Saturday 15 February 2020

"Well I Made Up The Name TARDIS From The Initials..."

"...Time and Relative Dimensions In Space."
This 145mm tall printed MDF Police Box Dice Tower is manufactured by "XLC Wargame Terrain" and can currently be bought from their range of seven different dice towers. Built using 3mm MDF and comprising of nine separate pieces, the "object used by gamers to roll dice fairly" comes bearing a pre-painted design based upon the 1929 Gilbert Mackenzie Trench British Police telephone call box, and resultantly would prove especially thematic for any "Doctor Who" inspired tabletop.

The tower was assembled reasonably quickly using both PVA Wood glue and the kit's crystal clear instruction leaflet. However, it's one frustration was that the glue didn't bond terribly well with those parts covered by its satin finish 'veneer'. Whilst this was perfectly understandable, it did mean that the ensemble wasn't really stable enough to stand on its own (to properly dry) until after the majority of the build was complete.
"Heroclix" WIPs - The Abomination and Bi-Beast
Alongside side working on my MDF Police Box Dice Tower I have been slowly re-basing and priming a number of "Wizkids" pre-painted plastic figures linked to the "Marvel Worldwide" comic book character, the incredible Hulk. Foremost of these miniatures is an old sculpt of Emil Blonsky's alter-ego, the Abomination, which depicts the cursed KGB agent as he originally appeared way back in the late Sixties. I've actually already previously painted "The Ultimates" version of the Hulk's arch-rival, but much prefer this (admittedly smaller) traditional-looking Master of Evil.

In addition, I have starting working on two more of Bruce Banner's leading foes, namely Zzzax and the Bi-Beast. The Zzzax model whilst originally a reasonably-sized chunk of translucent orange plastic, will hopefully prove a straightforward enough painting subject, courtesy of a fair amount of dry-brushing. Unfortunately however, the Bi-Beast's figure is tremendously disappointing, and isn't anywhere near as tall as the monstrosity pencilled by the late Herb Trimpe in the early Seventies.
"Wizkids" WIPs - The Abominable Snowman, S.T.R.I.P.E. and Zzzax
Far more impressive looking, is the "Wizkids" Promotional "Heroclix" of the Abominable Snowman, which as memory serves I was able to track down from its frozen lair at "The Troll And Toad" website in America. I've previously already undercoated the brute with a couple of layers of "Vallejo" Dead White as part of my preparation for the Tenth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, so have now treated the furry beast to a wash of Pale Grey prior to some significant dry-brushing.

Lastly, I've stumbled across a partially-painted miniature of Pat Dugan's powered armour suit S.T.R.I.P.E. (Special Tactics Robotic Integrated Power Enhancer). This "DC Comics" figure still has a fair amount of work to do on it despite having already had all of its metalwork finished, and, like the Abominable Snowman, doesn't fit in with my current notion to 'Hulk Out' with my "Heroclix". But it's such a cool-looking figure, that I thought I'd spend enough time on it to get it completed anyway...  


16 comments:

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    1. Thanks Phil. As soon as it was pointed out to me I knew I had to get one. It seems to work really well too.

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  2. What a great accessory, lovely job.

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    1. Cheers Michael. I've not owned a dice tower before, but love this one already :-)

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  3. That Tardis looks sharp. Dig it!

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  4. The dice tower looks good Simon, if you ever have problems sticking shiney surfaces together use a bit of sand paper to rough it up first, gives somewhere for the glue to stick too.
    Some cool looking models in the queue, The abominable snowman, reminds me of Sasquatch from Alpha Squad

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    1. Cheers Dave. I wouldn't advocate roughing up the TARDIS 'veneer' tbh, as its quite thick and my skills with even a file wouldn't be up to snuff. I have Sasquatch too, and as you say, the Abominable Snowman is pretty similar, especially to the latest "Wizkids" Sasquatch mini.

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    2. Perhaps reinforcing joints with some hobby wood on the non-visible side? Gluing is always tricky... No one glue works on every material.

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    3. Hi Allison. The build is stable enough once the glue is dry - in fact its excellent. But until the majority of it is assembled, it needs one hand to hold the bulk of it together, another to apply the glue, and a third hand to place the new piece in position... LOL!!!

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  5. Nice job on the Tardis dice tower. I had appalling rolls using some on one of the tables at Board in Brum!

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    1. Thanks Simon. Not used one before, but thought this one might be fun for playing "Doctor Who" :-)

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  6. Nice looking dice tower, good find given your love of daleks! Some great wips, really like the Abomination, STRIPE and the yeti. All of which are looking awesome already.

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    1. Cheers Undercoat. I'm really pleased with the dice tower and am now in the market for a super-hero flavoured one... LOL!!! I'm delighted to say that both the Abomination and Zzzax are already finished, and so should be posted up next week.

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  7. I've always though dice towers are an intersting extravagance and never really fancied them, though they do make for an interesting game mechanci in the board game "Wallenstein"
    Of the figures 'on the work-bench', Zzaxx looks to me to be the most interesting just saying.

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    1. Thanks Joe. This is my first dice tower, and I rather like it. Glad you like the look of Zzzax as he's already finished :-)

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