In Soviet Russia, Bounty Hunts You

Here's the finished T-34 Firespray, complete with oil streaks, over washing for grime and chipped paint: 

Doing this has reawakened my love of X-Wing so you can expect to see some of the other miniatures pop up on here. 

Even better, this was bought last year so it's a plus for the Pledge!

A Long Time Ago In A People's Republic Far Away...

Look, I realise this is something that everyone knew ages ago but please don't mock me. 

Today I realised I could very easily paint over the prepainted finish of my X Wing miniatures. 

First Up: the T-34 Firespray. 

With some glazed highlights:

And with red highlighting: 

Just needs shading and weathering and she's done. Frankly a lot better than the Boba Fett paintjob, but your mileage might vary. 

The next question: Vader's TIE Advanced - to pimp or not to pimp?

Das Boot

You know how it goes. You've just gone through another rough Ofsted and you're hip deep in a painting project that you can't see the end of. You want an easy win.

As part of the recovered stuff from Grandad Er Indoors loft, I found this:

A starter set. Perfect. Something I could build and paint in one evening as an antidote to the stress and  hassle of the week. Here, then, in my record of my relaxing build of  Das Boot.

The kit itself looks ok. Indeed, construction of the hull and flying bridge goes quite smoothly.  Then we come to the propellor and planes assembly. 

Yeesh. Well, it's not too bad - I can sort of reason out in which order I'll have to do things so that I don't get in my own way. But what's this? Oh yes - the parts are TINY. 

Scalpel blade for scale against the propellor blades at the top of the sprue there. 

I end up having to utilise blue tack to create stands 

Then we come to putting in the deck guns. All you have to do is stick the pegs into the hull on the deck... Oh. 

Good job I had a drill, right? 

Finally we end up with a completed construction which, to be fair, looks pretty bloody good:

It's about at this point I notice this on the box and start laughing hollowly:

I believe the correct response is 'skill level one my ARSE'. 

Anyhoo, quick trip to the garage to undercoat and then painting. A very simple job of basecoat

Wash

 And then blended highlights. 

The supplied decals finish it off nicely:

Total time from cracking the box to finishing the decals for about 4 episodes of MASH on the TV, so call it 2 hours. Most of that was the bloody rear assembly:

So, batteries recharged and time to start on the rest of the Wars of the Roses chaps. 

Thanks as always for your kind attention. And remember - when it comes to Skill Levels Airfix speak with forked tongue. 

Eek (and a treat)

Ofsted are back so all hobby related activities have ground to a halt until I survive - or not.

In the meantime, may I interest you in shots from the model shop on Blade Runner?

****sucker

This might be a record. When we were expecting our first child, the Good Lady Er Indoors spent a lot of time upstairs in bed; I spent my evenings downstairs watching Deadwood. Not only did this lead to the name of our eldest son, but it led to me buying a miniature of the purveyor of fine drinks and female companionship, Mister A Swearengen. 

It was base-coated and shaded but then the little bundle of joy arrived and all the painting gear was put away. 

As related in my last post, I found some things thought lost in the move amongst which was the unfinished Al: 

So, as a little break from my wars of the roses chaps, tonight's little project was to finish him. Better photos will follow but here he is in all his pinstriped and mud-spattered glory:

A paint job three years in the making!

Good News, Everyone!

I'm actually happier than I can say; earlier this week I had to pop to the Good Lady Er Indoors' grandad's to procure some coats that we'd left in his loft before the house move. What should I notice, then, but a bit bag that was curiously unmarked.

A quick peer within revealed a treasure trove of all the miniatures and model kits I thought lost a year or more ago. It'll take a while to sort through but the two most immediate finds were:

Gobboes from a long ago army - netters, doom divers and squig herders

A mighty Marauder war machine.- it looks to be complete and with two crews for some reason:

That's a nice little find. But the single best thing? My Bloodbowl team, bought with the release of 5th edition:

This team will be my reward for finishing the Lion Rampant. Shortly followed by the construction of a new pitch.

Now, if  you'll excuse me, I'm off to watch some Robin of Sherwood.

Storm of Arrows Redux

So I've finally got the unit of Neville archers done.


I went with a slightly more uniform look for these. The character that seems to be forming between the two retinues as I paint them is that the Percys are more rough and ready whereas the Nevilles are more organised. Now that I've recognised this, I'll try and carry it through into the respective units of billmen which are the next stop.

Putting the two retinues side by side shows me that the plan of contrasting livery is working again at making them look quite distinct, even though they are made from the same component parts.





The billmen will be constructed from the remains of the Perry Infantry box and the Foot Knights. This will give 24 miniatures that could double as Foot Serjeants or Foot Yeomen as they'll have a mix of armour and normal livery. It also makes a virtue of the fact that the infantry box itself doesn't give me enough to make both units.

Before that, though, I think I've earned a break; a palette cleanser, if you will. I'll post that this week.

The 2015 Pledge so far:

Bought: 189
Painted: 54