Back in Blighty

Well I'm back from working in Thailand, a little earlier than expected but I am bloody happy to be back. I never thought I would be so happy to step off the plane at Aberdeen and be hit with rain and a chilly breeze!

Anyway I wanted to get back into the swing of painting after 2 months off so picked up these two figures from the lead pile pretty much at random. The first is a WW1 Ottoman Turk officer from Gripping Beasts range, lovely figure like the others from the range which I have painted. I am trying to avoid using inks for shadow,s (which has been my way in the past) and I am very pleased with how this chap turned out. My only annoyance is that the skin tone on the face isn't quite right, and I didn't water the paint down enough so if you look closely you can see its a little rough.

The other figure is one of Eurekas 1980's US soldiers in noddy suits. I've painted some of these before but wanted to try something different after such a break from painting. I opted to paint the jacket as a winter camo and I quite like how it turned out, not sure If ill paint more in this pattern but who knows.

Anyway I'm pleased to be home and back to painting, should be more to follow over the next few days.

Back in the saddle

Well its been a while hasn't it! As I think I mentioned in earlier posts (around December) I have been moving house (and countries) changing jobs and sorting out a whole load of other dull rubbish. As a result I haven't felt motivated to paint, and as I don't currently have a dedicated modelling area (as I did in my other house) I have found it very difficult to get on and paint.

Today I bit the bullet and painted up this Ottoman Turk officer from Gripping Beast. The figure has been lying in a box, under coated since I painted my other Ottomans. He didn't get painted before because I left him to dry in the garage after undercoating and as a result the paint didn't dry smooth. I therefore hadn't fancied painting him at the time.

If you look closely you will note the paint finish is sort of dimpled as a result of the poor undercoat. But putting that aside I was pleased with how he came out as I haven't painted in circa 3 months! I'm currently waiting on some American GI's in 80'S MOP gear from Eureka miniatures to come through. But I'm thinking I need a more long term modelling project.

Looking over my collection I don't really have any WW2 Yanks, I have always like the range Offensive miniatures produce so I'm thinking I'l collect a 1to 1 US airborne platoon. Aim is to have it painted up in 6 months, I could do it much quicker but I have a lot of crap going on so motivation is still a bit of an issue!

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.

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. 

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.

Fez wearing mother fudgers

The last of my Turks, I have a little group of Turk officers but probably wont paint them up for a little while as I have some other things to paint up first. I have really enjoyed painting up these Gripping Beast Turks and will be looking to purchase some more in the future. My thinking is I can use them for back of beyond games, some WW1/WW2 and pulp games.

I'm also still trying to resist buying some Viking figures and looking at the new Saga rules which are being sold by Gripping Beast.

Some more Turks

Following the announcement at work that I'm being made redundant in 6 weeks I decided to sack work and come home. On the upside I spent the afternoon painting up these turks in an effort to focus my mind a bit. Its not as bad as it sounds to be honest as I had already decided to relocate from the Midlands to Scotland with the wife, still was a bit of a shock, and now means I HAVE to find work before 1st November.

Johnny Foreigner

Just finished painting up the first of my turks, I picked up these quality figures from Gripping Beast when I was at Partizan. I got a pack of 10 infantry figures and 4 officers in Fez hats. I got them with the Fez just for the sheer hell of it, and I like the splash of colour it adds to the figures.

I'm thinking that I might try and work them into VBCW as the personal guard of some Turkish lord who was England when the civil war kicked off. They could also be of use in Back of Beyond and WW1 games, and I guess possibly even some WW2 games.

In any event these figures are really nice, and I'm enjoying painting them.

Fine fighting men

I have spent this evening painting up another five of Musketeers early world war 1 British infantry. These five bring my total WW1 force up to a full platoon. I have an officer and a Sergeant left to paint up to lead these chaps.

Outside of this I had some time to pop up to Partizan at the weekend and picked up Mr Hick's new model, the Croydon Crusher, which is a sort of 1930's quad bike with a heavy machine gun, designed for use with VBCW. I have some plans for this model to make it even odder looking, but more on that in the future. Apart from that I purchased a rather nice Vickers tanks from BEF in resin which I will try and get put together at some point.

