Dollar Tree Fairy Garden FInds!

     Anyone who has visited a craft store in the last couple store knows that Fairy Gardens have become a big thing recently.  Fairy Gardens, are little scenes you set up in a planter or other garden space, using model houses, and small decorative objects such as furniture, yard ornaments, etc., to make it look like a fairy lives in that spot.   Well, the Dollar Tree has jumped on this bandwagon with their new Spring line; and on a recent trip there, I picked up some of these goodies to see about converting them for Fantasy gaming use.

They had tree different carded sets of figures: these mushrooms, some fairies that were the usual poor Dollar Tree quality sculpting but possibly usable (statues maybe), and some little animals (turtle, butterfly frog) that unfortunately have all sorts of flowers and other bits sculpted on them (Like the gazebo above) and are a bit cartoonish.  I also got the twig and leaf gazebo shown above from the assortment of buildings they have. (Shown with a Reaper 28mm figure for scale)

Here is a shot of the assortment of structures they are selling for the Fairy Gardens.  Thye are the typical poorly painted Dollar Tree fair, but may be usable with a new coat of paint.  I may go back and pick up one of those mushroom houses to try and spruce up.

They also had these succulent sprigs that will make good jungle or sci-fi vegetation. (Shown with a Reaper 28mm figure for scale)

Scratchbuilt Hanging Pirate Cages for Ghost Archipelago

    These past couple weeks I worked on building some hanging pirate cages for our Ghost Archipelago table.   Awhile back I saw someone else's post about making these, and though I couldn't remember where, they are simple enough that I thought I'd attempt them from memory.

    I started out by getting a pack of hair rollers at my local Dollar Tree store.

     I also went to my local craft store and bought some necklace chain and jump rings in the jewelry section.

     Then, back in my workshop, I retrieved a pack of Dollar Tree mini ornaments I had bought last year to make some 10mm Sci-Fi fuel tanks.  I planned to use the caps off them to hang the cages.

     I cut the rollers down to a size I felt suitable to hold a 28mm human sized prisoner, and then glued a washer to the top, and one of the ornament hanger tops, with the flanges cut down, to the top of the washer.

     I the constructed a scaffolding to hang them on, and glued that to a cut-down old CD.  I added some bracing bracket bands to the top piece using paper strips, as well as a couple wire loops to hang the cages from.

     For the bottoms of the cages I just used a couple more washers, tough on these I glued round stickers to cover the holes in the washers.  Also, on one I assembled a skeleton to represent a long forgotten prisoner, using the parts from a GW skeleton set, and an arm from a Frostgrave cultist set.  I applied white glue to the CD, and sprinkled it with sand.  Also, I attached a short section of chain to the top of each cage.  Then, when everything was dry, I sprayed it all black.

        When I sat down to paint the cages, I suddenly realized I hadn't included any kind of door n them!  (A hazard of being a cut and glue first, ask questions later, type of crafter. ;-D )  So, on each cage I carefully cut out some sections of the roller, and added two vertical bars and a balsa lock to each, to give an impression of a cage door.

     After that it was simply a matter of painting everything.     I'm really happy with these, though if I had them to over again, I think I'd make them a little shorter in size by about two of the horizontal rings.

Halloween Scenery at The Dollar Tree Stores

Going by a tip I read on The Minaitures Page, I headed over to my local Dollar Tree store to see their new Tombstone Corner line of scenic decorations.  This line is very similar to their Christmas village line of buildings, figures, and scenic accessories.
   I was pleasantly surprised to find some useful stuff.  The buildings are great, and nicely don't have any of the snow glopped all over them like these decorative plaster buildings so often do.  I didn't buy any, as their size is perfect for 15mm figures which I don't game with.   You can see a picture of them at the link above.
I did however find a nice set of gargoyles,  bare trees, a spooky gate, a mausoleum, and a bone gazebo; all of which I think will go super with 28mm.  In the photo below these items are shown with a 28mm Reaper Bones Wizard.

