Dads Army

I have finally finished my first batch of Dads Army box set characters

 Even ARP Warden Hodges is included, both in uniform and civilian dress! Well grocers overall. They are cracking little figures and my painting doesn't do them justice. 

 Napoleon "Mainwaring" looks a little slim from the front but he has the structure from the side. Pike looks ready to mow down any and all on comers with his tommy gun. Private walker has a crafety fag and lance-corporal Jones is ready with his bayonet. Godfrey looks ready with tea and sympathy and if all else fails an asprin. Frazer's eye brows almost scream we're doomed! And of course Uncle Arthur or Sergeant Wilson that is if your not private pike. I've tried to paint them true to the series, I'm more than happy with the results! 

 The photos hopefully give a reasonable account of these little fellas! I didn't really watch Dads Army while I was growing up but maybe that was a good thing! I get to enjoy the show even more now. 

 so thanks for looking and hopefully i should be posting again real soon

Cheers for now Russ 

Warlord Games Panthers

My Panthers are well on the way to being finished! Its being my first bash on using my Airbrush, a prezzie from my better half bless her. I'm happy with the results for my first attempt, I still have a long way to go but its a start

 I have also made a second attempt at camouflage netting, which I can happily say is better than my first attempt! Hopefully with a bit more tweaking I will have it nailed and be in a position to do a tutorial! 

 I still have a bit of damage, muck and dirt to add, the tracks need finishing off and I have a commander to paint. 

 For easy to build kits they paint up pretty neat and look the part, they arn't quite in Tamiyas league but not having too many parts to put together is a God send in the time stakes, and it means less parts to break off with my clumsy hands. The Panzer iv is still under construction but its also a cracking kit and hopefully it should make an appearance before the new year! 

 So thanks for looking 

                                  Cheers for now Russ

Games Workshop Chaos knights

Variety is the spice of life, or so they say! My paint table is a busey place with comings and goings and stuff falling in and out of favour. My wife calls me butterfly minded! Amoung other things! So back to my post, Chaos knights from Good old Games Workshop. I try not to get into the politics side of things or ride the hate train as it were. They make pretty nice stuff so while I enjoy painting their stuff, and occasionally selling bits and pieces then I am a happy chappy! The five figures certainly look the part and I've gone for the classic black armour and trim of gold, bronze and silver

 A bit of colour thrown in for good measure on shields and the standard, they arn't the kind of guys you would want to meet down a dark alley, or even a well lite one. Horns and spikes bristling, I think the horses would give a good account of themselves even without the knights on their backs. 

 I painted the shield to match the sword on this lunking great brut! A true leader if I have ever seen one. 

 The standard bearer bears the blood of his victim's splattered across his standard, the red of the blood goes well with the colour of his standard "incubus darkness I think" pretty saw I'm wrong but once in a while even I get lucky! 

 The musicians shield carries the skin of one of the many he has slaughtered, overall I'm pleased with the finished five. I'm not so pleased with my efforts in trying to a new lighting set up . I have gone back to my old set up which I know is lacking! 

 so thanks for looking, cheers for now Russ

Trio of Sherman's completed

I have finished my Sherman's, crews completed, stowage added and muck and dirt added 

 All the crew are the same figure although I did cut one down to fit the front hatch, you do get a choice of a American or British figure which is a nice addition. The stowage is all from Tamiya or homemade bits or pieces 

 The muck and dirt is my first attempt with powders although I think I have a way to go before I get to a level I'm happy with. 

 Overall I'm impressed with them, not to much building required and slap abit of paint on them and they are more than ready to take to the table. There will be more to come so hopefully they will all turn out as well as these, so thanks for looking 

Cheers for now Russ 

A Trio of Shermans

I have being dabbling with Warlord Games Bolt Action plastic Sherman's 

 The build element is straight forward and very easy to do, the tracks are a joy to build! Two parts to each track spot on, for what they are they are nice little models. I really can't fault them, they paint up well and look the part 

 So still some work to do, stowage to add, crew to add and then its on to muck and dirt to finish them off. I have made a slight change to my usual colour to finish them off! I have added a touch of Vallejo Japanese uniform to give a slight amount of warmth to the finished colour. 

 Hopefully once they are mucked up it will take them up another notch and finish them off nicely! but so far I am impressed, and although I don't intend keeping them for my own collection! They certainly tick a lot of boxes, easy and quick to build, paint up nicely and look the part. What more could you want! So thanks for looking 

 Cheers for now Russ

Games Workshop Crypt Ghouls

I managed to finish up my crypt ghouls today, I have had them laying around for a good couple of years before I got the bug to finish them up. They were built up and undercoated so it was purely a paint and base job.

