La Belle Alliance Build Part Three

Hello There! I have now started to emboss the foamcore with bricks. Part two of this build is here. My first mistake was rectified today. I fitted the window frames as far forward as I thought was required. Then I peeled off the paper on that side of the foamcore and realised that the frames were too far forward. I have since trimmed them back and and replaced the wood grain with the tip of the scalpel.

 I fitted the window frames as far forward as I thought was required. Then I peeled off the paper on that side of the foamcore and realised that the frames were too far forward. I have since trimmed them back and and replaced the wood grain with the tip of the scalpel.

For the door and window frames of the other side of the building I remembered what had happened with the other side and removed the paper around them before I fitted everything. I also cut the walls for the end extension and got some blank pieces to act as stiffeners for the buildings.  

I found an easier way to emboss the bricks on the end of the building. Usually I use a steel ruler to act as a guide but as the end was already glued to the end of the main building I found I had 'run out of hands' to hold the building, steel rulers and the brick embosser. 

Instead I used a pencil to mark a guide line so that I could see if I was deviating from a straight course of bricks.

After making the bars which go across the lower part of each window I had to cut the protruding bars which stuck out of the top and bottom of their frame. I had to wait for the plastic liquid glue had set and dried. This picture is purely descriptive and I used the scalpel again. I did hold the piece as I cut it!

Battle of Fraustadt 1706

Hello There! The New Buckenham Historical Wargamers recently put on the Battle of Fraustadt as a weekend game.

I do not know much about this period of military history so here is a few photos for your delight.

Further pictures can be seen on the New Buckenham Historical Wargames Facebook page here.

Defensive Revetments 10mm

Hello There! I have recently finished these revetments which are for 10mm figures. They have been placed on a base and tile adhesive, sand, paint, flock and tufts added. The figure, to give an idea of size, is Perrys 28mm Confederate infantryman.

I am pleased how these came out. They have also had a coat of varnish. I have included pictures of the front and back.

La Belle Alliance Build Part Two

Hello There! I have made some more progress on the build. The start of the build is here.  After starting to cut out the spaces for the doors and windows I found that the width of the gaps for the doorframes and window frames were too small for the front of the building.

Using the grid on the graph paper I was able to widen them both a standard size. I use a sharp scalpel to cut the openings.

During this I made one cut which while it was 'clean' it was not square so the subsequent door and frame would not have sat correctly. In the picture below the left hand cut on the door is misaligned. You can see the mixed Miliputt on the right to correct this.

Here I have put the miliputt in place and fitted the door frame. I waited for this to set and then glued both in place with gel superglue.

I used an engineers square to get both in the right position.

Concerning the timber for the doors and windows, I used a suede brush and then a wire brush to impress a wood grain into the plastistrut. To make this deeper and more pronounced I then ran the tip of a pointed scalpel along as well. This also gave you less chance of running of the side off the plastistrut as the existing small grooves from the wire brushes provided a guide. 

The grooves along the outside edge of the door frame were made using a pointed scalpel again with the plastistrut placed flat on a cutting board and then run along the edge.

The windows are in two parts. The top part is leaded and the lower part is guarded with iron bars which are held in place by horizontal beams against the transom of the frame. I cut the upper and lower parts of the horizontal beams that the bars will fit into. I cut them the same length and held them together while I drilled holes through them so the vertical bars would be vertical. (I had to do this twice so they were parallel!).

With the window bars fitted I started on the doors. These were also made from plasticard and a wood grain finish was added as before. the uprights were added to two parallel beaks, as seen above.

I then peeled off the surface card on the foam.

With all the doors and windows fitted I began to emboss the bricks onto the surface. This was done with the shaped ferrule of an old paint brush . A six inch steel rule was used to maintain a straight line for the bricks.

In the next part I hope to start the priming and painting.

Purchases from Vapnartak 2026

Hello there! I made a few purchases from the show. Most of them were to help me out with projects I have on going at the moment.

The Beach Sand is for the desert terrain I am currently working on with the option to use for the beach tiles which will be used for the Aegean scenery which will go with the Aegean Harbour

In the absence of the normal AK weathering powders fixative I chose something that does the same job. This is for the mortar work on the La Belle Alliance building. 

The Normandy scenery I am making has some static grass along with the fine flock. The static grass I am using at the moment is from another supplier but I will need much more to cover the remaining scenic tiles. 

This is a 20mm ancient ruined temple. This was from Coritani and was only a passing buy as it fitted very well with the Aegean and desert terrain.

Lastly a mix of nationalities for Normandy and the desert. In 20mm these are from Ready to Roll, of Rapid Fire fame, and are in resin. On closer inspection I saw that these are very crisp and clean castings.

Vapnartak 2026

Hello There! I spent a few hours at the above show. Instead of religiously photographing everything I took my time to enjoy the show and talk to a few gamers. 

This first game was one of two AWI games that were on display. The Brompton Bankers were very forthcoming and tried to get my partner involved. They were very approachable and light hearted.

They were using the Osprey AWI rules Rebels and Patriots.

The game was based on a flat battle mat with drop on terrain. While it was a participation game it was a pleasant breath of fresh air to have such an approachable group at a show.

There were some nice painted figures on the table.

Part of the game included a bridge and river in the scenario.

Next was the Yarkshire Gamers display of the Battle of Germanstown. Both the AWI games used 28mm figures. Of particular note was that half of the figures were from a gamer who had passed away and this was a memorial game to him. 

Again the figures were well painted.

Here was one corner of the game where some marshes were represented.

Judge Chew's House was well represented here. 

There were also a number of small vignettes as well.

Next up was a pulp alley game. This was of particular interest as the club I attend have a project to put on a Roman colosseum game in the near future. They have an arena already.

This also had some spectators and some sun shades as well.

The game from the east Leeds Militaria Society was in a very small scale, but looked very good indeed. It was an amphibious game with what appeared to be 1/1200th ships. It represented the Battle of Hakudate in 1869.

The buildings were well detailed,

As were the ships and harbour.

The fortress of Goryōkaku, headquarters of the rebel army.

This game got my attention as I recently played a 'Cold War Gone Hot' at the club recently

I like the ASDA complete with a tiny car park, like most ASDAs!

Overall a very enjoyable show with plenty of gamers who were very approachable and happy to talk to you.

I have seen a few blog posts since saying that the show left them underwhelmed. I felt that the foot fall was the same as usual, although you will have to speak to the show organisers for a more accurate account.

The show face book page had a few trader call offs and some of these were at the last minute, but the show organisers did fill some of these positions.

There were some spaces but this made the show a little less crowded and easier to get around.