Actual modelling progress (aka take that #6MMRPC!)

I'm not sure whether it was having the day off, the nice weather or the fact it's the Carronade Wargames show this weekend (Scotland's biggest). Whichever it was I got myself organised and actually did some hobby related work.

The first was cleaning all the vehicles I have been prepping over the last few weeks. I had meant to do this on Saturday and then Sunday...

Several of these blisters have more than one vehicle in them. Not a huge amount of work to clean them all, just time consuming.

I have seen a bit of discussion recently on one of the FoW Facebook groups on whether there is a need to wash your mini's. Honestly, if you saw the colour of the water after washing this lot you would clean all your mini's. I have no idea what effect all that crap has on the painting, but I don't want to find out!

Then I decided to spray some models - this became a bit of a job as I first tried the Plastic Soldier Company British Armour spray directly on to my Forged in Battle Universal Carriers. The FiB Carriers are a white resin, and the spray just did not go on properly. Now, this may be an issue with the spray or just with the colour of the resin. I dug around and found a can of Black (a Armypainter one) and gave them a skoosh. Then went back with the Plastic Soldier Company green. I also did the Churchill Croc I had done before as I wasn't happy with the tone of the green going on without a black undercoat.

So that's 12 Universal Carriers (+1 that was almost ready to be sprayed, I think it might end up being the 4.2" Spotter carrier), 1 Churchill Croc and 3 Wasp Carriers.

Then, since I had sprayed stuff and it was still nice, I decided to try my Dark Tone Army Painter dip. Slight issue with this since I left it sitting out open last summer, it's gone very thick and I may have to replace it. Still, I decided to do a tank or two, and a few hours later...

I'd done my whole winter backlog.

'A' was a little miffed to come home to me and the kitchen stinking of turps tho!

One thing I have discovered with the Army Painter dip is that previously I had just been dabbing off the excess and having to do a bit of work afterwards due to the amount of dip still on the model. Now I splodge it on, leave it a minute or two then dab off the excess. I then wash the brush in turps again, wipe off most of it leaving the brush a little wet, and do a 'reverse drybrush'. The turps still on the brush takes the dip off the higher points and makes the details 'pop' a bit more while still giving shade where it's needed. Hopefully that's not compromising the varnish, but I'm pretty sure there is turps in the AP.

So, that was my May bank holiday!

#6MMRPC Painting chart update

It's been a few months since I updated my painting chart for the 6 Months Miniature Mountain Reduction Painting Challenge (!!!). Not long to go till the official end of the challenge - although I started a month later so will be running on by 4 weeks.

The chart is not showing a great deal of green on it - I've introduced yellow to show the models that are basecoated but not finished. This is mainly down to the time of year which has prevented me from using the Army Painter varnish I usually use. However, I have painted all the crew figures for the packs I had open up to recently. Then I opened more packs and have more vehicle crews to do...

Currently in the works are all my Universal Carriers (15 total), Wasps (3 total), Loyds Carriers (4 total), 4.2" Mortars (small job, I am assembling and painting these on the bases - 4 of them) and Churchill Crocodiles (only 1 assembled but 2 still to open).

I'm currently sorting out the Universal Carriers as I'm unhappy with the weapons fits. Somehow I've lost many of the Bren gun extras I had and I'm not quite there with the .50 cal mounts. I have read accounts of the .50 cal Universal Carriers in use but the few pictures I have seen show the guns mounted in different places. I decided to put them in the same place as the .303 Vickers MG's on the MMG Carriers.

I've had to use several .30 cal machine guns mounted in the back for the extra hull MG. One thing I am really unhappy with are the total lack of reference pictures for Recce Regiment Universal Carriers. From reading the book I have on the history of the Recce Corps, it's clear that all their vehicles tended to be very heavily armed.The .30 cals are just going to have to do.

The PIAT armed carriers are coming together (with the help of the PIAT gunners I got from Dai in a swap). They look a little crude with the PIAT gunners standing in the back, but hey ho! The only other way I can see of doing it is to put the PIAT's where the front mounted Bren guns are, and mounting a Bren gun in the back. But I have none of the spare Bren's!

Aside from the weapons I also have the usual stowage to sort. The Forged in Battle Universal Carriers already have stowage modelled on them, but the FoW models will need a bit of detailing.

