“Mobile Modeling Manufactory”

I’ve always wanted to have a mobile model building setup so that I can take my hobby with me when the family and I are at our weekend place. After much procrastination and fruitless internet searches, I finally decided to just wing it and build one myself. My “Mobile

Modeling Manufactory” (M3, for short) consists of two major components - a storage unit and a work surface.

Storage Unit:

The storage unit is a metal Craftsman 4 drawer tool box. Now before we go on, I do need to disclose I’m a huge Craftsman Tool fan. Craftsman hand tools and tool storage units are the best I’ve ever used and the guarantee is superb. I selected the 4 drawer version. Here’s a link to the Craftsman website for the item. The top storage bin has enough room for the critical modeling tools and the four tool drawers seemed to be designed to hold Vallejo paints. I can fit 40 bottles per drawer - that’s a 160 paint bottles!

I do suggest you install a thin foam liner so the bottles don’t roll around.

As for my M3 list of critical tools: here they are (suggestions for additions / deletions are most welcome)

Xacto Knife (#11 Blades)

Various Glues

2 pair of tweezers

Small Curved pliers

Clipper

Small file set

Metal ruler

Sanding block

Spray on Primer

“Chopper II” Cutting tool

High quality paint brushes (I think they’re worth the money)

Work Surface:

The work surface was cobbled together with some excess finishing wood I had left over from a boat repair project. The overall dimensions of the work surface is 24” wide by 22” deep. I added a small shelf on the back to place models for drying. I also drilled some holes for brushes. I covered with wood with 5 coats of polyurethane to help with durability and prevent warping (we’re on the water, so the elements play havoc with unprotected wood). My design has more than a passing resemblance to the paint station sold by GW - isn’t mimicry a form of flattery? There is one difference, the GW item costs $40.00 and is made out of MDF. My version is made out a marine grade wood and cost maybe $5.00 - plus about 90 minutes of bench time.

The bottom of the work surface is cushioned with 12, 1 inch wide felt pads which help ensure heavy usage on the bench doesn’t damage the table underneath - very important in keeping the warden, oops, I mean the wife happy.

I use a bungee cord to clip the work surface to the tool box for storage in the hall closet.

Ship Scale Bake-Off Results

I’ve finished both the 1/2400 and 1/1200 versions of the 74 gun Ship-of-the-Line. The final verdict is the same as the last post - I like the 1/1200 Langton a lot more. The Langton’s are a challenge to build but it’s a fun challenge and I

really like the end product. After completing the rigging (which is not as detailed as the instructions indicate) I have realized I need some special model ship rigging tools so it will be off to the Micro Mark website after posting this update. I still need to weather the sails but that cam wait for now.

During this latest build step I completed the rigging, added the etched brass ratlines and finished the detailing. All-in-all I’m very happy with the results and have already started my next Langton - the second of 4 74 gun US ships-of-the-Line for my “what-if” fleet. All told it took me about 12 hours to complete the model. I’m very confident that with the experience learned on the first model that I can get the build time down to the 6 - 8 hour range. I’m not sure I want to go any faster as the building has been a lot of fun.

I did have a tricky time with the etched brass ratlines - they can be a little finicky but they’re worth the effort.

I will be completing the rest of my 1/2400 scale ships that came with the intro kit I got as it’s a shame to waste them and they’ll be useful to recreate a large scale battle. I will probably build them as a large British fleet since the first one is painted in a UK color scheme.

Ship Build Update

I’ve made a good bit of progress on my sailing ship build test. I’m building 2 74 gun ships of the line in different scales (1/2400 and 1/1200) to see which scale fits my needs. The 1/2400 scale is from Hallmark/Figurehead and the 1/1200 from Langton.

Both models are excellent products. From a cost and ease of construction the 1/2400 win hands down - only 4 parts including the base vs over 20 for the Langton. I did find the painting the hull on the Figurehead model to be difficult. The gun ports are moulded onto the model and my hand is just to shaky to highlight them. I resorted to dipping the hull to try and show off the detail. Total build / paint time for the 1/2400 is roughly an hour. If this were a business class we would likely say 1/2400 is the most efficient, therefore it wins, class dismissed.

However, miniature wargaming is something that I would never describe as either a practical or “logical” hobby - we do go to extremes don’t we? So why should the norms of standard business judgement apply here? Besides, look at the mess that the application of standard business judgement has gotten us into. Can anyone say “Credit Default Swaps plus Cross Collateralized Risk is a big boo-boo?” But I digress....

