Lace 'n Big Hats

One man and a hot glue gun - 376 figures based in a session

2012-01-24T11:39:00.000+06:00

I'm going back through stalled projects and moving them along. Sometimes a project goes on hold because of uniform, or ORBAT, questions which have been thrown up. At other times I put a project on hold because of some laborious task which has to be undertaken.

Basing figures can be a real pain. For 28mm In The Grand Manner (rule set) it can be a problem to fit all the necessary figures onto the base, or to put them in the right spot. That means I can't use my painters to base these figures for me. I wouldn't do that anyway as I'm too particular about basing for ITGM. I have found that a hot glue gun is a life saver for basing. Many of the figures I use don't stand up on their own, so they have to he held in place while glue dries. This is no fun for a 48 man battalion!

The last time I based up figures I overdid it and put myself off for the past year. Most of these figures have been lying around on trays since then.

In this batch there are three forty man, and three thirty two man, British Napoleonic battalions. There are also two Austrian 48 man battalions and two really lovely Spanish 32 man battalions which are conversions made by either Doug Mason or Bill Gaskin. I can't remember who is responsible for these darlings. I bought several bags of them from a friend about ten years ago. There are still a few bags, some Spanish and some Porguguese, waiting for me to buy officers to go with them.

Waiting on my table, to base, are two 32 man Austrian Landwehr battalions, a battalion of 36 Austrian grenzer, two Austrian 48 man battalions, a 36 man Irish Legion battalion. I'm sure I have more trays of unbased figures in a pile somewhere. I'll try not to find them before these are all based, so as not to put myself off with another bout of figure blindness.

At this stage of the basing process I step away and let my cast of thousands take over. They will use crushed sea shells to make the ground work, then dye it with oil paint and dry brush it. I'm still trying to import some Silfor tufts, and flowers, to offset my bases.

28mm Napoleonic Spanish Guerrillas

2012-01-14T19:18:00.000+06:00

The title of this post may be considered misleading. The figures pictured are in fact from three of the French Foreign Regiments; Isenburg, Neuchatel, and Preuss. Many men from these regiments went over to the Spanish during the Peninsula war. The Guerrilla leader Mina, in particular, received drafts of recruits from these regiments.

I am putting together three of Mina's regiments and one other Guerrilla regiment. I'm using mainly Front Rank figures (these are also Front Rank's figures) but also some figures from the Perry's Carlist range. Front Rank have excellent Guerillas.

Spanish regiments, even Guerrilla regiments, were very keen on uniforms and maintained them when they could. Most recruits would have been in Mina's brown uniforms when a new draft of uniforms arrived. But Guerrillas also used captured clothing, even from Spanish deserters when they caught them, for a bounty. So a mix of clothing would have obtained in regiments, in between new issue of clothing at least.

Anyway, these are my excuses for uniform selection and I'm sticking to them.

Ottoman infantry archers and Spahi 15th century cavalry

2012-01-14T18:52:00.000+06:00

Here are some Old Glory Ottoman archers and Spahi which I just finished. I have another unit of archers almost done, but they differ in only minor changes to the uniform. I bought these figures to see how Old Glory's Ottoman range is. The figures look pretty good. They were all well cast with minimal flash. I know that we used to moan about Old Glory in days or yore, but they seem to have their act together now, making many of their lines viable. They also have a wealth of new figures coming online all the time. For my next trick, I'll be buying some Old Glory Ancients. I had some badly painted Cartheginians before I left the UK, and sold them off. This will be only my second foray into ancient.

28mm Napoleonic Austrian, British and French infantry

2012-01-11T16:36:00.000+06:00

Here are some pictures of my Austrian, British 71st Highlander, French line, light and Guard infantry. The Austrians are painted a greyish off white, which I must have done years ago. For the past few years, five years or so, I've painted them cream colour, and then used sepia ink to stain them, before highlighting. I seem to remember these Austrians had to be repainted a few times to get the result white enough.

