Join the Pioneers

Today's update is a small German Panzer Pioneer Platoon, for my German tank company.

Models are a mix out of my bits box, but I think are mainly Battlefront and Peter Pig.

Frosty Reception

This month I've been working on the Battlefront Finnish Tanks.

Firstly I have 3 BA-10 armoured cars. These are nice metal resin Battlefront models and have been painted into a winter white wash scheme like all my Finns.

Next up, I have repainted my 3 BT-42 assault guns. Again these are Battlefront and again in winter white wash (this time over tri- colour camouflage).

Finally this weekend I've renumbered and added a couple of replacement boards to this wagon.

Sorry for the inactivity.

So it's been a bit quiet here for a couple of months. What happened? Well life bluntly, I've currently got a DIY project on, there was a holiday and my girlfriend ended up in hospital (unrelated to the previous two events).

In between, I have built a lot of Flames of War infantry (about 8 platoons worth plus some additional bits), which are now sprayed and in the (now very long) painting queue.

In addition, I have been distracted (other than by life). I cracked and bought some Warhammer 40k 2nd Edition Gretchin for nostalgia. I trialled a paint Scheme on one yesterday. Here he is with classic Goblin Green base.

It was nice to get something done as a quick project. I picked up 30 off of these, so I may try to do more of them at some point.

That's actually Cricket!

 So this is a bit of a different one. My girlfriend is a keen cricketeer. As such, I picked up this cricket game for the OO model railway (when it gets rebuilt).

I've finally got round to painting them so thought I would show them off.

The models are from Langley Models.

Figures of Fantasy

 Slightly different update for today. I recently collected a couple of free figures from ChillCon earlier this year, and have got some paint on them.

The first is the Sir Gobbo free figure you got for attending. Here I've based him on an MDF base, and added a spare Chinese z-gauge model rail tree from eBay as a sapling.

The second is a Shattered Soul from Terra Regalis, which was being handed out as test models for Two Thin Coats paints. These are a simple one piece model, that I think could benefit from a different pose, as it's arm really blends in.

These have mainly been test pieces for new techniques. The Shattered Soul was used to test wet blending and edge highlighting, while the Gobbo was used to further test speed paints over a zenithal base, particularly the metallic silver.

Speed paints aren't perfect and I definitely think they benefit from over painting with proper paints for highlights in most colours, they are a quick and easy way to lay down some base coat and shading. The silver works well for large areas of flat metal but is quite bright and benefits from a dark wash to tone it down. In this case I used Army painter dark wash and gun metal to shade and highlight, before adding rust/weathering with Light Tone and Strong Tone.

Heavy Steel

This month's progress has been 4 IS-2 and 4 ISU-122s for my Soviets.

These are all Battlefront models, and as such assembled nicely.

Another 8 vehicles to tick off the list.

Flame On!

 So today's update is the latest addition for my Soviets, 10 OT-34 flame tanks. These are Battlefront models and have both the 76mm and 85mm turrets.

These strengthen my collection for an Operation Bagaration game I hope to run later this year.