Our other build, the Langton model is about 60% complete. Most of the structure is done as is the major painting but I still have to attach the spanker sails, do some paint touch ups, seal the model, complete the rigging and add on the ratlines. By the way, it’s important to build the model in that order. While a challenge, the model has been a real joy to build. I’ve got about 8 hours into her now and likely have another 6 until completion. I’m estimating the normal build time to run around 8 hours once I know what I’m doing - if that’s ever possible :)

The most challenging part of the build was the sails, but if one reads the instructions and takes your time it’s rather fun. I got the process down after completing the first mast. In all fairness, the manufacturer, Rod Langton did point out that the brass sails are not for beginers. Langton does offer a cast option for the sails which appear to be much easier to build but I like the look of the brass sails when completed. The brass sails are more than worth the moderate extra effort.

I’m building this model as a US ship of the line (the Ben Franklin to be precise) and she will be part of a 10-12 ship US fleet that will have 4 74’s as it’s backbone.

So here are my conclusions - both products are excellent. If you’re on a tight budget or consider yourself more of a gamer than a modeler then the Figurehead 1/2400’s are the way to go. They’re not as detailed as the larger scale but you can field a very large force with a limited investment in time and money. However, if you’ve got some more resources to invest and like the modeling aspect as much as the gaming aspect, then there is no better choice than Langton. I’ll be choosing Langton.

Please note: neither model is attached to it’s base - they’re just on them for the photos.

One comical build note - as I was building the Figurehead ship, I manage to drop the stern mast sails onto the floor. While small, the part isn’t that tiny - it’s roughly 3/8 inch by 1/4 inches. After looking for about 20 minutes I couldn’t find it. Like most modelers, I have a black hole under my workbench that occasionally consumes small parts and I thought the sails were on their way to another dimension. I went upstairs for some coffee and my wife started laughing at me and asked, in a mocking tone, why I was at full sail? Apparently, as I got down to look for the sails, I managed to glue them to my left elbow!

Ships for Trafalgar

I finally got around to starting to build some ships for the Trafalgar ruleset. Being an indecisive gamer, I purchased ship models in both 1/2400 and 1/1200 scale. Both models in the picture are a British 74 gun ships of the line. The one on the left is from Figurehead (1/2400 scale) and the one on the right is from Langton (1/1200 scale). Not shown in any of the Langton pictures is the thread for rigging the masts. In addition to more detail / build complexity in the larger scale there is a significant cost difference, with the 1/2400 ships running at $3-$4.00 per ship and the Langton’s running at $10 - $15 per model. I’m going to build both ships and then decide which scale to get into in a big way.

I’ve included some other pictures of the part detail for each model. My estimate is that the build time for the 1/2400 ships will be roughly 1-2 hours each and the 1/1200 5 - 10 hours. We’ll see how I do with the rigging exercise. If you do decide to get some Langton ships (which are fantastic models) you should get the build guide he offers - it’s a great help.

Despite the significant build complexity and higher cost, I’m leaning toward the Langton’s and 1/1200 scale - they just look that good when completed.

28mm Napoleonics

I recently joined a local gaming club, the Ellicott City Association of Miniature Gamers Association or ECAMGA for short. It’s a loose group whose main goal is to have fun and I’m grateful that they lowered their standards and admitted me. I was able to attend a few games of 28mm Napoleonics and was amazed by how great these models look on the table and how much fun the game was.

Each side had close to 1,000 miniatures each arrayed across a 15 foot table with absolutely fantastic scenery. As for the miniatures, themselves, the vast majority are Perry Brothers and painted to a very high standard, indeed. The members of ECAMGA are both great modelers and a lot fun to play with. My apologies for a lack of photos of the games, but I was having to much fun to snap off a few pictures.

We were playing a homegrown ruleset that was based around event cards and command control. I must say it was easy to learn and a lot of fun. During my first game, I had command of the British left wing, which consisted of 3 infantry brigades. I spent most of the game cowering on the reverse slope of a hill after I learned that infantry in column formation and enemy artillery batteries are a volatile combination. I did have a blast and enjoyed meeting the club members.

I saw more action in my second game, where I again commanded the left flank, but this time for the French. My orders were to seize a town and bridge from the dastardly British. For this endeavor, I was allocated 4 brigades of infantry, 1 of dragoons and 1 artillery battery. Of course, the ECAMGA members on my side were gracious to the “new guy” and allocated me most of the elite troops. This impressive force was able to seize both the town and the bridge and win the game! Of course, I did out number the opposing British by almost 2 - 1, they had some atrocious luck, and I was given a “do-over” at a critical point, but a win’s a win! Besides, I’m pretty sure the loss column will balloon in size once the “be nice to the new guy” stuff wears off! Never-the-less, I had a great time and really enjoyed getting to know some of the club members better.

