Hobby admin - rebasing

Hi folks,

With the Polish Cromwells now done, I moved on to a bit of administration. Mainly driven by the fact that I've no space to store the models I've just painted. 

Over the last few years I've been transitioning to using 9 litre Really Useful Boxes, with Sally 4th storage trays, for my model storage needs. I place magnetic sheeting in the trays, and have ferrous sheeting on the bottom of the miniatures. This allows for a pretty efficient use of space compared to my previous methods. 

Note: Dave does this differently. He places ferrous sheets in the trays, and has bases with a circular hole cut into which he glues a 2mm by 5mm magnet. 

Recently, driven by seeing the smaller, neater, 60mm by 40mm bases that Dave uses for his 15mm vehicles, I have switched to the same method. The bases just look better for the scale of the models, and have the added benefit of using less space on the trays. How much less space? Here is a visual demonstration:

Using the Flames of War 'Large' bases, as I have done for years, I can fit a whole tank squadron on one tray. 

However, the same models on the smaller bases:

Now, rebasing all of the relevant models onto the 60mm by 40mm bases is going to take some time and effort. There is a cost implication (money for the basing materials, my time). I've had to spend a bit of time weighing all the pros and cons as to the best course of action - it is, after all, a fairly large job. 

Cost wise, one 9ltr box (~£6) filled with 2 x 50mm tall trays and 1 x 35mm tall tray (£18.50), using 4 sheets of A4 magnetic paper (~£2.80) is a fairly significant investment (~£27.30 without postage costs). I still consider that cheaper for more storage that the equivalent in foam (which I hate), but at that price per finished box, I need to make sure I am getting my monies worth.  

For the cost of rebasing, I increase my existing available storage by about 25%, while also making the models look a little better and updating the basing on some of my older models. One of the first batches I handled were my Polish Sextons:

Before - based on large FoW bases

After - based on 60mm by 40mm bases

Not a huge difference, but much neater and more focussed on the model.

Many discussions have also been had with friends who use file boxes, etc. Yes, these are often cheaper, but for the scale of mini's I collect, there can be as much as 2/3rds of a physical container as wasted space, which means I need more space to store the same number of models. The 9ltr boxes with trays store a lot of minis in a comparatively small space, stack well and are more resilient.

My plan is to work through one 9ltr box of models at a time. My pass over the Polish Shermans box also saw me correct and error I'd made with them (the only repainting I have done) - WW2 allied air recognition panels appear to have been a bright red, orange or white. While yellow smoke was used during Operation Totalize to mark friendly units, the colour panels on the tanks I'd painted yellow were incorrect, so I changed them to orange (having given Amy the choice). 

So there you go - the madness continues. 

AHPC - 'West' Bonus round entries

Hi Folks,

Lots of blogging this week!

On Saturday night (and into the early hours of Sunday) I was feverishly working to try and finish off an entry into the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge bonus round for Sunday. This bonus round theme was 'west', so having thought a bit about how West connects to what I'm working on, I established a few big connections.

Firstly, my FoW stuff is for the western front. Secondly, the trucks I have been working on are of Canadian manufacture - which led me to consider Canada's contribution to the war effort. Thirdly, Canada was one of Britain's most important allies - a western (geographically and politically) ally no less! The Canadian connection also works on another level for my collection, as my Highlanders were under the command of 2nd Canadian Corps during Operation Totalize.

Given all of this, I quickly established that I would use these trucks as my entry!

This set of vehicles, along with the other 5 I am working on, have taken a bit of time to get to this point. Prep wise, there is very little stowage on them, mainly because of the nature of the trucks. However, I did want to follow the idea I had many many moons ago - the trucks should be made into little dioramas. This would mean:

- Bases had to be trimmed from those trucks with a cast on base (6 of the 8). These then needed to be added on to a FoW Medium base to allow room for figures to be added

- Figures suitable for dioramas had to be sourced. This was something I had been working on for a long time, which has now come to fruition.

- I would need to do 8 dioramas, which was a challenge in of itself.

- The dioramas had to be logical, follow a 'theme' for Normandy and work with each other (to a certain degree).

The concept for the 128th Field Regiments trucks was that they here being harassed by some unseen sniper. Something that was common in artillery positions which were moving forward to keep up with an advance.

So, with a sniper lurking in a hedgerow somewhere nearby, what would be happening in the battery position?

For the first base, I went for a typical event that occurs in every Allied account of Normandy I have ever read. Troops 'foraging' to supplement their tinned rations. As such, I have to likely characters, returning from a 'fruitful quick wander' round the nearby area. One of them clutching a cask of Calvados and the other with a chicken - which was "Awready deed when we fun'it Sur!"

