I woke up this morning and went out to stare at the detailing work I did on my Hmg teams...the firing section didn't look right to me...so I decided to add some sandbags. Sandbags made using green stuff are extremely easy. The only difficult part is keeping them from getting too large!I added a couple of rows of sand bags to the Hmg teams and they look better. So now a quick trip the art supply store for some more Liquitex resin sand medium and I can start basing my last rifle platoon.
Checking on the two platoons I based previously, with only one exception, the figures were rock solid on the stands (a few drops of cyanoacrylate fixed the single offender). So I feel confident my "new" basing method will be how I will do things in the future.
Actually I added a new twist. In another burst of brilliance (insanity?) I decided to apply the resin sand mix to the figure's base, then "work" it into the stand already coated with that same mix. The figure blended seemlessly with the mix on the stand and more time/frustration was saved. Actually in timing myself, the time is about the same, but the ease of application is a huge bonus (I hate infantry) but I digress.
I based two squads from my last rifle platoon (only one left) and applied the resin sand mix to my previously standed command and bazooka stands (8 of them).
I spent some time listening to Bush's mea culpa and after some yelling at the radio decided they weren't listening to me and went back to my modeling. I had been noticing that a number of pic's of USMC vehicles showed they chains in the tires - like snow chains. I guess using the same principle of giving better traction in the sand. I thought it might be interesting to model chains on my 75mm SPMs. Using a probe (i.e. needle on a stick), some cyanacrylate, some small chain and a magnifying glass I managed to make the basic chain structure on two of the tires. It remains to be seen if I will be happy with them.
I am avoiding putting together the 37mm AT guns (lots of small parts with ambiguous placement)...that and I ordered too many of them (4 packs of what I thought were one gun per pack; turns out they come 3 per pack...so now I have twelve). I am betting no one will allow me to make a "...force adjustment..." and field twelve of the suckers...maybe I will wreck a few and e-Bay the rest.
And that's the way it is, Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Thanks, Walter
Tim, them call him
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Entry for January 9, 2007
I decided to work more on my Hmg teams. They offer a good source for modeling...that and I ran out of my resin sand mixture so I can't base my last rifle platoon. I have four Hmg teams, two firing and two moving guns/setting up.
Starting with the firing ones I made up some green stuff epoxy ribbon and added ammo belts (both with ammo and just the belt on the opposite side). It really adds to the figures. I then got ambitious and added condenser cans with green stuff hoses to the barrel jacket.
I carved up a firing gun and placed the tripod on a base to make it look like a gun being set up. A little bending of the figures adds to that look. I added an ammo belt with rounds in it from the gun breach over the Marine's back (he is carrying it across his chest) and an expended belt dangling from the outside of the breach. Again, it adds something to the "feel" of the scene. The other moving gun I left alone (sometimes, less is more...).
It's hard to work on such a small scale adding accessories and modeling small details, but green stuff is wonderful. It remains pliable for forty fire minutes or so; won't stick to anything wet (keep your tools wet); can be smoothed with alcohol and a brush and textures easily. So far I have used it to make hatch covers on AFVs; belts; straps; sand bags; tarps & bundles; ammo belts; hoses and tubes...and...and...thats all I remember. I highly recommend it.
I have to remember to include some pictures of the stuff I am describing...
Tim, they call him
Starting with the firing ones I made up some green stuff epoxy ribbon and added ammo belts (both with ammo and just the belt on the opposite side). It really adds to the figures. I then got ambitious and added condenser cans with green stuff hoses to the barrel jacket.
I carved up a firing gun and placed the tripod on a base to make it look like a gun being set up. A little bending of the figures adds to that look. I added an ammo belt with rounds in it from the gun breach over the Marine's back (he is carrying it across his chest) and an expended belt dangling from the outside of the breach. Again, it adds something to the "feel" of the scene. The other moving gun I left alone (sometimes, less is more...).
It's hard to work on such a small scale adding accessories and modeling small details, but green stuff is wonderful. It remains pliable for forty fire minutes or so; won't stick to anything wet (keep your tools wet); can be smoothed with alcohol and a brush and textures easily. So far I have used it to make hatch covers on AFVs; belts; straps; sand bags; tarps & bundles; ammo belts; hoses and tubes...and...and...thats all I remember. I highly recommend it.
I have to remember to include some pictures of the stuff I am describing...
