panzerfauste painting

last post b4 xmas

2010-12-22T12:41:00.000-08:00

no doubt this will be my last post before Xmas, with some international brigade figures finished and a republican HMG team.but on the paint table from today are 30+ milita based awaiting undercoat.

along with 9 nationalist cavalry and some artillery
no doubt my paint project for over Xmas hopefully i will get most of it done and then set up a Spanish civil war game early in the new year.

looking forward to next year Rome is going to be high on my list of projects to do as most of the figures i need are in stock already

so i hope everyone has a good Xmas and gets pleanty of lead/plastic to keep them busy in the new year.

its got to be a first

2010-12-19T13:41:00.000-08:00

more spanish civil war has been completed, falange HQ two more nationalist HMG teams

two Republican armoured trucks with 3 more underway on the paint table as i type.

a mighty T26 tank not needed in scenario 1 but who cares i wanted one.

as for a first, today i went to our local games workshop store, and to my surprise they refused to sell me some 60mm bases as they don't carry them in stock and will only order them in for people who are registered on line and not a walk in customer?????

quite how this makes a profit i have no idea but its the first time i've been turned down by the evil empire just for wanting to buy some bases, next step make my own or eBay, being Xmas make my own is looking good,

imperial troops

2010-12-07T10:57:00.000-08:00

well being stuck in the house due to the snow has its advantages when it comes to painting especily as nothing is ever on tv,

one 15mm Japanese platoon all figures from peter pig and im impressed how they turned out with keeping the paint style to the minimum not sure if i have enough to make another platoon or not, but at least peter pig now pack them in platoon blisters,

also finished these 2 future wars 28mm girls with guns one from the foundry street violence range and one limited ed from cobblestone casting still got a box of started future wars figures but as the postman delivered lots of scw stuff thats going to take priority for a while

post arrives

2010-12-04T12:12:00.000-08:00

at last with the snow all over the post man arrived twice today. fetching my orders from empress miniatures along with other mail, now to continue with my scw project, despite everything being sent in bubble bags no damage was done to anything even the resin trucks, my only fault is all the figures need identifying into their relivent packs before cleaning and painting starts. how hard is it to put a pack code on a bag.

now just to wait for the force of arms order to arrive

more scw

2010-11-26T13:45:00.000-08:00

more for my Spanish civil war project finished today, some old lledo vehicles dug out and repainted and re based on road bases total 10 trucks some with slogans for the republican side

also finished some nationalist infantry and a hmg team now i have to wait for my next order of scw stuff to arrive from empress minis or force of arms

i know some people will say sloppy jalopy in 1.48 looks better but each to their own and lledo vehicles are cheap to pick up and as in the last pic look ok to me scale wise

banzai

2010-11-20T13:04:00.000-08:00

at long last progress has been made to my 15mm pacific forces in the way of a small amount of armour, for the USMC 3 m4 Sherman's form battlefront not much different from the eto apart from no stars and they are too small to mark as USMC.

and for the japs 3 tankettes from peter pig also finished along with painting started on a platoon of imperial jap infantry.

also on a not painting side i managed to see the new film skyline, and in the world of bad films i would put this one as the worst I've seen apart from good effects the story is stupid the ending bad and not much in the middle basically don't bother to see it even if its for free.

spanish civil war panzer 1's

2010-11-15T09:51:00.000-08:00

another day another post, this almost made yesterday but not quite.

panzer 1 with 20mm auto cannon conversion these were made in small numbers in Spain, mine is from force of arms in resin picked up at the first partizan show this year.
the good thing about the scw is not many vehicles are needed.

as a comparison this panzer 1 is in metal from empress miniatures some scale difference in noticeable when side by side but as one is the pz1 a and one a pz1b easy to get away with.

so my powerful nationalist armoured force but in a moment of slight madness today i ordered a T-26 tank for the republic side even though i don't need one for the forces in the scenario im working on but plenty of milita are also ordered

wargames factory shock troops

2010-11-14T09:13:00.000-08:00

more figures finished. getting to be like the days before getting ill.
more stuff is on the paint table nearing completion but very impressed with these. keeping the paint simple and close to the kill zone game i think they have much potential for sci-fi games.

overall worth getting and looking into the pound shops for cheap vehicles in the about right scale for a cheap sci-fi skirmish game

new figures finished

2010-11-12T13:37:00.000-08:00

after a long time able to pick up a brush i finally finished some new figures, notably the warlord plastic Germans.
they go together ok but could have had the rifle ammo pouches as separate on the sprue.

my choice of painting them afrika korps or Italy use just to do them differently

also finished is this 1/48 scale me109 picked up years ago from a pound shop, the decals didn't stick so i did my best free hand just need to add some static grass at the front of the base

15mm fow dak and 8th army

2010-10-24T15:05:00.000-07:00

a few pics from my fow desert forces taken at the gy club last monday

crusaders and vickers mk6 on the attack

25pdr battery

knocked out crusaders

hmg platoon

motor rifle platoon

afrika korps platoon

knocked out pzIII

150mm heavy artillery

tiger platoon

romel

london imp war museum

2010-10-24T14:43:00.000-07:00

another day another trip this time London imperial war museum, very good place to go the vehicles and equipment on display are good, side exhibits ww1 to modern history well covered a very good exhibition on the Holocaust.

also managed to visit the HMS Belfast, also impressive and good to see it well looked after,

prob the most impressive tank on display due to having the sides cut away to show just how thick the armour was on this jagdpanther

2010-10-19T00:36:00.000-07:00

had a photo session at the Grimsby club last night, originally it was going to be with malc for the club site. but he was ill. so just did what i could for myself but left my ww2 with Dave for in the week with malc.

so here is some of my warlord 28mm Romans 140 figures making 7 cohort bases

bovvington 2010

2010-10-11T00:50:00.000-07:00

bov tank museum, Finlay visited the place after many years of wanting to, loads to see, very surprised with the amount of ww1 tanks on display. and on the size of them.
interwar wars interesting from the small size of the vehicles, on to ww2 the main part of the place from my point of view just wish they were all runners and not shells, but still looked after and preserved.

Italian tankette small as a car

panzer 2. shame the had no panzer 1's

sorry for the delay in posts

2010-10-03T12:13:00.000-07:00

being ill, and not having the motivation to do much paint work,, has led to a down turn in production.
i have picked up the new warlord plastic Germans with the aim of doing them up. first impression is good. a shame the ammo pou hes are not separate to the figures as this would help the pose choice better
as for these pictures, i was taken out for the day last week, unknown to me it was at a place called tanks a lot

were we got to drive FV432 apc's and Russian BM21 tanks and to top the day off me to drive a chieftain tank over a Peugeot car, most fun i've had in a while, cant thank family and freinds enough for that day out
most recommended

its been a while

2010-09-06T14:24:00.000-07:00

well it has been a while scince i last posted, not managed to get much painting done, total for august is only 42 german paras, i did go to Eden camp over the bank hol weekend were front line reenactment group were playing the guards as it is an old pow camp,
a shame the vehicles are in a poor condition, all in need of repainting and looking after
still it was good to see some old friends i have not seen for 20 years, after that weekend i went into hospital for a week now sat at home on recovery leave, may even get time to lift a brush or two,,

on a good note i have picked up a box of the wargames factory sci-fi shock troops,

on first look. not bad, good poses, nice chunky weapons and plenty of spares

they should paint up a treat and fit well into combat zone games or even make better imperial guard than games workshop make. and a damn site cheaper as well

looking better

2010-08-06T14:23:00.000-07:00

second attempt at painting jap tanks,
much better ressult after going for Vallejo reflective green base with German camo Brown and dark yellow for the camo. not sure if i should have waited to get flat yellow but went with dark yellow in the end.
then after painting the other 3 tanks in reflective green i find an unopened tin of humbrol 79 uniform green (the colour airfix recommend for jap armour)

month total for june

2010-08-04T13:47:00.000-07:00

well its a bit late in coming due to finding out my cancer has returned after 6 years in the clear tomorrow i go for a ct scan to see how much more of me needs to be cut away what fun more hospital food!!!

anyway on to the total for June a mere 112 figures finished not bad but not as good as last month. so far this month i have been looking into making a start on my15mm japs inbetwen other projects. with not having many books on the subject of jap armour i picked up the osprey book on jap armour tactics as it was in the local model shop, and after a good internet search i found little on painting jap tanks as in colour patterns etc.

and as i last did jap tank kit (airfix chi-ha) over 20 years ago i cant remember what colours to use.

look for German camo patterns no problem but the poor far east is a bit left out on the net.

i did find this pic of a 150mm shore defence gun looking similar to my 20mm scale ones,

as for jap colours i tried army green with bestial brown and yellow not 100% happy with it, i should go with Vallejo reflective green i think. (if anyone has any ideas please let me know)

also finished this week is 42 Germans in SS autumn oak leaf pattern and another 3 battalions started.

at last something for me.

2010-07-25T15:02:00.000-07:00

at long last ive painted some figures up for myself, it seems strange after doing so many for other people to do myself some figures.
not bad as on Saturday after work i went down to Norwich and across to duxford with a friend to collect a couple of model kit collections, i was in a merc sprinter with 4 meter load area and we filled it to capacity, never known one person to have so many unmade kits

anyway the figures i have done are the foundry German air crew i know the condor legion had a brown uniform and side caps not peaked caps but as they are also for ww2 the will have to do for both games with rescue the crew as a scenario type of game. just need a 1/48 scale bomber to make as a wreck for terrain

also still on the Spanish civil war era more Spanish foreign legion figures just needing matt varnish and static grass adding .

and i also finished this Italian 90mm gun in 1/72 scale but in 15mm scale it makes a good ex navy ship gun mounted for shore defence also needing grass adding and matt varnish.

