First 28mm Vehicle Kit.

Hi Chaps,

This was a week to forget so I bought a little treat in the form of an Sdkfz 222. I always liked this vehicle and as a child I treasured my Matchbox 1/76 version for many years (where did that go?). Anyway I have never built a kit bigger than 20mm scale so when I saw this monster sized version for less than £10 I thought that I would give it a go.

Possibly this is an old Tamiya model but I cannot be sure....what I do know is that some of the lugs did not seem to fit or be in the right spot to take the front mudguards. Obviously I am no model maker but this kit seemed odd to make. The wheels are a weak point and I will have to base the model to protect it but other than that it looks OK.

At some point I will add stowage and a few helmets/jerry cans to give a lived in look but overall I am happy with how it turned out. Indeed this has been a great distraction and a welcome change from Empire figures.

As every war gamer knows this is how new armies start and next payday may well see an order to Warlord Games for just a few more figures.....and then Plastic soldier company for their excellent value Russian box. I am so used to this process now that I don't even bother to fight it...

Keep blogging guys.

Another friend gone

Hi People,

Blogs about miniature war games are not meant to be sad places but on Monday I lost my best friend.

A memo has been sent out to my remaining friends to stay alive because this is the second friend that I have lost this year.

As you can imagine not much painting was done. Just the usual visits to relatives, platitudes and sorrowful moments. Anyway please have a look at the pictures of my mate who had just had enough. Mental health is a real issue here in the UK.

The first six pictures are of my great friend Lee who was best man at my wedding and a superb friend to myself and my children.

The last two pics are of Calvert, a gentleman, a friend and an unstoppable force of nature. I really thought that these guys were immortal.

So. Sorry for the downer. Mental health is a real issue and please just savour every day it really is a gift.

Keep blogging people, my next post will contain hobby stuff I promise.

Dwarves. This week has been about Dwarves.

Hi Chaps,

How was your week? I hope you all had it swimmingly easy as I am now having to relearn the art of making the most of ones time. If I rise at 6AM I can grab 30 or 40 minutes of silence at my painting table....the bliss of it. How do you Chaps or Chappes's fit your painting time into your week?

Using little nibblets of time to paint in is a new phenomenon for me and the techniques needed to complete a unit are rather novel as well. Monday and Tuesday usually see the base coats completed and by Thursday I can see the figures looking a lot tidier than before which spurs me onto completing the unit. Since restarting work I have only painted Games Workshop figures which tend to need a lot of attention so it would be interesting to see how this method would work on simpler figures.

Below are a unit of 10 Dwarves that got paint thrown at them this last couple of weeks (5 figures a week which is so slow...)...

The bases are under construction for the last 5, it is just a time availability thing that has slowed my painting to a Dwarf's pace. I do have a miniature plastic mountain to choose from so this next week will see yet more short guys on the desk...

All the models here were second hand from ebay and cost a lot less than 50P per figure so I can paint them and base them without worrying if they are ruined or are "game legal" to use jargon picked up on the Dakka forum which is an excellent read by the way.

Lastly is a work in progress-a standard bearer for my Empire troops...I really need to either buy some late medieval banners or develop a way of doing these better as I need a few more....

Keep blogging everyone it makes me happy to see your work and I get to use some of your great ideas.