New Car Wars motorcycles

Two cycles in 28mm or 1/48 or whatever scale you want to call it. They are both hot wheels. The green one was from a thrift shop, and I couldn't find much info on it from the inter webs. For game purposes, it will count as having an armored top. The red one is the Batcycle. I swapped his head and hacked off his cape. To cover the cape hack, I used a mantic deadzone bit to cover it and make it look like he has some type of armor. (Bullets are flying, after all.) I also used press molded mantic enforcer shields to add armor to the front.

Up close of the not dark knight.

And here are two wrecks I whipped up to use as cover or obstacles.

Thanks for visiting, questions and comments are welcome as always.

Papa Spanky

Modern and future civilians

Yep it's been a while since I posted on this blog. My blogging tends to come in fits and spurts. I have all the excuses, busy with work (I got a promotion yay), busy with family, redid my hobby room, etc. etc. but all you really want to know is what I've been doing hobbywise!

Okay the first thing I have to show you is some more civilians for the town of Gray Haven.

These are all prepainted figures that just have a wash on them. Most are hero clix, but a few are characters from the Saturday Night Live trivia game. I didn't want to spend a lot of time on these as they are basically just fodder.


Here is another group of clix miniatures that I am using as futuristic civilians. These also have been shaded with a wash.

I didn't plan it when I bought them, but these minis kind of took on their own persona. The group on the left looks like pilots, the two guys in the middle left look like some type of business owner, the middle right guys are just random citizens [Yep that's a conehead from Saturday Night Live] and the five on the far right look like working girls and their "manager ".

The Devils Work

There is a saying that the devil is in the details. Well after the amount of time and energy spent on these seemingly little "details" I can see why.

 

Lets see what we got (Sorry about the jumbled picture subjects, I just took them as they were sitting on my workbench):

 

Fire hydrants, straw bales and some fall decor;

 

 

Dumpsters, trash cans, a beverage counter and more fall decor;

 



Chairs couches, and ice cream cooler (unfinished) an arcade game and some diner booths;

 

Lastly, these are going to be the streetlights that will be at the major intersections. I built and cast these, filling in the light with a 5mm half round jewel. A completely unnecessary and fiddly process to be sure, but its these little things that will hopefully make this board an exciting backdrop to my games.

 

Thanks for looking, questions comments always welcome!

Papa Spanky

Gray Havens Finest

I finished up the police officers the other day. I really like these models, my only complaint is they all have Corpral or Sergent stripes on the sleeves, and I had planned on painting one up as a Lieutenant to be the supervisor. I didnt notice this until I was sell underway painting. Oh well.

Two more buildings will complete this town, its taking me forever and I really want to get done.
Till next Time,
Papa Spanky

Municipal buildings

These are what have been holding up most of my building progress for the past few months.

The Gray Haven Fire and Police stations. First the fire station- Its scratch built (still only 90% finished) and was a bit of a pain. The roof paper shrunk and warped the corrugated plastic I used for the roof. Making the roof removable was tricky; I didn't want it to have an obvious seam. I also "guesstimated" the entrance door size, and made it too big. The garage door does "roll up" and that's cool.
Then we have the Police station. This too had roof warping problems that took forever to figure out. The roof was based from card stock with shingles cut from watercolor paper. The paper shrunk after painting, and I had to straighten and re-enforce it with wood. The main building is a Plasticville Police station Glued to a Plasticville Fire station. The fire station doors became the rear "sally port".

 This is the inside view of the firehouse. Its still missing things like hoses and ladders, modern 1/4 scale fire hoses seem to be in short supply, so I'm making my own. I also am working on the sign for the parapet wall in the front.

 The front of the PD has the watch desk and the main desk...

while the rear has the lockup an processing. Its still a bit sparse, but furniture is slowly making its way into town, so you might see things in later posts or battle reports.
The cell is made from this  Fencing.

Post your questions and comments!
Papa Spanky

Casting Couch Diaries

I'm getting set to mold and cast my couch and a few other things I made, so I will be keeping track of progress (or lack of it) here. What did you think this post was about? Pervert.  Anyway there is a highway light post, a overstuffed chair, a couch, a trash can, a dumpster and its lids, (it still needs a bit of work) a computer monitor and flatscreen tv, and three turrets for Car Wars. I'll let you know how this turns out.
Papa Spanky

Streetlights, people (oh oh ohhhhh!)

Today I finished up some streetlights for my town. I originally was going to cast my own, but for my own sanity I decided to purchase and modify some of the plasticville ones.

 Heres what I did:
 I clipped off the plastic bases from each pole. After that I used a dremel to smooth down the rough edges left from the base. Once those were done, I went about epoxying magnets into each base of the lights (fortunately they were hollow). After they dried I drilled tiny holes in the sidewalks of the boards at predetermined areas, and glued magnets into those. This was the hardest part as you need to keep the orientation of the magnets correct so the don't accidentally end up repelling each other. A quick rusty wash and a dull coat finish and these were done.

I will cast several of my scratchbuild lightpoles to put on the main drag on the south end of town. I just thought the plasticville ones were more subtle and saved a ton of time!

That covers the streetlights; now for the people. Two more for the population sign.

This gentleman is Danny Ling. A retired army reservist, he has lived in Gray Haven since he was 7 and will defend his home from all threats- foreign, domestic and other worldly.
Another stock Foundry model, I hated this one at first but when the paint went on it really grew on me. 

