Home State Bank

I came across this building (and several others) whilst looking for suitable buildings for what was an on-going gangster project of mine. This and the others have of course now been ear-marked for use in my Zombie Campaign Project.

It is  a free downloadable card model  from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.
http://www.illinoishistory.gov/ps/construct_mainstreet.htm

There are quite a few suitable models for download, other than what they call the "Main Street Buildings" of which this bank (one of two banks) is one.

It's at times like this when my inept photography skills come in handy hiding many of the mistakes I made constructing this.
This photograph shows the left hand side of the building, at slightly less than half the length it should have been and about 3 cm short of the height it should have been

The stepped parapet of the roof should have had another 3 "steps" on it.  I went for a shorter building even though I had the printed sheets for the total length, which would have been a massive 13" instead of the 7.5" (about 19cm) it currently is. Measuring and cutting the right hand side from the front and the left hand side from the back (Doh!) meant I also had to lose an inch or so from the height. Which in turn meant the walls didn't match up with the false front of the bank. The front of the Bank is just over 6" tall (15.5cm), whilst the back of the bank tapers down to a mere 5" (12.5cm)  , which is still pretty imposing for what is purportedly a single story building.

The back of the bank has what appears to be a giant door, but it's an illusion caused by the skylight above the door; it could well have been a little smaller, but not much. The feature that interested me was the height of the windows, implying that the interior had a raised floor.
I had decided from the outset that this building would have no detailed interior although I had thought of making provision for one if at some future date I decided to build one (I won't), but I did  concede to making a lift-off roof.

You can tell from the photograph the many problems I had getting the roof, the parapet etc. looking anything like remotely acceptable.
The roof itself is meant to be sloped, from front to back,  however because of the fore-shortened  sides the back was now too low and of course the reduction in height of the side walls also meant that there would be  a gaping white mass behind the false front.
All of these problems were compounded by me wanting a flat roof, rather than the sloped one - another schoolboy error as the sides now would also have great swathes of white card showing !
So, the roof and parapet sides were patched with brick sections from  the cut-off side walls.
It was all a sort of learning experience though, not to rush into things without thinking them through thoroughly as I'd normally do.

A few other random bits of information.
The footprint of the building is 6.25" x 7.5" (about 16 cm x 19cm), the models are approximately H0/00 scale and I had to scale the downloads. I scaled them to 150% of the original size, which may have been a bit too much.
There is no photograph of the right-hand side of the building as its pretty much a blank brick wall. The left hand side could just have easily been brick too as its real-life counterpart sits between two other buildings as can be seen from the photograph at the top of the page.
The figures in the photos are all MegaMinis and are from their Modern Civilian range entitled "The Bureau"; they're not the best, even by MegaMini standards, but they'll still get used. All the standing figures are well over 30mm tall when measured from the bottom of their bases to the top of their heads.


Comments, as always,  are welcomed and appreciated.

It is of course always nice to see new followers and if you haven't already been welcomed, then "Welcome",  I hope you find something to interest you.

Slottas & Stuff

It's been a while since I last had a rant and rather than show my latest MegaMini civilians I've decided to have a general comment about some of my news and views.

Hot off the press comes the news that I've won a competition, nothing major but rather a friendly competition run by Irqan over on his blog-site Plastic Zombie. (http://lrqan.blogspot.co.uk/). Briefly, the competition was to guess which of four people on a photograph was the man himself and the tie-breaker  was a film quote.  If you want to know the quote that i won it with, then head on over to his site, you'll be more than welcome I'm sure. (Also look for his exciting zombie bat-reps - they're set in a prohibition style 1920's and are very entertaining!)

I've ordered and received another e-book: "The Infection" by Craig DiLouie (on the strength of his book "Tooth and Nail" - Highly recommended) from Amazon, I don't think I'll be disappointed.  Whilst in the process of ordering, it was brought to my attention that the third book in Mira Grant's "Newsflesh Trilogy" was due for release (7th June)

The third book in the trilogy is entitled "Blackout" and it's been on my want list ever since I read the first two in the series last year.  What makes Mira Grant's zombie infected world is its believability and even though it is set some twenty years after the apocalypse the zombie threat is still a reality.

I doubt very much if I'll be disappointed  with this third book of the Trilogy and I can't recommend the first book "Feed" highly enough.  If you don't read any other zombie novels, then read "Feed" (and "Tooth and Nail".

A comment was made on  a fellow bloggers blog about the size of a figure compared to a vehicle.

The vehicle in question was the Mystery machine I showed a while ago and the figure was a "Copplestone".