I also remembered that the Fireflys I have basecoated need some camo on their guns! And the Crocodiles need some thought regarding how I am going to mount them on bases, and what sort of bases I use - I want the fuel trailers to be detachable.

Still, even small progress is still progress so I'm chipping away with the aim of getting as much basecoated as possible for the better weather!!

Sorry for the wall of text this time round!

40mm Bofors Anti Aircraft platoon - Finished!

"Huzzah" I hear all regular readers of my rambling blog cheer.

"Thank f*ck those as done" I think to myself!

This unit has been a bit of a slog. Originally picked as I thought it would be a quick platoon to finish I rapidly found myself disliking the sculpts and struggling to make progress against my own apathy. Thankfully some support from the blogging community spurred me on to finish these off.

Now they are done, perversely, I kinda like them. Although I think the bases could be doing with more detail (spend brass, ammo crates, etc). Those may come later. 

Missing at this stage is the final 2 guns of the battery and transport. These guys are representing 40th Light AA Regiment, Royal Artillery - As usual, part of the 51st Highland Division. I am tempted to get the last two guns as the self propelled versions (BR182) - mainly because I like them and it saves me having to work on the Forged in Battle mini's again - as I wouldn't like to mix  the Battlefront ones into this platoon. But it would also give me some different models and would be nice for Battlegroup Overlord.

Guns were painted standard Russian Uniform Green (Vallejo Model Color 70.924). Wheels/tyres were just black with a Vallejo Panzer Aces Dark Rubber (306) highlight. Crew were standard Vallejo Model Color English Uniform (70.921) with Vallejo Model Color Khaki webbing  and gaiters (70.988), black boots and well... flesh coloured flesh. Helmets are Russian Uniform Green. Highlights on the crew are mainly shades of English Uniform and Khaki. Khaki was also used to highlight the guns. A coat of Dark tone Army Painter was put on before the highlights, and a matt coat of varnish after the highlights. 

One of the things I am glad I did with these models was to add my own gunsights. The Forged in Battle minis had no gunsight included and I felt the model really needed one. They are very prominent on this gun and the Battlefront model does include them. 

The crew poses are a bit strange - they could have really done with people with binoculars and some different ammo carrying poses. 

Still, as much as i have struggled with these guys they are decent models for the money. Scale wise they fit in well with Flames of War models to the extent I had no worries about mixing them on a command base. It's probably important to note that the Forged in Battle 40mm Bofors guns have no base included and models for command stands. There were a few spare crew mini's, but none that have any real command style.

Once they were based up I was much less focused on the individual models and my annoyance at the one part gun shield/crew sculpt. But I do think the guns are a weak part of the model and I have broken one already. They are also a bugger to keep straight. 

So that's it, another platoon down and time to move on. I'm going to try and pick something I want to paint this time... Certainly NOT the 4.2" Mortar platoon.

Paint Table Saturday - three days late...

Slightly late with this week's attempt at a Paint Table Saturday post! Mainly due to the fact that on Saturday I only had Army Painter (Strong Tone) varnished vehicles staring back at me. No Salute for me, I'm afraid. One day... Trying to convince the better half that there might be a show on in London that weekend...

I managed this evening to get a dry brush with the base Russian Uniform Green (Vallejo Model Colour 70924) over them. I had tried a new type of highlighting (for me) on my Sherman Hybrids and I intend to replicate that on these models. I'll also do a lighter shade of the Russian Uniform as a quick dry brush later as well.

Since I had some Russian Uniform Green left (I seem to be really bad and putting too much paint on my palette) I also gave the Sherman mk.1 ARV a rough base coat.

This is also my 101st post - please check out my Competition in post #100!

PSC M5 Half Tracks

Loyd Carriers and 6 pdr A/T guns

De-frocked Priests and M5 Ambulance on the left

Side view of M5 Ambulance conversion and De-frocked Priest

Side view of Sherman ARV mk.1 and another shot of the A/T guns

Closeup of Sherman ARV mk.1

Just a quick comment on the Sherman Armoured Recovery Vehicle and why I wanted to convert one. The ARV's are not too much use in Flames of War. However, in Battlegroup Overlord, they have a much wider range of abilities. Some examples: They can attempt to repair destroyed vehicles (6 on a D6, max of 2 attempts) or repair immobilised vehicles (4+ on D6). Recovery vehicles can also tow destroyed vehicles from the table, allowing you to recover some of your lost morale points.

