A few more Survivors and a Zombie

Hi, folks. I finished my EM4 Suits and the Tinpot Dictator to go with the Presidential limo I posted a while ago. I also found and finished a Black Orc Games Zombie I had misplaced.

Here's the Zombie. A nice little Bunny gone horribly bad.

Here's the EM4 Tinpot Dictator. This was a fun little model to paint.

El Prez with his bodyguard of jack-booted Government Thugs. I may also use these suits for some MIB type gaming.

That's all for today. Thanks for looking.

Some more Hasslefree Minis Survivors

Hi, friends. Here's a few more HassleFree Miniatures minis I'm using as Survivors.

This is Bubba, an Elvis impersonator. 

Next up are Jess and Tony. Tony is looking at a cellphone in his hand.

These two are Witch Hazel and William.. I'm hoping to use them when Two Hour Wargames releases After the Horsemen, their post-apoc Horror supplement for ATZ.

I only have a few Hasslefree Minis left to be painted. My son Stephen is working on not Nicholas Angel from Hot Fuzz, and PC Sam Ford is in the line for painting. Also just primered four EM4 suits and the Tinpot Dictator for use with the Presidential Limo I featured a few posts back.

Miscellaneous stuff: West Wind Night Rangers, SWAT Decals and a pretty tree

Hi, everyone. I got today off. Kids are at school, wife is doing things that don't involve me. So it's time for some fun. Here's the tree from the title.

This is the view out my painting window today. You may remember the pic of this tree in winter with the birds in it. What a transformation. This is right off the back deck. The air smells beautiful near it, the flowers are very fragrant. Great Spring morning.

Another shot of the tree from the balcony of my work room.

I was sitting there using the natural light to paint some minis and finish some small jobs. Here's one of them. I ordered some decals from Company B for my SWAT guys. Had great service and fast delivery. I applied the decals to my SWATies.

I think they came out okay. The letters are a lot better than I could paint them, that's for sure. :) I've got a lot more decals left. Anybody wants some send me a e-mail.

Next are my West Wind Night Rangers Special Ops guys. I decided to go with a camo uniform similar to the one I used with my Victory Force Zombies a while back. I mounted them on some
Fenris Miniatures 30mm round DS Rubble City resin bases. I love these resin bases. I kept the base paint jobs simple.

Nice, dynamic poses on these minis, and there's a lot of detail on the Fenris bases.

Well that's it for now. I want to get back to painting. I'm working on a couple more Hasslefree Minis; a not Spike and Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Thanks for looking.

Formula P3 Wet Palette

I mentioned I bought a P3 Wet Pallete a while back. I've used it a few times. It has some pros and cons, but overall, I like it.

Cons: I like putting the bad right up front cuz I'm a mean old man.
Cost
Cost is number 1. Mine cost $17 off e-bay with free shipping. A plastic box with a 1/2 thick piece of foam sponge and a 50 sheet pad of palette paper cut to size. Box dimensions are about 6" x 5.25" x 1.75". Refills for the palette paper around $11 for 2 pads of 50 sheets.

Paper drys out:
Stuff kept drying or curling. I tried adding more water and then the paints ran together. Also, when the paper gets wet it increases in size and no longer fits well within the box, allowing air to come in more readily and speeding drying. I did find a couple of work-around for the paper problems, which I haven't tried yet. One involved using magnets, the other was to place a moist paper towel on top of the foam and then place the paper onto that. I should mention, though, that even though the paper kept drying and curling, the paint was staying moist. So maybe more of a nuisance than a real problem.

Pros: Grudging acknowledgement that this is a pretty good gadget.
Size - A nice size for me because my painting space is so cluttered up so a small footprint is okay.

Effectiveness:
Keeps paint wet. It works well. I did some painting yesterday morning and just closed the box. When the lid is closed, the paper doesn't dry out, nor does the paint. Here's a pic of yesterday morning's paint this afternoon.

The paint is nice and wet and still usable 18 hours later. You can see where the paper is still popping up even after resting overnight with the lid closed, but the paint is okay.

