Pallets

I wanted to try a small scatter terrain project, making pallets. I have some barrels and am going to be casting boxes soon from Hirst Arts molds with Rob.   I am planning on putting some of them on pallets.
One of the things I have that make these projects easier is The Chopper from Northwest Short Line.

This makes cutting wood evenly and quickly much less of a chore.

I considered making a little jig to make these, but finally settled for two parallel lines 1 3/8s inch apart.  That was the size of my pallets.  I had some small basswood lying around, and I just used what I had.  First I set two wider pieces so they were touching the outsides of the parallel lines.

Then I glued three more pieces of wood across that, using small dots of viscous superglue.

 I seem to have missed the final picture.  I glued 5 smaller pieces of wood across the 3, making the pallet.  This is the finished product beside a 25mm figure.  The pallet is a bit too big, but doesn't look too bad.

I did about 10 of them in 20 minutes, and then ran out of wood.  Here is what I have done so far.  I plan to get more wood.  They make up fast, I can do it between other projects.

When I get them finished with the loads on them, I will post more pictures.

Too Much Painting, Not Enough Blogging

I have been working on a new project for the last month.  I have been getting things finished, but neglecting to blog about it.

The Thursday night gaming group at Jaye's has played Mayhem a couple of times.  We like it.  We use 28mm figures, and each unit is one stand 60mm by 60mm.

They are by Brent Spivey, and can be purchased in download form for $9.99 at:

http://www.wargamevault.com/product/110359/Mayhem

It is a mass battle game, but you can customize your units in many different ways.  So I have been working on both orcs and humans.  I finished some orcs and allies first.

I have been doing this as cheaply as possible.  I have some orc figures I bought a long time ago, and I painted those up.  I also found some Kings of War orcs on sale at my local hobby store.  The troll I had for a long time.  I didn't have another one, so I did a little diorama with him coming out of some rocks.  Not sure how it turned out, but it works for me.  Large critters like ogres and trolls are called behemoths, and have special rules.

I have several more stands of orcs and about 8 stands of humans in various stages of being finished.  The painting is pretty average.  My painting skills have declined as I get older, and my ability to paint for long periods of time is over.  What I do to compensate is that I try to paint something every day, even if its just one color.  This works well for me.

This project has an endpoint, which is unusual for me.  I plan to do about 12 units per side.  Jaye has a lot of figures painted, and that will make a good sized force for the Thursday night gaming.

A week from Saturday Rob and I have a casting session planned for the NQSYW figures.  I got some lower melting point metal from Rotometals that I hope will make casting the cavalry easier.

I also plan on starting on my 40mm Shiny Toy Soldiers soon that I bought around the end of the year.  My intent is to do them for a set of rules called Edwardian Splendour which can be downloaded here:

http://www.legionsofempire.com/EdwardianSplendour_Draft_1.pdf

As I finish more Mayhem units, I will try to blog more.