Goodbye

 I've checked to see if there are others who are having problems with the 'NEW BLOGGER' and it seems that there are a few (million)

I've used it for my own record for years and am sorry to say that this is my last post, I simply cannot spend yonks trying to work with this thing.

Balrog 1

Well, it's a start.   

However, now they've changed everything about Blogger's interface.

How do you arrange the images now?

The blob of Greenstuff in the first pic is the start for a set of flames that has gone missing in the comings and goings in my modelling room.

Rangers (late comers)

Sorry about that.

I don't know if it's Lockdown, too much to do on the allotments or the extra company in the household but I find a lack of enthusiasm for painting lately.

Anyway, here are the 'pre-Balrog' rangers finally finished.

(Of course, it could simply be a fear of the Balrog that's slowing me down)

The usual front and back views.

Some of the colours may be a bit off compared with earlier ones as I've run out of the old paints and cannot buy new ones from the shop.
(lockdown again!)

Note that I did manage to use Balor brown their 'bibs' on some of them this time.

The problem in the past may have been paint consistency.

More Hobbits

The Christmas batch of Hobbits took their time due to a period of warm sunny weather when they were all busy in their gardens.

In fact, the Shirriffs were the last to turn up, due to the requirement that they wear white feathers in their hats.

You try persuading a goose weighing in at one and a half stone  to part with a tail feather when you are only four feet tall!

The new set of archers are in the front and their counterparts are behind them.

I found a fine brush that helped with the detail.

The back view as per the Shirriffs above.

The bases were painted with a ringer which was supposed to compare with Mournfang but clearly doesn't.

Maybe a vigorous shake would do it.

Skaven Warp Lighning Cannon 3

At last I've got around to finishing the Warp Lighning Cannon.

Above is the base, shown here because it's mostly hidden beneath the machine itself.

The ratlings are surplus from the previous model.

Perhaps, with the tufts behiond two of them, they look more like hedgehogs.

Unfortunately, the base is not at all the right colour and looking worse here because of my lighting set up - a window on a gloomy day.

I've tried a few shots to show different aspects of it.

Goodness knows who steers the thing or do those two guys get out and push like my Father-in-Law's old car?

Neither do I know what the second rat man does with the huge pair of pliars he carries.

Good fun to paint and build.

Designed well and excellently detailed.

Top marks GW.

Skaven Warp Lighning Cannon 2

Another couple of points that are probably obvious to most but not to me -

There is no need to paint the ends of the axles, as I've stupidly done, as they do not pass through the wheels.

The same does not apply to the small higher axles though don't paint the shaft, only the tip.

Painting the shaft makes fitting them tricky or impossible so you have to scrape it off again, I found!

This is all assuming that you paint the parts separately, which makes sense.

Watch that you get the main frames the correct way round so that the small platforms fit into their correct slots

Here you can see the small supports on the inside of the furthermost beam.

There are no such supports on the other side.

I cannot yet see any assembly reason for the excellent detail on the underside of the two platforms.

Perhaps there is none.

The sun is out, it's the best of spring and I should have a garden fork in my hand.

However, I'm hoping more seed spuds will arrive and I'm the only one here to accept them (apart from a comatose teenager, after all, it's only 11.30 am)

Warp Lightning Cannon

 Despite the allotment calling during this warm and sunny weather lately, I have managed to squueeze in a little work on this Skaven job.

As you can see, it's a clutter of well crafted parts, a really classy model with plenty of detail.

All the more reason to avoid resin.

There are plenty of things to watch with this boy.

Plenty of traps if you don't check out fiting before reaching for the glue.

The assembly guide shows that the spikes on the base struts (axles) point to the rear.

If you end up with a logical assembly, with the spikes on both pointing outwards, defending the machine, the front ones will get in the way of the metal blades, as shown.

(Don't panic! Not yet glued)

Skaven Doomwheel and Wharf

Here's the completed Doomwheel.

Sorry about the design of the banner which was lifted from a 1959 copy of Woman's Weekly on the pages titled, 'Knit yourself a Cardew the Cad Scarf from colourful remnants'.

I was not up to painting Skaven runes.

The 'soil' I've used is 'beach one' sand painted in Mournfang which is the closest I could get to the earlier Skaven.

Too dark but the best I could do.

They provide plenty of giant rats so I've retained a few for Blake's Warp Lightning Cannon which is up next.

Henry gave another lick of varnish to his riverside wharf and it's come up much better.

Another view of the Doomwheel.

Skaven Doomwheel

 This Skaven Doomwhell is the one for Gracie and made a nice change from the large ruins we've been making.

Here it is with a few bits yet to be attached and a number of rats who tag along for fun.




A closer look at how intricate it is.

Painting parts before assmbley is a smart move.

Also make certain the cogs are in the corrct place so that the large ones line up with the groove for the 'bridge' showing the rune.

Osgiliath Docks

This is what Henry has been up to, all his own work.

It's nearly done, just a coat of varnish and paint on the edges.

Can you guess what it is yet? (who used to say that?)

It's the dockside edge to Osgiliath and, I think, will look the part when finished and backed by ruins.

(The Anduin is fairly wide at this point, and deep too, so coastal seacraft would offload their imports directly to the city)