Round or Square?

I spent some time today painting some Picoarmor that I had purchased a couple of years ago.  This time I tried some different painting techniques and I used square metal bases.

What do you think?  Do you like the round or the square/rectangle bases better?  I've been debating all day which I like better and I can't make up my mind.  I think the round look cooler, but the rectangle are likely more practical for gaming.

Round bases were painted a year or two ago...  square bases painted today:

Lots of Hobby Items on eBay!!! GHQ, CinC, and Airbrushes.

I'm on vacation this week and I've been doing some re-organizing of my hobby space.  There are lots of items that I have barely used and/or may never use or paint.  As a result, I've posted quite a few very nice hobby items on eBay at steep discounts.  Swing by and check them out if you're interested.

WWIICentral on eBay

For example...  Airbrushes:

GHQ and CinC Blister Packs:

And a few other items...

Hope you all are having a nice summer :)

Do It Yourself Vallejo Paint Rack

Over the past few years, I've been asked a few times what I use for keeping my model paints organized.  If you've read my "Painting Room" Article, you know what I've used in the past.  Now that I am in my new house and I have a dedicated room, I have essentially taken the same route for my paint organization.  It is sturdy, looks nice, and is relatively inexpensive to make.

I start by using strips of pine corner molding from Home Depot; you can find it near the baseboard and edging aisles.  It is roughly 2 inches wide with a 1 inch lip.  It runs around $1.50 per linear foot; it's not the cheapest solution around but I have yet to find something that I like better.

In the cabinet/hardware aisle, you can find 3/4 inch elbow brackets, 1/2 inch screws and bolts, and a box of drywall anchors.  That's all you need to mount your shelves.

I cut my "shelves" to my desired length and marked off where I wanted to mount them on the wall.  I also painted them to match my wall color (except in semi-gloss).

Each shelf was mounted onto the elbow bracket using flush screws.  The underside of the elbow bracket was mounted to the wall using a drywall anchor.  The shelves are very sturdy and the anchors hold them very tight up against the wall.

I placed a mounting bracket every foot or so, although you likely could get away with less.  I like everything to look clean and symmetrical :)  The other nice feature of these shelves is that they are wide enough to fit most any paint bottles...  Vallejo, Tamiya (haven't tried large Tamiya bottles though), Testors, and Vallejo auxiliary bottles.

I am now able to keep my paints at hand and still be very organized and clean.  For me, painting and modelling is much more enjoyable in an organized and clean environment.  My desk is in, my cabinets are in, my painting racks are in, and my lighing is in...  All I need to finish is the flooring and a my airbrush area in the garage!

Sneak Peak - IJN WWII Aircraft Carriers - GHQ 1/2400

Just wanted to share a sneak peak photo of what I am currently working on...  Left to Right:  Kaga, Shokaku, Zuikaku, Soryu, Hiryu, Akagi.  These are all GHQ 1/2400 Miniatures and make use of my own custom Deck Decals.

I'll be sure to post photos of the finished product...  So far I love how they are turning out!

Quick Update:  Here's a quick photo of the deck decals I've finished so far

Left to Right:  Yorktown (CV-5), Enterprise '42, Hornet, Enterprise '44, Lexington (CV-2), Langley, Shokaku '42, Zuikaku '42, Chitose, Soryu, Hiryu, Kaga, Akagi, Zuikaku '44, Junyo.

Tanner

Based buildings for the Eastern Front

It's been slow going for me lately, but I wanted to post a few photos of my Russian village pieces on bases.  They aren't much to look at but I'm pretty happy with the dirt, grass, and foliage colors...  something I've struggled with for the past couple of years.

Here is a small Soviet farm complex...  I plan to complete an orchard and some crop rows to make up a small collectivized farm. 

...A small cottage...

Russian Orthodox Church, based with a rough stone wall.  I wanted a little more detail on the base (like trees, etc.) but decided to keep it plain to allow infantry bases and vehicles to take refuge without too much to get in the way.