I'm looking at hand woven patterns for blankets and other cloth at the moment, with a view to painting them on my Napoleonic Spanish Guerillas. I think I must be going strange. This hobby has taken an odd tangent.

15mm German Panther tank breakthrough

2012-01-04T15:29:00.001+06:00

I've been fooling around painting these tanks for about a year now. I keep bringing them back out to touch up, or to start again. I'm finally finished (I think!) My technique is to black undercoat the model, then air brush on a mid tone for the base colour (desert yellow in this case), but leaving some areas black on the tank. Then I air brush over the two other colours for the camouflage. At this state I dry brush the tank with a mix of pale sand (mostly) and stone grey. This is essential to bring out detail on the tank. It is nerve wracking to have done so much work and then to take the chance of spoiling it, but you may as well not bother if you aren't going to dry brush at this stage. The results were still not satisfactory, and I tried various washes, which were a waste of time, both before and after dry brushing (and repainting..). I was after more contrast on the model, so what I eventually did was to airbrush black onto the model as a last step, around the turret, and then in a few other spots. Voila! I was at last satisfied.

For my next trick I have some 28mm Bolt Action and Berlin or Bust vehicles I'm working on. It was seeing Troop of Shewe's excellent work on 28mm tanks that got me interested in airbrushing.

I'll be selling ready painted 15mm vehicles. Now I have the hang of things hopefully it won't take a year for each batch of 20 vehicles..

Here are all of the vehicles I've just finished brought to you in marvelous repeatovision.


15mm Command Decision Panther tanks air brushed


15mm Command Decision Panther tanks air brushed


15mm Command Decision Panther tanks air brushed


15mm Command Decision Panther tanks air brushed


15mm Command Decision Panther tanks air brushed


15mm Command Decision Panther tanks air brushed


15mm Command Decision Panther tanks air brushed


15mm Command Decision Panther tanks air brushed


15mm Command Decision Panther tanks air brushed


15mm Command Decision Panther tanks air brushed


15mm Command Decision Panther tanks air brushed


15mm Command Decision Panther tanks air brushed

10mm Napoleonic Bavarians, French (Dutch) and Russians

2011-12-31T14:52:00.001+06:00

Here are some Bavarians, French (Dutch) and Russians which I've based for Le Feu Sacre (apart from the Pavlov Grenadiers who don't lend themselves to this sort of basing).

I am thinking of offering ready painted Napoleonic armies in 10mm. I have fallen in love with the Le Feu Sacre rules, which I find better than others I've tried for a club game, where you may only have a few hours.

This is my effort to check out Magister Militum (Bavarians and Dutch Lancers), who I might buy the figures from, as well as to try out LFS basings for 10mm - or at least my rendition of it.

Someone donated the other figures which I've painted when they were left over from their project. These figures are from Old Glory's "Magnificent Little Toy Soldier Company" range. They are very cheap when you buy them with an Old Glory army card (40% off). The infantry are fantastic, if you change your basing system to suit their strip size. That is what I've done with my War of the Spanish Succession armies. But they won't work for Le Feu Sacre, where there are some significant points to relative base sizes.

Dutch "Red" lancers of the Imperial Guard

Napoleonic Bavarian infantry

Pavlov Grenadiers

Russian artillery

Russian Cuirassier

Russian Hussars

Russian Uhlans

Russian Uhlans of the Polish Regiment

War of the Spanish Succession Irish Brigade in 10mm

2011-12-31T14:33:00.000+06:00

I had my painters paint up the Irish Brigade for me for a Christmas present to myself. I am slowly building up forces for a Blenheim game. Not all of these regiments fought at Blenheim, but I decided to get the lot done at once anyway. I have one girl who can hand paint these flags very accurately. She has a very good eye.

