The Heat Ray comes to life!

I was looking for this today and thought I had reposted it here - it certainly needs to be so here it is!
Courtesy of the TMP boards and the modelling brilliance of Scott Washburn.  Bravo Sir! Bravo!
Here is his post in toto:

From the first moment I saw the All Quiet on the Martian Front Tripods I thought they just cried out to have some lights in them. Well, I figured out a way to do it!

How? Well, first, let me tell you that I know as much about electricity as your average 4-year old, so my method had to be very simple! Step one was to find a self-contained power and light kit that would fit inside the head of a tripod. No way was I going to try and have a remote power supply or lights and then try to send wires or fiber optics through the narrow legs of a tripod! A very little searching on-line found exactly what I was looking for:

This beautiful little set includes a battery, battery-holder, switch and LED light for about 5 dollars. The provided light was a bit too small so I got a bigger one for another couple of bucks. It's all available from here:  link

Now, how to mount it? Well, the light itself is simple. Just drill a hole of the proper size through the nose of the tripod.

A little drilling, a little clean-up and it's ready.

I toyed with the idea of making another hole and poking the button of the switch through the body of the tripod, but I decided I would just leave the top of the head loose and access the button and the battery that way. The pegs in the top of the head fit very tightly into the holes in the lower part of the head. I wanted to loosen that up, but not too much. A little careful drilling did the trick.

After that, it was just a matter of hooking the wires of the LED up to the wires of the switch/battery and stuffing the whole thing into the head of the tripod with the light poking through the hole. Oh, I strongly recommend finishing all your painting before mounting the light!

And voila! 

I have no idea how long the batteries will last, but they are easily replaceable and cheap and I keep them turned off when not in use. Sadly the apparatus is too large to fit in the head of a scout tripod, but I've got a lead on a smaller one.

And no "Rudolph" jokes, please!

Build your own Islandwana

Thats what this guy did - very effectively too!
http://wargamingwithsilverwhistle.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/isandlwana-backdrop.html

Rivers in 2mm scale

Sick of the lack of rivers terrain available in 2mm, SteelonSand has published an article on converting some from larger sclae ditches. Its simple and very effective - well done old Chap!

Its got me to thinking its just the thing to try some medium altitude bridge-busting sorties with some Harasser Squadron 'Nefs...surrounded by Anti-Aeronef Land Ironclad batteries of course!

http://steelonsand.blogspot.com/2009/12/rivers-for-small-scale-gaming.html

Seascape Sea Mats

These are a bit more expensive than Hotz (which are excellent, I have one) but these are just...wow...
I also like the options for seperate throw down islands and coastline.

http://www.terrainmat.com/SeaScape1.1.html

Now I know what I need for Christmas....

Strategic targets

I just found these while rummaging around in my bits cupboard and thought I'd share an idea I had.
Last year I visited London (and enjoyed a few ales eh DC?) and grabbed a few of these resin buildings from a cheezy souvenir vendor for about 1 pound each. Lovely detail and pre-painted.


So, Buckingham Palace or French chateau? Tower of London or enemy fortified building? St Paul's Cathedral or enemy parliament house? A lick of paint round the edging, neglected so far I must admit, and some nice buildings are had very cheap for minimal effort!

Now if only I could find those Revell Hindenburgs (which DC put me onto) that I was looking for in the first place....

Jungle Terrain

Lovely stuff - what awaits our intrepid explorers in and around these ancient ruins....???
http://chicagoterrainfactory.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/quick-links-alkemy-jungle-board/

Aerofauna

I somehow missed this while I was away last year.
Eli (of "I see lead people" blog fame) constructed these lovely aerofauna for his Aeronef campaign on Terra Secundus:

http://leadpeople.blogspot.com/2008/10/aerofauna-sightings.html


http://leadpeople.blogspot.com/2008/10/aerofauna-of-terra-secundus-part-one.html

Eli's monstrous Aerofauna creations

But not to stop there, Eli then inspired Tony (of "Dampf's modelling page" fame) to build his own, which you find find at his entries here:

http://dampfpanzerwagon.blogspot.com/2008/10/aerofauna.html

http://dampfpanzerwagon.blogspot.com/2008/11/aerofauna-part-two.html

Some of Tony's fantastic creations

Furthermore, more chaps have gone Aero and Astrofauna mad here:

http://vbir.blogspot.com/2008/11/fauna-of-mars-and-venus-part-second.html

http://vbir.blogspot.com/2008/10/fauna-and-flora-of-solar-system.html


Wonderous beasts!!! Well done chaps, most inspiring

Desert Terrain Tutorials

Looking to replicate the barren wilderness of the Hindukush but dont know quite where to start? These tutorials will be of great assistance!


