Monday 30 May 2011

MORE SELOUS SCOUTS IN INSURGENT DRESS 1/72.

Hello all,

They don't call me "Rich 2 post's" for nothing!!!No really they don't, it's just Rich but one man can dream.It's like when I tried to get the wife to call me "Mr lover,lover" or "Mr bombastic, Mr fantastic".,still not happening.
Any way I digress, this is the second post of the night.Firstly the, Airfix Westland Gazelle, copter month, and now the rest of my "Rhodesian Selous scout's".
More "Under fire miniature's" figures, but why not, they are "hotter than Satan's testicles".A real joy to paint,which at the moment is a bonus (bloody Gazelles).
This is the rest of the set, which I have not painted to the same standard as the other's, but I am still chuffed to piss with them.
I tried to make a small whip ariel for the patrol radio, because the figure did not come with one.Not quite right and still not sure if I should have kept it straight.
I think a bit more research would have helped, but last time I tried that I got a virus   and a few funny questions off the wife so you will have to lump it!
I did a little research on ZANLA/ZIPRA forces and they were pretty much as you would expect of an African insurgent army, a lot of civvies and a mix of uniforms and cammo.
Being a bit lazy, I should have painted the forge cap as a Rhodesian cammo scheme. I like the fact the scaly is wear shades, the only way to go to war!
I always find it hard doing un-uni formal civvy dress for some reason.Strange that.I have another set of these figures and was toying with the idea of a few head swaps to bulk out the patrol.
I shyed away from blacking out the face's completely but could have cammed them up a bit more so I should be a bit more braver.I might even paint one or two as ZANLA fighters.
 Well here's the finished patrol photo.It is unusual for me to finish a set of soldiers, but this is the second set of Under fire figures that I have done.
I have the other two Rhodesian light infantry sets to work through, but I am really waiting for the enemy sets to come out for them.

All I need to do now is an African base for them.I have a few ideas up my sleeve including and African huts being searched or some "Bush" to  patrol through.

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES FOR A LARGER VIEW AND ANY COMMENTS OR TIPS WELCOME.

Cheers for looking,     Rich.

AIRFIX WESTLAND GAZELLE HELICOPTER 1/72 (COPTER MONTH).

Hello all,

This is a last ditch effort to get this in on time for "Copter month".
Like a naughty school boy doing his home work at the last hour over the summer holidays, I have dicked about with this for ever!
Finally it is off the work bench.
This has been a labour of "HATE", I have been torn between it working out great, to utter disaster.A roller coaster of fun and pain.Alright I am being a bit over dramatic about this one but why not!!!!This is the second bash at this kit which does not really give myself any excuses for cocking it up.Imagine what the first one looked like then.

Enough ranting, it's not a bad kit to build really, its just that I was coming to the end of a great painting streak.I know where I went wrong and will re-visit this kit.
I did learn a new technique though, and that was what the bloody hell "mediums" are for and how to use them.The exhaust pipe was brown and metal medium mixed together.
 This was the first model that I have coated with varnish which I think helped with the decals for a change.It would have looked to "Matt" otherwise and helicopters are more satin in finish.
The decals nearly end up being just a Falklands version without the orange panels, due to a few beers and getting confused which way they went.
I rescued one out of the bin when I worked out my error and luckily it was still usable.
The landing pad was printed of the Internet.The plan was going to be a bit elaborate than this but time ran out and the chopper was not worth doing the Falklands base that I was planning so I will save that for when I sell this one on EBay and buy another one.
Not chuffed with this one and glad to see the back of it to be honest.It has not put me off heli's at all, so watch this space.

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES FOR A LARGER VIEW AND ANY COMMENTS MORE THAN WELCOME.

Cheers for looking,   Rich.

Monday 23 May 2011

TQD CASTING GERMAN FALLSCHIRMJAGER IN THE MED 1/72.

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AIRFIX BRITISH ARMY GAZELLE 1/72 WIP. HELI MONTH.

