Figure Painting Total - November

After Valleycon, I found out that there were some Barnes and Noble exclusive sets for both Blitz Bowl and Space Marine Adventures. I had to order them to keep complete. I also got a 3D printed figure of Sam, from Trick R Treat. It is a bit rough looking but has already been basecoated, so finishing it up should not be too hard.


Blitz Bowl: Halflings - 6
Blitz Bowl: Undead - 7
Space Marine Adventures – Recon – 3
Space Marine Adventures – Rescue - 3
Sam (from Trick R Treat) - 1 – 3D printed – already painted (basecoated).

Nov total - figures bought 20, figures painted 0
Running total 2019 – figures bought 149, figures painted 1

Stairway!

At my wife’s work, each department is decorating there area in different themes for Christmas. Her department was originally going to do a Die Hard theme, but decided to change it to Home Alone theme instead. She said that I could make the staircase – five feet tall, out of cardboard.

I mean, of course I can. But I didn’t have enough large cardboard, so I asked if I could make it out of foam core, which she was okay with. The key requirements would be that it had to be at least 5 feet tall, and it had to be transportable.
I worked out the dimensions and told her it would cost about $20 - $40, which she was again okay with. I would not add a railing, would have very fiddly to make in sections, and have added another $10 - $40 depending on what I made the rails out of.


It had worked out to 12 sheets of 20” x 30” foam core, which I got at Dollarama for $1.50 each. I picked up 14 sheets, in case I needed more or messed up, so $21 for that. I ended up mis-cutting the second sheet I worked on the other side of the first set of stairs. I used a lot of the scraps for reinforcing seams and adding supports.
I picked up 2 rolls of wood grain flooring stickers, which I also got at Dollarama for $4 each, so another $8. I only used it on the stairs for the part that shows on the sides of the runner, so only ended up using a bit more than 1 sheet. I have plans for the rest of the second sheet.
I found 36” square pieces of red felt for the runner at Oomoomoo, a Japanese dollar store. They were $4 each and I picked up 4 of them. I only ended up using 3 of the squares but I bought the extra so as to not have to worry about matching the color if I needed more.


Using the plans, I cut out the sides of the base. I had to glue a second piece of the foam core behind the first three steps to give them the proper depth. These first three steps are normal size. The first two steps have a rise of 6 ¾” and the third has a rise of 6 ½”. This way the first three steps fits nicely on a single with of foam core. The steps have a run of 10 ½” which leaves a ½” overhang and allows these three steps to fit together on one length of foam core. The steps themselves are 20” wide, the same as the width of a sheet of foam core.

The upper piece is 30” deep, but 50” high. The upper section has 7 steps using forced perspective. The rise of the next three steps remains the same as the first three, but the next four on the next sheet are 6 ½” high. The steps get progressively smaller – 8 ½”, two at 6 ½”, 4 ½”, and the last three are all 2 ½” deep.
I cut out all the steps and risers. Using white wood glue, I glued the risers on first to allow some time for them to dry. I put some braces across the backs to help support the sides.
Then I cut the wood grain into 4 sections – 3 at 5” wide and the remaining one at 4.75” wide. I cut each piece an inch longer than the step it was going on so I could fold it over the exposed end. I put them on 4 ½” inches from the sides, again allowing overlap. The narrower ones I put on the left side of the steps as that would be against the wall.
I glued the steps on next, pinning through to the foam below to help hold it while drying. I later went in and taped all the steps from behind.

I switched to tacky glue and glued on the felt runner. I was careful to line up the pieces under the overhang of the lower steps, and at the back of the steps on the upper ones.
I then went back and used hot glue from the inside to tack the corners of the steps as well as to strengthen the supports. The finished stairs are 20” wide, 60” deep, and 70 1/8” tall.

Craft - Advent Wreath

Every year the kids would make Advent Wreaths in Catechism. They were usually made using birthday candles. Back when I was teaching grade four level, I didn’t want to do the same. I was going to make a flat picture with construction paper but could not find any pink paper in Dollarama.
Since I had waited until the last minute to get supplies, I had to change plans in a hurry. I ended up buying foam board, colored craft sticks, wreaths, hot glue guns, and chenille stems. (Side rant - Back in my day, chenille stems were still called pipe cleaners, and craft sticks were called popsicle sticks.)
It went over well, and in later years I bought crafts sticks in advance and painted them beforehand. This brought the cost down even more as the colored craft sticks I bought only had a few pink and purple sticks in every package.

