A BOX OF ROCKS!!!

What's occurrin' then?

It's been a busy week. A daughter who not only turned 16 but also needed a prom dress. WTF, back in my day, it was a school disco in the afternoon, still in your uniform. No chance of drinking or any other kind of fun. How times seem to have changed. So a command decision was made, leave the dress shopping to the Mrs. and I'll finish my scenery. Most sensible, especially when said daughter goes all "Promzilla" on my ass.

We shall endeavour to continue the cultural mission. More art from the magnificent Bryan Baugh. This one is called Army of Darkness. Great movie, great memories, great art. Enjoy!

THE PIT WITCH, WHAT A CRAZY BITCH.

As mentioned last time, the rocky outcrops were going to be painted and flocked. That's exactly what happened, don't you love it when a plan comes together.

So on top of the "chocolate" emulsion basecoat, I drybrushed a slightly lighter brown emulsion. This was kindly mixed for me by the nice man in our local B & Q. I believe the shade was called "Chocolate Suede".

ROCKY OUTCROP NO.1

Another drybrushed coat followed with an even lighter brown, "Cozy Cocoon", another stupid name. Again custom mixed by the nice man in B & Q. Pretty good value too, £ 2.50 for a 500ml pot, same price as a GW 10ml pot. I wonder which one will last longer?

ROCKY OUTCROP NO. 2

I then flocked them with a special blend of flocks that I've had for years. I think they were called "Dark Heather Mix" and a brown flock, who's name has been lost in the mists of time.

ROCKY OUTCROP NO.3

After the glue for the flocking dried, I added a few patches of static grass.

ROCKY OUTCROP NO. 4

Further coverage was achieved by strategic use of grass tufts, which I ran out of half way through. These may need to be revisited at some point.

ROCKY OUTCROP NO. 5

Some where is another piece of foilage, a dark green bushy thing, a clipped piece of an old GW hedge. Bought back in the days when I didn't know any better.

ROCKY OUTCROP NO. 6

Maybe, should have added more of the clipped hedge. No, they look OK. Stop second guessing one's self. The tree turned out nice.

ROCKY OUTCROP NO. 7

Just bloody realised I've forgotten to add the clump foilage. Never mind, it will keep for another scenery piece.

ALLTOGETHER AND FINISHED.

The storage shed is next in line for completion, if all goes to plan. We all know how that goes.

I guess that's all I got for this time dudes and dudettes. So until next time follow the DUDE'S lessons and "take it easy".

HEAD`S IN THE SHED. MORE WIP SCENERY.

What`s occurrin` then?

Due to some technical issues with my comm's device, I was unable to post last week. Sorry about that. Still, some quick field repairs and we're back in business.

The fences last time didn`t quite quell the voices. "What about ATZ?". Over and over. Until the itch must be scratched. Aaaahhhhh! Sweet relief. So, a bit more WIP scenery.

More culture, in the form of another splendid piece of art by the outstanding Bryan Baugh. This beauty is called Creeper Peeper. Enjoy!

I LOVE THE BLUE TONE IN THIS ONE.

The welcome wagon is being brought out of the storage shed again, although it's really a welcome back. So a big BZA welcome for my latest follower, or is it returning follower, Major Diz Aster. WELCOME BACK MAJOR! The Major is back in command at The Quick and the Zed. Death Warmed Over blog. Go check it out and welcome him back to the blogosphere. He's starting again from scratch. Some very nice vehicles so far, and he's just got his first zombies, again.

Right then, scratching the scenery itch. So I made some fences last time, as mentioned not quite enough. Trying to stick with a more rural theme, I thought that some rocky outcrops might make a nice change from all the fencing, more natural even.

We ventured outside the bunker again, to take advantage of the light. Again not sure if it was successful.

ROCKY OUTCROP NO. 1

The bases started life as table placemats. I buy them at my local charity shop, usually four for a pound. This entire set was cut from two of them. After they were cut out, I bevelled and sanded the edges to better blend with the tabletop.

ROCKY OUTCROP NO. 2 

The boulders and rocks are scavenged stones from the garden, hot glued to the bases. A little filler was applied to cover any gaps and blend the stone to the base.

ROCKY OUTCROP NO. 3.

A few smaller stones and sand were poured onto a liberal coat of PVA. Left to dry overnight.

ROCKY OUTCROP NO. 4

All the pieces were then given an undercoat of chocolate brown emulsion, from a 99p tester pot, to basecoat and further seal the sand.

ROCKY OUTCROP NO. 5

Just need to be drybrushed up with some lighter browns, at least two to three colours lightening upwards.

