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Review-Hot Wire Foam Factory Pro Scroll Table Kit

by Senji on Sep.03, 2010, under News, Reviews


Hot Wire Foam Factory Pro Scroll Table Kit


http://hotwirefoamfactory.com/home.php

Hot Wire Foam Factory makes some of the best foam cutting tools on the market. They appeal to the
crafter and hobbyist to the professionals. They have been in business since 1991
and their products are reliable and very affordable.

Their tools are used by many people who work in movie and stage design.
Disney, Six Flags Amusement Park, Fao Schwartz, Knott’s Berry Farm, and the TV Show Deal or No Deal are just a few
in the industry that use their products.

For scenery makers, their products will make doing some difficult shapes and cuts very easy.
If you have never been to their website you should take a look.

One product I find myself always using is the Pro Scroll Table Kit.

The kit includes:
Scroll Table, Stationary and Travelling Fence, four precision 8” cutting blades, 4 Pro Blades, Nails, Pro Power Station and
a 90 minute Instructional DVD.

The table measures 12″ X 13″ and is made of industrial strength ABS, but what makes this cutter unique is the
adjustable cutting arm.

The arm stands at 10″ from the table which makes it very useful for cutting thick pieces of foam.

The arm swivels from left to right which makes cutting almost any angle easy to do.
Simply place a protractor in back of the wire and figure out the angel you are going for.
You can change the angel by
adjusting a screw on the back.

Attaching the wire to the table is easy to do. Just hook the wire to the bent screws on the top and bottom of the table.
The screws thread help to hold the wire in place and are also useful in changing the angle of the wire.

The stationary fence guide is useful for making straight and angled cuts. The fence can be adjusted and locked back in place with the clamps in the back.

The traveling fence is used for making more complicated cuts. Simply position it anywhere and guide the foam along it.
The fence also has holes so you can insert pins to secure the foam to it.

The kit comes with the Pro Power Station, which by itself is $100. The power station is great because it runs most of their tools,
which will prevent your power strips from filling up with lots plugs and adapters. The power station also has an adjustable temperature setting,
allowing you to cut fast by giving more heat or having more control by adding less heat.

Here are some of the different kinds of wires available for the Pro Scroll Kit.

The Pro Scroll Kit is extremely useful for any scenery maker. It makes cutting large walls, straight cuts, and angled cuts all really easy.
I was able to make an Egyptian obelisk in less than 5 minutes. Using just a foam cutter would of taken a lot longer and been much more complicated.
Sure it’s possible to make things without it, but the scroll kit makes it a million times easier
saving you lots of time.

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The Storm Wardens Collaborative Army Build Drawing!

by Senji on Jul.23, 2010, under News, Storm Wardens

This is it folks! The Storm Wardens finish line is near. The drawing will be held THIS SUNDAY at 2pm EST live on Jawaballs Live! and you get to watch it. Join us for a special presentation of Jawaballs Live! at 2pm Eastern Standard Time. Jawaballs Live! is a weekly show that is broadcast live every Wednesday at 6pm EST.

But we are not just giving away an army. There is a list of loot to be given away as well!

A customized deck of cards and patch donated by Bolter and Chainsword

An Airbrush
A Forge World Eldar Vampire kit
Deamon Prince & codex
Secret Weapon $50 credit
2 games day tickets
and more!

The final loot list will be posted before the show, but at any rate, you don’t want to miss this! Simply come to Ustream.tv by CLICKING HERE and join the fun. I suggest you register for the site and create a screen name. You do not need to attend the live show to win the prizes. But why not be there! The show sould take about half an hour. Members of the Storm Wardens build team will be in the live chat as well to answer questions about the project.

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Storm Wardens Update

by Senji on Jul.20, 2010, under News, Storm Wardens

swarmybigshot
We are happy to announce that this project has collected

$16,107.00

for Doctors Without Borders

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Terranscape’s River Review

by Senji on Jul.16, 2010, under News, Reviews



Terranscape’s River Review


http://terranscapes.com/


Terranscape has a beautiful set of modular river pieces available to wargamers. Currently, there are 12 different ones available. The pieces range from 6” to 12” long, and 3” to 5” wide.
The river pieces have a very natural feel to them. The banks vary in width and have nicely detailed rocks embedded alongside them. Another aspect I like is that the side profile is very low, which prevents it from looking like two speed bumps holding in water.
The river is not only nice to look at but is very affordable. Prices start at $4 for an 8” (unfinished) piece. Terranscape also sells finished terrain pieces for not a whole lot more. The attention to detail on the finished pieces is great. The blend of ground foams and static grass along with various brushes and reeds makes the setting look very natural.