Not much else going on for now...  I hope to find more time to paint in the coming months...

My Painting Room... er, Corner. Hope for those in tight places.

I feel compelled to share a small part of my own personal hobby, mainly because I know there are others out there in similar situations.  Many of you are blessed greatly by the existence in your homes of a dedicated Hobby Room; I sadly am not so gifted.  In fact, with 3 kids and a wife who hog the whole house, I have little room to myself.

My solution:  entrench myself in the laundry room!  For me, this is actually not such a bad thing as it's surprisingly quiet and the laundry machines get little (if any) use.  Honey, if you're reading this, I'm just joking :)

I think the key for any hobbyist with limited space is to use it wisely...  keep what you frequently use within arms reach (neatly organized mind you) and then find organized storage for the rest.  Keeping your working surface clean will add to your enjoyment when you do finally sit down to paint or model for a little while...  These are all my own opinions keep in mind.

In the space behind my laundry room door, I built in the basic framework of my hobby area and it wasn't expensive.  I keep everything clean and out of the way and there is plenty of space for both laundry and hobbies.

My working surface is an inexpensive Formica counter top cut to fit my wall (I got this on clearance at Home Depot for $15); it is mounted on a basic steel frame that is anchored into the wall; caulking applied to give it a finished look.  This allows me to place a cheap Ikea metal cabinet underneath on one side, and my airbrush compressor on the other; still affording plenty of leg space.

My paints are stored in some basic wood-trim shelves that I easily mounted and painted.  Other Items like tools, paper towels, etc. are all stored near by.  The framework for my shelving and baskets are all Closet-Maid wire shelves and accessories (again, pretty inexpensive).

Lastly, all my supplies are stored in matching baskets up on top of the shelving above my counter top...  out of the way so that they don't clutter up my working surface.  It's clear to see when you walk in, that it's my hobby space; but when I do finally sell my house, with the baskets and paints taken down, the area looks just like a laundry folding counter top and shelves.

I look forward to the day I'll have my own hobby room to claim...  but for now, I'm pretty happy.

My New Bridge - Italeri 1/72 Stone Bridge

I'm finding that 1/72 modelling has a decent amount of accessories and terrain available; one such piece is a stone bridge by Italeri.  The pictures of this bridge looked nice so I picked one up and decided to give it a try.  Once it arrived I was a little disappointed with the detail of the bricks.  The capstones are nice and look accurate but the individual bricks look like someone sculpted them using a paper clip.  Fortunately, a nice paint job seems to hide this flaw and it ended up looking pretty nice.

I painted the base coat with Vallejo Stone Grey and then the individual bricks with various earth/stone colors. I also applied some pumice gel on the road bed, followed by dirt and mud textures.  I added a little foliage in the form of dried grass in the corners of the road bed and then some creeping ivy growing up from the undersides.

I'm really pleased with the final look of this bridge and I'm looking forward to completing more buildings and terrain features for a more complete landscape.

Italeri Tiger I in 1/72 - Part 2

Who's up for Round Two?!?  Unfortunately I didn't find myself with enough time to finish both the Dragon King Tiger and the Italeri Tiger IE, so this article will only include the latter.  Overall, for a fast build kit this Italeri 1/72 Tiger turned out pretty good and I had fun painting it.  The tracks obviously stand out without much detail but I still like how they turned out.

After giving everything a gloss varnish coating (in Part 1 of this tutorial) I applied a Vallejo wash to all the lines and recesses.  I used Vallejo Black and Brown wash and mixed it with a little water so it wasn't quite so thick and dark.  I used a small brush and just touched it off on the lines.  I also painted the tracks using Vallejo Track Primer.

Next I used Vallejo Pale Sand to highlight some of the paint chips and then covered it in Vallejo German Camo Black Brown.  This step can be overdone so be careful not to make the chips too large and blocky.  I also used some soft foam to apply finer chipping and wear around the cupola using Vallejo Panzer Grey.  I like the look and techniques that Mig Jimenez uses on his models and a lot of these steps are based on his F.A.Q. book.