Home - GRIMSBY WARGAMES SOCIETY

2010-07-25T01:37:00.000-07:00

Home - GRIMSBY WARGAMES SOCIETY

aspromised the new grimsby wargames site is now live, please feel free to join in if you wish

grimsby wargames club web site

2010-07-20T14:09:00.000-07:00

for anyone who has noticed and wondered were the grimsby wargame club web site has gone, it was being looked after by a club member who has decided he no longer wants to maintain it and it has now ceased to be there.
a new site will be up and running soon as far as i am aware along the lines of a site/gallery/forum type site.

not sure why Jason gave up on the site after doing such a good job over the years but these things happen from time to time.

as soon as i have the new site address i will post it here and hope people pas it on,

work in progress

2010-07-18T15:04:00.000-07:00

after a gruelling task of painting almost 500 figures it has been a nice rest to do little and that little is something for myself.

so far i have a small squad of Spanish foreign legion on the go along with the foundry downed German air crew both for the Spanish civil war project but the air crew could do for the rest of ww2 as well. a nice little set but not at today's prices, had these air crew for a good few years now and paid less than a quid a figure for foundry 28mm says how long i've had them..

this empress barricade is almost finished just needing some static grass on the base after a matt varnish and something has been finished this week...

as its been a relaxing week i picked up a copy of captain correlli's mandolin one of those films that passed me by for a good few years and i was quite surprised to see the correct equipment for the Italians ans Germans for a war film made before saving private Ryan, story was ok very impressed all round with it, now i suppose its back to the rapid fire battalions with some of my own bits added in to brake up the pace a bit.

2 days and 91 figures done

2010-07-11T15:15:00.000-07:00

at long last i have finished my 10 rapid fire battalions for commission work, a hard slog it has been at times with this last 2 units being finished off this week end, in fact the Americans were only undercoated at 7am this morning and now they are done. another 91 figures for the monthly total.

and for my next paint job i have started to clean up some empress Spanish foreign legion for the scw project

also included in today's lot is this us para in an attempt to get the Normandy uniform right, under normal light this looks ok but not under flash light.

june total

2010-07-04T13:10:00.000-07:00

at last summer is here, England lose at football/tennis etc so must mean summer is here for real. i was beginning to wonder what the big yellow ball in the sky was!!!

anyway after a busy month in June i was surprised to count up and end up with 281 figs finished off,
also despite being ill for some of this week i managed to finish 48 Americans and get half way into a German battalion, so a good start to the month.

as i'm almost at the end of the first contract i have started looking at other plastic figures due to the local model shop not having what i need i will need to look online, so far Pegasus, Cesar, revell/esci are looking good. having not tried most of these before it should be interesting to see new plastic company's figures..

more yanks

2010-06-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

just when the end is in sight fir this painting contract (only 3 more battalions to go) after finishing the latest American unit and assembling the next despite the hot weather.

his friends have asked for another 45 battalions doing,
at least the wargame kitty will be well stocked up and no eBay fees as well. guess ill be doing these up to Xmas , still it gives the months total a good boost.

but for my own stuff i have started the scw barricade from empress miniatures so at least i have got something to keep lol.

as for the hot weather and having my daughters stopping over for the weekend they wanted to go swimming, due to the match being on i think i was the only male in the pool at one point today and plenty of space to swim in as well.

2010-06-20T13:21:00.000-07:00

another weekend and 96 American infantry finished for commission, so far i have 6 battalions ready to post out the 7th has been cleaned up and stuck to bases but the rest are in the post somewhere awaiting delivery from an on line store.
i think after this lot is done i will get on with some of my stuff for a change, the money is nice but it is hard going at times to paint for sale all the time.

i did manage to get some time off, and made the mistake of watching Killers, not the best film, amusing in places but a poor attempt to be the new MR & MRS Smith film, but having seen a trailer for night & day tom cruise new film that does look promising

scw general

2010-06-19T09:44:00.000-07:00

in between doing the latest figures for sale i managed to fit this Spanish civil war falangest general figure, he is from the force of arms scw range but not in their catalogue only available in resin as a special order fig, behind is the force of arms Bilbao armoured car

2010-06-16T15:01:00.000-07:00

today i managed to finish 10 vehicle crew figures all from AB figures, and for a change these are for me not for sale, nice sculpts but for the price of them i would expect them to be good...

also today my last purchase from partizan arrived, a Huey slick from QRF, it's not even worth a picture it is bad compared to the battlefront ones, it will take a bit of work to get it looking something

2 more battalions

2010-06-13T14:18:00.000-07:00

another week goes by and 2 more German battalions are done inside a week.
total 84 figures done.

all are italeri German elite troops with italeri dak mixed in and airfix gun crew again.

also this weekend 2 American battalions have been assembled and stuck to bases 96 figures in total. next task to see if i can get them done for next weekend to keep on track for the 10 battalion commission I'm working on, we shall see....

comparision shots

2010-06-13T12:27:00.001-07:00

i was asked for some comparision shots of the new armour fast hanomag as most of my stuff is 15mm scale this is the best i can do.

italeri yank infantry on penny base

esci / italeri wespe

airfix sherman

hasegawa swimwagen with foundry crew

hasegawa hanomag with pak 40

armorfast hanomag

2010-06-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

at long last its here, after waiting for over 2 years armour fast have finally released the sdkfz 251/1 hanomag half track.

it went together nice but the track guards could have done with more locating holes as you need to hold them in place until the glue sets. a simple kit that needs add on kits to make the many variants, lucky for me my spares box has a few esci extras in it so i can make a few other variants.

the crew figure is from italeri but they could do with stowage adding from the valiant spares box

fallbones

2010-06-06T13:01:00.000-07:00

an interesting week, finished 42 fallschirmjager yesterday all from the new italeri tropical German para box, nice figures but some of the detail could have been better,
i went back to white primer to try to get a brighter look to them and for trying out different base colours for the splinter patten smocks
but the blue looks too light in the pictures so next time i will go with a darker blue

i also started another 2 German battalions in the week, so far they are almost half way done, but i think i will need a change to keep up the momentum for this contract.

after everyone saying how good avatar was i was lent a copy to see if i liked it, well after two attempt to watch it (fell asleep first time), switched it off after an hour second time, can't see what the fuss is about, poor graphics when they land on the planet, very slow story and i lost interest and gave up on it.

glad i didn't pay to see it. another film with too much hype and incoherent story in my opinion

robin hood

2010-06-01T14:09:00.000-07:00

today i managed to watch the new robin hood film staring Russell crowe, what can i say 1000% better than the BBC TV series (but that's not difficult),

not the normal story about robin and Sherwood Forrest.

with the ending of the film if they make a follow up that would be a good place to go with the film.

Russell is very good as robin. i had no problem with his accent unlike the film reviewers,

a good film full of sword fights, humor, action well worth going to see

Russell on top form again.

month total for may

2010-05-31T05:04:00.000-07:00

at last a busy month with the total ending at 169 figures completed and a building and a container all done in the month of may,

the latest being these 2 German rapid fire battalions most based on penny's as per customer requirements, and all from the italeri hard plastic elite troops with a few afrika korps to make up the numbers. apart from the a/t crew these are all old airfix from the blitz truck + pak 40 kit as i found quite a few in the spares box

PARTIZAN 2010

2010-05-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

today i went to partizan in Newark, must say better than last year, with some better looking games, first up that caught my eye was a china/jap game in 1930's with the mini-mi cargo ship standing out among the others in the game, must get one of these for myself.

this republican Rome game looked good but with the amount of transfers available for roman shields it could have looked that bit better.

AWI game in 28mm scale i liked the corn fields best use of door Matt's ever

a nice touch to this acw game was the early submarine as a good eye catcher.

another shot f the japs invading china

Abyssinia game with empress figures again on show but with more boards than last year

an interesting zombie game shame that there was a mix of scales on the table 1:48 vehicles, 1:56 figures and 25mm for some of the buildings, still a good idea of a game

another acw this time using what looked like 1:32 toy soldiers

impressive 1940 France game in 28mm scale

a nice 15mm sci-fi game full of detail that i looked at for a while spotting different bits i had only seen in pictures before.

as for spending probably spent too much but it's only twice a year (here anyway),

i did get plenty from warlord games to continue my Romans, mostly command packs, and dead Celts/Romans and the nice general he stands a bit taller than the metal Romans so best on his own base.

i got a nice panzer 1 with 20mm breada mounted in the turret from force of arms for my scw condor legion , along with japs from peter pig to start my 15mm jap army.

probably the best items would be the flames of war 'art of war' books 1 & 2 book 1 for idea's and book 2 for a good painting guide/idea's both good value for money from what i've seen already

heatwave

2010-05-23T13:12:00.000-07:00

a hot weekend too hot to paint too much, so its barbie time, or at least it was today, anyway as i have gotten 3/4 through 2 German rapid fir battalions in the week with an order for 5 German and 5 American i needed a rest and a few beers.

also i was given a STEELWORKS resin kit of the fields of Barcelona armoured truck in 1/72 scale looking at the parts with etched metal chain links not sure when it will get built.

so next weekend is partizan at Newark and with warlord games releasing the new roman general (see pic) in resin even tho its a bit wooden looking it will be added to the shopping list along with more Romans to add to my legion.

not sure if its a good thing or not as empress minis are not there this year and if you look at their workbench page on their site they have more moderns as in modern yanks and they look good/must have figures

so bad they are not their but good for the bank balance for a while anyway.

