Finished!: 6mm British Moderns (part 1...)

Hi folks,

I had intended to post this last weekend, but didn't get around to it and have had a hectic week this week which has seen little painting being done.

I've been trying to clear some of the models that have been cluttering up my painting shelf for the last 12 months, some of which has been my Brits for Team Yankee. These are a mix of GHQ, Heroics and Ros and Butlers Printed Models miniatures, and I'm about half way though currently.

So currently, a full squadron of Chieftains, with the front two on the right being BPM models, while the one on the front right is a GHQ model.

The Harriers and Lynx's are H+R models, which came out quite well. Blowpipe models are H+R while the Spartans on the bases are BPM. The Swingfires are GHQ, while the Abbots are BPM and the M109's are (I think) H+R.

Still all the infantry to do, and a load of AFV's. The models are quick to paint, as I've kept them very simple. However, the basing is time consuming!

In other news, despite my better judgement I've volunteered to take part in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge again this year... So need to start organising what I plan to paint as part of that!

Butlers Printed Models 1/285th Scale comparison vs GHQ

Hi folks,

Last week I was lucky enough to win a £20 voucher for Butlers Printed Models. This was a random prize for completing an online survey for one of the wargaming magazines.

I've used BPM before - these were the guys that designed and printed the Ram tank turrets I wanted to go on my Battlefront Ram Kangeroo's. I've not purchased any of their 1/285th scale (6mm) stuff yet, but since I had the voucher I'd fill in the gaps in my Team Yankee British force.

I got some Scorpions, FV432's, Chieftans, Abbots and Spartans. The Abbots were of particular interest as GHQ does not make these and I felt the Heroics and Ros ones were a little small compared to the GHQ models.

Everything arrived well packed, with one example in each bag cleared of 'flash'. The biggest downside of these models for me is this flash. It took a while to clean them up and it's quite a messy process:

Butlers Printed Models Abbots

Once I had everything cleaned up and assembled, I gave them a primer coat and got some comparison pics:

Chieftan:

GHQ at the back, BPM at the front. Similar in size, but with some differences (length of gun, width and length of hull)

BPM on the left, GHQ on the right

You can see that the BPM models have decent detail on them, but there is the telltale 'rings' of 3D printing visible on the hull. For a 6mm model though, detail is good.

Abbots:

GHQ Fv432 is closest to the camera here - the Abbot was based on the same hull and GHQ don't make this model. In the centre we have the BPM models, which have a decent level of detail and fit well scale wise with the GHQ. At the back are the Heroics and Ros Abbots. Less detail and smaller than the BPM models. 

H&R Abbots closest this time, then BPM then GHQ Fv432

Another view, H&R on the left, BPM in the centre and GHQ on the right. 

Swingfire Fv432's:

GHQ Swingfire at the bottom, BPM at the top. 

GHQ on the left, BPM on the right

So scale wise the BPM models are pretty close to GHQ. Detail wise, I would say they are worse than H&R's best, but better than H&R's worst... if that makes sense. The clean up on them is a bit of a bugger, and the Chieftans are more expensive than H&R models - although I don't have any of their tanks to hand to compare the detail or size.

Certainly for the Abbots I would recommend the BPM models over the H&R's ones, as they are a better scale fit.

These models are all (hopefully!) going to get painted during the upcoming AHPC challenge...