My future Terrantula

These $3 glow in the dark Spiders from Target will be the basis for my Terrantula for Great Rail Wars/ Deadlands games.  I am going to have to keep my eye out for after Halloween, when these are up for 50% off or more. I am very happy with the pick up.

Not the the finished product mind you...but it has been almost a year. I am trying to come up with a way to base them. I think i want to have at least one of them with it's front couple of legs up like it is going to attack. I'm willing to take suggestions....

The Doctor is in!

Dr. Justinian Von Coggleson is a strange man to say the least. First you must get past his bizarre appearance - his head covered in wrappings to cover his disfigured face, his blue-glassed goggles and the huge gauntlet on his right arm. Then when you speak to him, you are met by his thick Swedish accent that is further hindered by the wrappings over his mouth. If you can deal with these things however you find a truly brilliant tinker who has the ideas to build the most fanciful machines that would rival the ideas of Dr. Darius Hellstromme himself!

The tale of Dr. Von Coggleson is sad to say the least. At first he and partner Dr. Richard Reeds were working towards some of the greatest inventions ever imagined. However Dr. Reeds quickly realized the ideas and plans were all from his partner. Through jealousy Dr. Reeds decided he needed to make a change. He sabotaged an experiment Dr. Von Coggleson was working on, the first of his many plans that he was attempting to create. Dr. Reeds left Von Coggleson to his work until an immense explosion engulfed the lab and left Dr. Von Coggleson near death. After the explosion Dr. Reeds gathered as many of the blueprints and plans that he could and bid his partner fair-well as he left him to die.

When Dr. Von Coggleson awoke at a Doc Hubbard's office in Abilene he remembered only bits of what had transpired. One thing that did weigh on him was that he was infected with lycanthrope! In reality this 'infection' was a figment of his imagination, but when he was well enough his first order was to concoct a cure for the disease. The 'accident' at the lab left Von Coggleson horribly disfigured and led him to keep his face wrapped at all times - looks at his strangeness were far less biting than the looks he received before he wrapped his wounds. Now he struggles to remember his old plans, though he has plenty of new ones. The one thing that has been brought back to his memory is the visage of his partner turned enemy Dr. Richard Reeds. He doesn't mention it but he longs for the chance to get even with him.

The Bostonian

This is the project that got me rethinking my 5 minute rule and about more closely reading the instructions. In my haste I just put the main building together. If only I had read the instruction I would have known that you start with the front board walk first and work from there. So long story short...I had to "pop" it apart, sand it down and actually re-sculpt some details lost in the process. It is a great model by "Arnica Montana" I would suggest it to anyone (just read the instructions!)

I chose to use the side stair add-on kit...it took a little bit of fiddling to work. But I think it was worth it in the end.

 If I could take a picture to save my life you would see that I fashioned "batwing" doors for the front.

 Hitching post is just a left over railing cut and sanded a bit.

"Psst, wanna buy a bottle?"

Randomness

Here are some of my other minor projects to distract from my other more major projects...to ensure nothing ever gets done.

 An Eladrin Wizard (from the GW Mordheim line, I think it is a great mini) But, it just couldn't take all the tough love we had to offer and some where along the line his arm got lost. So, some metal wire and some green stuff later I am a sculptor. Bob Ridolfi and Bobby Jackson I am not... But at a distance it will do.

 These will be Steam Automatons to attack the Posse at some point. Mage Knight figures with GW skulls and not much else at this point.

Slime!!!

Slime!

Ooze!

The 5 minute rule

Everything I have posted here is the product of the five minute rule. As a matter of fact this blog is done using the 5 minute rule. And that is...that I do nearly everything 5 minutes at a time. I am taking out the trash, I swing by the workbench and work on the Livery for...you guessed it 5 minutes. Between folding laundry and pushing the kids on the swings, I apply spackle to the bases of a few minis. Between, coffee and brushing my teeth before work, prime something...I think you get the picture. It is far from ideal...
(and I am sure I am not the only one that has to work this way) but it is the way I have to work things as a father, husband, rodeo clown, master of the dungeon, Marshal, Eladrin Warlord, Red Sox fan, not so handy man and what not.

