A Night of Casting

Early in 1992 I began making masters of US armored vehicles with intentions of casting a US army to add to my growing 15mm collection. As things turned out, it would almost 18 years before I finally started casting my army.


I purchased some Old Glory WWII US infantry about 4 years ago, painted a bunch at the time, but didn't finish them up until this past December. A couple of weekends back I finally got around to casting up my American armor.

In addition to a variety of M4 variants and some M2 and M3 halftracks, I cast a few of my new Peugeot P4 "jeeps" and a platoon of BTR-152s. The Shermans include early and late M4A3s, M4A1, M4A3E8, and a few M4A3E2 Jumbos.

I also cast some of the parts for platoons of M10 and M32 tank destroyers, and will finish these and castings to complete companies of each type of Sherman and halftrack in a couple of weeks (the next time I am likely to have a window to do some casting).

The castings were made from a combination of Vagabond and Alumalite resin in molds of Dow-Corning HS-III. They have been primed gray for the photos.

In all, I spent about five hours casting vehicles and will need another two hours to complete the remaining minis. Hopefully, it won't be another 18 years before I get them painted.

Miniatures Projects 2010

Over the last few years, I've really focused on figure painting, while letting a lot of other projects set. This year, I am going to try the reverse. I don't have a tons of figs that I need to get painted, but I do have a tremendous number of terrain, building, and vehicle projects that range from being ideas sketched on paper to half built obstacles taking up space in the basement. My goal for the year is to finish the following projects:


20mm Vietnam

Riverine Terrain - Complete a modular section of river with at least one canal, an old church, bunkers and a village site inspired mostly by the book "Riverine". This will consist of roughly 78 square feet of modular foam terrain.

Village - Complete buildings for a Vietnamese village, starting with the Britannia hooches, then either add a few from another manufacturer or scratch-build them.

PBRs - Complete Britannia PBRs and sampans. Maybe add a couple scratch-built sampans.

Complete M113 and M48 kits - Complete kits for 4x M113 and 1x M48 and also add a couple of 2.5 ton trucks a couple of Jeeps.

Vietnam Civilians - Find and complete more civilians. I need villagers and refugees to add more chaos tot the games.


15mm World War Two

US vehicles - Finally make castings of US vehicles that I mastered in the early 1990's. Complete at least one company of Shermans and M3 halftracks, and several supporting platoons of various types.


15mm Modern Africa

Airport - Build airport/airbase for scenarios in my fictional campaign. I have several scenarios taking place at an airbase/airport.

Presidential Palace - Build a presidential palace for the Mugabian president. I'm guessing that I'll need it at some point, and expect that it will consist a few modular buildings that be used as freestanding buildings in the meantime.

Houses - Add at least 7 more houses and small shops to my collection of African buildings.

T34/85 - Complete master and cast a company for the Mugabian army.

BTR152 - Cast a company of BTR152s. Pulled the first couple of castings this past week.

M2A2 - Complete/modify the master and cast a company for my US troops.

Uwanda Helicopters - Choose, procure, and complete helicopters for the Uwandan commandos.

Barricades - Make a bunch of "Mog" type barricades.


15mm Afghanistan

Gaz66 - Complete and cast a bunch of trucks for Soviet convoys and various duties in Afghanistan and Africa.


28mm Science Fiction

Ayers' Farm - Paint the house and complete the farm buildings for defense from alien intruders.

Ayers Family - Pick up and paint figs for the rest of the family defending the farm.

Post Apocalypse Terrain - Finally build the ruins of humanity. This will be a modular system for ruined cityscapes, and the initial build will involve at least 54 square feet of modular foam terrain.

"Out West" Town - Complete the buildings that I have had half done in the basement for the last two years. Think route 66.

"The Hood" - Based on part of my childhood stomping-grounds, will provide the core of an inner city for contemporary/near future/ post apoc games. Involves completing several buildings already started and adding a few more.

Birdman Museum - Complete the birdman museum for the "Out West Town". The museum is inspired by those many roadside museums that I saw as a child and will feature artifacts of the ancient "birdmen". Much to the surprise of the towns people, the birdmen will be coming for their holy relics.

Scavenger Village Expansion - Additions to my post apocalypse scavenger village will include a couple ruined buildings/hovels, debris/junk heaps, and other various detail items for the village.

Contemporary Police Station - Build a police station for "The Hood". It may or may not double as a station for the "Out West" town.

Near Future Police station - Build either a new structure or more probably a futuristic addition to the contemporary police station for various near future scenarios.

Zombies - Buy and paint the Cold War Zombies.

Wasp CS Aircraft - Build the "Wasp" close support craft that I designed a couple of years back. It was literally inspired by watching a couple of wasps that were hanging around the back porch a couple of years back.

Beetle Utility Transport - Build the "Beetle" transport aircraft , a companion to the Wasp, for my Imperial troops. Sort of a sci-fi "Huey".

Imperial APCs - I picked up a Landraider kit a couple of years back and decided that I almost liked it, but there are just some things that strike me as being "wrong". I struggle with the silliness of GW designs. I realize that they work in the 40K environment, but my IG/SPace Marines serve in more "down to earth settings" too. So, I decided to scratch-build them the "right" way. I made some sketches and put them in the stack. Hopefully I can finally get some rides for my Imperials this year.

Meanderings While Figure Painting

Yesterday I finally got a chance to sit down and paint figs, something I haven't really done since August. On the table were a couple of 1/100 scale jets for modern Africa, my 28mm sci-fi police grav car, and a bunch of 15mm WWII US troops.

Despite gaming for years, and being a long time WWII gamer (since 1979), I had never built up American forces. I had painted up a batch a couple of years back, and this batch would complete those units. It was while painting the US troops that my mind went wandering through my childhood. These figs represent those heroes of my childhood, the men who shaped my world, and gave me opportunity to live in it.

As I painted the figs, I remembered watching movies like Battleground, and Battle of the Bulge with my family, reading endless books about battles and equipment, and images from those books. Windows into their struggle and sacrifice; visions that I can't ever really understand. I remembered faces of all those vets around me while growing up. Men who carried the burden of their experience without a word of complaint, and a couple so burdened by their experience, that they would take their own lives as a result.

I also remembered some of the best times of my life. The time spent wondering through the woods while playing army. Sometimes with my friends, sometimes alone, dressed in the surplus hardware that I had collected, I would defend the foundation of an old farm house, scale the sandstone cliffs in a flanking maneuver, scout an enemy raccoon or deer, or just patrol the paths and streams cris-crossing the woods. The best times were in late fall and winter, when the adventure was accompanied by the echoing sounds of woodpeckers and owls echoing through the woods, and of a wave of tree branches clacking as a gust swept through the woods.

I particularly remember one winter day; it was cold and the ground was hard. I was alone, and sort of deciding what I wanted to do. I remember taking off my steel pot, pulling up my collar, watching my breath in the air, and it started snowing. Big flakes, hard, pounding the ground. And the sound was incredible, beautiful, wonderful, and more than anything else, completely peaceful. Just an odd little moment, when the commonplace seemed extraordinary.

In any event, I haven't taken pics of my US figs yet, but here are a couple of my police grav-car. I'll have to touch it up a bit, when I add the decals and weather it.