 Hello all,

This is a quick one for Paul, to show him how crap this one is going.Just when I think its going right again, Mr and Mrs cock up pay a visit.
The cockpit is pissed because I  taped it to close when gluing  the two half's together so the canopy is over lapping.
The exhaust pipe is not sanded, my fault again.
I think the cockpit inner is glued far to forward, because I hand to sand the console at the front and forgot to repaint it.
You can see the problems with the canopy in this picture.I also tried some satin varnish to give that shinny look.Its not dry and only just gone on so hopefully it will dull a bit or out comes the dull coat.
I am waiting for the varnish to dry before applying the decals, lets so how I can knob that up.
I think this is destined for EBay to buy another one.

Anyway  this shows the problem the problems I am having with this build.

PLEASE DON'T CLICK ON THE IMAGES (They won't get any better)ANY COMMENTS OR POINTERS MORE THAN WELCOME.

Cheers Rich.

Sunday 22 May 2011

CAESAR FRENCH MAQUIS WWII 1/72.

Hello all,

This post is to make up for he rather poor bash at the Sumoa S-35.
I have had this one for a while and kept it to make up for a previous crap post.I am chuffed to bits with this one.
It is meant to be a group ready for action.
 The figures are from Caesar's European resistor's and resistance sets.I like these two sets because it has the only options to make Spanish civil war figures.
The grave stones are from GEM's stable of resin products.A very nice set that work quite well.The whole range would look great together for a larger dio.
The composition of this dio took some help from the members of Benno's forum.The original positions just didn't look right, and it ruined the whole thing.

The figures are painted with Vallejo model colour paints and it was a long time ago and I couldn't remember the colours if I wanted to!
The black leather jacket turned out better than I hoped.I used a glossy black to achieve this effect and a bit of weathering powder.
The base is from the normal stash of mdf base's that I got from the fleet air arm  show.The grass is from silfor tufts with some weeds thrown in.I used two different heights of grass to give an over grown look.The ivy also came from silfor as did the flowers.Its the same ivy I used on the knackered knight leaning against the tree.

 
It started off a lot simpler than this but for a change not leaving it alone worked.I was going to leave it with just grass but thought the ivy and flowers would add a certain touch.I set about the tombs with a scalpel to add some bullet or shrapnel marks to the masonry.
 All in all, I am very happy with this one, which is more than I can say about the S-35, or the gazelle.

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES FOR LARGER VIEW AND ANY COMMENTS OR TIPS MORE THAN WELCOME.

Cheers for looking,    Rich.








Saturday 21 May 2011

HELLER FRENCH SOMUA S-35 WWII 1/72.


 Hello all,

This was inspired by Al's rather tidy job of his Somua.I wish mine turned out half as good as his I would have been well chuffed.

It started off by being lucky enough to find one of these kits in my local shop and in the sale as well!The kit is rather basic and only 40 or so parts.
The tracks , which are normally the bane of my life decided to behave them self and worked very well.I manged to weld them together and keep them joined for a change.
 Then came the painting of this beast.I started off with a base coat of Vallejo sand with a Russian green blotches.
It started to look quite good at this point.........
 Then I thought I would be a clever sod and do black lining around the green blotches.I decided to try a black pen with a really fine point, so off to the local shop and spent £3.99 on a set of 4 pens.
I then spent a bloody long time drawing round each green blotch very carefully indeed.
 I now decided to give it a wash of brown all over the tank and that's when it all went tits up.
I had not left enough time for the ink to dry and I washed the bloody lot off.
Well that's not strictly true it left a nasty black colour all over the tank.
I should have repainted the tank but I thought I could weather my way out of this one, how wrong I was!

I weathered an weathered this tank till it looked like it had been dug up.I am not sure it has worked, so I have dressed it up a half descent base and a figure to distract from the shoddy paint job.It is a nice little kit to build and is one of my favourite era's which is the early part of world war two.If I can lay  my hands on another one I will snap it up.This is on the Nemesis list of kits, a bit like my Gazelle helicopter that I have cocked up for the SECOND time!
PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES FOR A LARGER VIEW AND ANY COMMENTS MORE THAN WELCOME!

Cheers for looking Rich.

Sunday 15 May 2011

VALDEMAR MEDIEVAL CRUSADER 1/72.