War of the Spanish Succession Clare Irish Regiment in French Service

War of the Spanish Succession Dillon Irish Regiment in French Service

War of the Spanish Succession Dorrington Irish Regiment in French Service

War of the Spanish Succession Fitzgerald Irish Regiment in French Service

War of the Spanish Succession Galmoy Irish Regiment in French Service

War of the Spanish Succession Lee Irish Regiment in French Service

40mm Sash and Sabre Napoleonics

2011-07-25T14:03:00.002+06:00

A potential customer just asked me if I have any photos of my painted Sash and Sabre figures. I have these Napoleonics, which I've painted for some friends, but haven't posted yet because I'm hoping to buy some silfor tufts to put on these bases.

I leave the bayonets as they are so that customers can bend them straight. You want to leave them alone, as far as possible, to keep them strong.

Napoleonic British 79th Highlanders (figures from Sash and Sabre) painted by Reinforcements by Post in Bangladesh

Napoleonic British 42nd Highlanders (figures from Sash and Sabre) painted by Reinforcements by Post in Bangladesh

Napoleonic French Dutch Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard (figures from Sash and Sabre) painted by RBP

Napoleonic French 4th Swiss Regiment (figures from Sash and Sabre) painted by Reinforcements by Post

New Panther picture with diffuse lighting

2011-06-05T15:03:00.000+06:00

Following suggestions from http://www.theminiaturespage.com I tried taking a picture of my tanks with diffuse lighting. The lighting in my light box comes from four 2' tube lights mounted in a square box that you generally see in an office ceiling. To make the light diffuse, I taped thin packing tissue under this box, so the light has to pass through this. I think the tanks look better. I may now be able to fool around with the image to accurately depict what the tank really looks like.

Photo frustration with my airbrushed tanks

2011-05-31T14:30:00.000+06:00

I have been painting, airbrushing, washing, dry brushing, tweaking and teasing some WW2 German panther tanks for a few months. In life they look fantastic. I'm not just saying that because I put so much work into them. They really do look great. They have bags of contrast, dark spaces that look dirty, faded out cammo (actually you can hardly tell that they are cammo, they are so faded and "dirty"), yet the dry brushing picks up all the raised areas, especially the zimmermit anti magnetic mine paste, while leaving the dark areas still looking dark.

So what is the problem? Well, the photos I have been able to take look awful. There is no exposure setting that can really show the dark areas, while maintaining any light. There is no setting that shows the light areas properly at all. The best I can do is fade the whole thing to a light colour which totally wipes out the contrast. It looks like I've done a crappy job.

My next hope is to combine images with a HDR package like GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program). HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. Computer programs, or the cameras themselves, combine several exposures to produce a range of exposure that would not normally be possible. Here are three images I took at different exposure settings. Firstly, the one the camera wanted, next -1 exposure value, lastly -2 exposure values.

This is the image my camera wanted to take. It has totally zapped the contrast. Those areas that look a little darker in the photo are really dark, with that yellow colour dry brushed over showing up the zimmermit.

Second photo at -1 exposure value.

Third photo, at -2 exposure value compared to the first, and coming closer to the darkness for some of the dark areas (which are still darker in reality)

The tanks are from Old Glory USA.

10mm 7YW Pendraken Prussian infantry

2011-05-08T14:55:00.001+06:00

I've finished 38 Prussian battalions. This is just a sneak peak. The units are musketeer, fusilier, and mixed grenadier regiments in a variety of poses. First battalions have a mounted officer.

28mm Old Glory Sudan Camel Corps

2011-05-08T14:43:00.000+06:00

I bought a few bags of Old Glory, mainly Renaissance and Colonial, figures to see what they are like. I've an interest in Sudan games, having seen an article about Peter Guilder's collection in Battle Games magazine.

I think these figures are really nice. They can add some variety to your colonial games i.e. break up all those Perry figures..

The Ride of the Valkyries in 15mm

2011-04-10T11:24:00.001+06:00

I'm painting a huge Vietnam Commission for a customer. Here are some of the eighteen helicopters in the order. I didn't get all the decals, which were forgotten when the order was posted to me. So you will see that some helicopters are "bare". The Helicopters are from Battlefront.

