New printer and papercraft

When our printer needed more ink back in July, we looked at the cost of replacing ink, and the cost of buying a new printer with ink.  We finally took the plunge, spent a bit more, and upgraded to an ink tank printer. 

Not being so concerned about saving precious ink, I printed some things from a few papercraft sites.

 

I started with the sample saloon from Hotz ArtWorks.  It looked too small against the Reaper and Knight Model figures so I didn’t assemble it.  I have since gotten some Dracula’s America figures that seem closer in scale so I probably will put it together.

 

Disney Parks Blog had just come out with Paper Disney Parks.  They have four so far in the series.  The first two were both for Main Street and the Magic Happens parade, the third was for Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, and the fourth was for King Arthur’s Carrousel. 

I printed off all of them at 25% to save space once done and have finished the first set.

 

They haven’t printed any more in the series yet, so looking for a Haunted Mansion led me back to Haunted Dimensions.  They have papercraft for three versions of the Haunted Mansions from the different parks. 

They also have the houses from Amityville Horror, Psycho, and Adams Family as well as facades from the movie theatre from The Blob and some others.  I have printed off the three houses and the movie façade and am mostly finished the Amityville house.

 

For more hyper detailed versions of papercraft about the Disneyland signs, train station, and castles there is also The Disney Experience.  I haven’t started on any of these yet as I am not sure if they will be too large once finished as well as too complex if shrunk. 

 

Some of the buildings will be used to fill up a table for wargaming, and some will be used for our Halloween display table in our new spare bedroom.

Batman - parking lot

Between Walmart, and Value Village, I have picked up about a dozen vehicles that are a good scale for Batman. Most are 1/43. I also found some school buses at Dollartree for $1.25 each. These are a shade small but should still work. Walmart also had a nice set of vehicles for the Fast and the Furious in the 1/43 scale but at $21 each they were out of my price range. Keep in mind that there are currently no rules to use vehicles in the game. They are mainly there to provide cover, and to help fill out the scenery.


I had been thinking of doing a warehouse table for the Batman Miniature Game – possibly on the docks but similar to what the old Heroclix map used to be. I was recently inspired by this video though and am now thinking about maybe a more urban setting.

While at Chapters, I picked up this Batsignal for $10.99. Knight models has a lasercut one for $8.55 Euros but this one already has the light built in to it. At Dollartree I picked up some police badges to use for a police station like in the video above.

I’m still looking for some letters out of thin wood or foam – so far I haven’t found anything useful at Dollarama or Walmart. I may have to try Michaels.

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”.

Man in your Pocket

When you are making terrain or scenery, it is always a good idea to keep a figure or two of the scale in which you are working nearby. This allows you to check often to ensure that buildings, vehicles, and blockades will look proper and that figures can actually fit where you want them. This also ensures that figures can see over hills or hedges and that doorways and windows look like they could actually be used.

In addition to having the figures handy when at home, it is also a good idea to carry a figure around with you when you are out and about. When I first started into 40K, I carried an unpainted plastic beakie marine around with me for about a year. After that I had a good idea of the size needed. Plus I found that, in a pinch, if I bend my pinkie, the middle joint is close to the size of a marine (being a bit over an inch long).

With starting to make scenery for my western figures, in roughly 1/32 to 1/35 scale, I should really start carrying around a cowboy in my pocket. This would really help in trying to find horses and cattle – both of which can come in random scales and can often look tiny. This will also come in handy in finding wood I can use for scale log cabins.
I was in Dollarama recently and noticed a nice folding bamboo fence that might be a great size. I didn't pick it up yet but may pop back with a little buddy. Otherwise, I was thinking about looking at those disposable chopsticks to see if they are cheap in bulk.

Shed Clean Sweep

On Sunday we got into the shed and did a clean sweep, of sorts. We took everything out and swept everywhere, and sifted most of it back. We cleaned out two garbage cans of items.
We found no more mice – but all the warfarin I had put down was gone. There was evidence of their presence though – rattan mats had been nibbled, a nerf football had been hollowed, all the tissues from a box had been moved to the other side of the shed.
It took a good three hours to clean the shed as well as bag all the leaves that Shan raked out of the flowerbeds.
On the upside, we do have a bit more room and there wasn’t a mass exodus of living vermin or even evidence of dead vermin. On the downside, we got rid of a box of old patio lights that would have been good for scenery – at some future point.