A Set of Small & Self-Contained Files

Recently, I have been working with micro-sized projects and my small needles files have been a bit too large for my micro-sized spaces. The six micro-sized file blades fit into-the handle. There small size should give me the clearence I need.

Use the Right Tool for the Job

I have added these three files to my workbench. They are small, but not tiny. It all depends on the need.

These are my tried and true needle files. I purchased these some time ago. There were six, I seem to have misplaced my round file. Larger file on the bottom of the photo is either a six or eight inch flat file that I use to square my pieces up.

Build your own Stubby Paper Rocket!

I have so many links to material that I thought I would like to make posts; so many links that they have a tendency to get lost in the shuffle. This is my first Rockets and Rocket Men post, a topic I hope to expound on in the upcoming months. The TOR HMS Stubbin has somewhat of a history and there are even a few desktop wallpapers for your computer.

The paper-craft model doesn’t look all that difficult to assemble. There are two files to download, that is the model itself and the illustrated instructions (both files are PDF’s).

Lovecraft’s Monsters

Lovecraft’s Monsters from Amazon

Lovecraft’s Monsters is compilation of eighteen stories by eighteen different authors. Following in H. P. Lovecraft’s footsteps and the Cthulhu Mythos genera the authors introduce the reader to ten of Lovecraft’s monsters.

The authors represented here in this anthology are:

Neil Gaiman
Laird Barron
Nadia Bulkin
Brain Hodge
Kim Newman
William Browning Spencer
Elizabeth Bear
Fred Chappell
Caitlin R. Kiernan
Thomas Ligotti
Gemma Files
Howard Waldrop & Steven Utley
Steve Rasnic Tem
Karl Edward Wagner
Joe R. Lansdale
Nick Mamatas
John Langan

GEV Rules for WWII Micro-Armor

In my last post I mentioned having found a set of rules to use with 1/285 scale miniatures. GEV-WWII can be downloaded as a zip file. Once extracted you will find three files, a Gev_wwii.gif-a set of game tokens, Gev_wwii.htm-a page that includes basic rules for the game, and a Gev_wwii.xls, a three work sheet workbook that contain some more introductory notes, and an infantry and vehicle offence, defense points, movement and abilities stats for each type of unit.  For a quick start, the rules look simple enough, but not too simple as to make the game boring and uninteresting.

10 Planned Scratch Built HO Gauge Model Structures

Recently, while rummaging through the files of an old USB drive, I found this list of ten HO gauge structures I had planned to build from scratch. Although, I have no intention of building anything from this list at this time I thought it peculiar finding the list. I thought I would share it with you.

These structures could be built with the materials I have on hand. Perhaps, someday when my interests are drawn back to model railroading, I will build a few of these structures.

1. Stone Spring House

Cardboard sub-walls and roof, stone embossed sheet, plank door from the scrap box with shingled roof.

2. Tarpaper Shack

Cardboard sub-walls and roof, construction paper walls

3. Outhouse on Cement Slab

Board and Batten wood scraps on match stick foundation

4. Storage Tanks and Pump House on Cement Slab

Storage tanks: tape spools glued onto a polystyrene sheet

Pump House: Cardboard sub-walls and roof with brick embossed walls

Cement slab: Cardboard

5. Shingled Potting Shed on Cement Posts

Cardboard sub-walls and roof, construction paper shingles, on strip wood posts

6. Board and Batten Utility Building on Cement Slab

Board and batten plastic sheet, door and three windows from resource box

7. Chicken Coop on Stone Foundation

Scribed sheet, door built-up from Strathmore board, windows from resource box

8. Stone Smoke House

Cardboard sub walls, stone embossed sheet, plank door from the scrap box with shingled roof.

9. Clapboard Utility Building

Polystyrene Clapboard sheet, plastic door and windows (3) from resource box

10. Random Plank Board Barn
Polystyrene sheet, plastic windows, polystyrene “metal” roofing.

Materials – Mat-board Odds and Ends

Over the past couple of months I have collected these bits of mat-board. I thought they might work well for a structures sub-walls. Measuring 2/16th inch thick the material is sturdy and is not all that difficult to cut. And unlike most card stock it files very nicely.

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.

RV # 5 and Bonus Unit Completed

A cake topper, if you will. Although I did create a sixth unit, displayed below, this is the last robot vermin in this series for a while. I have desinated this unit as a security drone. The drone started out as a plastic tube inside a floss container. The material in which it was manufactured was of some waxy type of plastic, which at first, I didn't believe regular model cement would adhere strips to the cylinder. So I started of using super glue which made the process too fiddly. Things went better when I started to use model cement. I glued scale 1/4 strips around the spools diameter. The bottom was wrapped with a band of very thin styrene and I added scratch built rivets. The topper is a mystry, a part from my greeble collection.

This unit is signal repeater which picks up signals from other devices, amplifies the signal and pushes it out to the corresponding device. There is also a small storage area of a terabyte or two. Operating systems and the small bit of data that might be found on each device are also stored here to help restore necessary files quickly.