All ten were painted in a uniform way, Pale green skin seemed right although I have seen some stunning examples painted in colours from Grey through to Red. I added some Grave stones to give the impression of them shambling through a graveyard looking for some easy prey. 

First one up is covered in liquid green stuff spots, it seems to have worked out pretty well and the posing of him climbing over the slanted headstone appears to have worked, the other two headstones where just added to the bases and covered in fine flock to give the impression of growing vegetation.

     

 

 I must admit that I have plans to do another box so I can follow up with some more ideas that I have had while painting these little fellas up! 

So as always thanks for looking 

Cheers for now Russ 

Desert Rats 2nd squad

My second squad of Perry Miniatures plastic desert rats are finally finished!

 the squad of SAS are taking a little bit longer to complete but I'm hoping all the time and effort will be worth it. The desert war never really appealed to me but with such cracking little figures like these its no wonder I caved in. 

 They remind me of the old Airfix figures, I'm not quite sure why maybe its just rose tinged childhood memories. Airfix still have a lot to answer for even after all these years! Do they really know what they started all those years ago! 

So thanks for reading and hopefully I should be posting more sooner rather than later

 Cheers for now Russ

Perry Miniatures Plastic Desert Rats

I am a plastic miniatures fan, anyone who reads my blog may of noticed. The plastic sets are getting better and better and I know some people just don't like them, but for me its a definite plus to the hobby. I will Be the first to admit when I first started painting Warlord Games Plastic Heer set I could of given up on plastics very quickly, they just didn't suite my painting style at all. So I had a rethink and changed my style slightly, not much but just enough to get better results. Now I'm sold 100% on the next generation of hard plastics.

Now on to the figures, they are cracking little figures from Perry's , easy to paint, easy to put together and price wise they beat some of the other companies hands down. So in some respects what's not to like

 The only draw back I find with plastics is the weapons sometimes don't stand the test of time. Although on saying that the weapons on the perry figures are pretty sturdy in comparison to some. I have had issues with the plastic and metal weapons from one particular company, making weapons to scale is sometimes a bit of a home goal. They can turn out to thin and break and bend without having to use much effort, which kind of defeats the main reason most people buy them. So thats about it thanks for looking and I hope to post more real soon 

Cheers Russ 

Warlord Games plastic half track & converted crew

I have had a couple of these on the paint table for what seems like months rather than weeks, although it may actually of run into a month. The crews are all converted Warlord BA British infantry, that's the plastic set! So conversions where pretty easy compared to the metal conversions I have done in the past.

The bulk of the work is now behind me so I thought I would share my first one up, I'm kind of hoping it gives me a second wind to complete the next one and then move on to a couple of universal carriers. 

 The infantry have undergone major surgery and a dollop of greenstuff just to finish them off, so now they are transformed into various positions. I have still to add mud and crud and tweak the odd small pieces but overall I'm pleased with the results so far. 

 I know they arn't 100% accurate but they are good enough for my humble collection. I will post more pics when I have them both finished and weathered, so thanks for looking 

Cheers for now Russ

Soviet WW2 cavalry

A while back I decided I wanted some Soviet cavalry for my WW2 collection. I have always enjoyed converting figures and the new generation of plastic kits has given me even more scope for me to indulge in my passion. So with the spares from my warlord Soviet infantry and a box of Perry ACW cavalry I came up with these

 and of course lots of greenstuff and a fair bit of time. I know sabres were a bit out of fashion but I wanted the classic look and hopefully I captured it well enough. Hopefully my next post will have something new in it, although with the amount of stuff I have got on the paint table it could be almost anything from WW2 to Warhammer!

GW Necromancer

I picked up a couple of GW bits a couple of weeks back and I finally got round to putting paint on one of them. I'm not sure if the effect on the rhobes worked but I went for extreme highlight.

 Its not quite finished, I need to tweak a couple of bits but overall I'm happy with the end result. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed painting GW stuff, they certainly make some cracking stuff.

Warlord Games Kriegsmarine Squad

Bolt Action Miniatures Kriegsmarine box set.
So after a slight break I am back into my Bolt Action collection, these little gems had my name wrote on them as soon as I saw them. Cracking little figures and something a little bit different for my German forces. I have based them to add to my defence of Berlin forces, rubble strewn bases and a few extra details added to them just to make them stand out a little bit more

 First up the full squad in all its blue and grey glory, the cap on the officer looks pulled down slightly to far but not enough to spoil the figure. Although when I first got the box set the smg he carried was broken which did dampen my enthusiasm for them a tad, but Warlord Games came through and replace him for me. One thing you cant fault Warlord on is their after sales service, disappointing to find damaged figures but things normally get rectified quickly once you contact them.