2010-05-16T16:01:00.000-07:00

well this weekend i seem to have been on top form for painting, building etc.
Saturday i collected more italeri infantry as my order had arrived, i forgot i had ordered German para's so now i have 3 boxes, i built the first on sat afternoon and based and textured in the evening.
even though they do not supply a mmg with a small amount of conversion work and with adding a 30 cal tripod from valiant yanks (as its a bit bigger it looks ok) i made 2 moving mmg teams, also carving down one rifle into a shell for the a/t gun and a German para battalion is made.

this morning i continued with my next roman unit/cohort/base of 20 men and by tea time they are finished apart from basing and varnishing that is, by not switching on the pc so no distractions they got done. and looking like my best effort on Romans to date. that makes 140 or so legionaries done.

the italeri German para's so far only bases done and first colour done to them

also on a positive note for me anyway a friend broke down near my house in his car only a sticking thermostat but as he buys and sells kits he gave me a NU-BEE MIL4 helicopter kit in 1/100 scale for helping him, result more air power for AK47 lol..

a cheap Russian kit but getting harder to find these days.

SG1, 2.3 & 4

2010-05-09T15:43:00.000-07:00

not much done over this weekend but i have managed to finish sg teams 1 to 4 in 15mm scale from GZG

not bad for detail in the scale just need to get the jaffa finished and find a stargate model, i know someone made one in 20mm scale along with figures but can't remember who it was.

behind them is another 20 warlord Romans started this week starting to get back into them, built another 10 today one day they will be finished.

another day, another post

2010-05-06T11:43:00.000-07:00

another day and i finished more figures, 49 to be exact.
48 italeri American infantry and one 28mm Celt

the Americans are nice but lack a co figure instead you get a tank commander but just enough to make a r/f battalion

my second Celt figure a dieing fig to give the cohort base a fighting look to it.

i gave him a spare roman shield and rebuilt his torso with putty to arch his back to give a lying down look as opposed to sat up as he would look if i glued him in place as normal

finished terain

2010-05-05T11:12:00.000-07:00

today i finished my Berlin building and a shelter
the Berlin building from italeri aimed at 20mm scale but fits in ok with other scales, a simple paint job on a large building, with another 3 or 4 of these plus the church they do should make for a good urban area to fight over and inside as well.

these shelters are also from italeri from their 1/35th range and at £3 each make good cheap cover, the blue one was done a few years ago but the white one was done today, simple grey wash over white primer and its done, i may add some bio hazard signs to it to make it a contamination shelter

more scale shots with foundry's Mr T and a beach babe

bolt action yank para's again to show the versatility of the building

just an idea but if i make a sign to hang between the buildings with no pasaran on it and the battle for Madrid can be done as well.

april total

2010-05-02T12:28:00.000-07:00

the painted total for April is a poor 58 figures and 6 vehicles completed, plenty have been started, and gotten as far as undercoat done
this American rapid fire unit along with another half done have taken most of the month more due to trying to get motivated and having a hospital visit thrown in adds to the months lack of work getting finished.

so hoping to get a better total for may and with partizan at the end of the month (more to add to the unpainted total lol)
so far today i have been busy working on the Berlin building, up to now its had two repaints as i was not to happy with the colours also in wanting to make it as universal as possible so no adding of graffiti etc.

this week i tried to see centurion at the cinema but due to them changing the times it was shown (after 9pm) and with only one showing per day i ended up having a 20mile round trip for nothing, and they wonder why people go for copy's from pirate sellers, not surprising as you cant get to see a British made film unless you camp out for the film start times.

also this week i finally managed to see sex & drugs & rock & roll the story about Ian dury another British made film, came out early January this year didn't make our local cinema so after 4 months wait i opted for a copy from the pirates, normally i wont bother but i have been waiting to see this one for so long more of a case of why not and as it was a good copy i will be watching it again, and it is a very good film just cant understand why it never made the cinemas. and still the cinemas wonder why people go for copy's.

(rant over for now) back to the paint table i hope..

hospital visit

2010-04-25T13:58:00.000-07:00

well not much work got done this week, mostly due to me going into hospital for an op on my throat to remove a lump, quite understandably i did not feel like doing much with my throat stitched up.
until this weekend i felt well enough to go into town for some new stock, fist up i picked up the new italeri German paras in tropical kit, out at long last. first impressions are they look good, nice mix of weapons, good poses and again in hard plastic , wont be long before these are on the table.
also picked up the wargames factory ancient Germans, part for use as dead/fighting my Romans on their bases diorama style, also for use of all the extra parts with my future war gangs. come partizan a visit to EM4 is a must. now that brings me to my last item i picked up, the first of my Berlin houses from italeri built and undercoated over the weekend.
ok it is basic inside but with some furniture from frontline to give some cover when fighting from room to room it has a wide field of use. from the Spanish civil war, ww2, 25mm scale gangster wars, to modern and future war games.

just to show how it scales up with other scales left to right, 20mm Britannia Vietnam grunt, 15mm vc, 28mm EM4 plastic ganger, 20mm italeri German

and a close up showing the interior door size

just an idea but...

2010-04-18T12:29:00.000-07:00

I've just had this idea after finding wargames

factory's next set due out is these sci-fi troopers in greatcoat's now in keeping with my currant theme/style of gang warfare (aka Bronx warriors) these would do just fine, and if i get some of italeri's Berlin houses for terrain along with the resin bits i already have it could make a good setting for combat zone/kill zone type games more so as the Berlin house has separate floors...

interesting looking forward to seeing these new figures

also looking forward to the release of centurion next week end. a trip to the cinema could be needed...

tank week

2010-04-18T11:20:00.000-07:00

well it seems like all I've done this week is paint German armour in a variety of scales, the finished products are 4 panthers in 20mm scale all from hat with extra stowage and crew from valiant miniatures spare parts.

next up is a zugkraftwagen 12t with 88 mounted on it from Cromwell models the crew i have for it are not yet finished they come from AB models (and i'm still paying off the loan to get them lol), not saying they were expensive for 20mm figures but they ain't cheap.

and finally finished is my tiger 1 in 1/35 scale, i must have been mad to get it as it seems to have taken forever to build/paint, i don't think i could wargame in this scale as i would never get anything on the table.

also almost finished are 2 stug 3's in 15mm scale so a busy time for me.

at last

2010-04-11T11:55:00.000-07:00

well at last i have finished something it may only be 10 figures but its a start from all the figures i've started...
all of them are from EM-4's combat zone, these are the trooper figures from the box set and a heavy weapon squad for simple conversions to the plastic sprues

the only conversion i did to the troopers was to add the auto shotgun from the ganger sprue

i tried to keep the painting as close to my original squad based on starship troopers style as that was the in film about when i did them last.

the heavy weapon squad metal torsos and arms/weapons added to the basic plastic body's.

i must get some more of these and they make some other arm sets as well.

almost finished is my first 15mm japs with the 20mm scale Italian 90mm a/t gun being used as a navy ship gun on a shore mount, something the japs did to give their positions more artillery

the good thing about the close ups is i get to see were i have missed, just a touch up needed then basing to finish off

i think it looks the part and the scale difference isn't to noticeable

conversions

2010-04-06T13:32:00.000-07:00

well after watching one of the Bronx warriors films i was inspired to assemble some of the ganger figures from combat zone, and also have ago at some conversions as the game comes with 3 sets of gang sprues with only 5 different figures .

first up was a simple head swap using empress Spanish civil war heads and spare weapons from old foundry street violence sets.

next was this female warrior i cut away the original weapon and altered the position of her head as she is looking to the right

this one came out best in my opinion another head swap, this time using a head from warlords Celt warriors, and cutting down the barrel of the shot gun.

just a shame warlord don't give spare heads but i might try the wargame factory sets for spares

another simple alteration cut away the pistol and carve the hands to take a automatic pistol again from foundry

the last one is just a spare Spanish civil war head with a beret

i also did new bases as i am not a slot base fan, just used wills fine cast pavement set and cut away the tab leaving a peg on one foot and drill a hole just to give the figure some strength

happy easter

2010-04-04T14:17:00.000-07:00

well after a dull month of march with only about 151 figures being completed i am hoping April will prove better as i have got loads of figures started, based and undercoated, i have even been looking at combat zone and built two squads of 5 troopers from the game. basic plastic figs from EM4 did these today as i picked up two old 1980's exploitation films from enzo g casterelli the man who did inglorious b******s, making these post apocalyptic films ripe for tarrentino to re-make

so on the paint table are about 150 figures some started and some just undercoated so hopefully April will improve my painted amount

busy weekend

2010-03-28T12:59:00.000-07:00

after watching the pacific i was inspired to make some shore based naval guns for my 15mm japs with no luck in finding any suitable guns i tried modifying the italeri Italian 90mm a/t gun.
as it is a cheap kit but it leaves the crew as spares for another project.
the next ones i think will look better with a small plinth to mount the gun on and maybe lower the gun a bit.

i also picked up some of the new armour fast panther tanks from HAT as the model shop had both the italeri fast build and these i opted for these due ti the simple fact that the command hatch can be built open or closed and they are a quid cheaper to buy also helped.

as well as trying out the italeri new American infantry, i have had a busy weekend, my opinion of these figures is not bad but making a r/f battalion is only possible with adding the 60mm mortar from the anti tank team box (even if he is a us para) and for some reason they put a tank commander in for the co. but as there are only 48 figures in the box they have to be used to make the unit.

and just a note to say as i was in wicks getting some bits i needed i picked up some black primer spray, anyone thinking of getting some, don't. it take hours to dry but it covers the plastics ok. next time ill go for car primer even if it means going to another shop, lol...

tiger weekend

2010-03-21T16:38:00.000-07:00

this week i have mostly been working on the tiger in 1/35 scale, i must point out it was only on a whim i started it as i never made one years ago.
but the tracks are a pain to assemble as each link is individual.
so the main painting i have done this week is this panzer commander for the tiger. fairly simple as all black uniform can't wait to get some primer to get the tank finished and out of the way and back to normal wargame stuff.

just a quick note to mention i have seen the crazies this last week and top notch zombie film also seen was zombies of mass destruction billed as better than Shaun of the dead (don't think so) funny in places but falls short of the mark in the long run..

another day, another parcel

2010-03-18T15:36:00.000-07:00

another day goes by and the postman brings another parcel to me, my first eBay item this year that i won,

the flames of war intro set open fire. a smaller version of the rules with 5 ready to roll tanks.

