Monuments, Propaganda, and things that float in the water...AND PICS!

Well as promised, and as usual, a long overdue update!

And this time there are pics!!! Woo hoo!

As usual, comments are appreciated. Let me know what you think.

Enjoy!

First off;

"The Bongolesian National Independence Victory and Unity Arch"

This structure is found on Avenue De' Main in the Capital City of Sudekia. It was designed and built around 1970 to commemortate the Oct. 22nd 1960 date of National Independence. After President-For-Life P'hat Daddee B'wonah came to power in a successful coup in 1988, it is also commonly known as "The B'wonah Arch".

Grandeur and Splendor; all in one structure to celebrate Bongolesia throwing off the yoke of it's Colonial Masters (according to what they tell you...)

A close up of the arch with a stand of the Peter Pig AK47 Media figs on the road under the main archway for size comparison...

An oblique shot of the same structure, showing some of the construction and weathering. The entire structure was made from a piece of pink insulation foam sandwiched between two pieces of foamcore and glued onto a basswood support. It was then lightly coated with wall spackling, left to dry and then painted and highlighted. I'm thinking that perhaps in the future I will mount something gaudy and "statuelike" on top of it (sorta like the Brandenburg Gate), perhaps an eagle, or a chariot or something...

Moving right along...

Unfortunately, not EVERYONE is happy with the good to it'ness of President-For-Life P'hat Daddee B'wonah as photographs show. This is a recent presidential billboard that has been vandilized by some local BARF hoodlums and thugs. When asked about incidents like this, President B'wonah shook his head sadly and said "It breaks my heart to see my photo and other things in our country ruined by these bored hoodlums and thugs that seem to flock to those people (And you know who you are), that are determined to bring ruin to our country and to kick me outta power. But, my rule is strong and the people want me like no other, and our country will overcome a few thugs and no-gooders intent on painting up things and causing problems!"

Meanwhile the Ministry of National Information and Propaganda has released a new President B'wonah billboard, exhorting his fame and success!

Kind of makes you shiver and shake in the frenzy of his awesomeness, doesn't it?

Another sign from the Ministry of Media, Communications, and Public Affairs are the new signs advertising "DJ B'oogur S'oodek playing da tunes on Radio Joe, AM 7.62"

Meanwhile....more urban goodness as the third of four blocks of "Funkytown" comes into being...This one includes shops, apts, and a tattoo parlor...oh joy...

The front of block #3 of "Funkytown"...nice colors...and the dirt accents the colors quite nicely...

A nice oblique shot showing some of the local graffitti...

A left oblique shot...another "Radio Joe" sign...and some light graffitti....

The back end of block showing rear (escape) exits, and vandalized posters of Fred Sanford...

A close up of some of the graffitti; a growing source of concern in Bongolesia....

And finally.....(whew!)

A while back I got to thinking about having a scenario involving a 15mm Cargo Ship, (based loosely on the old Liberty Ship designs). I was unable to find one in scale, so the idea then began to build one. Looking at the detail on this ship I've decided to take a lot of the detail off in order to make it playable. (Thanks FoW for the description).

So here is the hull of the Sovie..errr..Russian Cargo ship...which will be christened "Головка трещотки" ("Rattlehead") in honor of Rattlehead on TMP and Rattlehead Games!

The Rattlehead is a standard 1950's era Soviet Design Bulk Cargo Freighter. Built in the Vludoduvnia shipyards and launched in 1956, the ship was used for almost 30 years delivering "Farm Equipment" to various third world nations in return for UN/US/Western Food Aid Shipments that were delivered in payment and loaded onto the ship for return back to Mother Russia.

With the end of the Cold War, the ship was reflagged with the Russian Flag and has become (more or less) part of an "independent Russian Merchant Marine", delivering "items of interest" to any customer with hard paying cash, or something beneficial in trade.

It's currently commanded by Capt. Pickyup Andropov, a former Soviet Navy Officer and carries a crew of 20.

It's know to visit African and Arab nation ports frequently, and can occassionally be seen being towed by repair vessels in the Mediterranean. It has a frequent habit of mechanical difficulty and often spends weeks sitting in port waiting for a repair part to arrive from Minsk, or Moscow, or Col. Bubbies WWII Surplus Center in Galveston, Texas... The hull of "The Rattlehead"....neat looking huh?

An oblique shot of the ship, showing the fore, main deck and aft...

A shot of the ship with a Peter Pig AK47 Media crew (3 figs) on a 1X1 inch Litko Aero stand on deck AND the Peter Pig WW1 Steam Launch for size comparison. This is currently THE Largest scratchbuilt item I have ever tried to build.

More pics will be coming as the project wraps up, and I get more stuff painted!

PRESS RELEASE: PERVERTICUS INDUSTRIES LOCATES TO BONGOLESIA!!!

(The first sign and storage tanks of Perverticus Industries in Bongolesia)

(Really...cut the grass and repaint the tanks and you won't even notice the chemical leakage and seepage...)

PRESS RELEASE

From The Ministry of Economic Development, Internal Affairs, and Business Dealings.