ROCKY OUTCROP NO. 6 

And finish off with some flock. I've got some somewhere, just have to dig it out.

ROCKY OUTCROP NO. 7

The tree is from a GW piece my son brought home from the local shop one day, when he used to go quite regularly to paint. I don't think they do that anymore.

ROCKY OUTCROP GROUP SHOT.

Now we come to the titular shed. This started as a free download building but after mounting onto foamcore, the scale of the doors and windows started to bother me. Just too small. Project shelved.

STORAGE SHED FRONTAGE.

After finishing the fences, I still had a big pile of coffee stirrers. Wanting a rural set of buildings, I thought that this gave me the oppurtunity to see what sort of result I could achieve with them.

DOOR CLOSE UP.

So the result is this storage shed, not quite a barn, but bigger than something at the bottom of your average garden. As you can see in the photo' below, the inside isn't quite finished yet. A little more clipping and sticking to go.

BACK SHOT AND A BIT OF UNFINISHED INTERIOR.

The doors are hung using the patented Vampifan Masking Tape Technique. VMTT for short. When the interior is finished, it'll be time to think about a base. I'm pretty sure it will fit nicely onto one of those placemats.

This my first building ever using stirrers as planking, it's pretty easy, looks cool and is very cheap. I think a barn could be on the cards.

Well, I guess that's all I got for this time dudes and dudettes. So until next, follow the DUDE'S example and "take it easy".

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY MOTHERFUCKERS!

DON'T FENCE ME IN AGAIN. SCENERY WIP.

What's occurrin' then?

What did I say about plans surviving contact with the enemy (real life). My painting ground to a halt this week. In the back of my mind, there's this whispering "What about ATZ then?" over and over. So to try and halt this, I thought that maybe some scenery for ATZ would help, it seems to have worked for now.

We can't just go rattling off on a wild goose chase, not without the continuation of my cultural mission. This time I'd like to share another wonderful example of Bryan Baugh's work. This piece is entitled String Cheese. It's rather yummy. Do enjoy!

Before we get to the meat of the post, the welcome wagon must be pulled out of the storage shed to greet yet another follower on our delightful adventure. So please extend a big and warm welcome to Ariel El vikingo dark. WELCOME ARIEL. Ariel runs the Ricky el vikingo dark blog, check it out, it's different.

More scenery WIP, again in the form of fences. A little variety though this time. This first one is corrugated card simulating corrugated iron, hopefully. Well I'm sure it will once it's painted.

A SMALL METAL FENCE.

As you can see from the picture below, I made six of them. All based on lolly sticks. Made from cake packaging, a little filler, skewers, sand and PVA.

SIX SMALL METAL FENCES.

Coffee stirrers are great for making fences. These are a variation of the ones I made last time around (the idea was stolen from Joe of Zabadaks Zombieworld). These were more rural fences, something from a ranch perhaps.

A SMALL RANCH STYLE FENCE.

As can be seen in the picture below, I made eight of this type. Twelve sets were cut out but I only managed to put together eight of them. Some of them have been stained with ink. A lovely Chestnut colour.

EIGHT SMALL RANCH STYLE FENCES.

More coffee stirrers were harmed making these picket type fences. Again based on lolly sticks, filler added and sand PVA'd on. I probably stain these as well, or they might look good painted white.

SMALL PICKET OR GARDEN FENCE.

As can be seen in the photo below, I made six of this type for now. I'm sure there will be more of these in the future, I quite like this style.

SIX OF 'EM. GREAT FOR SURROUNDING A VEG PLOT OR LAWN.

These are much taller, more of a pallisade style fence. Made from coffee stirrers and "craft" sticks (shaped lolly sticks). Hot glued on to some seriously thick card, the type that Space Hulk floor tiles are punched from. A little filler, sand and PVA completes the section. The craft sticks were pre-coloured so these will have to get a lick of paint.

HOPEFULLY, THE BIGGER FENCES WILL KEEP THE ZOMBIES OUT.

Only managed to make four of this type so far but I've got a few more craft sticks to knock a couple more up. These should look OK in a more rural setting. I'm working on a set of gates for these ones too.

SOME OF THOSE GAPS WILL NEED COVERING OVER.

The plan is to get back to the mini's this week but we all know how long plans last. I hope you all enjoyed my little diversion as much as I did making them, I found it quite relaxing. Must be something to do with cutting up all those coffee stirrers.

Well, that's all I got for this time dudes and dudettes. So until next time try and emulate the DUDE and "take it easy".