Prop's, Get out the Jalopy.

Get out the Jalopies or in this case Jalopy & polish up the wheels it got to be the smartest of the automobiles.

 The words above are from a song from the movie Monte Carlo or bust & was very much in my head while I was working on this prop.

What it is is a pencil sharpener from here, http://www.sharpenking.com/contents/en-uk/d9.html
now I know that people have gotten wagon's off of them but I'd not seen anyone with cars so I didn't know if they worked scale wise.

The car was cheap 5.25 Euro's but the postage was 11 odd Euro's so not knowing if the cars would work or not I ordered a couple of wagon's as well  take some of the sting out of the postage which was still 11 odd Euro's for 3 items instead of just one.

You could sit models in the front seat but not the back.

This had to go

go it did

& the back seat is usable

& when we arrive miles ahead of the rest

 everyone will know that our jalopy is best, you got to admit it's a car you can trust

Taylor Davies & Connemara Feeney out for a drive. 

so it's Monte Carlo or bust, if you'd like to hear the song, hit the link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tEBXZjJfVQ
That's a rap for this post, as always my thanks for dropping in & if you'd care to leave a comment it would be welcomed.

Make up, The Germans return

I got the Germans back from Alan last week & am more then happy with them.
Somewhere in Europe September 1939

Alan said the uniform's are done in the 39-40 colour's

He also done a some up as SS

Which is cool for when I'm looking for something a bit different from the rank & file.
I also got around to making up some 3 rail fencing.

I made the gates in such away that they can be open or closed

That's a rap for this post, my thanks to Alan & as always my thanks to you for dropping in & if you care to leave a comment it would be welcomed.

Connemara Feeney & Taylor Davies, A prelude to Adventure.

        NICKEL & DIME PRODUCTION'S 
                     proudly present's 
  CONNEMARA FEENEY & TAYLOR DAVIES 
                               in
         THE HEART STONE OF AFRICA                                  
Called after the land she was born on to Connemara Feeney was as rugged, wild & beautiful as the land its self, with a temper befitting any redhead.

Picture of Connie just before she left Ireland

At the young age of 17 she left home with all she owned in a little old suit case, walking the 5 miles (8.5KM) to Cliffden.
                                                        
There she took a train to Galway city were she boarded a ship bound for Newyork.
                                            
                                                     
A short time after arriving in Newyork she got a job in the office's of the self made millionaire Taylor Davies, Taylor had struck it rich in the gold mining prospecting business, followed quickly by some smart wheeling & dealing on the stock market, he now owned a globe spanning company with interests all over the world.

Taylor pictured here on his favourite horse Snowflake  

4 years later through hard work & dedication Connemara (Connie to her friends) became Taylor Davies personnel assistant, Taylor would tell people that she got the job as much for her spunky spirit  as for her secretarial & organisational skills, & there are few who know Connie that wouldn't believe that to be the truth.

The British South Africa Company (BSAC or BSACo) was established following the amalgamation of Cecil Rhodes' Central Search Association and the London-based Exploring Company Ltd which had originally competed to exploit the expected mineral wealth of Mashonaland but united because of common economic interests and to secure British government backing. The company received a Royal Charter in 1889.

                                     
 From around 1920, the company favoured a union of Southern and Northern Rhodesia, followed by their inclusion in the Union of South Africa, and it was in discussion with South African leaders about this. South Africa offered favourable terms for buying out the BSAC’s interests, and the company would be relieved of any future administrative costs. The BSAC did not want to be left with responsibility for the administration of Northern Rhodesia when Southern Rhodesia gained responsible government, but did want to preserve its commercial interests there, in particular its mining and land rights. To do this, it had to negotiate a settlement with the British government for both parts of Rhodesia. The two parties began negotiations in an atmosphere of mutual suspicion at the end of 1922, but nevertheless reached an agreement of 29 September 1923 to settle all the outstanding questions on Southern and Northern Rhodesia.

Davies firm T.R.D Global Excavation's LTD has interests in all 3 of the above countries, & both himself & Connie are about to take a flight from Pretoria to Livingstone, it is at this point that we'll pick it up in the next part of the story. 
Coming around the end of April. 

Designer Notes The story above is both fictional & fact & no infringement of copy-write is intended, for more about the British South African company  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_South_Africa_Company, I make no claim to the image of the ship, Clifden station or the map of Africa & point out that all are used without the consent of the owners.   

The next part is where the story really begins but I felt the above was necessary to set the tone as it where, I felt doing it this way would be easier then trying to do it as the story advanced. 
  
That's a rap for this post as always my thanks for dropping in & if you'd care to leave a comment it would be welcomed.

AUDERE-EST-FACERE

Audere-est-facere, will only mean something to two kind of people, those that know Latin or those who support Tottenhem Hotspur F.C, I'm of the later.
As there is a very big chance that some of you are neither of the above I'll translate, it mean's dare  to do, now just because you dare doesn't mean you'll succeed, but there's one thing for sure & it's this if you don't dare then you won't do. 

I'm about to try something over the coming month's that I've never done before, I guess you could call it a pictorial but as it the movies business I'm going to call it a following upper, it's something that I've thought about doing for about a year or so & have started working on over the last 3 or 4 month's.

I've been inspired for the main part by Bill P & his wonderful blogs  http://generalpettygree.blogspot.ie/ where a part from his epic Campaigns of General Pettygree you will fine the equally epic Expedition to Alexandrapour.

His other blog  http://lostsouthpacificadventures.blogspot.ie/ tells another trilling tale, which sadly is at a standstill dew to camera problems, & if I can do something even one 5th as good I'll be more then pleased,.
There are some others doing similar things, but it's Bill after I read the words ( you to can do this) on one of his closing notes that got me going. 