For Immediate Release

Press Release;

Perverticus Industries signs contract with Bongolesia Govt. to begin long-term business operations in Bongolesia!

(Sudekia) In a major business move that was highly successful for all parties involved, it was announced today in the capital of our beloved nation that global industrial leader Perverticus Corporation has signed a major contract for Perverticus Industries to begin business operations and investments in Bongolesia.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for all of us to get what we want and to bring in some form of something or other for people to do other than standing around all day wanting to do something else.” Said National Economic Dept. Spokesman Werk’nhard Fo’demoney. “This sweet deal will allow Perverticus Industries to come into some areas that need some stuff and give what they can to get stuff done, and we won’t really mind it that much at all. Their checks don’t bounce.”

Little has been reported to the International Community about the business deal, but details have been leaked out that Perverticus Corporation was seeking a new “overseas location” for the establishment of Perverticus Industries, and that due to the current economic and legal issues with the United States and Europe in the fields of Bio-Organic Nutrient Medical Flux Research and Testing, the Corporation felt that it would be “in their best interest” to bring their facilities to a “less developed nation” which would welcome them with open arms, pockets and not put them under as much scrutiny as most first world nations would.

“After that whole business partnership project failure with UmbrellaCorp, and the recent legal issues with Luthorcorp, Perverticus Corporation had a bit of an image problem and worked their people hard to maintain a professional atmosphere of developing high quality stuff for consumers for the right price.” Said Perverticus spokesman Mr. F.N. Stein as he spoke enthusiastically. “This opportunity should allow our Industrial Base to work full speed on what needs to be done and get things taken care of without all the fuss and hassle that the media, pesky investigators and those meddling kids and their dog were giving us.”

The leader of our country, our beloved President-For-Life P’hat Daddee B’wonah, when asked about the deal said “ Word! Anything that helps fill the void that we have in our lives for what we want is a good thing. We will make sure that the Bongolesian people will know of the opportunity so that they can get what they can and we will make sure that they will work hard to get what they can.”

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Whoo boy, it's been a while since the last release. I've been busy, but the the storage tanks and the sign for Perverticus Industries is finally done!

I've been busy painting figures today, and once this round is done, I will have fifty three (53!) more stands of figs for AK47 Republic bringing my figure stand count to righ under the 200 mark, which will actually be almost halfway to my overall goal of having 500 stands of figures. I count each stand as either:

1: A 3 figure group stand.

2: A 2 figure Support weapon stand, (LMG, or RPG, or SNIPER team, etc..)

3: A single figure stand, (Leaders, character, suicide bomber, Professional Snipers, SF, Special Interest Civilians, etc..)

Now let's just hope that my bases from Litko Aero get in this week!

Let me know what you think about the tanks and the sign.

More to come.

Urban Development and other things...

June 22nd...

Well today is the anniversary of "Operation Barbarossa", and the longest day of the year, (from what they tell us). I find it interesting that as of today the days are supposed to "start getting shorter".

But no matter.

I've been on a slight building streak lately, and as promised in my last post, pics of what is going on and being built on my table were forthcoming and have arrived!

The first off is the third block of my four block urban project known as "Funkytown". I've got one more block to do, and then I will be done with it. Four blocks of urban downtown fun for everyone to fight over. This third block, I actually included an establishment (Mama Jujus House O' Good Eats), and used some N scale brick walling to do one side of the building for variety. A tacky paint job, some graffiti and weathering and voila! DONE!

(Block 3 of 4 of Funkytown...Contemporary Urban Living at it's best...*cough cough*)

A close up of the block...more on the VW later on...

No one ever said that city living was clean, or graffiti free...

The weathered brick wall...touched up with some local "graffi...errr.."artwork"...

It wouldn't be Bongolesia without B'wonah letting you know who and where you are...

I have to apologize for the poor pics of this block of Funkytown. For some reason, I have mucho difficulty in getting the building in focus. I used two different digital cameras, (A Samsung 4010, and a KodakCX7530), and both were having trouble taking close up pics of it in focus. Most of the pics I have taken have been with the Samsung, but for some reason the Kodak seemed to do better with this scenic than the previous, but it still didn't do a good job. I can only think that maybe it had something to do with the color coordination, which may have "confused" the camera, (purple, orange, and yellow CAN be a bit of a problem...).

Now that the end is physically in sight for my urban area, I've started working on some other buildings and projects also. Here are a couple of shots of my almost complete National Police Station...

I really just need to finish the doors, put the POLICE signs up, put the grilling/grating on the windows and weather up the building some, and it's pretty much done. I've been a schlub on getting this one done lately, and I need to get it done and off the table.

Next up, is a set of quickly made and painted, "chemical storage tanks". Well weathered and having seen better days, these two tanks are made from the cardboard tube of a paper towel roll, with a cardstock top, and mounted on foamcore! Yes, it's true when they say that you can pretty much use anything when you make stuff for this silly hobby.

I've got to add the groundwork and final touches to it, but it's mostly done.