The gun ship's sharks teeth were hand painted as Battlefront's transfers are hopeless.

Where there are markings on helicopters, they are for the the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion which famously supported elements of the 7th cavalry at LZ Xray. Battlefront probably decided to offer these decals due to the popularity of the film "We were soldiers" which depicted events of that battle.

Command Decision 15mm Panther tanks

2011-04-09T13:46:00.001+06:00

I've actually painted, and repainted, these tanks a few times. I gave up on my harder and Steenbeck airbrushes (two!) and ordered an Iwata. After fooling around with the Iwata I got terrible results until I realised that the nozzle was clogged. Doh!

This present incarnation of my tank tactics has the vehicles base coated, then ink washed, and then "highlighted" in parts again with the base colour, which is desert yellow in this case. The over sprayed camouflage colours were sprayed quite faintly (except on tank A where the brown came out a bit heavy) as this is what I've seen from most period photography. This could have been as a result of wear and tear.

I've lettered the tanks to make commenting easier. Any thoughts?

Italeri Roman infantry (set number 6021)

2011-04-06T13:00:00.000+06:00

There are many nice, and very cheap, plastics sets on the market. I've painted this set of Romans for someone in Australia

The building in the background was there so I could check the colour balance for the camera. I broke my Canon SLR camera, which will take months to get fixed, and have had to use my "holiday" camera. After a lot of experimentation I managed to get some decent pictures. At least the colours in the photograph are an accurate reflection of the colours on the figures.

28mm American War of Independence (AWI) militia

2011-03-04T22:41:00.000+06:00

I've just finished these figures in a mixed group someone sent me. I am not sure, but I think these figures are from Perry miniatures. There are some other Perry miniatures in the figures I received, but none come close in terms of the quality of the casting. If all Perry figures were like this I'd never buy anything else.

I made the fence from 2.5mm thick 3 ply wood. I'd seen something similar at the Tripples show in Sheffield. It makes a nice prop for photos, and works with everything from 15mm to 40mm, depending on where you place it in the photo. With smaller figures I put it in the 'distance', so that the figures don't look out of scale.

10mm Seven Years War Prussians for Pendrakens competition

2011-02-28T20:25:00.003+06:00

These are my entries for Pendraken's painting competition. It is surprising what can be done with 10mm miniatures. These figures are far more detailed than some of the 15mm castings of yesteryear (if there is such a word.)

Everything is based on 0.8mm thick formica. I bought the material in an 8 feet by 4 feet sheet. It is intended for laminating desks, tables, etc. In sizes of up to a couple of inches square, it is very rigid. It doesn't warp, and you can cut it with scissors.

All the flags are hand painted.

These are the famous 5th "Brandenburg" Cuirassier.

The Prussian 5th Black" or "Death Hussars". A 'must have' for all budding Fredericks.

King Frederick William, of Prussia, had a big fetish for big men. He accumulated two and a half thousand large men, most over six feet tall, and some more than seven, by any means, including kidnapping. When Frederick the Great (Frederick the second) ascended to the throne he reformed the late King's beloved Lieb-Grenadier regiment into a single Grenadier Guard battalion. This is a depiction of that battalion.

A twelve pounder Prussian artillery piece & crew.

This is the 40th Infantry Regiment, a Fusilier regiment, from the Prussian army of Seven Years War. I think they were uniformed on the same principle laid out in Johnny Cash's song "A boy named sue." Wearing this sort of clobber turns you into a hard man after one visit to the local pub ;-)

10mm TB line miniatures Warmaster Ancients (WMA)

2011-02-06T14:25:00.007+06:00

When they aren't busy making Bond girls, the Italians turn their hand to expertly crafting fine 10mm figures. These figures are from Tridente Bologna's TB line miniatures. They are Central European Peasants with bow (TB4180). I have them based for Warmaster Ancients, to play the WMA Medieval supplement. I've painted eight units but only took pictures of a couple of units as the only difference between units is the tabbard colours.