  There were some other scenic items in the store, but I felt they were scaled to big for use with 25/28mm figures.

Dollar Tree Mermaid Ghost Archipelago Terrain, Part 2

   After completing my mermaid tail arch from a air of mermaid dolls from the local Dollar Tree store, last month, a lot fof olks asked what I planned to do with the left over mermaid top-halves.  I considered this as something of a challenge, and so set about thinking about possible terrain projects to make from partially naked plastic doll halves.
   Inspired by the cover of the Ghost Archipelago cover, featuring a band of heroes facing off against a band of snakemen natives, I got the idea to make one of the doll halves into some sort of snake-man goddess idol.

 

     The first thing I needed to find was a suitable snakeman head, so I made another trip to the local Dollar Tree to see what I could find.  I wasn't able to find a plastic snake I could use, but I did find a suitable plastic lizard that had just the right head and neck pose to go atop a human torso.

   With lizard in hand, I began to construct my snakeman goddess idol.  I began by cutting down an old CD, and hot-gluing a piece of pine bark mulch to it to serve as a base.  I then cut the head of the lizard, and pulled the head off the doll.  I had to cut the neck of the doll down a little to fit the lizard head, but once things looked good I glued the lizard head in place with a liberal amount of hot-glue to help fill any gaps and blend the shape to the body.    I then hot-glued the torso to the hunk of mulch and glued the arms into a satisfactory position.

     Next, I  drilled couple holes in the top jaw to insert a couple toothpick fangs, and then used some Milliput to help blend all the joints and blend the mulch to the base.  I also sculpted a little sacrifice basin at the base of the idol, and glued some small rocks on the base. 

      When all the Milliput was dry, I gave the piece a spray with Krylon Camouflage with Fusion "Flat Black" spray paint to act as a primer.  And when that was dry, I sprayed the idol with some stone textured spray paint.

     When the stone texture was dry, I painted the idol with some Folk Art "Grey Green" craft paint, and then applied some washes of Citadel "Nuln Oil", and "Green" ink.  After that I glued some course sand to the base.  When the sand was dry, I painted that, and then drybrushed highlights on to the statue and base.  When the paint was dry, I glued some various foliage all over the base.  Then, when the weather warms up, I will give the piece a spray of Dullcote to seal it. 

    I'm really happy with how she turned out considering she was a spur of the moment make-use-of-a-leftover inspired construction. 

Quick and Easy Cardboard Game Piece Frame Sci-Fi Building Ruins.

   So, a while back I saw someone's blog entry where they made some neat Sci-Fi ruins out of the cardboard frames that are left over after you punch game counters out of them; and ever since I've been looking for an opportunity to try it.  Then, I was with a friend a while back who was punching out the counters for his newly purchased copy of the Congo ruleset, and I asked if I could have the remaining cardboard frame left after all the counters were punched out.

     I first cut the frames into sections to look like partially destroyed walls, and glued them on to 6" x 6" cork tiles.  I made one 6" x 12" base by gluing two of the cork tiles together, in order to make one larger building.  I then added a few odds and ends to the walls using some dollar store lego and other plastic bits.

 I first gave them a base coat of some old Army Painter "Necrotic Flesh" I had on hand.

     When that was dry, I gave the ruins some burst sprays of some Krylon "Aqua" Sea Glass paint I had been wanting to try out.  I think it gave an interesting "alien" effect.

     I then painted the slabs with Americana "Terra Cotta".   I think it adds to the alien look.

    I added some other colors here and there to the detail bits I glued on earlier.  Then I slathered the ruins in some Citadel "Nuln Oil" wash, using a wet brush.  When that was dry, I drybrushed them with Americans "Bleached Sand".   Lastly, I sprayed them with some matte varnish.

Shown with some Reaper 28mm Sci-Fi figures for scale.

     I'm really happy with how these turned out.  They are't too complicated or detailed, but I think they'll look good on the table.   I especially like that they're made from what would have been trash. :)

The Ubiquitous Bits-Box Junk-Pile Terrain Piece

It seems that sooner or later all scratch-builders and terrain-makers get around to making the fun and easy "Junk Pile" terrain piece. I recently undertook such a project myself, for the first time, this past week.

