Chaos chariot

I have finally finished up my GW chaos chariot, lovely little model except for a couple of small issues which I will cover as I go along.

 I painted the horses to match the chaos horsemen "sorry BB black horses again I'm afraid"  so hopefully the black still looks black enough and not dark grey. The horses only have one hoof each making contact with the base which made it difficult to set the horses in place for the harness. I pinned both horses to the base and then pinned the harness to the horses, it seems to have worked and the horses now seem fairly sturdy. 

 That was the first of the issues I came across, the second issue relates directly to this. The reins are plastic and for the life of me I couldn't get them to join up correctly, so I scrapped the plastic parts and decided to make my own! 

 so I used good old dental floss, a ring was glued into the drivers hand, the dental floss doubled up, threaded through the ring and then run through the guides and down to the horses mouths. The bit was bent wire to form a ring on each side of the horses heads, the dental floss then threaded through the rings and glued in place. It was easily done compared to trying to line up the moulded plastic reins, then try to run them through the guides and then try to attach the y shaped piece to the horses mouths! 

 It would be interesting to hear if anyone else has had the same issue with the reins, or was it just me! 

So thanks for looking guys, hopefully my next post will be sooner rather than later.

Thanks again for looking cheers for now Russ 

Chaos Horsemen

I've being a bit unwell lately, nothing serious but it was enough to effect my painting and my hobby time in general. So now I'm starting to feel better I have cracked on and finished up my Chaos Horsemen.

 They have painted up quite nicely, I tried to limit the colour palette and it seems to have had the desired effect. The figures are a real tight fit to the horses, I always try and paint the riders and horses separately! So when I came to put the riders in place they removed some paint from the saddles. It wasn't a massive issue but it also meant once in place the riders didn't need glueing in place.

 The black on the horses hopefully still looks black enough, its always easy to highlight black and it end up looking grey! 

 I still have more chaos stuff to paint up, a chariot, some more knights, 10 in total and about 20 more marauders. I've always liked Games Workshop stuff, it always paints up nicely in my opinion, and although a bit expensive compared to other manufacturers I don't think I have ever being disappointed with any of their stuff I have built and painted. 

 So thanks for looking hopefully now I'm feeling better I may be able to get back to posting slightly more regularly, I have some more Dixon ACW on the paint table so they could be next!

Wounded cavalryman

I had a bit of time today so I finished up my latest conversion

 He started life as a Dixon wounded cowboy figure, and a dead horse. The head was swapped over for one with a kepi, a plastic card and greenstuff pistol holster and small conversion on the revolver. 

 Biggest part of the work was painting details, the blue and yellow kepi! The stripe down the outside of the trouser legs. 

 The Sharpe's carbine is from the Perry plastic ACW cavalry set, I kept all the spare parts from the set when I built my Soviet WW2 cavalry. I'm a magpie when it comes to saving bits and pieces from kits that I don't use, you never know when they will fit the bill perfectly. 

 I still have a lot of bits and pieces that I'm working on for my ACW collection, some slightly more complex and more time consuming then this one, but never the less they will all hopefully add that bit more character to my collection.

So thanks for looking

Cheers for 

Iron Brigade Command Stand

After watching Gettysburg again I decided to give my black hats a command stand. I'm really not sure if Lee was all he supposed to be! but I suppose even good commanders have bad days. Longstreet seemed to have a better grasp of events at Gettysburg but I've not read enough to confirm if the film is correct or not. Anyhow back to my latest addition

 straight forward paint job on these. No conversion work, no swapping heads just paint and base. There is something really satisfying about painting 2 or 3 figures and being able to base them and your done and dusted! 

 the base is given a little bit more with it being a command stand. The low stone wall just finishes off the base nicely. 

 I think the flag has got to be the easiest flag I have ever painted, white with a red spot in the centre! Simple, simple and simple. I also managed to finish up the barn in the background, its amazing what you can do with foam core board, balsa wood and old cereal packets! and a big dollop of PVA glue!  

 I plan on splitting my hobby time between additions to my Napoleonic collection and of course more goodies for my ACW collection. Although with my butterfly mind anything is possible and the smallest spark of an idea could throw all my plans straight out of the window. 

So thanks for looking

Cheers for now Russ 

Perry miniatures Light Dragoons

I'm having a good spell of finishing up projects at the moment and here's the next lot. The "Queens own" 16th

 They are more cracking plastics from Perry Miniatures, I'm no expert on Napoleonics but they look good to me! The box gives you enough parts to build 14 figures in total and gives you the option to build them in a variety of ways. The early years appeal more to me but it looks like if you order more horse spruces from perry miniatures you have enough left over parts to build the later uniform troopers from the box. So you get double the amount of troopers so if you don't stick the figures to the horses you could swap them over, and field them as early and late regiments. 

 I have had a few issues with posting/moving photos today so I will have to try and take a few more tomorrow if time allows. 

So thanks for looking 

Cheers for now Russ 

Dismounted Confederate Cavalry part2

More Rebs have made their way into my collection, surprise surprise! me painting more Rebs. I have added a few more conversions, as always I couldn't help myself. I think once you've got a few conversions under your belt it becomes addictive. So here they are in all their glory.

They do seem to tie together nicely despite the varied uniforms, from red shirts, waistcoats to almost full uniform. 

 

 I have always enjoyed painting Dixon Miniatures, and I kind of think it shows! I don't think I've really found any figures yet that I don't like, and I do own quite a few. 

 Here's one of the conversions, the guy at the left hand side started off as part of the Alamo range, easy weapon swap and a bit of greenstuff finished him off nicely. 

 Next two conversions, left hand side again red shirt and weapon swap from a carbine to a shotgun. Right hand side red shirt again, he started off from the plains wars range. Ammo pouch sculpted on the back of his belt and a head swap to finish him off.

 and finally a shot of both lots of dismounted cavalry together. I also managed to finish the scratch built house in the back ground! I'm on a roll for finishing up stuff so hopefully it will be my British Napoleonic dragoons next.

So keep looking and I will keep posting

Cheers for now Russ 

Games workshops Ungors

I finished up my Ungors today, it was a quick win they have being sat half finished for a while now.

 The command group was the biggest pain to complete, mainly due to the banner. 

 I have changed my style slightly for the flesh, its not my favourite finish but it does the job. 

 I prefer chaos and evil forces, they seem more fun to paint. These will be another unit I will try and sell on! I'm running out of space fast and I have my eye on a couple more additions to my ACW! I need to keep my wife sweet so thinning my collection out a bit won't do any harm on those stakes. 

 so thanks for looking as always my butterfly mind may throw something else into the mix before I get my next unit of dismounted Confederate cavalry finished or my British light Dragoons!

So catch you all soon 

Cheers for now Russ