Tim, they call him
Entry for January 09, 2007
Marines??
What are Marines again??
I have this nice special order FAMO SdKfz 9, 18 ton recovery vehicle I ordered from Battlefront. Actually I have two but decided to e-Bay one out.
Anyway, I have been looking for any information on markings the Germans applied to the FAMOs. Specifically I was looking for any tactical markings used on them. For example Tiger tanks had a rhomboid with an "S" inside as a tactical marking. We are talking something on the order of a couple of mm's in length. Silly to worry about at 15mm scale, but the FAMO is almost devoid of markings beyond license plates (which I have) so I wanted to put on something to make it stand out.
After digging through picture after picture in my books and online I finally found a clear shot of a FAMO with tactical markings showing. Success!
Now my FAMO has a complete set of markings (as complete as I can make them) and it sits on the end of my table waiting varnishing with my three Sd.Kfz.7/2's AA tracks & trailers and the two HJ Tiger IE's.I didn' t spend all day on my FAMO.
I took a hard look at my Gross Deutschland panzergrenadiers and realized I had too many. So I set the force up for both mid-war and late-war (with panzerfausts) and realized I had a whole panzergrenadier company sans support. A few finishing touches and its e-Bay for them too.
I have no life...lol
Tim, they call him...
What are Marines again??
I have this nice special order FAMO SdKfz 9, 18 ton recovery vehicle I ordered from Battlefront. Actually I have two but decided to e-Bay one out.
Anyway, I have been looking for any information on markings the Germans applied to the FAMOs. Specifically I was looking for any tactical markings used on them. For example Tiger tanks had a rhomboid with an "S" inside as a tactical marking. We are talking something on the order of a couple of mm's in length. Silly to worry about at 15mm scale, but the FAMO is almost devoid of markings beyond license plates (which I have) so I wanted to put on something to make it stand out.
After digging through picture after picture in my books and online I finally found a clear shot of a FAMO with tactical markings showing. Success!
Now my FAMO has a complete set of markings (as complete as I can make them) and it sits on the end of my table waiting varnishing with my three Sd.Kfz.7/2's AA tracks & trailers and the two HJ Tiger IE's.I didn' t spend all day on my FAMO.
I took a hard look at my Gross Deutschland panzergrenadiers and realized I had too many. So I set the force up for both mid-war and late-war (with panzerfausts) and realized I had a whole panzergrenadier company sans support. A few finishing touches and its e-Bay for them too.
I have no life...lol
Tim, they call him...
Monday, January 8, 2007
Entry for January 08, 2007
The lithium must be helping...no ADD for two days!
The rifle platoon I did with my "new" basing method seems to be nice and stable. I may coat the base with thinned down white glue (which will make the bases "rock" hard when it dries), but I will see how things go.
So with a tentative validation of my new basing method I based another platoon this way (two down!). I took a good look at my scouts and my Hmg platoon and decided I had to make some changes.
Scouts - Command Decision makes Marines with helmets or soft utility covers. I decided I liked the look of the utility caps on the scouts and the helmets with the "regular" Marines. So out comes the diagonal cutters aka dikes (hee...hee...he said "dikes") and off come the standing scouts with helmets. They are replaced by Marines in the utility caps. One squad of scouts are prone. I decided to leave them as be as they looked "sneaky" and scout-like to me (I also seem to have a dearth of prone fig's with utility caps).
Hmgs- The four guns I had based were the classic water cooled M1917A1 Browning mg's. While sorting through my figure packs I noticed some figures that were depicted moving a M1917A1. So I poped off two of the guns and figures and mounted two as being moved/set up. I am going to make some sandbags; condenser cans; ammo boxes and spent shell casings for the Hmg's to make them look better.
Shoot...now I remember what I wanted to add to my Sd.Kfz 7/2's...spent shell casings...I should make a list...
I also textured the bases of the Hmg's with Liquitex, using my "old" method.
Tim, they call him...
The rifle platoon I did with my "new" basing method seems to be nice and stable. I may coat the base with thinned down white glue (which will make the bases "rock" hard when it dries), but I will see how things go.
So with a tentative validation of my new basing method I based another platoon this way (two down!). I took a good look at my scouts and my Hmg platoon and decided I had to make some changes.
