From SimonG: Welcome Back with more 10mm 1980s BAOR (44 points)

Well here we all are again, stuffed after Christmas and labouring to finish off our first submissions. In may case labouring once again in the limbo that is DPM camo in 10mm for my now four years old 1980s cold war gone hot project. I'm genuinely in the final stretches now with only 32 more figures to go!

Nothing to see here (nice tash Sarge!)

Once again these are Timecast 10mm (1:144) and really nice sculpts with chunky details and even character in the faces (when they are visible). The Timecast painting guide for DPM is very easy to follow although this time I think I've let a bit more of the sand shade show through, which actually makes for more dramatic effect I think.

Group Shot with Transport

Based and labeled

DPM in 10mm (easier than you think)

While painting up the camo is actually quite pleasurable (provided your brushes are in good shape) basing is a real pain in the butt with tiny figures, tiny bases and the need to make up and locate printed brass labels -- I think it takes me as long to base these as it does to paint them. However the result seems to be pretty good.

So that's me started for this year -- and here are some beauty shots of the four types (a section NCO plus mate, GPMG crew, two squaddies and a MAW crew). For those who care about this sort of thing these are taken with a Nikon D-750, AF-S Nikkor 105 F2.8 at ISO 3200, f16, 1/80 to get depth of field in macro. However it's astonishing how good the iPhone 15Pro Macro shots (the two overhead ones above) are, just lacking a bit of that nice depth of colour I feel.

So to make a start on my 1000 point target thats 24 points for 24 10mm figures and a 20 point limbo bonus for the project that never ends. For coming weeks I have more 15mm Albigensian Crusade and 28mm Romans -- no new big projects this year but I have a nice special vignette in the works inspired by a Kate Rusby song -- so looking forward to sharing that with you all.

Got 'im!

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Welcome back to the Challenge, Simon! It's great to see your Cold War Gone Hot project again. Just 30 figures away from completion? That's terrific! You really bring the best out of these 10mm figures with your clean and precise brushwork. I can sympathize with your comments on the basing (which is terrific btw), in that it often can take as much time as painting the figures themselves. Still, the final effect speaks for itself - lovely work. I look forward to your next entry!

- Curt

From StephenS: A mixed bag [Lady Sarah's Limousine, 1980's, Casting Couch, Historical Drama and High Adventure] (261 Points)

 G'day,

My apologies for combining so many entries but it is well past my bed time! Not quite the productive challenge I was hoping for but at least I finish with a bit of a flourish.

First up in the 1980's category I have He-Man, from... Well, you all know who he is. This one is from a recent Kickstarter I received and came with quite a few buddies and enemies. A 28 mm plastic figure from a CMON board game, he was quite a nice mini to paint up.

Next up on the tour is the Casting Couch and I present Batman from, well, we also know what comics, movies (1989 version is still the best) and TV shows he has headlined. This is a 28 mm resin model from Knight Models. He is part of a game they sell, but I have only picked him up as I'm a fan of the Bat. I went the classic blue and grey over the more modern black because that is what I grew up with (I also hate painting black).

We now hit the road in Lady Sarah's Limousine after flagging her down with a miniature from Micro Art Studios. A 28 mm metal figure, she is Tiffany Aching, a character who appears in a few of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. Micro Art do a great line of Discworld figures, and I have painted up a few now.

Almost at the end, we are dropped off at the Historical Drama Studio. Here we have 12 x 28 mm plastic Gauls from Victrix Miniatures. They are the final piece in a Carthaginian Army for Basic Impetus. They will be used as veteran Gauls, their looted Roman armour distinguishing them from their less veteran cousins (and making their Roman opponents tremble).

Finally, we reach the end with some High Adventure. I picked up a copy of the board game Mice and Mystics to play the adventures with my son and have painted them up to have a try of some of the new speed paints from Army Painter. Mixed results but he will like them. There are 14 mice, rats and insects that are 28 mm scale, but the cockroaches don't deserve to be scored as highly. I will leave it to the minions to decide a score. The bases are just painted black to fit in with the various game tiles, so points will need to be deducted for them too I believe.

Total Points:

- 5 x location bonus = 100 points

- 29 x 28 mm figures = 145

- 8 x little bug things = ?

That is me done for this challenge after a big final weekend. While I was away too much to get as much done as I wanted, I had a blast following along, and hope everyone keeps the painting going over the rest of the year.

A huge thank you to Curt and all the Minions (sorry Phil, for not giving you more to do) for all the hard work they have put in over the last few months. I really appreciate the effort and time you have given.

Cheers,

Steve

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Well, this is a great exit to your Challenge, Steve. I especially like your Batman (I'm with you on the blue), Tiffany Aching (never read Discworld, but love the figure) and the figures from Mice & Mystics (we enjoy the game here). 

Have a great spring and Summer, Steve, but remember to come back to the Challenge next Autumn. :)

- Curt

From SanderS: Visiting the Studios part 2 (139 points)

 Hoi,

Let's continue the journey through the amazing halls of the studio today with two more entries of stuff I really love: GI Joe and Star Wars!

 80's Hall!

As we enter the 80's hall I couldn't choose anything else than  GI Joe figures, they echo the 80's like nothing else to me. When reading this you must realise that back in those days trends took way longer to travel from the US to the Netherlands and thus it is that, even though I was born in 1980,  I consider myself a child of the 80's rather then the 90's.

 

While these figures might not be the most recognisable GI Joe figures they are really cool. The two vehicles and troopers in black are part of Destro's Iron Grenadier mercenary corps, who nominally worked for Cobra, but would (during the Cobra civil war) turn on their erstwhile allies. Now I know a lot of you might have no idea what I am going about so there are links to the relevant information pages at 3Djoes.com in the names of the figures.

The big vehicle below (one of the more weird designs) is called the D.E.M.O.N. and I will be honest the only reason it's here, just like the VTOL below, is because it is 3D printable.

 This VTOL is called the A.G.P. Anti Gravity Pod  

 These troopers are the Iron Grenadiers Destro's elite corps:

The troopers in orange and blue camouflage are Cobra Alley Vipers  the urban warfare specialists. These are produced by Footsore Miniatures USA 

All put together these chaps net me a nice amount of points 9 x 5 pts for the footsoldiers, 2 x 20 for the vehicles and 20 for the bonus location is 105 points

Next stop Casting Couch

For the casting couch, I just had to put in Yoda and Ahsoka from the Star Wars saga, most notably the Clone Wars cartoon series. Now I have long been a critic of everything not Original Trilogy, but the relentless badgering of one of my best friends and co-workers led me to finally get Disney+ and watch some of the series for myself. Needless to say I love Mando and The Book of Boba Fett, but most of the cartoons were surprisingly good too, especially the Clone Wars and the Bad Batch. 

 

 

These Star Wars Legion figures of Yoda and Ahsoka were just too good not to paint and I used them mainly as a way to experiment with all kinds of contrast paints and the like. Now I do think I went wrong with Yoda's skin tone but everything else I am pretty happy with.

SW Legion figures apparently go for 7 points each and together with the bonus that's another 34 points making this a grand total of 139 points for this weeks work. 

I will admit that I know nothing about the GI Joe milieu, apart from it's existence. However, you've done a great job painting up those figures and vehicles. Nice work on Yoda and Ahsoka too!

Tamsin