to use for arrows (I ordered tools and materials for making wooden arrows yesterday). Apparently, arrows need 4-5 layers of varnish, being sanded with a very fine grain of sandpaper in between layers.

The varnish is meant for indoor use, but I hope it will prove good enough for arrows - we are not going to shoot in rough weather conditions, anyway, so with several layers, it should be able to withstand handling.

Did some shopping today.

I got up early and drove with my wife to Odense, when she went to work, as I had a few things on my to-buy list (especially some honey for the next batch of mead).

After Odense, I drove down to Svendborg to do some additional shopping.

Of notion, hobby-wise, I got some paint for my Egyptian temple stairs, and I bought another yatzy-set with dice tray (to have 2 trays for gaming) - and I found a green doormat in the pound store (Tiger), that I am going to cut up to use as fields with un-ripe crops.

You cannot tell from the picture, but the bristles on the mat are approximately 10mm long.

Getting Ready for Decals!

Got Micro Set and Micro Sol (and a flat brush for applying the latter) from Frontline Hobby here in Denmark today.

I may try it out on a couple of DreadBall players one of the next days - if I can find the time to do so in between the outdoor chores.

No matter what, I should now be set to get good results when fiddling around with decals, which has always put me off for fear of botching the job...