Caravans from Sarissa

The Circus/Carnival nears completion (well, it will obviously never be complete, but it nears playability) with these two wagons, a Ledge Type Gypsy Caravan and a Bow Top Gypsy Caravan from Sarissa’s Gaslamp Alley range.

Both are MDF and cardboard sets and goes together really well.

Really like them. I’ve got rather fond of Sarissa’s kits, as they have yet to disappoint me.

Fun to paint in all these garish colours, but I will soon go back to my Vikings and dull, dull, dull J

Pulp Carnival – stalls and entrance

I want to make a pulp-themed carnival as that would look just great and will give lots of opportunities for my pulp leagues to tackle all manners of evil things.

Here’s the first instalment.

Entrance and ticket booth from Plast Craft Games and their Circus Entrance box.
These (except the struts) are made of a thick, white printed plastic and when assembled that white really shines. I painted all corners of the booth to make them blend with the printed parts, and that worked reasonably well.

The stage, from the Circus Stage box.
Same thing here with painting the white plastic.

Huge signposts from both of the above boxes.

Ticket Kiosk and Newstand/Market Stall from Sarissa.
Not at all satisfied with the signs, so I'll probably print some appropriate ones.

Water Tower from Sarissa

I bought this rather excellent water tower from Sarissa a while ago. It’s from their 28mm Old West range and is, off course, for my Dead Man’s Hand wild-west games.

I had a bit of an accident when I assembled it, as the fit of all the parts to the base-plate was rather tight. I tried to force it and the legs holding the tank broke. Much swearing was heard…

Anyway, I tried to fix it and I believe the water tower actually looks better now than before. It’s a bit more personal J

I also added a cover to the water-tank.

Now it is time to start playing DMH. The first games will be at home, and then on to the club, as several members has showed interest in dusting off their cowboys.

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Stagecoach from Sarissa

Another MDF-thingie finished, this time a stagecoach from Sarissa. Easy to assemble but this one needs some paint to be presentable. Said and quickly done.

That game of Dead Man’s Hand is getting closer.

I guess someone will appreciate the cover…

Dutch Canal Bridge by Sarissa Precision

This took some time, but now it is finished. It’s the Dutch Canal Bridge by Sarissa, an excellent MDF-kit that will give you a very nice bridge straight out of the box. Good value for £17.50.

But I wanted it to go with the stone-look of my harbour, so it took a somewhat longer time to make…

On the first bridge-half I made individual stones. I cut thin slices of pink polystyrene foam and cut the stones from that. Took a long time and I went for strips that I 'wrote' stones on after a while. Far easier.

Side-stones had to be form-fitted. Tedious work...

One half ready and stone-structure impressed on it.

More info on how to press stonework in my first post on the making of Soerabaja harbour.

This is my Useful Stone. Suitably uneven and with a pointy end, suitable for smaller areas.

More stonework inserted under the bridge.

Stones painted with household paint (Flügger Grå (Grey) Umbra)

Stonework drybrushed with Flügger Lava.

Woodwork painted Vallejo Chocholate Brown and drybrushed Cork Brown.

Here it is, in the open position.

The harbour is in Dutch East Indies, so a dutch canal bridge seem to be appropriate

One of the cars I had as a child. Well played with and now in my to-do box as it could be used in pulp gaming.

Colonial Steam River Launch by Sarissa

Another boat/ship for my Pulp Alley Indonesian harbour project. I really liked the look of it and I guess it can be used in a multitude of settings.

I started to build it straight out of the box, or rather flat package.

But the funnel didn’t do it for me, so I made a new one from a drinking straw.

While I was at it, I replaced the steam piston assembly. Another piece of drinking straw and brass wire.

Now the boiler looked like crap compared to the rest. 

0.5 mm plasticard, more wire and green stuff and it started to look rather good.

While I was green-stuffing I made a cleat on the fore-deck.

And a piece of plastic rod made the roof look better.

Painted as all my boats – Vallejo Cork Brown, wash of Army Painter Strong Tone ink and drybrushed with Buff.

As I final thought I added some ‘rope’ from another ship (nearly finished now, you’ll see it in a couple of days’ time) and painted it with Humbrol Hemp.

Welcome new Followers:

Éva Jacab

Pendragon Without with a blog with the same name. It’s about miniature games in general and very enjoyable. Go visit!

Oh, and if you would like to have my views on Osprey’s new book The Caucasus 1942-43: Kleist’s race for oil, Campaign 281, then you had better open your latest issue of Miniature Wargames (issue 386). You’ll find all you need to know about the book in the Reviews section.

Rickshaw from Sarissa

A rickshaw would be a nice piece of scenery in the Indonesian harbour I’m working on. I’ve looked around a bit but haven’t found any rickshaw models suitable for my 28mm figures.

Anyway, I was placing an order at Sarissa when I found out that they actually had a rickshaw, or at least something that could be modified to become one.

In their Gaslamp Alley range of Victorian SF stuff they have a Hansom Cab. Not a rackshaw for sure, but it has the potential.

Limited surgery and you have a rickshaw.

I went for a very easy conversion and removed the seat behind the cab and also the handrail in front of the passenger seats.

It needs paint at this stage.

And there you have it, a rickshaw. A bit on the heavy side but it will work as clutter on the gaming board.

Painted with Vallejo Cork Brown, a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone Ink and drybrushed with Cork Brown and Buff. Diluted Citadel Mechrite Red for the panels.

Sampans from Sarissa Precision

My big project at the moment is to build a harbour for use in our Perilous Island campaign for Pulp Alley. One of the most important things for a harbour is off course ships and boats. Some of the smaller boats are already done.

The scenario is set in Indonesia, and I found a couple of Sampans from Sarissa Precision that could give an Asian feel to the harbour.

Built straight out of the box they looked somewhat less than impressive.

I decided to give them some paint and used Vallejo Cork Brown all over. A wash of Army Painter Strong Tone ink followed. Finally a drybrush of Cork Brown and a lighter one off Vallejo Buff.

Much better.

You can use them with the small shelter or without.