Magnetic Movement Trays Part II

With Cangames fast approaching I have been trying to fit in bits of modelling here and there. Unfortunately, the weather has been less than cooperative, reducing my time in the man cave. So painting the movement trays I made earlier it is.

Above is a selection of the three types of bases. The small ones on top are for regular troops in base to base contact, the larger rectangles are for massed irregulars and the larger ones are for your sneaky skirmisher types. All are made up of thin MDF drilled to take rare earth magnets at appropriate spacing.  I am still deciding to flock or not. So let's put the boys on the cat walk.

We begin with a quintet of Oenotrian Fusiliers. Though most of these lads are from the Cutter company, they have brought along one of their riflemen to balance out the party.

Next up is a mass formation of Oenotrian citizens army irregulars demonstrating the close packed formations so often seen in the streets after the Gashant Polo Matches let out. The fuzziness of the image is as much due to the intoxication of the fearsome fighters as it is due to the incompetence of the photographer.

And finally, we have 5 young Martian chaps down from the hills showing off the latest spring fashions while they demonstrate their renowned skirmishing skills.

The bases work quite well and can even be inverted without the minis falling off (as long as you don't shake them too much) As noted in the first post keep them away from your credit cards etc.

Next up we go terrain shopping at the dollar store.

Flocking Day

Last Saturday was Flocking Day. Given the lingering cold weather, I worked inside.

Everything laid out before I begin. In the recycled (and thoroughly washed) meat tray is my standard flocking material - spent tea leaves. These are collected,  dried out and stored in the blue tin in the background. The texture is fairly coarse but it works well with a little dry brush.

A soldier of the Queen gets glued up. I use a good quality PVA glue to stick the leaves down,

And into the tea leaves he goes.

Also due for some attention are some 15mm Ancient Britons. In either scale, I take care not to get glue where it shouldn't go. I am not too worried about getting flock on the boots or legs as it comes of very easily while the glue is wet and is still fairly easy to to remove once dry.

And onto the leaves they go. I don't press the flocking material down at all just give the base a good dunking. That helps keep the coating light and natural looking - well as natural as massively over-scale tea leaves can look.

And part one is complete. The Martians got the same treatment but using sand instead of tea. Once the flock is dry, I knock off any loose bits. Then using a brush or dipping, the bases get a dollop of PVA thinned with water to which a very, very small amount of dish soap has been added to break the surface tension.   This soaks easily into the basing material and locks everything in nicely. Once this is dry, all that is required is a quick dry brush and you have a serviceable base for your soldiers.