January 28, 2024

I got this version of the Tatooine skiff at the swap meet for a dollar. It appears to be by Galactic Heroes/Star Wars, but there are no actual indications on the toy. It was missing the rudders, so I rather crudely built a couple of replacements using Evergreen plastic and some odds and ends I had on the workbench.  I also raised the floor a little around the helm to suit 28mm figures.

As the week drew to an end, the workbench closed down because the garage was being used for a different kind of painting… the repainting of the kitchen cabinets.

January 21, 2024

This has been another busy week in my real life, but I was able to finish the work on my destroyed and decaying AT-AT.  I did a lot of modification to the AT-AT’s legs and added scored Milliput to the finished legs.  I then gave the entire AT-AT its paint job.

I ended the week by adding Milliput to the base of the Lemax plastic Tannenbaum Clock Tower. 

I picked this up at the swap meet a couple weeks ago for $5.  It was in good shape and even better someone had already removed all the evidence of it’s being Christmas decor.  I did have to add some hands to the clock because they were missing.  All that remains now is a new paint job.  The cardstock over the clock face is to protect the clock face, which I don’t want to repaint, during painting.  The figure is a 28mm by Artizan Designs/Thrilling Tales and provided for scale.

January 14, 2024

This week began with the painting of Tusken females and children by Order66 3d printing.  As far as I can tell these are the only figures (male or female) engaged in daily life rather than battle.

For quite awhile I have been thinking about doing a destroyed and decaying AT-AT. This past weekend I found one that was a good candidate at the swap meet for $8. It was missing a lot of parts... cheek guns and chin guns most prominent among the missing, but I think they would have been removed by one side/force or the other for use elsewhere following the disabling of the AT-AT.

I began by filling some of the large holes with Evergreen plastic. I then outlined the shape of the body of the AT-AT on paper. I then covered the outlined paper with wax paper. Once that was done, I followed the outline with Milliput (Standard/yellow grey) and set the body of the AT-AT in that Milliput base.

Once the AT-AT was firmly set in the hardened Milliput, I began placing strands of Milliput over the AT-AT's body which I then scored with a piece of scrap plastic to give the Milliput the look of shrubs.

With the basing and detailing of the AT-AT done, I decided to add some removable awnings.  I scored Evergreen plastic rod for the awning poles and wrapped the top of the poles with floral wire.  I glued the poles to plastic I had cut from some tents I found at the swap meet, and once the poles were secure, I set the poles with the awning covers attached in a base of Milliput.

The figures are Wizards of the Coast Star Wars figures provided here for scale.

January 7, 2024

The week ending January 6 was another busy non-workbench week.  Even so I managed to get eight Wizards of the Coast Mandalorians modified, painted, and rebased.