(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Pendraken Miniatures” July 2023

"The bad visibility to prevent flying, which Hitler had so earnestly desired, was repeated day after day."

Despite a noticeable drop in my mojo over the past thirty days, I have still decided to take the unprecedented step of maintaining my focus upon "Pendraken Miniatures" 10mm range of Second World War models for a third month. Admittedly, I have recently found myself getting a little tired of base-coating, shading and then dry-brushing a seemingly endless line of armoured vehicles. But with the very real prospect of finally being able to play some (non-Winter) Early War tank battles now on the horizon, I think I can still find the enthusiasm for one final dive into my 1:160 scale backlog.

With this goal in mind, I have therefore already finished the last three of six 10mm metal British Crusader II tanks I somewhat erroneously bought from “Pendraken Miniatures” at Salute 50, thinking I could use them for my Battle of the Bulge Allied contingent. Due to their quite considerable size, the trio were individually super-glued to plastic 40mm x 60mm rectangular stands and undercoated using "Vallejo" Leather Brown primer.

"The Crusader proved prone to catch fire when hit,"

They were then layered with a double-helping of "Vallejo" Russian Uniform WW2, before being doused in "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade, and later dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Russian Uniform WW2. In addition, I also 'picked out' their predominantly covered tank tracks and Besa machine guns with "Citadel" Abaddon Black, before slapping a combination of "Vallejo" Gunmetal and "Citadel" Nuln Oil over the metal plates.

Finally I placed a Union Jack transfer by "Decal Details" on both sides of each hull to proudly declare them as being British. This move is clearly far from being historically accurate. However, I may well use them for some fictitious Operation Sea Lion or Very British Civil War battles in the future, and therefore possibly apply some Commonwealth insignia to a few additional tanks to specifically mark them out as Canadian or New Zealand owned armoured vehicles.

June 2023 - "Pendraken Miniatures" establishes a strong mid-position in my Top Five table

Disconcertingly, my enthusiasm for the hobby definitely took a bit of a battering during the past month, predominantly because I stared at one 10mm tank too many. In fact, if not for the unexpected arrival of my Marvel Zombies: Galactus The Devourer expansion set by “CoolMiniOrNot” – which really whetted my appetite for pigmenting some straightforward 32mm scale figures, I dread to think just how few models I’d actually have finished in June.

Fortunately, such lethargy appears to have now left me, and having sorted through a few old plastic bags and received some significant new arrivals, my passion for my two “Pendraken Miniatures” projects is back. Furthermore, I suddenly seem to have rekindled my interest in “Doctor Who”, which may well lead to all sorts of weird and wonderful extra-terrestrials receiving an unexpected coat of paint…