Finding themselves on the receiving end of a snipers attention (maybe it was his chicken?), they have taken cover behind a truck.

These figures are from the Battlefront 'Commonwealth Infantry' pack, with head swaps using the 'Guards' heads that were available separately.  The lighting in these pics isn't great, but it does look like the facial details need some work, as does the chicken! It is possible the light has just bleached them out a bit - they were actually both of squared paper when the pics were taken!

Next up, a survey team. This consists of an officer with a piece of survey equipment (my take on a 'No. 7 Director'), and a Private with a survey pole. The sniper has interrupted the work of laying the guns on the 'zero line', and the officer is looking rather impatient... Somewhere 'up front' an infantry unit might be looking for fire support.

Both figures are older Flames of War infantry figures. The chap with the pole was actually a pioneer with a Bangalore torpedo!

Lastly, we have a 'patrol' of either local (infantry) Jocks who have been roped in to help, or some of the battery troops (they look a little too well equipped to be the latter). These guys are being sent out to deal with the sniper. I think the chap on the corner looks suitably happy about his role.

Some shots of the three:

All three of them together. Imagine the sniper is somewhere 'above' the top edge of the picture.

So that's it! I've another 5 of these to do, which I should finish this week in time for my Thursday submission deadline. If you like what you've seen here, can I please ask that you check out my entry here (and check out the other entries as well!). I'd appreciate it if you could take the time to vote on my 'Canadian Jock artillery vehicles'! My entry in the challenge also talks a little more about Canada's significant manufacturing contribution to the allied victory.

My Basing!

Hi Folks,

I spoke about doing a post on this a while ago, but it got put on the back burner and forgotten about. I get a lot of compliments on the basing of my models, and a few of the guys have asked me what I do. There isn't anything really unique about this technique. It's basically applying static grass to the base, then tarting it up with flowers and tufts!

Anyway, a while back I did a little video to show some of what I do, along with some pictures.

1.  Prepare the bases (and count you have the correct number!). For the Flames of War bases this is quick - I generally just trim along the bottom edges just to make sure there is no flash or anything here. I also make sure the edge where they base has been attached to the sprue is nice and clean. Normally I would just use a scalpel for this.

As I put acrylic resin on the bases before I put any models on, I also score the surface of the base. I used to do this by scratching a zig zag pattern in 2 different directions on the surface, but recently I came up with a quicker way of doing this. I have a very fine toothed saw (like a hacksaw, but with slightly more raised teeth) and I drag this over the base in 2 directions. Much quicker and safer!

2.  Applies to the way I base my mini's. I dislike the idea of putting basing medium near finished minis, as I will get it all over them. As such I put the medium on the bases and then cut holes in it once it's dry. The Acrylic Resin I use just peels off and leaves a nice space for the infantry figures to be glued to the base directly. The trick is getting the resin to a decent depth so that the bases are not pronounced. This method is probably more time consuming that others.

Apply the resin to the surface of the base. I have used a small spoon for this in the past, but recently started using a small 'pallet knife' I got from a painting supplies shop. I believe it's purpose is for mixing oil paints? It allows me to put the resin on the base and then spread it around. At this point I don't worry about the resin being in the wrong place, so long as the base is covered.

3.  Once the resin is dry, using a scalpel I cut off the excess. Once this is done, the base should look like this:

4.  A apply a coat of by basing colour. For my FoW stuff I use 'Flat Earth' (Vallejo Model Color 143 (70.983))

The trick here is just to put a good dollop of paint directly onto the base, and then use a rubbish but big brush just to make sure the base is covered.

This paint is actually one I go through most of - followed by English Uniform and Russian Uniform (my Infantry and Tank base colours!).

5.  Once dry, put a dollop of PVA onto the base, and again use a poor quality brush to cover the top surface. I try to avoid getting any on the beveled edges, but if I do, it's no big deal.

6.  Apply the static grass! I use a 'Spring meadow blend' which seems to be a mix of the common 'spring' and 'summer' static grasses. For the 15mm models I think it's a 2mm length grass. I would caution you - if your planning on doing a big army, and want the basing to be the same, take a note of which make and colour you use, else you could end up with variation over the army...

Video of the application process can be found here:

But basically I use a washing up liquid (Dish Soap?) bottle with the stopper removed. this is filled with the grass and given a good shake before use! A funnel of some sort is very useful for getting the static grass into the bottle. You will also need a tub to put the bases in while you squirt them, in order to not be quite so messy. And to be able to retrieve the grass that didn't end up on the base!

