20MM Pak 40

Hi Chaps,

Today I got a couple of hours to begin work on half of my anti tank company. This is a plastic box from Italeri and costa around £8. The quality is astounding and everything in the box is useful, It includes two guns each with five crew. The plastic is hard and can be glued and the detail is chunky for plastic and easy to paint.

I have attempted to give the figures the "Plain Tree" (?) cammo jackets but it does not really come across in the pictures. The anti tank company will be easier to ID because of this but as I only have a Marder 3 and crew left to paint to complete it I needn't have bothered I suppose.

The figures are on the large side and are not a bad mix with the even larger Valiant guys without too much difference. Tomorrow if I get up an hour sooner I will start on my little plastic pile of Zvezda mini's which are a motorcycle and side car and a mortar team,

Hobby wise this is a very exciting time for me. New spectacles (god yes-I am that old) mean that I can see these little guys clearly for the first time in years. Add to this the cheapness and plethora of models available and it becomes an opportunity to take advantage of. Speaking of cheapness I just ordered the Valiant Miniatures German Army Battle group....

http://www.valiantminiatures.com/categories/limited-period-offers/

Probably more infantry than I could ever use at once but this should be a great start too which I intend to add some resin vehicles from Grubby Tanks.

http://www.grubbytanks.com/product-category/britannia-miniatures-unpainted/20mm-world-war-two/

No company will be planning a holiday home on the back of my orders but I am getting value for money...I just need Valiant to start producing some Russians! Colin Rumford come on buddy Valiant Russian infantry please!

Keep blogging Chaps and Chappesses I need your work to inspire me and to copy from!

Bolt Action Germans and GW Empire

Hi Chaps,

This week has been a total miniature adventure-real life has been put aside (as much as is possible) because I have been reading the Bolt Action rule book and painting furiously at night. (can one paint furiously?).

It was back in the mists of time since I have felt so positive about this hobby, even if I never have a game of bolt action I have been enthused by it's new (to me) turn mechanism and it's simple mechanics, so enthused that I went and purchased some German Warlord infantry to paint. I also ordered a HMG and mortar team from Northstar, it will be nice to see if they mix in...if they do I need a few other bits to complete my infantry.

The first German section was painted using Codex Grey as the Vallejo reed green made me dizzy, the second unit are Vallejo German field grey, it was trial and error as you can see. The Imperial tropps were from Ebay, there is another unit waiting to be painted up, they seemed to be a relief from all that grey!

The Russians ill come via The Plastic Soldier Company in the form of an army box-£35 for 57 infantry, HMG's and a couple of artillery pieces!

Keep blogging Chaps.