Lesa and Shadrach

Emails were sent to both of you as requested. It's holiday time so you may just not have had a chance to respond yet, but please confirm whether you've received them. I wanted to make sure they got through.

Items for sale or trade

Books
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Osprey Men-At-Arms 64 Napoleon's Cuirassiers and Carabiniers
Osprey Men-At-Arms 55 Napoleon's Dragoons and Lancers

25-30mm Old Glory
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SYWA-13 Austrian Hussar Command - complete (1 standard top broken off but present)
SYWA-08 Austrian Hungarian Grenadier Command - complete
SYWA-03 Austrian German Grenadier Command - 1 officer w/spontoon, 1 drummer, 1 standard bearer
SYWA-04 Austrian German Grenadier - 1 wounded marching hatless, 12 marching grenadier variants
?? unidentified 18th century - 2 officer marching with spontoon over shoulder, 2 officer standing with sword upright
AWI-21 British Grenadier March Attack - 1 officer, 1 standard, 1 fifer (I think), 1 drummer, 11 marching

25mm Barry Minot plastics
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2 Highlander
3 AWI light infantry advancing
2 AWI musketeer in tricorn advancing
16 AWI grenadier in bearskin advancing

30mm Spencer Smith plastics
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2 drummers (1 painted and based)

25mm Sash & Saber
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1 Prussian Grenadier Advancing Shoulder Arms (Prussian Cuffs)

1/72 Plastic Napoleonics - Boxed
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Manufacturer Code # Name Number of Boxes Number of Figures
Italeri 6058 British and Scots Infantry 1 50
Zvezda 8021 French Infantry 1 50

1/72 Plastic Napoleonics - Loose
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Manufacturer Code # Name Number of Figures
Esci 227 French Line Infantry 75
Esci 215 Napoleonic British Infantry 127
Airfix 01744 Waterloo French Infantry 141
Esci 214 French Imperial Guard 127
Airfix 01749 Waterloo French Imperial Guard 50
Airfix 01736 Waterloo French Cavalry 24

1/72 Plastic Samurai
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Caesar 003 Japan Samurai with Ninja - 1 box (with box, but off sprue, unpainted)

1/87 Vehicles
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Roco Marder I (missing targeting asembly on left of turret)
Roco fuel tractor/trailer (Z168 maybe, with scoop-entry on tractor?)(painted)
EKO WW2 dump truck
Roco water tank truck (Looks like the #148, only it has the scoop-entry rather than doors on the tractor)

1/72 Plastic WW2
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Airfix 01748 USAF Personnel (loose figures, but should all be present)
Airfix 01747 RAF Personnel (loose figures, but should all be present)

A little more progress

A trip over to my Hesse-Engelburg blog will show a little more work done this weekend.

WW2 Vehicle Park

Following in the footsteps of some others on the 1/87 Military Models Yahoo group, I decided to line up all my WW2 vehicles for a group photo. On the left side, you can see various artillery pieces, a couple of Paul Heiser models that are still in progress (the white items), a stray Roco Marder I, a Tiger II and Panther from a Roco knockoff company that need new track units, and some odds and ends of spare parts. More comments after the photo. Click on the photo for a larger view.

As you can see (and has been mentioned on this blog), my vehicles are a mixture of true 1/87 vehicles from Roco, Boley, Eko, and others, plus a mix of die-cast and plastic vehicles that happen to be in generally the right size. The topmost trucks are all modern M998 trucks from Maisto, but I use them quite happily in my WW2 forces of all sides. If I eventually get enough Roco trucks of the correct nationality and era, I may phase them out, but for now they suit me fine. Similary, the third row down shows a mixed bag of diecast US half-tracks from at least three manufacturers, most of them the sort with AA guns. These are also happily used as troop transports of all sides as needed, until such time as proper replacements can arrive. Given that the Roco/Heiser halftracks tend to sell from $12-30 each, this will be a while.
I still don't know who makes the undersized cheap plastic panzers near the front. These too may eventually be replaced when I can afford the proper 1/87 vehicles. The very front row has several jeeps, a number of which are missing parts (which is their state when I bought them). It also has the probably gem of the Roco part of my collection, a lone Churchill.

On the Workbench

Having done some random bits of progressing the past couple of days, I decided it was time for one of the traditional cluttered workbench pictures, plus some updates. As usual, click on a picture for a larger version. First the cluttered workbench. Right now, there's nothing else demanding the bench, so I've got my wargaming stuff spread out on it, so I figured it was a good time to take a picture. It's actually slightly more cluttered now, as that shot was a couple of days before some of the latest work. Those who follow my SYW ImagiNations can see some of the primed and partly painted figures off to the right side of the desk. Top center is Delta Ceramcoat paints, with Vallejo paints at top right.

