ajlafleche

Here is a new figure from a new company, Shamrock Miniatures, title (redundantly) Irish Leprechaun. He’s listed as 1/35 and comes to chest height on a normal 1/35 figure. He’s cast in resin with the body from neck down as one piece. The head is separate. The base has a small log behind the position for the figure. There are three resin mushrooms which can be placed anywhere. He is carrying a shillelagh but the back part of the handle was lost so I replaced it with plastic rod. In presenting him, I wanted a pot of gold. Lacking a pot, I found an old Historex pitcher and cut it down and drilled it out. The gold coins were cut from a 1mm plastic rod and dropped into the pot. Thanks to our friend, Mr. Static Electricity, this was harder than expected. The coins were fixed into the pot with a small drop of AK Interactive pigment fixer. The ground work is Silfor tufts over Celluclay. The base is from Birch Tree Enterprises. He is painted in Vallejo Acrylics. I got him from Sentinel Miniatures at Baycon just over a week ago.

Thanks, guys, I'm pretty happy with it and it took first in Scratch, Vac and Conversion armor at Baycon yesterday.

Yep, debuts there.

I have completed my attempt at a USSOCOM GMV, aka Dumvee. I don’t know the derivation of Dumvee from Humvee, but I’ve seen the term in reference to a well armed patrol vehicle used by Special Ops forces. The parts used are as follows with paints from Vallejo and AK Interactive. Weathering was done with AK products and old school pastel chalks. The wheels were designed to be used with a Tamiya Humvee and have posts in the wheels. The Academy kit has posts on the drive shafts. I had to remove the posts and drill holes to accommodate the wheels. This allowed me to adjust the holes to get thewheels level. Unfortunately, when applying the ground work, I added more water than I normally would so the surface would be easier to work. This caused the first warped base on decades. That meant the nice level wheel, needed to be shored up from below with more ballast, epoxy glue, water effects and othe products. Academy: M1025 Chassis and body Black Dog: Back Packs Detail master: Wiring for radios and antennas Legend: Ibis Tec bumper Seats Radio and Computer Live Resin: M249 Roof Gun and Mount Spare M249 Ammunition Drums and Holders M240 Door Guns and Mounts Spare 7.62 Ammunition cans AT-4 Rocket Launchers Pro Arts: Interior Roof Brace & Details Spare Tire Jack Satellite Radio Antenna Radio GPS Wheels Rear Air Recognition Flag Scratchbuit: Seat belts Antenna masts Under body armor Tissue top and Apoxie Sculpt side curtains Seat Armor Rear Bumper Deck Bungee Cords and Straps Various: Tow Rope Tarps, Bed Rolls, Cooler, Bottled Water Boxes Verlinden: Side Roof Supports Antenna Mounts

Good job on this ancient kit. I like that it's painted to look clean and not overdone with dirt, mud, chipping, streaks and grime. That guy sitting on the side has great flexibility in his neck!

Thanks for the kind words, guys. This is a speculative vehicle, Patrick. Hopefully realistic if not authentic.

Here is Academy’s 1/35 M998 IED Guntruck with a few mods and their sources. Painted with Vallejo Model Color and weathered with AK Interactive and pastels. The “Hillbilly armor” was painted with AK Interactive’s rust set. Live Resin: M134D Minigun and accessories M240 and pintle Ammunition cans Spare M240 barrel Pro Arts: Front Seats Swing Arm Verlinden: Mesh in brush guard Antenna mounts RB: Minigun barrels Academy: Seats repositioned to the rer DEF Wheels Cooler Legend: Tow bar Dragon: SMAW Archer Rear warning sign Detail Master: Wiring for radios, Minigun and antennas Various: Radios Scratchbuit: Computer Seat belts Rear strap Antenna masts Under body armor plates

There are plenty of steampunk themed figures, including a number in 75 mm, about 1/24. Take a look at http://www.redlancers.com/ as well as http://www.timelinesforum.com/ and http://www.planetfigure.com/forum/.

Here is Nocturna Models’ (smallish) 54mm resin “Storm Griffon.’ This is painted in acrylics. I added “hair” to the rider’s head. The kit base is blended into a base from Birch Tree Productions (birchtreejohn@aol.com). To get iridescence on the feathers, I used a gold dry medium from Citadel. The base colors (at least five shades of browns in the wings) were airbrushed Vallejo Model Colors. The cape and torso of the gryphon were also airbrushed with Vallejo Model Color (not the airbrush specific line). The armor base is ModelMaster buffable gunmetal metallizer.

