A tiny artist

The last of my presents to family is this little offering which was a gift for my wife. Finding and painting a figure for the wife proved quite difficult as she is an artist herself I wanted to paint an artisty figure. This provided near impossible, and I ended up having to sort of make my own.

The figure is from Hasslefree miniatures with some small alterations by me. Namely the outstretched hand used to have a magic wand in it, I turned this into a little brush with some putty. The other hand did hold a baseball bat, this was also cut down and made to look brush like with some putty. The easel is cocktail sticks with a card "canvas".

I painted the figure in purple and blues as these are her favourite colours, I'm quite pleased with the result although I have another idea for her birthday which should work out better!

The shop is now open!

Bit of a diversion from earlier posts. My gaming computer gave up the ghost some time ago and my inner geek is crying itself to sleep at the loss of one of my sources of entertainment. Therefore I have decided (with the wifes endorsement) to sell off my substantial DVD collection.

I have over the last 8 years or so ammased a collection of 321 rather good films both new and old. All on ebay as a job lot for £300 with free delivery to the Aberdeenshire area. Not sure if anyone from here would be interested but what the hey.

EBAY - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150726984363?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_6566wt_1270

I also intend to sell of my Ottoman Turks and possibly some other figures over the next few weeks to add to the fund.

Cheers

A light in the darkness

This is the figure I painted and based for my Dad. Now many years ago why my parents lived in Southend my dad was obsessed with stopping the snails from eating his plants. So he used to go out with a torch at night and try and catch them. Therefore I thought this figure from Artizan was just right, it even has a big bushy beard like dad!

I added a couple of snails to the base myself using modelling putty, and I'm pretty pleased with this, particularly the trews and the flecks of white on the beard.

Battle Chef

Today's offering is the model I painted and based as a gift for my mum. As she makes the best dashed apple pie in the world (my opinion obviously) it seemed only fitting that I find an appropriate cooking figure! Hence I chose this figure from the Lead Adventure shop.

I really like how the red dress turned out, I built up the layering to the highlight over several coats. The white trim on the armour etc also turned out great in my view. Lovely figure would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for a medieval villager or Mordheim extra!

I say holmes

Firstly, Happy Christmas, I hope everyone's day was as enjoyable as mine was. I'm sure most will have noticed that my pace of miniature completion had slowed over the last two months. There were a couple of reasons for this. The main reasons were new job, moved house etc etc, but I have not been completely slack.

This year my family decided we should exchange home made presents as we all have most of what we need (that we can afford) and it seemed silly buying each other stuff just for the sake of it. Therefore the gauntlet was thrown down and we all had to make presents.

I decided to paint and base on display plinths a miniature for each family member. I'll post pictures of them over the next few days.

Today is a picture of my sister's model. My sister is studying for her PHD in English and she is obsessed with Criminal Fiction, having written a paper on Holmes and Watson. Therefore I could not resist painting up this great figure set from Paul Hicks. The paint job was technically challenging and really enjoyable to paint, she was also thrilled by the gift so its wins all round.

Happy Christmas.

Kilts in Space

Now I have been painting a fair amount over the last few days, but I can't post pictures of what I'm painting as there gifts. However I wanted to paint something a bit technical this afternoon, so having found this kit bashed figure lying in my painting pot, I decided to paint some tartan trousers.

They were quite enjoyable to paint, and I like how they turned out. I'm not sure what colours I'll paint the rest of the figure, maybe some plain canvas colours.

I'm alive!

I consider this model (and post) a something is better than nothing situation. I am now settled into the new house in Scotland, and am into the swing of working from home full time (yay) However as it stands I don't have anywhere to permanently setup a painting area. But we are going to convert the loft space in to a man cave/studio for me and the wife to share. So until that's done I'm not sure how much painting I will get done.

I'm also feeling myself drawn back to Gamesworkshop again (don't ask me why I don't know) and I've sort of paused my 20mm WW2 project until I'm in the man cave and can "paint properly" again. Until then I might just do silly little projects.

