Yesteryear Y-14 Maxwell Roadster

Hi Chaps,

I was rummaging around my bits boxes-I have a lot of those as I am sure most war gamers do when I came across a rather worn looking model car. My late father had given me the car many years ago and it has survived three house moves and lived for a decade out in a shed! So I decided to do something with a shabby but (to me) valuable little keep sake.

I drilled out all the rivets holding the model together and stripped the metal parts using boiling water and caustic soda crystals. This is pretty horrible stuff so one has to be careful with it.

During this process I managed to lose the steering wheel and the spare tyre-I blame shift work and no time. I moulded a new tyre using greenstuff and Omiroyu (not sure how its spelt) and will source a new steering wheel at some point, probably by taking something off another model.

Some parts were undercoated black and the body was done in white... then onto the best bit of painting and adding little details. The canopy was always missing so greenstuff was shaped into a roll behind the driver. 

So the model is now complete and is ready for service maybe in the Back of Beyond, VBCW or something similar. I am pretty pleased with the end result and will plop it onto a warbase mdf base at some point. This won't be the last vehicle as I was given a box full of Lledo/Yesteryear vehicles... 1930's technicals may have to be built with a few of them!

Keep blogging Chaps you keep me sane!

A Lazy Weekend of Painting

Hi Chaps,

I have had the best weekend in months and it has consisted of painting miniatures, watching youtube about painting miniatures and beer. Perfect. Almost.

Taking pictures of my minis is starting to drive me nuts. Even using my wifes iPhone with two lamps still produces pants pics.. maybe I am too far away? Anyway if anyone has any tips or can recommend a midi camera to purchase I am all beers..... sorry ears.

Here is what was completed this weekend, 10 chainrasp (guys in bedsheets) 4 mymourn banshees and a handful of zombies from coolminornot.

A little hobby time each day

Hi Chaps,

We all experience a busy life and I find it hard to put aside some time for our hobby but this week I deliberately set aside 30-40 minutes after work in an attempt to see what could be done. I have no big plans in mind but I have been inspired by posts on the Lead Adventure Forum (a great site) and so had a go at some colonial Brits.

Mistakes have been made and the first mistake was a black undercoat! Vallejo Khaki grey 880 does not cover black! So I was slowed by having to paint 3 thin coats to even start covering the base coat....

Still progress was made which included assembling 20 models and with enough time to build a cart for scatter terrain and even begin a Battalion HQ building though this may be stuck in a box for some time.

I do envy the people who have a full on love of a period at the moment I am floating around the hobby but I have discovered something strange. Previously I would happily mix manufacturers, especially back in the day-my 20mm Airfix fought alongside Irregular miniatures quite happily... now that makes me shudder! Accidentally I have become a wargaming snob!? Recently I painted some medieval from different manufacturers but they don't match at all... whats going on? Have we all been spoiled or has it always been this way for people?

Oh well I will leave with a pic of the front of my HQ which is as far as I have got... Keep blogging Guys you keep me sane.

 

The Untidy Desk

Hi Chaps,

Well we are into February which is usually a busy hobby time for myself but I am experiencing a bit of a lull this year... I have no idea why!  The long winter nights are great for keeping warm around the painting desk or reading a book, maybe it is the mild winter to blame!?

Anyway in an effort to kickstart the years hobby projects I did buy a few boxes of Perry medieval and a stack of different sprues from ebay… as yet I just have a couple of units for Lion Rampant painted and based but I am not getting the urge to do much more with them yet. I am sure that we all have experienced a dip in our devotion to the hobby at some point?

What I did end up with was an unholy desk mess as all the clipping, gluing and parts storage seems to produce a dozen little storage boxes every time I use plastic figures!

The desk will be cleared ready for the arrival of yet more plastics in the form of Perry Sudan British which will serve in the North West Frontier. Another Dan Mersey book is also on the way and I have had some great help over on the Lead Adventure Forum to try and source a picture of a British cart...

Have fun guys and keep posting.