Thursday Update 15 November

Over the past two days I've received some shinies through the post. Yesterday these came:

Some people will recognise those little black boxes from Perry Miniatures. This is what was in them:

What are they all? British tank crew, Aussie slouch hats and a Blitzkrieg 1/56 scale M3 Stuart. I've checked and it's the same size as the Warlord/Italerei one I made earlier. I bought the heads to see if they'd fit the Warlord plastics, but it doesn't look as though they will.

Today I got this lot from Warlord Games:

That's a mix of stowage, some tank crew, a sprue of Chindit heads (which will fit on the Warlord plastics), some commando decals (bought for the rank insignia) and Army Painter dark and soft tone inks.


Now for what I've been up to since finishing those Kokoda Aussies. On Monday I primed the T34s and the Matildas. Yesterday I got the body colours done on the T34s with the airbrush. Before it died on me - the air valve is kaput. If I had the right tool, I could remove it and replace it with the one from my previous Revolution CR (which had the nozzle thread break off irremovably). Sadly I don't, so I've had to order a replacement; I decided to order a Revolution BR as well to replace my Neo for fine detail work.

Today I hand painted the details and did some washes.

They just need varnishing now, but that will need to wait until my new CR arrives - that should be some time tomorrow.

I've also been assembling the 8th Army plastics:

As you can see, they are headless for now. As the Perry slouch hats don't fit, I might need to get some more of the Chindit heads to get some in slouch hats. The fact that some of them are bearded and have battered hats is fine, as they'll be for the 39th. I'll need to order another pack of 8th army plastics for them. The big problem with the pack is the lack of left arms posed to support weapons - there are only two per sprue, but four weapons that need to be supported. And then there is the Lewis Gun issue - there might be a couple of arms that could hold one, but the guns from Colonel Bill's seem quite slender. I know that Minifigs do some, and Company B - I might have to take a look at those. There are also some for sale on Shapeways, but they are a bit costly.

Oh, and the Panzer IIIs have also been assembled. I won't be able to prime or paint the IIIs and IVs until the T34s are finished.

Finished: 28mm WW2 Aussies for Kokoda #1

I managed to get the basing finished and the figures matte varnished this morning, then tufted the bases this afternoon.

As I have previously mentioned, these will primarily be for the Aussie regular (AIF) troops in the early stages of the Kokoda Track campaign, most likely the 2/14th Battalion of 21 Brigade (I think the other two battalions - 2/16th and 2/27th - may have had time to try dying their uniforms green before heading up the track). The figures are all Warlord games from their 8th Army range.


Senior Leaders

I should probably go back and add a dab of gloss to the surface of his tea.

Medic

Signals

MMG Team

3" Mortar Team

Well, that's some useful command and support options for them, and a nice way to start off this force.

Monday Workbench 12 November

I had hoped that I might be able to post the finished 8th army/Kokoda Aussies today, but they aren't quite there - I still need to drybrush the bases, hit them with matte varnish through the airbrush and then add tufts. That will need to wait until tomorrow morning.

During some of the longer breaks while things were drying, I kept myself occupied by doing some assembly. Yesterday, I put together the MDF (and greyboard) buildings from the Stronty Dog starter set.

This evening I assembled the T34s and Panzer IVs I had bought at SELWG.

I've done the Panzer IVs as a mix of F, G and H variants. That will allow a mix of early, mid and late war tanks for "What a Tanker!".

I'll probably do the Panzer III kits tomorrow, so that I can paint them all up at the same time.

Finished: 28mm WW2 Aussie Scout team

Another, albeit tiny, unit finished for my Aussies.

This team is from Warlord Games and were fun to paint, with all the foliage.

While the various stages of finishing the bases were drying, I started work on the 8th Army figures for Kokoda Track. I have managed to get all of the base colours and initial washes done:

I'm not going to push myself to get the highlights done quickly, so these will probably be finished on Monday or Tuesday. As these include support weapons, I've decided to paint them to represent the regular 2/14th Battalion rather than the militia 39th Battalion. The difference? Helmet colour for a start, but the KD uniform will also be a bit darker as they wouldn't have been as sun-bleached. It will also let me use them for North Africa.

Friday Workbench 11 November

Although I haven't been posting, I have been reasonably busy since finishing the buildings.

Over the past couple of days I've been getting all the Stronty Dog figures. On Tuesday I added texture paste to all of the bases, then I started priming them on Wednesday. After doing the black primer, I started doing some zenithal highlighting. the first step was pale grey blue at a low angle. I got that done yesterday, but had to wait until today to finish the job with white (I'd run out and was waiting for my order to arrive) from a near-vertical angle. I also focused highlights on a few spots for each figure:

So that is 47 figures for Stronty Dog which will need painting.

I got a lot of other figures primed as well:

15mm SYW Russian infantry

15mm SYW Cossacks and Russian artillery

Going through my "prepped" drawers I realised that I hadn't primed these ones.

8th Army/Aussies

The Matilda tanks have been assembled but not primed yet.

This morning I decided to start painting the Aussie scout team. As there were just three figures, the painting went really fast and (despite taking time out to finish the Stronty zenithals) I actually finished painting them. I have also got the Klear coat done and added basing texture. Here are a couple of pics taken before the Klear coat:

I'll get them finished tomorrow. Once they are done, I might start on the 8th Army figures (which will become Aussies for the Kokoda Track campaign - the militia 39th Btn and regular 2/14 Btn were both in KD uniforms)..

Finished: 28mm Adobe Buildings

I say "finished", although I might just go back over the jutting-out timbers with a dark brown wash. But here they are:

These buildings are by Blotz. The plastering on the exterior walls definitely improved them. Most of the painting was done with the airbrush, with just the wood and the earth rim painted by brush.

I also got some figures primed today:

...and have been prepping some other models - my Warlord Games order arrived today.