I've used two identical Foundry figures in attempt to show the crux of the matter.
Left hand picture, the figure has a washer base, whilst the right hand figure has a slotta base.
I think the photos illustrate perfectly one of the reasons why I hate slotta bases.
To illustrate the point further, how many gamers mount their vehicles on bases ? The photo on the left shows a more accurate representation of the comparative heights of the vehicle and figure, with the vehicle raised on slottas, whilst the photo on the right shows the two figures, with and without a slotta base, side by side.
I know which figure I prefer, but each to their own. As to scale - 28mm is not a scale ! - It really does annoy me that it is reffered to as a scale.  I ask you, who measures their height from their feet to their eyes ?  I take it that 28mm figures are roughly 1/60th scale, i.e. approximately 5mm to 1 foot (Only the Brits can mix and match Imperial and Metric measurements without blushing). If the average height of a man these days is say 6 foot (180cm) then the figure Mac Taylor from Foundry's "Juno's Crew" is over 7 foot tall! (probably along with many of the other "larger than life figures). I don't mind the differences in height that much, although a "28mm" figure  that is 36mm tall is pushing the boundaries a bit.
I understand the many uses slottas can have; that nice rim on the bottom can be used to paint on names, or be colour coded (for instant recognition of rank or whatever) and I use it for squad numbers on my "Blood Bowl" teams and squad identification on my "Space Hulk" terminators. The difference however is that the actual base is black as befits a piece/token for a board game.  I made no attempt to represent grass, rubble or space-ship detritus as there seems to be no point when you have that black rim glaring at you.
My preferred basing materials are shown above left, pennies and washers.  The pennies are slightly thicker than the washers(nearly double) but are cheaper.  The washers I got for £2 a hundred, making them double the cost, but  that hole in the middle allows you to mount figures designed for slotta bases, with a bit of judicious filing. Word of warning: If you're thinking of buying washers, avoid buying them from the chain-store DIY shops a pack of 10 M10 washers (like those above) can cost well over £3 ! Search out local hardware stores that sell them by weight instead.
 Rant Over.

 This week's has been a bit of a ramble and I haven't managed to even show my latest MegaMini civilians and "Bureau" that I've finished (for bureau, read Men in Black), so that will at least give me material for my next blog.
I purposely didn't say next week's blog as I'm attending a family affair over the entire next week-end - it's not just HRH that is celebrating a Diamond anniversary - so my blog may be at best delayed and at worst postponed.

Once more, thanks for taking a look; all comments, rants etc. are of course welcome and if I haven't already welcomed you to my blog then "Welcome and I hope you find something here you like".

Growing Population

A small contribution this week to the growing population of my city.

The central figure is from " Raven Painting" run by Carl Robson and were bought off e-bay and represents Captain Jack Spaulding from the films "the House of 1000 corpses" and "The Devils Rejects".  I painted him up on a whim. I still have the rest of the gang to paintm including a non-clown version of Captain Jack.

The other two figures are "MegaMinis", from one of their specific civilian packs.

Another two MegaMini civilians.

MegaMinis are not everyone's "cup of tea", but I like them, if only for their variety and as can be seen from the photograph. - Not everyone appears as a Hollywood starlet.

From my point of view, another factor in their favour is their price, at about $12 for 8 figures or around £1 a figure, I'll accept all their shortcomings (well nearly all).

The next two photographs show five out of the eight  figures from MegaMinis' set labelled  "Thugs".

The figure on the left is armed with a single barrelled shotgun, the one in the middle has a length of chain and the right-hand figure has a pool cue.

The left-most chap's head is slightly larger than it should be and does give a cartoony style to the sculpt.  There are several other too in MegaMinis range of Modern Civilians that also suffer this afflicition, but as I couldn't do better, I'm not one to complain. I guess given time and energy, it would be an easy enough task to graft on new heads.

Fairly obvious what the left hand figure is wielding, but the right hand chap has a knuckleduster in his left hand. 

I put it down to the ineptitude of the photographer that this isn't distinguishable.

All the Megaminis Packs have eight figures in them and the "Thugs" pack is no different, I just haven't got round to finishing the other three. I have however finished another dozen or so of their civilians and these will be shown next week

A quick final plug for "Broadside 2012" and if you want to know why I'm doing this, then you'll have to
last week's blog.

Finally, thank you for looking and all comments are appreciated and if I haven't already welcomed you to my site, then "Welcome !" -  I hope you'll find something you like.

Tooth and Nail

Two of my fellow bloggers, Fran and Ray are participating in Broadside  2012 along with their fellow Rejects (the name of their group), but the organisers of said show have hit a snag.

It seems that certain magazines have let them down and failed to put the advertisements for the show into print in time for the show. When I attended a wargames group in Durham many years ago we had similar problems, so I know how frustrating it is.

The cry went out for help in advertising the show and although I doubt gettting the message out to my thirty or so followers (and any others that peruse m,y page) will have any effect, at least I can say I tried.

If you have been watching my blog page closely you will have gathered that I don't change my "Currently Reading" sidebar that often and there's a good reason why that is.

