Fantasy Couple

While stocking up on spray paint in Element Games, I also picked up a couple of Reaper Bones minatures. I thought these looked like a warrior couple. I also liked how the women's armour was fairly practical, rather than the more common female armour which just about succeeds in protecting modesty.... and little else.

The models are Duke Gerard and Trista, the White Wolf. They've been finished early as I needed a break for 25 pounders

For a paint scheme I went with purple, as it's a colour I don't often paint. I also decided to give them dark skin as I don't think I'd ever painted it before, so I wanted to give it a go.

I'm quite pleased with how they have come out. Here they are fending off my Reaper Bones Scorpions that got painted earlier this year.

 

Jordanian Infantry

So, I've finished off my Jordanian Infantry Platoon. As you can no longer get the Battlefront Jordanian infantry blister in the UK, these are Forged in Battle early war British infantry. Most of the weapons are correct for 1967 (2" Light Mortar, Brens, although the Lee Enfield rifles would probably be Garands). I did have to convert the Boys AT Rifle figure into an M20 Super Bazooka figure however, which I'm quite pleased with. 

 

Oiled up Big Guns

 So, a couple of bits for you today. Firstly the big guns, 4 SU-122 assault guns. These were made by an unknown manufacturer, and have come out well, considering the last set of these I painted had the paint flake off, due to the crap resin.

Secondly, I've scratch built and painted an Oil Rig for Team Yankee.

Next up, I'm putting together a batch of stuff for airbrushing so expect to see 1967-era Jordanians or Germans next.

T-34s

So I've got some more stuff painted, this time 10 more T-34 tanks for my Soviets. I've also got the 85mm turrets done too. 

Little more effort with the transfers this time, as I had to freehand the number 2 over most of them to bring the numbers into the 20s. Otherwise these were a standard soviet paint job.

Goods Shed

 I've built something more for the railway. This is the Superquick Goods Shed Kit, with some additional work. I've done:

- Painted the bare card edges.

- Added additional white brick internal coverage at the ends which the kit didn't cover.

 

Tank Killers

Today's update is 4 SU-100s, bringing my total of these up to 10 (2 Platoons of 5). Enough for a Medium Self Propelled Artillery Company!

These are Battlefront's plastic SU-100 kit. They've been painted in my standard soviet scheme (green), which is fairly quick and easy to do.

Next up is probably more Soviets, in this case 10 more T-34s which are on the painting table at the moment.

Roman Officers

For my collegue Allan's retirement I painted up two Roman Officers for his Roman Army. Now he's left, I can post them up!

 These are from Warlord Games Hail Caesar range and can be found below.

Last of the KVs

So this week I have finish 4 KV-85s. These were the last development of the KV series of tanks, mounting an 85mm gun in an improved turret. Further development would lead to this turret being mounted on a new hull as the IS-1 tank.

These models were bought second hand and where from an unknown source. I'm not sure of the manufacturer (They could be eBay recasts) but the resin isn't great and they don't take paint well even with washing before priming. Also the gun barrels arn't great either and would benefit with being replaced at some point (I'm out of 85mm guns at the moment).

Even more annoyingly the KV-85 has been removed from Flames of War with V4. However I've painted the tanks up anyway (I have no other heavy tanks at present) and will probably use them as stand in IS-1s for the moment, hoping the KV-85 will be added back in at some point with a website article.

Due to all this I've gone for a simple paint scheme so they were at least a quick job!

Donkey Wallopers

 So I've finished my platoon of British Armoured Cars, 2 Daimlers and 2 Dingos. 

 These are the new Battlefront plastic models, and they've come out really well. I deviated slightly from the Battlefront instructions and managed to model the second crewman in the Dingo cabins, rather than just the one. This  really helps them look more realistic, as the Dingo had a Driver and a Commander/Gunner, for a two man crew.

These armoured cars will replace my old QRF made armoured cars, which I painted a few years ago. You can see these below:

Leading the Assault

So another platoon of models has been painted, 4 ISU-122 Assault Guns. These were pretty easy to paint, other than markings which had to be freehanded as the transfers didn't cover numbers 70 to 73. They've still come out pretty well though.

 

 

In addition this month, I've done some work for the railway and put together the Superquick Watertower/Weighbridge kit.

Next up is a replacement Armoured Car Platoon for my North West Europe British, using the new plastic Battlefront models. With the more detailed models and the new paint job (the last set were painted a while ago, and I've improved since then), these should be good replacements for the old platoon.

New Recruits

I've also completed 2 more Necromunda Van Saar Gangers today, to help bulk out the gang. They've come out pretty well.

Bare-Arsed Ferdinand

 So I've completed some SU-76 assault guns. The SU-76 was a self-propelled 76mm Zis-3 gun on a chassis based on the T-70 tank, sometimes known by it's crews as a 'Bare-Arsed Ferdinand'.

I've also painted up another stand of Soviet SMG infantry (to replace a stand that went missing).

I was a bit worried about the SU-76s, but they've come out really well after the transfers and varnish.

Stillbrew Upgrade

 Hello, I'm back with another update. I've got some Chieftain MBTs painted!

In particular, I have painted up my 2iC Chieftain and 3 Chieftain's with the Stillbrew armour upgrade for Team Yankee. It's not a bad kit with the exception of the smoke grenade launchers. These are quite poorly detailed, and could really do with having been a seperate sprue component (see the 2iC Chieftain turret for a better look at this component).

