Monday, December 30, 2013

Holiday WIP

It's been a little too long since I posted anything new, so here's a couple shots of the projects on the bench. 

I realized I had a few too many partially finished projects, so I've decided to move them all forward together.  With the bit of a break from work over the holidays, I was able to move some things along. Although, nothing is finished yet. 


I was playing with some geometric hard-edge camo on the Blitzkreig Miniatures Marder II. 


And, I'm finally working on some of the Warlord Ruined Farmhouse kits. 





Wednesday, December 11, 2013

4Ground Signs WIP

I'm taking a short break from a couple of my bigger projects to work on some simple scenery. 

Although none of this will be award winners, with some flock and a little weathering they'll make nice additions to the table top. These pieces are all from 4Ground's 28 mm range. 

I did have some fun with the sign posts; I wanted to have a sign that was truly plausible. So, with a little research, I came up with this post for a "T" intersection in Lison, France: 22 km to Carentan, 19 km to Saint Lo, and 56 km to Caen. 

The other sign is a mini poster from my friend, John. It's the "A Tous les Francais" and ends with "Vive La France!."  

All of these will fit nicely in Normandy scenery when they're done. 




Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Warlord PaK 40


Here are some photos of my recently completed Warlord PaK 40 with Fallschirmjager crew. .

I used a new base from Sarrisa Precision which was given to me to test by my friend, Scott. Link: http://www.sarissa-precision.co.uk/store/bases/

Each of the figures can be removed on their own base. That allows me to mark casualties or change out the whole crew. I'm planning to make a German Heer crew to use instead of my Fallschirmjager when using the Heer army.  

It's hard to tell the size in the photos, but the large base is 120 mm diameter (nearly 5 inches).

Enjoy the photos. 











Monday, December 2, 2013

Paper shingles

Just a quick update today. 

I tried some scale paper shingles on the 4Ground guard shack in 28mm.  Tedious but a cool result, I think. 

Now to paint and weather it. 


Thanks to my buddy, John, for the idea and my father for the shingles to test out. 



Sunday, November 10, 2013

Warlord M10 Weathering and Decals

Some photos of the WIP of my Warlord M10 with the decals and weathering. I'm about to call this one finished and seal it and give it a final Dullcoat. 

It's always a challenge when working with a monotone paint scheme - difficult to define depth and variation without making it look forced. 






I'm looking forward to putting this in the painting competition at the Fall-In Convention. 






Sunday, November 3, 2013

Warlord 28mm M10 Tank Destroyer

A couple WIP photos of the Warlord M10.  There's still work to do, but it's tabletop ready. 






US Airborne

Here's a few photos of the Warlord US Airborne I recently finished. The decals are Company B and went on very nicely. 

I painted these in the Market Garden uniform colors issued in or after September 1944. 










Sunday, October 20, 2013

P3 Paints' Containers

I wish P3 came in a dropper bottle. And, aside from it being easier to put paint on my pallet, here's another good reason. 

:-(


Tuesday, October 1, 2013

U.S. Infantry

I finished the first two squads of Warlord's Bolt Action U.S. Infantry. 

These are from their plastic range, and I am very happy with the variability of poses, heads, and weapons. 

This batch of figures was the first time I attempted to use an airbrush to paint elements of the models. In this case, I painted the trousers, jackets, and backpacks using my Grex Tritium airbrush.  Note, below the photos, I provide the color scheme I used. 







All colors are Vallejo Model Color except as noted. 

Trousers: 873 US Field Drab
Jackets, blouses, anklets: 988 Khaki
Boots, helmet straps: 984 Flat Brown
Backpack, webbing, ammo pouches: 886 Green Grey
Helmet: 887 Brown Violet
Tool handles, rifles: 875 Beige Brown
Metal: P3 Pig Iron






Monday, September 9, 2013

US Infantry WiP

The first 20 Warlord plastic US Infantry are nearly finished.  Okay, they're still glossy, but the humidity is too high to spray Dullcoat right now. 

These will be part of my demo force for teaching Bolt Action, and I was aiming for a reasonable tabletop quality.  I think they'll work pretty well after I apply some matte varnish and dull them down. 

Since I had just taken Justin McCoy's (misterJustin and Secret Weapon Miniatures) airbrushing class at the NOVA Open, I wanted to try my hand at airbrushing figures. I was able to complete the trousers, jackets, and backpacks exclusively with my trusty Grex Tritium airbrush.  Again, aiming for tabletop quality, I didn't try any complicated shading with the airbrush, but I was psyched to be able to get the quality I achieved in only a couple hours of airbrushing and about 5 more of hand painting. 

Enjoy the WiP photos. 




I used some pigment to create a 5-o'clock shadow on the NCO. 





Saturday, August 24, 2013

V2 Rocket

I painted the Pegasus Hobbies 1:48 scale V2 Rocket in the black and white "checkerboard" pattern. This will be used as an objective for 28 mm WWII skirmish - Bolt Action and others.

All paints are Vallejo Air, and everything thus far was done with a Grex airbrush. 

Primed White and then painted white over the primer. 


Then the areas to be left white were masked off using blue painter's tape and a lot of patience. 


Airbrushed black and carefully removed the masking after the paint had dried a little but not completely setup. 

Note, the last photo has a Warlord Bolt Action 28 mm figure (which I just primed today) for scale.  The V2 needs a little touch up, and I need to finish the launch stand, but, overall, it's ready for the table. 











Saturday, August 17, 2013

WWII Reference Photos - Tank Fest 2013

Today (17 August, 2013) was the annual open house for the Americans in Wartime Museum held in Nokesville, VA USA.  This is the fourth year I've attended, and this year this was more military hardware than any of the previous years.  Most of the equipment is from WWII, although you'll see some more modern vehicles mixed in.

Below is the photo dumps from the open house.  These make great reference photos for any armor modeler or WWII war gamer.

Enjoy.

T34 85


USA Equipment - Note 'Doughboy' pack with integrated shovel






Hand pump fire extinguisher for USA Jeep trailer
Great shot of bent fender - this was on the M36 Tank Destroyer
Equipment at the U.S. 101st camp


U.S. Light mortar

Universal Carrier
British Valentine Exhaust Detail

German rifles and equipment
German Panzerschreck and Panzerfaust
German Uniform examples
German Mortar - 81mm, I believe
Kublewagen 

U.S. Marine Fire Team Demo



U.S. Flamethrower

M4A1
Flamethrower Demo
Flamethrower demo



German Hetzer


German BMW Motorcycle and sidecar (replica, I believe)
Grant (or Lee?)