Topic: Discworld Inspired - It's 5pm so its.....................

[GamesPoet]

Oh wow!  Thanks for all the pictures!  A fitting tribute.

Here's what I wrote on the other thread after just seeing the one photo ...

We get some really high quality stuff being shown on this website.  This is another one.

JAK's painting style alone makes this great.  The story telling through these kinds of dioramas is astounding.

I feel so blessed to see things like this, it makes life worth living. Very grateful, and I am humbled by things like this.

This is stunning, so detailed, the SteveB figure is priceless.

[Zygmund]

Jaw-dropping piece.

There's so much going on.

Why did the goblins bring that beast? To make sure the birds fly? And did the beast just eat one of the birds? And the last one still refuses to fly?

Inventive use of the Gunhauler bits!

-Z

[TheHoundmaster]

As always your Discworld work is the very stuff of dreams. I absolutely love all of it!

[JAK]

Why did the goblins bring that beast? To make sure the birds fly? And did the beast just eat one of the birds? And the last one still refuses to fly?

-Z

The story behind the airship – There are Discworld pictures of Leonard of Quirm in a balloon type devise being pulled by small dragons. This was the starting point but as I had the birds they replaced the dragons. Pictures of a US Civil War balloon being filled from two containers which created a gas (Helium?) resulted in the loading platform and the two barrels – one with AchToO and the other something highly volatile. There are cylinders on the top of the gas bag to represent that the middle expands as the two liquids are combined in flight.

You cannot see clearly in the pictures but in front of the platform are two posts with rings at the top. The keel of the basket has a hole in it so that when lined up between the posts a wooden spar goes through all three to moor the ship, with an anchor for added security. The birds have perches at their feeding station (but no water?)

What you haven’t seen before these pictures were taken is that a goblin had been requested by its partner to take their little fluffy wuffy lapdog walkies. Around the bottom of one of the above mentioned posts is that well known chemical element K9P. While Fluffy was making this deposit he took a fancy to the wooden stick jutting out of the post and broke it off. This caused the ship to break free and start to rise, which naturally frighten the wits out of poor little Fluffy who dashed through the area where the raptors were feeding, in turn frightening two of them who took flight.

 As said before the goblins are naturally cave dwellers and are unsure about being on the surface so getting them to go into the air has been a trial. The bunny comfort blankets have helped and one is using his to try to help calm poor Fluffy down.  Medicinal amounts of amber liquids have also been given to give the goblins ‘Dutch’ courage but the one taking his on the top of the steps has his eyes closed and hasn’t realised the basket is no longer there. His friend who leapt onto the anchor to give it extra weight has realised this and has turned to watch the fun unaware that he is about to crack his head on the bird perch.

The ship was not quite ready for take-off. The co-pilot is still eating his lunch and as the raptors are not normally so keen to take off the goblin at the top is preparing a ‘donkey’s carrot’.

The model, for me, was fairly straight forward to make, although I should have thought more about how the elements went together as it’s quite difficult to photograph the component part.  The only bit that didn’t work as planned was the rein for the sitting bird – I was assured by the model shop owner that the wire was stiff enough to take the weight of the model – it was alright with just the basket but the bag was too much so I had to use the plastic stand.

[Artobans Ghost]

Quote JAK:  The bunny comfort blankets have helped and one is using his to try to help calm poor Fluffy down.

Luckily I had just finished my Pepsi otherwise it would have been a mess. 😸

[Zak]

Oh dude I know Steveb ( in that great airship in the sky lol) is smiling at your work. One of the great things I got to do was talk to him about you all and those of you that inspired his work. I wish I could have got it but he had a large note book with pics he printed off for future projects of things he saw on this site. JAK, you are defiantly one who he loved to follow.

 

Side note I never knew much about Disc world but you got me looking into the movies, literature etc. lol

[JAK]

When ever I been to a wargaming show I’ve been fascinated by the amount of stuff that’s available in MDF. I don’t have space to store buildings, etc. so have never bought anything but have always wanted to try one. They seem to be a popular buy yet very few seem to appear on Forums etc. I don’t think I’ve seen one here; its all either scratch built or resin.

I saw this wagon a few years back which seemed right for this project. Being laser cut it does have its limitations mainly due to round parts being square, and I didn’t like the wheels or have suitable replacements so it got side-lined.

Having looked at the project with refreshed eyes I think the cart to be practical for this purpose should have 4 wheels, but this is Discworld so things can be on a different level of logic.

This is my first MDF build and you can see that unlike my attitude to GW plastic kits I have actually looked at the instruction sheet before starting the build.

Not sure if I will paint it with a colour or stain/wash as wood and so have sanded off some of the burnt edges so it will start with the same shade base. A very light touch is all that is required to remove this dark carbon deposit.

I still don’t have any replacement wheels but to keep in spirt with the kit will use the original ones and try to round off the spokes at the front if not the back as well.

I plan to add a seat and footrest for the driver. These will be cut from the MDF frame and planking detail will be scored on.

