Is anyone familiar with those ultra-conservative Christian groups that go around to colleges and "preach" their message of hate? You know the type, the ones with the big signs who list everyone they think is going to Hell, the ones who scream at passers by, particularly women. Well, one of those guys came to Penn State last Thursday. I've always wanted to mess with these guys, and since I'm a graduating senior it was my last chance. I ran home from Russian class and threw on my Soviet commissar's uniform, grabbed my flag and headed back out to confront the bible thumpers. By the time I had gotten there, the Penn State Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual Alliance was there, and so was the Atheists and Agnostics club. I was an instant success, drawing more attention to myself than to the radicals. I was even photographed and interviewed by the Collegian, Penn State's student newspaper. The only reason I was there, I told them, was to make the preachers look silly. I did a pretty good job of it. I was in character the whole afternoon, waving my big Soviet flag and spouting ridiculous Soviet propaganda, springboarding off of some of the radicals' more ridiculous claims. All in all, it was a great day.

Yesterday I returned from my second tactical event as a Red Army re-enactor. I wasn't able to go with the 37th Guards as usual, because the entire unit pulled out at the last minute, including the commander. I recruited a new member for the 37th from my dorm floor, and he had a car so we both went to North Carolina to face the fascist vipers. It took us about ten hours to get down to Littleton, and even after a long day of travel we couldn't sleep. Last night was the first sleep I've had since Thursday. Anyway, Foghorn - the new recruit from my floor - and myself joined up with Captain Dorian of the 13th Guards and camped out in a small wooden house for the night. We stayed up the whole night talking with the other men from the unit, exchanging stories and jokes and the like. The next morning we went into action. We were outnumbered about two to one. There were eight Russians and about 20 Germans. Our first attack was an ambush of their camp. We worked our way through the woods to the back of the German camp, and our sniper drew them out. We took out a good number of Wehrmacht before falling back to a second position. They came at us again and we ambushed again. This time we were routed, and destroyed on the run. This battle was fun, because of the acting I was able to do. Dorian was making a counterattack and I was supporting his drive, when we ran into two Wehrmacht soldiers. I shot the first one, and the other tripped in surprise. Dorian didn't notice him, but he saw me and shot me. I fell over, acting like I was gut shot, screaming in Russian and begging Dorian to take me back to cover. He grabbed my arm and dragged me about 10 feet before he got shot too. The day continued like this. We reformed and fell back across a deep ravine, setting up positions to counter the Germans if they tried to come after us. They did, and we picked them off as they came down the divide. What we were't expecting was a counterattack by the newly arrived SS unit. We were quickly outflanked and mowed down. By this time everyone was getting hungry and was low on ammunition, so we called a break for a little bit and went back to camp to get food and ammo. We went back into action, making for a deserted chicken coop inside the woods to use it as an ambush location. The SS beat us there and the entire Russian force was captured. Dorian made a break for it, trying to use the Wehrmacht commander as a body shield. It didn't work, and things dissolved into a swirling melee, ending with the Russians being destroyed again. We reformed in the woods and the SS went god-knows-where. Anyway, we decided to retake the chicken coop. We advanced on their position and the Wehrmacht gave under the assault. This is where I screwed up my thumb. I took a hit outside the coop and my thumbnail caught on the edge of my open sight, tearing off the left corner. It bled a lot, and I went to see the medic about it. She patched me up, and while she was doing that I could hear the sounds of an intense gunfight in the woods. I was sad that I missed out on it. I rejoined my unit, getting shot by a German sniper on the way. We pulled away from the chicken coop and hiked across the woods, setting up a position on a steep hillside overlooking an equally steep ravine. And then we just waited. The Wehrmacht and the SS had no idea where we were, and I heard that the SS commander was complaining bitterly about having to walk up and down the length of the property to find us. They eventually did, and we made them pay dearly for every inch of hill that they took. Dorian ran out of ammo for his submachine gun towards the end of the fight, so he drew his pistol and charged down the hill. I would have joined him, except I was reloading my rifle. It wouldn't have mattered, though, because right after I finished loading a grenade landed right beside me. Our left flank caved and the Germans swarmed over our position. Everyone was starting to get tired by now, so we agreed to one last battle. We set up an ambush like before, drawing the Germans into the woods. After the krauts were moving, we fell back through the forest towards the chicken coop. We held the position for a minute or two before abandoning it, running out of the woods and into the small complex of buildings at the entrance to the property. We fell back through it, picking off fascists on the way, until we made it to what was called the corn crib. The corn crib was a rough-hewn log structure with slats big enough to fire from. One of our men with an SVT-40 and one of our Nagants ran into the crib, and I took a position in a small group of trees beside it. Foghorn took up position behind both of us, in the woods. The Germans really couldn't dislodge us from this position, even though there was only four of us. I picked off three or four Germans as they ran up to us - the whole area was open ground, a perfect killing field. They went around to the left, and by now I was out of ammo so I jumped out of the trees and charged across the 20 feet of open ground between myself and the corn crib. I met an SS soldier behind the crib and dispatched him in close combat, and while I was reloading my rifle a Wehrmacht grenadier came around from the other side, realized that I was still alive, and threw a grenade. I was able to beat him down too, but his grenade got me. By that time the SS was overrunning our position, and the day was over. So, in terms of objectives, the Germans won the day, but they paid so dearly in blood for all of them that their victory was Pyrrhic. There was going to be an inter-unit Christmas party after the fighting was done, but Foghorn had a final on Monday and we had to leave so he could study. I've never eaten so many fast food burgers before, and I have a feeling all the exercise I got in over the weekend wasn't enough to burn off all the fat and calories from the burgers.