Next up, we have further progress on the 10mm ACW figures. I painted blanket rolls on two more stands, going with Vallejo 869 Basalt Gray this time.

I also decided to begin painting on the remaining two buildings that were still unpainted all this time. The next picture shows the JR Miniatures 15mm church from their Napoleonic French line. The stonework is done with Delta Ceramcoat 2442 Stonewedge. I'm still not totally decided if I like this. The doors and wooden trim are in Delta Ceramcoat 2055 Autumn Brown. For the roof, I'm thinking of going with a dark red color.

With a bit of left-over Autumn Brown from the above, I painted the spear shaft of the leftmost Warrior Frog in the next picture.

Next up, we hav the other "Servant's Quarters" building from JR Miniatures, again from their 15mm Napoleonic French line. I've undercoated it with my usual white acrylic gesso. I'm thinking of going for a blue shade possible for the walls of it; haven't decided for sure.

And last but not least, I've finally gotten up the courage to take one of the Paul Heiser 1/87 scale British Scout Carriers out of its bag, trim/sand/snip/poke the flash from (most of) it, and get an undercoat of white gesso on it. I've got another one of these to go after it, and want to get a few more to equip my partial carrier platoon. A look back at the workbench photo will reveal a German Sdkfz 250 also awaiting painting and assembly.

Vive la House!

No, this is't wargaming related.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080929/ap_on_bi_ge/financial_meltdown

Quote: "Bush and a host of leading congressional figures had implored the lawmakers to pass the legislation despite loud protest from their constituents back home. Not enough members were willing to take the political risk just five weeks before an election.

More than two-thirds of Republicans and 40 percent of Democrats opposed the bill."

Who cares about the political risks? Have any of you heard of representative government? Where the people elected represent their constituents? If their constituents are protesting loudly, isn't it their responsibility to vote against it? Since they're supposed to be representing us, not deciding things for us?

Vive la House! Even the Democrats that joined the vote against it. For once, I agree with some Democrats.

Tuesday's 10mm ACW painting

At least, I think it was Tuesday. It's been one of those busy weeks, days jumbling together. But I managed to get in some more painting time, and advance the figures further.

Step 5 (part 2) and Step 6:
As noted before, one stand of the infantry is ahead of the others in the process now. I first decided to deal with catching the others up, and wanted to try a different shade of blue. The figures on the right are this attempt, painted with Accent Country Colors 2446 "Indigo Blue". As you can see, it came out rather dark, so I decided to go back to the main blue for the remaining figures.
Meanwhile, the left stand in the picture is the one in step 5 in the previous post, and has progressed to step 6 with the painting of the blanket roll. I decided to aim for the oilskin look on this one, so I went with Delta Ceramcoat 02506 Black. The contrast with the brighter Navy Blue is subtle, but visible, and I rather like it. I think I'll try some other blanket roll colors, however, probably starting with a gray.


This second photo shows Step 5 as applied to the remaining infantry and the mounted officer. All of these have been painted with the same Navy Blue as the first one was in the last post, after my attempt at a darker blue. I may go back and paint the officer's hat to a darker color. Still debating that.


One thing I did fail to do, which I should have done in step 5, is to paint the base of the figures. That will be rolled into the next round. Painting the base at this stage makes it easier to put the dash of color on the boots later.

10mm ACW Painting Continues

Yesterday allowed me to get a little further on painting, and I've got some fresh photos to show for it. I actually was able to paint one stand several days ago, since the last post, but didn't get a photo of it. So now I have one stand that's ahead of the others in the painting steps. As usual, click on the photos to get a larger view.

Step 4: Trousers
For these union troops, I'm using Delta Ceramcoat 02106 Bonnie Blue as the trouser color, and I've begun using a new technique for these, which I used to use in my teen years on 1/72 scale figures. Instead of a paintbrush, I'm using a toothpick. While the shaking of my hands still causes paint where I don't want it some, it seems to cause a lot less trouble than stray bristles off the paint brush.


Step 5: Jacket and Kepi
I decided on using Delta Ceramcoat 2083 Navy Blue for the coats and hats on this stand, but I'm pondering the possibility of using some other dark blues on various stands. Initially this will likely be to learn what I like, but it also leaves some room for variation in dye jobs and wear to the fabric. You can see where I slipped and got a bit of the dark blue on the rifle barrel while painting the kepi. This will be corrected later.