Zombie novels rarely "grip" me and generally speaking I'm not that into reading novels (of any genre); however there have been occassions when I've been truly surprised and engrossed by a book.

I think the last zombie novel that had a similar effect on me was probably "Feed" by Mira Grant, a book that I couldn't put down and didn't want to end.

"Tooth and Nail"  by Craig DiLouie had a similar effect on me, I read a couple of the initial chapters (setting the scene, introducing the main characters etc.) and my initial thoughts were that "This is promising".

Once I got through the fairly brief initial part of the book the pace of the story seemed to quicken and with each new element introduced the need to find out what happens next increased.

Now normally I'll read a chapter or two of a novel, leave it for a while and come back to it, but with this book I really couldn't.  I'd read the inital couple of chapters or so in two days and the rest of the book in a day, I'd found it that engrossing.

The story of how the apocalypse itself came about is not particularly original, but the background detail is believable, as are the characters.  All the action takes place in New York, on Manhattan island and the author's style of writing creates the huge metropolis and the inherent problems it creates during the crisis.

"Tooth and Nail" doesn't suffer from the pitfalls that many other zombie novels do, that of poor editing, proof reading and such (which at best can detract from a read and at worst really destroy it).

As such this book rates highly on my list as one of the best novels I've read and I don't hesitate to recommend it - Its definitely a 5/5 !

In other news, I haven't been slack on the painting front either with another dozen figures finished and a similar number almost completed, but they will have to wait until next week  !


Thanks, once more for looking; all comments are of course welcome and appreciated.

Finally to any new followers that I haven't already welcomed  - "Welcome !"

Survivors

Before I start on the subject matter of this week's blog let me just say a big thank you to all those that have decided to follow my blog and especially to those that comment upon the content, it truly is appreciated. When I started blogging some four months ago I didn't think I'd get more than a dozen followers, but it is very gratifying to have so many in so short a time.
I do try and update my links and other pages as often as I can remember to do so and to this end I'll direct you to the Film/DVD page (click the tab at the top of the page) as I've added a few more comments on what I've viewed lately.
My reading matter lately has been concentrated on the All Things Zombie rules and trying to keep up with all the blogs I try and follow (you'll have to look at my profile for a full list), but for a change of pace I've started to read the novel "Tooth and Nail" by Craig DiLouie. Although I'm not that far into it yet, it's got off to a very promising start and an interesting easy read. 

Well, I'm pleased to say that I've managed to finish off my first survivors, they're a mix of  "Offensive Miniatures", ""Cold Wars" and "Hasselfree".

These three on the right are from "Offensive Minis" Near Future range and are three of their terrorists.

I think that these are really well proportioned figures and are quite animated.

Whilst they may have started out life labelled as terrorists they are destined to become survivors in my zombie apocalypse and I think they fit the bill admirably.

The three girls are also from the same set as above and are as equally well sculpted and animated.

They are also as lightly armed as the men.
The men have two pump-action shotguns, a pistol and a radio !), whilst the girls have a pump-action shotgun, paired pistols and what appears to be an UZI and holdall, with not a hand-bag in sight !

Two of these figures, I believe, are bonus figures (I don't know which two), if you buy the entire hostage set

The final three figure this week are from "Hasselfree" (Gramps, on the left) and "Cold Wars".

There is a good reason why the woman appears so tall, it's because she is and she doesn't just tower over these guys either, but she does fit in overall.

My attempts at a check shirt and plaid jacket aren't that good, I know, but they look OK at arms length (if you squint, and have low lighting) and pass my "can you tell what they are at 2 foot" test.

Needless to say if my photography is getting any better, it's not noticeable.


Thanks for looking, all comments are of course welcomed and appreciated and If I haven't already welcomed you,  then - "Welcome"

Bits & Pieces

As reported by Brian (Vampifan) in his monthly musings last month, we did indeed meet up in Newcastle City Centre to spend a very pleasant lunch and tea, interspersed with some shopping.

Much to my delight and embarrassment he gave me  a present of  a "mystery machine", a model from Armor Cast in the USA : 
http://armorcast.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=1510

 Its probably not to be confused to be confused with the "Mystery Machine" of a certain children's cartoon series as it's labelled "Clue Contraption Hippie Van".

 The photographs really do not do it justice; it really is a superb model.

What is more remarkable about this gift and what left me truly gobsmacked, was that Bryan had also painted it for me. 

Other than the two side panel signs which I believe were done by magic (or possibly photoshop) the rest is a Vampifan special paintjob!

Now all that remains to be done is to collect the "crew" for it and whad'ya know there is an all-ready- made gang available from "Hasselfree" :
http://www.hfminis.co.uk/shop?product=gang-and-dog~hfn016&category=miniatures~non%252dcoms-%26-civilians
Obviously this is not the gang from the cartoon series (for one thing, their names are different), but they'll obviously do the job.  Hasselfree are also in the process of duplicating the "Not the gang" figures as armed survivors of some horrific apocalypse or other.

