Work In Progress: Red Devils

I'm finally close to completing the three British Paratrooper models I've been 'working on' from the "Dust Tactics" “Red Devils” boxed set by "Fantasy Flight Games". Some five months after this mini-project originally started, I've actually varnished and based the second of my Third Para Brigade miniatures and, despite some repainting being required, am close to having the Heavy Grey "Vallejo" armour of the third model finished.

Unfortunately, this third Red Devil is proving even more frustrating to paint than the first, thanks to the model having some especially difficult areas to reach with a paintbrush. Worse, the equal mix of Umber Shade and Black Shade wash I used for their armour, has come out far darker on this soldier than it did on its two colleagues; so instead of pooling naturally, it has simply dried as it was applied and left plenty of splodgey brush stokes visible as a result. I've now applied a second coat of Heavy Grey to these problem areas in the hope that a further “Vallejo” wash will better settle.  

This poor-looking armour has lead to me ordering a set of allied decals “1/144 - 1/160 Decals British Armour Divisions Europe 44-45 Tank 001” from the Ebay store “1/144 Direct”. Hopefully once I've applied an allied star and a couple of insignia to each model I'll have masked some of their painting deficiencies.

Once I've finished working on these “Red Devils” I plan to turn my attention to the five Blutkreuz Korps Untertoten Squad models that make up the “Axis Zombies” boxed set. I'd like to get these finished before any of my "Dreadball" or "Judge Dredd" Kickstarter models arrive.

Brother Blog For 10mm Projects

In order to try and maintain a bit of motivation, I've created a second blog that will concentrate on a number of 10mm projects I plan to complete over the next few years. Essentially a mass armies affair, I hope to use it to record my excusions into the world of "Pike and Shotte", "Black Powder" and "Hail Caesar".

First up is the English Civil War, using "Pendraken Miniatures" with the "Pike and Shotte" rule set. The new blog can be found here: http://tenyearsandcountingdown.blogspot.co.uk/

I also hope to give this blog a good many updates in the run up to Christmas, largely thanks to the "Mongoose Publishing" Judge Dredd and "Mantic Games" Dreadball Kickstarters. But also some "Heroclix", "Crooked Dice" and "Project Pandora" stuff I've been pottering with on and off.

Red Devil

This British Paratrooper is one of three Third Para Brigade models from "Dust Tactics" by "Fantasy Flight Games". As with the Axis Gorillas I dislike the 'metal effect' bases, so repositioned it on a 40mm lipped base from the Ebay store Arcane Scenery.

The model was initially given a coat of Heavy Grey "Vallejo" paint and then heavily washed with an equal mix of Umber Shade and Black Shade. The 60W Phaser Gun was painted with Gunmetal Grey and Black Shade, before being drybrushed with more Gunmetal Grey to bring out the detail. The phaser weapon's tubing and the Paratrooper's Red Beret were picked out with Heavy Red and Red Shade. The face was painted with Heavy Skintone and Fleshtone Shade.

I must confess to be rather unhappy as to how this soldier has turned out, especially as the painted examples on the box look so good. Especially disappointing is how obviously plastic the model is. Indeed in some of the harder to reach areas (e.g. under the arms) detail had clearly been lost in the casting process, and some edges appeared jagged and almost torn. As a result I've found my enthusiasm for this project quickly disappearing, to the point where I'm struggling mightily to complete the remaining two miniatures from the box.

In the meantime I'm painting up some more 10mm Russian and German Early Winter War infantry and some scenery by "Pendraken Miniatures". This building is from their resin scenery "PS41 WWII Russian tiled hut, rendered walls" and the broken 50mm x 50mm "Dragon's Teeth" are part of "GR209 Tank Traps".

Axis Gorillas

This Blutkreuz Korps Kampfaffen Squad is from "Dust Tactics" by "Fantasy Flight Games", and are the first models I've ever painted using "Vallejo" paints. All three models come 'undercoated' and glued to Dust Tactics plastic pre-modelled bases. As I disliked the bases, and the positioning of some of the models I rebased them on 40mm lipped bases from the Ebay store Arcane Scenery.