My experience with the club has reinforced one of the prime motivations for my switching hobbies from model rail roads to miniature gaming - social interaction. Outside of conventions (which I rarely attend), I found MRR to be enjoyable from the craft perspective but a rather lonely hobby, especially after my son lost interest in running trains with Dad (oh, I do miss the Thomas the Tank Engine days). Miniature gaming features the same craft aspect but has a much higher degree of social interaction - playing a game is a lot more fun (to me) than watching trains roll around a track. I don’t really care that much about who wins or looses the match but the aspect of competition and the human “surprise factor” is very interesting and fun. Don’t get me wrong, I still like model rail roads, especially garden ones (G scale) but that hobby will now need to share time with gaming.

I have the strong feeling that 28mm Nappy’s will be in my immediate future as the next army to build. Hopefully, I can figure a way to create a campaign that links the Trafalgar rules and the ECAMGA house rules for a series of amphibious battles.

Huzzzahhhh!

Road Building or Try, Try Again

When at first you don’t succeed, ask for a bailout. Unfortunately there is no TARP money left to bail out miniature scenery projects, so it off for another try. The fabric based under-layer for my roads proved to be susceptible to warping and I couldn’t figure a way to keep the roads both flat and flexible (to follow terrain contours). Then I had an idea - use heavy weight strathmore board as the under layer for the paintable latex caulk, and it works like a charm. Here is a revised list of materials for making roads:

Under-layer: - Heavyweight Strathmore Board

(purchased from Michaels’ Art Stores)

Covering: - DAP paintable caulk - I choose a buff tone which helps in

the shading of the final product

Paint: - Folk Art “Twill” paint - nice neutral tone

Tools: - Hobby Knife and Steel straight edge (to cut out road

sections)

Caulk Gun

Popsicle Sticks (to spread the caulk)

Bamboo Skewer (to make ruts)

Cup of Water (to help with smoothing out the caulk)

Paint brushes

Total Materials Cost $28.00

Steps:

Cut out Sections:

I decided to make my roads 2 inches wide. In previous posts, the roads where 2.5 inches wide, which is more accurate for a 15mm scale but they just look too wide on the table. The reduction to a 2 inch width really made them look better.

Draw your road sections out on the strathmore board. Using a straight edge cut out the sections with your hobby knife. Strathmore is a pain to cut and it takes me about 4 passes with a hobby knife to make a clean cut using medium pressure. Make sure pull the knife away from you - the board dulls a blade very quickly and you will hit some snags that cause the blade to “jump”. You can see in the first picture below one of the base sections before being caulked. I cut out the following sections:

8 - 12” straight

2 - 6” straight

2 - 3” straight

2 “T” Crossings

1 “X” crossing

1 “Y” Crossing

2 90 degree curves - these need to be free handed when cutting

Apply the Caulk:

Once the road sections are cut, it’s time to apply the caulk. I put a bead of caulk down in a tight wave shape along each section and then smoothed it out with a wet popsicle stick. I tried to get thin covering along the the entire road section and it’s sides. Don..’t worry if a little of the strathmore board shows through as it paints up . I let each section set up for about an hour before adding wheel ruts using a bamboo skewer. Now I have a heavy hand and the initial ruts were too severe but that was easy to fix. I used a damp foam brush and lightly swept over the road sections to damp down the ruts. I then let the road sections cure for 24 hours.

Painting:

The road sections will still warp a bit while curing but can be easily bent back into shape (the strathmore board is surprisingly strong and flexible). One section was somewhat resistant to de-warping (I had way too much caulk on it). That was easily fixed by inserting straightened paper clips into the strathmore for support (think of this as paper clip rebar). I then cleaned up the ends of each section using a sanding block to make sure the road sections would fit together cleanly.

Painting involved covering the roads with Folk Art “Twill” acrylic paint thinned 50/50 with water. I painted a base coat over each section and then went back and highlighted with un-thinned twill. I like the results.

Use:

Once the paint dries, the road sections are ready to use. The srtathmore is bendable so each section can we adjusted to fit terrain contours. To be honest, I’m not sure of the long term durability of the strathmore so I have reinforced the underside of each section with duct tape. Might be overkill but then again it might not.