I painted the cables using the same German Camo Black Brown, then I applied the decals.  To seal everything in, I sprayed a coat of Testor's Dullcote.

These last weathering stages helped to tone down the chipping and make the vehicle look a little dirty and worn.  I applied a few thinned down coats of Vallejo Light Mud to make the vehicle look a little dustier; I thinned with water.  Next, I applied Vallejo Dark Mud using soft foam to splatter the vehicle with mud...  especially the road wheels and tracks.  Then I gently went over the Dark Mud with Light Mud (using foam again).  The lighter mud is just to give contrast and the appearance of the mud drying in spots.  You can mix the Vallejo Mud colors with a filler to give it volume if you like; I used Vallejo Plastic Putty.

Finally, I painted the tool handles with Vallejo New Wood and Old Wood; I used Vallejo Oily Steel for the metallic pieces.  I coated everything with Dullcote and then using Vallejo Black Wash applied some fresh oil stains.

One thing that I discovered once I was finished is that these Italeri Fast Assembly Kits don't hold together at all with non-toxic plastic weld (like Micro Weld from Microscale Industries).  Fortunately, I glued the model with Tamiya Plastic Cement before painting and it was just the tracks that I attempted to use the non-toxic cement on...  it had the same effect as using water...  nothing :)

That's it!  Thanks for reading.  If you missed Part 1 be sure to check it out.  Also, if you are interested, here are a few more finished pictures.

Dragon King Tiger and Italeri Tiger I in 1/72 - Part 1

After a few grueling weeks at work, I found some time to paint this weekend; I was excited too because I have several nice plastic kits just waiting for a fresh coat of paint (and a good mud bath).  I used to HATE putting any type of model kit together, but I'm actually enjoying 1/72 because there aren't hundreds of pieces like 1/35.  I've also picked up some nice tools recently which actually makes the process kind of fun.

First up is a King Tiger kit by Dragon Models; this is nice indeed and very detailed.  I didn't mind the 50 road wheels at all because everything went together so well.  The single piece soft plastic (vinyl?) tracks are very detailed and weren't as rubber band looking as I had thought.

The second model is a Tiger I E by Italeri; this is a kit from their Fast Assembly line and while it's not nearly as detailed as the Dragon King Tiger it's not bad either.  The Tracks are probably the most lacking area of the design but it's marketed toward wargaming, which is how I stumbled upon it.  It seems pretty tough and durable, without any brittle details.

After cleaning a few mould lines, gluing (plastic cement), and applying masking tape in the areas that I didn't want paint, I sprayed a coat of Vallejo's Grey Acrylic Polyurethane Primer.

Same treatment for the Tiger I.  I've mentioned before that I really like Vallejo's new Polyurethane Primer...  it goes on so smooth and is very durable.  Vallejo has some new additions to this primer product line to match World War II Armor colors (Dunkelgelb, Grey, Allied Green); I'm very anxious to get my hands on some but I'm not yet willing to pay the high prices from the UK as I haven't seen it in the U.S. yet.

Next, I sprayed my basecoat: Vallejo Middlestone.  I use Vallejo's Model Color range and then mix about 50/50 with Liquitex Airbrush Medium and a few drops of water.  After the basecoat I highlight by mixing 1:3 (or 1:4) Middlestone:White; this is sprayed over larger panels leaving the darker Middlestone lightly showing through on edges and corners.

Again, same thing on the Tiger I.  You can see the dark contrasting color of the original Middlestone coat on the masking tape in the center of the turret ring.  Most of the model gets the highlight and just the edges remain slightly darker.

I really like the look of a single tone Dunkelgelb tank, so I'm always tempted to stop the airbrushing here.  However, one or two additional camo colors are more accurate for late war heavies like the Tigers.  For the green I used Vallejo Reflective Green and German Camo Bright Green (mixed 50/50).  The brown is Vallejo Flat Earth.

