Hey all!
Well, as regular readers of this blog know, I've started in on a new project; a 15mm modern collection.
I've never been a guy who was really into the moderns. However, I've seen
a few really neat collections recently that got me interested... and then I happened to see the new
Gamecraft Miniatures MDF Middle Eastern buildings... and voila!
I ordered a whole bunch of buildings (and then, like any easy customer does, I promptly email the owner Allen and asked to add to my original order... I am a pain in the ass... ) to make up a small middle eastern city. I went with the laser cut MDF buildings, although he also has resin buildings and foam core.
They are just a really fantastic little product. They come in little plastic baggies with each bag featuring a full kit for a building. I ordered only the removable roof buildings; I want the interiors accessible. They do also have ones with the roof secured in place. The buildings fit together very easily, with little tabs and a touch of glue. I also got a set of interior walls from them; I wanted the insides playable, after all. The interior walls fit together very nicely. I even picked up a few sets of stairs, that are a bit of a pain to put together (one step at a time!) but are just awesome little pieces.
One note; you could TOTALLY use them with basically no work done; some even have bullet holes pocked through them, and exposed bricks. I would say you would just want to give the ends of the tabs a little rub or two with sandpaper to get rid of the darker color and you could absolutely use them as is.
I did have two small issues, one of which was resolved almost instantly (and the second of which will likely also be.) I did order some rather delicate balconies to put on the buildings, but unfortunately about half of them came a bit broken. I shot Allen a quick email and he immediately responded with an apology and explanation (must have used a softer piece of wood) and that he'd send me another set the very next day. He was super, super nice about it. Unfortunately I JUST unpacked the whole order (a week or two after it arrived) and noticed one piece missing. I am sure Allen will take care of it.
Overall, I HIGHLY recommend the
Gamecraft buildings. They are awesome looking, go together super easy, and cheap. The guys there are also super easy to work with and very nice:)
One last note; Allen includes a few pieces of candy in each order. I got some Smarties and a toffee. I know it is silly, but I love those little touches!:)
They were based on very small buttons, which were then built up with plaster and sanded (although in retrospect, I wish I had used finer sand). They were then undercoated with a tan spray I picked up at Home Depot, and then painted; black for the weapons, a few shades for the camo, and so on. I gave them a quick dip in a Minwax wood varnish, then matted and based!
Just FYI, the radio antennas are made of a single brush hair from a house painting brush... they turned out pretty good. Oh, and yes, I am aware that the goggles actually have their covers on... but I liked the look of them painted better:)
I ordered a whole bunch of buildings (and then, like any easy customer does, I promptly email the owner Allen and asked to add to my original order... I am a pain in the ass... ) to make up a small middle eastern city. I went with the laser cut MDF buildings, although he also has resin buildings and foam core.
One note; you could TOTALLY use them with basically no work done; some even have bullet holes pocked through them, and exposed bricks. I would say you would just want to give the ends of the tabs a little rub or two with sandpaper to get rid of the darker color and you could absolutely use them as is.
Work continues on the 15mm moderns!
I also put together a bunch of interior furniture... the two benches and table on the left will go in the building with the stairs, which will also be getting a dome and serving as my mosque. I am going to distribute the rest of the chairs, tables, and sofas through the other buildings. I don't do them in realistic numbers because the bases of the figures makes that impossible to do if you want the interiors to be playable.
Here are the first two buildings, basically finished except for some detailing and such.
I had to do a bit of sanding of the floors and roof in order to allow them to slip into place a bit more easily. The big building got a tiny bit of warping as well, once painted, so again a bit of sanding was called for. I also needed to add little boxes to the top of each roof so they could be lifted off... could be hatches for a ladder or something similar:)
Just put together a pair of buildings, based up the American infantry, and basecoated the base of the palms... and wanted to get a first few shots just to show the starting points!:)
Thought I'd share one or two photos from some magazines my father in law brought by for me... he has a friend who does some diorama making, and thought I'd enjoy flipping through them!
So, I have the buildings and trees coming (and some humvees courtesy of IrishSerb... more on that later) but I figured I still need a few more levels "down" of scenery and detail... things like street barricades and the like. We tackled some market stalls, the likes of which you might see in a Middle Eastern bazar. The tables were the perfect finishing touch. Now I need to prime them and paint them, and they'll be ready to roll!