On the upside I bought myself a Rover 75 (the one that looks like a jag) with a 2.5 V6 engine which is stupidly quick, makes my trips around the Scottish country side much fun, and overtaking a breeze!

From the very big to the very small

Just finished painting my first four 20mm Brits from Stonewall figures, I'm not sure how I feel about them to be honest. I have not painted anything this little before so the drop in detail is a bit difficult to deal with as I usually paint highly detailed 28mm figures. But that is not to say that these are not nicely detailed figures, especially given the small size, I'm just not used to painting them.

Still I'm quite pleased with the results and they should be a dam sight easier to store, so a great way to collect a company of Brits. Although it may all be for naught as I'm sure I will continue my obsession with painting WW1 brits. Fancy a couple of squads of GB figures to join my Musketeers.

This might be the last post for a little while as I am moving to Scotland on Friday so lots to do.

More large scale nonsense

Another couple of large scale (1:35) British Infantry. Enjoyed painting these up and they didn't take very long. I have however noticed, after taking the pictures, that I have not painted the right eye of the Bren Gunner properly, so I will have to touch that up in a bit. Another couple of these to go, and then they will probably end up resigned to the display cabinet for all time.

Big Scale British Infantry

I'm currently waiting on some 20mm WW2 stuff to trundle through the post, and as I'm moving house and starting a new job at the start of next month I am sort of avoiding starting anything "serious" from the lead pile. However I was pottering around Hobbycraft on Saturday with the wife and picked up a set of Tamiya 1:35 British Infantry.

Now of old I am a diorama builder (in 1:35 scale), purely for my own enjoyment you understand, so I thought I might have a bash at painting up some 1:35. Now I haven't the time or inclination at the moment to build a small diorama but I have space to build and store the 5 figures which come in the Tamiya set. So I thought I would paint them up and base them, who knows I might even build a large scale skirmish set!

The above figure is the Bren Gun Ammo Carrier from the set, I built and painted him on his own as I wanted to see if, A, I could still paint in 1:35 and B, if I would enjoy the experience. Well I blooming well did enjoy painting this chap up so I have the others on the modelling table. A nice little set for around £8 (might be a bit less but I lost the receipt) the rifle is from a Dragon set that I had, I used it for no other reason than I had it.

A grey man indeed

Having appropriated a spare Lord Cirencester figure from a fellow VBCW'er I decided to paint him up in a muted grey Prussian inspired dress uniform, with some nice red detail. I rather like how it turned out, despite having a bit of a problem with the undercoat on the hand which is holding the cigar.

Officer Class

Finally pulled my finger out and painted up the officer to go with my 9 Turkish riflemen. Another great figure from Gripping Beast, lovely little sculpt and a fun figure to paint. I'm in a bit of a quandary at the moment as to whether to sell these or keep them. I had planned on selling them, but having seen the squad painted up I'm quite fond of them and suspect there going to be tough to part with. Only time will tell.

Sustained Fire

Just finished painting and basing up the renegade Heavy Machine Gun team as part of a commission, shortly to be packed of to the US. I like this set and it painted up really well. My only criticism is that the way the gunners hands have been sculpted makes it impossible to drill them out and fit the guns triggers through, equally there's no realistic way to cut the triggers to fit over the hands.

I decided to base the spotter separately as otherwise the single would have been (in my view) a bit big and bulky for gaming.

Still a nice little set and I might even buy it in the future and paint it up for my own collection.

Another Sale

More figures going up for sale as I continue to make room for new bits in the model cupboard.

First Ebay lot is a 10 man commando squad from Artizan Designs which I painted up earlier in the year. £15 + Postage  http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150673111132?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_500wt_1202

Second Ebay lot is the box set of French infantry from Warlord. Again I painted these up earlier in the year. The only thing that has not been painted is the Mortar Team and Mortar which I never got around to painting. These are up for £28 + Postage. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150673115128?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_500wt_1202

Selling off Imperial Guard

As I'm moving to Scotland, and as I don't game GW anymore I decided to sell of my small GW Imperial Guard army, codex and carry case.

