Its September!

SO Howdy all. Anybody miss me? Well I missed me. Been a really busy busy year. I have been really involved with work and my wife became very ill in Februrary. SO needless to say I have not been doing much on the mini painting front.

That being said, I did get 2 figures painted over the last 7 months. Not exactly what I had in mind, but we take what little we can get. For my trouble I won a Bronze demon at the Los Angeles Gamesday this August. It was kind of a mixed blessing. I had so many other things to get too, however I had already bought my tickets and those for my son as well. Naturally they were the non refundable kind( always read the fine print). So with 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there I did get 2 figures done.

Anyhoo, I am beginning work on several projects that are so far behind it is not even funny.

Project 1. Wittmanns Tiger platoon for Flames of War. A client of mine had requested these and it is high time I got on them. I am very thankful he is a patient man.

Project 2. A Leman Russ tank squadron and a couple of Baneblades for a good friend of mines Warhammer 40k army. I have a free reign to do what I like with them so I think it will be interesting. Also a patient man. Good thing.

Project 3. More work on my Crimson Guard space marines. A little bit here and there to keep it interesting.

Project 4. My New WorldEaters chaos marine army. This is going to be a hoot to get done.

Project 5. My German 21 Panzerdivision for Flames of War. I bought this army earlier this year and have only managed to open the box so far.

There are other oddball figures and projects here and there, most of them for Gamesday next year and hopefully Reapercon in Dallas as well.

And now even More Shermans!

So here are the Shermans to tie into the Tank Destroyers. They have early-mid war markings and are identified as the 2nd Armored Division, 67th regiment, which saw action in all theaters.

The Infantry and a Jeep!

SO I have finished up the Infantry for the M18 tank destroyer unit and the jeep as well.

I am very pleased with how they turned out.

Thoughts and opinions always welcome!

M20s and a Jeep!

OK so HOWDY Again. My client is happy with the M18s so YAY GO ME!

Now the M20s are up for review. I was not entirely sure how to proceed with these guys, but I came across a modeling sight that had some M20s done up and a couple of pictures of M20s from the field in France. It's amazing what a google search will turn up.

Anyhoo, I took one of the more intersting models and split up the markings on the vehicles so each one would have some character.

The jeep I kept simple so the driver and officer would stand out more. I think they turned out pretty decent and am happy with the results. I have a few jeeps of my own and I think I am going to follow the same approach for my own. I was thinking of tryin to include a standing gunner on the jeep, but with the position of the MG and the stadning figure, the models physically did not fit, unless I was going to have the gunner standing on the rear lights/bumper. Would'nt look good at all.

The jeep needs a little grass and maybe some small basing details to finish it out. I am going to do this along with the infantry tonight so stay posted as I hope to update this evening.

So feel free to comment, praise or complaint, it is all good to me.

Thanks!!

HELLCATS FINISHED!!

So Howdy. OK so they are not entirely complete. I still need my client's approval before I can call them done. I do feel really good about them though. I am very pleased with the way they turned out and I think there is something special about these figures I have done up.

In any event I marked them up with some simple slogans and put unit markings on them for the 67th Armored regiment, 2nd Armored Division, " Hell on Wheels" I like this unit because they were in every theatre since the US entered the war and have a illustrious history.

Next up are the Utility vehicles and the Jeeps, then the infantry!

Hellcats! Rawwrr!

Howdy. Up for review is an almost finished M18 hellcat platoon for Flames of War. These are a commission set. I apologize for the poor picture quality but one of lamps was left off when I was taking the pictures and so they came out a little yellowed.

Still all in all I am pleased with them overall, my client wanted a little rust and oil stains here and there along with a bit of dusty grit. I think I have achieved what I am looking for with that, I carefully applied some weathering techinques so the fronts of the vehicles look dusty, but not covered in mud. I think that looks sloppy and not quite a realistic. The M20s I think need something more, what I am not sure of, but they seem lacking something. Maybe a nice big star on the front end, but I am thinking something more. Ultimately it is up to my client what he wants, but he has said he will let me handle most of the details like that.

I had thought putting " The Wild Bunch" on one of the M20s would be cool, but the more I thought about it, it seems like that would be more fitting on one of the tank vehicles. I will leave it to my client if he likes it or not. he may not share my opinions of "personal touches" on armor, at least for US armor. I do not think I have ever seen a US vehicle without some kind of something on it. Sometimes it is too small to translate well on to a mini, sometimes it is just overwhelming and really guady, but still it is there...Well except maybe for a jeep or two...

I know the jeep needs a star, and will look much better when the crew is done, as will all the vehicles, but I like to look at them for a while before I put the crew in them to make sure the vehicle looks "right" before adding drives and such.

The machineguns will be done separatley. I may or maynot attach them before shipping because they have a tendency to break off in the mail. I will have to see how well they fit into the holes before attaching them.

The M18s need some last little details. Serial numbers, any slogans or "nose art' my client may want. Maybe another star on the sides of the hull. I have seen images of them on the turret and hull, turret only and hull only, so it is really quite open as best I can figure.

Thoughts? Thanks!!

Happy New Year

HOWDY and Happy New Year!

So I finally got the Sherman Commission complete and am moving on to the next one. I am doing a Flames of War Hellcat Platoon. Very cool models. Will post some pictures of them in the next couple of days.

I also have some more Shermans I will post here later. I seem to get a lot of shermans now a days. Maybe with all the late war hub bub they are more popular. I don't know, but they are a neat model and I never really get tired of doing them.

I picked up the Flames of War book, the art of War. A very cool book. I picked up a few pointers in there and I would recommend to anyone who wants to get some good ideas and guidelines on what a lot of Flames of War, or WW2 gaming in general, figures and models should look like. While it is not entirely comprehensive, it is a very good resource I think.

In the meantime, I have an older figure I did early year before last for your review. He is a Hasslefree figure named " Mad Dog". I fell in love with this guy as soon as I saw him and he was a real joy to paint. Hope ya'll like him!