The Wares of three Makers

Three makers three unique projects and a lot of inspiration.

Woodworking - Making a Wooden Pipe

I recently posted a blog post featuring "makers" perfecting the art of pipemaking. Having reclaimed a walnut board at about the right size for a pipe or two I have been looking for ideas for my own pipe project. The author, not only turns out a nice pipe but also a box to store it in.

Saw Making

Although most of the process is a bit out of my skill set the process was simply amazing to watch.

Woodworking - A Treasure Chest of Secret Drawers made from Pallets and Scrap

I have another one of this authors builds that I will eventually post. This author is skilled in multiple disiplines, that is the author made the chest of reclaimed wood and fabricated hinges, a lock and key out of recycled metal sheet. He also used copper straps made from what looked like reclaimed copper sheet. Watching the author pull this project together blew me away.

Miniatures, Dioramas, and Structures

• 102 Detailed And Fun Miniature Dioramas
• 25 Cool Examples Of Toy Photography
• Collectors gather 1,200 tiny buildings

Odds & Ends #14

Alternative Rules for Axis and Allies

The one thing I always liked about the original Axis and Allies were it alternative technologies that could be purchased, if you rolled a six. These technology enhancements included long range aircraft, ships, and tanks. There were advancements for every country and they would often give you an edge over your component. I recently found an updated rule book and although it does not include any of those old alternative rules, it does offer several optional rules for each country.

Twenty Must Read Steampunk Books

I haven’t read many of these titles, but the Twenty Must Read Steampunk Books – An Introduction to the Genre list will get us started.

Why Nikola Tesla was the Greatest Geek Who Ever Lived

Why Nikola Tesla was the Greatest Geek Who Ever Lived is an informative comic (of sorts). I do find Tesla an interesting inventor.

Several Image Galleries for your Viewing Pleasure

I was looking for inspiration the other day and came across these sites.

Indian Summer: Scenes from the Frontier
French and Indian war diorama.

Golden Demon Award Winners Website
A huge handful of beautifully painted horror and fantasy miniatures.

Miniatures Scenes
A small collection of ‘N’ or ‘Z’ gauge (?) miniatures arranged in some very distinctive ways.

Alpine Miniatures Scale Model Directories

I just came across this link and did not want to lose track of it, so I have posted it. Alpine Miniatures site features a small international directory of scale model and figures of various scales.

Eight Minute Empire-Odds and Ends

Here are few reviews and other sites that offer a description of the Eight Minute Empire game.

Boardgame Geek

Before I make a purchase Boardgame Geek is always the first place I go to read-up on a game. You will find all sorts of information about a game, including reviews, prices, images of game and its components, related forums, fan created files, like alternative game boards, card sleeves,

Red Raven Games

This is the home page of Red Raven Games where you can find information about the Eight Minute Empire and the other games and expansions created by Red Raven Games. Many of these games look pretty interesting and deserve some more research.

Board Game Quest

Nice review of Eight Minute Empire, its components, and basic play instructions.

Dads Gaming Addiction: Eight Minute Empire Review

This is another nice review of the game. I especially liked the two videos at the bottom of the page. One of the videos walks you through a round of the game between the author and his son. It is nice to see fathers doing something constructive with their sons.

Monsters and Demons

Here are two links to ghoulish minis just in time for Halloween. With this post I have instituted a new label: horror. The horror label with be used to identify all things wonderfully ghoulish and horrid.

1. Splintered Light Minis is offering their sets of 15/18mm Dungeon Encounters miniatures at a reduced price. These miniatures would be great for your dungeon crawl or RPG games. Splintered Light is also offering a set of 15/18mm Lizard men at a considerable discount.
2. Twilight Creations is offering their Demons from Dante’s Inferno. There are 21 demons in 6 different poses. These miniatures are very close to 1/72 scale. You can get a comparative here, that shows the miniatures against measurements in the background.( Scroll down a bit on the page to find the piece on Twilight Creations)

Playing Cards Odds and Ends

History of Playing Cards
The History of Playing Cards site offers insight into the history of playing cards. This interesting site offers information on the history, popular card games by country, Joker designs, producers, collecting, and the different types of decks that are available.
Alphabetical Index of Card Games
Like the name implies, this site offers an alphabetical list of popular card games. The site also offers the following special card games:

• Commercial games (games requiring a special pack of cards produced by a single manufacturer)
• Solitaire / Patience games (games for one player)
• Invented games (newly created games and variations contributed by readers)

Bicycle Card Homepage
Although there are other brands of cards, one of the more popular brands of playing cards are Bicycle cards. The site offers information about Bicycle’s brands of cards and there is an online app that will help you choose an appropriate card game for the company you have and tells you how the game is played.

Building from Styrene

In the past I have featured articles that described how people used styrene plastic to construct things. It is very easy to create all types of things out of styrene. I hope to post my own article on how to build a corrugated shed very soon. At any rate here are three articles that explain the process.

Styrene Sheets, Basic Building Material for Smaller Scales

This is a very basic article. The article describes how to work with Styrene, how it can be purchased, and how to finish it.

Modeling Basics: Working with Model Styrene

The author give the reader an overview of what styrene is and the forms it can be purchased. He goes on to describe what is needed to work with Styrene. The author includes images of some of the things that he has created using Styrene.

Building things out of Polystyrene

This article explains how the author, using drawing and real specifications created a “4-inch” AK-47 out of laminates of plastic sheet. The article is pretty detailed and the completed model superb.

Odds and Ends #6-Pirates of the Spanish Main

How to Talk Like a Pirate

The “How to Talk Like a Pirate from Sea Life - Guide for Pirates & Sailors (Pirate Dictionary, Ship Terminology, Sea Monsters, Crewmates)”, page has a list of pirate lingo that will have you speaking like a pirate in no time.

