Sunday 31 July 2011

Long range desert group patrol at rest 1/72, WIP.

Hello all,

After being ill all week and doing bloody overtime  all week it has just about knackered me out!
So finding any time to paint has been a winner.
I am planning to do a dio with two of the Matchbox/Revell LRDG sets.I have to get my hands on another set but I am sure that that will not be to much of a problem.
You can make two different dio's with the sets, one SAS and the other LRDG.This will be a patrol lying up during the day, resting.
A few extra Matchbox desert rats could bulk out this dio and there is one bloke in that set screaming out to added to the SAS jeeps.
The figures are from Matador models, yes I had never heard of them either.I saw there stand at the annual Poole vikings model show and had nose through there stuff and walk away with a load of bits and pieces.
I quite like this pose, it's very "Lawrence of Arabia" look about him.The shirt looks more Italian to me but I am no expert on this matter. 

This bloke sitting down started life with a beret and head phones on. A quick go with a file soon removed the bulk of that and  some Magi-sculpt gave him the same look as the previous fellow.
I made the braid from a very thinly rolled bit of sculpt,then I scored around the head dress with a piece of wire.The braid was placed in the groove and scored again with a blade.

The uniform was Vallejo Iraqi sand and washed with burnt umber.The head dress was Panzer ace French tanker highlight and dark rubber for the braid.A very simple paint job indeed.
PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES FOR A LARGER VIEW AND ANY COMMENTS MORE THAN WELCOME.

Cheers for looking,   Rich.

Monday 25 July 2011

British SAS in Dhofar, Oman 1971-72 1/72.

Hello all,

I have finally broken awy from WWI and have knocked up some British SAS in the rather secertive Oman war in the 70's.
I am reading  a book "Storm front" by the author Rowland White.He also wrote "Vulcan 607".
The book is about the Brits in the Sultan of Oman's airforce and the SAS who fought the insurgents in the Dhofar region.It also focus's on the battle of Mirbat,8 SAS against 250 Adoo rebels.
These figures are from Under fire miniatures.They started life as Rhodesian light infantry, but good figures with SLR's are hard to find and fitted the bill.A few mis-givings about webbing and the odd pocket in the wrong place, I can live with.
I had bought a spare set of these figures and did not know what to do with them until now.
I was suprised to see them wearing green fatiges in the desert but they know best and they won so there must be something to it.
The bloke kneeing down needs an airel in his pack radio, but the last one I tried didn't look right.
There is going to be a base for these lads but I need to get my hands on a descent sized frame.
I was also tempted to get my hands on the Italeri 25pdr gun for the battle of Mirbat.
The uniform colour was Vallejo German field grey, which is a colour I use a lot on modern uniform.The webbing is Khaki green, and all given a good dusting with Tamiya weathering powder, for that dusty look.

Here is some more blokes in the pipe line.I have one or two more with GPMG's slung and firing.
PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES FOR A LARGER VIEW AND ANY COMMENTS MORE THAN WELCOME.

Cheers for looking,   Rich.

Sunday 24 July 2011

RPM Ford T M.M.G.S American WWI 1/72.

Hello all,

I know I am going off on a bit of a WWI tangent at the moment, know idea why or really care I am enjoying it.
I saw this in the local model shop and thought I will get that when I have got the cash.Sod's law they sold out when I returned, so a quick troll of EBay and this was the result.
 I like trying to build different models from unusual era's and I think this fits the bill.
I have never heard of this company so I did the sensible thing and bought an armoured car as well.
It was a pig of a build, it only had a few parts 20-30 bits.They are badly moulded and the instructions are a bit iffy.I am sure a descent builder would have no problems with this though so don't be put off by this.
The Vickers was donated from a British ESCI soldier because the one in the kit was crap.I saw on on the net with a brass one fitted.It looked the nuts, but it was the same price as the kit and you couldn't get hold of one any way.
I would like to dazzle you with facts about this model but all I know about the Ford model T is that it comes in black.I have now proved this a lie as you can see.
 The figures are from the excellent WD models range and the stowage is from SGTS mess.
I have few figures from this company and plan on getting more.
The decals I cocked up with a bit to much micro solve and had to take the shine off them with weathering powder which accounts for the dusty look rather then muddy.

The base I feel I rushed it a bit.I think it could have been a bit bigger for this one.I needed to centralised it on the base.It is made from ballast from Hornby and silfor tufts along the edges.Putting some flowers on the edges didn't look right.The posing of the figures is a bit hit and miss, the bloke working at the front looks right but the bloke on the edge of the truck needed to be in the middle on some crates.

To be honest I happy with model but not with base and posing.Its a great little model and really want to get the ambulance version.I have a set of WWI medics that would look good with this kit.I think it was down to my choice of background and base size that I am not to thrilled with this effort.I could have done better the teachers report would say.
PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES FOR A LARGER VIEW AND ANY COMMENTS MORE THAN WELCOME.

Cheers for looking,   Rich.

Friday 22 July 2011

REVELL FOKKER EINDECKER E-III 1/72.

Hello all,

This is an older work that I have had knocking around in the aircraft gallery.Being a bone idle git, well to be honest I have quite a few projects coming to an end, so I am for a change very busy.Getting nowhere fast.So with any luck a few more posts in the pipeline.
 I love these Revell bi plane kits a hell of a lot.They are cheap and simple to build.I really like the cheap bit being a skin flint.
For a novice plane builder like myself having only 30 or so bits is a bonus.The only thing is flash on these kits, but a quick go with the craft knife and job done.

The rigging is a bit of a cheat.I used florist wire which is a bit like using iron girders on it.Its better than nothing, but I am plucking up the courage to try real rigging,drilling and thread the works.


