AHPC7 - Challenge Day 71 More SYW Russians WIP 9

I've had a pretty good day at the painting desk. I've managed to get the two infantry regiments close to finished - just highlights/touch-ups, metals, flags and varnishing to do:

I should get them finished quite easily tomorrow night. That will leave me two evenings and Saturday to work on my bonus theme round entry.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 70 More SYW Russians WIP 8

Ten weeks in and twelve submissions totaling 1936 points - that's what I call productive!

My twelfth submission got posted earlier this evening:

Linky-link


Today has been quite productive. First of all, I drybrushed and flocked the bases of the cuirassiers and infantry, photographed them and submitted the post.

After that I cracked on this afternoon and finished the generals, popped them off the painting sticks and glued them onto bases:

Then I got out the airbrush and primed a few figures - my contribution to the Curtgeld (I'm in a team with Dave D and James M):

This evening I've made a good start on the final two* infantry regiments:

*for now - there are still thirteen regiments left to do to complete my ambition of having every regiment that fought in the SYW.

I've also started work on a little project:

This will be for the final bonus theme round "Characters and/or scene from a Movie/Television show/ Book or Piece of Music". Which may or may not feature the Curtgeld figures. It will have some Salutesville figures. I'll leave you guessing.

I've got tomorrow off work as well, so I should be able to get the infantry finished.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 69 More SYW Russians WIP 7

Well, would you Adam 'n Eve it - I did manage to finish the two infantry regiments today, get them glued onto bases and add the gunk to them and the cuirassiers:

I also managed to get a little bit done on the generals - I realised I was unlikely to finish them in time to submit along with the infantry and cuirassiers, but that's life.

I'll do a bit more later tonight and finish them tomorrow, then make a start on the final two infantry regiments.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 68 More SYW Russians WIP 6

"Shouldn't that be WIP 7?"

Well, it would be if I hadn't taken last night off from painting. I was feeling very tired and sleepy so judged that it was probably best not to do any painting.

Which does make this the 6th WIP day for this batch of Russians. I'm still feeling a bit tired and sleepy today, so progress has been a touch slower than hoped. But I have managed to get the two infantry regiments to within striking distance of being finished:

Once they're finished and varnished I'll be sticking them on bases, adding the gunk (also on the cuirassier bases) ready for dry-brushing and flocking on Monday morning. If I finish the infantry quickly enough, I'll try to finish the generals as well for the Monday submission.

Monday will also see me starting on the last two infantry regiments, which will probably be finished on Tuesday. I'll then need to work out what to paint next - 15mm Mongols, 6mm ACW, 28mm Salutesville gangs and civvies, something else...

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 66 More SYW Russians WIP 5

I've got a bit of a cold and I'm feeling rather drained, so progress on the Russians hasn't been as fast as I'd have liked this evening:

I have got them to a point where I should be able to finish them tomorrow night or Saturday afternoon, but I don't think I'll be able to get the other two regiments done in time for submission on Monday - they'll have to wait for the following week. I will get the generals done though.

Last night I popped the cuirassiers off their painting sticks and glued the officer, standard bearer, drummer and six troopers onto bases (the other two troopers will be going on bases with generals):

I also forgot yesterday to post a pic of some goodies I received through the post:

Some more stencil sheets from Anarchy Models. If you're wondering about the "loose skulls", if things go to plan, you might see what I've got planned for them in a couple of weeks time.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 65 More SYW Russians WIP 4

Note to self - must not get distracted by stuff on the TV and interwebs when I should be painting!

Yes, I allowed myself to get distracted this evening and so made a late start to painting and took a longish break midway. Nevertheless, I did make reasonable progress on the first two regiments of infantry and also did the green basecoats on the generals:

If I don't let myself get distracted tomorrow night I should be able to get the infantry finished apart from flags and varnishing. I can then finish them and probably finish the generals on Friday night. If things go really well at the weekend, I might be able to paint the other two regiments to completion - I'd forgotten I've got Monday and Tuesday booked off for annual leave which means I can do the basing on Sunday night rather than Saturday and still get them submitted in time.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 64 More SYW Russians WIP 3

Again with the underestimating of how much work was left to do on figures! However, I have just finished painting the cuirassiers, including the flag:

I'll be varnishing them in a minute, then tomorrow I'll make a start on two infantry regiments. I'm hoping to be able to finish those over two evenings, then I can do the other two and the generals on Friday night and Saturday. If things go to pot and the first two regiments take longer than two nights, I can always scale back and just do the generals.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 63 More SYW Russians WIP 2

The Koreans have been posted:

Linky-link

They take me to 1825 points, so I'm still just ahead of schedule for my 2600 point target.


Russians WIP

After doing the white markings, bases and tack of the horses I decided that instead of making a start on the infantry I'd work on the cuirassiers. That way I'll at least have something to submit on Monday if things don't go to plan with the infantry. I managed to get a decent way through them this evening and they should be finished fairly quickly tomorrow. Well, the flag may require a bit of extra time.