More painting

A couple of days ago provided another opportunity to get a little painting in. I started on the next step of the 10mm ACW figures, then had some paint left over so I went ahead and dug out a couple of other figures. As usual, click on the photo to zoom in.

Step 3: Skin
For step 3, I started on faces and hands, and backs of necks in some cases, for my 10mm ACW figures. I wasn't very worried about being neat, beyond trying not to paint over the rifles too much, but stages to come may require more care. I have some ideas to try.

I also had a chance to work on face and hands for my lone test figure for WW2 British plastic troops. I suspect I'll change my technique up some the next one I paint, but I'm reasonably pleased that the figure is actually somewhat usable in that state. I intend to do more, but for the period, a simple basic color and distinct face and hands is not a bad basic setup.

Meanwhile, check out my Hesse-Engelburg and Ober-Schweinsberg blogs to see the other two figures I worked on. For those of you not familiar with them, just click the "View my complete profile" link at the top of this page and scroll down to find links to them.

Painting and Trades

While nothing impressive, I have made a little painting progress in the past couple of weeks. I started painting my 10mm ACW figures, using a technique found on a web forum for 6mm figures. Pictures below of the first two steps. I'm doing 4 stands of 3 infantry plus one mounted officer, though you can only see two of the stands in the photo. They're mounted with drops of white glue onto a spare bit of plywood for handling. I'm pleased with how that's worked out.

Step one: Priming
I've primed the figures, as with all my priming lately, with Liquitex white acrylic gesso. I'm still learning how much to pour out to coat a certain amount of figures.

Step two: Muskets and Horse
For this stage, I've used Delta Ceramcoat acrylic 02054 Golden Brown. The painting guide recommended going a little lighter for small figures than for large ones, so this was one of the lighter browns in my limited paint inventory. The decision to use it on the horse had more to do with having a fair bit of it left over after completing the muskets than out of any plan regarding horse colors.


Meanwhile, this past week's mail brought in several items. I finally managed to free up some cash to pay for a box that Tom had been holding onto for me, so my Roco forces are now augmented by a Roco Opel radio truck, a Roco Sherman tank, and a Roco Elefant tank destroyer. Also in the box were gun trails to complete my Roco US 105mm Howitzer, and a spare M10/36 tank destroyer hull in case I wished to do a conversion from the Sherman. In the end, I decided I had more need of a Sherman to lead my Matchbox Shermans, so it's been put into service as is.

Also in the mail was the result of a trade for about 300 of my 1/72 plastic Napoleonic figures (I still have more if anyone is interested). I know I'd decided to cut myself down to just Western Front WW2, but I ended up in trade with a box each of Airfix Japanese Infantry and US Marines. I can always trade them later, but having also received a couple of Japanese pack mules, I'm pondering doing a small supply interdiction game. Also included were 2 boxes of British paratroopers, a box of Revell Scottish 8th Infantry, and a box of Revell Afrika Korps. I probably won't use these for Africa (especially since I got rid of my other Africa troops), but rather raid the mostly long-trousered figures for variety in my Western Europe forces....and perhaps the option of doing Italian front battles as well. In line with the latter, I added a box of Italian Alpini. I'm still debating whether to cut off the feathers from the mostly helmeted troops so I can use them as regular Italians with my Airfix/Hat Italians. They'd supply badly needed machine guns for them. Or maybe I'll just leave the feathers on so I have the option to mix or to separate. We'll see.

Naval Wargames

Thanks to a small contest, I received an Amazon gift certificate, which was spent on a variety of stuff, mostly DVDs/videos for family night, but first on my list was a copy of Barry J. Carter's "Naval Wargames" which is mostly focused on WW1 and WW2. This is another of those books I used to check out of the library in my late teens, and from which my best friend and I spent many hours cutting and writing on small cardboard counters for WW1 and WW2 fleets which were played out using these rules across a large living room floor. Good memories.

Long Time, No Post

There's been a lot of activity on the sister-blogs, Hesse-Engelburg and Ober-Schweinsberg, but very little on this one. I have relatively little to report outside the SYW nations, but I have had some success in clearing out some of my unwanted wargaming items and adding some wanted ones.

Slowly, my wargaming library has grown, a book or a two at a time. I need to update that side listing pretty badly. It's well out of date.

Actual wargaming items have been limited to mostly SYW stuff, though I'm expecting a few more WW2 vehicles from a friend in the next few weeks.

I should compile a list of things I have to sell and post it here, just in case anyone's looking for them.