Sickness Benefits

I've been struck down by a virus. Yesterday was hellish - all over aches, weakness and extreme tiredness during the day and general grottiness, but I did pick up a bit in the evening and managed to do a bit of prep work. This morning I was feeling a bit better, but still too weak, achey and drained for work so a second day at home. With nothing else to do, I got a few bits done - the benefits of being sick!

For a start, I managed to prime all of this lot with the airbrush:

These may or may not get painted up for two of the Bonus Theme rounds in this year's Challenge. I expect that the grave tanks and APCs will get done; I'm less certain of the Three Musketeers mob being fitted in. Well, maybe some of that lot might get done...

And then I finished off the scatter terrain pieces:

Gunmental dry-brush, sponging with hull red and light rust then dabbing with natural steel. Topped off with a patchy application of static grass. I think they've come out quite well.

Sunday Workbench

Well, it has been a rather busy and productive weekend. After posting last night I did some work on the scatter terrain pieces I made a few weeks ago. I wasn't happy with the colour (basecoat too dark) so I went back over them with a lighter base colour, then drybrushed as before.

I'll finish them off during the week.


This afternoon, over three sessions, I primed the figures I showed last night. I also added Milliput to the last 14 figures (I got 10 others done last night, which got primed today).

As well as all that I've been prepping some 15mm grav tanks and APCs for the "Armour" bonus round in the Challenge. No pics of those though.

Tomorrow night, errmm, tonight by the time you read this, I'll hopefully be playing ironclads at the club so there won't be any more work done until Tuesday.

Saturday Workbench

Yet again a few days pass without a post from me. That's the trouble with this period, the lull before the storm - nowt to post most of the time. I have been busy though, as you will see below!


Latex Rivers from Early War Miniatures

Well, "flowing streams" as the company call them...

I finally got round to painting them up this week and flocked the banks this afternoon. I think they've come out quite nicely.

I might add some tufts and clump foliage at some point but they'll do for now.


Figure Prep - Salutesville

I've also been working on the basing of the mass of figures I've prepped for Salutesville. A few weeks back I added Milliput to some figures' bases and some coarse pumice gel to a few others (the ones which will be on rough ground). I got round to carving the Milliput this week to give a coarse woodgrain effect as well as filing down the excess at the edges. Whilst doing that I found that the Milliput hadn't fully mixed in some places - I think it had gone off, so I ditched it and bought some new (standard rather than terracotta). I've used that to build up the bases of a decent bunch of figures last night and this afternoon.

There was a little bit of Milliput left over this afternoon, so I decided to make some sandbags for Ray, just in case he runs out (as if!) during the Challenge.

I've got 24 more figures to add Milliput to. I'll probably do those tomorrow.


Jailbirds

I also prepped and assembled the Raging Heroes "Jailbirds" character figures I bought recently. I decided that I wanted these to be a bit special, so I had decided to put them on the resin bases I bought last week. That meant pinning them in place. And then doing the fiddly assembly.

Blondie

Mad Nurse Bernadette (or is that Docherty?)

Punky

Harry the Hippo

The fifth member of the group was almost a disaster - her right arm disappeared at some point. Luckily I had a spare arm from Punky which I was able to use, but it did mean having to do some other conversion work - cutting the hand and foregrip off the flamer and adding a strap made from slivers of 0.25mm plasticard. I think it came out OK in the end:

(Oh No! it's...) Yoko

This crew should be a fun test of my painting skills. Quite a bit of work to do though with all the different bits on the bases.


Tomorrow is going to see me doing a lot of priming with the airbrush.

Sunday Workbench

Yesterday I did get the wagons, limbers, horses and slaves primed:

While I was doing that, I realised that I hadn't finished getting the Korean regulars and irregulars ready for the Challenge. Although I'd glued them onto bases, I hadn't added basing texture because I was waiting to see the results of my trial using coarse pumice gel on the crossbowmen. Having decided that that wasn't the way I wanted to go, for the rest of the Koreans I went with the tried and trusted method - spread superglue on base, dunk in a pile of medium grey ballast, shake of excess, leave to dry, seal with watered down PVA, leave to dry.

I got the superglue/ballast stages done in the morning, then went into town to do some shopping. The only hobby shopping was a stop into Dark Sphere to pick up a couple of paints I'm going to need and some Micro Art Studio resin bases for my Raging Heroes figures. Here's the loot:

Today, in between shopping and chores, I've been priming the Koreans. I've got them all done, ready to go for the Challenge:

Irregulars

Regulars

I might do some terrain bits tonight, but then again I might decide to take it easy.

Friday Night Musings

Nope. The muse hasn't shown up. Oh well, guess I'd better just post an update of sorts.

Last weekend I placed an order for some bits and bobs from Essex Miniatures - the limbers I'd forgotten before, 2 wagons and some bits for my Sea Peoples and Nubians camps (a Sea Peoples ox cart and some slaves carrying goods). they arrived on Wednesday and with nothing else to distract me, I cracked on with prepping them. the wagons and limbers are of course for my SYW Russians.

This is what came:

I also ordered some more MDF bases from Tiny Tin Troops, but you don't want pics of those.

Good, didn't think so!


This evening, I got all the horses and slaves stuck onto painting sticks, and assembled the wagons, limbers and the ox cart.

I'll be priming them tomorrow morning (not the ox cart - that will get primed alongside the rest of the Sea Peoples). The I guess I'd better do some terrain painting just to keep me out of mischief.

Korean Crossbowmen Finished

In a spurt of activity, aided by using brush-on matt varnish instead of spray, I was actually able to get the Korean crossbowmen finished this evening. And here are the pics:

Admittedly, they're not my best work but they won't be in the front rank so will only be seen by me.

These will probably be my last painted figures until the Challenge starts. Between now and then I intend to work on terrain bits, just to get it out of the way and keep myself busy.

WIP - Korean Crossbowmen Day 1

Despite a painful right shoulder (slept in an awkward position!) I got in a decent afternoon of painting on the Korean crossbowmen. 

I've just got the white, metals and touch-ups to do before they get a coat of Klear/ink, leaving just the bases to stain and dry-brush, spray matt varnish and flocking. I'll be able to get all but the last two steps done tomorrow evening and will take them to work on Tuesday to do the spray varnish. Unless I decide to use brush-on varnish instead (or run it through my airbrush). Hmmm, now there's a thought...

Maybe I'll manage to finish them tomorrow night?