Scratch built shanties

Following on from my previous post, I was asked to take some photos of my shanties, which reminded me that I had been asked a while ago to write an article about how I made them.

I think the time has come for me to make some more, so I will describe the process in that article and just leave some photos here for now.

Suffice to say that the main components are; corrugated plastic sheet, balsa, matchsticks, small stones and kitchen roll.

Slum Wall Set 1

Newly released, and newly received; a set of slum walls from White Dragon Miniatures.

Sculpted by master craftsman Giacomo Pantalone aka The Lazy Forger, these 5 pieces are approximately 20mm high, with one section slightly lower at 10mm. Placed end to end they measure 355mm, or 14".

There are three straight sections and two L sections so there should be plenty of scope to arrange them in interesting ways. (Especially if you bought three packs like me.)

The walls feature a lot of corrugated metal sheets, as you'd expect, often supported by concrete  barriers, with added details such as tyre, barrels, ammo boxes and sections of cables nicely draped across the walls. The walls are battle damaged, showing off the attention to detail I've come to expect from Giacomo.

An essential additon to any urban terrain, particularly if you like shanties, and who doesn't like shanties? I really need to make some more.

The concrete barricades are also available from White Dragon Miniatures, on their own or as a hastily built defensive line with similar scrap items adding to the cover . I really like the direction their urban terrain is headed. There will be some nice gritty scenarios playing out on my table very soon...

http://www.whitedragonminiatures.co.uk/category-s/119.htm

SX18 Aurora stealth VTOL

In an effort to paint more vehicles, I decided to kick things off with this delightful little piece by ClearHorizon Miniatures.

Only a couple of inches long, it comes as a kit of a surprising 8 pieces. It's a bit fiddly to make, but well worth the effort. It comes with optional landing gear (increasing the parts to 11), which I opted to use because I don't see myself using this in anger, it'll be an objective or piece of scenery.

If you're thinking of using it as airpower, the only weapons are internal as evidenced by the holes in the fuselage just behind the cockpit.

So as a stealth VTOL, it felt natural to make it dark. I used purple and black as I was inspired by photos of  rather gothic wedding in Bakersfield, CA recently. (Congrats again Fred and Kris!)

http://clearhorizonminiatures.com/shop/shop/15mm/vehdroneanddrop/sx-18-aurora-stealth-infiltrationinterceptor-vtol/