2 stug's and 3 Sherman's these will no doubt end up with my pacific forces the stugs im not yet sure as they are no good for the western desert.

and if i don't like the rules at least the money spent make the tanks worth while.

just a shame they don't make some more ready to roll armour just glue the gun on and start painting.

stargate and firefly

2010-03-17T13:55:00.000-07:00

Monday night i placed a order with ground zero games for some new stargate figures as i normally wait and then they are deleted, to my surprise they came in today's post. and apart from the speed they got to me i am impressed with them, 15mm scale sci fi is fairly new to me as for the quality they are as good as 20mm for detail, the jaffa guards are half armoured (hopefully they are doing full armoured) all with staff weapons and come in 6 to a pack as they are larger than the humans

sg1 the 'heroes' along with the other sg team figures would fit into any AK47 type game as they are all armed with P12 smg's and light kit.

also added to the order as i was taken with them was the crew from the serenity one pack with 2 of each of the main people

and one other with the rest of the crew all can be identified due to good sculpting i also got a pack of wheeled drones to use as malps

as for rules no doubt i can find some and its another project for me lol...

the pacific,

2010-03-16T14:25:00.001-07:00

last night i managed to watch the first episode of the pacific, the new 'band of brothers' mini series set in ww2 in the far east,
it starts out the same as 'b o b' interviews with the veterans and so far I'm impressed with the first episode, more of a get to know the cast intro with a hint of more to come.
all thanks to on line TV no adverts just programs when you want to watch them.

i also went to the club, a few games on didn't get to join in any but still saw some friends

and tonight i did a bit more to my tiger, more zimerit this time on the turret I'm getting the hang of the zimerit now.

tiger, vietnam and more germans

2010-03-14T13:22:00.000-07:00

well busy week is had by all i finally started my 1/35th tiger kit even going as far as doing zimerit!!! this is my first attempt at it and using a saw blade and model putty im pleased with the results,
might even do some in 20mm scale just need a smaller saw blade.

i added this bulkhead to paint the engine bay black so as not to show white in the vents on the engine deck

i also added some shells and ammo boxes and a check plate floor, not going to win prizes for being correct but when the hatches are left open at least it will look like something is inside.

the shells are from the modern equipment set from italeri

also today i finished my 1/100 scale skyhawk for Vietnam games just in case i have to call in for a broken arrow if the gooks get too close....

finally this week i finished this rapid fire battalion made using the italeri elite Germans with some Africa corps and the pak 40 with crew added from those sets as well.

a shame they still make the German mg gunner with the wall or box but at least the plastic is harder and paints up better.

the pak 40 and crew set is very nice hopefully they will do more gun sets like this one. even for other nations.

so tomorrow i have a game at the club, AK47 is on the menu and hopefully the dice will be in my favour lol...

samples

2010-03-12T12:06:00.000-08:00

here are the last of my 120mm scale sample figures i was given to see if the man selling them at air shows etc wants them painted by myself

its a strange scale to work in as all the normal tricks don't work as well with the larger figures, but i could easy do 20+ a week if not more
the nurse with baby not sure if i got the uniform right but it looks ok to me

arp warden with rescued baby

modern pilot very easy to do

weekend disaster

2010-03-07T10:47:00.000-08:00

well this weekend ended in disaster with my hot water tank giving up the ghost, so i am now sat here with no heating and no hot water for the next few days until it gets fixed,
a shame as i had a game planed for Monday night at the club, depending on how long it takes to get the old tank out i could make the club later even if only to use their heat to get warm lol.

so on to the painting side the German inf battalion from last week finished off

the new italeri afrika korps hard plastic battalion very impressed these painted up a treat, even got the bases done so if i do make the club tomorrow these could get an airing before being put on eBay...

also done today are some sample figures i have been given to see it the seller likes my painting style to commission me to do more on a regular basis, all are 120mm scale aimed for sale at air shows so most are air force related.

this fighter pilot came up well but still a few air holes i missed when cleaning up

a waaf figure easy to do but getting used to a larger figure is not easy

a late war German infantry figure lacking in detail in my opinion for the scale but its not aimed at the collector/wargamer market

end of feb total

2010-02-28T14:44:00.000-08:00

after a slow start to the month i ended up doing 151 infantry finished off and 1 crashed Huey. not bad but yesterday i built 2 infantry battalions using italeri plastic figures.

the first of my IA DRANG pavn units, battalion HQ with hmg section very easy to do and i will probably fly through them.

my second infantry battalion for evil bay another 42 valiant figures just need the bases finishing off.

the first italeri battalion 99% from one box the newer hard plastic DAK apart from the mg42 mounted on the boxes they come from the elite German set and will do as mmg sections

the second italeri battalion from the elite German set with the pak 40 and crew added

making 86 figures assembled and based and started in the week end.

i don't know why but plastic figure company's never seem to do nice mortars or put a tripod mmg for the Germans yet the allies get vickers/30 cal/50 cal etc hopefully the new plastic soldier company will alter that, first up Russians minus the support weapons they come in another pack followed up with mid war Germans again minus the support weapons

hopefully they will be ok

2010-02-26T14:14:00.000-08:00

just seen it today what a good action film, Travolta over the top acting with a body count to match.

simple plot, terrorists planning a hit in Paris enter Travolta to save the day

excellent film worth going to see gets my vote.

also watched this week was outpost 'Nazis/zombie horror film'

not bad, but if you have seen deathwatch or aliens then most of the ideas come from them both, still it passed away a couple of hours

huddesfield model show

2010-02-21T14:50:00.001-08:00

another day out on the first show attended this year, due to early snow fall it looked like being a poor show but the mad die hards turned up and wgen the snow started to melt more followed.

the international plastic model show in Huddersfield, a first for me at this show again helping out a friend at heritage aviation models. so most of the day was spent selling but i did have time for a look around and a browse on the other stalls.

to my surprise i found nothing to buy, i was looking for 1/100 scale Huey's, C-47 gunships again in 1/100 but it seems to be a scale untouched by the plastic modelers...

i also tried to find some detailing sets for my 1/35 tiger kit but again found nothing, plenty for the rest of the tiger family but nothing for what is probably the most manufactured kit on the market in every scale possible.

so all i came away with is this book given to me for helping out, more of a catalogue about a 1938 exhibition staged during the Spanish civil war by the nationalists showing the captured equipment from the republic side

the interesting part is it is in English and not Spanish like most of my books on Spain. i was also given a esci wespe kit, no instructions but complete and unmade.

on the painting side the most that got done this week is matt varnishing about 100 figures and building 42 valiant Germans.

but i did manage to get to see legion and what a good film that is, much better than the road or the book of Eli i wont give any spoilers out only recommend that you don't miss it.

picked up on dvd this week was Leningrad so far i have only seen some of it and it looks like enemy at the gates type of film. i did spot a stug 3 ausfD in it but on the side view of it it was just a BMP made to look like one, still a good effort so far, and there is a knocked out 38t in some early scenes

toodle-lang-a-langa

2010-02-14T07:52:00.000-08:00

well i will not get time to get this batch based up but the painting side is finished, 52 8th Army figures in 15mm scale the total of the last few days work.

this motor infantry platoon has 27 men including weapons

the second half of my first 25pdr battery, only 4 more guns and crew to go to make the 8 gun battery!!!!!!!!

and this hmg platoon to complete this weeks figures

these are not mine, they have just been put up on the flames of war forum, 22 choppers, he also has a phantom and C47 gunship all 1/100 scale. impressive as well as mad, wish i could afford so many slicks.

even his terrain looks good, green fur matting simple and effective.

on to a last note it looks like i have just picked up my first commission for doing painted figures 16 German and American battalions for rapid fire
but i don't have a time on how quick they are needed for

fortunate son

2010-02-07T12:08:00.000-08:00

fortunate son, a song that goes with the Vietnam war like this slick, crashed dust off from battlefront minis, it took the best part of sat afternoon to put together and painted today, just needs dry brushing, markings and matt varnish & grass adding to finish off.
as always the first new model is slow to put together but some of the metal could have been cast in one in my view, still only 5 to go to finish of the 15mm Huey's i have including one more of these crashed ones...

also finished is my first German battalion for eBay for this year 42 figures from valiant miniatures. not a bad start to the month

so that's it for the modeling/painting side on TV, i managed to watch caprica the prequel to battlestar galactica, so far not very impressive ill give it a couple more episodes but its very slow and little sign of a space opera that is bsg

it was expected

2010-02-04T14:50:00.000-08:00

after reading on the flames of war site that they are ending the Vietnam range after the next production run it comes as no surprise as it was only done for a quick money making exercise.
lucky for me i got both army deals and i'm not afraid to go to another manufacturer for more troops.
but the Huey's they produce are the best i've seen in 15mm scale i have one die cast Huey but the doors are shut, the plastic kits are not easy to get hold of and the QRF one has had a lot of bad reviews for me to send for some 'blind' and the metal pencil sharpener Huey's are under scale so they cant mix but they will do for my AK47 army's

on a not so sure side i got one of these tamiya tigers in 1/35 scale today, having never made one when i was younger i just fancied doing one, but i didn't expect the tracks to be in individual links!!! ill keep updates going and see if i can build a good 1/35 scale kit after a long time away from them lol..

