Friday Update 29 June

I've been taking things a little easy over the past few evenings after the marathon of painting all those Aussies. I thought I deserved it.

But I have, nevertheless, been quite productive.


Tuft Experiments

I've had a chance to play with the static grass "Pro Applicator" from War World Scenics. Let's say I'm not too impressed with it. It's OK for short static grass (but less convenient than the Flock Box that I have been using), but with longer (6mm and above) static grass there are some issues.

The first is the distance between the two electrodes is too long (the device one is right at the handle end of the grass cup) which makes it more difficult to generate a charge field down  which the static grass can flow. It also makes it difficult to get the longer static grass fibres to stand up.

The second is that it runs off a 9V battery which doesn't create a very strong field for the longer grasses. However, this combined with the distance between electrodes does mean that you would have to be very unlucky to get a static shock while using it.

The third is that you do have to shake the applicator a lot, which makes it a bit tiring for your arm, especially if you have to do multiple passes to get any coverage.

The fourth (linked heavily to the first) is that the longer fibres have a tendency to clump into balls.

Anyway, here are some pics of the tufts I produced with it using the 10mm static grass:

Top - "Summer"; middle - "Hay field"; bottom - "Patchy"

 With the "Hay Field" and "Patchy" mixes I tried three versions:
i) 10mm first, then filling with my shorter "sweepings"
ii) shorter "sweepings first, then 10mm mixes
iii) 10mm mixes only onto slightly thinned carpet tackifier

All of them needed 4-5 passes with the 10mm static grass.

Summer + sweepings

Hay Field + Sweepings

Hay Field only

One tuft of each type

I might try some experiments with the Flock Box this weekend, but using the plate on the box instead of the sieve. I might also buy another sieve and see if enlarging the mesh holes helps for longer fibres.

There is another method for achieving long grass tufts that I'll try - making 6mm tufts then brushing PVA over the tips and reapplying the static grass.


More Aussie Shinies!

I decided to order a few more Eureka figures - some helmeted figures with rifles and Owen guns to allow a full range of weapons to cover 42-45. Also to provide engineer teams.

I got them through Fighting 15s who are the UK agents/stockists and the service was very quick (ordered Monday, received Wednesday). I prepped them yesterday during my lunch break at work, washed them in the evening, left them to dry overnight and glued 11 of them onto bases this evening.

I'll be priming them tomorrow.

Two of the Owen guns had weak points where the end of the barrel joins the forward hand grip - one I was able to reinforce with superglue (and it seems to be OK), but the other broke off during prep. I'm going to try drilling into the gun, inserting some 0.5mm piano wire and then sculpting the end of the barrel with green stuff this weekend.

On The Workbench

Besides the ongoing tuft experiments and priming the new Aussies, I've got a couple of other small projects on the workbench.

On the grey board you can see some twigs which I picked up this evening on the way home from work. I'll be baking them in my oven tomorrow to dry them out and kill off any nasties. They'll be used on terrain and bases.

On the black board there are some bits I've started working on for Chain of Command. These will be for "patrol markers" and "jump off points". I added some Vallejo Dark Earth to four 30mm bases last night as the start of making some jump off points (you can also see some bits in front which will be used on them).

For the patrol markers, I have primed some 50mm bases - they'll be airbrushed a suitable green colour tomorrow. I also printed out some Australian flags to stick onto each side once they are painted. At which point I had the thought that I could do the same for some quick and easy jump off points, so I printed off a batch of smaller flags. If I'd thought of that before, I could have primed some 30mm bases as well today - those will have to be done tomorrow.

(Not Quite) Finished: 28mm WW2 Aussie Jungle Fighters #7

Did I say these would be finished and posted on Thursday? Oh well, I'm sure you're not going to be too upset to see them posted two days early.

This is the 7th batch posted and will be the last for a while. I think we all need a break from greens and khakis!


Bren Guns

Rifles

Tommy Guns

Junior Leaders (with Tommy Guns)

The one on the left is Foundry

All the figures are Chindits from The Assault Group, part from the junior leader indicated who is a Chindit from Wargames Foundry.


This was delivered yesterday:

I'll give it a try tomorrow to see if it's better for the 10mm static grass.

Sunday Workbench 24 June

Quite a few bits on the go, as you can see.


Packs, Pouches and Weapons

As I noted in my last post, these were painted yesterday and I spray varnished them this morning. These are for adding to bases of support weapon figures.


Far East Village Buildings

I wasn't happy with how these had turned out with the sepia washes over white primer - they looked far too new and clean. So yesterday I airbrushed them with a thin, patchy coat of pale grey-green then gave them a rough, patchy wash of Agrax Earthshade. They look much better now. There was a fair bit of overspray onto the bases so I quickly re-painted and dry-brushed those.


Tufts

I had another go at making tufts with 10mm static grass yesterday. they turned out a bit better than my previous efforts but it took four or five passes with the 10mm grass. And then another pass with shorter static grass (I used the "sweepings" from previous sessions) to fill them out.

I think the problem is that the mesh of the sieve I'm using is too small to allow the long static grass to easily pass through. I've ordered a different applicator from War World Scenics which should work better - that's meant to be delivered tomorrow.

I decided to apply a couple to the base of one of the test figures (plus a couple of shorter tufts) to see how they looked. They're not as bad as I thought, but it took a lot of work to get them to that stage.


More Aussie Jungle Fighters

I've made good progress on this batch - base colours, first washes and flesh highlights all done. I should get the rest of the highlights, the second washes and Klear coat done over the next two evenings. Wednesday evening will see me doing the basing, then on Thursday they'll get matt varnished.

As these will be the last Aussies for now, once they're done I think it's time to start tufting and flocking the bases of all the figures I've painted so far. That might be a job for the weekend.

And then it might be time to do some jungle terrain making.

(Not Quite) Finished: 28mm WW2 Aussie Jungle Fighters #6

And another batch is finished. Phew! Almost there now. The only problem is that I've started to run out of space in the foam figure trays. I've got room left for another 8-figure batch, but I'll need to order some more before  painting any more batches.

However, this batch and the next will ensure that I have a full platoon plus support options for Chain of Command.

Senior Leader

This chap is the Major Lumley figure from The Assault Group, which was a freebie add-on as my recent order was over £39. I'll probably be using him as an adjutant or maybe as a grizzled Sergeant Major for Chain of Command.


2" Mortar Team

These are part of my recent order from Wartime Miniatures. They looked quite nice as bare metal, but once I started painting them I became less impressed with the sculpting. One of the details that bugged me was that they appear to be wearing the illegitimate offspring of gaiters and puttees. Hopefully the Independent Company chaps won't suffer the same issues.


Tommy Gunners

The figure on the left is from The Assault Group, the one on the right from Wargames Foundry. Both are from their Chindit ranges.


Rifleman and Medic

The rifleman is a Chindit from The Assault Group; the medic is from Wartime Miniatures.


Flamethrower

This is a Eureka figure and I think it's the last one from the order I collected at Salute.


I've just started the next batch, which should be finished mid-week. I've also finished painting the packs, pouches and weapons I primed last week.