Tonight I participated in a special Humans vs. Zombies game for a few students who were doing a documentary on Penn State's Urban Gaming Club. For those of you who don't know, Humans vs. Zombies is a real time, live action game where there are two teams, humans and zombies, and they are trying to destroy each other. Humans get guns, zombies are undead. They're the fast, smart zombies, too, so it isn't easy. Anyway, on to the mission. We had about 40 players, divided into about 35 humans and 15 zombies to start with. I was on the human team, out in my full battle gear. Our objectives were to hold four positions around campus for 10 minutes each in order. After the zombies left to set up, the humans divided themselves into a main group and a flank group, and I was in the flank group. We held the first position, Old Main, without any problems. Our second objective was a courtyard north of Hammond, and that's where the trouble began. Only two members of the flank group made it out of there alive, myself included. While I was defending part of the main group, I was rushed by a few zombies. I shot the first one but he kept coming and checked me into a curb. Those of you who play Call of Duty 4 will be familiar with the Last Stand ability, and that's what I did. I fell over backwards and shot the guy behind the first zombie. I made it out of the second point alive, but the flank group had been shredded so I joined the main group. Our third point was the picnic area outside of the IST building. About halfway through holding this point, the leader of the group had been killed and I assumed command. I was standing on a table shouting orders and shooting zombies, it was awesome. At one point a zombie made a rush, except he went after a camera man. We're not supposed to attack them. He realized that the guy had a camera and then turned and went after me. I had been watching him the whole time and shot him before he got close, but he still ran into the table and headbutted my thigh. We successfully held the IST picnic area, and moved to our final objective, a stone obelisk to the west of Old Main lawn. By this time we had been whittled down to about six humans, and we didn't last long at the obelisk. We survived the first charge of zombies, but the second one got the last of us. I survived until the very end, and was inundated by a wave of about 10 zombies. I shot five or so of them on the way in, but wasn't quick enough to get the one that killed me. After the mission was over, everyone went to the student union building for pizza. I ended up with between 20 and 25 kills and was a group leader for a while. It was an excellent mission all in all, and I'm looking forward to seeing the camera crew's footage.

NOTE: I did not take the photos in my gallery! For the originals and a ton of other pictures of the event, head over to the photographer's gallery: [link]

Last Saturday I had my first tactical event as a rifleman with the 37th Guards Rifles Division. It was in a small town about 40 minutes west of Harrisburg called Newville. The battlefield was actually a World War I area, with an extensive trench system and no man's land covered in shell holes. Barbed wire ran from post to post and was a general pain in the rear. Only half of the battlefield was open, though. But still, the whole place was overgrown with poison ivy and thistles of every type. It was hard to remember to look into the shell hole or trench before diving into it because I was more concerned about staying alive than running into a thistle or poison ivy. And the day was hot. It was 90+ degrees and humid, and we were out in full kit and gear, and I had camouflage on over that. It was fun, though. My favorite part was when I got shot, I'd fall over and start screaming in Russian. There was a German who did it too, and I wanted him to crawl out into the open so I could give him a merciful bullet. The Russians won the event, which is surprising given the amount of machine guns and heavy equipment on the German side, and they were very nicely dug in in the trenches and shell holes. I hear from one of my friends who got captured that some of the Germans were pretty sadistic, but that's in character, especially for the SS. But still, we won, and a good time was had by both sides.

