Snowball Fight

A snowball fight 

This is a much belated Christmas present for Mrs Kinch and her mother.  I had hoped to get them finished for Christmas but things got sear with me. 

These figures are from Replica Toy Soldiers who do a special Christmas set every year.  They were a joy to paint.  There’s something very restful about painting big figures  in simple colours and high gloss. 

Using proper oil based varnish made with asbestos, fruit bats and arsenic which takes days to dry is a key part of the process. 

Can you spot the different regiments in the snowball fight? 

Replica Metal Soldiers & Models

What's that off in the distance? 

One of the pleasures of the hobby is in a way it's complete pointlessness.  I got these just before Christmas on a whim from Andrew at Replicametalsoldiers.co.uk.  Mrs Kinch has a bit of a weakness for a shiny (or as she calls them "proper toy soldiers") toy soldier, so I got her the special Christmas carol singers set that Andrew had produced.  I must post some pictures of them in a bit. 

Egad! Prussians!

Regardless, while I was completing the order, I noticed that Andrew had these chaps and before I knew it, I had had a sudden rush of blood to the head and had bought them.  The castings are reproductions of a Britains figure of a Prussian line infantryman in parade dress.  They took remarkably little work to get ready for painting, the only job was attaching the plug arm that holds the rifle, which was but the work of a minute. 

Look at those moustaches. 

Once assembled they were painted with my usual acrylics and given a thick coat of yacht varnish.  Proper yacht varnish that requires white spirits and that stinks to high heaven.  That's how you know it's good.  The result is a thick glossy coat that really brings out the character of these old castings. 

Detail is a bit soft. 

One complaint I have heard about these is that the detail is a bit soft.  I don't see this as a problem - it's simply the style in which the figures were produced and it lends itself to a very particular painting style.  You can add or leave out as much detail as you like and the simple style of figures supports it.  I'm not sure that I would paint in quite as much detail (like blacklining the gun barrels for example) next time.  

But having seen both these figures and the special set of Christmas Carol singers, I can unreservedly recommend Replica Metal Soldiers & Models.  At £3.75 per casting (with discount for unit packs), they are towards the cheaper end of the scale for traditional toy soldiers and the results speak for themselves.  I may not wait so long to dip my toe in the traditional toy soldiers pond again - may the Prussians menace my bookshelves for many years to come. 

Do you know how fast you were going Miss?

The LadyBaby seems to be developing very expensive habits and was recently seen behind the wheel of a sports car.  I fear she may pursue a career as a dazzling young socialite with dire results for Daddy's pocket book. 

New Years Resolution

Some Prussians before the issue of suitably dastardly moustaches  

I haven’t been posting much of late and that has been almost entirely down to a whirlwind of work and Kinchlets.  Toddlers are tremendous fun,  but they do soak up an awful lot of time. 

In the mean time I have been painting these fellas.  They are Britains recasts by Replica Miniatures and they serve no wargaming purpose,  I bought them because I fancied them.   They shall be glossed within an inch of their lives and will then march across one of my bookshelves. The “painting by numbers” approach is very easy with these big figures and there’s something quite soothing and restful about it. 

That’s all for now. We shall see if I can keep this blogging malarkey up - I’ve missed it. 

GAAAAAARDS!!!

Airfix Coldstream Guardsman

The latest arrival from our man in Budapest, an Airfix Coldstream Guardsman.  This fellow is well kitted out and I reckon is probably about to set out to defend Hougomont.  No doubt he would look rather different by the end of the battle. 

Knapsack, all present & correct. 

Some of the old Airfix sets can be quite wooden, 

but the pose works very well in this case. 

The classic Belgic shako shown off to good effect. 

The false fronted or Belgic Shako, I think our American friends call it a tombstone shako, is always evocative of Waterloo for me.   He's a lovely piece of work and is currently guarding the Joseph Roth section of my bookshelves.  Very happy with him. 

The Medicis

Mrs. Kinch and I have been watching this on Netflix and it is really very good.  Mrs. Kinch studied Italian and knows the people and the period rather better than I do, so I cannot speak to its historicity. None of it felt wrong to me and the city of Florence certainly emerges as a character in her own right.  

It is excellent television.  Annabel Scholey is magnificent, while Richard Madden gives a wonderfully nuanced performance.  The development of their marriage over eight episodes is one of the real pleasures of the programme.  But all the cast turn in excellent work - there isn't a duffer amongst them. 

This may sound like damning with faint praise, but one thing that really stood out to me was the quality of the incidental music, most of which is variations on the main theme composed by Paolo Bounvino and performed by a lady called Skin.  It is an ambitious soaring symphonic piece of work that got under my skin in a way that little else has in quite a while. 

Two thumbs up.  I'm looking forward to the second series. 

