Showing posts with label Models. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Models. Show all posts

Monday, August 12, 2019

August 2019 - Miniature Monday

One of my favorite games was Tractics. My dad and I would get some friends together and play on a sandtable in 1:72 scale. It was good fun. Tonight, I came across some of our models.

I believe these are all Airfix and ROCO models from when my dad was a teenager. They are painted in simple tan, a few of which have decals applied. I suspect it is merely spray paint. My dad has come a long ways in his modeling skills.

My favorite models, although nearly useless in Tractics, are the Jeeps and such.

My dad has a flair for modeling. Our sandtable was 4 feet by 12 feet. It was impressive until you consider his gaming table was 36 feet long by 16 feet. When I say his gaming table was 36x16, this was his everyday use table. He has been known to go bigger for one off events. (I am working on getting picture of that right now.)

Anyway, there used to be a time when I could name every model and every statistic from the game. No longer. I have these things in my hands, and I do seem to remember that they are light tanks from the North African campaign, but have no idea what they really are. The smaller ones are Sherman obviously, but I am only certain because the label on the bottle. The larger tanks are labeled DBGM Made in Austria, which makes them ROCOs.

I have several dozen more, perhaps 70 or 80 in all. Some German, American, British and Italian.

I suppose you're waiting for the sales pitch and there is one coming, but not yet.

These models have been sitting on my shelf for decades and today I decided to pull them out so I can have my children play a game of Tractics with me. As I said, I don't remember much from it, except that it was quality time with my dad.

In dusting these off today, I expected to find my set of rules. I still remember all of the charts, the tables and the 3 rule books that came in the box.

Unfortunately, in picking up that box of rules, I realized that I lost my set of Tractics. For all these years, the boxed set that I thought was Tractics is an incredibly dusty set of Striker Rules.

The gamer in me is not disappointed, but the dad in me is.


Now my quest is different. I need to find a set of Tractics, or a close approximation thereof.

Anyone have any suggestions? The models are ready, I have a table and dice. I just need to purchase a set of rules.


I promised a sales pitch, so here it is. My dad has come up with some epic games, usually of his own creation. Of late, he has been into WWI. These aren't simply a set of fun rules, Tanks and Yanks also includes a whole section on building dioramas and set pieces for wargames. While meant for WWI, I could totally see this as being adaptable to any time period.

Here is my "unreview" from a few months ago.

Title: Tanks & Yanks
Author: Philip J. Viverito Publisher: LMW
Rule Set: Tabletop Wargame Rules (Unique)
Year: 2018
Pages: 104
Number of players: 2+
Price: $15.00
Rating: Not yet rated

Tanks & Yanks is the latest offering from LMW. The game covers World War I tank combat. While the title hints that the rules are based on American WWI armor, it includes infantry, armored cars, aircraft and artillery from Germany, the US, France, Britain and Italy.

I was excited to find that the rule set includes dozens of color images and tips for either acquiring models or scratch building models. Personally, I was looking for an excuse to scratch build some tanks.

The rules are heavy, 104 pages with tons of interior art, maps and photos. It looks fascinating and I cannot wait to give this game a play so I can update the rating above.

Sunday, February 3, 2019

Some Assembly Required

Nothing says awesome like having enough minis on a custom play surface.

This video is my dad's standard set up for the game Tanks & Yanks. Which is far from "standard". You can read an overview here or go ahead an buy it on DriveThruRPG. Some assembly required.



If you want to see how he does all this, take a look at this video.

Miniature Mayhem

My dad calls his rec room, "The War Room". Ah, dad.

Let's rewind for a funny true story. Before my dad wrote his Classical Hack or Knight Hack rules, he played WRG. One convention took place in Hamilton, Ontario so he packed me, all of his figures up and drove. I think we lived in Lockport, NY at the time. It was a supposed to be a short hop, a nice day trip for the boys. 

You know what makes a short hop really long? Tell the border agents that you are going to "a war game in Hamilton, ON". They couldn't find any guns or ammo, but they kept coming across all these little figures.

That was back in the 1970s. Have a look at his "War Room", circa 2016 on Youtube.

Monday, February 13, 2017

New Paints, New Figures



A few weeks ago, I began paint figures for the first time in perhaps 7 to 10 years. My first problem was that I was out of practice. The second problem was my paints, a wonderful set of Windsor & Newton Designer Acrylics. The were wonderful before every other container dried out. Obvious, keeping paints in the basement, then the garage is not a great storage method. It is only natural that they dry out.

In looking for a new set of paints, I checked out some of my favorite painters and modelers. There is a lot of variety and style for modelers, but one name kept coming up: Vajello paints



The set pictured to the right is the Medieval pallet. The 16 colors are great for a variety of styles and models, not just the Middle Ages. Each bottle is 17 ml, a little more than 1/2 an ounce. The bottles all have a dropper style cap which is handy for mixing.

I have tried them out on a variety of subjects, from robots to animals and like them a lot. However, each of these tests were on previously painted figures that needed repairs.

In the next post, I will be working on three unpainted figures. Right now, I have them based on 1 inch wooden nickles and they are primed in flesh tone.

Monday, January 9, 2017

#MechaMonday January 9th, 2017 - Adeptus Titanicus

In the process of cleaning out my basement, I have come across some wonderful old figures. Back in the 1980s I recall spending many weekends playing Adeptus Titanicus. As near as I can tell, this game came out in 1988.

All that I have left of the set is the rule book sans cover and 8 Titans, only 2 of which are painted. I believe the set came with 8-12. I'd love to get my hands on more.