 Just to show that I haven't been idle with my own painting, here is another attempt at the Lead Mountain. These are all "MegaMinis", mostly civilians, but there are some zombies amongst them - those civilians that have a "zombie double".
Probably most easily spotted are the two figures in red to the top left of the screen (even though the zombie one is slightly cut off. There are also a civilian delivery-type guy and his zombie duplicate to the front left of the mass - (they appear very yellow).


 Also on my work-in-progress (sub-division painting section) are this little group of figures.

Amongst these figures are Hasselfree, Black Cat Bases, MegaMinis, Offensive Miniatures, Cold War and a plastic Zombie from you know who.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will also spot the five figures that make up the "Devils Rejects".


Again apologies for my lack of any but the basic photography skills; I was trying to show the compatability of "Offensive Miniatures" with other Manufacturers, but that can wait for another day.

 That's it for this week, once I get this little lot finished off it'll be back to building offices, shops and homes for the zombie horde to destroy.


Thanks for taking a look, all comments are of course welcome and if I haven't already welcomed you to my blog-site  then "Welcome", stay a while and don't be shy, for as we say here in God's Country "Shy bairns get nowt !"

SWAT

Finished at last, with only one disaster involving varnish; the photographs are of course up to my usual low standard !

All these figures are all from "Offensive Miniatures": http://www.offensiveminiatures.com/
from their "Near Future" range.  I can't really comment on the customer service as I bought them off e-bay (at half price).

The first Photo shows what I assume to be the Command Team (as they're not wearing helmets), but they are missing one other who appears in a later photo.

Sniper, plus observer (female !)

There are two packs available, both with eight SWAT guys , but should you buy "the deal" of both SWAT teams and the Terrorists (consisiting of 5 terrorists and 3 hostages) then you get an extra  two SWAT figures thrown in. 

The chap I bought them from on e-bay had obviously done this, as I had the extra two figures when they arrived (plus an extra two terrorists!)

I would say that all but one of the terrorists in "the deal" are ideally suited as suvivors for a zombie campaign.

This  photograph shows another three members of the team, the middle guy holds the thing for bashing in doors (I haven't a clue what it's really called) and it's possible that the left most figure is one of the "freebies", but don't quote me on it.

From "Offensive Minis" web site the figures appear to be very diminuative, but this is an illusion caused, I suspect, from their fine sculpted proportions.  They really do fit in well with other miniiatures, from various manufacturers; on the web site gallery there is a comparison of figure sizes too. 

Three squaddies, only slightly out of focus !

All the figures in this set are armed identically, (for the most part) with a side-arm and what looks to me like an MP5, but I'm willing to stand corrected!

Some of the officer/negotiator types have only the sidearm, whilt the sniper has a sniper's rifle (surprisingly enough), though I couldn't possible  tell you what it would be, but I can tell that it's a sniper rifle because it has a telescopic sight !(The sum of my modern sniping knowledge has now been passed on).

Final squaddies, no idea what the third from left is holding.

As can been seen from the photgraphs, headgear is fairly varied; though the standard Kevlar helmet is much in evidence, there are also gas-masks and caps present, and the female observer is without headgear, as are one or two others.

There is a large amount of detail on the figures, which is great if you enjoy that sort of thing (I don't), but I refuse to even try to put the lettering of "POLICE" on the panel allowed for on the figures (approximately 4.5mm x 1.5mm), even "SWAT", attractive as it may seem with two less letters is well beyond my capabilities.  Should I ever get around to it, I may well copy "Lucky Joes" excellent SWAT teams and his use of transfer lettering, after all we can't all be Vampifan with his superhuman eyesight !

This photo shows the building I've used as a backdrop .

I've had this building for maybe 20 years now and I haven't a clue about where it came from, who  made it or anything else about it!

The building is made from very thin card and was probably assembled by me, (though I can't remember doing that either) and to the best of my memory I've  never used it on a wargames table

   Finally a group shot of the whole ensemble.
I was initially undecided as to what colour scheme to go with; blue would clash with (though possibly also compliment) the police, ditto green and the army.  So I settled on this bluey, green grey, which coincidentally is the colour scheme used by the SWAT types on the TV program "Flashpoint"

"Offensive Minis" also do a great bunch of rioters and riot police too, available as two seperate deals or one big deal, with the added incentive of a free news crew (something I haven't got - yet), I'll have to wait a while to get those though as I'm not buying any more figures until my current lead mountain becomes a hillock !

That's all for now, comments, as always, are welcomed and appreciated.

If you're new to my blog and I haven't already welcomed you, then "Welcome".