Posted by Brian on Jan 14, 2010 in
Cases,
Tools and Supplies 
I’ve been using the War Store EconoBox cases for awhile. The idea of having easily stack-able “platoon” sized boxes for Flames of War really appealed to me. When you need a platoon, you can just pull it off the shelf and toss it in a wheeled roll-aboard suitcase. Foam alone doesn’t stack really well, and its a PITA to label and shuffle around when you need to get to something on the bottom of your stacks. These cases solve all that. The white corrugated cardboard boxes are easy to label, rigid enough to stack, and easy to pull out the bottom one from under a stack of ten of them.
For those of you familiar with the Sabol Army Transport foam, these trays are significantly larger, but use the same type of foam with the same size cubes. Just be aware that it won’t fit in your bags even if you take the foam out of the boxes. Compared to Crystal Caste Battle Hive storage, it has cubes about twice the size. The foam texture seems to be the same. Read more…
Tags: Case, EconoBox, Flames of War, Foam, FOW
Posted by Brian on Jan 14, 2010 in
Cases,
Tools and Supplies 
I’ve gotten tired of how pluck foam tends to disintegrate over time. Most of my Crystal Caste stuff is coming apart in the narrow sections. I guess its just a side effect of being able to easily remove the cubes in the first place. Its easy to remove them accidently too. I’ve decided that I want a standard cut case for my Malifaux minis. Trouble is they are 32mm “heroic scale” and most of the cases have foam with slots 1″ wide. This wont fit a Malifuax 30mm base.After a lot of digging I ran across the KR multicase system (again) Its not well known in the US, as its a UK supplier and only got a US distributor in October. They have a wide selection of tray types including the pluck foam if you like it. The one that caught my eye was the “F” style tray that is 30mm x 50mm and comes in a 32mm depth, so perfect for most Malifaux models. Bonus that if you cut the compartments you get a spot big enough to fit a 50mm base, and it comes in a 70mm depth (2x 32high with the bottoms accounted for) so you can store the large models easily in the same case. Its also available in 51mm depth if you would prefer to lie you models down. You can custom order any combination of trays too and they come in 5 depths. 6x half width 32mm ones fit in a standard KR multicase, and each half tray is about the size of a tray of battle foam. It’s only $39 shipped to the US with the card case (you can order aluminum, or fabric bags that fit these too, but they’re not such a deal for the initial investment.)
Anyhow, I ordered one with 4x 32mm high “F” half trays and 1x 70mm high “F” tray. Its actually cheaper than the 1.5″ pluck trays I’ve been getting with the corrugated boxes. The half trays are a bit smaller than those, but there are more of them, and the wall between minis don’t have to be as thick. I like that the case are cheap, even if its just card boxes. I really like that you can customize the foam at no extra cost. I just have too much stuff sitting out of cases right now, and the Malifaux stuff is particularly fragile. Look for a full review once it arrives.
Tags: Case, Foam, KR Multicase
Posted by Brian on Jan 9, 2010 in
Painting,
Tools and Supplies 
I have been frustrated by the fact that I couldn’t find any appropriate decals for my three 1/144 scale CR.42 Fiat Falcos that I painted up for my Italian force. After poking around a bit I found decal sheets that you can run through your printer and make whatever decals you need. I grabbed some fasces rondels for the wings, royal crests of the trail, blue fasces crest of the fuselage, and some number marking. I laid them all out in photoshop in huge groups and printed on some “Experts Choice” clear decal film. I used a 600dpi file to insure the file resolution exceeded my printer. I used my HP 3600n color laser to print. I’ve heard that inkjets have alot more problems since the ink will run. The printing on the laser was delicate, but waterproof at least. Read more…
Tags: Flames of War, FOW, Italian, Mid War, North Africa, WWII
Posted by Brian on Jun 29, 2009 in
Army Spreadsheets,
Tools and Supplies 
My buddy Paul made a XLS file that can give you the odds of killing a tank. Right now its only Germans on Germans, but he’s planning on expanding this if there is interest in a fully functioned probability worksheet. FOW Kill Table
Tags: Calculator, Excel, Probability, Spreadsheet
Posted by Brian on Jun 13, 2009 in
Casting,
Tools and Supplies,
Tutorial 
So I’ve been exploring a new project lately- casting. If you haven’t already tried it, its easier than it looks. Its a great way to pump out massive quantities of anything that you want to make. A little note on copyright here- don’t make copies of things protected under copyright. Stick to things you’ve made yourself.