Overall I'm pretty happy with how the camo turned out...  I think it'll start to look even better as I apply washes, wear, and possibly a color filter.  After the camo, I sprayed gloss varnish over everything; this was done by mixing Vallejo (Model Color range) Gloss Varnish with Liquitex Airbrush Medium (50/50).

Now...  I really hope I can get back to these soon.  My last tank took well over a month to complete :)  I've finished Part 2 so be sure to check it out!

Italeri, Dragon, Pegasus, and Plastic Soldier Co. in 1/72 - Up Next

When it comes to painting my "next project" I always have the same problem...  I want to paint so many models that it takes me forever to finish the project :)  This will likely become evident to you in this post.  For my next project I've chosen 6 Vehicles, ~40 Infantry figures, 1 House (not pictured), and 1 Bridge (not pictured).  I've still got a drawer full of T-34's, PzIII's, BT-7's, and a PzIV; those will have to be my "after up next" projects.

Continuing my exploration into 1/72 plastics, I've got several kits that I'm very excited about.  Italeri makes "Fast Assembly" 1/72 kits and I've thrown in a single Tiger I from these kits for good measure (the kits come with two vehicles).  Overall, these are nice vehicles and they appear to be very robust; although not as detailed as a traditional kit.

On the other end of the detail spectrum I've prepared two 1/72 Sdkfz 222 Armored Cars from Dragon...  these are quite detailed and definitely more difficult to assemble.  They are a bit fiddly and I'm not sure how they'll hold up with repeated handling (they'd be fine in a display case); my daughter asked me to buy these for her and I guess I just couldn't say no :)

Continuing my experiment with 1/72 Dragon kits, I added a Henschel King Tiger.  This beast is incredible and I'm very much looking forward to painting it.

To round out the vehicles, this next "batch" has two Pegasus Hobbies BA-6 Armored Cars (another request from the kids);  these aren't the most detailed miniatures around but I got the box of two for around $6 or $7 - so I'm more than satisfied.  My last Pegasus project turned out very nice, so I'm looking forward to these too.

Lastly, I've got the Infantry by The Plastic Soldier Company in 1/72; Germans on the left, Soviets on the right.  With the exception of a couple of weird poses, these are quite nice with lots of details.  I'm very much looking forward to these but with as meticulous as I get with painting Infantry, these might take me awhile!

I've got lots to be happy about and lots to work on; stay tuned and drop in often.  I hope to post as many "in progress" pictures on these as I can.

Armaments in Miniature, Me-109 Work in Progress Part 2

Finished!  I need to get some better pictures up; these were taken with my cell phone... I'm so lazy :)  I also finished the bases which were pretty quick and easy to paint.

To pickup where I left off from last week, I started by applying decals to the model; these are a mix of I-94 Enterprises decals and the decals that I picked up from Armaments in Miniature (made by "Wargames"); the Wargames decals are a bit grainy and certainly not as crisp as the I-94 product so I only used a couple of them here (nose mascot and red numeral).

After the decals, I used a very small brush to apply the Vallejo Wash (Black) very carefully into the lines.  You can clean-up any mistakes if you're quick but if you wait more than a few minutes, your clean-up won't be very effective.  Oil stains were applied in streaks using very watered down Vallejo Black paint.

Guns were painted Vallejo Oily Steel and then highlighted with Vallejo Model Air Aluminum.  This same aluminum was used to create some chipping on the wings, fusalage, and canopy frame.

The engine exhaust pipes were painted with the three Vallejo Panzer Aces' rust colors - Dark Rust followed by Light Rust followed by Yellowish Rust.  The shading combination of these colors gives a nice effect.

To finish off the aircraft, I sealed everything with a couple of coats of Testor's Dullcote...  maybe next time I'll try an acrylic matte varnish through my airbrush but I had a can of Dullcote laying around that needed to be used.