Scouts - Command Decision makes Marines with helmets or soft utility covers. I decided I liked the look of the utility caps on the scouts and the helmets with the "regular" Marines. So out comes the diagonal cutters aka dikes (hee...hee...he said "dikes") and off come the standing scouts with helmets. They are replaced by Marines in the utility caps. One squad of scouts are prone. I decided to leave them as be as they looked "sneaky" and scout-like to me (I also seem to have a dearth of prone fig's with utility caps).
Hmgs- The four guns I had based were the classic water cooled M1917A1 Browning mg's. While sorting through my figure packs I noticed some figures that were depicted moving a M1917A1. So I poped off two of the guns and figures and mounted two as being moved/set up. I am going to make some sandbags; condenser cans; ammo boxes and spent shell casings for the Hmg's to make them look better.
Shoot...now I remember what I wanted to add to my Sd.Kfz 7/2's...spent shell casings...I should make a list...
I also textured the bases of the Hmg's with Liquitex, using my "old" method.
Tim, they call him...
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Entry for January 07, 2007
Marines?? Oh yeah...Marines...
I spent some time during my breaks researching a painting guide for my "mud marines". The only one I came up with used Reaper paints and seemed too bright to me. But it gave me some ideas.
When I got home, I put away my aufklarungs squadron and my Russians (did I mention I have a Russian Tank Battalion?) and spread my Marines out. I had previously standed my two scout squads, the Hmg platoon and most of the command stands I would need. I had used a Sharpie to mark the bottoms of the stands so I would know who was who. So I lined them up by unit and decided to break down and start the rifle platoons...(I hate painting infantry).
I have been using a product from Liquitex http://www.liquitex.com/Products/texgelmedresinsand.cfm) that is a resin sand acrylic mix to texture bases. You can mix paint with it to color it (and it won't crack). Even put on flat it will have a nice texture to it. It comes in bottles and has a consistency somewhere between paste and Cream of Wheat.
Anyway, it takes a while to work it over the figure bases once all the figures are down. In a stroke of brilliance (and yess my thumb still hurts) I decided to see if I could use the Liquitex mix to glue the figures to the stands. Spread the Liquitex on the stand, work the figures into the Liquitex and a little touch up and taadaa...well we will see.
I did an entire rifle platoon this way. It took me around five to eight minutes per stand, v.s. ten to fifteen minutes doing it the old way. I will have to see how hold up when they dry.
I really do have no life...
Tim, they call him...
I spent some time during my breaks researching a painting guide for my "mud marines". The only one I came up with used Reaper paints and seemed too bright to me. But it gave me some ideas.
When I got home, I put away my aufklarungs squadron and my Russians (did I mention I have a Russian Tank Battalion?) and spread my Marines out. I had previously standed my two scout squads, the Hmg platoon and most of the command stands I would need. I had used a Sharpie to mark the bottoms of the stands so I would know who was who. So I lined them up by unit and decided to break down and start the rifle platoons...(I hate painting infantry).
I have been using a product from Liquitex http://www.liquitex.com/Products/texgelmedresinsand.cfm) that is a resin sand acrylic mix to texture bases. You can mix paint with it to color it (and it won't crack). Even put on flat it will have a nice texture to it. It comes in bottles and has a consistency somewhere between paste and Cream of Wheat.
Anyway, it takes a while to work it over the figure bases once all the figures are down. In a stroke of brilliance (and yess my thumb still hurts) I decided to see if I could use the Liquitex mix to glue the figures to the stands. Spread the Liquitex on the stand, work the figures into the Liquitex and a little touch up and taadaa...well we will see.
I did an entire rifle platoon this way. It took me around five to eight minutes per stand, v.s. ten to fifteen minutes doing it the old way. I will have to see how hold up when they dry.
I really do have no life...
Tim, they call him...
Friday, January 5, 2007
Entry for January 05, 2007
Still waiting for my AT guns from War Web...waiting...waiting...sure glad I picked 2nd day shipping...waiting...waiting...
ADD day again. No Marines; got bored with my Aufklarungs (too much dunkelgelb) so switched to my US Para's. Actually I should say my other US Para's. I have a company of US Para's (D/2/506th PIR) modeled after the Bastonge siege. I have to add some stands of figures to bring it up to late war organization. These are all Battlefront figures and have supporting M-10 TDs and a battery of colored artillery as support. I like these guys and how they turned out...snow and all.
