Wehrmacht infantry test shots

I personally believe that pictures and all kind of eye candy is very important for a good blog. Because of that I bought a photo tent, since the sun is of no use to me in this season. These are the first test shots of my Wehrmacht infantry I painted some years ago. I added highlights and more grass, which looks better on the tabletop. I am quite satisfied with the pictures, but what do you think?

Back again... hopefully

Hi there, I'm back again!

My studies absorbed my time in the last month, but now I'm almost finished. That means free time - and free time is hobby time! I wasn't totally idle the whole time.

At TACTICA, the best German tabletop convention, a friend and I bought some plane models. One was already a bit broken and so we decided to convert it into a mission goal for North Africa - recon information was always something both factions were eager to get.

The plane is a Fieseler Fi 156, called "Fieseler Storch" (storck):

It was a German recon plane and had some famous actions in WWII. It special feature was that it could start and land on very short runways and had a good circumferential visibility. When Mussolini was saved by German paratroopers he was evacuated in an overloaded Fieseler Storch. In the last days of the war, the famous pilot Hanna Reitsch landed in a Fieseler Storch in bombed out Berlin (she appears in the movie "Downfall (Der Untergang)") and even got out afterwards!

 

Some Italians investigate the wreck.

I'm back. Stay tuned.

Love and hate - often closely connected

Yesterday, after I wrote my second post here, I returned to my work station to finish my Panzer III (I showed it in my first post). I wanted to try matt varnish on it, so it would be protected from sticky fingers and other things which rub off paint. A friend of mine also used it on his tanks and was satisfied. So I was optimistic and started to apply the varnish. It looked a bit wet even after drying, so I waited a little more. But the wet effect stayed. Now I'm disappointed, because the tank looks darker than before and the dirt I painted lost it's nice dusty look. It's not really a big deal, but if you paint such nice models and they are just the way you wanted them - and than something changes, it can daunt you. In my case it did. 

Before

After

Compared to a similar tank. Note the shiny, wet looking dirt and the slighty darker grey on the left tank

.

So, I decided not to varnish my tanks. Only the decals will get some, so they loose their gloss. My poor Panzer will get some new dirt but not more

But that wasn't all I did. I also finished some markers for Disposables Heroes. Just small stones on a one €-cent coin, painted and varnished. Not much, but necessary for a game and they look good on the table.

Last but not least my trees, or, to be specific, their bases:

I was told to make the bases brighter then I normally do and so i did. I like the result (thanks again Björn!). But that lead me to another decision: I have to pimp my table. 

I built it three years ago and I made a mistake, because I painted it very dark by using a black primer and a dark brown as base colour. I liked it in the beginning and so painted all my scenery bases in the same scheme. Today, I regret my decision, but I was too lazy to change all my stuff. However, I will tackle that in the following months, as I am very optimistic at the moment. I will of course show that project to you!