last night i watched the start of season 6 of LOST all i can say is excellent 'as Mr burns would say' can't wait for the next episode

into the nam

2010-01-31T11:30:00.000-08:00

after a busy week with not much sign of a brush being picked up the last 2 days have seen lots going on the table.. first up is a good start on 42 valiant Germans that should be finished in the week, but a very fast paint job on these flashpoint miniatures main force vc.

i know that the black PJ's were not as common as Hollywood would have us all believe but as they are 15mm scale it makes them easy to identify on the table

they are not the best castings i've seen in this scale and priming them in white to paint black may seen odd but as i do a lot of work in washes they turn out ok

some of victor charles big brothers 28mm scale from baker company finally got based this month along with two dead vc, the rest of this platoon were done about 8 years ago and i still have an NVA platoon to do as well

so the total for January is a disappointing 56 figures, but my living room got done as well but that don't count to the monthly totals lol.

on the film/tv side of things dollhouse had a good season end hopefully they will do a 3rd season as i like joss whedon stuff.

survivors is getting interesting, and lost is back in Feb for its last season so we should find out everything in the end but i doubt it somehow...

films to see

2010-01-27T14:05:00.000-08:00

max manus man of war, a dvd i picked up in asda for £3 well worth watching even if it is mostly in subtitles with a small amount of English when he was in England.
a true story about the Oslo gang in ww2
it is a slow film to start but very compelling to watch and the vehicles are all good not a modern tank to be seen, even a hotchkis H39 is seen in the film.

recommended to watch even at the cheap price.
also on the film side i have seen the book of Eli another post apocalyptic film very slow and you have to see it all before you know what its all about. as this seems to be the trend with films at the moment hopefully legion will be better as the Eli film is slow like the road

on the figure front i have managed to build a German battalion in 20mm scale and a vc platoon in 15mm scale so things are starting to move in the right direction at long last

back to normal

2010-01-20T13:12:00.000-08:00

well after a short absence doing the decorating all now done i can get back to doing some proper painting,

so far I've only based up my warlord us para's i still need better lighting but these will do for now.

also just arrived today from battlefront, both army deals for Vietnam, boy the Huey's look good can't wait to start them, ill have to get the fow rules to play this version of the Nam i think.

if you have not yet seen daybrakers, go see it, very good take on the vampire films, also some good ideas for games as well.

this is i think my fave figure from the warlord box set, painted up a treat and looks like he's been in France for a good few days, i also painted the field dressing as patching him up on the arm .

snow good week

2010-01-10T15:24:00.000-08:00

well i have to say the flashpoint's UK distributor are very quick on delivery as for the figures, not sure on them yet, casting looks ok, small amounts of flash. detail could be better but they may paint up ok, the American platoon is a strange set as there are no M60's in the pack just M16's and M79's i know there was an organisation of the platoon with the 60's in support mode but in practice from what i've read the M60 was in each section to give better fire support.

the VC on the other had come with RPD's and RPG's in the pack. also same casting but some of the poses are poor and wooden looking.
so apart from some matt varnishing the only painting i've done this week is the front room as it needs re decorating!!!!!

i have managed to get to see the road not a bad film, but slow and even though its a post apocalyptic don't expect much action as its not that type of film.

with all the snow i took the kids to the countryside for some sledging down the hill sides great fun and it was busy on the hill as lots of people had the same idea...

new year, new start

2010-01-03T09:29:00.000-08:00

well the old year has ended and a new one started, looking back not a bad year started out bad and only went from better to better for me. the painting total was less than i expected only doing 2007 figures, 76 vehicles and 8 buildings, one plane and 2 Huey's. film and TV highlights for me zombieland, inglorious bastards, 2012, spring to mind as good stand out films. so looking forward to 2010 on the horizon is the new Dr who, second season of survivors and the final season of lost to look forward to and not forgetting pacific the band of brothers style series set in the pacific following some us marines in the war.

so far painting wise i have finished the first for 2010 BAM screaming eagles 22 us paras i got just before Xmas and finished today apart from basing, these were interesting to do as i had to re watch some band of brothers episodes but from some views the uniforms look green and others look like i have done them.
ill re do the pictures when based for better lighting shots.

also looking forward to getting to the post office tomorrow to collect my flashpoint minis for the new Vietnam project in 15mm then next week i will be ordering the flames of war army sets, but due to high demand they have run out and are re casting stocks .

also over the Christmas break i managed to see some old Nam films, boys in company c and uncommon valor
both good in their own way.

YouTube - Bruce Springsteen - No Surrender

2009-12-31T11:36:00.000-08:00

YouTube - Bruce Springsteen - No Surrender

happy new year everyone,
for me this song just about sums up my year, I've gone from down and almost out to getting back on top, so next year will be better,

in the words of the great man , no retreat, no surrender for 2010

a belated merry xmas

2009-12-29T14:49:00.000-08:00

well Christmas has come and gone, Santa left the usual suspects (slippers, smellies, booze) and a Springsteen CD from my eldest daughter, nice surprise she got one of the few i don't have.

as for painting i forced myself to do a few bits but nothing is finished as of yet.
the us paras from warlord are about 3/4 complete and some baker company VC got based up.
so a quiet time for me but i did win a auction for a 1/100 die cast Huey and sent for some flashpoint minis from the Vietnam range,

and with this weekends extra work delivering takeaways to fill in for the regular man i will be spending that money on the flames of war army sets for each side.
every little helps and a surprise he is away for the weekend,

on the TV side not much on as per normal on TV these days, i did see the Dr who on Xmas day, not bad and looking forward to this weekends final for David tenant.
also just finished watching the day of the triffids 2 part story, must say that Eddie izzard was good in his part and the story was good also.

next looking forward to the second season of survivors starting on the 12th Jan after seeing a trailer for it looks worth the wait..

twas the week b4 christmas

2009-12-20T13:54:00.000-08:00

hmm Christmas was but a week away and after visiting the local model shop for some new plastics to do up i was shown the new box sets from warlord games, being weak i parted with some unexpected spending money on the screaming eagles box set.....
now the last time in had some new ww2 28mm scale figures they took about 8 or 10 years to complete. and as i was hoping to get on with some old Britannia Vietnam 20mm castings i came across under the stairs (probably put there on a spring clean) and remembering i got them about 8 years ago!!!
anyway so far the brothers in arms are cleaned up and i decided on a white undercoat for the paint method i have in mind for them

they are very nice sculpts done by Paul hicks as are most of the bolt action range

so as for any painting this is about as far as i have gotten this week , one 1/72 jolly green chopper and one 1/100 skyhawk,

apart from helping out with my daughters 13th birthday and Xmas shopping, at least there is snow on the ground for a white Christmas and we don't see those very often do we....

on a roll

2009-12-13T13:24:00.000-08:00

despite this being December and a busy month for everyone i have been on a roll getting 50 infantry crew figures finished and 30 vehicles also finished, most are for my 8th army ww2 project 8 are 15mm Vietnam grunts for vehicles or choppers.
due to running out of decals for the 8th army that is all that is left to do, oh and a dry brush over the decals.
still i'm very impressed with how they have turned out. next some more infantry platoons and 25pdr's to complete..

the pictures don't do them justice with the bad lighting, they look much better in daylight but not much of that about this time of year lol..

peter pig Vietnam yanks i may redo the jungle boots as they look to bright,

also managed to build a jolly green rescue chopper in 1/72 scale, made from parts with no instructions i got it years ago in a box of other kits all with no instructions, the rest went on eBay long ago but i kept this one, so far it is built and undercoated also built today a 1/100 scale skyhawk for the Nam project in 15mm

why not it's Christmas after all, and all wargamers like to start new projects don't we!!!!!

brown water navy

2009-12-10T11:58:00.000-08:00

at long last the 1st Britannia Vietnam landing craft has been finished only 2 more to go.
i got these a few years ago and started one but lost interest, now with the wargames illustrated articles about IA drang i have been motivated to get it done,

i have also been trying out some old peter pig Nam grunts from the passengers from the M113 they make.
more to follow soon.

november total

2009-12-06T13:35:00.000-08:00

well the mad month of December is here again, and the poor total for November was 53 figures and 7 20mm scale tanks and half tracks.
these valiant Germans formed the bulk of the figure painting. hopefully they will sell well to get some more figures with the profits.
these also include the last HAT A/T gun i will not be getting anymore of these as they are a pain to glue together.
so these 42 infantry along with 3 MLR German paras & 8 28mm scw figures are all that got finished in November,

I'm looking forward to next year already with a view to doing the Nam in 15mm and why not, if i sell enough valiant figures it should pay for plenty of new lead lol...

still on the paint table is the 15mm 8th army slowly progressing to the end.

and i managed to get to see 2012 a good special effects film worth watching to see what happens. recommended..

still having to work on Mondays so no visits to the wargame club but i may take a look at the Tuesday lot who rent out the club to see what is on offer for games

paint it black

2009-11-29T14:28:00.000-08:00

the painting was going well until the new wargames illustrated arrived.
as it is mostly about the Vietnam war battle at la drang with some very nice looking hueys.
i must say i'm very tempted to get some
the rules read ok and look like a lot has gone into them, as a one off it looks like a winner, i hope battlefront support it and it is not a fashion game like games workshop do and then drop it as soon as they have made some money out of the public.
on the buying side the hueys are a bit expensive when you can get a QRF model for £8, the revell kit for about £5 when they can be found. but the BF model is £12 but it comes with door gunners and flight stand and decals or their is also the pencil sharpeners i have for £1.86
the army deals look good and give you everything needed to start gaming so 10 out of 10 for this months copy of wargames illustrated,

still on the Nam side of things i have got hold of tour of duty all 3 seasons brings back memories lol.

and while on the film/TV front i have just seen Harry Brown. Michael Caine's new film. very impressive for a old actor, one of his best fr a number of years i think. a must go and see if you have not yet seen it. death wish has nothing on this for making you think a bit.