WW1 Early war Brits

Having recently received my order from Musketeer Miniatures I painted up these 5 chaps last night. I like how they turned out and they, and the other 7 models I have will bring my WW1 force up to a full platoon. I think what my force needs now is some light armour for use in VBCW and perhaps some artillery!

Late arrival

At Christmas just gone my good lady wife bought me the WW1 trench raiders set from Musketeer Miniatures. For some reason, laziness I expect, I never got around to painting this chap. Any way I painted him up in a couple of hours this afternoon and am pleased with the results. I have just ordered another WW1 infantry squad from Musketeer so will be adding to my little early ww1 infantry force.

I'm also toying with buying a set of WW1 ottoman infantry in fezzes from Gripping Beast, although I can't think of a practical use for them at the moment so I'm resisting.

A few more men

I Painted up these four guys to add to my VBCW force this afternoon, despite some camera problems I manged to finally get some decent pictures. These guys finish off another 10 man VBCW Squad.

Had a good result today though, I popped into Hobby Craft and found they had a 70% sale on. I picked up two big 225ml tubes of brown Daler-Rowney Acrylic paint for 89p each! not bad considering that they usually cost £7.50 each. Top savings and they will be very useful for groundwork etc on terrain.

A few more men

Just spent the evening painting up these four chaps as part of a new squad for my VBCW force. Pictures are a bit dark as it was late and I was having a bit of a fight with the angle poise daylight lamp I use.

There can be only one!

This is one of the Musketeer WW1 Highland Officers. The tartan was an absolute sod to paint, if I paint up the other three in this pack I will not be doing tartan, unless I have a lot of spare time. Still a nice model and the tartan detail was a good challenge.

Raiders!

I spent the evening painting up these two trench raiders from Musketeer Miniatures. I really like how the guy with the furry cloak turned out, although the picture doesn't really do him justice. I have one more fellow from this set of four to paint up and then I might (depending on my mood) have a go at painting up some WW1 Highland infantry which the wife kindly bought me at Xmas.

A couple of chaps

Just a couple of models I painted up this evening.

The first model is one of Musketeer Miniatures early WW1 trench raiders. A great model to paint as usual and I'm quite pleased with the result. I went for mainly uniform colours but decided his balaclava could be light green for a little splash of colour on the model.

The second model is one of Artizan Designs German officers. I'm really pleased with how he turned out particularly the light grey I chose for the majority of his uniform. I may actually have to paint up a squad or two of regular Jerry infantry for this splendid fellow to command.

Wait for us Chaps

I had more time this evening than I thought I would (and unusually for me on a Sunday I was in a motivated mood) so I was able to paint up these four chaps to go with the four from yesterday. Another enjoyable painting session, I was also able to base the four models I painted yesterday, not bad time wise for me. Not quite sure what I'll paint next have to have a ponder and see what floats to the top of the mental pile.

Onward Chaps

Just finished painting another four of the great Musketeer Miniatures WW1 models to add to my VBCW force. Didn't take me to long, just an evenings work. I think I may now have finished my VBCW force for Big Game 3. I'm going to have a roll call later and see if I have, all I think I need to find now is a bit of transport for my gallant hero's.  I have another four of these fine fellows to paint, I may or may not get time to do it over the weekend as I have quite a bit of work to do on the allotment.

NCO's (and a gunner)

Newly finished this evening, another Lewis Gunner and two NCO's for my VBCW force. Another enjoyable evenings painting. Just need to base them up and there ready to fight the good fight (or the bad fight, I guess it really depends who's side your on).

I'm a bit undecided what to paint next, I need to order a couple of models to round out my force for the Big Game in November, but as I'm away on my hols in September I wont be doing any ordering until I come back. I still have some Anglo-Zulu war British infantry to paint so perhaps I'll finish them off.

Leading from the front

Just finished these two fine fellows from Musketeer. Another enjoyable painting session. Not much left to paint for my VBCW force, instead I think I'll paint some Anglo Zulu War British Infantry over the weekend.