iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Hendrik @imgorad.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Eureka miniatures did something similar. www.eurekamin.com.au/products/auf...

German WWI Pickelhaube given two big wheels and made into a wind-up tank.

Hendrik @imgorad.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Slowly getting excited for #SpielEssen26. Yes, it's going to be at the end of October (22nd-25th), but there's nothing like a good run-up. If you want to drop by to say hi, I'll be in hall 1 at 1C215 at the #FreebooterMiniatures booth.

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Hendrik @imgorad.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

More loot from @fenrisgames.com - excellent stuff as always. There were more sweets but, you know, unpacking is hungry work.😁 Now I can, inter alia, base my Delgon logging wagon and continue with that particular project.

A lot of resin bases and terrain, most notably a 20cm round chamfer base. There are also two lonely sweets, their fellows having been nommed during the unpacking.

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Hendrik @imgorad.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Went to the start of #WorldPride in Amsterdam today and finally got to wear my custom-made ally wristband from @speechlessbard.com. Fun day out but now I'm knackered.

A tan leather wristband about a finger wide with press studs. Along its length are square cutouts showing the colours of the 6 colours of the classic rainbow flag.

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Hendrik @imgorad.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

A few years ago, I received a barrel of chocs as a present from Werner of freebooterminiatures.com fame. I thought "That's quite a nifty barrel for counters and stuff" and so I thought I'd fix it up properly. This is the result. Thinking about starting my first sewing project to make an inside bag.

These are the components of the barrel in almost its original state. The sticker was already on but starting to come off, there were no bands, just grooves and the lid had no handle, just a strip of fabric by which to pull it up. So I got a proper handle for the lid and some brass strips which I bent into shape by hand for the bands.

Description: a wooden barrel, about fist-sized, a wooden lid for it, some brass strips to fit round it, and a handle for the lid.

Initially, the lid just had a band of fabric tacked to its underside and extending beyond the sides so you could pull it out of the barrel. I wanted a proper closing mechanism and as somebody who had faffed around with SLR cameras in ye olden days, it would have to be bayonet or filter screw. In the end, a cheap UV filter and adapter won out, so I had to mill steps into the lid to accommodate them.

Description: a wooden disc with two steps cut into it around the circumference.

This is the finished barrel, showing the screw mechanism to hold the lid in. I swapped the glass of the UV filter with a brass disc and thus secured the filter array to the underside of the li with the screws which also hold the handle in place. As you can see on the inside of the barrel, the bands and the frame are held in place with my signature bolt construction. Those screws are M 1.6 and brass, so getting the nuts on at the bottom of the barrel was a lot of fun. In the end, I had to build my own tool for that.

Description: the wooden barrel from the first picture but painted and oiled, and with brass fixtures attached. There is a black screw thread glued in at the top. The lid lies loosely on top, its black counterpart screw thread visible.

The finished barrel with the lid screwed on. The wood was stained with pine stain and then treated with linseed oil, so it still reeks a fair bit but has a nice shine to it. The frame for the sticker was milled out of a solid sheet of brass. I tried cutting strips and soldering them together: the brass discoloured, which was actually not a bad look, but the joints weren't up to the strain of the whole thing being bent into shape.

Description: The barrel from the first picture, but stained and oiled, and with brass fixtures attached. The lid is screwed on in this view. The writing on the sticker says "Freebooter's Fate - Freebooter Miniatures"

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Hendrik @imgorad.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Have several, you poor, bacon-eschewing person:

A close-up of a heap of so-called "Erdnussflips", a German snack on a corn flour base with peanut flavour.

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Hendrik @imgorad.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Now, I hear that some people just glue their miniatures into the slotted bases. I have never found a glue which I trusted with that task, so I have developed a method which uses at least one retaining bolt. Be honest: am I overdoing this German overengineering thing?

The basic problem is fitting a tabbed metal miniature into a slotted plastic base. The two materials are not great for being glued together and so I am putting my trust in a more mechanical approach.

I am starting off by fitting the miniature's tab in the base's slot. Then marking the lines where the bolts are going to be so I know where to drill the tab and file the base. And when I say bolts, I mean lengths of 0.5mm hardened steel wire.

Next I'm drilling the holes in the tab. I drill in increments from alternate sides to reduce the risk of the hole being skew-whiff, i.e. anything but perpendicular to the tab.

The miniature is by Twilight miniature for the Anyaral: The world of Twilight setting (complete lack of sparkly vampires).

Then I'm filing the slots/grooves in the base. I am using a Dremel (actually a Proxxon) for that, because it is just plastic. As you can see, the autofocus cannot get its electronic head around what I did there, sorry about that.

Next comes fitting the bolt(s). This can be a very fiddly process which involves a pair of narrow-nosed pliers (partly visible out of focus on the right) and some occasionally blue air. It is a very satisfying feeling when you get it right, though.

Incidentally, the little pin which goes vertically into the base farther down goes straight into the foot of the mini and will be glued to the side of the slot walls. It is there because the tab was not fully cast and thus not connected to the mini's other foot, and I am - as you may have gathered - a very careful person. Actually, looking at it now, that piece of straight wire should better have been a nail. Oh well, next time.

