Breaking the silence - Fire as she bears!

Thought it was about time I announced my return to the UK - actually I got back from seeing my son in Chicago on the 16th after a really good 12 day break. This was then followed last Thursday to a visit to the club for a catch up where I caught a chest infection which has laid me low most of this week!

Never mind onwards and upwards - before I was struck low I spent last Wednesday and Thursday moving Crann Tara Miniatures into new premises but more of that will appear on the other blog.

Most of you can't have failed to see Warlord Games announcement of its forthcoming 1/700th scale Napoleonic Naval game, now those that follow my blog know that I have a very nice collection of Langton 1/1200 th scale ships which occasionally take sail for a game but I'm always conscious of my ham  fistedness damaging them so this announcement piqued my interest. Now at the same time Simon Mann on wargaming 3D released a series of 1/700th scale files of various named ships for the period some of these are free and some just a few dollars.

To top all that Suturnalia Studios ran a Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/saturnaliastudios/fire-and-sails
For ships, terrain and rules the ships are 1/650 so the small ships are fine the larger ships  need printing at 92% to make them the same size as those from warlord. So it looks like my ability to fight larger actions and not worry about damage will be fulfilled.
To be expected I've printed some bits and pieces off by way of testing the prints are a mix of this from Wargaming 3D and the KS and ive included a Warlord frigate. Last photo is a few of the buildings I've printed off. Printing sails in two parts and gluing together is a bit of a trial but I'm getting there. So about an 90 minutes to,print a couple of frigates or a 74 for pennies . The fleet starts to assemble 🤣

Battle of Maidstone redux!

I have just been finishing my next article for the Wargames Annual and it is the second part of the proposed Invasion of England 1744.
Now I did a brief report of the Battle I fought on here which will form the basis of the article however what I did forget at the time was that iPad photos just don't cut it when it comes to publishing in books or magazines so this week I set it all up again and took a new set of far better photos, couple of teasers below.

   All in all 90+ photos - can't see Charles using them all otherwise it would be a Crann Tara special.

Off to the States shortly to see my son, last time I visit Chicago as he moves to Denver in October so next year will see a visit to a new state.

Unfortunately printing and painting has slowed down these last couple of weeks as I've taken the leap in renting a small office/studio to run the business from it will allow me a little more space and should stop distractions🤣 So lots of preparation in getting ready to move stock etc.

I have been dabbling with GW contrast paints - mixed results as I expected a lot depending on the colours and undercoat but I shall persevere.

Workbench update

Sorry for the short break - real life got in the way I'm afraid.
That doesn't mean to say I've been idle though - the Vauban continues to grow, 2 bastions done and work has started on walls.

I also did a couple of 15mm buildings for a game the other Sunday, the ruined chateau is only base coated hope to finish that next week

I won't mention the 'fairy' doors my wife has got me to print for the grandkids!!

On the painting front more horses, Highlanders and 15mm Ancients are all work in progress.

Finally had to say good bye to our last dog 😪 Poppy was 13 and was primarily my wife's dog I was there for the walks and feeding although later in life I found she liked coming with me to the local pub.

A character she will be missed

Just for Lee and Tamsin (and anyone else interested)

Ok some more printing projects - Tamsin enquired about printing the 1/100 scale Bergman files off thingiverse at 28mm scale

Airborne radio jeep, I got the orientation slightly wrong so front wheels need a bit of repair but the next one I do will be fine.

Next Lee asked about the Shermans- the Sherman and Bren Carrier are both printed in resin, the Sherman worked out at just over a £1 the Bren about 0.32p.

Then I did a Kangaroo ram on the fdm - cost 0.38 p and photographed against a commercial one £4.00 retail! Yeah on the fdm you can see some lines and they can be minimised but for me by the time painted etc and on the table they will hardly be visible.

The bastion by the way cost about £15 but I'm going to increase the'infill' which could reduce the cost to around £12 - not bad I think.

Bastion finished

i know you may be mighty bored of this by now 🤣 However the final parts for the bastion are done, I'm well impressed.
I shall now do some walks etc and let you have a rest before there's any more printing updates.

Half a bastion, half a bastion onwards

Half way there on the first bastion 😀

And if you thought I had forgotten the figures I've finished basing 2 squadrons of the British 6th Horse and a 15mm Ancient Greek army
No photos of the Greeks yet but here's a hasty photo of the British Horse.

Vauban - the start

Well after the mammoth 22 hour print the first two pieces of the first bastion is complete, the next two pieces I think I will print one at a time.
I scaled it down slightly and printed at 90% - I think it looks fine with the figures - so onwards and upwards