Mystery Ship

Anyone know what it is?

Ach more Zombies

I'd like to say I painted these up today but its more I painted these up some weeks ago and only just got around to photographing them before carefully packing them in a box with all my other finished miniatures. 

4 Plastic Studio Miniatures Zombies and one metal figure from the same manufacturer. As ever nice little sculpts which are pretty forgiving to the lazy painter (aka me) 

Having just punted a fairly large amount of money on the latest Studio Miniatures kickstarter I thought it was time I got these finished figures up on the blog. 

This chaps an attempt at a US postal service worker, the logo is meant to look like theirs, turned out okay but not great. 

A Hard Life

So wanting to do something a bit different with my hobby time I decided bash together this chap. He's made from (I think) parts from 5 different kits some of which are GW some of which are not. I sculpted on the fur trim for the cloak myself and it came out a lot better than I had expected. 

I have no idea what I would use him for, Necromunda or something like that I guess. 

The cloak is from an old GW plastic giant kit and has been in my bits box for literally years. 

And the painted version, I wanted him to look a bit worn down so there are some scuffs on the armour (which turned out okayish) and his weapon is painted to look like some old antique piece of kit. 

My sculpted fur trim turned out pretty nice once it was painted, and I am equally pleased with how the dragon scale cloak has turned out. All in all I am happy with how this chap ended up, though he will invariably never make it to a gaming table and may be doomed to live out his days either in my storage boxes or eventually a display case. 

Dress Whites

Quick little update today, I've had this figure from Artizan Designs floating around in my lead pile for quite some time. I'm not a big fan of the black SS uniform, and I didn't fancy painting a traditional uniform. So a quick google later and we are onto a white dress uniform. 

Not my greatest paint job but serviceable none the less. 

There is more than one way to wear Tartan

I've spent the last few days on these two Highlanders from my lead pile, they have been undercoated for quite possibly years but I never got around to painting them, like so many of my projects. I have however been just picking random stuff of late to paint from the lead pile, and these two floated to the top of the pile! 

I believe they are from one of Warlords ECW sets, though I forget each one (arrant scum perhaps, I don't really remember) 

I actually rather like the figures, quite nice sculpts and casting, I have little knowledge of ECW so I have no idea at all how accurate my pallet is, but I enjoyed painting them and I like how the tartan on the Kilt and Trews turned out. 

Small Starship Troopers

I've just finished painting up 8 of the Oddzial Osmy 15mm Scifi troopers. These are truly amazing sculpts for such tiny figures. My naff phone pictures really do not do justice to how good these sculpts are for 15mm figures. I've seen 28mm that are not so nicely sculpted.

I picked up a bunch of these ages ago simply because I liked how they looked, I went for a grey green camo combo with one shoulder pad painted blue so I can match figures to squads. So the next section will have a red or green shoulder pad.

No idea what I will use these for but they were simple to paint and a nice little scifi diversion!

I also ventured into painting a different skin tone. Historically I have painted just Caucasian skin tones simply because that was what I had learned to paint and I was a bit scared to paint any other tones as I wasn't sure how to highlight them etc. However I thought I would have a crack at some African skin tones on this little sculpt and was pleasantly surprised to find the tone very easy to paint. So that is something new learnt! 

Radio Ruperts

Just a quick update, I painted up this 20mm Officer and Radio Opp from AB miniatures, as usual lovely crisp casts. Really enjoying painting up the 20mm miniatures lately, the time required to complete is so much less than 28mm and I prefer the way they look on the table. Going to be topping up my lead pile with some more AB figures in the near future. 

Fire Team

Some modest progress on my 20mm British force, more lovely figures from AB of course, rounds my platoon out to 3 8 man sections. I have half a command section on the paint table at the moment waiting the arrival of mortar and other support elements. 

I have also finished putting together an Airfix 1/76 Cromwell its a little small for 20mm but not distressingly so. Its just a simple build and went together quite nicely with no significant gaps or issues with the fitting of parts. I did fill the hull with 1p coins glued together to give it some weight. Hopefully get some paint on this in a few weeks. 