So, piccies:

Generals

Cuirassiers

There are two more troopers than I need for the regiment - they'll be based with a couple of the generals.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 62 - More SYW Russians WIP 1

The Koreans are all finished, pics taken and post submitted. It should go up tomorrow.

I did think about doing some 28mm figures to provide a "refresher", but in the end opted to just plough ahead and do the rest of the SYW Russians. I made a start this evening on the horses for generals and some cuirassiers:

I'll probably finish the horses quickly tomorrow - the white markings, harness and earth colour on the bases. Once that's done I'll leave them at that stage and crack on with the infantry:

Another four regiments! I'm debating whether to do them as one big batch or as two smaller batches. We'll see tomorrow!

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 61 Koreans WIP 11

I've had a good day at the paint table. All the painting is done and the figures have had a Klear/ink coat:

No, you're not getting a close-in pic at this point!

Since taking the pic, I have touched up the bases, done some small touch-ups on the figures and done the ink wash on the bases. The ink will need a few hours to dry, so I'll be leaving them overnight. Tomorrow morning I'll drybrush the bases, spray them with matt varnish, flock the bases, take pics and submit them. And then give my brushes a good clean ready for the next project. I'm not sure what it will be just yet. I do want to do the rest of the SYW Russians, but I also need a brief break from 15mm after this lot. So, I might do a small batch of 28mm figures tomorrow.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 60 Koreans WIP 10

Have I really spent 10 days painting these? It seems that I have. And they were meant to be a quick paint job to rack some easy points up...

Yet another late start to this evening's painting session. I do seem to be suffering from painting fatigue, which isn't too surprising after nearly nine weeks of heavy duty painting.

Anyhoos, I've just about finished the infantry on the command bases - just the gold and steel highlights to do, started on the officers and done the hat tassels:

Tomorrow I've just got the 12 officers to finish painting, plus the four horses, I should get them done fairly quickly and get the Klear/ink coat on everything. If that dries early enough, I can touch up the bases and apply the ink wash. That will just leave drybrushing, matt varnish spray and flockign for Sunday.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 59 Koreans WIP 9

Another evening where I've started later than planned and not got as much done as I'd hoped:

I will be going over the light grey with white after this post and should finish the drummers, horn blowers and standard bearers tomorrow night.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 58 Koreans WIP 8

Tonight's session has been productive - I've finished painting the third batch to the same point as the others:

The first three batches together:

That just leaves me with the officer and general stands to do:

Tomorrow I'll start work on the drummers and standards. If I push hard, I should get them near enough finished. On Friday, once they're done (including hat tassels!) I'll start on the officers and generals. With a whole weekend, I should have them finished and ready for submission on Monday.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 57 Koreans WIP 7

I got rather caught up with reading and watching tV tonight and ended up making a late start on the painting. However, I did make decent progress, even if not as much as I'd have liked.

I should still be able to finish them tomorrow if all goes well.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 56

Yikes! Eight weeks in which means just five weeks left of the Challenge!

I didn't quite finish the seamen last night, but I didn't have much to do this evening. Apart from varnishing - I ended up taking photos of them unvarnished for the submission, but have since given them a coat of Klear. At some point I'll give them a spray coat of matt varnish, then go over certain bits with satin or gloss varnish.

So, no pics tonight although I will add one or two when the post is up on the Challenge blog.

Edit: They're up!

Linky-link



Tomorrow evening it will be back to the Koreans. I should get most of the way through the third batch, finishing them on Wednesday. that will give me two evenings and the weekend for painting the officer and general stands. Plus doing the hat tassels, Klear/ink coat, matt varnish, drybrushing of bases, flocking...

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 55 Pulp Seamen WIP 2

"..I'll work on them in small batches" my arse! Yup, I ended up working on the whole lot and none of them are quite finished. They're all pretty close though:

Just highlights on hair, boots and gun wood to do, plus the metals. And a little bit of tidying up on the bases. I should be able to finish them tonight, then tomorrow I can carry on with the rest of the Koreans.

Oh, and I seem to be over the worst of my cold.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 54 Pulp Seamen WIP 1

Well, I made a decision. I'm going to submit all the Koreans as one entry next Monday. which meant a further decision - to paint something else to submit this Monday or just carry on working on the Koreans. As you can probably tell by the post title, I opted to paint something else.


This afternoon and evening I have been putting down the base colours for a bunch of merchant seamen (and seawomen!). Base/shade colours of the flesh and main clothing are all done:

I'll probably do the highlights on the flesh and the dark blue clothing later tonight. Tomorrow I'll work on them in small batches to get as many finished as possible.

These will be the crew of a merchant ship that smuggles alcohol from Canada across the great lake into Salutesville.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 53 Koreans WIP 6

It's finally become clear. My tiredness the past few evenings has been down to a virus. Yup, a cold has now burst through my immune defenses. Just in time for the weekend. And just in time to prevent me meeting up with Miles for a meal this evening.