eye candy

2009-11-22T11:19:00.000-08:00

like all wargamers i'm always keen to see the nice figures/vehicles on offer from all manufactures after my recent visit to the ipms show and finding Cromwell models there who can resist spending some hard earned cash on his nice models.???
this marder 3 with pak36r looks good but a set of instructions would not go amiss to help build it. with the seat configuration and thin parts i put the gun into the travel position just to give it some strength.

this sig 33 another from the Cromwell combat ready range, nice easy to build. (3 parts) just needs a commander figure, not yet sure if to add markings to them both. i also built a German battalion from valiant figures this weekend, so far they are half painted.

i found this picture on a forum site showing empress miniatures next release, 28mm modern Afghans and sas troops. the sas boys look like they will fit into lots of games look forward to seeing them in the metal at a show sometime

work rest and play

2009-11-18T12:34:00.000-08:00

well after a busy time working, not much time for painting or gaming i have some progress on my 8th army vehicles as always trying a different approach to the painting to get a more varied look to them and so far quite pleased with this batch, still a long way from getting finished

motor rifles transport

another 2 cohorts of Romans finished but i have left a space for a dead or wounded figure to add to this one with my fist Celt charging into the line but on the same base the scale difference is more noticeable.

just arrived today after a mere 3 day wait my latest Spanish civil war order, being weak for nice looking terrain i added this barricade from empress miniatures along with some more nationalist figures bit by bit the scw project is getting there, i'm even thinking about making some terrain boards for it (only thinking at the moment mind)

also finally finished these few 20mm vehicles at one time it was all i did. now sold but a few remain after being found in the darkest parts of the cupboards lol,

this 251 ausf d with Britannia crew finished along with a revel panther and some Cromwell tigers that just need bases finishing off.

finally still on the scw i finished these Spanish foreign legion figures from empress (ex anglian) full of caricature and one day they will face the game table...

on the bad news side my order for Romans from weyland games never arrived and after waiting from the 26th September i finally got a refund from pay pal weyland never replied to emails, unless from pay pal, and after getting a refund i will not be using them again.

on to TV, a remake of the prisoner has been shown on American TV to mixed reviews i have managed to see the first episode and so far wouldn't recommend it as it has no plot to it and little mystery but i may give another episode a go .

on the plus side the new V is betting better every episode better than the original in my opinion

RAF COSFORD MUSEUM

2009-11-12T14:12:00.000-08:00

a inside view of the Hampton bomber undergoing restoration at RAF cosford this was found about years ago in Russia after the Berlin wall came down it has a long way to go before it goes on display at the museum.

these first world war planes will one day see the sky's again after their restoration they told us these two will fly again.

a fairy battle undergoing restoration

a side shot of the Hampton, they have most of the aircraft, and when it is finished one side will be as it was, and the other as it was found on the crash site, one of 9 Hampton's lost on their way to help Russia out in the second world war

another shot of the ww1 planes.

the TSR2 a long way from the biplanes of ww1,

a what if it was made plane, the history of its project cancellation will remain a mystery, all i know is the labour government of the 60's and the American governments did not want us to have it as it was better than anything the Americans made and it would have stopped the Americans selling their aircraft.

a Russian MiG from the same era as the TSR2 and a F111 behind it

a shot from the balcony in the cold war hanger

a fairy delta experimental plane

another experimental plane, i think it is a Bristol 188

the V1 and V2 among rockets and missiles in the warplane hanger.

a me410 night fighter

an interesting shot of a junkers ju52 in British airways markings, the upper gunners position was covered over and riveted in place to make it a civiy plane!!

the last lincoln bomber boy is it big. not sure if is bigger than the lancaster or not.

a german komet rocket fighter, bigger than i imagened.

all in all a good day out and well worth a visit and a nice change to see inside the restoration hanger but its only open for this one week a year.

scale model show @ telford

2009-11-10T13:11:00.000-08:00

a busy weekend was had at the ipms scale model show at telford.

having never been to a model show it came as a surprise as to how big it was and how busy it also was,

we arrived on sat morning about 6am to set up, i was helping a friend out on his stall heritage aviation models

after the initial set up the doors open to the ipms members, followed by the rest of the public at 10am. after hoping for a quick look around before we got busy that never happened as we got busy and stayed busy for the rest of the day,.

i have never known a show were money is no object. at times customers were 5 deep in the que at our stall. it was work all day long, at times amusing when the darleks came past collecting money for help for heroes the two people inside them were full of comic lines as the collected the money, even having a water gun in the ray gun and wetting anyone who got in the way...

it ended at 6 pm on sat night leaving time to get some food and a drink before collapsing into a long sleep for the night.

Sunday started out a bit quieter giving us some time to see the show. on display were some good models. even some time to pick up a few bits.

it was good to see cromwell models at the show, got some nice bits from him ,and he told me they should have a new web site up soon. but they have been busy selling and designing and little chance to reply to all who try to get in touch with them.

apart from some figures from AB FIGURES i forgot to get some bits from a company called fieldwork's, who produce some very nice buildings

it ended at 4pm Sunday not quite as busy as the Saturday but still tiring none the less after another nights rest we then went to RAF cosford museum as this week is the open week for the restoration hanger took lots of pictures here and in the other hangers were the TSR 2 is kept. ill post again when i have picked the best pictures.

blood bowl, nam and V

2009-11-05T12:48:00.000-08:00

well im not getting much work done on painting, partly due to getting the psp game of blood bowl, got to say it is not bad, it plays well like the miniature version.

my only gripe would be some of the teams are missing, no undead, elves or dark elves, halflings

but you do find the star players in the one off games. not started the campaign yet still getting used to it but i would recommend it.

Vietnam, one of my favorite era's in history, great films made about it and having done it in 20mm scale and even started it in 28mm but still not finished enough for a platoon of grunts.

today i found these on the flames of war site, now doing the Nam in 15's at first i'm not sure about it, but the slicks look good and i like the way they have done the rotors moving in clear plastic

even these troops don't look bad in the scale looking forward to wargames illustrated next issue to see the rules even if only for ideas.

finally on to V watched it online last night, i won't give out any spoilers but a big improvement to the original, darker, better approach to it, (bsg put a whole new look on sci-fi ) cant wait for the next episode but it would be better on a big screen, no idea when or if it comes over here no doubt on a sky channel first so no chance of watching it on TV

probably have to wait for the DVD to see it on the big screen,

month total for october

2009-11-01T12:52:00.000-08:00

a busy month for October, more new figures than painted and more painted than i thought i had done, i only got to the club once for a game in October due to working, i did try to get there on the Thursday session but upon arrival it looked closed last week.
so on to the figures finished last month, total was 151 figures, 60 re based, 1 Sherman tank and crew, and 8 buildings finished.
part of the finished or almost finished are the 2 bases of Romans that need shields adding when the basetex is dry. the reason the base has a gap at the front is for a Celt to be added and a dead roman when i get some for making the bases look good.

the 3 lighter looking Romans are done with army painter dip and silver spray, all the rest are done in bolt gun over black undercoat i think it looks better and i don't loose detail like i think you do with the dip method

these 5 1/100 scale kits i got from a Friend at a good price all for AK47 games and as he runs a business i will be helping him at next weekends IPMS show at telford just a shame he only makes aircraft mostly or large figures as in 120mm scale

so all in all a good month, this month sees the release of the remake of V in america from the trailers i have seen it looks very good no idea if or when it gets shown over here probebly have to watch it on line if it gets put up.

more romans

2009-10-27T15:09:00.000-07:00

a bit late with this update but i have been working on these Romans, 2 cohorts to add to my legion, total of 33 figures
i decided not to use the army painter quick shade as i find it slower than my own way...
but with a new camera it shows up the painting as it has a good zoom on it, but in the flesh as it were they look good.
next to get them varnished and based then add the shields for the full effect

a home made optio second in command of the cohort after the centurion, made by simply using a spare head from the praetorian set and cutting down the pilum

another conversion just add a spare arm from the veteran set i also used a veteran head in one of the cohorts.

not too much finished but this lot puts me about half way to complete the legion .

elvington

2009-10-22T13:14:00.000-07:00

a day out of work on a driver training day at elvington air museum and in between a chance to the planes.
they vary from replica ww1 planes up to modern jets with the biggest being the victor tanker .
some like the ww2 Halifax bomber are kept in the hangers, but some are left outside and look like they could do with some work on them.

such a shame to see these old aircraft in this condition, but at least some look like they are looked after,

overall not a bad place to visit. most of the air base is kept in wartime condition but i think it could do with some more exhibits

i didn't get much chance to take many pictures as it was a work day but i would recommend a visit probably on a day when something else is on as it will not last all day as a place to go for the day.

still burning

2009-10-18T11:07:00.000-07:00

another weekend and more gets finished, despite a lull in the last couple of months the desire to paint and game is getting stronger again.
yesterday i picked up 2 more boxes of warlord roman legionaries enough to complete my legion of 10 cohorts. i find it interesting that when i started at the wargames club a roman army was my first choice but it didn't last.
i know the plastics are not much cheaper than metals but at least they are more readily available at local model shops.

so on to today's finished projects, another valiant American battalion for rapid fire, the 60mm mortar crew man has a metal head from the raventhorpe range scale wise it fits ok and as they do french kepis etc a french battalion is possible.

found in the back of a draw were these MLR German para's and 4 SS figures. the SS have been painted as army in splinter pattern smocks and the para's in splinter and tan water pattern.

the German para with the FG42 in the plain green smock is an old lamming figure that i put new arms on and the ammo bandoleer.

i how have enough figures to form a 'add hok' battalion of army and para's if i ever want to join in a game in 20mm scale

also finished today these 2 hovels buildings for the club. even though I've had them for a good few years they have been left undercoated waiting to be done

rome was built in a day

2009-10-15T12:02:00.000-07:00

no not the city, just the re basing of these for impetus rules, 20 figures on each base of 12cm by 6cm.

after some planning out to get the figures to look like a cohort in depth and at a ratio of 24 to 1 the 1st cohort had about 800 men making that base need about 33 figures to represent it so that will need about another 4cm adding to the base depth but it should look good.

this is about 1/3rd of my legion plus 2 cohorts of Praetorian, but i should only need to buy another 2 boxes of plastic Romans.

i have today built another 30 Romans making one and a half cohorts including making some optio's using spare heads from the Praetorian set

imagine this lot 3 times over making one leigon, should look good on the table top.

oddball

2009-10-13T13:44:00.000-07:00

you guessed it, finally finished oddballs Sherman tank from hat, figures and stowage from valiant

the crew looked ok until i took the pic with a new camera, better lens shows up the paint errors on the second crew mans tash.
the fez was his helmet carved down into the fez

not a new vehicle just been in the box for a while and getting round to finishing it, they have been matt varnished today ready for the faces to be touched up. more rare figures, old foundry ww2 Germans in a skytrex jeep

and the last of my monolith buildings not sure if i should add a bit of grass to brake up the bases a bit.