Here is a very large gallery of photos from this year’s MFCA held at Valley Forge 10-11 May. Sit back and enjoy! http://s93.photobucket.com/user/ajlafleche/library/SBS/MFCA%202013?sort=2&page=1

Thanks, guys.

Thanks. Funny thing about the kilt...I was not at all happy even after maybe a hafl dozen attempts. I thought I'd done better before, but a couple guys in the club convinced me it was a decent job.

Thanks, guys.

Thanks, Chris.

Here is Romeo’s 75mm “Iroquois in the Castle.” It is based on a Robert Grifffing painting. The back story is that the French told the native people they were building a trading post at the site of Fort Niagara overlooking Lake Ontario. When the native people saw the castle with its 3 foot thick walls, they realized this was to be more than a trading post and that their way of live was coming to an end. To emphasize this, I experimented in painting the scene with angled lighting coming through the window as opposed to my usual zenithal light. To emphasize this, I added a title plaque calling this “Iroquois Sunset” for both the time of day depicted and the history. Griffing added a chair to fill the space along the wall and I was able to find one in scale from Walthers by way of my LHS. The wall and floor were extended with foam, railroad cobble stone stock and spackle to fit the Birch Tree Enterprises base. I cut acetate to size for each window pane and used pastels to cast the window frame shadow on the wall behind it.

Here is SK Miniatures 1/10 Cherokee bust as sculpted by Carl Reid. He is posed on a base from Birch Tree Enterprises of Freeport LI, NY.

Here are two (large) 54mm figures from La Meridiana representing the French and English at the battle for Ticonderoga/Fort Carillion in 1758. The Frenchman is a halberdier in the uniform of the Languedoc Regiment and is stock and posed on a La Meridiana base. The Scot is in a modified uniform of the 42nd Regiment of Foot, the Black Watch. He is sculpted in kilt and leggings with moccasins to better deal with the wilds of the frontier. His coat appears to have been cut down from a regulation frock and sports leather elbow patches and chest pockets. I haven’t seen other references to this, however. The highlanders depicted in Ospreys’ Highlanders of the French and Indian War were better armed than the sculpting so I added a scratchbuilt Highland pistol and sporran, a belly cartridge box, bayonet, dagger and sword.

Here is Dragon’s M1IP Panther II mine roller vehicle. The .50 is from Academy and the tracks are by AFV club, since the kit’s Magic Tracks were not particularly cooperative.

Here is Hobby Boss’s Range Rover RSOV vehicle. I replaced the wheels with resin castings from DEF. The M240B at the passenger’s seat is a casting from Live Resin with the swing arm mount and added optics. The Mk 19 grenade launcher is also from Live Resin with a barrel from Lion Marc. The SAW at the rear is from Dragon. Stowage was from my spares box and the kit and the two rear mounted spare tires are from the kit since they weren’t needed for running gear.

Here is Academy’s original M1025 HMMWV from the early 90’s. I replaced the kit wheels with ol;d Verlinden resin castings and the .50 with one from Academy’s machine gun set.

Here are two examples of the ancient Italeri commando car. One is built out of box and the other was mildly modified with an Academy air cooled .50 cal, scratchbuilt Gerry can holder with Gerry cans, moved spare tire and with the straps if the fuel tanks replaced with lead foil.

Please follow this link to see a gallery of models entered in this year’s Wings & Wheels Valleycon 23.

Wings & Wheels Modelers' annual contest, Valleycon 23, is now only three away. We will again this year offer 5 free raffle tickets to entrants who fill in their registration and ID forms from our website Our raffle will feature over $1000 in prizes. This year, we will feature a Gathering of Mustangs, where all scales and liveries of any version of the North American Mustang (NA-73 through F-82) may be displayed and judged using out open system. Our vendor areas are sold out with 64, including our club tables. A few of the professional vendors are Rare Plane Detective, Birch Tree Enterprises, Red Frog Hobbies, Sentinel Miniatures, Craftec Hobbies, The Hobby Bunker, Tom's Trains, and Time Machine Hobbies. Registration is $5.00 for the first three models and $2.00 for each additional model. Collections and dioramas are considered one entry. Those under 16 continue be offered free registration for their first three models. General admission is $5.00 and parking is free. There is food available on site. We continue to do traditional IPMS style (1-2-3) judging for the aircraft and automotive classes with open (gold-silver-bronze) for the other categories. Our Judging Philosophy can be seen here. For more information, feel free to contact Al at ajlafleche@comcast.net. Hope to see many of you on the 24th.

I can't take credit for the base. That was bought from John Jeffries of Long Island, dba Birch Tree Enterprises. All I did was blend the kit base to the wooden base with Celluclay.

Chris, this will be at your show on Sunday.