I’ve been using the Alumilite HSIII silicon rubber to make the molds. Its easiest to make one piece molds, and you need stretchy rubber to pop out models with deep undercuts. The HSIII compound is the stretchiest that Alumilite makes. Setting up a mold is pretty easy. Take your model and check it out for undercuts. That is portions of the model that can’t be lifted directly out of the mold. A pyramid is a great shape for a model, but if you turned that upside down you’ll end up with undercuts. You want to limit the depth of those undercuts, especially thin sections. They are more likely to collect bubbles and have the mold tear when you remove the model. Use modeling clay to adjust the depth of the undercut. You’ll need to sand whatever opening you’re pouring through so you might want to build up a little extra on the bottom of your model.
When you’re done glue it down to a bit of foam core board or plastic card. Build a wall around the model with about 1/4″ clearence. Silicon rubber is spendy stuff so you don’t want to waste it on a mold that is too large. More foam core board works well for the walls, as do Legos. Make sure you seal the bottom and corners of your walls with hot glue or modeling clay. Mark your walls with how high you need to pour to cover your model. If you’re only pouring a small bit at a time you will want to measure the volume of silicon you’ll need. You can measure a known amount of water, pour it in and then check out how much you have left in your measuring cup to get a rough idea. Make sure you let the mold dry fully if you do this before you pour the silicon rubber in. Read more…
Tags: Casting, DIY, Mold, Resin, Silicon Rubber
Posted by Brian on May 11, 2009 in
Tools and Supplies,
Vassal One of the biggest problems with niche interests like war-games is that it can be a little hard to find a game if you’re not in a large metropolitan area. Vassal is a tool to help solve that. It is a java based engine designed to provide a 2d online multi-player gaming environment. In short, the software along with game modules allow you to interact with an opponent across the globe either real time or in a turn by turn emailed based game. Read more…
Tags: Vassal
Posted by Brian on Apr 30, 2009 in
Tools and Supplies 
So in my never ending quest to speeding painting bloody infantry I have been told about Krylon Camouflage Paint. It comes in 4 colors. Khaki which is apparently a close match for British in the desert, Brown which is a couple shades darker than English Uniform, Black which is…. well black, and Olive which can sub for many of the green tank colors or us uniforms. Its a really flat paint that does pretty well for not filling detail. As long as you’re not too picky about exact color matches it can get your base coat on in no time at all. Both Menards and Home Depot carry the stuff.
Tags: Krylon, Paint, spray
Posted by Brian on Apr 24, 2009 in
Tools and Supplies,
Tutorial If you’ve been working on scenic bases or terrain for war games for any length of time you have probably run into static grass. It does a great job of simulating grass, but it can be a little hard to work with. My initial attempts with it were met with a kinda of matted down cut-grass sort of look. I never was able to achieve that real growing field look. People have tried all sorts of shakers, puffers, and sprinkling techniques to get it to stand up. Some of them work ok, but I’m here to tell you how the big dogs do it. Electrostatic field generation. Several thousand volts as almost no current.
If you’ve seen the commercial machines you’ll see the are extremely high priced. While those uppity railroad modeler guys may have the bank to blow on silly things like that, we wargamers are cheap! I can tell you how to make a home made tool that does the same job for under $20.
Read more…
Tags: Basing, DIY, Grass, static, Terrain, tools