I have many, many, more units in the pipeline. Actually, I think I have everything 10mm Medieval miniature they sell. I have some more peasants, with various weapons, close to completion and Teutonic knights that almost ready.

Old Glory 28mm 1st edition Bavarian infantry

2011-02-02T15:58:00.004+06:00

I haven't posted in a while. This is my opening salvo for the new year. I have finished thirteen battalions of Bavarian infantry: ten line and three light. Each unit is 36 men strong. This should be enough Bavarian infantry to be going on with. Actually, I have enough castings for a few more units. I am thinking of painting one as Baden infantry.
The figures are full of character. People who like Front Rank probably hate them.

Old Glory 28mm Fuzzie Wuzzies

2010-12-07T12:39:00.003+06:00

I saw pictures of Peter Guilder's Sudan collection in Battle Games magazine. Ispirational stuff. I would like to put on colonial games at some point in the future. I decided to buy one bag of Fuzzie Wuzzie from Old Glory to see what the figures are like. For colonial enemies I want to have an inexpensive bulk. With OGs army card, these figures work out at just under $20 for 32 figures.

The figures are quite detailed and paint up nicely. I think I will be buying more.

Crusader 28mm WW2 British, Germans and Russians II

2010-12-02T09:42:00.003+06:00

Following a suggestion of "Combat Painter" I painted one more German, this time a bit more green.

Crusader 28mm WW2 British, Germans and Russians

2010-11-30T11:42:00.004+06:00

I have been a big fan of Crusader WW2 figures for a long time. I bought them in wild excess, from shows, from flea markets, and even traded for them. I just haven't gotten around to painting them until now! Oh well, eventually everything bubbles up to the top of the lead pile.

I like to paint the Soviets in a variety of colours, to reflect their ragged appearance. If you look at pictures of Soviet soldiers, not the posed ones!, you can see that variety of shades is greater than in other contemporary armies. Tops and bottoms often mismatched.

I made these fences after seeing some nice terrain at Salute earlier this year. I have also made some barbed wire obstacles, using scale barbed wire you can buy at shows.

I will probably start selling these as ready painted, both to reduce my collection and so I can diversify into some BAM / Warlord figures to create (even more) variety. Price will probably be $4 per figure, with $5 for the Paras in Cammo. This is a lot cheaper than sending the figures out to me to be painted. BTW, these are at my Museum standard.

I picked up three 28mm German vehicles along the way. I will be trying my hand at these soon.

HAT 28mm Plastic Prussians

2010-11-11T12:45:00.002+06:00

HAT sent me some of their plastic Prussians. Here they are, based up for "In The Grand Manner."

Others have already made comparisons of the size of these figures in relation to other miniatures (see here.) I won't say much about assembly except to mention that most figures are two part castings; a back pack piece and then the rest of the figure. It wasn't a big deal to take them off the sprue and clean them up.

I think the detail on the is are good. HAT already make Bavarians and some French. I think the figures cost about ten pounds a box. There are 32 figures in a box.

Finished Ultra Modern Soviet vehicles

2010-09-30T17:02:00.004+06:00

I have finished the Soviet Ultra Modern 15mm Command Decision vehicles. Once again I 'dusted' the vehicles by over spraying them on the sides, and slightly on the front, with a light mist of vallejo pale sand. The effect was wiped out by matt varnish the last time I did this. So I will dust at the end.

I am not sure that the painting is reflected in these images. I will have to look at my camera setting after this weekend (which is Friday in Bangladesh.)

Ultra modern Soviet vehicles - after 'dusting' and matt varnish

2010-09-30T10:18:00.007+06:00

Here are the same vehicles after they have been 'dusted' (sprayed with pale sand to simulate dust) and then matt varnished, with Vallejo varnish. The effects of the dusting were wiped out by the matt varnish, as was a lot of the contrast. I planned for some of the contrast to go at this stage. The models have turned out as I wanted, but I think that I should dust them after varnishing, so that this effect can be seen.