Gentlemen in red

Prince August Guardsmen & Line in Home Service Helmet

I've been busy with other things recently, mainly baby related, but I pulled out some old Prince August castings I did last year and set to with rasp and clippers.  They are not my best work, but with some greenstuff they are at least respectable. 

Pursuing Soviet BMP just out of shot

Played a great game of Black Ops the other night - again set in my 1970s Soviet occupied UK. Wolfie & the Tooting Popular Front and the cast of the Bill (plus some from Spearhead) versus the Russkies. They pulled off a magnificent heist where the TPF turned the escort into a giant smoking crater with home made nitro, DI Burnside from the Bill jumped aboard the supply truck carrying the target dragged the driver out and drove the thing off the board while being chased by a Soviet BMP. 

Prince of Wales Own

I thought since I was going to do a few figures in Home Service, it might be fun to some as the Prince of Wales Own.  A good friend of mine is late of that particular parish and it seemed like a fine idea to add him to the collection in lead. 

Four Irish Guardsmen

I also pulled out a few Guardsmen while I was at it and began dollying them to add to the little collection of the Irish Guards that are marching across the mantel piece.  One thing I noticed though was that I'd run out of GW Goblin Green for the bases.  The new GW paint, which is I think called Warboss Green, is very, very thin.  I had to do three coats to get decent coverage. I thought it was a bit odd to be honest. 

Line Infantryman in Home Service Helmet

Still there is something very soothing about painting these very simple figures.  It undemanding and the results are a known quantity.  They will probably end up decorating a book shelf somewhere as well.  Though I will have to get some proper smelly varnish for them first though. Stuff that needs turps - the water based variety simply does not cut it. 

Cigarette card with details of the PWO

Though having wrestled with the intricacies of plug in heads (the bodies for the line are cast seperately) I think I might do a few more.  The 18th Royal Irish, being the old local regiment, might be the next lot to get the treatment. 

Cuirassier at the Retreat from Moscow

Paris is that way

Life here at Kinch Court has been rattling along as usual.  The Kinchlets are ever a delight, albeit a somewhat sticky and malodorous delight at times. Lack of time and the problem with my eyesight has made painting a very occasional pleasure, however, I can still enjoy the fruits of others labours.

Our man in Hungary sent this fine fellow several months ago and he is currently guarding one of the bookshelves in the library. The kit is from of MB and is an unusual piece.  Generally it's up to the model maker to create the scene, but this one comes as you see it.

Makes me shiver even looking at it

Victory has a thousand fathers while defeat is an orphan as the Chinese saying goes, but I'd be confident in saying that the 1812 campaign marked the beginning of the end for the Napoleonic domination of Europe.  It's not an aspect of the period that I know enough about, but I will have to address that once I can really read again. 

Our man in Budapest has definitely done an excellent job though.  The horse in particular is a delight.  I was almost tempted to add a small wisp of teddy bear stuffing to the figures, to show their breath - but would be gilding the lilly.  His work stands on its own. 

The level of detail and shading on the colours is excellent

Sir Harry Flashman VC is going to begin a new and exciting chapter in his life

Otherwise the days are just packed, but with those small family dramas and pleasures that are of interest to those concerned in them and to few others.  One thing that I have done is dig out one of the novels  that I wrote before I started my current job.  The thing is broadly speaking in publishable form, has been edited within an inch of its life and Capability Savage has done some really topping work on the layout and such.  

Mrs Kinch has been literally and figuratively kicking me in the seat of the pants to get some of it into print and she has finally won the day.  

I've never had great luck with fiction.  I've always written it, but I've never really had any success with getting it published.  To be honest, the idea of letting it out into the wild is making me slightly queasy.  The idea that my baby will be heading out into the cold cruel world on its own is unsettling. Not least because it may not be any good - it may be the same when it is time to send the children to school.  Presumably it will be worse, but for all that expect to see a book with my name on it appearing for sale relatively soon.  

Speaking of books, our cuirassier has taken up his post defending the bookshelves from the barbarians. 

Some of Dave Lycett's collection.

60mm Persians from Expeditionary Force Miniatures

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Friend of Joy & Forgetfulness Dave Lycett sent me these pictures recently - all 1/32 (or thereabouts) additions to his collection. I think you'll agree, he's done some lovely work. He's planning to use About Ceasar, About Cromwell and About Bonaparte, three rulesets by Dirk Donvil for his games.

He's a regular at the Little Wars Revisited boards which are run by Mike Lewis of Black Cat Miniatures, which is a haven for 54mm collectors and wargamers. You'll find it at www.littlewarsrevisited.boards.net.

These are quite big photos and repay closer study, so do click on them to have a closer look. 

I'm grateful to Dave for sharing them with us and will be adding a few more over the next few days.