7.  Once the grass is on, and the whole thing is dried, the base looks like this:

As you can see, the grass is stuck to the sides and is generally a bit scruffy.

What I do next is take a scalpel and carefully cut along the top of the beveled edges. I then use the same scalpel to carefully scrape the glue and grass from the sides of the base. When I'm done, it looks like this:

Better, but still scruffy!

My next step is to take a small pair of scissors - actually nail scissors I picked up for 99p in a super market - oh, the looks A gives me when I turn up with 'random' things for the shopping basket! I use the scissors to do some 15mm landscaping... generally trimming the grass along the top edge and surface. Just to make sure everything is a similar length, etc. It should end up looking like this:

Neater!

8.  Touch up the sides of the base with Flat Earth again (I also sometimes do the bases without painting the sides before I apply the grass, to save a little time and paint. However most times I forget!). The end result looks like this:

If you want to, at this stage you could also give the flat earth sections a coat or two of varnish - although I rarely do.

So that's the basic's of how I get the grass on. The rest is simple - for this base I glued a model directly onto the surface by applying superglue to the underside of the tracks and pressing down until it was fixed in place.

The pick what tufts you want to use. I aim to put 8 per base on - 2 each of White and Yellow flowers (Mininatur 726-21 S 'Tufts with Blossom Spring') , short tufts (Mininatur 717-22 S 'Short Tufts Summer') and long tufts (Mininatur 717-22 S 'Long Early Fall'). I apply these by dabbing some superglue on the base where I want it. The tip for this is to glue the model onto the base first!

As to which tufts to use - there are any number of styles of these, and it's just about picking the style that suits your army. Tufts can be used to unify the army, or to mark out different types of bases (use purple flowers on commend bases, or one platoon uses all one colour, etc).

This particular base went on to become:

I also use my little scissors to trim the tufts as well, just to make sure they are neat - 15mm landscaping!

The very last thing I do with my bases is apply some thin 'steel paper' to the underside, so that the bases stick to the magnetic sheeting I use for my storage.

And thats it! Thanks to Bob for getting on my case about this tutorial!

Something a (very little!) bit different! - 3mm Team Yankee

Hi folks,

It appears, from talking to many fellow Miniature Modelling Mayhem visitors, that I'm known for my 'dedication' to WW2 British 15mm stuff!

So to fox everyone, I decided to paint... some different tanks for a change.

I've thought a lot about getting into Team Yankee, with the plan being to do 6mm. That is still the plan in the long term. In the short term I ordered some vehicles from Heroics and Ross just to see how they look. But I also ordered, almost on a whim, some Oddzial Ozmy 3mm 'Pico' Armour from Magister Militarum in the UK. Again, this was just to see how they looked.

I was blown away by the detail on these tiny models. The MBT's are small enough to fit on my thumb nail, but clear enough that you can tell what they are. If anyone has ever handled models that just made them grin, you know exactly how I felt when I received them. My only complaint is that compared to the other vehicles the M113's are out of scale.

My first order I got a pack of M1's, one of M113's and a pack of US Infantry.

All of them were really nice models (other than the small issue with the M113's...). The infantry pack has riflemen, MG teams and clearly definable Dragon ATGWM teams.

So impressed was I that i got them cleaned up and started painting. I also placed an order for some Russian vehicles and more US infantry - as well as the last vehicles I needed to finish off Team Yankee - the M901 ITV's.

The end result, a week later is this:

At the front, 2 x 2 T72 companies, followed by a BMP2 Recce platoon rear left and a a BMP2 Infantry company (less Infantry).

Close up's of the tiny Russian Hordes!

More close ups - these were so fast to paint - I spent more time on the basing.

Models are all Oddzial Ozmy 3mm T72B's

BMP2 Recce platoon - painted with some camo to make them a little different.

2 x M1 Abrams platoons and 1 x M113 platoon.

The camo looks better at a distance - it was my attempt at a NATO woodland camp pattern. These models need some work done around the tracks, where they came off the painting sticks.

I used two types of 1mm static grass (actually 3 types, but only 2 are visible).

Teeny Tiny M113's - a little bit of a shame, as these seems to be 2/3rds smaller than they should be.

I ran out of prepared bases at this point - as you get 15 vehicles in each pack I have enough for another platoon of M1's + the company command (a full company of tanks). Enough M113's for a infantry company and enough ITV's as support for both. This will give me, for a grand total of £9, the whole of Team Yankee and Team Bravo! Less other support options.