Which explains why I've not made as much progress this week as I'd hoped. This evening I finished the second batch of 24 figures (apart from the hat tassels):

The first two batches:

and with the third batch:

With the whole day tomorrow available for painting, I should be able to completely finish the third batch. However the fourth batch (with the officers) is unlikely to be done in time and the two general stands won't either. That leaves me in a bit of a quandary - do I submit the ones I've painted so far for Monday, or do I hold them over until everything is finished? Maybe I should just find something that can be painted quickly and submit that for this week before continuing with the Koreans? Decisions, decisions...

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 51 Koreans WIP 4

It seems that:

1. I underestimated how long it would take to finish the first batch of Koreans
2. That my original guess that I could paint to completion a batch of 24 figures in an evening was also optimistic - I haven't quite managed to take the second batch to the same stage as where I left off with the first batch last night. However, I did take several breaks to watch YouTube vids and have a bath this evening, so maybe I could have got further.

Anyway, here's pics of where I've got to with them:

I haven't done the hat tassels yet - I'll do that when all the non-commander bases are finished (there are six different colours).

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 50 Koreans WIP 3

Not a brilliant start to the session this evening - I managed to doze off and was asleep for 2 hours. I wasn't even feeling tired when I got home!

Anyway, once I woke up, I cracked on with the first batch of 24 figures.

I got most of the way through them - there's about an hour of work left to do, but that can wait for tomorrow night. There's just the red sash belts, some scabbards, tassels, metals and touch-ups. I'll be doing the Klear/ink coat on all the figures at the end.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 49 Koreans WIP 2

Before moving onto the WIP bits, my SYW Russians have been posted -

Horse Grenadiers:

Linky-link


Infantry, Artillery and Wagons:

Linky-link


These two entries earned me 334 points, putting me in 6th place on the table. And I'm still 137 points ahead of schedule for 2600 points by the end of the Challenge.



Choson Korean Regulars WIP

I decided this evening not to take a batch of 24 figures through to completion, but instead to do the two messy stages on all the figures - basecoats on flesh and the over-vests. That will make it easier over the next few evenings to complete them in batches.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 48 Lazy Sunday

Well, not totally lazy. I did finish off the basing on the SYW stuff, photograph it, submit the post, do my laundry, go to the supermarket, catch up on the washing up, cook dinner (liver, bacon & onions with mash - hearty food for a winter day), clean my brushes before the next painting extravaganza...

But I haven't done any painting today. I did make a start on the Koreans last night - the horses have been basecoated and washed and the bases have been, err, basecoated:

I've got five evenings and a whole weekend to get them finished and submitted so they should all get done in time. My plan is to work on them in small batches - I should be able to fully paint 24 in an evening. The command bases and the unit officer bases might take a bit longer, but that's what the weekend is for.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 47 Russian Infantry WIP 9

Last night was frustrating but productive. In order to submit the artillery and wagons for Monday, I needed to get the crew and fusilier figures painted. Although there were fewer figures  (just 16) there were two different uniforms to deal with, which added to the complication. I did manage to finish them (apart from adding satin varnish to certain bits) but it involved me staying up until 4am. During some of the longer drying stages I also did a bit of work on the guns, limbers and wagons.

After a long lie-in, I did the satin varnish step this morning then got the horses, crew figures and fusiliers popped off sticks and glued onto bases (the guns, wagons and limbers will be added once the bases are flocked). After letting the superglue dry for a while I cracked on with adding gunk to the bases.

There was a bit of a scare towards the end - I thought I wouldn't have enough gunk and I'd just used the last of the brown ink I add to the mix - luckily I did have enough mixed up to do them all, but I will need to buy some more ink this week so that I'm ready for when I do the remainder of my SYW Russians.

This afternoon I've been working on the guns, limbers and wagons. They're all done now apart from varnishing - I'll give them a coat of matt spray tomorrow.

Tomorrow will see me busy drybrushing the bases, flocking them and then adding the guns, limbers and wagons, taking pics and drafting the submission.

After this, I'll take a break from the Russians and paint something else. It's going to be the Choson Korean regular troops as they should be a relatively quick and easy paint. As well as being a small points bomb.

For those that haven't looked in on the Painting Challenge blog today (and why haven't you? Tsk-tsk!) I have been doing guest minion duty over there to allow Curt time to sort out all the bonus round entries and to work on his own for posting tomorrow. Luckily it's been quite a light duty and I managed to get my minion post and three submissions scheduled last night for posting today.

And this is my 1000th post! Zoiks! That's the third of the three milestones that I said I'd do a joint prize draw for (750k page views and 5th blogiversary being the other two). Expect to see the prize draw post later this week when I've worked out what the prizes will be.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 45 Russian Infantry WIP 7

I've had a reasonably productive evening. Once I'd had a bit of a nap. The Russian infantry have been popped off the sticks, sorted into regiments and stuck onto their bases ready for gunk to be added tomorrow:

I've carried on with the horses and wagons this evening. The horses are finished apart from varnishing (I'll be doing that before I go to bed):

... and I've started work on the wagons:

Tomorrow night I'll be finishing off the wagons, painting the guns and limbers and of course painting the artillery crew and (ex Observation Corps) fusiliers for the wagons.