The aircaft bases were applied with some Vallejo Coarse Pumice Gel and then painted over with earth tones (can't remember the specific color here) and then drybrushed with a lighter color.  The shafts of the stands were painted with the same Vallejo Sky Grey that I used on the bellies of the aircraft.  Dry grass and ground cover was applied to give the impression of fall vegetation or the Russian Steppes.

To sum up the project, I think Armaments in Miniature has a good product and the detail was nice.  Painting was enjoyable and I think everything turned out pretty good.  If you're interested in purchasing these aircraft for your 15mm army keep your eyes on my commissions page as they are likely to go up on eBay in the near future.

If you missed it, checkout Part 1 of this article.

Armaments in Miniature, Me-109 Work in Progress Part 1

I finally found some time to paint this weekend!  The whole family has been sick in bed so I was presented with a little time to pull out the airbrush booth and paint something new.  A few weeks back I purchased a 3 aircraft flight of Me-109 G's by Armaments in Miniature.  These are 1/100 scale and made from resin; for 15mm wargaming I'd say these are probably the best option around...  They are a little pricey though at $12 to $15 each.

I started by mounting a rare earth magnet on the underside of the fuselage for easy attachment and removal from a flight stand.  One of the great things about this soft resin is is drills easily :)

Many of the flight stand options available from gaming companies don't really fit the bill for what I was looking for...  something simple and cheap.  I crafted these out of a small wooden dowel and disk (looks more like a wooden tire); they turned out ok and for $3 worth of materials from Hobby Lobby I should be able to make a dozen of them.

I'll be coating the base with texture and eventually adding terrain and foliage to give a nice professional look to the stand.  The top of the dowel has a matching rare earth magnet that helps hold the aircraft on.

I used Vallejo's new Acrylic-Polyurethane Grey Primer and applied it using my airbrush.  It went on nice and smooth and had a perfect finish.  I'm quite happy with this new Vallejo product as I don't have to thin it at all; just pour it into the airbrush cup and spray.

I sprayed the fuselage a lightened Vallejo Reflective Green and then added some subtle camouflage patterns using Vallejo Gunship Green.  The underside (while you can't see it here) was sprayed with Vallejo Sky Grey.  Yellow Eastern Front theater markings were applied using Vallejo Flat Yellow.  The paint scheme I chose is loosely patterned after Hannes Trautloft's JG 54 in Northern Russia on the Eastern Front.

To seal the base coat and to prepare for the wash and decals I spraying on a coat of gloss acrylic varnish.  I used Vallejo's gloss varnish and I thinned it with water and airbrush medium; it was a departure from my usual Testor's Glosscote and Dullcote but it was cheaper and non-toxic; time will tell whether I'll like this gloss varnish as a viable option.  I've been looking for an alternative to Testor's spray paints for quite some time.

That's it for now; I'll be sure to post more as I make progress.  Painting aircraft is enjoyable to me; I'm tempted to try and find some 1/72 plastic kits now that I've picked up this plastic craze lately :)

To see the finished project, be sure to checkout Part 2 of this article.

On the Workbench: Ernst Barkmann and Me-109's

With the Holiday Season behind us, I'm itching to start a couple of new projects.  I really enjoy painting aircraft because there are SO MANY paint schemes to experiment with; I decided to try a few Me-109G's by Armaments in Miniature.  Overall I'm happy with the detail on these and there seems to be minimal mould lines to clean.  These are 1/100th scale so they're a little larger than Battlefront's aircraft but I think the detail and dimensions are much better than Battlefront's miniatures.

To ensure that I get my Armor fix, I'm also taking a swing at Battlefront's Ernst Barkmann box set.  It comes with Barkmann's Panther A and a mobile repair/workshop.  I added a little brass chain for detail but these box sets are great because they have a lot of extra details already moulded on the miniatures.

I'm excited to get to painting again as it's been a couple of months; I'll be sure to post details when both of these roll (and fly) off the workbench.