The camo scheme was straight off the box,but I have seen other schemes for Ottoman planes that look great,which is handy because I have another one in the stash.It is a light brown colour for desert ops with a large white square and a small black square in the centre for identification, so a quick conversion job on the decals should be quite simple.
The decals were a pain in the arse.The fusalge stripes were the hardest to get straight, I managed to break the bloody thing and had to hand paint them to jion them up.The wing decals went on like a dream, a good dose of microsolve laid them flat.
The other thing that I am chuffed with on this build was the propeller.I managed to get a good wood grain on the prop.I used Vallejo wood glaze on it and it seemed to do the trick with a coat of varnish.
PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES FOR A LARGER VIEW AND ANY COMMENTS MORE THAN WELCOME.

Cheers for looking,   Rich.

Sunday 17 July 2011

Emhar WWI German captured female tank 1/72.

Hello all,

I finally got off my arse and finished this tank that had been sitting on the work bench for ever.
The main reason this took so long was the fact that I had miss laid the decals.In one of the many attempts to keep the second bedroom looking like a bedroom and not a model shop (with the encouragement of "her in doors"), I had shoved them somewhere next to Lord Lucan and Red rum.
I had managed to snap the rails on top of the tank before I had fitted it, so looking at some pictures on the net not all tanks had them so bonus!
They are a pain in the backside to fit any way.The instructions are wrong as well, so after getting my fingers burnt on other tanks I read a build review on "On the way" site that explained how to build it correctly.
The build went okay and only the tracks didn't quite turn out as planned.It wasn't a problem as I intended to cover them in mud using Tamiya's weathering stick.It is like a lipstick and can just be smeared over the desired area's.
The tracks didn't quite sit right either and gaps appeared but again the weathering stick filled them.
 I had fun trying out my airbrush and think that I am getting somewhere with it.I do need an upgrade on the airbrush because it is a still a bit of a blunderbuss.
I gave it an undercoat of Vallejo airbrush German panzer grey primer, then a mix of light blue and panzer grey for the main colour.
I can only assume that the idea behind the camo scheme is that it tries to blend in with the skyline, most blokes looking at it would be looking up from a trench at it.
Then a few blobs of sand and camo brown to finish the camo scheme.
A good wash of Vallejo black wash took the edge off the light blue, which was rather bright.I didn't think it was going to work up to that point but It pulled it back.
The decals are a crap with Emhar kits, well it more than likely me.They end up shinny and wrinkle quite easily.
A few streaks of MiG Standard rust weather powder on the exhaust pipe and the rivets to give that worn, second hand tank look."One previous own madame,it was an old lady that only used to use it for shopping".
I am glad that I finished this one and should have got off my arse  and did a base for it, that might still happen but not yet.

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

Cheers for looking Rich.

Monday 11 July 2011

Valdemar medieval casualty 1/72.

Hello all,

Work, life and failed duel attempts are foiling my blogging at the moment so please bear with me.
The duel was with the great Paul of Paul's bod fame.My attempt at castle walls was bollocks to be honest and only made the bin!
 I decided to tackle another Nemesis this week and that is water!No I am not scared of it and can  swim as well.Trying Vallejo still water again,It's been a bit hit and miss with this stuff you have to have a bit of patience.
You have to pour it in layers of about 2-4mm deep and leave it 24 hours.It can be mixed with paint.
It drys leaving a curved effect but this can be over come when poring additional layers.
I put a couple of plants in the water this time to try a boggy look.
The base is a photo frame with a large thick sheet of packing foam.The rocky out crop is cast from woodland scenic moulds and painted with a very watered down Vallejo paint.
A few rocks from woodland scenic debris range scattered about.
 The grass tufts are from silfor and the loose stuff is from a large wall paper like sheet that fell off.Bloody handy that it did because its the same colour as the rest.
The figure is from Valdemar's skirmish casualty set.His was not the intended choice for this base, but it would have been boring without one on it.
Not sure if the scale armour should be leather or metal so if any one can help me out on this I would be grateful.

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


Cheers for looking,   Rich.

Saturday 2 July 2011

WD MODELS WW1 FRENCH TANKER 1/72.

Hello all,

My blogging has taken a bit of a back seat lately due to work commitments so I am sorry for not replying to every ones else's great work and I will make amends for it!
Stock check comes once a year and is the most annoying time of the year for some who runs a stores!A big BOOOO HIISSSSSS to stock check I say.
Anyway back the fun and relaxing part of my life.
This bemused looking fellow is from WD models and says he is a French tanker.Of the three men I could have chosen he is the least "tanker" looking of the lot.
I couldn't be bothered last night to glue the arms on the other fellows, but they will come.

When doing a bit of research on the very good "land ships" website, it revealed that they didn't have a lot to differentiate between them and the other units.I suppose that tanks coming out in the second half of the war meant the niceties of fancy decorations were not that high on the list.
 It was a nice change to not have to remove the metal  base from him due to the fact that WD models do not have them.A waste of money for them and an arse ache for me to remove them.They are good for weights on planes to be fair.
He is painted with Vallejo paints (like normal) and shaded with Vallejo blue wash and flesh tone.I tried to give it a subtle wash in the creases rather than the usual blunder buss approach I have to washes, like hose them down in it.
The base is just a plain old Games workshop base I bought. about twenty or so in a bag for a fiver.
Some more Vallejo dark mud smeared on the base and the bloke was simply shoved in and left to dry.
I put a bit of glue in the foot prints hoping for it to look like small puddles, more HOPE than anything!
I also tried a new (well new to me) technique for background shots.The infinity look was what I was going for, but I think I need some better lights.
The sheet of light blue paper A1 I think looked smaller in the shop.
Trying to find space on my work bench to lay the paper didn't quite happen.I had to take them on the floor so that's why the last one is quite dark.

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


Cheers for looking,     Rich.