Here are some shots of the Livery. I finally decided on how to hinge the doors. I ditched the idea of putting the doors inside the frames and have the doors go over the top of the frames. Plus I stopped using "round" brass tubes.  The round didn't have enough meat to glue to the slender doors and put up with my ham fisted stylings. So I cut up some square brass "tubes" and bent "L" shaped pieces of paper clips...and here you have it. The heavy beam across the top does double duty. It was a suggestion from a buddy who thought the doors "needed something" to complete the look. and they actually keep the doors on their hinges so I won't have to worry as much in transit and storage. Now the corral on the side of the building...

The Strange Case of Doctor Von Coggleson

The Good Doctor Coggleson in his search for a cure for his lycanthropy, a ghost-rock induced delusion. With the "help" of one Doctor Richard Reeds, Dr. Von Coggleson was unaware of the impending betrayal by Reeds. It left Von Coggleson permanently and horribly scarred (ugly as Sin, in game terms) But worst of all with out many of the blueprints to his amazing inventions. 

Mini by Steve Jackson Games, Hand by Games Workshop, Head by Pulp Figures and Hair by Green Stuff.

I promise to try and take better pictures in the future...

The Bench...so much work to do.

I hate slot bases. I just can't stand them. I am a strong believer in the washer. I just like its lower profile and the heft it gives a mini. Granted it makes a long process (for me anyway with two kids, a house and a wife) even longer. The New Deadlands minis by Reaper have started coming my way and with a Deadlands campaign finally at long last starting I have had to get it in gear.

Here is the good Doctor Von Coggleson and his wondrous gauntlet. 

 More of the Doctor. The Ghost Steel makes it so light you hardly know you are wearing it. (Mini by Steve Jackson Games, Gauntlet by Games Workshop.)

Some of the Buildings

 Telegraph Office and the Ace High Saloon (both Arnica)

 Shed and a to be named Building (I am talking suggestions) Both again are Arnica

 This is the Ghost Water Gazette (I have since added a sign...Arnica)

 Not sure what this building is, will again take suggestions. (Arnica)

 The Abernathy Restaurant, my very first venture into scratch building...

 the Utah Apothecary by Hovel...

 Marshal's Office by Kilroy Productions.

 This was the fruits of a trade and even came painted...but I do not recall the manufacturer.

 Gun Shop by Arnica Montana.

 The Undertakers by Arnica, scratch built enclosure on the side and coffins by Kilroy Productions.

 Tremmel's General Store by Hovel.

The Bostonian by Arnica Montana.

The Stable

Here are some pics of my stable. I made it using the templates from "The Rules with No Name." A book just to shiny and beautiful not to buy when it was on sale for half price. The construction of the stable has sputtered to a halt, because I just can't figure out how I want to hinge the doors. Very frustrating for me...

The Minis here are Jesse Whales from Knuckleduster and one of the Nosferatu from the Great Rail Wars Line. 

High Noon in Ghostwater

 Brodie Buchanan hears trouble brewing

 Cat Abernathy has her street howitzer ready

 Out come the hero's from the saloon

Isaiah "Black Hand" Iron's and Running Blood with a gunhand

 The Mormon Kid is ready to clear leather

Zip's got a good spot as well

Brodie's seen this coming so he's staying put for now

The town freezes, but ready to strike!

another gunhand emerges (this is one of my favorite minis that I have painted.)

 The bad guys are set and ready

 Mormon Kid steps in to even up the numbers

four against four seems fair enough

 Oh wait there's X

He's plenty in the mix from there

One of the gunhands goes for the marshall - bad move!

Shannon takes out the rest

 a two for one special

That just leaves Isaiah Irons and Atwood Dunbar

He might look dirty, but Atwood never had a reason to worry

Shannon O'Conner

The Preacher

Atwood Dunbar

Mr. X