Viking Leader

This is the leader for my first unit of Vikings. These guys will be used as Danes for the Rus army that I am working on. Eventually I will use this unit as the basis of a Swede army.



This is the first of a 20 man unit so there will be more to come.

Model Railroad - Benchwork

The first phase of my model railroad project is complete. I built two tables yesterday that will form the benchwork for the railroad. I needed a way to get multiple use out of the table. It is locaed in the garage so I also need something that is strong. I decided to use the same system I used for my game table\workbench. This is 2x4 construction with metal brackets at the joints. This system is easy and quick. Te hardware is from Simpson and they have tons of different brackets for almost any application.

The dimentions are 14 feet long by 22 inches wide. The table height is about 45 inches. Each table has adjustable feet made from 3/8" carriage bolts threaded into T-nuts. This allows me to level the entire layout. I have some rubber feet to put on the carriage bolts to keep the layout from moving around.


The bench is actually made of two 7 foot long benches. This was done to make it easier to move if needed. In order to keep the two benches allied I bolted the end pieces together with a 5/16" bolt. One day I might have a permenemt layout so I did not attach the tops from the top...if you know what I mean. If I had drilled through the top and then done nu landscaping it would be ver tough to salvage. The answer is to attach the layout top with L brackets. This means that I can remove the layout from the bench very easily.


Now I need to get some paint on it quick. The heat in the garage, in Arizona, in June, can be intense. The lumber was pretty green and if I don't seal it soon it will begin to warp. I don't care about the color so I will just use some left-over paint for this. Total bill for this phase was $175, not bad!

Strider

Lord of the Rings Orcs

I have finally finished (mostly) my Lord of the Rings Orcs. Since these are the back-bone of the evil forces you must have a bunch of these guys.




Right now, I am using these to augment my Isengard forces for our campaign. These are a good choice for Isengard because they are cheep. Now I just need to paint up a few Orc trackers, some Moranon Orcs, a Bolt thrower and I will be done...for a while.

Isengard Troll

This is the latest completed project. I painted this up for my local game group's LOTR campaign. I am playing Isengard and needed some punch.

Some people complain that there is no precedent for a Troll in an Isengard army, not from the books or the movie. I agree that it is a little dubious but the Isengard army needs some help and this guy fits the bill.

I tried to paint him a different color than the Cave Troll. I wanted to make it clear that this is not just a Cave Troll in armor. The redish skin tones tie him in with the Urak Hai very well.

All in all this is a very cool model. I was not a big fan when it first came out but I now really like it.

Model Railroading

After more than 25 years of collecting and arm-chair model railroading I have decided to jump back into the hobby. I first started to have interest in the hobby as a kid growing up in the late seventies. Sometime around my 10th birthday I got an HO scale train set. I was thrilled, I had been dreaming of this set for a long time, wearing out the Sears catalogue in the process. My first layout began soon after. My dad built a 4’x 8’ table with folding legs to use as the train table. I have no idea what I was going but I had a blast. This lasted for a couple of years but my interest soon died out.

Fast-forward to the early nineties and I am married with a young daughter. My interest slowly rekindled and I started reading the Model Railroader magazines again. My house didn’t really have the space for a proper layout (at least that is what I thought at the time) so I decided on a switching layout. Switching is my favorite railroad activity so it was a good fit. I modified the track plan, from one of the Atlas track planning books, for the Southside Connecting railroad. I built the bench and got the track down and even had trains running! My wife was amazed (her actual words were “you’re actually doing it?”).

Life took a turn and we moved out of state and my uncompleted railroad was abandoned, much like a real one. I continued to collect cars and locos for a few more years but things just never seemed to be right to start another layout (excuses, excuses). I now realize that if this ever going to happen I have to just do it and make the most of what I have.

“Why is this on your painting blog?” you ask. I plan to use this blog to document my progress just as I have done with my war gamming hobby. There is a lot of painting on a model railroad you know, so there will be plenty of things to share. Don’t worry; I have not given up on my war gamming and miniatures painting. In fact, we are starting a Lord of the Rings campaign next month so keep a look out for that. More on this later.

Warhammer Ancient Battles Tournament

My local game group, The North Phoenix Irregulars, is holding our annual WAB tournament on June 9th. Checkout the website for more info - http://wab.bluedream.com/. Please check out the list of sponsors for the event