For the base of the junk pile I used an old CD, and for the "junk" I used some odd bits I had lying around, including the top of an old Star Wars AT-ST, and a tanker trailer from a dollar store farm set.

After I glued all the bits to the CD, and let the glue dry, I sprayed it with flat black primer. I then drybrushed the bits in the pile with various shades of metal, tans, and red-browns, to give it that rusty look.

Shown with 25mm Void 1.1 Junker (how appropriate!) figures.

Afterwards, I flocked the base with a sand mixture and added some clumps of dried grass.

I'm pleased with how it turned out, and as I said, it was quick and fun to do.    It makes a nice hour project that adds a nice bit of character to any Sci-Fi table set up.

28mm Sci-Fi Tanks from Made-in-China Toys Conversion

  Right before Christmas I made a pair of Sci-Fi tanks as a present for a friend.  I had seen other folks online who had modified inexpensive toy tanks into Sci-Fi tanks before, and it seemed like a fun project to do.  I was happy to have a reason to make a pair of them myself.   I started by buying a bag of toy soldiers that contained two plastic tanks from the toy aisle at the local Walgreens.

    I replaced the existing turrets with ones made from old Spiriva inhalers, and the gun barrels were made from syringe covers.  I also added some engine pods to the backs of both tanks made from dollar store toy binoculars separated into two halves.  Other model and toy bits were then added to round out the look.

 I glued a large fender washer into the hole where the old turret sat, and a section of copper tubing to the underside of each turret, allowing them to rotate when in place on the hull.  When everything was assembled, and the glue had had time to dry, I sprayed the tanks with light green camo spray paint.

      When the spray was dry, I added details, weathering and decals to complete the vehicles.

    I'm pleased with how the pair turned out, and am looking forward to seeing them used in a game.

Dollar Tree Halloween Decoration to Frostgrave Terrain Conversion

  I picked up a couple items during a recent trip to the local Dollar Tree store to use in my Forstgrave games.  The first is a bag of white rocks that will be good for scattering in piles here and there, and the second is one of their Tombstone  Corner Halloween scenery pieces. Folks who read the blog regularly will remember I recently converted one of the "Bone Gazebos" for use in regular non-frozen fantasy games.

      Since Frostgrave is a ruined city, and since I didn't want this looking exactly like a bone gazebo; carefully using a hammer and a chisel, I  knocked out the pillars until the top broke off.

     I then sprayed the whole thing with flat black primer and drybrushed it with assorted grey tones and painted the base white.  Afterwards, I flocked the bottom with Woodland Scenics Snow flock.

     For the price of a dollar, and a very quick conversion, I think it makes a dandy piece of  terrain to add clutter to my Frostgrave table.

Bronze Age Martian Beast with Howdah Conversion

Over the weekend I worked on a conversion of one of Bronze Age's Wasteland Mutant (Thark) mounts (Thoat) into a mobile gun platform by adding a howdah and a radium cannon.  I hope to use this in our big 20 player GASLIGHT Mars extravaganza at Historicon.

I began by sawing off the top portion of the saddle and blanketroll that comes molded to the beast.

Next I began to construct a howdah out of cardboard.

I used toothpicks to make a railing around the howdah, and some wire-work from a dollar store wire dollhouse table to make some decorative ornamentation around the outside of the platform.

Next, I constructed the radium cannon out of some left over Eldar weapon bits, a flight stand peg, and half a slotted base.

Here is the finished product with a Bronze Age Martian for a sense of size.  I embedded two magnets in the beast's back, and glued a metal base to the underside of the platform, so it is removable for storage and transport. And, if I ever wish to make a different load for the beast to carry it will be easy to switch them out.

Here it is with a coat of black primer all ready for painting.

And here it is with its paint job.  the radium cannon is crewed by an Ironclad Minaitures Sandwar Cannon Crew.