While looking over the different scenarios in the Rebels and Patriots war-game rules, I found a river raft scenario. I think this just sounds so cool and gives all sorts of opportunities for a pulpy feeling game night scenario that can be played over and over. So, on to the internet I went looking for some miniature rafts I could use for such a scenario! I was not having much luck, until I went onto Etsy and found a 3d print raft. The price was right, so I ordered three of them from Majestic Miniatures. They arrived about a week later and I got to work. The rafts have a bit of 3d printing layering on them, but only lightly. As these are wood designs, it works for the overall look when painting. They did not have any flash, so I went straight to painting.
I decided I would go with a brown scheme to reflect an oiled new wood. I hit them all with some dark brown Krylon spray paint. I then followed with a black wash to darken the base and add some depth. I then drybrushed up using a few shades of brown and tan. For the cast on box, I used different shades of brown to drybrush these up. Next, I painted the strapping with leather brown and hit them with a highlight. The rafts all had a lamp on them, so I decided to cut this off on two of them. The one that I kept was painted with contrast black and added silver and brass for the metal fittings. The others, I just painted brass, so simulate a holder.
The one thing I did not notice when I ordered the rafts, was there was a crossbow cast to the raft. I thought about cutting it off, but did not want to deal with the damage to the model. So, I pulled out some canvas box bits I had in my bits box that I could use to cover these when necessary. I did not glue these on, as I might want to use the rafts for fantasy, so I kept the flexibility. I painted the canvas grey (tan would have been better in hindsight), hit them with a wash and a few highlights. These fit perfectly over the crossbows and lock in place, so perfect!
I painted the crossbows with some contrast black and hit the details with some silver and brass. I finalized with the normal spray dull coat to seal everything up. With that, I am ready to go and just need to figure out when I am going to run the scenario!
- Manteuffel