Simple Green

Finished four of these cold war Brits from Elheim Miniatures over the weekend, I simply couldn't be bothered with camouflage so went for the older single colour green uniform that persisted for sometime after the war. As ever nice figures from Elheim, no doubt more will follow at some point.

Currently working on some more AB Figures ww2 Brits and tank support along with endless studying.

A return to familiar ground

Well that took a lot longer than expected. I had intended to paint just four of these figures but I got carried away and ended up painting up 20. As you will have no doubt noticed these are WW2 late war British Infantry from the fantastic AB Miniatures range. The figures are 20mm but are as detailed as some 28mm figures I have painted. Truly lovely figures that make painting them a joy. 

As they are that little bit smaller I found them a lot quicker to paint, and the slightly smaller scale allows for a simpler painting approach. 

I've painted up two squads of 10 each, which was the paper strength in the late period. That said I expect to field these in 8 man sections should I ever get them on a wargames table as my reading leads me to believe that it was more likely that the squads would have been nearer the 8 man strength than the 10 man goal. Either way I prefer 8 man sections for some reason it just feels right. 

The benefit of using 8 man sections being that this lot makes up an under strength platoon rather than just two squads. My intention is to paint up another half squad and a command section in short order to provide a full size platoon. 

I think for anything other than very small skirmish games I will be switching to 20mm going forwards as I am able to achieve far more, to a standard I can accept, than I can in 28mm. That said I expect I will still collect 28mm figures for smaller games. 

20mm Cold War

So another year begins, perhaps I'll manage to get a bit more painting this year, but I suspect not whilst the lead pile will no doubt simply continue expanding with a life of its own, at least thats what I tell the wife. 

That said I did find the time to slap some paint on another 4 of the Elhiem cold war Brits. As ever fantastic sculpts that are frankly better than some 28mm things I've painted over the years. So with the 4 completed previously I have my first section, another 8 on the painting table but my old comrade WW2 seems to be calling again as a stack of 20mm British Late War infantry have appeared as if by magic on the painting table. 

Cold War Brits

I'm in the process of moving house at the moment so not a huge amount is getting done painting and hobby wise. I did however manage to paint up these cold war brits from Elhiem miniatures. There 20mm which was a lot quicker to paint, and a touch cheaper. The sculpts are lovely and I already have another 4 on the table. 

I can see a lot of 20mm in my future, the sheer amount of time I saved by painting these instead of 28mm makes it much more practicable hobbywise as time is tight. 

In other news I sold another part of my soul to Gamesworkshop. I noticed they had re-released the most recent edition of Space Hulk for another limited run (now sold out) and with she who must be obeyed's blessing grabbed myself a copy.

At £75 I would usually say this is typically steep for Gamesworkshop, but as my wife and I play board games and have bought a fair few over the years from other manufacturers for close to this price I'm thinking its not actually that outrageous.

Anyway I just couldn't resist, when this edition was first released there was no way I could afford it but this time round life is a bit rosier and its got a real nostalgic link for me as I played 2nd edition a lot when I was younger.

Undead Biker

Only managed to paint up a couple of Zeds from Studio Miniatures in the last week or so. I am rather pleased with how the bandanna on the biker type turned out, though I think he might need a bit more gore!  

A trio of coppers

Finally finished 3 additions to my 1970s project. These are Crooked Dice Minions with police heads and bullet proof vests sculpted on by yours truly. The intention was to create some RUC looking types but when I look at these I think I picked a bit of a German Border guard green. 

Still happy with the results, I need to do a fourth at some point, as three seems like an odd number! 

As usual my picture taking skills are such that the shading is lost in the images but still, they look nice enough. 

Night of the Living Dad

Finished another 4 of the Studio Miniatures Zombies, this first chap actually looks oddly like my father (right down to the beard) I had intended to get these done before the end of October but such is life. 

I went for some high viz stripes on this chap, not sure how well it worked out really. 

All in all a pretty gore heavy group of miniatures. Such is my way I am currently toying with a return to a smaller scale perhaps 20mm or 15mm for the fiscal savings alone its an attractive proposition. 

