Some more WWII stuff and my various projects

I just checked and realised that its been nearly 8 weeks since my last post.  Kinda got away from me I think!  Its been even longer since I had my last game.  The Carlist Wars game @ the Lanyon club was a hoot and Doug has since threatened to sell his Carlist armies off to keep the roof over his head so I think we should do another sooner than later. But I haven't been as idle as my lack of blog posts would suggest.  For starters with a few mates I put in a mega order of figures from Perry's and have only just got that through and sorted out what needs to be done (as if there wasn't plenty in the first place!)

Long and short of it is I'm re-doing all my Napoleonic collection, having sold off all my old Austrian, Russian and French figures (hence the outrageous purchases from Perry's!) At last count I had over 500 figures to paint up. Enough to see me well into retirement proper but that's only part of it.

Some of my current projects are:

Napoleonic

French:  Line Brigade of 6 x 24 figure battalions
             ( & finishing two 36 figure battalions of Legere & Young Guard).
             1 x regt. Carabinier (to finish my Heavy Cav. Bde) & 3 x mtd cmdrs
             Battery of Foot Artillery with caissons and limbers (2).

Russian: 6 x 24 figure battalions (4 x Line, 1 each of Jaeger & Grenadier).
            1 regt. Dragoons
            1 regt. Cossacks plus gun & crew (to finish my Cossack Bde)

Austrian: 3 x 36 figure battalions of Line (to finish my 'German' Bde)
              1 x 36 figure Hungarian line bttn.
              1 x 36 figure Grenz bttn (nearly done)
              1 x 36 figure 'German' Grenadiers bttn (to match my Hungarian one)
              1 x regt Hussars* (half done)
              1 x artillery caisson, 2 x limbers
               * I sold my old Uhlan regt so must get another - hopefully when one of the Perry lads decides to make 'em!
 ACW

- 2 x regiments Confederates (i.e. a box of late war Rebs!)
- Horse handlers etc, for my dismounted Virginian cavalry
- Supply wagons etc, for my Reb army.

WWI (Early War)

German: 1 x platoon Jaegers
              4 x platoons Line
              2 x hvy MGs
              1 x artillery piece & crew
              1 x regt Uhlans

Belgian:  1 x platoon Chasseurs
              3 x platoons Line
              2 x doggie-drawn MGs (one already painted!)
              1 x regt Chasseur a Cheval scouts
              2 x Minerva scout cars (one already done!)

WWII

Australians:   6 pdr AT gun
                    3 x sections of men in full battle dress incl Bren, mortar & HQ sections
                    (i.e. an under-strength platoon - to make up a full company of the 2/7th)
                    1 x Vickers Light Tank
                    1 x Gloster Gladiator*
                    1 x Bristol Blenheim *
                    (* my birthday present yet to be collected!)

Italians:        4 x sections Parachutists incl LMGs & HQ sect.
                   2 x Para Brixia mortars
                   2 x Para HMGs
                   2 x sections Rifles
                   1 x LMG section
                   2 x HMGs
                   2 x 80mm mortars
                   1 x HQ sect.
                   1 x M13/40 Tank

There are other bits and pieces for my N Africa/Greece including mortar, HMG for my German Gebirgsjaeger & a Bf 109 to complete the German air cover.  Will also collect a bomber and fighter for the Italian's air cover. Oh, and I need some Greeks - just a platoon or two!

Others include a complete Dragoon regiment (incl dismounted) for my Thirty Years War Imperialists army and some pikemen to complete my Italian Wars army for Impetus (actually a Doug initiative!) and finally, in storage awaiting the old paint brush is an entire 1866 Austrian army too!

OK - a trifle ambitious perhaps (read completely effing insane) but such is the life of a wargaming addict, nes par? ;-)

What I have done lately is the air cover for the Crete campaign - nearly finished the Germans and halfway through the Allies with my Hurricane done & Blenheim (hopefully) on the way. 

I've perfected my flight stand design too so it looks less clunky but is still robust enough to take any 1/72nd plastic model up to and including a JU52!

 

Well that's about it for now.  Working and now the footy season, house hunting on weekends and just life in general seems to all get in the way of my blogging but I will try to not leave it too long until the next post.

Oh, and a big thanks to my blogging buddy Fran (the Angry Lurker) for the birthday greetings. Really cheered me up at the time - cheers mate! 

Franco-Prussian War French - Chasseurs d'Afrique and Doc's basing technique demo'd

Well it took a little longer than anticipated, but that wasn't because they were harder to paint.  There's a lot happening both with figures from various periods as well as at work so just a bit time poor of late.  I decided to give the Chasseurs - the pretty boys of French FPW cavalry - the 'deluxe' basing treatment.  And I used the Army Painter shading as well to give them a nice finish.  The last bit alone added an extra 24 hours to ensure it was properly dry and hardened before varnishing.