2009-10-11T11:39:00.000-07:00

back on track with figure painting 50 figures done this week along with some buildings

first up valiant Germans in Normandy, with one figure from the classic set, heading for evilbay one day i will stop selling the figures i do and just paint for me.
on the other hand with the next valiant set almost ready for tooling.....a mixed box with each sprue containing 8 German paras and 8 British infantry for Crete it should be an interesting set and see how much can be used with the other sets

also done this week, these old MLR figures found in the back of a draw. with the cross of iron set i'll soon have a battalion lol.

nice sculpts just a shame they are hard to get nowadays.

started and finished 4 buildings, these two from monolith very pleased with the results so i have started 2 more today along with some other ruins and some hovels buildings, also finished 2 faller plastic railway houses that were in a box of broken buildings.

foundry's b team Hannibal smith for scale

so not a bad week, apart from no reply from Wayland games after 2 weeks i have had to resort to pay pal to try to get somewhere, if they would at least reply and let me know if there is a dispatch problem or not.

but as they have charged for air mail i expect my Romans to be out of the country by now...

best movie of the year......so far

2009-10-08T15:17:00.001-07:00

and the winner for best movie so far this year is zombieland, very funny, great zombie killings and it does not take its self seriously

woody harrlson is just right as a zed killer, a surprise to see bill murry as himself. well made and full of humor. a must go and see film

the good the bad and the ugly

2009-10-07T11:15:00.000-07:00

the game was the good, a 15mm ww2 game set in 1940 France playing as Rommel crossing the river Meuse 12th may 1940.

using Andy Hamilton's very nice 15mm figures and terrain we set about attacking the french, even though we had more troops/tanks/guns etc crossing a river in any game is never easy,
our simple objective is to get one tank/armoured car across the river to win, the french have artillery that may run short of ammo. tanks that may show up on the day and 3 infantry battalions. the Germans have 2 infantry regiments, armoured cars, artillery, assault engineers, and tanks that may show up..

the plan is simple build a bridge and cross the river. i did get a combat engineer battalion across in the rubber boats i even built the bridge and in the moment of our victory my co German player failed his command roll to get the armoured cars across the bridge,

i did almost get a motorized infantry battalion across but half way over the bride the french artillery got a direct hit on the bridge and destroyed 3 sections taking most of the battalion to the bottom of the river still in their trucks..... so with not enough bridge sections left and with no German armour turning up the game was lost.

in reality Rommel's troops almost didn't make it as well.

one of Andy's converted vehicles a command hanomag from SDD, the map table is scratch built

peter pig infantry with a converted horch with 20mm flak gun mounted on it

the start of the bridge, another scratch build but then Andy is very good at scratch building.

the bad, Wayland games. i placed an order for some warlord roman command packs. so far i have been charged air mail for posting in the UK???? (when asked why he blames the post office and says my county does not exist and i should just put lincolnshire)

his web shop says 2 to 3 days delivery and all items in stock. so far 12 days later and 5 days after the dispatched email arrived no Romans have turned up.

as they have posted it air mail i assume my figures are now over seas somewhere

so the ugly is what is happening with the bad Wayland games, my advice is never use them again. i will let you know if they ever turn up...

arriba espana

2009-10-04T12:14:00.000-07:00

an early start for the month just finished these anglian/empress Spanish civil war falange militia, making my total of scw figures 50 completed and about a 3rd of the way to the first game in the rompan el fuego rule book.

these figures are such a joy to paint and full of caricature. I've probably out done myself by doing the eyes/eye brow etc.

as most falange were young men keen to follow Franco this one struck me as someone a bit older so i gave him a 9 o clock shadow and made him a squad leader. at least that is what i think the chevron was for

next up for the scw project will be some regular Spanish army for el Franco's side but as i only got 2 packs at partizan i will need some more

so 8 finished and another 42 half done in the first few days of the month, tomorrow a game in 1940 France 15mm scale at the club.

also this weekend i have watched the new stargate universe, so far the jury is still out not sure about it yet even after a double first episode

2009-09-29T13:37:00.000-07:00

here are the finished zugs bases dry brushed and static grass added, despite their smaller scale i have added the red wafenfabre to the sholderboards and even gotten some eagles on the odd figure. mad but worth it as they stand out more
so the total painted for September was only 129 figures/vehicles completed, plenty started but work always comes first as no money means no toys.....

close up of zug crew note the red wafenfabre and the white eagle
and these are only 15mm scale

i have been asked how i get the colour for the afrika korps, so for anyone interested here go's

the method was told to me by Colin rumford of rapid fire 'fame' when we were developing the rules at the grimsby club, many years ago....

the basic method was humbrol sand 63 i think, washed in black oil paint, and dry brushed back into sand followed by a linen colour for highlight.

over time i changed the paint colours to my own choice. this lot of DAK were painted with games workshop desert yellow over a white base coat. (note; do not try black as it will not work as well) next wash in GW black varying the amount of water, next dry brush desert yellow , followed by dry brush of Vallejo Iraqi sand, add decals and final light dry brush of bleached bone/any linen colour.

now this method will take time to get right or how you want it to look, but no 2 vehicles in the desert ever look the same as sand changes the colours all the time.

Rommel and the command group are done the same as my dak infantry a wash of GW desert yellow 50/50 water and paint over a white undercoat followed by a wash of catachan green over the sand again alter the amount of water for different looks as the uniforms faded in the desert.

finally this captured 8th army truck is painted in desert yellow followed by Vallejo dark sand heavy dry brush over that and a linen colour for a final highlight.

all work and not much play

2009-09-27T12:02:00.000-07:00

this week i have had to work so not much time for painting or playing but i have a game in 2 weeks with Andy Hamilton and his 15mm 1940 army's i did see his game last Monday, very impressive but i did not have my camera with me. makes me want to do a 1940 force next and not the pacific..

anyway i did get to rebase my dak panzer's by adding sand and small stones to the thin basetex i got from partizan. took some doing,

even added this peter pig ak47 dead figure to the kitty base as the track is about the same size as the gap in the body,

the end of the dak for now, next will be the 8th army, then on to some games with them

Diana tank hunters, nice

battlefronts mid war monsters, the zugkraftwagen 12t as used in 1939 in Poland and in 1940 in France in the Von kleist corps.. 10 of these were used looks like im on my way for early war army now.....

the bases still want finishing when they are dry

also finished today after being started over 10 years ago these 20 space rangers from EM4

i painted the power swords as light sabres with the commanders in purple but it looks more blue in this pic.

chunky and cheap but they will do for combat zone games

so not much finished this week, due to working some extra hours, but i have gotten some more valiant figures to do, got a German battalion built today and half based as well. also got some more warlord Romans and my first box of Celts, very surprised about the size difference, i am told that in real life the Romans were about 6 inches shorter than the Celts, just the scale looks odd from the same manufacturer.

as Autumn is approaching TV is looking better, heroes is back, stargate universe is starting in October and a new battlestar galactica movie from the cylon view is a strait to dvd release in October as well

out on Chanel 4 or 5 on Monday is flash forward looks good but will have to give it a few episodes to see,

also some good news as dollhouse is back after being canned by the makers in the USA they have changed there minds due to pressure from the fans, hope they keep it good.

pacific 2

2009-09-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

after watching the pacific trailer, i am looking forward to the 10 episodes and have been slowly building my pacific wargame army's

this week i was going to start on my japs i got from partizan but after finding out i forgot to get the lmg teams they will have to wait.

i have done my marine 75mm pak howitzer battery and my 105mm battery, but i only have 2 105mm guns as i also forgot to pick them up at partizan as well!!!

also done this week is my professional troops for AK47 these are for my UN backed force and have been done to look like SAS troops.

my dead marines for use as markers when playing blitzkrieg commander not sure if i have enough but they will look better than the plastic pips they use at the club, (in my view anyway)

still also need to get some jap dead and afrika korps dead, (peter pig order adding up already lol)

my 2 complete 105 howitzers the other bases are done but need the guns !!!