A friend of mine recently asked me if I could show him what my "slums" look like while they are under construction, so to help him out, here are some pics showing that you CAN use pretty much anything you want to build them. These pics show paper, foamcore, balsa wood, corrugated paper, plasticard, etc..

An overall view of the three remaining slums blocks I need to do. You can see that I have made pathways 1" wide (to accompany a stand of figures to be able to move/fight in them.

Remember, neatness does NOT count in building these!

And finally, just as buildings have seen better days in Bongolesia, so have some cars that are out there and rolling.

This 1:87 VW Kafer was bought at Wally World, (Wal-Mart), and seemed like just a perfect vehicle for the lot of "Idi's Auto Sales". So a few moments with a Dremel brush and about five minutes of quick drybrush and weathering and voila!; vehicle depreciation at it's finest!

On the showroom floor...

Such a pretty paint job...lets take it for a drive in Bongolesia!

Well...that was an "errr..interesting" trip...

Ummm....this car doesn't look so nice anymore...ewww...

Soon to be on the lot at IDI'S AUTO SALES!!!!

I've got a couple of other projects on the pipeline and just started, (including starting to build a 15mm scale cargo ship), and will be getting more back soon.

As always, comments are appreciated.

Enjoy!

A long overdue post and explanation....

Holy crap! It's June!!!!!
Sorry dear readers who live for and love Bongolesia and AK47 Republic, I've been so diverted from other things, that this poor site (and my gaming altogether), has fallen wayside and slipped onto the back-burner.

But..fear not...
Yesterday I started working on more terrain and scenery...

Currently I am in the process of creating the following:

1: A few additional cars for Idis Auto Sales...

2: Bio-Organic Industrio Chem storage tanks, consolidation and mixing vat, control points, and ummm..drainage sludge pit...

3: The final three blocks of "Funkytown"...

4: The final three blocks of "Slummy town"...

5: The Bongolesian Public Pool...

6: A National Police Station...

7: The first part of Sudekia International Airport (Still known affectionately by it's French name of "Le Bomb'a De P'lane" Aeroport.)

8: The first part of the wharf facilties...

Man...talk about building boom!

I will be taking more pics this week and getting them up for everyone to enjoy!

More to come!

SPECIAL FORCES!!!!

WOO HOO! I can do the ACU's in 15mm!!!!

Presented to you dear reader is my US Special Forces team, (Complete with ADA, AT, Sniper, FAC, and Command Staff elements) in 15mm. The figures are from Rebel Minis, and were flash intensive but cleaned up well...and painted nicely.

The best thing you can do for ACU's is to find a light light grey and sage green.

1: Prime

2: Base coat, light grey.
3: wash of sage green.
4: Drybrush dark green.
5: Re-drybrush MORE sage green over it, almost practically (but not) eliminating the dark green.
And for 15mm it works!!!!
Now I gotta get those Blackhawks done tonight...

(Command Element)

(ACU patterns on Assault Troops)

(An Artsy side shot....for ACU review)

(Coming soon to a country near you!)

Up close and personal...

"The gangs all here..."

(Remember "When I scream DANGER CLOSE!!! I MEAN "DANGER CLOSE DAMNIT!!!")

Protecting our sky from things that fly...

Reach out and touch someone...

And as always, let me know what you think!!!

The room is clean, and my December project...

Eeeek again!

It seems that suddenly I've gotten the room "pretty much clean" and usable, and I have a cleanish sort of worktable!
(What the heck is that about?)
During this time I also got around to FINALLY hanging up the National Colors of Bongolesia!
Yeps...da flags on da wall!

(A clean desk in this picture, as opposed to the previous post...and don't forget to salute the flag!)

That being said...I've realized that I need to get some stuff done for my December game.

So here it is.

Before the game on 29th December I have to build

5 QRF UH-60 Blackhawks

1 "Crashed" Blackhawk

1 QRF AH64 Apache

1 1/100 scale HH60 Pavehawk

Oh...and I have to paint almost 100 figs including approx 30 figs of US Special Forces in ACUs, and "radicals" for "The Lions of Allah"...(Can I do it? It's gonna be a furious attempt to do so!)

(Eureka 15mm SF ready for painting!)

(And last but not least, the Pavehawk I have to build.)

This should be an interesting attempt and endeavor on my skills. The biggest issues that I think I might be facing will be on the "fiddly parts" for the QRF birds. Well..that and the painting of the ACU's on the SF...I'm NOT looking forward to that...

Ah well...

I'll keep you informed of the progress.

Wish me luck on this!

Need to clean my gaming work room!

EEEEEEEK!

Okay dear reader...no cool posts today about what I am doing. Instead this is a post about "what I need to do..."

And that is clean and organize my game work room, so I can sit my butt back down and get these projects done!

I've got crap EVERYWHERE!

Looking in at all the crap from the door...

Another view of the crap...notice the 5 M2/M3 Bradleys (tan) on the foamcore

I call this disaster my painting/work table...

3 containers of paints and them some...gaaaaah!

My painting table...again...what a freaking mess...

Okay so now you've seen genius at work...

Thanks for reading and not screaming too loudly....