Walrus
@walrusgames.bsky.social
Wasn't a fish on the other place. I have too many hobbies.
Occasionally I post at https://coloursandeagles.blogspot.com/
Occasionally I post at https://coloursandeagles.blogspot.com/
If I were Simon Jenkins, I would avoid the subject of it who exactly deserves their huge salary like the plague.
June 24, 2025 at 5:32 PM
If I were Simon Jenkins, I would avoid the subject of it who exactly deserves their huge salary like the plague.
Can anyone tell me why specifically the third recommendation in my Youtube sidebar is now always some bullshit with about three views?
April 8, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Can anyone tell me why specifically the third recommendation in my Youtube sidebar is now always some bullshit with about three views?
On the plus side, I've used elastic thread for the rigging so the masts can be collapsed for transport...
November 14, 2024 at 9:22 PM
On the plus side, I've used elastic thread for the rigging so the masts can be collapsed for transport...
In preparation for some photos for an article, I've added the barest minimum of standing rigging to HMS Hotspur here:
November 14, 2024 at 9:04 PM
In preparation for some photos for an article, I've added the barest minimum of standing rigging to HMS Hotspur here:
I've reached a bit of a milestone with this 28mm frigate, which I'm building for the game @duncanwgaming.bsky.social and I are putting on for Herts of Lard in March; so far it's all been put together dry, but now all the frames and structural work for the hull are done!
February 20, 2024 at 10:02 PM
I've reached a bit of a milestone with this 28mm frigate, which I'm building for the game @duncanwgaming.bsky.social and I are putting on for Herts of Lard in March; so far it's all been put together dry, but now all the frames and structural work for the hull are done!
Working up a design for a large frigate from a lines plan of the original, because @duncanwgaming.bsky.social and I are apparently not capable of doing a sensible sort of game!
February 2, 2024 at 11:31 AM
Working up a design for a large frigate from a lines plan of the original, because @duncanwgaming.bsky.social and I are apparently not capable of doing a sensible sort of game!
Footsore Miniatures very kindly gave us some figures to give away at the inaugural To The Strongest doubles tournament, so I thought it only fair to bump him to the top of the painting queue! Lovely sculpt and a near-flawless casting.
November 30, 2023 at 4:37 PM
Footsore Miniatures very kindly gave us some figures to give away at the inaugural To The Strongest doubles tournament, so I thought it only fair to bump him to the top of the painting queue! Lovely sculpt and a near-flawless casting.
Do you play To The Strongest, and could you be in London this Saturday? If so, we're looking for a ringer to play in our TTS doubles tournament and replace a dropout. We can provide an army and a partner for you!
November 22, 2023 at 2:59 PM
Do you play To The Strongest, and could you be in London this Saturday? If so, we're looking for a ringer to play in our TTS doubles tournament and replace a dropout. We can provide an army and a partner for you!
Finished rebasing some 90-odd hoplites onto multibases for To The Strongest! An army is never done, but this should be plenty for the forseeable future.
November 22, 2023 at 1:49 PM
Finished rebasing some 90-odd hoplites onto multibases for To The Strongest! An army is never done, but this should be plenty for the forseeable future.
As does the main tower - I thought I might need to sand a few bits but was moderately surprised to find that it all fitted well enough that sanding wasn't necessary.
October 25, 2023 at 11:08 AM
As does the main tower - I thought I might need to sand a few bits but was moderately surprised to find that it all fitted well enough that sanding wasn't necessary.
After that, and a couple of rounds of additional trimming, the roof goes together pretty nicely.
October 25, 2023 at 11:06 AM
After that, and a couple of rounds of additional trimming, the roof goes together pretty nicely.
I knew I'd have to bevel the edges of the roof triangles; I did that pretty roughly with a scalpel. The tiling over the top of it will give it plenty of strength.
October 25, 2023 at 11:05 AM
I knew I'd have to bevel the edges of the roof triangles; I did that pretty roughly with a scalpel. The tiling over the top of it will give it plenty of strength.
And here it is cut out. There's a tiny corner missing from the base of the tower (on the far right), but not enough to be an issue.
October 25, 2023 at 11:02 AM
And here it is cut out. There's a tiny corner missing from the base of the tower (on the far right), but not enough to be an issue.
Cutting time! I'm going to skip over the actual process of cutting because if it goes well it's as simple as putting the material in the machine and pressing a button. Here's the first sheet in the laser after a light pass to check it's all OK.
October 25, 2023 at 11:01 AM
Cutting time! I'm going to skip over the actual process of cutting because if it goes well it's as simple as putting the material in the machine and pressing a button. Here's the first sheet in the laser after a light pass to check it's all OK.
Packed in nice and tight, except for the two floor pieces which we'll do separately. I won't show the process for the card as it's identical.
At this point the MDF is _finally_ ready for cutting...but it's going to be a few days before I have the time to run the laser.
At this point the MDF is _finally_ ready for cutting...but it's going to be a few days before I have the time to run the laser.
October 19, 2023 at 12:55 PM
Packed in nice and tight, except for the two floor pieces which we'll do separately. I won't show the process for the card as it's identical.
At this point the MDF is _finally_ ready for cutting...but it's going to be a few days before I have the time to run the laser.
At this point the MDF is _finally_ ready for cutting...but it's going to be a few days before I have the time to run the laser.
These are all the card parts for one tower - it's pretty clear that even with a heroic amount of juggling we're not going to get it all onto one side of A4, which is what my MDF comes in.
Instead we'll pack in as many of the large bits as possible, and see if we can cut the leftovers on some scrap
Instead we'll pack in as many of the large bits as possible, and see if we can cut the leftovers on some scrap
October 19, 2023 at 12:51 PM
These are all the card parts for one tower - it's pretty clear that even with a heroic amount of juggling we're not going to get it all onto one side of A4, which is what my MDF comes in.
Instead we'll pack in as many of the large bits as possible, and see if we can cut the leftovers on some scrap
Instead we'll pack in as many of the large bits as possible, and see if we can cut the leftovers on some scrap
Clearly not everything fits, but it's worse than that because we haven't duplicated all of the parts we need. We can, however, get rid of the card bits for now.
October 19, 2023 at 12:47 PM
Clearly not everything fits, but it's worse than that because we haven't duplicated all of the parts we need. We can, however, get rid of the card bits for now.
Inkscape creates a page large enough to fit all the parts (and discards our nice colours), but clearly this may not always work.
My laser cutter has a bed size of 310x230mm (with caveats which we'll get to later), so the next steps are to restore the colour and set the page size to match that.
My laser cutter has a bed size of 310x230mm (with caveats which we'll get to later), so the next steps are to restore the colour and set the page size to match that.
October 19, 2023 at 12:44 PM
Inkscape creates a page large enough to fit all the parts (and discards our nice colours), but clearly this may not always work.
My laser cutter has a bed size of 310x230mm (with caveats which we'll get to later), so the next steps are to restore the colour and set the page size to match that.
My laser cutter has a bed size of 310x230mm (with caveats which we'll get to later), so the next steps are to restore the colour and set the page size to match that.
For completeness' sake, here's the door engraving. I might add reinforcing bars, but those should be simple enough that it's not worth laser cutting them.
October 19, 2023 at 12:38 PM
For completeness' sake, here's the door engraving. I might add reinforcing bars, but those should be simple enough that it's not worth laser cutting them.
The actual file is a bit of an eyesore - I'm using magenta for the card bits, and overlaid onto the red outlines it's a bit much!
October 19, 2023 at 12:33 PM
The actual file is a bit of an eyesore - I'm using magenta for the card bits, and overlaid onto the red outlines it's a bit much!
The card corner stones are more or less a repeat of the process for figuring out the corners of the MDF; and the window surrounds are even easier:
October 19, 2023 at 12:32 PM
The card corner stones are more or less a repeat of the process for figuring out the corners of the MDF; and the window surrounds are even easier:
Now that we have to differentiate between cutting and engraving, I'm going to switch back to the colours that I actually use when designing: red for cuts, and blue for engraves. This is simply because that's what the laser driving software uses, but I find it pretty legible.
The planking is simple:
The planking is simple:
October 18, 2023 at 11:40 AM
Now that we have to differentiate between cutting and engraving, I'm going to switch back to the colours that I actually use when designing: red for cuts, and blue for engraves. This is simply because that's what the laser driving software uses, but I find it pretty legible.
The planking is simple:
The planking is simple:
To make that work though, I'll need to cut this little bit off the support:
October 18, 2023 at 11:24 AM
To make that work though, I'll need to cut this little bit off the support:
That's 6.75mm from the bottom, which gives us slots that look like this. For the overlap, because this is only for two buildings and I'm making both of them, I'm going to cheat and sand them back after they're cut out, for what's known as a mitred joint.
October 18, 2023 at 11:23 AM
That's 6.75mm from the bottom, which gives us slots that look like this. For the overlap, because this is only for two buildings and I'm making both of them, I'm going to cheat and sand them back after they're cut out, for what's known as a mitred joint.
Now we need to work out where to put holes for the tabs on the support pieces. The easiest way to work out where they are 'vertically' (how far from the base) is to overlay the two pieces, then we can just measure them. Note also how this also shows us areas of overlap at the top and bottom...
October 18, 2023 at 11:15 AM
Now we need to work out where to put holes for the tabs on the support pieces. The easiest way to work out where they are 'vertically' (how far from the base) is to overlay the two pieces, then we can just measure them. Note also how this also shows us areas of overlap at the top and bottom...