The colouring is now quite subtle. The vehicles attract the eye; I find myself trying to work out what colour they are. I don't know if I have expressed that very well. They look more interesting than an object which is flat.

When I have a chance to 'dust' the vehicles again I will take a few more photos from a slightly higher angle. I hope that will give you more of an idea what they look like from a gamers eye view.

Command Decision Modern Soviet vehicles

2010-09-29T11:49:00.007+06:00

This is a work in progress. Inspired by the excellent work of "Troop of Shewe" I bought an IWATA airbrush (my third airbrush, since the other two didn't work out for me.) Over the past months, on and off, I have been putting together WW2 and modern vehicles. These soviet vehicles are my first trial. They are not finished. I still have to 'dust' the vehicles with my airbrush. Since that could trash my work I decided to take some interim photos.

What I like about Troop of Shewe's work is that his vehicles seem to 'glow'. I tried to recreate this by painting the vehicles dark green, over a black undercoat, and then 'high lighting' with successively lighter colours, but only in some spots of the vehicle. After this was done I used heavily diluted black ink wash to 'blend' everything together. It was nerve wracking to coat the vehicles with black ink! I think it worked out OK (so far.) I applied some dental cement to the vehicles in places to simulate dirt, and then brushed this with an earth tone, when the model was painted. I am not sure if I will do this for other models (although I have a few dozen undercoated models which have this dental cement in place, so I am stuck with the system for the next batches of vehicles.)

It is difficult to get the contrast on the vehicles right. The black ink wash toned everything down. Now I will 'dust' the vehicles by spraying Vallejo pale sand onto them from a distance. That is going to tone down the contrast again. Finally I will varnish with vallejo matt varnish, which does take some of the contrast out of any subject.

I am painting 12 BTR60s, 3 BRDM2 scout cars, 3 BRDM2 command variants and 3 BRDM2 with Spandrel A/T vehicles in this batch. I photographed the lot. A bit boring, but otherwise one vehicle may not be representative of my system. If I now find I trash the vehicles with 'dusting' and varnish, I will know roughly where I got to.
This white background, for the photos, is something new. It is actually a silk 'Panjabi' with an interesting weave (that doesn't show up in these photos.) I was concerned that my previous use of a static grass background, with some buildings, wasn't showing up the figures themselves.

WW2 1/32nd (54mm) Plastic Airfix US Paratroops

2010-08-29T13:17:00.004+06:00

Quick update on my (1/32nd scale) WW2 US Paratroops. I have finished the shoulder patches. These are for the 82nd Airborne.
The first guy is not surrendering! He is holding a grenade in one hand and his Thompson in the other.

My first airbrush efforts 15mm Modern pickups

2010-08-28T11:55:00.004+06:00

These are Command Decision 15mm pick up trucks, from Old Glory 25s, which are intended to be used as 'technicals' for modern scenarios in Somalia, Iraq etc. I chose them for my first airbrushing project as they were simple. I have a couple of hundred other vehicles primed and ready to go after this!
I airbrushed the vehicles previously but was not happy with the result. I ended up using a black ink wash over the lot, which improved the job significantly, and then airbrushing in the white 'highlights' again.

I want my work to look like vehicles from the excellent "Troop of Shewe". His vehicles seem to glow. It seems this is achieved by first painting the vehicles in a lighter shade, and then painting parts of the vehicles in the final colour(s) to make them "pop". I undercoated black, as I wanted anything I missed to disappear from sight. Next I hit the vehicles with a very light grey, which was to be the contrast colour. Finally (I thought) I slowly built up patches of white in the 'highlight' areas (just highlighted by contrast to the area surrounding). After a black in wash I repeated the white highlighting.

These photos seem to kill some of the contrast. I will have to fool around with my camera settings.

