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Sgt.Squarehead

Details of my attempt at a small terain piece featuring the Airfix 1/76 Jungle Outpost will be reported here.

All the best
Sgt.S

Sgt.Squarehead · Posted: Wed 15 Oct 2008 15:33 pm Post subject:

Right.....We're off!

I've opened the box and had a quick nostalgia moment.....I last built this one three decades ago, so I reckon I'm allowed.

My eyes immediately alighted on the figures and the mules.....This always happens! I probably like figure-bashing more than I like kit-bashing, as I've done considerably more of it over the course of the years.

Unfortunately, once I get the basic conversion done I often start to lose interest, especially with plastic figures.....I just don't enjoy painting them very much, especially if they are covered in mould seams and flash.

Fortunately the two 1/76 Japanes infantrymen included in the set are very nicely moulded and should clean up and paint quite well.....Unfortunately they are both identical, so the inevitable happened!

Pics when they are a bit sturdier!

All the best
Sgt.S

Sgt.Squarehead · Posted: Thu 16 Oct 2008 15:26 pm Post subject:

Even though he was filled with 'The Warrior Ethic'.....

Tojo was still glad that he now had brakes!

The infamous 'Singapore Light Tank'.....Handlebars, brakes, pedals and lamp added from bits of plastic rod and strip, figure modified to suit.....Still a WIP.

For what it's worth, all the best
Sgt.S

stuzzar · Posted: Thu 16 Oct 2008 21:54 pm Post subject:

Looking good Andy

Cheers

Stu

Sgt.Squarehead · Posted: Fri 17 Oct 2008 18:41 pm Post subject:

Cheers Stu!

I've had a bit of a 'two steps forward, one step back' day today.....As is quite often the case with plastic figures, certain seams and defects only showed up once 'Tojo' was undercoated and in the process of cleaning these up I tore his new arm off! Having fixed this and re-undercoated him, I proptly found a huge ejector pin mark on his posterior, that had somehow escaped my notice. This required some major surjery to remove and a third and hopefully final undercoat.

I'm now turning my attention to Tojo's friend 'Hiro' and his equine charges.....These most definitely do not look like typical pack mules to me, being much more reminiscent of rather well bred ponies to my eye. I'm hoping to customise their loads a bit and give them some character of their own, although they will need quite a lot of cleaning up first.

For what it's worth & all the best
Sgt.S

Sgt.Squarehead · Posted: Fri 24 Oct 2008 21:47 pm Post subject:

Looks like it might be a one horse town for a while.....Hiro's identical charges are rather too sturdy for a casual hack job and one has some horrid ejector marks on its flanks, so I'm working on the better one until I have some more horses for my mad Moreau grafting experiments.

I've also turned my attention to the 'Outpost' itself. This kit is not quite as good as the FCP in my opinion, simply because it lacks any internal detail except a floor. The inner walls are completely smooth except for several ugly remnants of the moulding process. I have to admit that in the twenty-something years since my last build of this kit, I had quite forgotten this minor problem and I'm a bit unsure what to do about it. For the building to be of any use to me in a game the roof must be removeable and therefore at least a token interior is needed. I'd also forgotten just what a large surface area this kit has. I seem to have been sanding away trivial, but noticeable mould seams for days.....Because of the way the parts are moulded there are loads of them, none of them are particularly bad, but many are in places that are not obvious at first glance, but which will show up dreadfully once some drybrushing and washes are applied to the parts.

For what it's worth, all the best
Sgt.S
Pics soonish!

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Sgt.Squarehead · Posted: Sun 26 Oct 2008 15:12 pm Post subject:

The walls are up.....

But to be honest I'm none too happy with them at the moment.....I'm hoping to find something along the lines of 'textured (doll's house?) wallpaper' to do something about the total lack of any interior detail. Some major work will also be needed to make the supporting structure a bit more presentable. A number of compromises have been made in the design, to keep the assembly of the kit comparatively simple.

Any ideas or suggestions would be very welcome!

For what it's worth, all the best
Sgt.S
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Ratch · Posted: Sun 26 Oct 2008 16:16 pm Post subject:

Presumably you're not illuminating the interior Andy

If that's the case, its going to be pretty dark inside and not much will be seen

You could possibly get away with some fairly basic dividing walls, suitably painted in brown tones, and positioning some figures near the doorways & windows will obscure the lack of detail inside

I know you said about having a removeable roof, but I'd find the task of furnishing this shack nigh-on impossible

or did you have a different vision

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daniel7891 · Posted: Sun 26 Oct 2008 16:34 pm Post subject:

Just a thought, but could you make some furniature out of plasticard for filling out the inside. Also If the hut was make out of bamboo could you continue this on the inside out of strips of plasticard

HTH
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Cheers

Daniel

Sgt.Squarehead · Posted: Sun 26 Oct 2008 18:32 pm Post subject:

The main reason for the removable roof is to allow figures to be positioned in battle. None of the figures will be fixed, they will all have individual bases. I've found these little copper coloured disks that come in two sizes and are perfect for the job.....You can get them in £1 bags from the Post Office; you get 50 of the big ones or 100 of the little ones!

Hopefully when I get this all sorted the house will sit at the top of a small layered base. There will be a pig-sty under the house (a very popular household garbage disposal system) and a small vegetable garden nearby. I will also be making a couple of other terrain bits including some jungle areas and an aircraft parking thingy (what are they called?), but these will be some way down the line as I'm still a bit short on space right now.

I'm not going to give up on this one (indeed I'm going to order three more for some house-bashing) and hopefully a visit to some craft-shops will resolve the problem. If not, I might well have a crack at an FCP or a Control Tower in the meantime.

All the best
Sgt.S
PS - Even while I moan, I'm still sanding away quite happily.....I've disguised the tabs that aid in aligning the walls, removed yet more mould seams and I am now contemplating the use of some fine cotton to simulate rope and beef up the various joints in the wooden structure.....I may be fiddling with this one for quite a while!

PPS - 'Ma Squarehead' may have found a viable solution, a coarse woven cotton napkin. The weave doesn't remotely match the exterior, but at least it would look better than flat plastic. Ideally I should have fixed this before assembly, but I can still cut it into strips and use it like wall paper, faking up bamboo structural members to cover any really unfortunate seams!

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Sgt.Squarehead · Posted: Sun 26 Oct 2008 23:15 pm Post subject:

The roof is now on.....Whether it is actually removable or not depends on how precise my gluing was! Nailbiting

In this picture you can clearly see that the small roof panel above the porch is not correctly aligned.....This is caused by the tab on the inner surface of the roof panel which fouls on the mounting lug for the roller-screen-door (part-9). This was corrected by trimming the tab with a scalpel. Also visible in this picture are the strips of cotton napkin that are under consideration as possible interior wall covering materiel. A bit less visible, is the cleanup I've done on the structure of the building, hiding the various tabs and so on.