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Moved!!!!

Mon, 14 May 2012 17:15:07 +0100

Hi Folks,

Just to let you know that I have moved… But none of you seem to have followed, in that I'm not recording many views at all, and no comments. There's exciting news about AVGVSTVS to AVRELIAN to read over there!

Moving, Part the Second

Wed, 02 May 2012 13:36:42 +0100

Hi folks. Just a quick update on my server move. I now have my own domain name which should, I hope, make life easier for all concerned. The name is philhendry.me.uk. So my website will be at http://www.philhendry.me.uk - but don't go typing that into your browser just yet - at the moment there's nothing there other than tumbleweed! …

Lilia

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:22:31 +0100

I have moved Macs - more on that in another post. I thought I'd test Sandvox by posting a quick update - from my Scottish holiday at Easter-time. This photograph was taken at Rough Castle on the Antonine Wall, and shows the 'lilia' (lilies), which were a Roman version of a minefield… Imagine these holes with sharpened stakes in the bottom and camouflaged so you can't see 'em. …

Moving!

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:25:35 +0100

Hello everyone. Life, the universe, my computer and internet are changing... I'm buying a new Mac - it should be here any day now. At the same time, I am attempting to deal with 'the elephant in the room': the closure of Apple's 'MobileMe' service at the end of June and its replacement by a service (iCloud) which will not offer the same functionality - not least, I won't be able to use it to host my website.

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Rules - More ideas!

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:19:17 +0100

An idea I had for distributing the rules (in the middle of the night recently) is to supply them on a USB memory stick. That'd be an attractive way to sell them - at a show for instance - just bung a few in one's pocket and take them along. You give me the money, I give you a stick!

Of course, the 'package' will consist of more than just the rules. …

Gladiators

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:03:45 +0100

Here is a photo of three Retiarii and one Laquearius. Photos of the rest of the collection can be seen in the Gladiators gallery. I'm rather relieved to have finished them.

News regarding AVGVSTVS to AVRELIAN...

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 09:55:00 +0100

...And other things!

Sorry I've been so quiet lately. Real life issues have been getting on top of me, and I've been very stressed. I am now putting in place means of limiting those stresses and making some proper 'me time'. This week has been an odd one - I've been supposed to be 'on holiday' (i.e. not doing much, if any, of my usual stress-inducing activities), but have been quite stressed as I've tried to work out how to cope. …

A Short Hiatus

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 09:00:48 +0000

I'm taking a little break from the walls. I was getting a little bored, and also I need to take a break so I can come back and look at the model with 'fresh eyes' - that way I may be more likely to spot any problems. 'All' that needs to happen now is texturing the 'render' and painting.

So in the meantime, I'm messing about with some gladiators. …

Finished?

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 15:27:48 +0000

At last, I think I may have finished making doors, gates, etc! And about time too! At the top are the front and back faces of the main gate, and just below them, to the left, the locking bar. Below the locking bar are the shutters for the four windows in the gatehouse. Alongside them are the two trap-doors onto the roof of the gatehouse and tower. …

I may be some time...

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 20:29:14 +0000

I am presently engaged in making shutters, doors, and gates. I'm using Evergreen's 'planked' plasticard, for the 'woodwork' and am making bolt-heads from 0.010" (0.25mm) plasticard using my punch and die set (and a jeweller's hammer!). The bolt-heads are picked up on the point of the scalpel, and stuck in place using Mek-Pak. …

Masonry Paint

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:51:37 +0000

I think it looks much better with about half the stones painted over with three different heavily 'diluted' stone-coloured paints. I mixed the paint about one part paint to three-five parts acrylic matt medium. In effect that creates a very 'cheap and nasty' acrylic paint with very little pigment density, so it's quite translucent, which means that the dry-brushed detail shows through. …

Wall Texturing - A Test

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:36:33 +0000

Here's my first go at a textured section of (scrap) wall for my 'Dura Europos' walls, which I've also painted. The 'stonework' was modelled by 'peeling off' the card from a patch of the foamcore and replacing it with some embossed PlastiKard. The 'render' was a thick painted layer of B&Q's own brand textured masonry paint, painted on, and then with water 'floated' over the top to even out the worst of brush-marks.

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Warlord Romans

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:23:22 +0000

I have, finally, got around to painting the Macro and Cato models that Warlord Games made some time ago. Nice looking models, from most angles - the Macro model has a slightly odd left arm - which only shows from certain angles, because it's mostly hidden by his body and shield. I've got another pair of these, with the diorama base, which I shall make sometime.

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The Walls of Dura Europos

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:39:29 +0000

Here are the walls, so far. I've built the 'skeletons' of them all now. Basically, there are enough straight pieces that, with the tower and gate, it's 5' (1.5 m) long, or, using the corner piece, it can cover a chunk of table about 4'6" x 18" (1.4 x 0.45 m). I'll need some buildings to go 'inside' the city, once I've done texturing and detailing the walls.

Gatehouse

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:48:43 +0000

Here's the gatehouse, all stuck together. Quite imposing, despite being a bit smaller in all dimensions than the original. Now I've just got to make a couple more short sections of walling, and then it'll be on to working out how to texture the beasts.

So Far, So Good...

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:51:09 +0000

I'm quite pleased with the way it's going so far - the parts all seem to fit well enough, though doubtless any fit issues will only really show up in the latter stages - the fronts or the sides will probably be last.

Tower

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:16:02 +0000

Here is the next section of the walls of Dura Europos - a tower. Not much to say really, other than that it's based on sketches in Simon James' book. This afternoon I have also cut out all the parts for the gateway. The next job is to work out the best way to glue and pin it together. It's a complicated beast, with lots of inter-connected parts, all of which have to line up with each other.

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New Battlements

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:40:05 +0000

Having found some new information - first of all remembering that Simon James' book "The Excavations at Dura-Europos 1928 to 1937 - Final Report: v. 7: The Arms and Armour and Other Military Equipment" has some information on the siege, and on the defences, and also having come across some useful photos on the world wide web (thanks Richard!), I decided I'd have to redo the battlements. …

Beginning a Tower

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:31:43 +0000

Here are the walls of the first tower, which I've just finished cutting out. No floors yet! I've got to decide whether to make the top separate, so I can put figures inside, or make it solid, and then use cardboard 'floor-plans' on a side table to represent the inner rooms - which requires a modicum of mental gymnastics when playing the game, but avoids the need to lift floors off, with the concomitant risk of dropping figures on the floor. …

The First Wall Section

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:12:43 +0000

All the bits from last night, stuck together with PVA glue, and pinned (just while the glue dries) to hold it all in place. It's a good, solid, but very light, structure. Obviously, it isn't finished - it needs detailing, texturing and painting. I'm just starting to mark out the pieces of the first interval tower now.