The bolts are then secured with blobs of superglue and the rest of the slot is filled in with UV-curing resin.

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Hendrik @imgorad.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

I bought the original MDF kit in 2018 and immediately set to rebuilding it from scratch, learning how to steam-shape wood, mill brass, and so on. And so now, a paltry 8 years later, the wagon itself is finished, made from walnut and brass (treated with linseed oil to bring out the grain).

The original MDF kit for the Twilight, World of Anyaral setting. Purchased from Mike at Salute 2018 (the above is the promo picture, I did not assemble it).

My version of the wagon from the side. The wheels are made of sections of walnut strips, steam-bent into shape. That took quite a lot of time and experiments, and the main reason it took me 8 years to build the wagon is the fact that I spent about 6 of them psyching myself up to do the second wheel. Even though I only burnt myself once.

The wheels are held together by tension, i.e. the spokes are pressing the wooden segments against the metal rim. I only cheated by drilling the holes for the nails long enough so the nails through the outer rim extend quite comfortably into the spokes, thus keeping everything together against sideways pressure.

The top view of the wagon. The logs being transported are bits of a cherry tree from my garden which I chopped off right after I got home from Salute. All those years of slow-drying in the cellar made them into really good lumber models. All of the rest of the wagon is oiled walnut, all the metal fittings are brass which I cut, shaped or milled to size. Again, all of this holds together as fitted, none of the bits are glued.

The wagon from the front. You may notice that these are different draft animals from the ones for which the original kit was intended. That is because I wanted a proper yoke which looked halfway realistic in terms of feasibility of the construction. That together with the fact that my wagon is way more substantial than the original thin MDF meant that the original animals looked like they would be crushed to mush, never mind being able to pull the wagon.

Thankfully, Mike (who is the man behind Twilight and makes great miniatures which you should totally buy) had a keen interest in my project and so pushed these two beauties to the top of his production queue so I had them when I needed them. They look capable of doing the job. Now all I have to do is paint them.

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Hendrik @imgorad.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

A prison which I built for a Freebooter's Fate scenario from Hirst Arts bricks, bits of brass, and strips of smoked oak. (And some stones from @fenrisgames.com to even things out, but you can't see them when the roof is on.) #FreebootersFate

A bunch of self-cast plaster bricks (Hirst Arts moulds) from which I am going to build a prison for Freebooter's Fate.

Rough construction of a prison for Freebooter's Fate. Still needs paint, a roof, and the gaps between the bricks need to be filled in.

The final version of the cell door for my Freebooter's Fate prison. Created from scratch from brass stock. To this day I regret not having given it a working lock mechanism but it seemed too fiddly at the time.

My scratch-built prison for Freebooter's Fate. The walls are constructed with bricks made from Hirst Arts moulds (and a few from Fenris games where the roof didn't quite fit evenly. The roof is made from solid smoked oak with nails in and is detachable. The door is made from burnished brass and swivels open and shut.

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Hendrik @imgorad.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

This is my surprised face.

Jock-Nerd/Prep-Goth Test result showing 32.7% goth and 73.6% nerd, resulting in a true nerd verdict.

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Hendrik @imgorad.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

I don't often finish projects, but I did finish this tree. Two roots glued (and pinned) top-to-top with main platform to disguise the joint. Extra branches with leaves constructed in the most laborious way known to the modelling community, I think. Miniatures are by Freebooter Miniatures.

Tree for tabletop game constructed from two roots glued together with various extra platforms and additional branches with leaves from terrarium supplies. Overall height about 30cm. Various miniatures from Freebooter Miniatures are placed throughout the tree.

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Hendrik @imgorad.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

Just got my latest Fenris loot - chunky boi, tall boi, tiles, ickle gobbo and tiny mate, great stickers, and Maoam. So excited that I couldn't wait to unpack them before sharing a photo.

Freshly arrived loot from Fenris Miniatures - an elephant warrior, a giraffe warrior, a goblin and his wee mate, a bunch of Rubble City tiles - all still in their plastic bags - some very welcome stickers, and a Maoam (which I am chewing as I post this :-).

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Hendrik @imgorad.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

Emboldened by yesterday's success with miniature chains, I converted another mini: this time Sargento Maneto from @freebootermini.bsky.social got a proper chain so his flail head can dangle freely (not a euphemism).

Picture of a miniature fantasy soldier armed with flail and shield where the solidly cast chain of the original has been replaced with a properly functional one made from 0.4mm wire.

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Hendrik @imgorad.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

Finally had the peace of mind and steadiness of hand to bend some 0.4 mm bronze wire so that this Battitora from @freebootermini.bsky.social has the skull on her club dangling from a proper chain rather than a solidly cast one. The bit sticking out at the bottom is for handling while painting.

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Hendrik @imgorad.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

Assembled this lovely tentacle well from @fenrisgames.com . Given the potential leverage forces, I did not trust my various glues, not even with pinning. So I cut an M2 thread, filled the hole with epoxy glue, and put a stainless steel screw through it all.

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