Supplies:
Foam board – each 20"x30" board will make 15 bases.
Craft sticks – you will need 4 for each wreath.
Garlands – each 8' garland will make 10-12 wreaths
Chenille stems – the ones with the 4 wider sections - you will need 1 per wreath. Red and yellow are preferred but some kids preferred white, and even blue flames.
Purple paint
Pink paint

Tools:
Pencil
Ruler (preferably metal)
Knife – to cut the foam board
Paintbrush
Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks
Craft scissors or wire cutters (optional) – to cut the chenille stems

If you do some of the preparation beforehand, you can have your entire class make these in an hour. If you have more helpers with the glue guns, you can do it in less time.

Cut the foam board into smaller squares. I used 6” x 6” (15cm x 15cm) but you can adjust as needed. This does leave a small amount of scrap foam board left. I was able to get 15 squares from each sheet.

Paint the craft sticks. You need to paint three sticks purple and one stick pink for each wreath. I painted them in batches using closes pins to hold one side of the stick to a box while it dries.
Once dry, I separated each set of 4 painted sticks into snack bags.

On the day, I had the kids draw a circle on the board. You want a fairly big circle but still leave about 2 fingers of room between the edges. Get them to write their name on the back of the board at this time.

Then they need to mark 4 spots around the circle where the craft sticks will go. I prefer to put them in the corners as it leaves more room. Then they have to decide whether they want the sticks parallel to the circle or perpendicular to the circle.

Once they have the spots marked, get them to take a craft stick and push it through the top layer of paper into the foam at each of the marks. This works best if the board is on a table so it doesn’t push through the bottom sheet of paper.

Four quick dabs of hot glue in the holes holds the craft sticks. A quick line of glue on the circle holds down the garland to simulate the wreath. Get them to hold the sticks up while the glue cools. I usually burn myself a bit sticking the garland down.

For the flames, take the chenille stems and cut them into 4 sections with a thick part in the middle and thin parts at the ends. Depending on the age of your crafters, you can use wire cutters, craft scissors, or even cut them by hand. If you pinch the stems tight between your fingernails, you can wiggle the stem up and down until the wire breaks due to overstressing. By curling one end of the chenille flames around the craft stick candles, you can ‘light’ them each week. If you want them more permanent, you can hot glue the flames instead.

Figure Painting Total - October 2019

I only picked up a game with a few figures this month. I did also pick up two large semis from Walmart that I will probably give a quick wash but I am not counting them as figures since they will be used as terrain. I also found some camper trailer ornaments at Dollorama – two to a package. So I picked up 5 sets. I will need to sand off the glitter and repaint them, but they should make a nice trailer park.

Combat Arena - 5

Oct total - figures bought 5, figures painted 0
Running total 2019 – figures bought 129, figures painted 1

Road trip: Moorhead - original of the Dilly Bar

While at ValleyCon this year, we decided to do some touristy things. Shan had looked up points of interest and came across this.

The Dairy Queen in Moorhead is where the Dilly Bar originated.

We had been by this location before and had noted it for the very large umbrellas but had never known of its history.


The American Dilly Bars are larger and flatter than the ones up here. They also come in different flavors.

Lander - base

I noticed that the seam where the two parts of the base were joined left a straight line after being painted. It’s only noticeable from certain angles but, from that angle it is quite noticeable.

So I sanded along the seam with an emery board and then applied model putty.

After it dried I did a bit more sanding to blend it a bit better and then repainted.

It is better but still noticeable. So the paint needed to be sanded again. More putty applied, more sanding, and painted again.

Action figure - army building

I recently came across the RetroBlaster Channel on YouTube. I got lured in by the Restoring the Death Star videos and have now watched a bunch of them. One that really hit home was his video on Building an Army.

In it he talks about how hard it was to collect multiples of the troop figures. Given the choice between getting a new figure and a duplicate of a figure you already had, most kids opted for the new figure.

I was lucky enough to be picking up Star Wars figures from the "original 12" days. It didn't take long to get all the originals so extra stormtroopers were an easy choice. I also was able to get some figures for $2 from a clearance center after some store must have had a fire. So I had a pair of Jawas, a couple of Tusken Raiders, and a few Stormtroopers.

I also got some extra Stormtroopers when my fried Arron moved. As well, I got some of his buildings based on the Woman's Day plans. I had set up many dioramas on the basement pool table with them. They lasted for many moves but have sadly passed on.
I also inherited his Death Star when he moved. My son was very impressed to play with this back in the day.