Next step - cold war Soviet vehicles.

WW2 1/32nd (54mm) Plastic Airfix US Paratroops

2010-08-26T12:01:00.002+06:00

These are some more of the figures I bought at the Tripples Wargames show in Sheffield. I have hundreds of 20mm US paras to paint up, so I am painting these as a test of the uniform colour I am using.

I will be adding shoulder patches in time.

Warhammer 40K Cadians in WW2 German splinter cammo

2010-08-21T15:06:00.004+06:00

Please forgive the fluff that appears to have colonised the lens of my camera. None of the detail was hidden, so I didn't take the snaps again. I actually painted these Cadians over a year ago. But I never got around to highlighting the solid colours.

It was a real headache to paint this scheme. I must remind myself never to do it again!

Unfortunately I seem to have misplaced one figure. I now have nineteen instead of twenty figures. Somewhere around my office a Cadian is lurking ambush.

WW2 1/32nd (54mm) Plastic Airfix Afrika Korps

2010-08-03T12:55:00.002+06:00

These are some more of the figures I bought at the Tripples show in April in the UK.I had hundreds of Airfix figures when I was a child. I used to take them out into the garden and have mock wars across shrubberies; one force holding a rocky feature and another attacking it.

20mm French WW2 infantry

2010-07-25T13:35:00.003+06:00

I have Australians, British, Germans, Indians, (every theater), Russians and US in my 20mm collection. So far I don't have any French. That is about to change. I just painted these excellent 20mm French figures for a customer. I think they are absolutely lovely.

The figures are, according to the customer, a mix of Fantasin (Warmodelling) and Battlefield miniatures Blitz range. The better ones, he says, are from Blitz range.

Battlefield miniatures Blitz range French can be found here. There are images of their figures on the page, so you can sort out which are Blitz figures from the Fantasin.

28mm Napoleonic Sailors of the Guard

2010-07-20T19:38:00.002+06:00

I finished basing these Napoleonic Sailors of the Guard up today. Everyone should have a unit in their collection, with their splendir blue and orange uniforms.

Britannia miniatures 20mm British Paras

2010-07-20T09:43:00.003+06:00

I have had these lads sitting around since 2004. That is a long time to spend circling the landing zone ;-) Eventually everything bubbles up to the top of the lead mountain. These brave soldiers have finally parachuted into action. I don't know how many I have painted, but there are a lot. I probably bought a couple of brigades in Command Decision terms.

The figures are from Britannia miniatures. I love these figures and have thousands from their World War 2 range. Their web site is www.britanniainkerman.com/

I don't know what happened with this piat. For some reason part of the barrel has been painted like jacket on a Vickers HMG. Have to get to work on that!

The officer with the brolly, from the film 'A Bridge too far', is in the photo below.

I posted some pictures of British Paras in 6mm yesterday. You can find some pictures of my 54mm Paras over on my old blog here Gamer in Exile

Here are some pictures of some 15mm British Paras I finished a few weeks ago.

Thanks for looking.

Neil
http://www.reinforcementsbypost.com

6mm British Paras

2010-07-19T19:52:00.003+06:00

These are Adler miniatures. They are mainly in helmets, apart from some officers and crew, which is a pity as the red berets look nice and break up the figures nicely.

The bases are made from formica sheets, which are used for laminating MDF furniture. They are somewhere between 0.8 and 1mm thick. That would be too diddy to handle, but my basing gunk bulks the base up just enough. At least the bases do not overwhelm the figures. I may try this stuff for my 20mm paras which are on 1" square bases (in 2s).

Perry and Elite Napoleonic Highlanders of 42nd and 79th Regiments

2010-07-17T13:15:00.005+06:00

I have had three units of Highlanders 'on the go' for months. I have been trying various ways of painting the kilts. This is what I have finally come up with. I have not finished with basing yet as I have to order some 'tufts' of grass from Germany. The first images are of a battalion of Perry Napoleonic Highlanders.