60mm Companion Cavalry from Expeditionary Force Miniatures

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60mm Persian Cavalry from Expeditionary Force Miniatures

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A rather magnificent chariot

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A Call to Arms English Civil War Pike & Shotte

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60mm Persian Infantry from Expeditionary Force Miniatures

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Prussians in the garden

I think they're up to something 

I used water based yacht varnish - which is nice but took two coats to get the required shine. I think I may have to stick the brain cell endangering oil based version.

I'm reading Mike Embree's "Too Little, Too Late" at present about the Austro Prussian War of 1866.  Which would suggest these chaps are up to skullduggery. 

Sadly I don't think there are any moulds available that would allow me to make additional Prussian infantry. 

Prussians outside Liege - Work in Progress

An officer type and a marching line infantryman

There's something rather delicious about playing hookey from your hobby.  I'm generally pretty good about sticking to a plan, focusing on what I should paint next so that I can play games sooner rather  than later.  I enjoy playing with friends more than I enjoy painting, but I do enjoy painting and every so often it is a pleasure to let ones hair down and just paint something silly. 

From the rear 

I picked these up a few weeks ago.  They were actually a joy to paint, as I know very little about the uniforms of the period and they came with instructions. I didn't agonise about colour choices or anything, just the simple pleasure of slapping paint on lead (or in this case zinc) and doing it with reasonable facility. 

This chap is some kind of Jaeger officer I think 

From the rear, it's a very odd pose. 

A Prussian Line infantryman and an officer who looks like he is short a DJs headset and decks

If I ever use these for anything it will surely be Little Wars and I think I rather prefer the late 19th century to the early 20th from that point of view. With that in mind, I made the supreme sacrifice of heaving my bulk up the stairs and pulling Michael Solka's German Armies 1870-1871 (1) Prussia off the shelf.  Having found an illustration of a line infantryman that I liked, in fetching blue rather than the grubbier feldgrau, I powered ahead. There are not too shabby either, if I say so myself. 

I should also mention Darko Pavlovic, the artist who illustrated the Prussian book.  Not quite in the same league as Angus McBride (but who is), but a lovely clean line. 

I'm quite happy with the blacklining on the canteen. 

I don't hold much with blacklining, but the Devil took hold of me and I dabbled with it a little bit.  It doesn't look too bad actually. 

That pose makes a little bit more sense now, doesn't it? 

The figures are part of a mini diorama with the officers gathered around a map table.  I'll post a few more pictures once I've got them varnished and fit to be seen in good society. 

German Officers Liege

I picked up these chaps the other day. They are old and quite nice.  They are Strombecker 1/32 scale figures made of zinc. I had thought they were hollow - but it turns out that they not.  

My protestations that I'm not collecting a 1/32 scale army don't seem to be up to much. 

Quick blast of white spray and a lick of gloss paint should do nicely. 

Indian lancer

The Finished Product

I finally finished this chap a little while ago after adding a green stuff beard.  I am sickeningly pleased with him.  The finish is deliberately simple to fit with the toy soldier aesthetic. 

A work in progress shot

One thing I learned while painting this chap is that with large scale figures, one needs to take ones time and do two coats. The coverage can be quite patchy otherwise. 

A certain amount of tongue poking was required to paint the lines on the turban, which took two goes. The bamboo lines on the lance took a little bit of work to get right too.  

The beard doesn't look too bad though.

I had to be quite careful with the varnish on this chap, as it tended to pool rather spectacularly and I had to quickly dab the excess varnish away.  I'm very happy with the results. 

This chap is patrolling the book shelves in the library and keeping the peace between modern fiction and Cold War history.  

Somewhere in the Ardennes

Somewhere in the Ardennes

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One of our local hostelries has a small alcove squirrelsd away on the way to the smoking area. In it, you will occasionally find small diorama. The most recent addition is this impressive piece of Second World War work, set sometime around around the Battle of the Bulge.

Royal Tiger & crew

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The figures are in 1/32 scale I reckon, but I wouldn't hazard a guess as to the manufacturers.

SS troops leading American prisoners away

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The whole set up is about 18" x 18" and I have done my best to try to capture the look of the thing albeit with a camera phone and poor lighting. They don't show up too badly despite having been taken through glass. 

German motorcyclist with sidecar

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The previous  diorama was made up of Prince August Romans in 28 mm and I am kicking myself I did not get a picture at the time.

Another angle 

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This is another of the idiosyncrasies that make this particular pub appeal to me so much. I really must find out who did the work and find out what we can look forward to in the future.  

In praise of beards

I have never had the moral character and sheer strength of will required to grow a beard. However, I have always greatly admired those men who can achieve such heights of facial distinction.

Sadly I am smothered with a chest infection at present. This has meant that what little time I have at present has to be devoted to study.  But I did get the chance to do a little bit of work on my lancer while watching the telly with Mrs Kinch. I'm no good at all with green stuff and had to go back add extra bushiness to this beard after undercoating the model. We shall see if he improves with paint.  I have found a spot of colour and gloss varnish covers a multitude of sins.