The reason I wanted to convert a mk.1 is that the model Battlefront do for FoW is just plain wrong! I understand it's not as interesting a model as the mk.2, but I think it deserves the attention!

Paint Table Saturday

A week or two ago I had seen Sofies Paint Blog and her Saturday Paint Table idea through TamsinP's Wargaming Girl blog. Since I've been working on my models this week, I decided to take part and put up what I've got on my painting desk this week.

So without further ado, my 4 x 15mm Plastic Soldier Company M5 Halftracks - for my Flames of War Highlander army. Alongside two painting/converting in progress jobs, a Plastic Soldier Company M5 Halftrack in the process of becoming an ambulance halftrack (for use in Battlegroup Overlord games), complete with tarp covered top. And a Battlefront plastic M4A4 (Sherman V) in the process of being converted into a Sherman ARV mk.1

The 4 halftracks are almost at the point of getting their coat of Armypainter Dark Tone Quickshade. 

Army Painter Quickshade on British 15mm models

Unusually for me this weekend I had my son on the Friday night, meaning tonight I found myself at a bit of a loose end. Yesterday I managed to get all my currently painted model to a point I was happy to move on to applying the Quickshade, so I bit the bullet with the weather being nice today and cracked on with that.

So here's my little tray, ready to go!

Quickshade (after initially using the Mid tone on my models, I was convinced to try the Dark tone) and stirring stick. Turps and a jar for pouring the turps into. Also included (but not in the photo) is my Quickshade brush, which is a beefy .25 inch. I use this for both applying and removing the Quickshade. And also my trusty rag, which I use for cleaning my brush and hands. In the event of a match ever landing near the rag, I may be in trouble.

So, some before shots.

As you can see, I've used this tray before! Also of note at this stage is I'm still working from the lollypop sticks for my infantry and I've not done anything with the bases on the Defrocked Priests.

Incidentally the pack of Defrocked Priests from Waugh Games has never turned up. The company have been very good via email, and it does seem to have just vanished into the postal system. I was down in Middlesborough at the start of the week and they were happy for me to drop in, however did not have the model in stock (the reason they knew it was posted was it had been the last one and needed re-ordered). So far they have been very friendly and helpful and are happy to send me a replacement when the item is back in stock. I'll give them another week or two before asking for a refund.

So, steps for using Quickshade. First of all, make sure it is shaken very well. Then shake it some more. Then open it and stir it thoroughly. For those interested, it looks like this...

So far I've painted a whole Infantry company, about 40 vehicles and 10 or so guns - and I've hardly made a dent, so well worth the money.

I've heard of a few people having issues with this stuff, but most of the time it seems to be that it's not mixed properly. The pigment and the varnish can separate when it's been sitting for a while, so mixing well is critical.

I use the brush on method rather than the 'dip' method, so I load up the brush and really lather it on.

Making sure the model gets a good coverage of the stuff. It's messy and your going to get sticky fingers. This is where you find out if the models put together stoutly. In this process I had one gun lose a trail leg, and one Defrocked Priest lose a .50 machine gun. These will be glued back on later.

The instructions are that you should leave the model well lathered for about a minute or so, then remove the excess. What i didn't do this time round was take into account the fact I was doing this outside in strong (for Scotland) sunshine and with photo's along the way. This meant I may have left the Quickshade on the vehicles and guns for a little longer than I should have - but this will be fixed with drybrushing later.I should really have been ready to take the excess of the 1st gun after i had finished the 4th, and same with the tanks.

Not perfect this time round, but every day's a school day!

Next up the infantry. Same idea, really give the Quickshade a stir, then lather it on to really coat the whole model. Don't be shy!

Then after leaving it about a minute (with the infantry the time it took to do all the sticks was perfect timing to take the excess off) just clean the brush, rub it on the rag then use it to dab off the excess, cleaning on the rag as you go.

Before...

After

 
Next up for these models will be highlights (and drybrushing for the vehicles). Then a couple of coats of matt varnish to take the shine off.

Addendum: Using the Army Painter Quickshade and the lollypop sticks (as well as models with cast on bases) can see the models being stuck to the tray when the Quickshade dries. It's important that you keep the models apart, so as not to weld them together with the varnish. When it comes to taking the models from the tray, I use a fork to just gently pry the models from the tray. I'm sure modelling knives and the likes would work as well.