Painting for a friend (5) and Curt's Challenge.

Well this post should get me back on schedule. It is my own schedule so no one other than me really need worry about it, but none the less it is easier for me to try to keep it as regular as possible.

Today I am showing the final part of the painting I have done for a Friend. Having shown a 28mm Gatling gun yesterday It is only fair that I show a Nordenfelt Machine gun. Again this is by Perry miniatures. I have done a Copplestone one in the past for the same chap. It is interesting to note that they did have different carriages. I like the variety this gives, but that just may be me.

As you can see we also have a rear view of the same model. The blue uniforms have come out a little bright due to the flash, they actually look a bit darker in daylight. This model was harder to put together than the Gatling gun I showed yesterday but at least I did not have to balance a figure on the "seat". Again it was well cast and required almost no cleaning up prior to assembly so I cannot and will not make any complaints about it.

And As I suspected you would all want a group shot of all the finished figures he we are as well.  They may be a little cluttered in the picture, but I do so hope it gives an idea of what they should all look like. Officers ratings and Gunners all together. As mentioned yesterday this is about 1/2 the troops I have done for him on this project now and I think should they ever reach the table top they will look spanking in BLUE!

The Picture below is just for Fran. To demonstrate that big boobies are not the be all and end all of female beauty. Each to there own of course and if he likes women who will develop back ache in later life or who can keep there knees warm when they take of their bras that is his choice.

Now to talk about the challenge. The painting challenge that is. As several people including myself have joined the so called 600 club. I thought I would like to offer them a challenge and suggest that we all paint and donate a 28mm figure to the first person in the group to reach that target. As we are all bloggers you know whom so ever wins will put the figures on their blog as well so double exposure. (That has nothing to do with boobies BTW). Which in turn means that we will all do our best to paint the figure to a high standard.

They have yet to agree to this of course, but I think it could add a little extra flavour to the competition. If you are one of the 600 Club kindly let me know your thoughts.

That's it for today. Probably an AAR on Monday and maybe the start of the challenge as well.

GOOD LUCK to all those taking part and especially the 600 club.

Painting for a friend (4)

Not making a big thing about it but I just did not get the time to Blog yesterday. I will blog again tomorrow though to get me back on schedule so you have been warned.

Today I have finished a Perry Miniatures Gatling gun and crew. Continuing the British Naval landing brigade figures I am painting for a friend. We tend to forget just how large and monstrous these guns actually were. Having seen the one in the Royal Armouries in Leeds I can confirm that this one is indeed in scale. They really are heavy and brutal pieces of kit more than capable of chewing up the enemy.

The model went together very easily with no trimming , filing or mould lines and a minimum of flash. The only problem was that the seated figure. he either refused to sit properly or looked like he was not operating the gun. Finally he did fit into place at the very last moment when the carriage was being stuck to the base, so all ends well.

I will finish the force for him tomorrow and I know from experience you will want a group shot so you can expect one then. It will only have 1/2 the infantry though as he has already taken the first batch back.

That is it for today. As mentioned above I expect to do a final post on these troops tomorrow as tat now clears the painting table for the challenge which starts on Sunday. I will not be starting the challenge until Monday though so most people should get a little head start on me, I should be able to catch up though.

Anyway take care all and hope to see you all again on Saturday. Best Wishes Clint.

Palm Trees.

All the way from China.
 

One of the terrain differences between Afghanistan and Arabia is the foliage. As I will be reusing my Afghanistan boards for the Arab Revolt game, it is important to make a few changes. While the architecture is not the same, it is close enough for us wargamers to use without worry. Yes If I was writing an architectural thesis I would point out all the differences but as a wargamer I don't feel the need. From that point of view they are so close as to make no difference. However simple things do make a difference.

The most obvious one being palm trees. With this in mind I scoured eBay and found a company in China selling them at a bargain price. Including postage I was able to secure 50 model palms for £7.99. They took 11 Days to arrive and I must say I am really quite pleased with them. Obviously ordering from abroad does make you wonder about quality, shipping costs and returns. But I have got to say it was totally hasslefree.






3 Trees and a penny!

Here are three randomly selected trees. They are all very similar but trimming the trunk will add enough variety I think. Given that I will want a board 4' x 6' for the Arab Revolt game I will be looking at 6 boards each 2' on a face. 50 trees over 6 boards means I can invest 8 trees to each board. Which seems to be about the correct density having looked at pictures of Arabian Peninsular towns of the period. Obviously there will be a variety of tree densities, but 8 trees to a board has the right feel I think. Once I start placing them on the boards this plan may change. It is hoped that this very simple addition to the boards will transport them from Afghanistan directly to Arabia.

At this stage I foresee drilling directly into the boards and treating the trees as plugs. This will be far easier than placing them on separate bases and mean they are less likely to get knocked over.

That is todays very quick update. No painting finished just yet as only a couple of things on the painting table as I prepare for Curt's painting challenge. Thanks for reading I shall post again on Thursday so until then, take care and smile if you can. All the best Clint

Practice Camel Painting!

Today I woke up (always a good start I find) with more energy and enthusiasm than I have for about 6 weeks. I even managed to do some DIY. Yes I know a shocker! Anyway I was experimenting on painting some 20mm WW1 Arabs! It has been an open secret that I plan a WW1 game based around the 1916-18 Arab revolt for the BROADSIDE show next year using IT MINIATURES (click name to link) > I will be using IT miniatures because Tim at the club owns the company and this should let a few more people who attend the show or casually look at this blog that his range is quite extensive. Additionally I have never personally seen a WW1 Arab revolt game at any show. That is not you cue to bombard me with links of a plethora of Arab revolt games. Ok you can if you want. I will not talk today about how I plan to implement this game, or the terrain or rules or any details at all about the interesting history and background.
Instead I will talk about how this will fit into Curts painting challenge. At this stage I am thinking about 36 or 48 (they come in packs of 12) Camels with Riders and 24 Turkish foot (Yes you guessed it hey come in packs of 24) with maybe 24 Arabs on foot as well. (the Arabs did fight on both sides after all, but when fighting for the Turks did tend to adopt Turkish Army uniforms) but I might allow myself some poetic licence. Anyway and coming to the point I desperately needed to learn how to paint camels quickly. These have come out a little dark, not too dark to be unusable as Nature does do a variety of Camel tones. Generally they do tend to be lighter though. So I took two from a pack, at random in order to get a little practice done before the Painting challenge starts. being 20mm mounted troops I expect to earn 8 points each from the camels and riders (Not including these two of course). So just painting this force I hope to get 1/2 my points for the whole entire challenge. These two were quick to paint to a reasonable wargames standard and while not happy with the results I do find them acceptable for a wargames table so I think this is the style and level of detail I will go for.

In later posts I will go over the terrain and the rules and some background and history, but that's it for today. Thanks for reading I hope you like the idea of the game and don't find these figures too hideously painted! When sat with 30+ others I am sure they will look the business. (Fingers Crossed).

Best wishes Clint.