The sale comprises of the following

26 Cadian Imperial Guardsman (painted)
10 Catchans (painted to match cadians)
Commissar Yarrick figure (the old lead one not the new resin thing) (painted)
Forgeworld Commissar (painted)
two Cadian Heavy Weapons teams
1 Imperial Guard Chimera Transport
1 Box of Kasrkin storm troopers - five are painted five are not
Miniature carry case which holds 36 troops and room for 3 tanks (or similar)
Imperial Guard Codex (current edition)

I'm selling this as a job lot (because its easy to ship in the carry case) for £52.50, that's a saving of over 50% against usual GW prices. 

This is listed on Ebay here - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150672739050#ht_575wt_1185

That Woman

I've had this figure for a while, well I say a while what I mean is since Partizan. However I was a bit stuck as to what colours I wanted to paint this lady in. In the end I went for a light blue dress, and a brown jacket. I think she turned out pretty good, although I'm still not completely happy with the cocktail glass in her hand.

On the painting table for the future I have a renegade Heavy Machine Gun, an Ottoman Turk officer and some Modern Brits from Empress, a diverse group of work in progress to be sure!

I'm still pontificating about starting a Viking force, a gaming buddy suggested I start of with some Gripping Beasts plastic Vikings. However since banishing GW from my painting table I'm loath to paint plastics, so my brain and my wallet are locked in a death struggle to decide whether I buy GB plastics or a mixed force of Gb and Artizan metal Vikings.

Masters at hide and seek

When I arranged to sell some of my painted renegade figures recently, I was a bit perplexed as to how I had ended up with a group of 18 (as I usually prepare squads of 10). The question was answered when I found these two figures lurking in my painting pile.

Painted up to match my other renegade figures they only took a couple of hours to complete. My complaint with these, as with the other renegade figures is that they have some pretty heavy mold lines (particularly around the face) which were dam near impossible to remove.

Still at the prices renegade charge I mustn't grumble to much as they are dam cheap.

A couple of NCO's

I've spent the last couple of evenings working on these figures. They are a couple of NCO's from Musketeer, there great figures, my only "complaint" if you want to call it that, is that the eyes have been sculpted very narrowly, if that makes sense, and made it really really hard to paint the eyes. Other than that they are lovely figures, and were another chance to practice tartan. 

Again these chaps probably would have been wearing the issue khaki kilts in reality but I wanted to paint tartan, so I bally well did! 

These are the last of my two kilt wearing figures, so I'm going to have to grab some more from Musketeer in the future. 

SOLD

The above figures from Renegades WW1 range were painted by me recently and to be honest I don't have space for them any more. These have now been sold. 

A couple of close up pictures. 

Some Tartan

I've had this figure for a while now ( I think I got him in a set last xmas) but after my last go at tartan I hadn't fancied having another go. My last tartan attempt (which is on here somewhere) turned out okay, but I wasn't really happy with the results.

So this afternoon I decided to get this figure out and have another go at tartan. Now I know he probably wouldn't have been wearing tartan in reality but I'm not obsessed with uniforms, only what I'm happy with, besides its an officer perhaps he wants to go over the top in the clan colours.

The tartan itself turned out just how I wanted it to this time. I used a plate from one of my ospreys for reference and I am pretty pleased. To the point that I am going to paint up the other two figures that came in this set either tomorrow or the day after. In any event I am thinking that as I am moving back to Aberdeen I might just have to paint up a platoon of Scots.

Tring Big Game

I have spent a very enjoyable day at Tring today playing VBCW with some gaming chums from GWP. The game I played was a 2 a side game of Anglican League (me and Ook from GWP) versus Alan (from the local club) and Andy (a newbie to wargaming but a fine addition to our group none the less).