Pirates of the Spanish Main Comics

The site offers many old comics and it is a shame that the author did not continue to make posts. There is a series of comic books, which are titled Spanish Main Pirates that can be found here. If you scroll down a bit you will find a continuation of this comic series and also two other comics with different titles that have been labeled pirate.

Reefs, Wrecks, and Rascals-The Pirate Legacy of the Spanish Main

The Miami Dade public library has several pages dealing with Pirates of the Spanish Main. The Lore and Legend: Visions of the Past page features summaries on several texts dealing with Pirates of the Spanish Main. Texts include poems, books, and pamphlets and other manuscripts.

A Collection of Redwall Resources

Here a few random Redwall resources I recently found online. I already mentioned two of these in previous posts, but I thought it might be nice to mention them again in this list.

The OO Cities site offers among other things maps from the Redwal l series. It seems that each book offers a different map of the Redwall and its vicinity.

RPG Redwall offers information boards on many different aspects of Redwall and on how you can get started playing this online RPG.

Redwall Net offers links to forums, an extensive collection of recipes based on the series, a library where you can read descriptions and summaries of all of the Redwall books.

The Redwall Wiki offers information about all things Redwall, like characters, locations mentioned in the book and images of the characters as they were depicted in the animated series.

The Official Redwall site features the work of Brain Jacques the creator of Redwall. The site offers the visitor the chance to download e-pubs, read up on upcoming works by Brain, and purchase copies of the Redwall series that you might have missed.

Odds and Ends 3-Compass

This is another installment of Odds and Ends. This is where I mention several links on various topics. In this case they are all related to a compass.

Jack Sparrow's Compass

Jack Sparrow, the captain of the Black Pearl, compass never really seems to point at anything. “Although it appears to be useless (the needle never points north) Jack's compass has supernatural qualities thereby giving him a special edge.” The Disney Wiki gives us this information about Captain’s Jacks compass and more. His compass is one very singular compass, as it will point at whatever Jack wants.

Paper Craft Compass

A very fine replica of Captains Jacks compass made of paper can be downloaded from the Disney Experience site. The compass is a very fine looking model and measures High: 1.8, Wide: 3.5, and has a Depth of: 4.75".

Binnacle

Included in a set alternate rules (PDF) for the Pirates of Spanish Main game is a compass that can be printed, assembled, and used to monitor current wind speed and direction when working these factors into the game.

12 Weapons That Changed Everything

“History is shaped by technological innovations”. “12 Weapons That Changed Everything” is slide show with some accompanying materials that define twelve weapons that revolutionized warfare in their day. From The Greek Phalanx to the modern day tank, man has looked for ways to perfect his ability to exterminate his enemies (so much like an insect under foot)…so much for the maxim - proximos ama sicut te ipsum.

Odds and Ends-Mysterious Islands

While searching for “Mysterious Islands” I have come upon these instances of Mysterious Islands. Here is a short list of those resources.

Ships of the Mysterious Islands

Ships of the Mysterious Islands is a Role Playing Game, and although the RPG has very little in common with the Whizkids game of the same name this RPG could add some interesting concepts and give a player some ideas on how to expand the Ships of the Mysterious Islands game.

Top 10 Mysterious Islands in Fiction

The Top 10 Mysterious Islands in Fiction site offers ten examples of Mysterious Islands that have been mentioned in popular culture.

The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne (epub)

The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne is a must read for those Mysterious Island aficionados.

10 Mysterious Tidal Islands around the World

A tidal island is a piece of land that is connected to the mainland and can be reached by foot at low tide, however are either total submerged or are cut off from the main land at high tide.

A Few Odds and Ends from Around the Web

This is my first “Odds and Ends” post where I report on miscellaneous sites and topics that I find in my searches for other topics. I usually post these sites on the Links page, but that page gets very few visits.

• The Mystery of Davy Jones' Locker!
For whatever it is worth. The Mystery of Pirates of Davy Jones' Curse is a comic strip that is a re-script of the first panel of an underwater Charlton love story.

• The Art of Paper Model Instructions
The article discusses how instructions for paper models have evolved through the years.

• Cartoon Scrapbook
The cartoon Scrapbook summarizes many long-gone cartoons. The site lists the cartoons characters, lists its episodes, and displays scenes from these bygone episodes.

• Spanish Ships, their Parts, Wrecks and Treasures
Interesting one page site geared toward children on the topic of “Spanish Ships, their Parts, Wrecks and Treasures”.

Terrain for the Pirates of the Spanish Main

Like I mentioned in a recent Pirates of the Spanish Main post, home islands are not included in the mix. I have been looking for ideas and plan’s for these islands and have come-up with several links that might very useful in that endeavor.

P.O.T.S.M. Tables & Islands

Offers many fine images of island and game tables that the author has created; truly inspirational.

Another rocky hill...

An August 2012 post on this blog that offers instructions on how to create “another rocky hill”. The instructions are geared toward the war-gamer, but the techniques presented here could be put into use for islands on my Pirates of the Spanish Main

Instructables: Mini Island Gaming Terrain

Actually offers instructions on how to create islands for the Pirates of the Spanish Main game. It includes the materials and instructions on how to create islands that are very realistic in appearance.

Now that you have an island, how about some trees?

About.Com”: Make Realistic Miniature Model Palm Trees from Paper or Fabric and Wire

Features instructions on how to create miniature palm trees. Whether the palms trees can be created in smaller sizes I do not know, but I thought the article was well worth a peak.

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