 I really made an effort with the basing and hopefully it shows, I tried to add lots of little touches to really bring them to life. I can see me adding a second box to collection, I really like them that much. So thanks for looking and hopefully I will post more soon

 

        cheers Russ

Games Workshop Chaos Marauders
Once in a while Fantasy calls! This time I finished up my Chaos Marauders, I am still in the process of thinning out my collection of unpainted stuff and trying to regain control of my hobby room. I am still a fan of GW but just as I get interested in it again "Things change! AOS" round or oval bases? not sure about that one! I am pretty set in my ways and very reluctant to change. Age of Sigmar or as I have seen it repeatedly called "space marines with bows and swords" is an unusual direction for Warhammer to go! I no longer game but I do collect and paint Warhammer Stuff! I don't like GW ethics or their pricing but I do like their figures. I suppose from my point of view its not such an issue, I only buy what I like although it has being a good few years since I seriously purchased more than the odd bit and piece. Anyway back to the reason I'm posting Chaos Marauders in all their plastic painted glory

 The basing is pretty straight forward sand, fine gravel and a few small stones thrown in for good measure. I think the sprinkling of static grass "dead" I think is its description just finishes the bases off nicely, I have a Chaos Daemon prince under the paint brush so now its deciding if its a winged daemon or not, but hopefully that will be next posting as far as Warhammer is concerned. So thanks for looking and the way it going my next posting could be absolutely anything, Variety is the spice of life after all

cheers Russ

Perry Miniatures plastic D.A.K

I have done another squad of perry miniatures plastic Africakorp, the more I paint of these the more and more I like them. The photo isn't the best but hopefully you get the idea.

Once I have finished the full box its on with the Desert Rats. They look just as nice, so hopefully once painted up they look as good as these cracking little fellas.

The 39th New York Volunteers "Garibaldi Guard"

Two posts in one day, I won't mention its like buses! So they have taken a fair while to complete, every figure a conversion. Thats a first even for me, I like converting but I have never done a full 24 figures before. Once again all Dixon minis! Yes I am a fan BIG TIME!! I don't think you can get better but that's just my humble opinion.

 Only three figures are the original Dixon casting, but even they have had some work done on them, simple rifle swap on one so he is equipped with a bayonet and the legs bent and green stuffed into a running pose. The bulk of the work was cutting down the frock coat into sack jacket length, I picked frockcoats because they have the stand up collar required. Then 21 head swaps and stripping the trousers on some for the black gaiters, I figured a mix of some with and some without would add a good mix. 

 I have enjoyed myself and hopefully my attempts at sculpting have worked enough to get away with it! I don't think Trev Dixon has any worries on that score though!! I have a few things on the go but I'm positive I will soon be adding more bits to my ACW collection.

So thanks for looking cheers Russ 

Almost Famous

Sorry its being a while since I last posted due to my wife being unwell, work and having to many fires and not enough irons I have struggled slightly! Hopefully normality will be restored soon. So a few months back I was asked if I would send some pictures of my ACW collection to the ACW GAMER EZINE, which I did and I must admit I had completely forgotten about them (my memory isn't all that good at the best of times) until I saw the cover of the latest issue!

 Now I must admit it caught me off guard and I'm pretty sure my jaw almost hit the floor! WOW my stuff had made it to the front cover. To say I'm proud and chuffed to bits is an understatement! I am well happy! Now I'm old fashioned and I don't have a PayPal account or even a credit card so I can't subscribe to this fantastic EZINE. So I can't tell you if its the only picture that made it in or if there are others. It doesn't really matter I don't think the smile on my face could psychically get any bigger. So thanks for reading and I should be posting really soon I just have some bases to flock and my next ACW regiment is ready to roll.

Cheers Russ

Perry Miniatures Africakorps

This is something different for me, so far all i have posted have being pictures of my ACW stuff, but when i painted these little fellas up i decided a change was called for. I havn't gone for a fancy background, just the figures and the tools of the trade!

I may just of started a new period/theatre I have no room for!

Garrard's Tigers

The 146th New York Volunteer Infantry, I'm slowly adding to my Union forces and what better addition than some zouaves!

Garrards Tigers also went by the name of Halleck's infantry after New York born General Henry Halleck, they fought at Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and Cold Harbour.

I wanted a unit with movement so I converted roughly half of them, I threw in a few Kepi's for luck! I did have some laying around so it made sense. They look the part so I'm more than happy with the end results.

Stonewall Jackson

I have struggled lately to find time to paint so today I grabbed the time with both hands. So I used the time to finish up good old General Jackson, he truly was an outstanding General and had he lived who knows!

 

He is a Dixon figure and what character he has, cracking little figure, paints well and looks like a true general. 

OK I'm a little bit biased, I wouldn't have hundreds of the little guys if I didn't like them. TJ Jackson was a true God fearing man and seemed to firmly believe that God alone would choose his time to leave this world. Virginia lost a true son when he passed!