UPDATE

The good news: I recently found out that I have a child on the way!

The bad news: I'm currently in between jobs & my laptop took a dump on me and I had lost all my photos and files that I have been working on for this blog. 

The good news, "Again": I had a load of spare pc parts around the house and I'm in the process of making a "promethean" machine, I will have to start working on the tutorials from scratch seeing how the files have been lost but it will be posted as promised. 

I also have a load of ideas for a digital wargaming table, "please don't throw anything at me for saying this!" that eliminates the need for physical terrain and minis to allow those with space and budget issues the ability to game. More on this later.....

Back From Training

The longest 3 weeks of my life are over. I'll kick off my return by putting together a tutorial on sculpting 6mm miniatures. It's not exactly the easiest way to make dirt cheap minis but it is good to know how to do it. It will take me about a week "give or take" but keep an eye out for it.

Trash Builds

Need a grav tank? A Star Destroyer? An APC? Don't have $40 for a kit?

Build your own out of house hold "trash" Roebeast "a blog spot member" has beautiful examples on his page.

/http://roebeast.blogspot.com/

I've seen others that have done similar projects on yahoo forums that I had posted links for on an earlier post. This is CHEAP and a good way to recycle.

2mm Match Stick army

If you want a cheap 2mm army than this is probably the easiest way to get one. All I did was cut a few match sticks up painted them black and painted little flesh colored spots on the top to represent heads, nothing special and very easy to do. Cavalry and other units are a different story, I'm sure those units could be made on the cheap too. I thought about using an abstract representation for forces such as using small wooden cubes for elephants "or Behemoths if playing fantasy" And certain formations to represent heavy infantry, cav and skirmishers. Like I said this is quick, simple and cheap.

6mm soldier

Had some time so I sculpted a generic 6mm SF soldier. It took a grand total of 30 minutes and about a pinch of ProCreat. This is my first 6mm sculpt, I can honestly say that it is easy to do so long as the proper tools and medium are used. I'll make a tutorial and post it online when I have the time. The key is in keeping the figure iconic, "you don't have to cram a lot of detail in and only sculpt the important stuff." This sculpt is nowhere near the quality that Baccus, DRM or GZG produces but it would do on the table. I'm sure if I took more time on this a better sculpt could be made.

I need to watch for scale creep :)

On Hold

Well I thought I was going to have some more time to start work but I was put on Advanced party with my unit. I'll be gone for a few weeks while I'm at training but be assured that the project will continue when I get back.

Power Armor Conversion!

I'll be converting one of my cheapo figs into a power armor troop. I'm currently drawing up some ideas and the concept will be posted. Along with a more comprehensive how to. CHECK IN!!!!

All Finished

The Project is finished and I'm happy with the results! Total time on one mini took me about 6hrs but you can't even tell its a cheapo dollar store army man. I'm also limited on paints and only have about 6 colors.

The paint used was cheap (Craft Smart) brand acrylic from Michael's coming in at 2bucks a bottle (Way cheaper than GW brand but not as good in quality) The base was also a 1 1/4" wood square had at Michael's.

I barely put a dent in my Pro Create poly clay! One pack can go a long way....

Miliput and Green Stuff- aka Kneadatite should work for a project like this as well.

Dirt-Cheap Links!!!!!

Ultra Cheap minis is a cool site, Match stick armies, plastic army men, and loads of links to great sites for affordable miniatures and how to's.

• http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/ultracheapminis/

Dirt-cheap wargaming can be found here, Make an entire army for almost nothing!
The guys here are a great help and do awesome work with craft store items. Check it out

• http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/wargaming_on_a_budget/

FUBAR rules and other simple free Wargame Rules can be had here!

• http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/forgeofwar/

I guess I'll post to progress from tonight..... these are the same figure pose. I'll have to get more sculpting tools "I'm only working with two"

First Post: Dime Store Army Men

This isn't a new idea by any means, I've seen people converting cheapo minis numerous times throughout the net but I haven't seen anyone actually do a full on kit bash a-la-WarHammer.
For 1USD each(3x 25 Pc Plastic Army Men) + 12 USD (ProCreate) I'll be able to convert these lame bulbous figures into bad ass railgun toting grunts. So for a total of 15 bucks I'll have 75 sci-fi troops ready to blast each other into oblivion.

The Pro's to bashing Dime store figures!

• Once you make your "master" you could make molds and crank them out because, "MOST" of these figures are not copyrighted! That's right! Most of these figures are copies, of copies, of copies! " I did some research" (MAKE SURE THEY ARE NOT COPYRIGHTED BEFORE YOU MAKE A MOLD)
  

• If you mess one up no big deal, they're cheap!

• They are easy to find and they're usually doubles or triples so you can cut em up and use the bits you need.

The Con's to bashing Dime store figures!

• Finding 20-30mm figures... The ones I've purchased stand around 50mm tall (Pretty damn big) the problem being most terrain available are for the ~20mm range. But this is the Dirt Cheap Mini's blog so cardboard and paper terrain can be made to fit them!

• Being copies, of copies, of copies the figures have a lot of imperfections, such as missing limbs, deformed bodies and a lot of flash(Most of you should know what flash is) Some re-sculpting may need to be done to build the missing body parts.

• The plastic sucks to cut and work, it's very hard and brittle.

I'll post the pictures of my proof of concept some time tomorrow. The first one is a speed run so detail is lacking. I also need to smash out a Sci Fi gun for the project.


STAY TUNED