Von Dracula

Well thats me back from a very restive week in the Highlands, I managed to get some painting done yesterday, though sadly not very much. The above figure is (if memory serves) from the Warlord Games Weird War range. Its been floating about in my lead pile for awhile now and I though as its Zombie related would suffice for this week. 

I went for a bit of an old school Horror type look with the cape and a dress white uniform. Overall I'm pretty pleased though the the skin tone could have done with being paler. 

I also had time to paint up another of the plastic Studio Miniatures figures. Nothing very fancy but a Zombie none the less. I have finished another Studio Miniatures lead figure as well but he's awaiting the drying of basing materials at present. 

Holiday Zombie

I have to apologise for the very poor quality images, I'm away on holiday so don't have my usual gear available to me. That said having trundled over to the Highlands to enjoy a weeks piece with my wife I packed in the paints and was able to get this finished earlier. 

Another Studio Miniatures multi-part plastic Zombie with a duty belt sculpted on by me. I wanted a sort of State Trooper look to this one which sort of works though the washed out pictures are not really doing it justice (honestly).  

Hopefully I'll get some more done this week but I'll likely wait until I get home to post more given the naff pictures.

The dead walk (again)

So its Zomtober 2016, I have over the last few years for various boring reasons not been able to post something suitable during the sacred month. So this year I was determined, as I am trying to get back in to regular painting and modelling, to contribute to the Zomtober.

The first two completed zombies, their progress slowed to "walker" speed due to a visit by friends over the weekend, are provided herein. I have painted quite a few of the Studio Miniatures plastic multipose zombies in the past and I like to try and make them look individual with a bit of basic converting. For these two I added duty belts to give them the look of private security. They are modeled on the uniform scheme of some armed G4S guards I found during a google image trawl.

Overall I'm happy, the modelling work on the belts is okay, though as I have not sculpted for ages its a bit messy in places.

More (hopefully) to follow before the end of Zomtober.

Two man Recce

Been busy with work of late, but have managed to get another two of my 1970s troops finished. These are from the Gripping Beast Argentinian range but they do fine service as a couple of squadies in soft cover patroling rural areas. My picture taking skills are as shoddy as ever so the pictures are a bit washed out.

On the work bench I'm busy converting some Crooked Dice Minions into RUC/1970 Armed cops by adding some bullet proof vests. Hopefully get them onto the painting queue today. 

In other news my nostalgic urges have been aroused by the new Gamesworkshop Genestealer cult miniatures. Personally I don't think they are as nice as the lead ones from back in the day but I am tempted. However in standard Gamesworkshop style I have been put off by the horrifying price of some packs. 

The squad size plastic box sets (10 figures) are not horrifically priced, though are still high by comparison to say a platoon box from Warlord which is the same price. But the leader box of 5 figures is over 30 quid which seems a bit steep, particularly when GW have already paid for the tooling as the figures are all from their Overkill board game that was released some months back. 

A walk in the country

The Winter of 79 wargaming concept has recently caught my eye. Like VBCW the Winter of 79 is based around the strife and unrest that persisted around the late 70's and 80s in the UK, but it diverts from history to an alternative where an army council has taken over control of the government and various factions have formed. It has a more "serious" focus than VBCW but the opportunity to create some semi-realistic what if units was to much to pass up. 

I've had some argies from the Gripping Beast mofo range rattling around my unpainted lead box for quite some time (possibly 4 years now I think about it) and as visually there is little difference between them and British infantry of the same period decided they would do as an interim measure. 

I've painted these four up in a uniform similar to that warn by troops in Northern Ireland in the late 70s. The argies padded jackets have been painted green to pass for flack vests, with DPM shirts and green trousers. I went for a slightly "comic" kind of simple look on the SLR's overall pretty happy with the results. The DPM isn't quite where I wanted it to be, in particular I think the 3rd dark shade in the pattern (the smallest black marks) need to be smaller. 

I've some bits on order with Gripping Beast, and the Ferret at Sloppy Jalopy has also caught my eye so more will likley follow. Come to think of if it I also have an airfix landy kit somewhere in 1:48 that will also be of use. 

Thanks for looking any comments on the DPM would be appreciated.