Lately, I have painting Space Marines. When I finish those I hope to move onto these Titans. So many toys, so little time.





#MiniatureMonday January Jan 9th, 2017

The Mark 6 "Corvus Armour" Space Marines or Beakies are back. I found a few more and painted them up. For the second set, I went with black and yellow, with silver trim. 



As you might guess, I have never played Warhammer and the paint guide I had went missing over a decade or two ago.



What I like about the Warhammer figures is you can go completely nuts with them. They have some serious heft and all kinds of surfaces waiting for paint. I have not gloss coated the Marine I did last week, as there is so much more detail I can add. That I can use a proper camera next time.


My Green Marines are sitting out ready to be painted. I got so excited finding the other parts and figures that I set them aside for the future.

I dont' know what I'll do once I run out of Marines to paint.

Monday, January 2, 2017

#MiniatureMonday January 2nd, 2017

And here is the semi-finished product from my last post. I love these old models.

I went very basic. This one was wiped down with turquoise hue as primer. Over this was a True Blue with black and silver highlights. I like the turquoise under flesh as it fakes out a little depth in the tones.

This guy's hair is brown with white dashes, he is on the older side of Space Marines. While he has lost his helmet, he is carrying a extra rifle. Perhaps, he took the helmet off to give final orders to a medic and kept the soldier's gun.

I can't wait to finish the other four. Since these were sold in packs of more than a dozen, I am hoping to find some more to paint.







Saturday, December 31, 2016

#MiniatureMonday

I know #MiniatureModay two days off, but I found these guys while cleaning the basement.


I only found five so far, but 5 minis a week, for 52 weeks is 260 figures a year. I'll never hit that if I don't start now. 5 a week isn't that hard to hit.

Sunday, January 10, 2016

The Research Game - Stave Churches

In my prior post, I began work on a building I could not identify. It turns out that this structure is a stave church from 11-1200 A.D.

I wasn't able to identify it specifically, nor was I able to place it the category of stave church. For some reason, I picture stave churches as having gracefully sloping walls and roofs, like so:

So, I am off to do some research. I have to say my dad, Philip J. Viverito, instilled a quest for knowledge in me. Using the internet, I was able to found some remarkable resources for this project in rather short order. I cannot image how my dad did it back in the 1970's and 80's with only books to work from.

One of the more impressive items I found was a short video filmed in 2000 at Uvdal Stave Church, Nore and Uvdal, Norway.

Not only is the church beautiful, the video itself is excellent. The film was put together by Erik Meyn, and the music was composed and performed by Ulf Meyn. The original publisher was Numedalsnett AS.

Although there is no speaking, this is a wonderful educational resource.

Back into Scale Models

It has been a very long time since I have worked on a model. My dad gave me a couple of his older buildings and I intend to fix them as they haven't held up with children and age. I started with some photos to get an idea of how to start.

Edit - This building is a stave church, which is different from my expectations. I picture stave churches as having graceful sloped components. Now I am off to research more on the topic. Please see my next post.

Front view
(click image to enlarge)
Rear view(click image to enlarge)
Side view(click image to enlarge)

Looking at the damage, I wanted to make a copy first. I took some measurements and sketched out a plan.

Front view
(click image to enlarge)
Side view(click image to enlarge)




I am using I intended to work with balsa wood, but bass wood was the only type available. It is much harder. So using the drawings above, I cut my lengths of wood for the frame and matched them up to the sketch.

Front view
(click image to enlarge)
Side view(click image to enlarge)

And the first problem presented itself. I had measure, sketched, and measured again. The beams are 1/4 inch. I purchased 5/16 inch dowels. That is close, but no cigar.

Since I have a scanner, I quickly ran copies and corrected the sketches.

Front view
(click image to enlarge)
Side view(click image to enlarge)

What I decided was to extend the beams inwards and upwards. Now I have an idea of where to go. 

Tomorrow, I will make a base and start gluing. Look for more updates shortly. 

Saturday, November 29, 2014

SFB Scrapyard Sack

I ordered Amarillo Design Bureau’s Scrapyard Sack.

What did I get? I don’t know, but I love it.

There are several intact ships – A Kzinti ship, a Kzinti Tug, 3 Federation CA style ships, an AUX carrier and a B10 Boom. The small Aux carrier, the B10 Boom and the Kzinti Tug are pretty much ready to go, I could clean them up and paint them now. The others will require a smidgen of creativity to get into action.

Additional items are 6 Federation engines, matched in left-right pairs. 4 Federation frigate engines and lower hulls, an extra CA style hull with engines, a Federation hull with no engines or bridge, and a pair of Klingon wing disruptors or engines.

And in the middle is a nearly complete hull of something I can’t identify.

All and all, I am very happy with my scrapyard sack.

UPDATE: David McGuire over on Google+ gave me some hints:
"Without a closer look, the center one may be a NCL. Or on the outside, maybe the DN minus the body or the Federation version of the B10"

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Good Things from ADB, Inc.

They have updated prices on the Starline 2500 range of minis. A quick look at the list shows about half the ships (or more) have dropped in price significantly. Of course, this the flip side is some ships have increased in price by a fair amount. When I say fair, I mean that some jumped bucks to $19 or more for large battleships.
I haven’t crunched any numbers, but at a quick glance, half the ships are much cheaper, many stayed the same and a few very large models had a modest price increase. Going from memory, I think that some smaller models are one third the original price. Additionally, the company is heading towards all metal ships again.
I love this. I can’t wait to place my order.