The Town of Calamity, The D&RGW RR Warehouse Row and Historical Miniature Gaming
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Wednesday, December 6, 2023
Tuesday, December 5, 2023
Jigsaw Puzzle - Mistakes!
I have been working on my jigsaw puzzle cutting skills. There is an idea in the back of my mind that this could be my retirement "job". We will see if that comes about, retirement is starting to creep up on the horizon though.
From Oct - Nov 2022 I cut 9 puzzles. I consider two of those to be prototypes and I put out for people to put together. Seven of those were family gifts. This year we have expanded things a bit. I'm cutting 14 puzzles this year, including two that are 11x14 rather than the 8x10s I have been doing. One of those I made a mistake on and I don't feel right giving it out as a gift so it will become another display puzzle,
I start with a picture and a piece of 5 ply baltic birch plywood I then use a dry mount press to mount them together. We purchased a smaller used press last year and it works okay. This year I used it on the first two puzzles and I just wasn't getting a good bond. Out of frustration I went looking for another used one that was in better shape and I found one on eBay that was local and we could pick it up. These presses are heavy and I really didn't want to try and have it shipped. This one is a bit bigger and worked like a charm. However, there was a bit of learning curve with it. I used the same settings and timing I used on the original press and that didn't really end well.
This is what happens when you apply to much heat for to long a period of time:
I think this particular image is cursed. This is the same image that I messed up a cut bad enough to tear it and thus making it only good for a display puzzle to put together on the table.
Monday, December 4, 2023
Jigsaw Puzzles for 2023
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Here is the first batch of 8x10s |
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The next batch, including three bigger puzzles. 1 is 11x14, the bright orange one is 10x14 and then a panoramic photo that is 8x20. |
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This one was going to be for my wife, but she decided she would rather have the Spanish Windmill shot instead. I'll end with with three of the Spanish Windmills in 8x10 and one 11x14. |
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Monday, November 27, 2023
Painting the Modelu O Scale Transitional Era Crew Bundle - Part 7 Finishing up
Time to wrap this up. These are relatively simple figures from a painting perspective. After the overalls, jackets and caps its just down to gloves, boots and touching up the skin a bit.
Friday, November 24, 2023
Painting the Modelu O Scale Transitional Era Crew Bundle - Part 6 The Blues - Jackets
Thursday, November 23, 2023
Painting the Modelu O Scale Transitional Era Crew Bundle - Part 5 The Blues - Jackets
Even more blue. How can you go wrong with blue?
Wednesday, November 22, 2023
Monday, November 20, 2023
Painting the Modelu O Scale Transitional Era Crew Bundle - Part 4 The Blues - Overalls
This post is pretty much a repeat of the HO scale Modelu crew. O scale is so much bigger that these are much easier to paint! Rather than post each successive layer I figured it would be better to just show the finished product.
Even in this larger scale I'm finding the details on these miniatures to be a bit to fine. While I'm not a huge fan of exaggeration there is a point when exaggeration is absolutely necessary. While the folds in the clothing is excellent, any other "softer", "smaller" details are lost at this scale. In particularly all the definition in the face has been lost, although its better defined than the HO versions. A sculptor would be able to exaggerate facial features to give the face depth and character. Difficult at this scale but I have seen sculptors do some amazing things at this scale (I have also seen some abysmal failures).
Thursday, November 16, 2023
Painting the Modelu O Scale Transitional Era Crew Bundle - Part 3 The Blues
I came to a crossroads with the HO Scale crew so I didn't have to think to much about what colors I wanted to start with. I went with the Reaper Heather Blue (9231) for the base color on the shirt and Reaper Ezren Blue (89528) again.
I thinned them just a little bit and went to work. Pretty pleased with the result, the Ezren Blue dried a little darker than it was looking. Looks like a reasonable shade for newer denim. The Heather Blue isn't a bad start for a blue shirt color. I want to try a wash at this point, put haven't quite decided what color to use yet. I think the colors actually look a little better on these larger figures.