There is an alternative part for the rear, I intend to cut one to model the rear tail board lowered.

Besides the squaring of rounded parts the other complaint I have with MDF kits are the fixing lugs. Many manufacturers come up with ingenious methods to hide them but others are left to stick out like a sore thumb, and its up to the builder to put up with this ‘fault’ or cover it in some way. In this kit the cover hoops are meant to be on the inner of the wooden sides and the outer should just be planking. Unfortunately the fixing lugs break up the line of the planking and looks wrong. I intend to cover these fixing lugs with thin strips of paper and card and will paint as part of the metal hoop.

[Rowsdower]

Now I'm reminded of the tour in Soul music
'There's a field of beans over there'

[JAK]

I started to round the spokes on the wheels but they began to delaminate so have been put to one side for now. Because of this the shafts for the horse have only had the edges taken off with sand paper as I decided not to go the full hog and try to make these truly circular. I’ve not yet looked at what furniture needs to be added to harness the horse.

The seat and foot rest were cut from the MDF frame. The laser cut detailing is the same width as my razor saw so that made cutting the plank details easy.

The tail board was cut from the alternative part and benefits from a wire hinge and cotton rope support. The piece of luggage being taken out to is to make it more secure.

I’ve started painting, particularly the interior so that I can fit a canvas cover. The cover will be from the same napkin/tissue that I used for the 40K tent, it has an over scale woven pattern but I like the look of it better than plain paper or normal tissue paper. The wagon contains all the supplies required for the modern reporter including a sleeping cameraman, pigeons to carry reports back to the big City and sustenance in the form of “Capt Horace Calumney’s Patent Field Biscuits”.



(Spoiler alert) It seems a long time since I’ve worked on metal figures, the reporter is GW but don’t know where his assistant/wife (depending on where you are in reading the books) came from. Both will need a little work; William for a more natural stance and Sacharissa to remove the nod towards the Brother V style of sculpting. 

[JAK]

The wheels have a line cut in to divide the spokes from the rim. I used this line as a guide to trim the spokes back to give them a more realistic look. Unfortunately when I started to file the edges off the spokes this cut edge exposed the layers of the MDF and it started to delaminate. I soaked the spokes in super glue and continued filing and I’m reasonable happy with the result. The rear of the spokes have also been filed just enough to take the sharp edge off. Not sure what type of base it will be going on– a cobbled street or country road – but at least the wheels aren’t bad enough that it has to be a deeply rutted muddy road.

My research showed that the bottom edge of the canvas covers on wagons was usually flat, I expected it to be pulled down by the ropes (that I decided to omit) that hold it onto the wagon sides.

William and Sacharissa have been remodeled but now I’ve been sidetracked so don’t know when I’d get round to putting some paint on them.

[Rowsdower]

I remember battling with a 1:72 Roman chariot because i assembled it first

[GamesPoet]

Looks like this is coming along very well.

[JAK]

A war correspondent needs a war to report on and this was one of the units involved in that war. The unit was described as being armed with: a sword, 12’ spear, crossbow, shield, breastplate, shako or heavy helmet; and the book cover shows a typical British Napoleonic uniform.

I originally planned this unit prior to AoS when I used GW rules to build my units as viable WFB units. This one was to have consisted of 10 named characters with a standard, musician and additional troops to form a 20-30 ‘man block. The mixture of crossbows and spears would allow 2 rows of crossbows to fire in ranged attacks and 2 rows of spears in close combat. The only limit to the size of the unit would have been the numbers of suitable weapons I could obtain.

Now that I’ve looked at them again, and we have AoS so I don’t worry about them conforming to gaming rules, I’m just going to make the named characters.

[Rowsdower]

The officer from 'Monstrous regiment' who was wearing two monocles and was making a spectacle of himself

[JAK]

Most of the unit are now glued together. They are mainly from so-called 28mm Historical plastics. I never realised how bad these ranges were for compatibility with one another. I can understand sci-fi/fantasy manufacturers not scaling with each other now we have 28mm, 30mm, 32mm and 35mm given as a scale, all with their own Heroic variations and the measurement being either to the eyes or top of the head. I did expect Historic to be better as they have stuck with 28mm but as I’ve found WWII vehicles scaled at 1/48, 1/56 or anything made up in between it explains why I’m not totally happy with them.

They don’t have to be ranked up so have been modelled at ease enjoying a mug of saloop. All need some GS work so it will probably be well into next month before another update.

[Rowsdower]

^ Dont feel bad about the limited ranges.
Today i picked up a book on the English Civil war and 'Glorious revolution' era war gaming. Most of the minis in the Queen Anne book look to be heavily modified from a few generic ones

[JAK]

Its been a slow job and the figures are now built but for reason below will be some time before I put paint on them.

The 10th Foot WiP

Loffy, Standard Bearer, Ozzer, Shufti, Corporal Maladict


Tonker, Drummer, Wazzer, Igor, Corporal Scallot.


