Tabletop World Building of the Week: Water Well and the last of the Raging Heroes Lulus

The Water Well from Tabletop World continues the parade of high quality casting and super attention to detail.  Here it is painted up in all its dilapidated and mildewed glory.











The cast is extraordinarily thin in the gaps between the base stones so the piece would probably benefit from a permanent mounting base.  Its sturdy enough for my purposes but an extensive scenic base might be in its future.  I was particularly pleased with the well cover which was worked up with GW Technical paints and Secret Weapon washes... and my household secret ingredient... Rustungs Farbe!

 Some 'unboxing' photos.  This is how it looks straight out of the bag.  The close up shows how carefully cleaned these things are... look at the spoked wheel... are remember that I did zero clean up on these.

 Mimi the Radio is looking for cover... or maybe the bad guys!

 Cottage well and Town Square... oh and Mimi!

I spilled a pot of blue paint so the roof became blue... as did the roof of the Blacksmith shop...  making lemonade!

I was thinking about making the mercantile or public buildings blue in general, not all of them but most of them, anyway so...

Finally knocked out the last batch of the Lulus!

Here you get to see the whole swarming herd... or is it a murder?  Either way One-Shot Blondie and Mad Nurse Bernadette have their hands full!

I think I need to cobble together a field school house... and a teacher...hmmm...

Tabletop World Building of the Week: Townhouse III

 This week's Tabletop World Building of the Week is the massive Townhouse III.

This is a four story monster that is tall enough to be really useful cover in 'true line of sight' games.

The building is beautiful and took me a bit longer to do that usual... worth every moment!

 As usual no cleanup was required at all.  This is possibly the most amazing thing about this company!  Most companies that produce really great sculpts strive to ensure reduction of mould lines and flash in the casting process.  I've never seen one that spends the effort to have a post production cleanup.  Its really a value to me especially given how nasty a health risk it is to saw and sand resin models.
The building was shipped  pre-cleaned, pre-fitted, and largely pre-assembled.  No sawing, no filing, just glue in some things like upper chimney... also pre-fitted so no worries about it going into the notch etc...

This is how the building looked straight out of the box.  All floors assembled and taped together with loose bits inside.

The awning, upper chimney, and the scatter... in this case a bench and a wagon wheel are also cleaned of mould lined and flash and shipped inside the building.
 

 Here you can see Mortaria for scale and the scatter that came with the building.

This building had a reddish roof that is excessively distressed.

 Poor Mortaria doesn't fit on the stair or under the (removable) entrance awning on her 25mm round bevel base.  Fortunately the minis I'll tend to use with this town are on 20mm squares which should navigate the space handily.

 I've kept with the 'Warm Glow" windows and added some additional weathering effects to the walls and stones in the form of damp mildew etc...

I have a second one of these to paint up but it will not be next week.  I think I'll knock out the Water Well and then come back and do the second one of these the following week.  The village grows!

 There continue to be crazy details like the underside of the roof and the underside of each floor, cabinet, and bench.  The roof even has detailed interior windows... 


Ground floor shows Mortaria will have to duck a bit.

 The interiors of the three accessible floors.  The fourth floor is implied as an attic with windows.

Mortaria is easily accommodated inside all the levels when the model is assembled.

Raging Heroes Yoko the Psycho!

 Yoko the Psycho is another eye-catching pose from Raging Heroes.  I mean flamer wielding cheerleader... all kinds of fun for the Zombie Apocalypse!



Of course she'll be hanging out as the resident deranged fire-starter-in chief of the Jailbird faction... all three of her so far! 

Here she is in red and white with anime blue hair.

The model is pretty fiddly to assemble but not bad once you get the trick of it.

 A pink haired Yoko in blue and white.

Camo green Yoko!

I had some paint adhesion problems with these so I'll need to chance up my cleaning regimen or use a different primer.  I've got a can of Volks resin cleaning spray That I'll use on the next resin Jailbird...

I'm thinking that will be Tania the Tank Specialist. 

Wood process step by step

 This is a quick and easy process that allows me to paint raw wood very quickly to a good visual (if a bit cartoon like) quality.

I start with a black primer base.  I try for complete coverage but if its a little weak in the crevices I don'y worry about it too much.  You can see that the primer coat has some holes in the coverage...

 I've settled on some specific colors but they have easy equivalents in all brands.

First I do a heavy damp brush across the grain with Vallejo 'Flames of War' series German cam pale brown. 












Next I do a medium dry brush of of Vallejo Tan Earth. this is on one direction across the grain and is a little heavier than a top hoghlight dry-brush would be.

This two tone start gives good  depth to the piece.

 Next I do a liberal wash of Secret Weapon Dark Sepia.  This wash is along the grain and covers the whole piece. 

 The Secret Weapon washes are very heavily pigmented and tint the piece, even the black primer, which becomes tinted enough to be a real base shadow.  They are also good at covering any holes in the primer coat.

 When the wash has thoroughly dried I do a very light cross-grain dry-brush of Vallejo Sunny Skin Tone.

I repeat the Sunny Skin Tone very lightly along the edges and in other areas of the model that would be considered 'high traffic' or have a lot of sun exposure.


