WIP weekend

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WIP weekend

16 Jan

I took a break from the past few weeks of Napoleonics painting this weekend and thought I should show some of it. Why did I take a break… well for one I felt like I needed another topic on my table for a change and my hands were a little shaky on Saturday and I was in no mood to correct all the mistakes that it would result in.

So first things first. The French Marines for the “La Bricole” painting competition have progressed nicely over the last week. Their clothes were base coated dark blue and got their highlights. Their epaulettes and uniform details are red and highlit, too. The backpacks are completely done (not sure if you can see them in the middle between the minis). I also started on the crossbelts and that is about where I left off on Saturday.

French Marines WIP

So on Saturday I actually sat down to clean up one monster of a WWII model… JFTM´s BR-52 steam engine. I have to say it is one really pretty model. Great detail and no bubbles as always. The fit was great (as you can see from the minimal amounts of green stuff on the model). The biggest problem I actually had was the space between the wheels. Now the JFTM model is meant to fit S-scale tracks, but I am using 0-Scale tracks for my wargaming. I knew this before I bought it and Jeff was nice enough to send me some pictures of the un-assembled model. That way I knew that I could modify it as needed. On the engine I “just” had to add some spacers between the wheels and the lower boiler assembly and everything was fine. Still took long enough though. On the coal tender I just cut the wheels off, glued them back on further apart and added some green stuff supports. Now they also required some filling since I managed to damage two when cutting them off. By now the loco has been primed black.

BR-52 WIP

BR-52 coal tender WIP

I also assembled a Artizan PaK 38 (5cm) on Saturday, since we will need it for our next Kursk game in the coming weeks. Now unfortunately that was not such a nice model. Even though I bought it a couple of years ago when it had just been released (and the mould should have been in mint condition), the gun shield contained lots of flesh and the wheels contained so many holes that they were useless. I still had the wheels from a Bolt Action PaK 40 lying around. Unfortunately those were a little larger, which resulted in a gap between the gun shield and the carriage shield. But that has been covered up. No photos of that one though.

The biggest mistake I made was watching “The Eagle of the 9th Legion” and “World Invasion: Battle Los Angles” in the back ground. Now I am also in the mood to paint up some more moderns and ancients, too.

On Sunday I scratchbuild a warehouse for the same game I need the PaK for, although it is meant to be generic for any theatre in WWII. All the construction is foamcore, wood from coffee stirrers, a few matches and corrugated card. Roofs are completely removable. I just brushed some structured paint on today and should start painting it over the next couple of days.