Figure Painting Total - August 2016

I’ve been keeping an eye on some 1/35 scale Mexican Bandits to use with the Rules With No Name for a few years now. I finally ordered them and they came in August. There are 2 each of 8 different sculpts.
I have plans to make a Mariachi band team (like El Mariachi, Desperado, Once Upon a Time in Mexico), as well as having a larger group of regular ones in white.

So far another low purchasing year giving a solid chance to get some painting done. But the newer Games Workshop board games are calling to me. I'll probably pick some up and they will bump up my buying totals.

Aug figures bought - 16 figures painted – 0
Running total 2016 – figures bought 19, figures painted 0

Figure Painting Total - November

I was finally able to get some Light Armored Troopers for Starship Troopers. The game normally uses power suit CAP troopers as featured in the book but the Light Troopers are the ones from the movie (and also used in Firefly). They are usually very hard to find. I have been watching for ones at a decent price for the last three years.
I had ordered some of the scenery/accessories from the Batman Miniature Game as well but the only one that came in so far was the lasercut wooden van. I did also pick up a few more 1/43 scale vehicles to use with the Batman Miniature Game but they don’t really need painting.
I also got another wagon and horses for use with the RWNN. It looks okay but a simple touch would make it better.

Starship Troopers Mobile Infantry Light Armored Troopers – 20
Batman Miniatures GCPD van – 1
Wagon and horses - 3

November figures bought – 24
November figures painted – 0

Time-Life The Old West

One of my uncles used to have the Time-Life book series The Old West. I remember the brown leather (probably faux leather) covers, and the sheer bulk of the various topics – Cowboys, Gamblers, Scouts. Those of us who grew up in the pre-internet days remember how impressive the books collections were whether they were Time-Life, Popular Mechanics, Funk & Wagnalls, or even the sets of encyclopedias that used to line the shelves.

At the thrift stores (Value Village, and Salvation Army) I noticed that they usually had a few of the books so I started buying them when I got into Rules With No Name. Of the 27 books they printed and reprinted between 1973 and 1980, I have now bought 24 of them. Well, actually a few more than 24 as I have bought beat-up copies just to have them and better copies as I find them.
At the Children’s Hospital Book Sale on April 30, I got to the history table just in time to see someone else buy a stack of 10 books, containing at least three that I needed. Then last weekend at the Value Village I was quite excited to see a large group of the brown books. I was able to pick up 4 more books that I needed – 3 with some mild water damage on the bottom on the pages but I stored them near the dehumidifier and this cleared up .

This means that I now have all of the first 21 – The Cowboys through The Ranchers, am missing The Mexican War, have the next 3, and need the last 2 books – The End and The Myth, and Master Index. I do still need a better copy of The Spanish West which is split down the seam, and could get an even better version of The Canadians if I really wanted to be picky.
I had been getting a bit dismayed at not finding any books at all lately but these last few finds really made it close.

Miniature painting total - finally, an update for 2013

After a long drought, I am finally updating my figure buying/painting total.  To no surprise, I’m not updating the painting total, but I did get some new figures.  Our friends at GC-Minis had a sale on last month and I picked up the new Warhammer 40,000 rulebook (6th edition) as well as the Dark Vengeance boxed set and Chaos Space Marine Codex.  

I was also able to get the Walking Dead Horde army men-sized figures.  All the local comic book stores were out but the wife found some at a pop culture store called Pylon.  While I have no immediate use for them, I know I can add them to the RWNN without too much trouble – when I get around to painting them, and making some buildings.

 So my new total for the year is as follows:

40K – Dark Vengeance boxed set - 48

Walking Dead horde – 14

July figures bought – 62, figures painted – 0

Running total 2013 – figures bought 62, figures painted 0

Figure buying total 2012

So my January purchases ended up being all the unpainted miniatures that I ended up buying for last year.  I did pick up two tubs of pirates and skeletons in October that I did not add here - mainly because I have no current plans to paint any of them for any games.  If this changes I will add them to the buying total.

40K Kroot Carnivores (in bits) - 12

40K Raveners (in bits) – 3
2 sets Western Wagons and figures - 22
Dreadfleet – Windgauge and Ships’ Wheel – 3
Dreadfleet – Navigation Rod Ruler – 1
Dreadfleet – Treasure tokens - 5

Final total 2012 – figures bought 46, figures painted 0

I also did not paint any figures this year.  I came close with the Tron figures and the animals for The Rules With No Name but still have not been able to complete any.  The pressure on my first completed figure now builds.  With the new edition of 40K and the rules worked out on the Tron games and TRWNN, I have hopes of finally painting something this year.

However, I also have hopes of picking up more 40K figures - ideally not until I get over the edge of painting some for use.

Upsizing Whitewash City

So I am upsizing the Hotz Artworks Whitewash City to use with the 1/35 figures I have for Rules With No Name. I’m trying to upsize it for the larger figure scale and I ran into a bit of an issue.

I’m working with the free sample – The Imperial Saloon and the out buildings in the Pioneer Set. The listed scale is 30mm or 1/60. So I tried measuring out the buildings and redrawing them at double-size to see how they would fit. They were much too big. In checking, I had forgotten to change the print setting from fit-to-page to print actual – which meant that the 10’ scale marker was only 47cm long instead of the 2” it should have been at 1/60.

When I reprinted with the right settings, the 10’ scale marker comes out at 50cm instead of the 51cm it should be but that is actually easier as each scale foot would then be half a centimeter (or 2’ real = 1 cm scale). This means the drawings are actually closer to 1/61.200 instead of 1/60 but that is pretty close and the difference is minimal for our purposes.
Either way, my double-size redrawings (even from the smaller print) then came out way too tall for my 1/35 scale cowboy – who is 5’10” in 1/35 scale (with hat – about 5’2 without hat but the base will make him look taller). Instead of doubling, according to the math, I should really upsize the measurements by 1.71. So I will redraw at the new size and try again.

Eric recommends taking the 8.5 x 11 prints and reprinting them at 11 x 17. I will try that as well and see how that compares to the upsized drawings and to the figures. According to the math, upsizing this way will be smaller than redrawing, but the convenience of having the pretty colored versions to assemble may be worthwhile compared to having to redraw them and then use those measurements to scratchbuild the buildings. We will have to see.

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For those interested in the math, as I am, it is as follows.
To find the scale: 10 feet in reality = 2 inches in scale.
120 inches = 2 inches in scale. So scale = 2/120 or 1/60.

To convert the scales: 1/60scale to 1/35scale.
1/60 x = 1/35
35x = 60
x = 60/35
x = 1.7142857 or x = 1.71

Doing the photocopy upsizing.
From 8.5 x 11 to 11 x 17.
11/8.5 = 1.2941176 and 17/11 = 1.5454545.

The figure size in scale: Figure height is 2 inches. If scale is 1/35, then 2 scale inches equals 2 x 35 = 70 real inches. 70 divided by 12 equals 5 with a remainder or 10 so the 2” figure in 1/35 scale is really 5’10”.
Without hat, the figure is a little over 1.75 inches or 1 3/4”. If scale is 1/35, the 1.75 scale inches equals 1.75 x 35 = 61.25 real inches. 61.25 less 60 (12 inches x 5 feet) leaves 1.25 so he would be about 5’2”.