If there are any areas, especially in crevices, that are still showing primer holes or the wood is an outdoor item, like wood exposed beneath shingle or a post, I outline them with Secret Weapon Sewer Water which has a slight green cast to it.  This makes the area look water damaged and mildewed.  If you want it to look rotten just replace the Sewer Water with the Secret Weapon Baby Poop which more green than the Sewer Water.

Fast, easy, effective!

Tabletop World Building of the Week: Furniture Set

 Today's "Tabletop World Building of the Week" is actually not a building at all!  Its a furniture set.  There are enough pieces to fill out the furniture needs of several rooms.  In Game terms that could be up to four buildings.

Today I've got all of them crowded into the Coaching Inn but its really a bit more than the floor-plan can comfortably manage.  All the same they look great in there!

 As usual these were perfectly clean and required no prep work beyond a quick wash and a shot of primer. 

 These items, much like the Merchant shop goods, are replete with details... equipment, food, accents etc... Even the hidden surfaces are detailed.  Under sides of the benches and tables as well as the undersides of the shelves in the book case are all completely rendered.

 Here we see Mortaria for scale in the inn and separately with a few of the pieces.

These were a pleasure to paint.  The clean condition and great details make it easy to get inspired.

Now off to find a box with another Tabletop World building hiding in it... wonder which one it will be!








Oh, and batch three of the Lulus from Raging Heroes... or as I've found myself calling them the pack of brat snipers!  This makes 18 completed to date with 5 more on the table.  That will finish off the horde until the hand poured resins show up.

Raging Heroes Jailbirds - Mimi the Radio

I'm picking up the pace a bit in anticipation of a new round of  Raging Heroes arrivals!  No date yet but seems like I'd better clear the deck while I can!  So... post 2 this week!

Mimi the Radio for the Jailbirds faction. 

I like how the flesh turned out here and might have to use this combo more often.  The head is also wonderfully detailed with enormous hoop earrings, big sun glasses, and a headset.

The color density on these is improving as I get a handle on the Secret Weapon Washes.  I've moved most of the GW washes into glaze and light shadow duty while big shading and tinting is being done with Secret Weapon. 















I seem to have overlooked the face on the little Beanie Baby hanging from the back!  oops... amazing the things you miss until the photo is staring back at you.

 This model is posed in a way that makes it easier to use very busy bases.  the right leg can also be angled to give a couple of 'control' effects to the run over the terrain.





 The informal uniforms continue.  The plan is to incorporate several common elements in different ways to end up with a force that looks ragtag and haphazard... but also cohesive... at least to the extent that they all should look like they belong together... the anti uniform.

The Death Marshals for Malifaux 2e are starting with a base texture that will hopefully blend well with all the Tabletop World terrain that they will most likely be spending their game time inhabiting.

Speaking of Tabletop World... a sneak peek of the 'Building of the Week'  next week will be the furniture for use in the Coaching Inn that was this week's 'Tabletop World Building of the Week'.  Perfectly clean as usual!  Primed up and ready to paint.

All the Raging Heroes Mascots, a Tabletop World Coaching Inn and Batch 2 of Mad Nurses and Lulus... whew!

The random Tabletop World 'Building of the Week" for this week is the Coaching Inn.

This is a great model and, like all the TTW stuff I've seen to date, completely clean and pre-fitted.  I really love these guys!

 I'm going to have to build an actual light box... sigh... The bigger models just overflow my little white space!

In keeping with the rest of the village there is the signature 'warm glow' from the windows although I changed the interior windows to be a cool blue color... hopefully the village doesn't appear to be burning down when viewed from inside now!

An interesting design choice... there appears to be no access to the second floor room unless you are Zorro or a cat burglar!  For ease of use I don't miss the interior stair as they occupy a LOT of space and are essentially useless in terms of model placement... I approve!

 The Inn is a bit run down so I went with sun bleached red for the roof.  A Vallejo brown base, a wash of Secret Weapon Red Black, and a Highlight brush of Vallejo Sunny Flesh.

Whitewash walls began as GW Deneb Stone Foundation paint and worked up through the Reaper master Series Bone Triad.

 The railing is Vallejo Gun metal Gray with GW Ryza Rust and Typhus Corrosion.  While assembling the rail I was startled by a sudden noise and broke the thing into several pieces... as the place is a bit run down I left the repair in a haphazard condition.

 Here we have Bernadette for scale... I can see that the more extensive... and elevated basing is an issue!  For the Mordheim stuff I'll have to keep the bases to a lower profile.

The interior of the ground floor is well layed out and playable... thanks in part to the absence of what would have been a pesky stair to the upper level!

 Raging Heroes... all the Mascots!

 Harry the Hippo!  These are carting cans of.... Mountain Dew!?

I figure its that or Jolt... the nod to beer comes from the pink hippo... or Harry the Way One-Shot Blondie sees him...







Charlie!  I did two takes of the same basic idea... one was a work up of the Reaper Autumn Gold Triad and one was a straight wash of iron oxide over white... much faster of course but not terrible in the end.

 Jinx in all her Secret Weapon glory... A Blue-Black version and a Ruby version.  One over Black and One over white primer. 

 ... and lastly batch 2 of the Lulus and Mad Nurse Burnadette!

I had a small accident with the remaining Lulus and catapulted them across the room... I've mostly recovered them but ... one tiny arm turned up missing...  May have to sculpt another... ouch!