I have one Elite miniatures Highlander casualty on this base as a point of interest.

Next up are a battalion of the 42nd Highlanders. These figures are from Elite miniatures.

I got loads of casualties with this battalion. There were four lying down, and another four-six (haven't checkd) falling. I have to wonder if Elite just give you what they have lying around!

People love Elite miniatures because they are very dynamic. The figures are marvelous considering they must have been designed fifteen or twenty years ago.

I had quite a job finding spots to fit in all the casualties.

I don't flag my Napoleonics as I don't have a permanent Wargames home. There is no gaming in Bangladesh. Here is the third battalion. The 79th Highlanders with Elite miniatures.

I now have six battalions of highlanders; two 42nd, one 74th, two 79th, and one 92nd. There are two 48s and four 40 man battalions. It may seem like a lot, but who knows when you may want to fight out a theoretical Scottish civil war at 1:10.

The stuff on the bases is crushed sea shells. The Itinerant gamer had a tutorial on basing where he mentioned 'budgie grit' as a basing ingredient. Further investigation told me that this was crushed sea shells. I went to our local beach and bought strings of shells which are sold as souvenirs. We crush them in a pestle and mortar. A courser mix is used for larger figures, a finer mix for smaller scales.

Thanks for looking.

Neil
http://www.reinforcementsbypost.com

Napoleon crossing the Alps

2010-07-10T12:21:00.007+06:00

I must have had this mini for ten years. I think I got it at a Salute show many moons ago. I don't even know who made the figure. Napoleon is depicted as in the famous painting by Jacques-Louis David.

I painted the figure some months ago and only just got around to painting the horse. I base coated the horse gray, oil painted it paynes gray, dragged off the oil paint after a time, dappled the result. I didn't like how it turned out so I dry brushed over the dappling to make the result more subtle. The images have come out a bit darker than the mini is in reality.

I am not sure what I will do with the mini now. It will have to be mounted individually. I painted this figure at my painting studio in Bangladesh "Reinforcements by Post."

Painting horses with oil paint

2010-07-08T13:37:00.001+06:00

I have been painting some Elite and Old Glory horses using the 'oil drag' method. It is pretty simple, you base coat the horse and then block in a colour, such as yellow ochre. Then you liberally baste the beast in a darker oil paint such as burnt umber. You leave the paint on the horse for some time. Some people whip the paint off after five minutes, others leave the paint for an hour or more. When you wipe off the paint, with a cotton cloth (old t-shirt) there is a residual stain on the original paint. More paint is lifted from raised areas, creating highlights.

This time I have been painting highlights on the horses with oils. After finishing the process outlined above, I paint a light line of colour onto the high points of the horse. Then I wipe the brush clean and 'blend' the lighter colour into the surround by brushing away from the light line of paint. This gradually fades the lighter colour into the darker background. Oil paint is very forgiving. You can move it around very easily with the brush, or even wipe it off with a cloth.

I have also been using the oil paint to dapple some of my white and grey horses. I was in the UK recently and dug around in my collection. I found a beautiful Cuirassier figure where the horse for the trumpeter was dappled. I wanted to recreate this effect so I painted up a hundred or so horses in white and light grey. After preparing the horses with the oil drag method, I used black ink to give a patchy darkening to some areas of the horse. I had noticed that dapple horse have a varying colour 'under' the dappling.

The dappling I have created is quite strong. There will be a highly detailed rider in the middle of the horse. Anything around it has to be quite strong to show up. If it turns out I need to fade the dappling I can dry brush lightly over the lot in white. This may look even more interesting.

I was struck by how beautiful the horse looked in gloss. These horses are destined for my Napoleonics, so they must be matted down. But I think I will have to consider painting up another period just in gloss. I am thinking about painting the Minden range of 7YW figures.

It might be interesting to paint the whole army with oil paints. I will have to pick up some more oils when I am next in the UK.