Since I've posted my Necron clones and Proiteus's Zanatorian Machine Cult pieces, I've been getting a lot of questions on how to cast resin. Well, here's how you do it. First, you need the following:

1. Silicone rubber mold mix. It's sold in a box with a jar of silicone and a little bottle of catalyst. Just follow the instructions, mix, and pour. I have a preference for Alumilite's high strength stuff, it only just started to break down after I finished Proiteus's stuff. You can find the silicone at hobby stores and craft shops and will cost about $30.

2. Resin. This stuff comes in a two bottle set, mix in equal amounts and pour into your mold. I use Alumilite's low viscosity resin, which you can get at the same places as the silicone for about the same price.

3. Some Lego bricks. I use these to make pouring molds easier.

4. Polymer clay.

5. The pieces you're casting, obviously!

6. Some paper towels for cleanup.

7. A smooth, rigid surface. I find a clipboard works well for this.

8. Vaseline or other petroleum jelly.

9. Measuring cups. These come with the resin.

10. Some scrap sprue for stirring.

Once you have all these things, you're ready to go. Now here's how you use all this great stuff.

Step one: Build your mold box. Assemble the Legos into a box that's a little bigger than the area of your mold, and put the box on the clipboard.

Step two: Make the bottom mold. Put a slab of clay in the bottom of the box, and then work it out to the edges. Then pull the Lego box away, and press your pieces down into the clay. You may need to sculpt the clay a little to get it to line up correctly with your pieces. I find that pressing the pieces into the clay with the most detailed side facing up saves a lot of work. After you're done, put the Legos back around the clay. Lastly, key your molds. This cuts down on miscasts dramatically. To key a mold, simply poke a flat area of the clay with a narrow object, like the end of your paintbrush, to make a dent in the clay. This will create interlocking features that'll hold your mold together while the resin cures. Make sure you do this in at least two places.

Step three: Pour the first half of the mold. Get out the silicone and catalyst, and mix according to the directions on the bottle. Pour the silicone over the clay and pieces. To cut down on bubbles and other mold errors, you should pour slowly, starting in a flat area of clay with no pieces, and let the silicone flow over your parts. After the pouring is done, sit back and let the silicone cure. It'll take about 24 hours for the stuff to work, so go take a nap or read a book and come back tomorrow.

Step four: Remove the new mold. It's simple, break down the Legos if you have to, but pull the now cured silicone off of the clay. You've just made half of your mold. Now, remove the Legos from the clay, and replace the clay with the mold you just made. You now have a silicone mold in a Lego box on your clipboard. Remove the pieces from the clay and put them in their appropriate places in the silicone. You might have to clean some clay off of the parts before you pour the next part of the mold. Once you're ready, coat all visible silicone in Vaseline. The Vaseline acts like a mold release lubricant, and prevents the silicone from curing to itself. When you're done with that, mix up more silicone and pour the second mold just like the first, and give it the same amount of time to cure.

Step five: Remove the new mold again. Just pull it off after it cures, and it should come right out. You now have a pair of molds to cast whatever parts you want. Now put away all your silicone, Legos, and clipboards, and get out the resin.

Step five: Cast your parts. Before you do anything else, get a piece of your sprue that's about the size of a pencil. Cut off all the extra bits so that you have a smooth shaft, and then whittle an end down to a rounded point about the size of a .7mm mechanical pencil's lead. This'll be used to pop or herd away bubbles when you start casting. First, set out your molds and make sure you are clear on how one fits onto the other, because when the resin is mixed you have about two minutes to get everything done. Next, get your resin and mix equal parts of it in one of the rubber measuring cups. Stir it quickly until it becomes a uniform color, and then pour it into your molds. Fill both molds, make sure you get all the parts you want to cast, and then get your bubble popper and start popping bubbles, or at least pushing them out of the mold. Bubbles are bad, they cause miscasts. The less miscasts you have the less time you need to spend with greenstuff sculpting away bubbles and other annoying things. As soon as you are done, or the resin starts to get tacky, quickly flip one half of the mold on top of the other and press down firmly to flush out extra resin. The resin gets hot when it cures, so don't touch the mold. Give it about five minutes, and it should be stable enough to move. For best results, let the resin cure for ten minutes, then pull your molds apart. You now have extra pieces! Simply pop them out of the thin flashing around them, clean them, get rid of any bubbles with greenstuff, and use! Resin can only be attached using super glue, so be careful of that.

Well, folks, there you have it, a step-by-step walkthrough of how I cast pieces in resin. I hope it helps!