I received a set of these rivers and chose to finish it a bit differently to have it match my ice terrain. After a quick wash with soap and water I set the pieces aside to dry overnight.

I started by painting all of the river pieces. I dry brushed the ground work in various shades of brown and then painted in the water.

To make the ice, I mixed up a batch of clear resin and added some colouring to tint it.

pic22

This was then poured into a pan coated with mold release.

When the resin cured, I began to break it apart into smaller pieces.

Next, I glued these pieces to the river.

Then I applied vegetation matching my ice terrain to the sides of the river.

For snow, I used Woodland Scenics Soft Flake Snow. I mixed this up with PVA glue and water. I applied this mixture along the sides of the river and in between the cracks of ice.

After drying overnight, here are the finished pieces.


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Review- Easy Mold Silicone Putty

by Senji on Jul.16, 2010, under News, Reviews


Review- Easy Mold Silicone Putty


http://www.eti-usa.com/index.html

Easy Mold Silicone Putty is a terrain maker’s dream come true. This product is ideal for making quick impression molds. There have been so many times I wished I could easily duplicate a part that I had made without going through the hassle of mixing up rubber and building a mold box.

The silicone putty retains excellent detail, does not shrink, and is very flexible. It is also non-toxic and can be used for food related applications.

The putty is very easy to use. Quickly mix equal parts A and B (work fast because you only have a 2-3 minute working time).

Press the putty onto the item you want to duplicate. Make sure you completely cover the item.

Set it aside to cure for 25 minutes.

After the putty has cured, remove the item and prepare the mold for casting. I sprayed the putty with Castin Craft Mold Release, which is an odorless and solvent free conditioner.

Then I mixed up a batch of Castin Craft Casting Resin and poured it into the mold. A handy chart on the back of the container will tell you how much catalyst to add per ounce of resin.

Once the resin cures you have an exact copy of the original part.

Easy Mold Silicone Putty is available in ½ lb. and 1lb. kits. Store it properly and it will keep for 6-9 months.

It is easy to use and very handy to have in stock. I would highly recommend adding this to your arsenal of tools.

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Storm Warden’s Update

by Senji on Jul.12, 2010, under News, Storm Wardens

I finished my squad for the Storm Warden’s project!
Go here for pictures of he entire army.
http://stormwardens.blogspot.com/

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Storm Wardens Update

by Senji on Jul.09, 2010, under News, Storm Wardens

A T-shirt, shoulder pads and bases just arrived in today’s mail.

My task for the Storm Wardens project is to complete a Tactical Squad. So I will be working on this for the next couple of days.

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Table Top World Abandoned Factory

by Senji on Jul.07, 2010, under News, Reviews, Tutorials

Table Top World Abandoned Factory

http://www.tabletop-world.com/

The Abandoned factory is a fantastic 15 piece polyurethane resin kit from Table Top World. The building is very realistic looking and has tons of character. The casting quality is very good, and the molds have captured the tiniest details. The wood grain and stone texture are very pronounced. Normally, I would expect to find some air bubbles where the rivets are, but on my piece there was none.

The first thing to catch my eye was the stonework. The lads at Table Top World build the master model stone by stone, and bypassed the easy route of using textured plastic sheets. There are even missing bricks and sagging sections along the walls, which really show the building’s age.

There was very minimal cleaning required, and all the pieces dry fit perfectly. After a quick wash, I let the pieces dry over night.
The building goes together very logically. There are clear demarcation lines for the ramp and smoke stack, and the pipes connect to the flange parts on the wall and boilers.

The kit gives you two options to attach to the pulley. You can either attach the bucket or the basket of ore. I opted for the bucket and drilled two holes to insert a piece of wire. Then I connected it to the pulley system.

