Tank Busters

 I thought that it might be interesting to see if I could convert some standard French infantry into a gun crew for my 47mm anti tank gun.

The gun itself is from Mad Bob's Miniatures. 

I had some leftover bits from the British infantry sprues, which you can see in this image.   I was able to use a few plastic hands to replace the rifle and VB Launcher hands.

One of the hands was perfect for a shell, which was made from polystyrene tubes. 

Once the crew was completed,  it was time to create some basing to match the rest of my ardennes theme.

As an example, here's a previous artillery piece which will be matched. 

Just like the 75mm gun,  I used the oxide paste style material to make the majority of the texture. 

I've learned with these gun emplacements that it's easier to spread the paste across the entire surface before you start placing figures and other pieces.  

Once the paste is covering the base, I do a rough placement of all the figures involved, so that the crew can be glued in place.  Obviously the gun will be removed, so that I can actually reach the figures with a brush.

As mentioned earlier in the article, I am continuing the basic forest emplacement.  I have many other armies (and theatres) which will use a variety of basing theme.  Desert Italians and Germans, along with winter/urban Soviet basing is also in the works.

A few logs are placed and then covered with enough of the paste to hold them together... just like real dirt!  The gaps will be back filled, and smaller branches can even be added to enhance the hastily constructed position effect.

If you look closely at this image, you can see that the metal bases are now covered with the paste.  Normally those are cut off with a razor saw, but the thin plasticard does not give me much width for gluing pins.

One other detail I tried to add for the hasty gun position look was to create some tire tracks for the wheels.

In the next episode, you will see the rocks and gravel applied, along with a few other fun touches to complete the anti-tank artillery base.  Stay tuned!!

The Reptus Warrior

Here's a Reaper figure that was painted some years ago for my old Lizardman army.  I had lots of mixed Skink and Kroxigor units, and these Reptus heavies gave me some nice variety in my mid range monster figures!

I had a lot of fun working in yet another muted palette range, using a mix of yellows, reds and greens.  There is not much difference between this set of colors and those I have been using on the recent WW2 figures.

It just goes to show you how a relatively limited color range does not limit what you can create! 

It's the strategic placement of those colors which manufactures the shape that is seen in the final result.  By using the muted copper (or red in this case) for the armor gave a touch of contrast, but even this is minimized by the addition on the greenish blue patina.

The yellow golds of the shield are toned down by the inclusion of yellow in the majority of the green color of the scales.

Even the foliage helps to promote this balance, as I chose colors that were very much in line with what was painted on the figure.

Even more interesting is the fact that most of the foliage was added very recently... as in a few days ago!

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/222219590663?ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1561.l2649

Let's play catch!

It's time to revisit the British Expeditionary force from bolt action. 

While the overall color scheme is relatively close to their French counterparts, there's a little more tan in the uniform.  

These very subtle differences make painting these historical figures very interesting. 

When just a tiny shift in hue or tone can make the difference between four or five different armies, the challenge becomes more fun!

Obviously I'll be sticking with the same forest style basing scheme to match the French and early war Germans. 

Much more to come,  so stay tuned! 

The Bloody Star

While most of the Kabal Warriors in my Adepticon Dark Eldar tournament army were combinations of the ancient and more recent plastics, I did treat myself to a few that were completely new. 

I particularly enjoyed this pose, with the Agonizer and the back banner. 

Both elements made the figure seem even more dynamic, and it also gave me more opportunities for freehand and contrasting colors. 

When you're used to space marine style armies, it can be more difficult to have standout command figures.

It's a little easier to make a space marine even more "hefty" by adding trophies and additional markings,  etc.,  since you have a larger canvas in general. 

Anything which is more normal... or human sized creates more of a challenge. 

Dancing is Da Bomb!

Today we have one of the new Bombshell Babes for you, part of the recent kickstarter campaign.

Kev White always does a wonderful sculpting job, with a great balance of detail and "open canvas", where the painter actually gets to decide on some details too!

There is a definite trend these days towards figures which are crammed with all kinds of doo-dads and other things that will lock in a painter to a certain theme or colors.

I really enjoy these kind of one piece, easy to work with sculpts.  I can focus more on what I'd like to do, and less on dealing with 1,000 belt buckles.  You know what I mean... ;-)

She's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/222216780652?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

Steel and Hoof

Here's a figure that I was using for some spot demos in the GenCon dealers room.  I had a lot of fun with the mosaic tile base, and with all the shiny things!

I believe that she's a Sandra Garrity sculpt, which I had prepped for Marcon.

She's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/322223537996?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

Move Out!

It's been a little while since we've checked in on the Defenders of Paris, so we return to the standard infantry minis from the Bolt Action French series.

As with all the other French figures, I have stuck with the Ardennes theme.  The Free French and Partizan forces will get desert and more urban themes.

This force has been growing bit by bit, as more of the other figures that I paint involve more muted earth tones.  That kind of color synchronizing allows me to speed things up dramatically, since maximum efficiency can be achieved with each color that I paint.

So, if I am painting a mosaic tile base or something else that uses the same colors, I have many other things on hand that could use them as well.

I have also been adapting the airbrush to my Shaded Basecoat technique, which has been very fun!  That is something which I will try to post in future content.

Also, the wide variety of Bolt Action armies that are now under way need to have another kind of coverage.  This will be in the form of hangouts, as previously mentioned.

As I get more precise with the lighting, camera and other technical elements, Twitch is now something that I want to try out as well!!