Lieutenant Blouse, a brew of saloop, Sergeant Jack Jackrum, Carborundum

My work space is in the high 30degrees so as in previous years my paints are stored away, we’ll just have to see how many survive – the newer bottles seem to dry up first. New problem this year in that my bottles of liquid poly cement have both dried up/evaporated – tops were on properly.

[GamesPoet]

More great creativity there JAK, thank you for sharing this wonderfulness!

[Rowsdower]

Is that the one where the caffine deprived vampire is demanding someone 'spill the beans' on some missing coffee only to be hit with a magical bag of coffee beans?

[JAK]

…. Interesting Times?

 Many years ago Cathay was a popular topic in the Warhammer world, and someone I’ve forgotten the name of, was making some neat converted Cathay/Chinese figures on this Forum. In the Discworld there is a Country with a China/Japan flavour and at the time I did think that if GW ever did this army I would adapt it but so far its come to nought.

 As well as the historical stuff I’ve been showing on the other thread I also found I had a couple of sprues of Japanese warriors, so I’ve been re-reading the relevant novel to see if I could put a Discworld slant on these figures. The book covers war and unrest and there is mention of samurai, ninjas and mass armies.

Having waded through and read all 261 pages I now have copious notes on all aspects of this Country’s military forces which I can use build these figures.

Guards:-
There are lots of different Guards to choose from; External City Gate House Guards,  Forbidden City Gate Guards, Imperial Guards, Guards on horses patrolling the roads and Guards in general guarding other areas of the City.

One group of Guards is described as having black armour and another had ornate, black-enamelled helmets and huge moustachioed visages painted on them, leaving only the owner's mouth uncovered. The mask could be raised. The ferocity of helmet suggested the officers. Guards are only mentioned with swords.

Soldiers:-
In the main they seem to be “infantry, heavily be-weaponed with big swords and shields, commanders on horseback riding up and down in front of their legions who were a forest of lances and coloured pennants. Hundreds of thousands of men looked like quite a lot of men when you saw them close to”.

The author’s use of the word ‘lance’ is similar to his previous use of pike/halbard/spear in that it appears he just wanted an alternative name for a stick with a point on the end as the word ‘cavalry’ doesn’t appear anywhere in the book.

 Archers:-
Archers are even better served with the single line “a sergeant must have screamed a handful of archers into line, because a few arrows shattered with absolutely no effect.”

I have 10 figures - 5 Samurai and 5 Ashigaru Missile Troops both made by Warlord Games.

I decided to built some as Guards and, surprise, surprise, some as Archers; and this is what I’ve come up with:-


Like the other historical sprues they are finely sculpted with a little flash, but it needs to be removed. The Samurai figures have some unusual joints which with a little work could turn them into mini action figures; the body could twist at the waist and the arms move up and down. If the weapons weren’t so to scale* (thin and fragile) I might have been tempted to try. I cut every thing off the sprues, made a central pile and just built, ending up with a few body swaps, but no conversion work as such was needed. I have used the Samurai helmeted heads to match the book description. The only extra work I had to do was drill out holes so that I could fit the Sashimono.
* except that the drawn swords included in the kit are wider and have a larger tsuba than their counterparts modelled in the saya.

We’re going away now for a few weeks and I’m not sure when I’ll be back. Hopefully when I am it will be cooler and I can get the paints out of cold storage. I’m taking some reading matter so things might change again if I come up with a new project – just have to wait and see.

[GamesPoet]

Those look very good, thanks for sharing the new photos!

[JAK]

Miss Eumenides Treason is an 111 years old witch living in the Ramtops. She is blind and bandages her eyes, now relying on the borrowing of animals to see her way in the world. The local villagers made her the perch that rests on her shoulder for the two ravens she currently uses. She has a heavy rusty clock attached to her belt which many villages believe is a replacement for her long dead natural heart. She can walk or more correctly scuttle around very quickly with her two walking sticks.

Miss Treason delivers Justice to the village, lighting the two black candles in their skull holders when doing this duty. 

If you have read the books you’ll understand about Boffo, Wicked Old Witch hat Number Three a must for Scary Parties; the Feegle, Daft Wullie and Horace the Lancre Blue.

The figure is based on Torgillius the Chamberlain from the GW Cursed City box set. I started by cutting the bat, rat, dog and notice board off the figure. The edge off his coat was trimmed off before filling the gap with some plastic card and using GS to sculpt a skirt and repair the damage where the dog had been moulded on. New hands were fitted holding bent wire walking sticks. A spare head from the bits-box was added, most of which is covered in GS hair and eye bandage.

The second raven is a cast of the first using one of these puttys you put in hot water and then press over an object to form a mould. They work well for a flat objects but I’ve not had much success with a 2 part mould. The raven is a bit thick but being black it’s not so obvious.

The skulls and candles are GW parts and the columns just various diameter plastic tubing. Wullie is an Epic Ork and the cheese all GS. I tried normal cotton wool for the cobwebs but it didn’t look right so I acquired a small piece of webbing from a Halloween decorated bush in our street.

[JAK]

[Rowsdower]

Great job

[Sharkbelly]

Oh man that is great.