I’ve been very happy with the initial results and plan to make some more sections for the table. I used about 3/4 a tube of caulk for what I made with this first set.

Terrain Building Goals

Well now that I have both a gaming table and a basic mat, it’s time to build some scenery. In fact, I need a lot of scenery as the visual aspect of the hobby is what has really drawn me in. As the photo shows, I do have two structures (both 15mm) - a french farm house from JR Miniatures and a partially completed scratch built demolished house. Other than those structures, it’s a pretty sparse landscape so that needs to be addressed. As with any project, a little planning is needed, so lets start with some basics needs:

Scale Flexibility:

I play both 15mm and 6mm scales so where possible, I’d like the terrain to be usable in both scales. I think I can do this with the more topographical terrain elements (roads, hills, rivers, woods and hedges). Obviously, terrain that is more human scaled (buildings and fortifications) needs to be scale specific.

Ease of Setup and Storage:

I’d like all the terrain pieces to be mounted to a fixed base to allow for easy set up and storage. I’ve seen some gamers use loose gravel for roads and rubble. While it provides a high degree of flexibility, it seems very messy and a bit wasteful. With the exception of a few set pieces, no single terrain element should be bigger than 1 square foot.

Inexpensive to Make:

I’m going to try to make all of the terrain pieces out of very basic materials to lower the costs and reflect that my modeling skills are somewhat limited. I do have one advantage on the supply side as I’m also a model railroader so I’ve got a fairly large inventory of scenic supplies.

With the three simple objectives above, I’m going to try and organize my efforts along the following project list:

Roads for under $50.00

Elevations

Forests

Hedges

Field Fortifications

• Barbed Wire
• Mine Fields
• Trenches

Focus Pieces

This last section is for those “center-piece” terrain sections that serve as objectives for gamers and eye candy. During this year’s Cold Wars I purchased an Italian Monastery kit form Paper Terrain - the paper models look pretty good and you can’t beat the price.

• Italian Monastery on a hill (who wouldn’t like a Monte Cassino game?)
• Italian Village
• Carentan-like French Village

New Game Mat

My new terrain mat just arrived the other day. I ordered both a large (6’ x 4’) and small (2’ x 4’) game mat for The Terrain Guy (Allen) a little less than two weeks ago. The ordering process was done via his website and a few email exchanges. Once nice feature of the ordering experience is that you receive a number of progress report emails that note the different steps of the process.

As for the mat’s, I was very pleased by the quality. I selected the brown-green version as way able to specify 75% green and 25% brown. The mats are shipped rolled around a 1 inch pvc tube packed into a 50 inch long box. I like the packing as it’s very stable and the mats don’t have any creases in them from folding. The enclosed instructions do point out that the mats should be stored via rolling them up, with the flocking facing inward.

The mat’s are made of a canvas material covered with flocking. The glue holding the flocking seems very strong and I didn’t experience any of the material rubbing off (the wasn’t any inside the shipping box either). The green is a darker shade which gives me an impression of Northern Europe. I may purchase or make another mat with a lighter, more tropical shade of green for a change of pace.

Overall, I’m very satisfied with the product and would recommend that you take a look at Allen’s products if you’re in the market for something new.

While the table looks a little sparse, it does look a whole lot better than bare plywood. Now I need to go about making some more terrain! I would post some more pictures but it seems that my son has taken the family camera on a boy scout trip. Perhaps not such a great loss due to the rather poor quality of my photographic skills.

Basic Probability theory

I need to first admit that I am a novice war gamer and that I have only 10 or so completed games under my belt. But I have noticed one thing - a lot of gamers have only a rudimentary grasp of probability theory which impact’s their gaming and leads to the cursing of the Dice Gods. In order to avoid making the Dice Gods angry (never a good thing) I thought I should point out some basics in probability theory - one should expect nothing less from an idiot like me who runs around with the moniker of “Uber-Geek”

First off, I am assuming that the outcome of all die rolls are random. Now we all know that, technically, that’s not true because the friction co-efficient for each dice face is different due to the different markings (pips). I think we can dispense with that aspect as the error term introduced doesn’t even round to anywhere near 1%. Second, I hope none of you plan on using any of this information to rush off to a casino and break the bank. If you do, it will end badly - for you. If a fevered brain like mine can babble this stuff out, I’m pretty sure a Casino has done the same and then some. They also tend to be somewhat resistant to the plea “can I have a do-over? I didn’t understand the probabilities”.