My only hope now dear reader is that you'll enjoy it as much as I'm enjoying making it, as I've collected the model's I needed, built the terrain & created the sets, at the time of posting the prelude (which will be the next post) plus the first 4 episode's are completed script wise with the 5th well advanced, that said I still have to make & paint up some more things plus shoot the scene's, but as each episode will be posted at monthly interval's I should be able to keep ahead

That's a rap for this post as always my thanks for dropping in & if you'd care to comment it would welcomed.

Makeup, Out & in

Like I said the Makeup & Wardrobe departments are busy places these days & no sooner has one lot of stars been finished then the next lot are on the way in.

As always you can click on the pictures to enlarge to see all the mistakes lol

The models are from Froundry's Darkest Africa range.

The females Roses of the Empire  can be found here, http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/our-ranges/darkest-africa/explorers

While the males Stouthearted Brits can be found here,http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/our-ranges/darkest-africa/british/ as can the unpainted ones below.

If you've hit the link you'll have noticed that the models have little metal bases which I removed as I like my models on clear bases.

The last picture is of the 4 half pilots, these where in a set with 2 full pilots that can be seen in the last makeup post.

 In the 2 pictures above & below you can see the next set of stars ready to head over to makeup, there Solid chaps to a Man & can be found at the link above, the 2 models below where free one's  that came which each order a nice little touch from Foundry & while the 1 on the left is not a model I'd have a use for at this point the monk is a model that could pop up in lot of places & so has been readied for makeup.

That's a rap for this post, as always my thanks for dropping in & if you'd care to comment it would be welcomed.

Trouble with water & Nazis extra's

Water is one of those funny things it always adds a lot but is very hard to get right & besides as funny as this might sound there are all kinds of it & different colours as well.

Looks ok from here let take a closer look shall we ?

 Perhaps a bit to green though I have seen water similar in colour i also like the reflection of the rock-face  adds more realism to things.

 I think this colour maybe works better from a lower angle where it looks less green, who said the camera never lies ?

Without a doth it works much better at a lower angle, how about blue ?

 A good start, lets rise up a bit.

 Not bad but the problem I'm having is the consistences of the colour, lets try it a bit higher.

 Holds up well I guess, I don't know about you guys but I think the blue is working out better over all, but either is exceptionable & it might be a case of what I'm looking for though I will be trying some other things so stay tuned.

Now part two, every-bodies favourite  bad guys Nazis, just after Christmas I picked  up some of these guys in a sale on warlord  games their from boltaction a good game btw but not one I'm looking at getting into, I just felt that at sometime I'd need  Nazis & at about 50p a model they weren't going to break the budget .

I've since made up the rest of them I think there's about 28 in total, there was a few lying down but I didn't bother with them tbh.

Anyway with the makeup & wardrobe  department's been  so busy these day's I've decided to outsource them, you see Alan in the clue who unlike me loves painting is also a big WWII nut, so I asked him if he'd like to paint them up & he said he would, it'll make a nice change from 40K stuff I guess.

 I've got to say I'm impressed  with these models as there's a lot of detail on them & lots of stuff to add on if you want.

That's a rap, as always my thanks for dropping in & if you'd care to leave a comment it would be welcomed.

The Thing in the well, Pulp Alley AAR

Nickel & Dime production presents Dick Dastardly & Penelope Pitstop, in the thing in the well.

Hot on the heels of the Count & his band of minions trying to save the world from ancient evil, we have that most fiendish of fiends Dick Dastardly, who has somehow managed to woo that heroine of hero's  Penelope  Pitstop to his dastardly ways.

We join our hero's at a well  by a ruined church, the day hasn't start to good for Dick with none of his newest gadget's working, drat (failing all d10 rolls on cunning) worse still he seems to be having trouble getting into the well where Klunk has told him the artefact is, drat & to add to things their now under attack from some cultist, double drat.

Help help squealed Penelope as Dick finely disappeared down the well, using all of his cunning to try to retrieve the ancient relic, Klunk who very un-Klunk like had been hiding in some bush's opened fire on these would be assailant's as did Zilly, while Penelope just stood by the well looking as pretty as ever.

Down the well, Dick was now using his finesse as he attempted to get his greedy mits  on the priceless treasure, Dick;" cut who's is the hero of this show may I ask ?" his hands on the priceless treasure, Dick:"  much better, drat" finesse it would seem is not one of Dick strongest point's it would seem.

Up topside the crew were doing their best to keep anyone from entering the well, help help squeaked that most gorgeous of heroine's Penelope Pitstop, but out numbered & with some of them knocked out a figure slipped down the well after Dick, will this be the end to his dastardly plans ? "oh those bundling fools can they never do anything right" Dick was heard to say down the well, although who heard him were not exactly sure, as he noticed a shadowy figure behind him, drat.

Not to be denied his prize Dick used all of his might, not a lot tbh  , Dick:"I heard that just stick to the script & keep your thought's to yourself thank you" pulling it free our hero made a mad dash back up the well, Dick:" much better"

Quick everyone to the car, when they had all got in, Dick:" Hurry Muttley step on it" what do you mean you want a medal you didn't do anything" noticing out of the window the cultist's where in hot pursuit, Dick:" oh alright here you are, now get going, hehehehe snickered Muttley as the car spread away, tune in next time when you might hear Dick say "Dart Drat & Treble Drat, then again you might not, but the race is defiantly on folks.

Cut, well that was a blast no doth, I'll rap up with my thanks to Dave (Dick) & the Doc (the other lot) for taking part & as always my thanks to you for dropping in & if you'd care to leave a comment it would be welcomed.