The other thing I had to sort out is my new camera - a Panasonic Lumix TZ10.  Its a great little digi compact with a very good Leica lense and all sorts of macro and manual controls.  It takes terrific low light macro shots but like anything, you need to practice to get it right.  The pics I'm posting are my first attempts, so bear with me.

I've recorded the stages of my 'deluxe' basing technique, starting with the figures after the final painting and the application of the Army Painter shade dip.  BTW - I don't dip - I brush it on which gives far greater control of where you want the shade effect concentrated and it is a far less wasteful way of doing it.

 Dipped, cured and ready for basing

The boys based & ready for a good flocking!

I make my own bases from 6mm heavy card & magnetic adhesive sheets, all cut to size & sealed with black acrylic paint.

The three stages above are first: add a small blob of PVA glue and carefully place some scenery rocks in it.  I use the reasonably fine light railway scenery rocks - if you want they can be stained up realistically with diluted fleshwash afterwords.  Second; press on a pinch of static grass - not too hard, just enough for it to bed into the PVA & rocks mix, then tap off the excess - it should look like the third pic.   The next part is an addition of mine - adding some patches of 'burnt summer grass' mix on the base.

While the paint is wet put a decent pinch of the grass mix on - press it lightly so you get a good amount sticking, then tap off the rest.  At the risk of stating the bleedin' obvious I do say 'tap' as if you blow on it, its so fine it'll go everywhere - and its not stuff you'd want to inhale! 

The patches of grass & rocks done, its now time to finish the flocking off.

I use a nice sloppy acrylic green paint that I've watered down a bit (not too thick, not too thin!).  I work quickly but carefully, covering the base with plenty of paint but trying not to slop it on the grass patches or the figures, I use an old brush about 2 cm long with some point left so I can push the paint mix into all the nooks and crannies.  Once all the base is covered I put it into my flock mix container, making sure its well covered by mix.  I push it threw the mix several times, tapping it off in between.  This allows any larger bits to fall off and the finer material to adhere to the paint.  Again, resist the urge to blow the excess away - its healthier to tap!  The final pic above shows the bases flocked and the figures ready for the (final) varnishing.

The Chasseur regiment after the matt varnish has dried - all Foundry figures and very nice to paint up.

The officer is wearing the shako like the men did at the time of the attempted breakout from Metz, where the Chasseurs sacrificed themselves charging Prussian rifles and artillery to give time for the Emperor and the rest of the army to escape.  It proved fruitless as most went into the bag - including the surviving Chasseurs - although at least one regiment of them busted out and fought with distinction for the rest of the Republican phase of the war.  They were the finest mounted of all the French cavalry, all being on pure blood Arabians, mostly grays.  Although Prussian cavalry generally outclassed the French, they never bettered the Chasseurs who were arguably the best cavalry of the war, albeit on the loosing side.

Well, that's the lot so far.  Click on the pics for enlargement and leave a comment if you like.  My French are just about done - still toying with the idea of another couple of battalions but the rest of the Prussian army awaits!

Cheers,

           Doc

Dismounted dragoons (and a dead legere) nearly done - the 'how-to' for basing and finishing your new dragoons!

After the usual interruptions I've managed to do the finishing on the dismounted dragoons from the latest Perry's release.  I decided to use the plastic bases that came with the set - perfect for the figures in 'open order' as it were.  I cut and maggy-sheeted some individual bases to go with them.  The figures in this first pic have been finished with Army Painter, final touch-ups (white cartridge-box belts etc)- got all the way through them, glued them to the bases and started the flocking before I found out I'd forgotten the boot spurs! 

After leaving overnight for the Painter to set, a solid coat of matt varnish and then leave them for a few hours more. I found it useful to do it in stages, leaving the figures overnight after finishing the painting as the paint has to be completely dry before coating with Army Painter otherwise you risk crackling ( a nice effect interior designers strive for but a disaster for miniature soldier painters!)  The completely dried and varnished figures are then removed from the painting sticks, the figure bases cleaned up and then glued to the stand bases, all of which have magnetic sheeting cut to fit on the bottom (gives the figures a smidgeon more 'heft' too!)

The first part of the flocking I add some rock and grass features.  I gives a nice touch to the bases rather than just the straight flocking mix.  I tend to do it on the nicer figure stands, command vignettes and casualty markers.  Its pretty straight forward and an easy techniques to use to enhance the look of your bases.