So, you need to roll a 6 on a D6 - what are your odds? Well, you need one of six outcomes so 1 divided by 6 equals .167 or 16.7%. Hmm what if you had a +1 modifier, well then your odds are 2 out of 6 (since either a roll of 5 or 6 works) so your odds are 16.7% + 16.7% or 33.4%. Each die outcome level or die modifier impacts the probability by 16.7% - hey wake up the good parts are coming.

What if you still need to roll at least one 6, but now had two shots - you can roll 2 dice, but still only need one 6. If one has a 16.7% on one dice, surely one has double that or 33.4% if 2 dice are rolled. Nope. The odds are a bit less than that.

For two rolls, there is a 1/6 probability of rolling a six on the first roll. If this occurs, we've satisfied our condition. There is a 5/6 probability that the first roll is not a 6. In that case, we need to see if the second roll is a 6. The probability of the second roll being a 6 is 1/6, so our overall probability is 1/6 + (5/6)*(1/6) = 11/36. Why did I multiply the second 1/6 by 5/6? Because I only need to consider the 5/6 of the time that the first roll wasn't a 6. As you can see the cumulative probability is only 30.%, which is slightly less than 33.4% (or 2/6 from the previous paragraph).

For three rolls, there is a 1/6 probability of rolling a six on the first roll. There is a 5/6 probability that the first roll is not a 6. In that case, we need to see if the second roll is a 6. The probability of the second roll being a 6 is 1/6, giving us a probability of 11/36. There is a 25/36 probability that neither of the first two rolls was a 6. In that case, we need to see if the third roll is a 6. The probability of the third roll being a 6 is 1/6, giving us a probability of 1/6 + (5/6)*(1/6) + (25/36)*(1/6) = 91/216 (or 42.2%). Again, this is less than 3/6. Observe that as the number of die are increased the gap from the simple additive assumption grows.

The general formula for rolling at least one 6 in n rolls is 1 - (5/6)^n.

Of course, all of this probability mumbo jumbo in no replacement for the sheer exhilaration one feels after seeing your lowly M4A1 Sherman overcome the thick frontal armor of a dastardly Tiger tank and win the game by rolling a pair of 6’s.

Just remember, sometimes your die rolling luck might just be improved with a better understanding probability theory.

Ok class, lets take roll call:

Adams

Baker

Bueler....., Bueler....., Bueler.....

A 1:1 Scale Boat Kit

Not all modeling efforts result in tiny replicas of the real thing. It’s possible to transfer your modeling skills to build something a little more substantial. Last year my son developed a real interest in sailing and we decided it might be fun to build a basic boat rather than buy or rent one. After some google searches we settled on a kit from a local manufacturer Chesapeake Light Craft (CLC). CLC gives you the option of either purchasing the plans, purchasing a kit with all the parts pre cut or anywhere in-between. They were also very, very helpful during the build process, so I recommend them highly.

Building the boat was like any model or miniature build. One first reviews the plans, inspects all the parts and remove any flashing / imperfections. The hull planking is assembled using a lap-stitch method. The hull planks overlap like tongue and groove wood flooring and are initially held in place by copper wire loops ever 4 or 5 inches. I think we drilled over 800 wire holes and put in 400‘ish wire loops! We then used epoxy to fill in the seams and bind the boat planks together. Once the initial epoxy seams were dry, we removed the wires and applied more epoxy to fill in the wire holes and “voila” you have a hull.

Then the fun starts - sanding, sanding and more sanding. Two coats of epoxy and six coats of varnish later, she’s ready for the water. If any of you decide to try an build a boat here are some helpful hints:

1. Don’t sand the epoxy seams too much. When the boat was first put in the water we realized that we had sanded the seams too much as there were lots of micro leaks along the side. There is nothing more depressing than launching a boat and slowly watching her take on water. After that we learned to test launch our boat in the pool.
2. The build process uses a lot of epoxy to seal the hull - due to the curing time you need to work in small batches and buys lots of surgical gloves. Also, if your head gets itchy while you’re applying epoxy ALWAYS resist the urge to scratch it. I discovered that epoxy covered gloves and head scratching don’t mix unless one wants an excuse to get a buzz cut.
3. Take your time - boat building and rushing equals waste, frustration and the likelihood you’ll expand your child’s vocabulary in a guttural way - just like with model building. Again, take your time!

It took us about 75 hours to complete our little boat, but it was a blast.

Here are some pictures of the build process: