Linka 1: Thickness Sander

Sometimes I use Linka Stonework molds to make brick walls:  http://www.linkaworld.com/  After I’ve cast a bunch of pieces using dental plaster, I sand their backs for a more uniform thickness so I can then glue them to a building wall. Here’s how I do it.

The parts of the set-up I use:
(1) Underside of the top plate, a piece of 3/4” MDF with a 1/8” MDF frame that clamps a full size 9” x 11” sheet of 100 grit sandpaper to it. It’s upper side has knobs used as handles.
(2) The fixture bottom has an 3-1/4” opening that’s just scrap 1/8” MDF strips glued to a piece of 3/4” MDF (4).
(3) An insert that goes into the opening. It’s made of two layers of thin card with mat board “walls”.
(4) The fixture bottom has been temporarily nailed to a piece of plywood that’s been clamped (5) to a table to prevent it from sliding all around as I use it.
(6) Although I could use a vacuum cleaner to suck up all the plaster powder sanding residue, I normally use a 2-1/2” paint brush to sweep it into a bucket under the table, thus reclaiming the powder which I’ll eventually use for some future project. I’m weird that way.

Closer view of the opening with the insert. It’s been sized to loosely hold four wall pieces. The areas above and to the left of the walls greatly help to collect the sanded powder, preventing it from getting everywhere…

The process is simple: Put the top plate on, slide it around up/down, left/right, lift it off…

Take out the sanded pieces and the insert, clean everything off, store the pieces away for later use, reinstall the insert and four more raw castings, begin again. That’s it!

All in all, a nice way to while away an afternoon in a garage, especially if you’re watching The Game.

Same insert can be used for other pieces as well.

Special insert for arch pieces.

Details 4: Gears and Grates

Found a couple of really nice molds you might find useful. Both are from http://keeblerstudios.com/?product_cat=silicone-molds . Although made for resin casting, I’m using dental plaster because they will be in a static display and won‘t have to be durable.

The gear mold has lots of different sizes and types. Factory worker Tony Cogges (Foundry figure?) sees potential for these for large mechanical machination projects. And if you filed the teeth off they’d make interesting vehicle wheels.

On some of the gears I glued on strips of card, round labels and paper reinforcements for detail.

Painting gear spokes goes fast with a piece of chenille or pipe cleaner.

Prepainted grommets were added by very carefully drilling out the centers of the brittle plaster gear by holding the drill bit by hand. Here are some finished gears. And they all mesh with each other!

Here is the grate mold. Again, lots of variety.

Finished examples. Tony says they’re grrrrrrr-ATE! (Tony thinks he’s funny.)

Quar 15.7: 15mm Quar Invade Pacificon 2012

Stanley Stinnett helped run a “Screaming Quar” scenario at Pacificon 2012 in Santa Clara, California (August 31-Sepember 3). Brian Miller was kind enough to send photos. Here are the ones with the mounds in them so you can get an idea what they look like on the tabletop.

As the game gets set up Stanley calmly awaits the outcome of the some skullduggery going on at the other end of the table…

Pete Grose (right) tries to bribe GM John Sullins with some nifty new dice. But John has known Pete for waaaay too many years and laughs off the blatant attempt.

Troops deploy. Things are quiet now but that won’t last long.

As aircraft begin their barrage GM John calculates how many kill rings will be needed by the time they‘ve reached his end of the table.

Stanley pretends not to notice the tanks making a feeble attempt to sneak in from the side incognito as a wandering gaggle of geese (with eggs).

During the battle, a tank gets blasted. Note empty donut box in background. Mmmmmm… donuts…

THAT’S IT! Stanley says everyone but the Quar wearing white life preservers had a great time. The End.