Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Happy Holidays

Well, this Christmas certainly cemented my scale for WWII at 20mm. I received 2 Italeri Stone Houses for Normandy, and several buildings for the Eastern Front, including a Pegasus 2-Story Log House, Pegasus Ukranian House 2, Pegasus Russian Izba, and a MiniArt East European Farmyard.

I'll definitely have to have an assembly and painting party this coming weekend and see if I can knock all these buildings out. At some point I'm going to need to consider how I'm going to store everything in my apartment.

I was also able to make some headway in the tank assembly department, knocking out 2 StuG III G's, a StuH 42, 3 T-70s, and a PzIV G (all PSC). I also had a crack at getting some of the HaT tank riders primed, but they didn't like the Elmer's glue I used, and they popped right off the popsicle stick I attached them to. I think I'm going to either sticky-tac them down, or just glue them straight to their plasticard bases and then paint them. The German horse-drawn carts are an excellent set, quick to assemble, and will paint up great. I'm thinking of using most, if not all, of the HaT AT guns as limbered pieces, as they aren't quite robust enough or detailed enough when compared to other companies.

To round everything off, I've been looking at Linka for Normandy, and I must say, the stonework sets and rough shingle roofs are looking mighty tempting. Soon, but not until I have most of the Eastern Front stuff nearly finished.

Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays!

~iPaint

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Reinforcements Inbound

Got some reinforcements inbound of the 20mm WWII variety.

From Plastic Soldier Company:

6 PzIV's
3 StuG III AusfG's
6 T70's
4 Zis2/3 AT Guns
1 Box of Russian Infantry in Summer Uniform (57 figs)

From Zvezda:

2 Maxim MMG's
2 ATR Teams
2 76mm AT Guns
2 45mm Infantry Guns
1 German Reconnaissance Team
1 German 88mm Flak Gun

From HaT Industrie:

2x Russian Tank Riders sets (44 figs per)
2x German Tank Riders sets (44 figs per)
4 PaK 7.62mm 36(r) AT Guns
4 PaK 40 AT Guns
4 PaK 36 AT Guns
3 German Field Wagons

From Pegasus Hobbies:

1x Russian Farm Houses set (2 per)
1x 2-Story Russian Log House
1x Russian Log Houses (2 per)

On the Workbench right now:

3 German infantry squads and a platoon command squad (think there's an extra LMG in there that doesn't fit into the BGK list, but mind as well paint him anyway), along with 2 Russian rifle squads and an SMG squad, plus officer.

On the Workbench
Hoping to get the Russians finished this weekend, then start in on the Germans. I painted up one NCO from the AB order I placed, and it was such a joy to paint. Talk about great detail. Truly exceptional models. Looking forward to getting to the rest of them.

~iPaint

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

A new blog, a new start, yadda yadda

Right, now that the whole "new blog" thing is out of the way: yes, this will be my new (hopefully permanent) blog to post ideas about painting, modelling, wargaming, and miscellaneous other stuff that keeps me entertained for hours on end.

Just a bit about the blog, and what you may see here.

Painting. Right, there's that. I paint mostly historicals now, and I'm currently venturing forth into the great world of 1/72 scale, or 20mm, WWII. That's the main project you will see on this blog. I've also done 15mm and 28mm as well, from Lord of the Rings, to Flames of War, to American Civil War, and even some 40k. I will also be working on some 15mm sci-fi, inspired by the great Dropship Horizon blog, and the many avid 15mm sci-fi gamers out there doing great things for the hobby. And perhaps some Zombie-apoc stuff. And of course the awesome Reaper Bones Kickstarter models will turn up eventually.

But for now, and the immediate future, count on mostly 20mm WWII. Eastern front for starters. Because we have to jump down the rabbit hole from some point, right? And that rabbit hole is deep. We're talking movies, TV shows, wacky internet stuff, possibly some crazy ideas that I'll come up with and never follow up on, random real-world encounters, and who knows what else.

Main goal, however, is to frequently try and update this site with something relevant that would make you want to come back and visit. Because I'd like that. It'd mean I have something of value to contribute to the internet, which is saying something. So, kick back, relax, and let me show you the Workbench.

20mm WWII

Right, so, jumping straight into it, I recently caught the fever of 20mm WWII after drooling over blogs and sites such as, but not necessarily limited to (and in no particular order, though the closer you are to the top, the better off you fared in a double-blind study conducted by no-one in particular):

And many more, whom I will eventually get around to following via the blog here.

So, knowing full well what I was getting into (a lie - I didn't) I took the plunge and ordered some Plastic Soldier Company kits and some Warmodelling metals this past summer to get me started. I've recently had time to break out the paints again after a hectic few months of moving and getting a new job and new apartment, that I was able to sit down and get painting again.

Using Battlegroup Kursk (BGK) as the framework for what I'm collecting/building/eventually painting, I now have several squads ready to go should I want to try simple infantry skirmishes.
Warmodelling's German Heer (left) and Waffen SS (right)

Plastic Soldier Company Russian Summer Infantry

I have an order that just came in from Tom over at Milicast with some AB Figures, including some American GI's for Normandy (soon...), and some Germans for the Eastern Front. I've yet to decide how I'll split up the packs I received, but several of the models would work great as recce foot patrols, or forward HQ staff, and any number of other cool things. The sculpting is top notch, and apart from one miscast GI who had a bad case of mold-slip syndrome (he's undergone surgery #1 to remove the metal off his face, with another removal scheduled soon, followed by a possible greenstuff graft, but I'm by no means a sculptor. Or a doctor), every model came out pretty much well-casted. I had a fear some of the molds may be wearing down in their old age, but the clean up was minor, all things considered. A few guys are getting new rifle barrels, and one guy needed his pants cleaned up with some greenstuff, but all in all, not bad. They are metal minis after all, and we know how those are.

I'm going to try and get some pictures of painted models for each pack up on this site as soon as they're finished, because for some reason, there's little documentation for the pack contents outside of AB's site, and  even there it isn't thorough.

So, not a bad first post. I'll definitely have more to come in the future, including the dreaded back log of stuff to do, what the future looks like, and more.

Cheers.

~iPaint