For the Russians I have 3 companies of T72's, 1 of BMP1's, 1 of BMP2's, the Recce platoon of BMP2's and a load of infantry still to sort out. That's effectively a tank battalion and an Infantry battalion. Slightly more money spent here - £18 including the 2 packs if infantry. I also have enough for the various battalion command vehicles and some OP teams. 

I went to the Durham show on Saturday and picked up some Tumbling Dice 1/600th aircraft and helicopters for not very much money, so air support will be sorted. SU25s, A10s, Cobras and Hinds - as well as some Tornadoes just to make up the money.

Future spends will be on artillery and AA assets, as well as one more pack of T72's and BMP1's.

So whats the plan with these? Playing Team Yankee at 1:1 at this scale seems to be a bit of a no go - just because of the sizes. However my plan is to treat each bases of troops as 1 single unit. The concept at the moment is that units move and fires like a single vehicle in Team Yankee. Units of 2 or 3 vehicles have 1 single hit, and roll to shoot as a single vehicle. Units of 4 vehicles have 2 hits and re-roll misses. Infantry... I'm not too sure about currently. Standard artillery fires with no template, just targeting a single stand. Salvo weapons will use a smaller artillery template made for 6mm Team Yankee.

This should all add up to a fast playing game that allows forces larger than a normal FoW game to be fielded. Hopefully! I'm hoping to be able to play test these rules versus Steve shortly. Battle report to follow!

6MMRPC: Progress

Hi Folks,

My last full day in Scotland and all modelling supplies are now packed and my desk cleared for the first time since it was assembled.

Obviously this week has been pretty busy with household preparations and cleaning. I managed to get a lot done yesterday so took some time out to get the last few weeks models varnished with my usual Army Painter Dark Tone Quickshade varnish. I may need a new tin of this, as again it seems not to have been sealed properly after the last time I used it, resulting in a thick skin having formed. I added some large ball bearings I had found (a tip care of Paul Alba) and some turps, sealed the tin up and shook it hard for a while. I then opened it and fished out all the large bits that I could. I'll stick with it as long as I can, but I suspect I may have to replace the tin soon.

I found that having based the vehicles first made a huge difference to the amount of mess and my handling of the mini's while they were being varnishes. I managed to get everything done in less than an hour, which I was impressed at as there seemed to be a lot.

So, onwards and upwards! Hopefully it won't take me long to get set up and back into my painting on the other end. Thanks to everyone for their comments wishing us well on the move. Just to add to the busyness that I seem to have every October, yesterday it was exactly 1 year until our wedding day!!!

How to: Using 'Tufts' - MiniNatur product review

Hi folks,

The other week a few people had commented on the materials I was using on my basing. I thought it might be worth a quick blog on the products I use. When I started basing my infantry units I had bought some ArmyPainter tufts. The pack was quite small and I got through it pretty quickly. A few months later I was at one of the Scottish wargame shows and came across MiniNatur. These packs were roughly the same price as the much smaller ArmyPainter products and are of just the same quality.

The packs I have open and have used look like this - the actual new packs are obviously a lot fuller!:

Basing wise I start a layer of acrylic resin which I then trim down and paint with Vallejo Flat Earth. A quick coat of PVA then a few squirts of static grass from my home made applicator (A washing up bottle!) and the base is ready for detailing.

Normally I would glue the model to the base at this point and then add the tufts afterwards. I put a dab of superglue on the static grass then I use hobby tweezers to take the tufts off the backing and press them gently onto the superglue.

I messed up slightly by not putting the model on this base first! As a result I had to move some of the tufts so the tank was sitting correctly. I also use some nail scissors just to trim the odd sprouty sections from the tufts and any of the static grass that is over the sides of the base.

The pictures were taken under normal lights rather than my daylight bulb, so they look a little yellow/brown. The finished article looks like this:

The tufts go quite far on vehicle models as you only have to do around the edges. You can use slightly more on large artillery bases and less on medium bases. I just try to vary the placing on each base to make them distinct. I find that they break up what would otherwise be large plain spaces.

I payed  £4.25 for each of the MiniNatur packs and they have lasted me quite a while. I only purchased the new ones as the old packs are getting quite sparse. I also know that I have to go back over all my older bases and bring them up to the standard of the new ones!

So there you go, a quick and easy method of making your plain old static grass bases look good without using that horrible lichen/horse hair stuff. The MiniNatur products seem to be great quality and you definitely get your money's worth.