Firstly, the Jackson Gamers built this lovely Wadi Zoum-Zoum terrain for their fictional Sudan campaign:
http://www.angelfire.com/games3/jacksongames02/con_jim.htm

which you can see here in action:
http://www.angelfire.com/games3/jacksongamer/grn_nile2.htm


Then there is this online tutorial by Esair which is nice and simple to replicate:
http://www.esair.baueda.com/guides1.html

Primitive Tents and Dwellings

Sorry for the lack of regular updates recently. It seems the toll of festoive social activities and a few mountaineering expeditions have taken more toll than expected!

Regardless of that, these rather spendid 28mm Neanderthal style tents have come on the market - Bravo!

News release here: http://theminiaturespage.com/news/795046/

More here: http://forum54.oli.us/index.php?topic=5205.0

Pot toppers

An idea for modelling material: http://ardleybridge.fotopic.net/c1501517.html

Building scale dinosaur out of chicken bones!

A grand idea! Great for Lost World terrain
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2001/10/stuff_eng_jaaaro_dinosaur.htm

Lovely terrain

I recently found these great pics fom a French convention (Toutatis 2008) earlier this year.

Some great terrain inspiration here!

http://perrysheroes.free.fr/spip.php?article96

London War Room Vessels

In case you missed it, there was a good TMP workbench article on the VSF creations of The London War Room, in particular the Ironclad Gunboat and Cloud Cutter.

A bit big in scale for my needs, but they would make for a great skirmish games over the steppes of Mars!

See the full article here:

http://theminiaturespage.com/workbench/12627/

and thanks to Luis for the heads-up!

VSF Terrain (25mm)

Mssr Zophiel pointed out this great range of gothic style terrain by RC Studio that just screams VSF (well, to me...after a claret or two anyway).

I particularly like the bunker, the generator and these mysterious contraptions that I dub steam-driven temporal Tesla converters

http://quantumgothic.com/Buildings.aspx

Thanks for the tip Zophiel!

Astronef scenery

Downloadable tabletop scape scenery an a fanastic looking campaign map editor

Simply download the bits you want, print out and laminate if you dont wnat the to have claret stains and cigar ash on them - enjoy!

Great job eh what!

http://www.thecourtjestersstudio.com/downloads/SpaceScenery.html

A Good Word For Eureka Miniatures

I just got my order (in under two weeks from Australia no
less!) of 15mm WWI Italians from Eureka Miniatures. These
are great little minis, the machine-gun stands are minor
works of art! Very nicely done and as always a breeze to deal
with.
http://www.eurekamin.com.au/

Bloodaxe Minis!

I just got my order of 15mm WWI Russians and inter war Soviets,
I must say their sculpting is excellent! The figures compare in
size with those from Peter Pig but have I think a nicer animation.
The price on Bloodaxe miniatures is also far better for we
American customers since there is no exchange rate or high
shipping costs to deal with.

I bought one of their 1914 Russian Infantry Regiment WWI
UNIT PACKS for $14.95, this one was a particular good value
it is based around the Spearhead system and contained 50 infantry
2 officers and 4 machine gun teams. I'll be getting another of these
soon along with their German WWI pack.

I also got some of their interwar period Soviet infantry in Budenka
Cap, very nice figs!

This is a very new company that seems to have allot going
for it and great future lines soon going to be released like
FIRST ITALO-ETHIOPIAN WAR. I do highly recommend
this one guys, they are fast and communicate with their customers
every step of the way. I'm really looking forward to more from this
bunch!

Don

http://www.bloodaxeminiatures.com/

Jungle Tutorial

A neat article on how to make simple but effective jungle features on old CDs:

http://www.rattrapproductions.com/speakeasy/viewtopic.php?p=4787

Imperial German painting guides

Prussians are notorious about looking just right after all

Reading German would be handy for this one, but is not essential
http://www.grosser-generalstab.de/

but this one is all in English:
http://www.kaisersbunker.com/gtp

Tas's Factorium Back in Buisness!

After a year of extreme labour shortages, Tas's Factorium is back in business! On the bench right now is a modular river section, jungle terrain and a dozen 15mm adventurers getting ready for a dinosaur hunt. While I am happy with the way the terrain is coming along, it would seem that figure painting is indeed a highly perishable skill...

Anyhow, I hope to have pics up in the next few days.

I had to do a bit of research for the terrain, so have compiled a section for the most relevant terrain modelling links - its on the left hand frame of the blog, below the 25mm VSF section and above the blog archive. I hope you find these useful