All the models were then given a coat of Heavy Charcoal and a wash of Black Shade. They were then drybrushed with more Heavy Charcoal. The Panzer Gloves were painted with Gunmetal Grey and Black Shade, before being given a wash of watered down Copper. I then drybrushed more Gunmetal Grey over them to give them a rusty look. The tongues were picked out with Heavy Red and Red Shade.

The sand-covered bases were initially undercoated black before being brushed with Heavy Sienna and Heavy Warmgrey. These were then washed with a mixture of three parts Umber Shade one part Black Shade. Static grass was then added once the bases have been given a coat of PVA glue. Each model was then given a coat of "Games Workshop" 'Ardcoat.

Pendraken Miniatures WW2 Soviets - SV29 (ii)

Just a quick update (with some blurry pictures - apologies) as I've almost completed the twenty-five 10mm (Winter Equipment) Soviet Riflemen I need for the latest addition to my Soviet WW2 Army... a second company of Conscripts.

Alonside these I've finished painting a Panzer I tank and two Panzer Ib tanks. I already have some of these painted, but these latest models will let me field two three-tank Panzer I companies, and a three-tank Panzer 1b company instead of using a mixture of the two tank types.

If I can get these finished over the next couple of days, I plan to turn my attention to some roads, tank traps and some barns/buildings. All resin, and all from Pendraken Miniatures.

Pendraken Miniatures WW2 Soviets - SV29

Having been badly distracted in recent months by playing "The Lord of the Rings" skirmish game by "Games Workshop", "7TV" by "Crooked Dice" and most recently "Dwarf King's Hold" by "Mantic Games", I've finally got back to doing some painting. Though the imminent withdrawal of all the GW Foundation paints and washes I've come to enjoy using has dampened that enthusiasm somewhat... Hence I'm using their departure as an excuse to turn to using Vallejo paints for my future projects.

My current plan for this coming month however is to 'paint up' a few more World War Two 10mm units and scenery by "Pendraken Miniatures" (using my existing GW paints). I'm actually hoping to refight the crossing of the Przemysl Bridge (Poland) and the start of Operation Barbarossa as a series of campaigns.

Hyborian Age - Part One

My attempt to paint a large quantity of 15mm Fantasy Models by “Copplestone Castings” over the past week or so has finally come to an end, with somewhat fewer models having been completed than I'd hoped for. These models are part of a "Conan The Barbarian" project I plan to 'pick away at' having been inspired by the Matakishi Tea Party website Crom Rules found here http://www.matakishi.com/cromcampaign1.htm.

All three bear models from the bag ‘FM8 Shapechangers and Cave Bears’ have been fully based, as have three wolves from ‘FM10 Wolf Pack”. However, I had hoped to finish all fifteen of the Canis Lupus models as well as the three shapechangers (in Human guise carrying large axes).

Unfortunately, my experiment to try and get the wolves to appear more realistic by using a blend of washes and drybrushing has not been as successful as I hoped, and as a result my enthusiasm for these models has rather died. All of the wolves were orginally undercoated either Skull White or Astronomican Grey, and then washed with Devlan Mud. All the models were then drybrushed with more Grey. Disappointly the models then required a wash of Badab Black before having a drybrush of Adeptus Battlegrey in order for their details to beome visible (e.g. fur and facial features). This darker grey drybrush makes the figures look patchy, and in places has blotched out some of the fur’s detail.

In addition to my frustrations painting the wolves, my attempt to use an old pot of Terracotta paint for a red-brown look to the fur of one of the Cave Bears has meant that the model has required repainting, after areas of the paint rubbed off (revealing the metal underneath) whilst the model was being based and varnished. Only my experiment using Skull White and Gryphonne Sea in order to generate the impression of the fur of a Polar Bear seems to have been successful.

Fortunately, I've also finished painting the entire Command Section for my 6mm “GHQ Micro-Armour” Modern British Army. The Force’s Command Asset consists of three infantry bases (totalling twelve soldiers) and two vehicle bases (consisting of four Land Rover Defender 90’s).

COMING SOON - Realising that my enthusiasm for my Napoleonic French Command Stand was started to ebb, I turned to watching the DVD "Waterloo" in order to recharge my batteries... and have nearly finished painting the third of the four "Victrix" models I plan to use for the Command base.