Saturday 22 January 2011

Paint Racks

As you can see in the picture I have two Progressive Engineering Solutions paint bottle racks they hold twenty Vallejo type bottles,am useing the racks to keep my inks and other common paints I use at hand, they come with robber type feet and stainless steel bolts and nuts, they are tight fitting you just need to run a model knife along the edge of the uprights to have a clean fit.
They do make other racks and if you have a idea then drop them a line, if I wanted to rack to be deeper and gain a extra row of bottles I could, but the space left on that same shelf will be used for other small items.

Friday 21 January 2011

Conversion to Tcho-Tcho

Conversion I have done to Tengu Tcho-Tcho Models
Back row
Left side man I converted the Tommy Gun into a flame thrower gun and soldered flame throwers tanks on his back and used brass rod as the pipe, next man I give a rifle, I all already had a spare rifle with a hand moulded on the rifle just a case of soldering in place, middle man no conversion, next man I removed a club and give him a axe.

Front row
Left side this is same man as the rifle man but this time I made a bow out of brass rod for him and the arrow, next two are the same model one was giving a stick of dynamite and the other a torch.

Conversion to Ghouls

This is some conversion I have done to the Heresy miniature Ghouls.
Back row
The one on the left had no weapon so I give him a pitch fork it’s made out of brass rod, the one crouching had no weapon so I give him a meat cleaver, no way could he hold it so was just as easy to have it sticking out of the ground, the running ghoul is holding a meat cleaver but it being converted into a axe or replaced with a axe.

Front row
Left hand ghoul was holding a knife but made a buckler type sword for him from brass plate, next ghoul was holding a human leg removed it and give him a cross bow, and last ghoul was holding a sickle but replaced it with a brass made meat clever.


Serpent Lurkers Cult

Lurkers Serpent Men and Tcho-Tcho Cultist
This is the start of one of my cults the serpent men are from Strange Aeon and are made of resin the Tcho-Tcho are made bye Tengu Models and is of the highest quality.
The sword and crossbow on the Tcho-Tcho was conversions

Shelf extension to work top

To give my self more shelf room I bought a set off slide out draw rails from BBQ and set it at it’s maximum depth,this was not enough so lowered it a other 20mm, this shelf is mainly for painting my miniatures, idea being I can set up with the paint pots I need then pull self out and paint, this leaving the work top clear for other things.

Tools I use in my workshop

Tools I use in my workshop.
Dremel
One of my most useful tool is the Dremel, what I use with it is small drills bits for holes, high speed cutters for removing bulk and finishing, same with sanding bands, for cutting I use hobby craft saw blades these are very thin and leave a fine cut not much wastage, don’t have a use for grinding stones as these clog up to quick.

Airbrush
I use a Harder & Steenbeck Infinity two action airbrush, I have a 2mm,4mm nozzles for it and 2ml and 5ml cups and a fpc-air valve (fine pressure control) with a quick release mini coupling for removing the airbrush.
There Evolution would do the same job but I liked the look of the Infinity and bought it and am happy with it.
I use a small piston air compressor with a 3 litre tank and auto cut out switch, you can switch off the auto cut off so the compressor will run constant, at the airbrush end I have a in-line moisture trap air filter and compressor is quiet with a rating of 54db.

Soldering Iron
The soldering iron I use is a temperature controlled model from Maplin this is a 48watt iron with temperatur from 150c to 450c I use 150c for the small parts on a miniature and up to 450c for basing on to brass plate or two pence pieces, the solder I use is Javis of Stockport a low melt solder of 70c for white metal, you can also have it for brass to white metal, this bought from my local model shop.
You need to use a flux with the solder I recommend you use a liquid flux, I use “Baker’s” soldering Fluid No3 125ml to a bottle.
The price can be from £25 to £50 for a temperature controlled soldering iron, when I bought mine it was dropped from £45 to £20, Maplin seem to have these offers on from time to time, even seen the £25 model going at £9.

Hand Tools
More or less what every modeller uses , for my knife I use a Swann Morton retract away scalpel I buy the blades of the net at trade prices.
Model files, tweezers, model wire cutter and pliers, small set of vice grips, pin vice to start small holes before I use the Dremel, tin cutter, square, steel ruler, GW sculpting tool. Some clay shapers, for a vice I use the GW one that uses suction to hold it in place, the suction bit fill apart but vice is still useful, last I use a Rolson magnifying visor with inter changing lenses with a built in led light.