Some pictures below of the game, most of which are a bit arty farty as I got distracted and didn't take many wide shots of the actual game.

My supply wagon in parked up behind the front lines. 

A squad of my infantry move to secure a small farm on the outskirts of town, the chap nearest the camera is there NCO who took 3 turns to jump the hedge while his troops made it in one go. These guys were cut down in two turns of shooting not long after this. 

 One of Ook's Anglican League on the edge of the village preparing to advance on a small orchard occupied (sort of) by Royalist Infantry.

Royalists prepare to cross the same courtyard as my troops. They never actually crossed but took pot shots at me from the edge for a couple of turns. 

The recon shed on the edge of town. It fired twice and ended up jumpy and then suppressed for most of the game. Can't blame the commander I guess he is sitting in a potting shed with wheels. 

My LMG gunner prepares to cut down a Royalist rifleman. Well I say that, what actually happened was that the LMG gunner fired for three turns, and the rifleman fired for three turns and no one died despite us being 3 feet apart . The game ended shortly thereafter. nice and cinematic finish though. 

Delivery Truck

I finished a business meeting early today and had some time this evening to paint this up. Its a Lledo diecast (it was originally marked up as an Able delivery lorry I believe) which I have undercoated and repainted to my own design. As some of you may note the van now bares the same name as the small shop I made earlier in the month.

Basically I've painted this up as a delivery van for the pharmacy. I have hand painted the red crosses on the front and back, hence they look a bit ropy. However generally speaking I'm pleased with the results, the sign on the sides was knocked up in Photoshop and glued on.

Low brick wall

A little terrain project for this evening. Knocked up a selection of walls using (as if you don't know) scale scenes textures. Only took me a couple of hours to do this, and in fact might not have even taken that long as I stopped halfway through to go and clean out my chickens.

I'm pretty pleased with how these look and also how easy it was to create so many, I think all together they give me in the region of 150 cm's of low wall! My plan is to make a little gate section and some corners tomorrow, as well as some more straights.

Love the easy peasy nature of building with these textures, might not be to everyone's tastes but I am really pleased with the look, and how quick and simple it has been to make things using these.

Supply Wagon

I've been working on this across the last couple of days. Started life as a Lledo "days gone by" truck, I cleaned it up and undercoated it in grey primer before repainting to the above finish. I went with an interwar/early WW2 green/brown paint scheme, and I like the results.

I wanted to use this as a supply truck in my VBCW games (and pulp I suppose) so I have filled the truck bed with various bits from my modelling cupboard. The supplies are from a wide range of manufacturers and scales, I just grabbed anything that looked right.

I'm quite chuffed with how this turned out as I haven't tried painting a diecast before, I  have a couple more of these dicast trucks in the cupboard and a fuel tanker from the same range. All will now be painted up to match I think.

Some more real estate

Just finished building this over the space of a couple of evenings. Again the textures on the buildings are from scalescenes, with the carcass being built by me. Its two semi detached houses, built to go with the other buildings I've knocked up recently. Going to take a break from terrain building and have a think about what else to build, although I'm thinking of building a garage based on some pictures of a garage I found online.

This is a quick shot of some of the buildings which I have built recently, with some tarmac road sections I knocked up as well. I'm quite pleased to be honest as when you combine these buildings with some of the other things I built recently I have enough of my own buildings for a small village setting. I've tried to make the buildings reasonable vague period wise so that I can maybe use them with a range of periods, but I guess only time will tell on that point. 

Rural Camouflage

I spent this evening painting and finishing off my VBCW silly. I'm very pleased with the results and think this will serve my forces rather nicely as a perfectly disguised very very lightly armored recon vehicle. Just park up on an allotment or by a hedge row and no one will ever know what lies beneath the cunning "shed" camouflage! :)

I knocked this up yesterday evening when I got back from Glasgow, and painted this up this morning. The picture says it all, just a simple little checkpoint made from a bit of kebab skewer (unused).