Stillbrew Chieftains

2iC Chieftain

These would complete my Team Yankee stuff, except I went and bought more! As such, at some point I have 4 FV432 Armoured Personel Carriers, an infantry platoon, and 2 more Harriers to complete the Team Yankee collection. These may wait for a while though, lots of stuff competing for attention at the moment.

Next up is the SU-76s, and some Van Saar Gangers.

Scorpions

 Ok I got distracted. Well the Element Games parcel turned up with these!

 These are Reaper Bones Scorpions, which I picked up because they were cheap and because I fancied painting something a bit different.

I also got a couple of the new contrast paints with the order, so I thought I could use these to try out a couple of colour techniques.

Both started off primed with Army Painter Leather Brown.

The Black Scorpion was painted Vallejo German Grey (a good charcoal grey), then painted with Black Templar contrast paint. The sting and eyes were done in neat black. This didn't quite give the effect I wanted, so I edge highlighted some plates with German Grey, then washed with Army Painter Dark Tone, to darken things up again.  I'm quite pleased with this black tone.

The Brown Scorpion was mainly done in Fyreslayer Flesh contrast paint with a dark back streak wet blended in using Black Templar. I also worked some Fleshtearers Red contrast paint in a couple of the joints. Details were then done in Black, before I edge highlighted in thinned Vallejo Flat Earth, then washed with Army Painter Strong Tone. The wet blending didn't work quite as well as hoped, and is a bit too brown, but isn't bad regardless.

Basing on both Scorpions was done with Agrellan Earth technical paint (another new paint, tried for the first time here), with some Woodland Scenics grass flock (Burnt Turf, and Dark Green course turf), applied very sparingly. I like the Agrellan Earth, this produces a nice effect. I will try and use this more in future.

Summer Progress

So I've managed to get some stuff finished since the last post. I've even stayed roughly on target this time, and not got distracted with a new project!


First up are 4 Shermans and a command stand, so all my Desert British are painted

Secondly is this Parachute Artillery Battery of 75mm M1A1 Pack Howitzers, which means I only have the Glider Rifle Infantry to paint, to finish off my US Para force.

Next up is going to be the Chieftains or SU-76s from the last post.

Modelling update and WIP

Throught I'd just post a general hobby update this time, I don't have anything complete to show at the moment.

So the next batch of hobby and modelling stuff is under way (which is handy as this lock down has led to more models appearing on my door step for some reason. I guess it's helping the economy?).

So here is my workbench. In progress I have:
4 Desert Shermans tanks
4 Chieftain tanks
A US Parachute Artillery Battery (4 x 75mm Pack howitzers, staff team, HQ and observer team)
5 SU-76
Soviet SMG team (To replace a lost stand)
Desert Command team
2 Van Saar gangers

This is largely wrapping up a couple of my armies (till I buy more....). With the Shermans and command team complete, that's all my desert models painted (There might be some more artillery at some point as well).

Meanwhile, the Chieftains are the last of my Team Yankee British to do.

Completing the artillery, will mean the US force will only have 1 platoon left to paint (the glider rifle platoon).

The Van Saars will complete Necromunda (again). Both are duplicates, but they bulk out the Van Saar gang, who are looking a little undermanned, compared to the Eschers.

Here are the SU-76s. Completing them will not get me much closer to finishing the Soviets, but they are a useful unit to have, as well as being a common historical vehicle.

A word of warning about the Plastic Soldier Company kit, while it has the crew (Unlike it's Zvezda competitor), PSC messed up and the radiator vent was omitted from the sprue. This has led to the modification I had to make here, removing the mounting lugs, using 2x2x14mm length plastic strip to replicate the part, then painstakingly pressing in the grill detail using a scriber. It does at least give some texture to the top however, as well as adding an important bit of detail.

Finally I bought a new train set..... I picked up Bachmann's Midland Marvel set of eBay. While not cheap it was cheaper than I could buy the components. This has given me a set of 2nd radius track, whih I've used to form an outer loop on the gaming table for the time being, while plans for the loft are ongoing. More on that in another post.

Here you can see the new train (Fowler 3F 0-6-0) with my other goods wagons, and also my Fowler 2P 4-4-0. The 2P has finally had it's cab hand rails fitted, after I picked some up off eBay (see I completed something!).

Honey's of the Desert

So as mentioned previously, I've finally got round to finishing 17 Honey Stuarts for my Desert British. It's only taken a year of them sitting sprayed on my painting bench.

This gives me:
4 strong HQ Platoon
4 x 3 strong Platoons
1 Observer Honey Stuart

and also 17 more models ticked off the list!

The models are Plastic Soldier Company's 15mm M3 'Honey' Light Tank kit, with transfers from Dom's Decals (my preferred decal provider) and PSC. The crew figures are surplus Battlefront figures. The kit went together well, though the quantity of detail meant it took ages to pin wash 17 of them. They are cheaper than the Battlefront kit however (£20 vs £30 for 5), and I feel the quality is just as good. The only point I have against them is I feel that the crew figures are a bit spindly, and only have 1 pose, hence the use of Battlefront figures instead. They also don't come with decals, but I've found the quality of the BF transfers to be mixed anyway (they often break), and prefer not to use them if I can.