The completed building measures approximately 8” X 6” X 8”. I should also mention, the windows of the building are filled in and can be painted to look like glass or left black. I used a rotary tool to remove the glass so I could light up the building. This building was fun to build and to paint. If you are a terrain collector like me I would highly recommend picking up one of these.

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Review- AJS Metals Miniature Skulls

by Senji on Jul.03, 2010, under News, Reviews


AJS Metals Miniature Skulls


http://www.ajs-metals.com/

AJS Miniatures is owned by the famous Andy Slater of TerraGenesis fame.
These skulls work well for converting miniatures in the 28mm scale. They come 12 to a sprue and are cast in white metal. For Warmachine, it would be easy to do a head swamp and convert a miniature into a Cryx Thrall. For Warhammer 40K, the skulls could adorn the walls and doors of buildings.
These skulls are very handy to have and I would recommend adding them to your bits collection.

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Storm Wardens Army Project

by Senji on Jul.03, 2010, under News, Storm Wardens

copy-of-swfinally

I’ve joined the Storm Wardens Army Project.    Here is some information on it.

Well here it is, “The Great Storm Wardens Project”
We have gotten so much out of this hobby and our blogs that we decided to give back a bit and work together on something awesome, and give money to charity.
The end result will be an incredible painted army going to one of you, the WINNER of this drawing.
The Army.

The Storm Wardens are a new Space Marine chapter from the yet to be released Death Watch RPG. Together with Games Workshop, Fantasy Flight Games (Horus Heresy, Wings of War) has been developing the game which will be released this summer.
We approached the folks designing the Death Watch game while planning this project, and told them we were thinking of building a Storm Wardens army, and they loved the idea. They have been working with us in getting the look of the army just right and giving us some great unreleased fluff and imagery.
We are going to build a complete Storm Wardens Space Marine army with a decked out HQ, Marines, Veterans, Scouts, Terminators, and a bunch of vehicles, a massive army that any commander would be proud to field.
You will be able to see the army units come together and follow the army build progress through links to all the builders blogs on our “Storm Wardens” mini blog roll.
Who will be working on the army?
Thomas Wynn ( Wynn Studios)
Ron Saikowski (From the Warp)
Mister Justin (Secret Weapon Miniatures)
Mik (Miks Minis, Barter Bucket)
Pat Ohta (Senji Studios)
and us, Mike & John (Santa Cruz Warhammer)
Along with the blogger build team, we are going after some related hobby retailers to give up some loot to add to the army prize. Secret Weapon Miniatures is donating all the custom bases, and Chessex has already sent us the custom dice.
What can you do?

Well, you can give money to the cause. You can give to the fund at the top right of this page or any of the other participating bloggers, using PayPal or a credit card. Each dollar will also enter you in the free army grand prize drawing, the more you give, the better your chance of winning, and more money we can give to charity.
We will draw the winner in mid July.
What if I don’t have any money, but I still want to help?

Dig around under the couch cushions or under the seat of your car, put on some dark sunglasses and sell pencils out of a cup on the street corner, or even sell some extra Warhammer minis on Ebay, then use that cash for a donation.
You can also help by linking to this project in your blog, telling your friends and other gamers, mention it at your gaming club or even posting about it in your favorite forums, this will help us get the most exposure we can, so we can raise more money for charity.
If you have a small business (or know someone who does) that might have a product to donate that would be great to add to this army, contact us about a feature during the build.
Why should I help out?

If you have ever read something on our blogs that you thought was cool, gave you a good idea, showed you how to do something better, downloaded a free drop pod template, used the Barter Bucket, or perhaps you even got something from us for free and you are feeling a bit guilty about it…. well, now is your chance to give something back, pay it forward, return a good turn…. well you know.
Oh yeah, and you could end up with an entire finished army, by giving $1 to the Storm Wardens Project.


Where does the money go?

The money will be a gift from us to Doctors Without Borders, and actually help people. We chose Doctors without Borders because their cause is a global pursuit to help people in need, where ever help is needed most, and they have a good track record with getting the $ where it does the most good.
So there you have it. I hope you are all as exited about this as we are, its been tough keeping it a secret.
So…….who wants a new army?
John & Mike

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