Hello all,

Another foray into the medieval world.This time I tried a crusader in the holy land.
I must stop watching "Kingdom of heaven", it gives me idea's of away from the modern world.
 When I posted this bloke on Benno's forum some one pointed out that the shield should have had the same cross as on the tabard, to make him a Templar.A very fair point and it goes to show how little I know about the subject.It does make me want to know more though!
 The shield was crap, the lines didn't line up when I tried to mask it off to be a clever sod.It took all the bloody paint off the shield.
I think he looks a damn site better without the shield.
I hate painting white and it's rare it ever works out for me, but this time I will take it.
 It took for ever to get the red cross right.About 4 attempts, 50 swear words, one upset wife and a son with a few new words I never want him to repeat!
Some days it just works, others it time to put the brush down walk away have a cup of tea (or beer) give it an hour and come back to it.
The base is just PVA glue, sand, a few small rocks and woodland scenic self cast rock.All given a good wash of Vallejo burnt umber and some MiG pigments weathering powder and job done!
I really like Valdemar figures, they and other metal figures feel like a treat, something to spoil yourself with.I am starting an EBay fund to buy some more so a few of my older bits and pieces are now finding there way on there.

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES FOR A LARGER VIEW AND ANY COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOME!

Cheers for looking,    Rich.

Saturday 14 May 2011

ITALERI CAMIONETTA AS42 SAHARIANA NORTH AFRICA 1/72.

Hello all,

This is an Italian Sahariana desert patrol truck/thingy.It is the Italian answer to the LRDG, and to be honest its bloody huge.It was by all accounts a very useful mode of transport.
 I have had this knocking around the work bench/pig sty for a while in various stages of build and finally got round to finishing it last week.
Then it took more another week and a half to take pictures of the beast.
With any luck the blogger monster of Friday will not strike and I will loose all of this.

The figures are from Wee friends figures (another favourite of mine) and are not included in the Italeri kit.The figures include a crew for the gun, but I found you need to build the gun around the figures to get them to fit, which i didn't.
Not to panic Italeri do a version with a cannon which I happen to own so they should look good on that one.
The window comes with two options and both have to have some plastic cut to size, and I am crap at that so  out came an new one for me.Micro solve do a glue for canopy's that can also do small windows.It worked a treat and was worth the £2.50 that it cost.

The gun was a sod to build with about 16 different parts to it.It does give a good final model but again it was an arse ache to fit the figures in.
The flag decal went on better than I thought it would, but then again micro solve is great stuff and a good dose of that sorted it.
The pictures are not great and do not show the bear metal scrapes that I did on the sand channels and Jerry cans.The MG on the drivers side did not fit and needs to have the mount shortened to fit under the dash board.
All in all a kit that if you did it twice it would look better  second time round.I am lucky that I own the other one so while it is is fresh in my head I will dig it out.
An interesting subject that I will explore further and make a mess of.

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES FOR A LARGER VIEW AND ANY COMMENTS OR TIPS MORE THAN WELCOME!

Cheers for looking,    Rich.

Wednesday 11 May 2011

UNDER FIRE MINIATURES USMC VIETNAM 1/72 WIP.

Hello all,

Just a quick one of some blokes that I am painting for a group build on Benno's.A Vietnam group build that I have not got very far with.
Now that I am half way through building my Gazelle helicopter for "chopper month" (don't get me started on that!) I will have to pull my finger out.
 The blokes are from ..... you guessed it "Under fire miniatures".What a bloody surprise!!!
They really are bloody fantastic figures and can't get enough of them.
This bloke is meant to be a Corp man running with his first aid kit,  another great pose full of life.
I tried many colours to get this far with the green but I ended up using Vallejo medium olive, it still looks a bit green but I can live with it.


The webbing is khaki,and the rest of the figure given a wash of black and then dry brushed again with medium green.I forget which colours I used for the helmet cover but it seems to work better than my last bash at it.A quick blast of Tamiya weathering powder and some MiG pigment dry mud on the knees and done.

This bloke is firing the "pig" M60 in the prone position.The bi pod was came separate and was a sod to fix to the gun,living up to it's nickname.The gun was painted black grey with a hint of gun metal.Then a wash with black and dry brushed with gun metal again.

I cocked up this figure when dry brushing the medium green on his back and did it a bit to heavy, again a victim of beer.I am still not sure how I am going to base these blokes maybe around a 105mm light gun as if a fire base is being over run.
PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES FOR A LARGER VIEW AND ANY COMMENTS MORE THAN WELCOME!

Cheers for looking,   Rich.