Finished: 28mm WW2 Aussie Additions

OK, that's it. No more additions to my WW2 Australians...

Engineers (Brigade Games)

Flamethrower team

Mine clearance team

These figures are a touch smaller than the other Aussies in my collection, but not too badly. Luckily, I don't need to add any more. The two chaps with Owen guns can also be used as infantry (as if I don't have enough already!).


Forward Observer Team (Warlord Games)

As I only need to represent the FOO in CoC, I based the other two figures separately so that I can use them as additional crew figures for support weapons.


Papuan Infantry and Porters (Brigade Games)

The sculpts for these aren't as nice as the ones from Warlord and Eureka. They're also a touch smaller, but that isn't a problem.


Kangaroos (Eureka Miniatures)

 

I chanced upon these figures while browsing for other animals and just had to buy them to use as CoC jump off points for my Aussies. Or as wildlife for games set in Australia, should I ever play any. I particularly liked the female with the Joey in her pouch:

Looking at the close-up pics, I think they might benefit from a light grey wash to smooth out the final bit of brown-grey stippling I did.

Not bad for less than a week's output.

Friday Workbench 27 September

Normal service will be resuming now that my Arnhem 75th series of posts has come to an end. There were so many little tidbits that I could have added, but didn't in the end, that I might do another post with them.

However, this is meant to be a workbench post, so I'd better get on with showing you some stuff that I've been working on.

In my Wednesday morning post, you will have seen that I had finished painting some Aussies and Papuans, with some kangaroos about to be painted. I didn't do anything on Wednesday as I had the sniffles, but got the 'roos painted yesterday. This morning I airbrushed them all with a coat of Klear, then added basing texture this afternoon.

Tomorrow, the bases will be painted, washed, and dry-brushed; the figures will then get a coat of matt varnish and tufts will be added.

During one of the sunny breaks between heavy showers this morning I quickly headed outside to spray can prime the second batch of nylon scourer hedges. I'll flock them at some point; this was just to get them ready to go. I had decided not to do any trimming as they are short hedges.

I've got some other bits that need spray can priming, but I will leave those until there is a no-rain day.

As I don't have any more "quick wins" waiting in the wings, next week will see me start work on my Paras. There are 120 of them, plus two artillery pieces and 13 seated vehicle crew figures. Plus a few more figures and jeeps that haven't been prepped yet, and maybe a few more to come. I think that should keep me going for a few weeks.

Wednesday Workbench 25 September

I normally do these posts in the evening, but with the Arnhem 75th series I've had to slot it in this morning.

After finishing the Korean rocket artillery, I decided to clear out some other quick wins from the paint queue.

WW2 Aussie Forward Observation team (Warlord) and engineers (Brigade Games).

Papuan porters and riflemen (Brigade Games).

This lot will be given a coat of Klear before adding the base texture. But those steps will have to wait until I've painted these:

Kangaroos (Eureka).

The Kangaroos are going to be slightly whimsical Jump Off Points for my Aussies. I'll be painting them tomorrow.

Finished: 28mm "Adonis"

I varnished the commander this morning and glued him into his hatch, so it was time for a quick photo shoot.

And introducing him to his 1 Troop brothers:

And his cousin Demon from the 1st Armoured Reconnaissance Squadron:

I've also gunked the bases for the latest batch of Artizan and Crusader Paras:

When the gunk has fully dried I will glue the prone PIAT loader and the 3" mortar onto their textured bases; the Vickers MMGs and 6 pounder will be painted off-base to make it easier to paint the gunners.

Para Test Paints

With my workbench finally clear of hedges, I decided today to do a bit of painting.

I started off by painting the commander for my recently painted Matilda II:

He just needs to be varnished and glued into his hatch.

As he was finished quite quickly, I grabbed one of the Warlord Paras to do a test of the painting scheme. I realised quite quickly (mostly before I actually began painting)that some of the colours I'd chosen wouldn't look quite right with the painting style I am intending to use (only using washes for flesh and select items), so I quickly substituted colours that would work.

Here is the first test figure:

I didn't like the ground colour, so I repainted it - much better.

There are a number of things that I'm not happy with, so I've made appropriate changes to my scheme:

* replace Pale Sand with Sand Yellow as addition colour for brown highlights
* webbing colour too dark - replace Reflective Green with German Uniform
* modify Denison colour patches slightly
* add a Sepia wash as final step for toggle rope

The beret colour and flesh came out well though!

However, a lot of the Paras would still be wearing 1st pattern Denison which has a more yellow-brown base colour, rather than the pale olive of the 2nd pattern. I decided to try a couple of different colours to see which came close to the look I wanted:

Tan Yellow; Japanese Uniform; Brown Sand

Each of the colours above was highlighted in two steps by adding Sand Yellow and then Pale Sand. The colour I was aiming for is somewhere between the Japanese Uniform and Brown Sand. I ran a test on another figure, using two additions of Sand Yellow to highlight:

Tan Yellow; Ochre Brown

Japanese Uniform; Ochre Brown

Brown Sand; Ochre Brown

I think I have my scheme pretty much nailed now:

Tomorrow I will be re-blacking the test figures I painted today and adding basing gunk to this lot:

They will get primed on Monday, then I can get the SYW Russians out and start painting them.

Jeepers! Tanks for the hedges!

A busy day at the workbenches today. I started off by setting up outside (having determined that it was better to get that done before it got too warm) and priming the first batch of hedges:

Later this evening I'll add some basing gunk to them. Tomorrow, if all goes well, I'll drybrush the gunk and begin flocking them.

With that done, I cracked on and finished work on the Matilda and Jeeps:

Aussie Matilda II:

I know "Adonis" was a tank name in A squadron of the 1st Australian Armoured Regiment, but don't know if it was in 1 Troop.

Airborne Jeeps:

Now I just need to get the crew figures painted to put in them.


I've also been working on the Warbases terrain. Some of it is finished, but other items need a bit more work, so I'll save those until tomorrow when they should all be done.