Workbench

Welcome to the workbench. This page is constantly changing. I aim to update it in the middle of every month, showing you work in progress from various projects. This is a chance to see behind the curtain (or to see the latest mess I’ve made).

	One of the next additions to our War of 1812 line will be the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders, who famously fought at the Battle of New Orleans. They had been on duty in Africa before being sent to America, and had their kilts tailored into trews (trousers) on the journey. The result is a spectacular unit, but a challenging one to paint. Here’s my work on them in progress, starting with the primed figures.
	First I did the red jackets on them all, base coat (Bright Red) and wash (Cinnamon). That begged the next all-important step – their trews. I’ve painted tartan before, but really wanted these to “pop,” so I looked to an authority: master toy-soldier painter John O’Brien of Australia. He has a tartan-painting tutorial on his site, which I followed. Thanks, John! Here’s the link. The Sutherland wore a Government tartan, a combination of blue, dark green, light green, and black. This fellow is a test to see if I’d like the results. Here he has the base coat. I chose Navy Blue so it would stand out versus something so dark as Midnight Blue.
	Here’s step 2, the first Forest Green stripes applied. You start to see why I chose the at-attention pose for these guys, for ease of painting the grid. It’s also less to paint when the legs are in contact! Wide stripes are okay versus more to-scale thin ones, creating the right visual effect without getting too busy.
	Next are the Timberline Green squares painted where the green bands overlap. Tedium…setting… in. And I still have 11 more of these guys to go! (Officer and ensign are getting more traditional British-gray trousers.)
	Okay, now for some of the sexier pen work, where things start to look like the final product. I used a Micron 01 on all edges of the green bands. I also added black footwear and white coat trim to try to get a glimpse of how the final product would look before doing the rest of the figure. A few colors running outside the lines here and there is okay; it’ll disappear in the next step.
	Which is… yet more pen work, this time running down the middle of all green bands. Fiddly, but quick with a new pen that has plenty of ink in it. I was tempted to do lines amid the blue bands, too, but feared that would get too busy.
	Now leap ahead with everyone’s trews painted, and base flesh tones and facing colors applied.
	Here’s the next major step in my evolving paint style: going over all belts and gear with black as a foundation for blacklining when subsequent colors are applied.
	And next up among challenges is the dicing on their bonnets. Three rows of alternating red-and-white checks, across 14 figures! Must…not… snap! See if I do at the beginning of September when the fully painted figures go up.
	Believe it or not, there are things other than Highlanders going on! I wanted to add some more collector-style figures to our offerings, especially with the South Carolina toy soldier show coming up.
	Here are those recruits, from left to right: a War of 1812 US light artilleryman, a British Rifle, and an 1812 American line infantryman. I needed to do these as a change of pace!
	Another step-by-step presentation of sorts. I needed to re-stock on the haystack sets we offer, but wanted to try a new process for creating them. Here are the results, so you know it worked!
	These are the molds I’ve been using for some time. I wanted to use a casting material that’s more gentle with them than polyurethane resin, which attacks and bonds with the rubber.
	Durham’s Rock Hard Water Putty to the rescue. This is a gypsum-based powder that forms a, well, rock hard product once dry.
	Mix, pour, let dry, pop from the molds, and repeat. Here are all the castings being spray painted with Khaki as a base for subsequent painting. As with the Highlanders, come back to the Completed Projects page at the beginning of September to see these finished pieces.
	Here’s a glimpse of our British light companies. Here you see some likely suspects assembled and primed. As you can see, they’re available in both stovepipe and Belgic shakos.
	Our light infantry bodies also make Canadian Voltigeurs possible with the right head combination, and here they are. I did a few figures in this group some time back and am now filling out a proper skirmisher unit.
	Here are our movement trays in production. These are made from birch plywood and bass wood trim, each part 3mm thick. These trays are 8 x 3 inches on outside edges, perfect for holding a whole ATKM infantry or cavalry unit with command to the side. They’re ideal when using our wood bases for each soldier. That lets you move a whole unit quick and easy for “ATKM” games. These trays are available now on our AWI and 1812 pages.
	Our forthcoming US light artillery from the War of 1812. They had plain blue coatees, and could have white trousers on parade, but wore blue in the field. An austere uniform that speaks to the supply shortages the army faced at the time.
	This image is of a toy soldier first (to my knowledge, anyway). These troopers are our forthcoming War of 1812 Canadian Light Dragoons – never done in 54mm before!
	These colorful fellows are British 19th Light Dragoons. This is their 1813 uniform, having recently changed from a Tarleton-style helmet. Left is how they looked upon arrival from Britain. The new uniform was generally disliked by the men for having a French style.
	These are our US militia in fringed hunting shirts. In this case, they’re being painted as dismounted Kentucky volunteers, who generally wore black-and-red shirts. These guys have our new mixed militia heads and hats, which are available now. They could also be done as US Rifles. I recently made masters of just such heads, so look for those troops soon.
	Our new US Dragoons underway. The silver and white features really pop against their dark blue. These guys are available now.
	Here are some of the production molds that went into making our new War of 1812 cavalry. This is the final mold for the 19th British light dragoons, specifically their bodies. It’s been a dream to work with, hitting 100% every time.
	This is the head mold for the 19th. As you can see, there are 20 cavities on it, so that’s 20 heads every spin. Head molds don’t need to get run as often as body molds as a result, so I change out head molds often throughout a casting session. Production molds are made after master molds, some of which are still posted below.
	And here are the results -- three assembled castings of the 19th. The only production molds you don’t see here are for the arms. There are three poses in these cav sets, sword at ease, sword outstretched (officer), and bugle.
	Here are the production molds from our latest War of 1812 additions. They include 4 types of cavalry and a militiaman or US Rifle in hunting shirt.
	In these two pics you see the molds themselves. Master molds are the first ones made from an original sculpture – the first generation of molds. Castings from these are in turn used to make production molds. I use low-temp silicone rubber for master molds so the original greens don’t get cooked – literally.
	The next two entries are group shots of the greens for our new War of 1812 line. These were sculpted by Leandro Ventic, and have amazing detail, as you can see. Yes, these belong to our all-new Army in a Box series!
	Bodies were created without heads to allow for maximum mixing and matching to create all kinds of 1812 troops. The uniforms of the period were so similar across even opposing sides that you can create all kinds of possibilities.
	Here are some new greens being added to our War of 1812 line. They consist of 4 types of cavalry from the period – US dragoons, British light dragoons, Canadian dragoons, and Mounted Kentucky Volunteers. Plus there’s a dismounted man who could be a US Rifle in summer dress, a Kentucky Volunteer, or as an American militiaman. These will go into production soon!
	This head belongs to a man of Caldwell’s Rangers – Canadian militia who fought as light troops alongside their Indian allies. They wore simple, functional uniforms and a similar hat.
	The original of our Congreve rocket battery. These developing forms of artillery were manned by the Royal Marine Artillery in North America, and were fired from ship or brought inland.
	The following are pics of the new and revised ATKM facilities. Shown here is the deluxe painting area with more space than before.
	Here we have custom-made display cases (which is a fancy way of saying, "I put them together.") The shelves are removable so whole armies can be pulled out at one time.
	The mess of a computer station, where sticky notes reminders rule the land.
	The ATKM workshop. In particular, the spincaster and melting pot.
	These two little fellows are vulcanizers, used to create molds.
	The mold cutting and general-purpose area. Normally the place isn't so tidy, but I got sick of my own mess and cleaned up.

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