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My 1:285 Scale Pictures
Here's a few of my pictures...
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GHQ R-5 JS-II Heavy Tank |
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These pictures were taken
indoors -- and honestly, I am not pleased with the "color
balance" of these pictures. The first one was taken with
the flash "on", and is truer to the actual colors.
One other note -- these pictures of the JS-II's were taken on some
of my Terrain Maker© hexes. I retouched each picture,
eliminating the gaps between the hexes. I wanted the viewer's
eye drawn to the tanks themselves, and not on the gaps between the
hexes. Using Corel PhotoPaint, I used the "clone
brush" to fill in the gaps. Other than that, and resizing
(to 800 x 600 pixels) and "compressing" the hexes for
quicker downloading, the pictures are exactly the way the camera saw
them. I did not retouch the tanks themselves. Overall,
I'm pleased with this effort -- but I think I still have a way to go
yet, in painting micro armor... |
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My Terrain Maker© Terrain -- 23 August
2006 |
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Sometimes,
the best way to find out exactly what you have is to get it all
out... set it up... and then take some pictures of it. I've
been making hexes for over a year at this point -- but with no
particular plan in mind. I've just made hexes to test some
ideas, to see "if I could do it", or (more often)
"just for fun". Most are designed as "single
hexes". I do have a few "terrain features" that
are designed as multiple hexes -- such as a bog that comprises four
hexes.
Here is what
all of my completed terrain hexes look like, when put together in a
somewhat-random order. It's not a "rectangle" like a
map, although that is what I was trying for. But as I laid
things out, I ran out of road hexes, river hexes, and I didn't have
the "right" hillside hexes to complete the "big
hill" at one edge of the board. I guess I will now build
some more road and river hexes, and maybe a hillside or two... but
knowing me, I'll most likely just keep building hexes as the mood
strikes...
A couple of
notes... NONE of these pictures were retouched, other
than to "compress" them so they wouldn't take up as much
website space. Also, all were "resized" to a
maximum of 800 x 600 pixels (at 72 dpi) -- some are slightly small,
as I cropped out "extra edges". I made no attempt to
hide any blemishes, the slight "un-evenness" of the hexes
themselves, nor did I adjust color balance or anything else.
What you see is just what my digital camera saw.
Also... all
of this was done outside, on my "blacktop" driveway... in
the middle of August... just before noon... yes, I must be out
of my mind!!
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Pics 1-3 |
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In Picture 1,
the "plain", but multi-colored hexes to the lower left
corner (and stretching both up the left side and across the bottom)
are my "test hexes" -- made to "try out"
different types of ground cover. They have nothing on them
except for a "uniform covering" of one particular type of
ground cover. I suppose these hexes would be good to simulate
different types of crops... And I certainly would not have them
going to "waste"!
You can also
see where I have two roads "going nowhere"... Obviously, I
need to build some more road hexes! |
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Pics 4-6 |
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At the bottom of Picture 6
is my four-hex bog, featured elsewhere on this site. I'm
including the hex which joins the bog to my river as the fourth
hex... Also, please ignore the "road to nowhere" in
the lower right corner... gotta build some more road hexes! |
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Pics 7-9 |
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In Picture 7,
at the top, you can see a large "edge of the map"
hill. Please ignore the sudden drop-off at the left end of the
hill... ran out of hillside hexes!
Also in
Picture 7, near the bottom center -- there are two crop hexes
sitting next to a road hex -- where I continued the "crop
hex" terrain onto the side of the road hex. This is one I
was rather pleased with how it "turned out"! |
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Pics 10-12 |
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In Picture 11,
you can see a "large island" that takes five hexes to
complete.
In Picture 12,
you can see where one "leg" of the road turns to the right
-- and stops. Hmmm... that must be where the new development
is being built! |
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Pics 13-15 |
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These pictures
"center" on some terrain features that I was very pleased
with how they "turned out"... In Pictures 13
and 15, you can see my stone wall I built.
Picture 14
centers in on an orchard, as well as showing a "tight"
river bend and a small island and sand bar. After I took
Picture 13, I noticed that I had not "aligned" my
orchard "properly"... in Picture 14, I had turned
the hex 60° to "properly align" the orchard.
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Pics 16-18 |
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In Picture 17, just
above the island -- you can see a three-hex hill.
Unfortunately, it is much easier to see the hill "live"
and in 3-D, rather than looking at a 2-D picture. This is one
place where my photography doesn't do the terrain
"justice"... Also, I might have been able to
push the hexes together slightly better -- but it is easy to see the
slight gap between hexes. |
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Pics 19-21 |
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Picture 21 gives
another view of the road / crop hex I was pointing out above in
Picture 7. |
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Pics 22-24 |
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In Picture 22,
you get another angle on the stone wall I built -- I think it is
more visible from this angle, as the sunlight cast a more-evident
shadow...
In Picture 23,
you can see the larger "edge of the map" hill. This
was made using the 1-1/2" hexes. There are four hexes
sitting atop 1-1/2" "risers" -- the three along the
left edge, and a fourth at "2 o'clock" from the
"top" hex in that three-hex row. |
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Pic 25 |
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GHQ W-31 MT-LB APC |
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As with my JS-IIs (above), I
"retouched" these pictures to eliminate the
"gaps" between my Terrain Maker hexes. |
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GHQ US-90 M4A1 75mm cast-hull Sherman |
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Another set of pictures taken indoors...
once again, I'm not pleased with the lighting. Someday, I'll have to
take another set outdoors... or with improved lighting! The
hex the Shermans are pictured on was an experiment in creating
"autumn" terrain. And while I like it... I doubt
I'll do too many hexes this way for a while -- there's just too much
still to with "other" types of terrain I have to start a
new set. Maybe... someday... |
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GHQ's Micro-Skirmish
Boards |
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Here are some
"first pictures" I've taken after acquiring a set of GHQ's
Micro-Skirmish Boards. The kit contains the materials to make
three boards, plus 50 "standard" 1/2" hexes.
Those 50 hexes fit on the board (across the "long axis")
in six rows of five hexes (30) and five rows of four hexes
(20). There are gaps, from fitting hexes into a
rectangle. To reasonably fill the board, you will have
to make eight "half-hexes", which would fill in the gaps
along the top and the bottom. You could also make
"hex pieces" to fill in the left and right edges...
but I don't think I'm going to.
I am showing
this Board in its as-purchased "white" color. A tip
from GHQ's Military Models Forum suggested painting the Board black,
to give it a more finished look. And I plan to do so, as I
agree that the black does look more finished. But for these
pictures, I wanted to show the "factory" look.
I would be
the first to agree that my terrain has some "problems" --
there are gaps between some of the hexes, and some of my terrain
features don't line up perfectly. There are two reasons for
this: (a) the hexes are not quite perfectly cut -- the sides
are not quite the same length; and (b) my "craftsmanship"
is not perfect either! I didn't get everything lined up exactly
as I built the varying hexes -- with the result that the hexes are
just a little bit (sometimes, more than a little bit!) from hex to
hex.
Having said
that... overall, I am very pleased with the results! Many of
these hexes have shown up in my other pictures, as well as the five
Sherman tanks shown moving along the road and across the bridge. |
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