Recommendations:

Buy one of the P3 Wet Palettes if you've got money burning a hole in your pocket, they're pretty good.

Or make one yourself.
Components:
Dollar Store reusable plastic food storage container of a size you like. I got a pack of 4 for $1.
Dollar Store foam sponges: 1 package with 2 sponges for a dollar.
Paper towels or napkins: I had some already but readily available for a buck.
Reynolds Wrap Parchment Paper: 15 inches wide by 24 feet long, Walmart $3.

This Parchment Paper is what I'm using now instead of the P3 paper on my P3 wet palette. I just cut it to size.

LuckyJoe's Cheapass Wet Palette

Pic above shows the container with 2 sponges trimmed roughly to size. They've been moistened and are ready for use.

A moistened paper napkin placed on top of the wet sponges. 

A piece of moistened P3 palette paper added on top of the paper napkin. I figured I'd give the P3 paper another chance to see if the addition of the napkin/paper towels makes a difference.

Here's the homemade unit ready to go. I'll let you know how it works.

I've been curious about wet palettes for a while. I think I like them. I hope you'll try them out and tell me what you think, or your experience with them if you've already used one. Thanks for looking.

A couple more vehicles

This is for Papa Spanky. On my last vehicle post, he asked for some more shots of the garbage truck and gas tanker. So here they are. I've had these for a few years. The garbage truck is made by RealToys and I think I bought it at Toys R Us. The Tanker Truck I got off E-bay. It doesn't have a manufacturer name anywhere on it.

Garbage Truck

This is a nice little model with lots of little detail. It's 8.5 inches long by 2 5/8 high by 2 inches wide.

There are even little steps on the back for the garbage man to stand on. 

 Pic above: The rear section of the truck raises up. The lever with the handle on that raised section turns a little compactor arm within the raised section. 

Pic above shows the cargo section of the truck where the compacted trash (or Zombies) would be carried.

The dumpster detaches and can even open.

Tanker Truck

This sucker is big.

15 inches long, 3 3/4 inches tall, 2.25 inches wide.

The trailer itself is 11 inches long. 

The cab has lots of nice detail and can be used without the trailer.

The trailer and cab together may be a little too large for 28mm, but jack-knifed it does a great job blocking an intersection. 

Well, there you go folks. Thanks for looking. 

West Wind 28mm SWAT

Hi, friends. Here's a few more minis. These are West Wind GRK10 SWAT Team. I got them from warweb.com here in the States. Vampifan already featured them on his blog a while back. These are nice minis at a decent price.

Very dynamic poses. I went for a simple paint job of black bdu's with gray highlighting. Didn't do well on the lettering at all, so I placed an order with Company B for some SWAT decals. I'll probably just paint over the lettering black and apply the decals.

Thanks for looking.

Some new vehicles for ATZ games

In the course of the morning's running around I went to a Rite-Aid drug store and found some cool vehicles. I also had a couple of lucky finds at the Dollar General and Big Lots.

Pic above is a nice little Camper from Rite-Aid. About 1/43 scale. $4.99 each. I've been looking for one of these forever. Both front doors open.

Pic above shows the van with an EM4 biker for scale. The van has a detailed interior. You can see a TV on the wall inside the van with a picture of a zebra. I wish to God it had been a penguin instead. Cue Monty Python music. "What's on the telly? Looks like a penguin..."

This view is looking through the back window of the camper. There's a kitchen sink and grill, a dining table and benches, the tv mounted on a cabinet, and the open door you see is a tiny bathroom with a toilet. The ladder goes up to a loft bed over the driver's seat.

Pics below are of a nice little 1/43 Hummer from Dollar General. Costs just $2.50, but the doors don't open.

EM4 Biker for scale.

Pics below are a 1/43 Presidential Limo from Big Lots. The most expensive vehicle of the group, $9.50, but I think well worth it. Doors open, and lots of nice little details.

News Team 5 interviewing the limo's occupant. 

Next vehicle is another 1/43 Rite Aid vehicle for $4.99. Great details.

With EM4 Bikers for scale.

I've been wanting a nice pick-up and this one fits well.

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for looking. I may actually try to paint something today.