Finlay a bit of light relief on painting uniforms this is the 28mm foundry B team figure to go with the b team set i did last month, paint job kept simple with mostly washes and highlighting her only use in games would be as a bystander.

anyway total for the week is at 73 figures/guns finished,

i have also finished my dak 15mm with the basetex for the bases, but it is not the same as all the other Batches i have had as it looks very thin and seems to have sawdust in it not sand, lucky for me i kept my last sand jar and after tipping some of it in i then spent some time adding the sand, the brown is the same as well, very annoying, next time i should open them at the show to check the quality...

speaking of quality i have gotten hold of ANZAC'S the TV show about the great war, not having seen it for 20 years it still looks good today, just a shame you can only get it on R4 coding discs, but it was worth getting

the pacific

2009-09-20T08:08:00.000-07:00

IMDb Video: Trailer #1

looking forward to this 'band of brothers 2' by spielberg and hanks again

vikings

2009-09-13T14:38:00.000-07:00

not too many finished this week, partly due to making the figures as well as painting them...

all of these are home cast metal figures with prince august molds and scrap metal that i keep saving (flames of war are great for extra metal) 2 molds viking and Saxons making 6 different figures, after looking on the net i noticed they do some others that would fit in to give more variation.

so only 24 finished but i have also started on a 15mm marine 75mm pac howitzer battery i did try to start a jap platoon but noticed that i forgot to get some lmg teams from peter pig last week so the japs are now on hold until i get some.

but i have also started a falange section for my scw project in 28mm scale.

airborne

2009-09-11T13:26:00.000-07:00

just a few pics of my latest air force, first up QRF's MiG 15 had it for about 10 years all metal kit, it needed lots of filling and filing and due to its weight it wont sit on its wheels so had to glue it to the base.

still it should make an objective marker for AK47 games

next my pencil sharpener Huey's again for AK47 games cheap and robust I've heard they can be picked up for £1

and last my airfix zero in flight mode must get some more to give my japs some air support and have some on the ground for scenic effect...

I've added a link to dropship horizon blog, very good blog for sci fi games in 15mm scale worth checking out in my view.

last managed to get to see inglorious bastards must say tarantino gets it right again a must to get on DVD great story, uniforms spot on and movie killings in the tarantino style a must see film.

the other partizan

2009-09-06T09:21:00.000-07:00

despite the weather looking dull this show was much better than the 1st partizan show.
better looking games and not too busy compered to the last one. no 'British civil war' games in sight this time, mind you not many ww2 games either. the great war seems to be the in thing at the moment, better done this show than the last.

this game by gripping beast Russian/Turks 1916 with a very nice looking train.

a good likeness for uncle Joe Stalin

nice looking WSS game on a very big table,

another train on this ACW game in 28mm scale

this one was very eye catching with the harbour and ships in the background, a Spanish Napoleonic game 1810 era pit on by the bramley barn wargames group.

the terrain would suit a pirates skirmish game with very little changes needed...

another nice looking ww1 game with an italieri house from 1/72 scale looking ok with these 28mm figures.

a nice rail road embankment for the french to fall down

the only ww2 game on show from touching history, 28's scale again

nice looking trench not too many figures

i didn't notice the blue tac until i saw the picture i will make the board section more useful

a nice RIF wars game by rifraf from falkirk a very nice fort on simple terrain boards

Ethiopia 1930's style by James Morris different

and full of caratuer, a nice vignette

and from norf ull wargames club the Russian revolt with more trains, anyone would think wargames are turning into model railway followers lol...

in all a good day out, many purchases starting with some 15mm japs from peter pig, surprising as i met up with Dom of Dom's decals ex grimsby club member and he too is doing japs but with the British 14th army and me with the marines..

some more SCW figures from empress i have asked if they will be doing civil guard heads hopefully they will.. for conversions on the hmg crews for one.

i did get the mid war monsters zugkraftwagen 12t 88mm tank hunter set, not doing early war but you never know and if i do and they stop making them etc etc. best to get them now they will always keep...

Finlay the free figure Clyde. nice not sure were to use him the scw would be a good place time wise.

200

2009-09-01T12:40:00.000-07:00

well its the 1st September and i didn't have time to post at the weekend, partly due to finishing this 150cm heavy artillery battery in 15mm scale from flames of war, very nice they are as well, but a pain to paint as afrika korps,
not just as some of the figures are in smocks but as i like to base then paint with all the detail on the bases and not wanting to get paint on the sand colour base they were done in stages.
the staff base was painted old style then glued to the base after it was painted then i was left to struggle with the filling in the gaps in the bases

the full battery minus its transports they are only half done.

the battery HQ base i tried to add some red waffenfabre to these but it didn't show up in this pic very well.

a close up of one of the guns still needs gluing into position a nice set worth the time and investment on it.

Finlay a Matilda Mk 2 a old esci kit with a matchbox German commander with plenty of crosses to show a captured tank. 20mm scale for eBay. it has been sitting in a box half done for more years than i can remember lol,

so the total for the month only 200 but a good 200 with the afrika korps painting finished after the arty tractors are done until i get some more.....

but i will need to get transport for the last two platoons, some panzer 2's panzer command tanks etc oh and some ramke brigade German para's the list can go on and on.

but for now they are a playable force without cluttering up the table, and leaving room to maneuver

desert war

2009-08-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

been a busy week building and painting, near to the end of my current amount of afrika korps, and built almost all of my 8th army stock, only leaving my second 25pdr battery and the LRDG to do.

this is my command tank for the panzer's but i may go for some panzer 1 command tanks instead.

the panzer's finished today, with the second tiger.....

two infantry platoons finished this week and only let down by the running out of basetex sand colour, still partizan is in a couple of weeks.

the mighty 8th army built and primed for painting
so the total for this week stands at 60 infantry, 11 vehicles and one zero finished with tons of 8th army started.

managed to get to see district 9 this week, very good film, most recommended and with some good ideas for skirmish games.

hoping to see inglorious basterds this week, tarrentino has not put out a bad film yet, and judging by the trailers for this one cant wait.

crashed zero

2009-08-20T13:41:00.001-07:00

well after seeing the bbmf aircraft i finally got on with my Pacific crashed plane marker after using the airfix 1/100 mini kit zero with some games workshop jungle trees and a German tank crew painted as the jap pilot, it took the shape it is now at.

a bailed out tank crewman making a good effort to look like the pilot, the yellow is an attempt to give jap navy aircrew rank markings,

also while at the battle of Britain memorial flight i found these Huey choppers pencil sharpeners and they are almost 1/100 scale, so far i have filled the rivet holes with filler and next is the painting, they will be used in my AK47 games and only costing £1.85 each a bargain

V.I.P. DAY OUT

2009-08-17T14:59:00.000-07:00

an interesting day as a VIP at the battle of Britain memorial flight, have you ever been somewhere and watched as VIPs get up close to things while you stay behind the barriers? well today i had that chance to go to the battle of Britain memorial flight and go around and inside the famous planes.
even though the pics are back to front in order of being taken they give a good idea of the day out.
the aircraft need no intro as everyone knows what is what, so the lancs nose art 'phantom of the Ruhr' from 100 squadron with some interesting missions on the side, yellow bombs are for normal missions, red for over Berlin and if you can see them ice cream cones for Italy missions

this shot was from a service hatch behind the top turret, i did get into that one but my friend who invited me on this jolly took those pics and i have not seen them yet.

this shot is looking the other way

this is the front turret taken from the bomb aimer's position

a view from the bomb aimer's spot viewing the hanger.

taken from the cockpit

the drivers seat, don't the controls look basic

this is a view from mid section next to the radio ops position

and again looking the other way

taken from a service hatch above the radio position

my Friend Ian sitting in a spitfire, i am waiting for his photo of me in it one to remember, and how cramped it is inside when the door is shut and the canopy closed

these are the flight being very well looked after

the spit we got to sit in, wonder if they would have missed it lol.

inside the flights Dakota dc3 very much how it would have looked and on the walls is writing from the para's dropped in the war name numbers etc still there they get masked over if it gets a repaint to keep them there.

and the last spitfire ever built it is nice to be able to get up close to these old planes and to see how badly they are made, gaps every were dints on panels etc

they were made to fight not to look good

and now they just look good.

one interesting point we were told today is that when the lanc is doing the poppy drops, it takes 3 ground crew 7 days to fill the bomb bay with Poppy's, and so far it has done 5 drops

cleethorpes rocks ?

2009-08-16T15:27:00.000-07:00

well this weekend was cleethorpes rocks music festival. not too well advertised for those like me that don't read the local rag, the headline act was the zutons/the proclaimers. early reports from people who went say the proclaimers were better. me couldn't care about those bands, but had there been better advertising i would have gone to see secret affair. reformed a couple of years ago and still going strong. me "i'm just another glory boy"

what a chance to see a band from my youth in my hometown gutted as i only found out about them on the afternoon of the festival...
any way after a week with little painting done due to having an operation on my back on Monday with it irritating me not much got done. until the weekend were i did these 3 eldar space ships and finished this German battalion of 42 figures as well

still want to scratch my back but can't as its healing

these guys are popular

2009-08-09T14:32:00.000-07:00

as these are supposed to be limited edition they seam to be popping up every were at the moment.

so not one to feel left out i was in the mood to do them as they were only undercoated from when i did Kelly's heroes figures. they are full of character and paint up well.

i will no doubt use them as commanders in my republican force for my scw army.

if it were not for the photos of this one i would not have put him in Spain but in gangster era Mexico still could if i repaint his hat.....

also finished this week with having a short brake from dull uniforms etc these 5 corporate babes from coplestone miniatures even though they look like the spice girls a bit they made a change to uniforms.

so not much finished this week total of 11 figures with the a team but lots started, one German battalion built and part done over the weekend, and 60 afrika korps in 15mm half painted as well as some panzer's and even built my dak artillery unit in 15mm scale

so what else have i done this week, watched transformers 2, not bad but not as good as the first one, just finished watching G.I. JOE not worth re watching but kids will no doubt like it.

also been following peter Jackson's new film the remake of the dambusters, going on his track record lord of the rings was great, king kong what a let down so bad it made me ask for a refund lol.

now his problem with this film is guy Gibson's dog nigger, he wants to change the dogs name as its not PC any more, why mess with history, no doubt the RAF will have a black man on guys aircrew just to be politically correct, stick to the truth and just make a good film is my opinion.