 

I use small rocks - railway scenery 'ballast' that is actually a very light shale - put a dollop of PVA glue on the base (I use a fine palette knife to make sure I get it where I want it) and then press the small rocks into it - just enough so they are seated in the glue not covered by it!  I then get a good pinch of the static grass and making sure it covers all the glue and rocks, press it firmly, then carefully lift and tap off the excess.

The next step is to add the rest of the flocking.  I use a paint sample-pot of Dulux Olive Green which gives a nice undercoating as well as remaining wet enough for the flock to adhere to. I think I have said in a previous post that you get 250 ml. in a sample pot - enough to do thousands of bases!  As you can see above, the grassy outcrops look particularly effective on casualty markers - this one being a dead French legere  carabinier (French light infantry equivalent of a grenadier) - formerly a dead British fusilier and one of the handy casualty freebies you get with the horse sprues in each box - the grenadier's bearskin courtesy of the elite company dragoon heads.

After you've given them a final flocking (sounds kinda wrong but looks alright!) wipe off the excess on the edges finish sealing them with paint - I use a flat black acrylic as it defines and lifts the base. 

Tomorrow its off outside to give them the last coat of matt varnish to seal the lot in forming a nice solid protective coating for the stands. I'll post some pics of the final results when its all done - then its off to paint hordes of Indian sepoys for the Black Powder Indian Mutiny battle planned for week after next!

We do like that dragoon officer too! He's turned out OK but I may have to do more work on that fake leopardskin on the helmet.

Cheers,
             Doc

Movement tray interlude

After seeing John's efforts and the discussion on other posts about basing using the Litko magnetic basing I decided I would have a go at it myself.  A mate of mine had a number of these metallic based trays which the magnetic strip on the bottom of many commercial basing used on figures will adhere to.

They were suitable for a 60 x 60mm base which is the size of the bases for a 12 figure battalion of 25mm figures - usually a 60 x 20 base for the command of 4 figures and combination's making up the rest.  The bases are expensive  (given the number you may need), only came in that configuration and were hard to get here. 

After I got a kids magnet set  I stripped the metal sheet out of it and cut it to size on my trusty benchtop bandsaw.  The idea was to make enough to field a 4-5,000 point army or maybe even two.  I reckon I needed 40 of the battalion sized bases - enough for 480 figures - that should cover it!

I cut the metallic sheet to 60 x 60 and the thin card base to 70 x 70 and glued match or balsa sticks to form a lip to the base.  I then gave it a decent coat of olive drab for a uniform finish.  The matchstick edges of some older ones I made out of balsa were flocked in a fine railroad modeller's ballast - which you could do for these but I couldn't be bothered with so many to make.  As you can see in the above photo, a battalion size unit of 12 fits snugly on the base (Russian Jaeger - Front Rank 28mm figs).  I was so pleased with the results, I decided to make a few more up - this time for a cavalry regiment.

I also realised that larger units such as Austrians or Russian Guard would require larger bases so I also made a few to accommodate 16 figure battalions.  I made some up and tried the Pavlovs (again Front Rank) for size.  The next size up was the half regiment size for cavalry.  The biggest cav base is 60 x 40 which takes three horses abreast and are usually the command stand and thus head of a column formation.


A cav regt in column is thus 160mm x 60mm - add another 10mm for the card.  The half regt ones I made are 120mm long and can accommodate up to 9 mounted figures


Also of interest is the paint - I got a quarter litre (250ml) sample pot made up of Dulux acrylic for about $5.  Given you will pay close to that for a 30ml pot of paint I thought it a bargain - and you can get every colur under the sun made to measure with the mixing system.  Hmmm - it appears to be pretty opaque and nice smooth consistency - I wonder if it would make decent figure paint?  Anyone out in blogland tried it?  Maybe a solution for some of your more frequently used colours?

 

Inspired by other postings and comments on other blogs I embarked on something a bit more ambitious than first envisaged but another days work and I'll have enough bases for 40 infantry battalions and 10 cav regiments as well as a dozen or so for larger sized infantry formations/half cav regiments.  Nearly all my French and Allied and most of my Russians are now catered for but then I checked the basing on all my Austrians.  Most of that army, being the first I collected, are not based with magnetic bases.  Oh boy, a BIG re-basing job or at least maggy strip job is needed.  I tried the magnetic tape solution but metal figures are too heavy and it doesn't have the adhesion that matches the adhesive backed sheets of the stuff.  Ggrrrr - more bleedin' fiddling about required!

Still the French cav look nice and at home on their movement tray base, so after that brief but franticly productive interlude, back to finishing the cuirassiers!

Cheers,

             Doc