First up are some bases by Litko at http://www.litko.net/. Using their basemaker app you can have custom designed bases in circles, squares, ovals, and pill (similar to Flames of War bases). I needed circles for my 6mm Israelis and decided to ignore the suggestion for 1" bases since a Merkava will not fit on a 1" base. You can get your bases made in different colors of acrylic or in MDF board and in different thicknesses. I picked up 100 1.25", 50 1", and 25 1.5" bases in 0.8mm thick MDF. Infantry will be mounted on the 1", vehicles on the 1.25", and larger vehicles and artillery pieces on the 1.5". I got all of that for about $45 after shipping but it's custom made to order so I had to wait almost 3 weeks for them to arrive. Nowhere near as fast as Shapeways but I'm happy with their product and my purchase. Will be buying more.
Next product review is much more exciting. If you head over to GameCraft Miniatures at http://store.gcmshop.com/ you can find not only one of the largest and most unique collection of buildings and terrain accessories for sale in various scales but tabletop hobby furniture as well. Now I am one hell of a messy dude. For me it is an ordered chaos. My desk may appear to be a complete disaster but I know where everything is...most of the time. It's those few times that I didn't know where I set down my hobby knife at that drove me crazy. Here's what my desk looked like before I bought Allen's products.
You can see I've got models in various degrees of completion being worked on, glue, bitz boxes, cat combs, a cutting pad/work area, paints completely in my way, my wet palette, dremel tool, tape, rulers, files, knives, clippers, tweezers, a lamp covered in magnets, and a kitchen sink. This is ground zero of the nuclear disaster that is my miniatures factory and I needed help bad. So I bought 3 pieces of furniture from GameCraft.
First up is what I call happy fun time corner at http://store.gcmshop.com/p/1769/paint-rack-45-degree-inside-corner. It is a small utility rack with a 45° angle. You can put your water dish, brushes, files, knives, glue, and whatever else you can think of that fits in it. Love this piece especially for the water cup slot which will reduce spillage not only from me but from my cats should one be stupid enough to forget how fearful they are of the noises I make when they get on my table.
Up next is the happy fun time desktop organizer found here http://store.gcmshop.com/p/1766/workbench-organizer-org001. This thing is extremely useful for its size. I have shelf space on top of it for larger paints and homemade washes, my dremel tool and its accessories, bitz boxes, and the damn thing has drawers (DRAWERS!) to put whatever you want in them. I have my clippers and tweezers and things in one drawer and some hobby putty in the other. Another benefit of this piece is the space beneath it is also useful. That's where my wet palette goes and some of the larger things like scissors and rulers and such. This is the only piece out of the 3 that I've cleaned and painted so far.
The last piece I got is what I call the paint bleachers and it is hands down my favorite of the three. You can check it out here http://store.gcmshop.com/p/1768/paint-rack-unassembled-kit. This thing is AWESOME. It is made to fit right up alongside the happy fun time corner and all of your paints fit on it in clear staggered view for easy color selection. This thing was the most important piece I got because my paints are always in my way and I end up just shoving a pile of them around which results in several being knocked over which I hate. The best part about the bleachers? The holding area is cut specifically to hold YOUR BRAND OF PAINTS! I'm a Vallejo guy so I ordered that one and it holds 43 Vallejo paints. Don't like Vallejo? Pick one of these up in any of the following sizes,
32mm (1.26") fits Testors Model Master (Acryl and Enamel) and similar sized bottles
34mm (1.34") fits Games Workshop Citadel .4 oz (12ml) bottles*
36mm (1.42") fits Tamiya's 10ml bottles and Polly Scale and Floquil sized bottles
40.6mm (1.6") fits Tamiya's 23ml bottles
Outstanding. I will definitely be picking up a second paint bleachers but I think I need a bigger hobby table now.
I got all three pieces I think for just over $70 shipped. Well worth it. You can spend more to have them shipped to you pre-assembled and pre-painted but I actually had fun putting them together myself. No instructions included but once you see the pieces getting them together is really a no brainer. A 20 piece puzzle would be harder to figure out.
But wait, when I ordered these wonderful items there was a FOURTH piece that wasn't available. I think it's new because I really doubt that I would have missed it and now that I've seen it, I have to have it. It's a super happy fun time shelf for your paint bleachers which you can check out here http://store.gcmshop.com/p/1982/shelf-unit-for-paint-racks-version-2.
Give his products a go. They're all awesome and I now have about $3000 worth of his terrain just sitting in my shopping cart waiting for me to win the lottery or find someone stupid enough to give me a credit line that high. Hope you guys found this review entertaining and or insightful!
Oh and I almost forgot! Here's how my desk looks like NOW!
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