This guy is Dmitri. Just Dmitri. I thought he might kill me if I asked anything else.
Another stock foundry with some birch seeds on the base. Made em from my own tree! Honestly I had trouble with a back story for him, so that's why his is kinda lame.

There was something else I wanted to show you guys, what was it...

Oh yeah I finished the massive Mysterious East building!

This an import- export business located right next door to the Hydracorp building, and it opened about 3 months after Hydracorp moved in. Coincidence?...

I thought this building/ business would do good to forward many pulp or horror story lines. Practically anything can show up in town from all over the world and now have a plausible reason. Sometime in the future I might do a basement to this building and have it connect to Hydracorp and an underground bunker/lab/facility. This would all be on a separate board of course!

The front office. clear acetate line the windows. 

The rear storage and shipping area. Frosted acetate back here so no one can really see in!

The roof is in two separate pieces, one for the front and one for the back. I made it that way because it was easy to build and now i can use it to hide the storage area from players if needed. 

The rear loading area. 

Those following along will remember this building was made from storage crates, like the Hydracorp one was. It was a bit more persnickety having difficult cuts for the L shape. 

 For my parting shot I give you Gray Haven in its unfinished glory. I added a few things that might become permanent for the shot. 

Don't stop believin'   

Papa Spanky

Girls night out... at the post office

V and Tia are a couple of Hip- Hop dancers who live in Gray Haven. They are saving money to move to New York, but in the meantime they post weekly dance instructional videos on their YouTube channel. Their Stamina and agility really paid off when they had to stake a 200 year old vampire outside of a Thortons on I-80 one night on a return trip from Chicago.

I took quite a bit of time working on these two, I especially like the way V's sunglasses and MARPAT BDUs turned out. (my first attempt at both) Both girls are modeled with thongs peeking out, so I had to paint them. 

Sammie Mattews loves fashion, shopping and social media. So when zombies invaded her favorite mall, she accessorized a black SMG and an oversized bag (for extra magazines and lip gloss) and went about her business.

ShooterSam@twitter 

#Zomapocsales OMG Aero is offering 50 off to anyone who helps clear out the z's from the store security gate. I hope they still have that pink top in my size!

I painted this one based off my daughters request for a model with purple hair. A yellow dress then seemed the best choice for balance. all three of these girls are from Copplestone Castings "Babes With Guns" set.

And now the post office:

As promised- finished shots. There is glass in the windows and doors (plastic sheet actually) but you cant really tell in these pics. The interior was detailed with post office posters I found on the web and boxes from Tommyguns paper terrain. The floor is patterned scrapbook paper. 

Thanks for looking, Q and C welcomed!

Papa Spanky

Hydracorp office building

I finished this the other day: The Hydracorp building.

 Hydracorp is a highly secretive multi-billion dollar company. So when they bought and renovated an old office building in a small mid-western town, no one knew why.  Hummers, equipment for the local police department and millions to the local chamber of commerce each year guarantees  no one asks.

For those that don't remember, this building started out as a collapsible storage crate from the dollar store.  If you are interested in the progress how-to shots, just look at the office or building tags. Why Hydracorp? Well, every time I finished a detail on this build, two more things needed to get finished. I felt like I was fighting a mythical Hydra.

 Front and back shots. I lined the windows and front door with frosted vinyl file separators.
The back door opens. It was a pain to do, but it works.

This is the second floor office cubicles. I say this building is done, but it really need furniture and decor. That I will add over time, but for now its game ready. 

The second floor lifts off to show the... empty first floor! At least you get a good shot of the backdoor and the stairs.

The outside sidewalk and lawn. The tree and bush are removable for storage. I tried to get the tree to look like it had that landscape ring cut around it to hide that it was on a base. I used herbs mixed with PVA to make the mulch.

I'm pretty happy with this build, even though it was a lot of work.

Any questions or comments? post em!
Papa Spanky

Gray Haven board and building progress

I've been brought low with a nice summer cold the past few days so I thought I would take some time to do some much needed progress updates. 

An aerial shot of all three boards together. From here you can see all the drains, sewers and weeds I added, as well as the no parking zones.  

A closer look at the grass median. The trees are real branches and the bushes are Woodland Scenics HO trees. The grass itself is fake rabbit, or teddy bear fur, first seen here . I finished it off with Silflor grass clumps for weeds and fall colored scatter from Woodland Scenics.

Jones and a PT Cruiser face off. My money is not on the Cruiser.  

Another view of the median, I like this shot.

A detail shot of the median, and one of the original drains that made it onto the board. 

Damn Porsche drivers think they can park anywhere...

Just because.

And now its onto the buildings. 

Here is the Post Office, almost finished. I'm waiting on some acetate for the windows and door. It has a decent interior, I'll show it off when its final. 

Progress shots of the police and fire stations. I made the roof of the PD with watercolor paper. 

The back of the PD and FD. I attached a plasticville firehouse to the back of the police station to give it a little more depth. The garage doors will be used as the sally-port for the prisoners. 

 An overview of everything as it is so far. The area behind the PD/ FD will be an open fenced area with maybe a radio tower in it or parking. The other areas are still open for building suggestions. Obviously a gun store is a must. I was also thinking of a small market or convenience  store. I will show off the Hydracorp building at the top later. 

Thanks for looking, questions and comments always welcome!

Papa Spanky