On the Painting Desk

 Am I drawing back the curtain too much? Is too much of the mystery lost? 

See if you can find somewhere to sit in my disorderly palais de peinture.

What do we have here? Well, I was having a good rummage and found a few old GW Brettonins kicking about so I decided that after they had been sitting about for the best part of a decade that it was time for them to get some love. Mr Archer is pretty well there apart from the basing. 

The chap to his right needs the rest of his armour done and I need to decide what's going on with his surcoat. Currently it's a rather painstakingly highlighted gray going on white, but who knows what a flick through my various medieval references will throw up.

Meanwhile in our next shot...

The fellow on the his back in the fetching "or, fretty gules" number needs his armour and weapons completed. The two 1/72 tankers are modern Bundeswehr by Caesar, Excellent detail on them but you'd never know it under all that flecktarn.

And last there are hordes of Spencer Smith Cavalry. Those on the left are complete, while those hemmed in almost completely by a disorderly rabble of GW paint pots have had their first couple of colours applied. I hope to have them done by Sunday, but in lockdown, nothing is certain.

Try to ignore the mess...

A Change of Scene

 Time to take a little break from 1/72 panzer grenadiers and let my eyes rest for a while on something larger and yet also simpler.

I went and pulled out the Comardo Collection of cavalry with my son and arranged them all on the floor of the shedio. We picked out four units for renovation, and if I had been thinking straight this morning I would have shot all four of them, but that's me without coffee.

So the idea is I'll go nuts on them for the next six weeks and se if I can get thru four units of 27 figs.

That should get my ratios of SSM infantry better in keeping with the cavalry arm. 

The idea is to repaint them while honouring their original look. They are old veterans with a lot of years on them and they deserve to be remembered in their old livery - or at least a modenised version thereof. 

Just crane your neck to the right

This is a couple of them post renovation. So, more or less a German Cuirassier on the left or- -ah - top with a French Cavalerie Legere to the right.

Revell Panzergrenadiers

 

I laid my hands on a couple of boxes of Revell Panzergrenadiers recently and it seemed like a good moment to pull a few out and paint them to see what I was getting myself into.

I think they are a case of the sculptor getting very ambitious in the posing while the mold technology used was not quite up to the job. There is lots of excess material where the mold has been unable to reach. Also, there is quite a bit of clash, mold lines and some evidence of mold mis-alignment. Grrr. 

Cleanup is a big part of the job. 

Nice looking figures once you get past these issues, though. Very lively and natural looking poses.

Slowly, we ascend the mountain

A somewhat minimalist Soviet infantry battalion

 Rapid Fire! calls a small HQ section, three six-to-eight man companies and a heavy company with an MMG and an 81mm mortar a battalion for the Soviets. That being so, and at the lower end of the scale, I present my first Soviet infantry battalion.

The second battalion is being sketched out now which means I'll also have to find a Regimental HQ, a 45mm ATG and a 75mm infantry gun. All fun tasks, I hasten to add!

Also on the drawing board are a company of  Revell panzer grenadiers. I spent a rather grim session early this morning shaving off the flash and mould lines before undercoating them.