I also have a company of US Para's that is 75% painted. I keep changing my mind on what unit they will be (509th PIB North Africa/504th PIR [82nd AB] Waal River/506th PIR [101st AB] Normandy) so it is hard to finish them. I decided to line them up and add a Para Engineer Platoon to them. This involved some head swaps (which were a problem) and sculpting some first-aid pouches on some of the helmets.
Why add first-aid pouches to the helmets when you can just do some more head swaps? A couple of reasons. This second unit is all made from Peter Pig figures. They don't make para engineers. So I used some army engineer figures and either had to swap the heads or add pouches to make them look more like paratroopers and less like army engineers.
The head swap is the easiest:
I have to laugh...a smart person would use a plastic hemostat or similar soft, locking grabbing tool to hold the head and then drill into it. That's what smart person would do. If you don't do that or use something like...your thumb and fore finger to hold the head; you run the risk of applying too much pressure and driving the needle-sharp drill into your thumb so deep you hear and feel it grind against the bone.
"Once bitten, twice shy", right?
"xafs;ne;o;syf!! that hurt. I will have be more careful next time."
Oops...ADD time
"Curious...my thumb hurts when I hold this para head between my thumb and fore finger and use the other to try to drill it out. I wonder why that is?
Well at least the second time it was a shallow poke...I could see the bit just under the skin and have a 1/2" line on my thumb where the drill went in. I should get the British Empire award for my detached "Oh damn..." while Larry struggled to keep his seat despite his laughter. He violated protocol and began laughing immediately without asking if it was OK.
I did what any gamer would do in that situation...tried it a third time.
This time I had success...when the drill slipped it missed me completely!
I learned my lesson. The problem was obviously the head I was working on...so I pounded it flat with a hammer and felt better.
It was after this that I decided it was easier to sculpt the first-aid pouches on the army helmets...it was an easy choice...no needle sharp tools were involved.
Tim, them call him...
ADD day again. No Marines; got bored with my Aufklarungs (too much dunkelgelb) so switched to my US Para's. Actually I should say my other US Para's. I have a company of US Para's (D/2/506th PIR) modeled after the Bastonge siege. I have to add some stands of figures to bring it up to late war organization. These are all Battlefront figures and have supporting M-10 TDs and a battery of colored artillery as support. I like these guys and how they turned out...snow and all.
I also have a company of US Para's that is 75% painted. I keep changing my mind on what unit they will be (509th PIB North Africa/504th PIR [82nd AB] Waal River/506th PIR [101st AB] Normandy) so it is hard to finish them. I decided to line them up and add a Para Engineer Platoon to them. This involved some head swaps (which were a problem) and sculpting some first-aid pouches on some of the helmets.
Why add first-aid pouches to the helmets when you can just do some more head swaps? A couple of reasons. This second unit is all made from Peter Pig figures. They don't make para engineers. So I used some army engineer figures and either had to swap the heads or add pouches to make them look more like paratroopers and less like army engineers.
The head swap is the easiest:
- Clip off the army head.
- Clip off a para head.
- Use a pin drill to drill out the army body and the para head.
- Glue a thin brass or steel wire in the body
- Mount the head and adjust it's angle to look right.
I have to laugh...a smart person would use a plastic hemostat or similar soft, locking grabbing tool to hold the head and then drill into it. That's what smart person would do. If you don't do that or use something like...your thumb and fore finger to hold the head; you run the risk of applying too much pressure and driving the needle-sharp drill into your thumb so deep you hear and feel it grind against the bone.
"Once bitten, twice shy", right?
"xafs;ne;o;syf!! that hurt. I will have be more careful next time."
Oops...ADD time
"Curious...my thumb hurts when I hold this para head between my thumb and fore finger and use the other to try to drill it out. I wonder why that is?
Well at least the second time it was a shallow poke...I could see the bit just under the skin and have a 1/2" line on my thumb where the drill went in. I should get the British Empire award for my detached "Oh damn..." while Larry struggled to keep his seat despite his laughter. He violated protocol and began laughing immediately without asking if it was OK.
I did what any gamer would do in that situation...tried it a third time.
This time I had success...when the drill slipped it missed me completely!
I learned my lesson. The problem was obviously the head I was working on...so I pounded it flat with a hammer and felt better.
It was after this that I decided it was easier to sculpt the first-aid pouches on the army helmets...it was an easy choice...no needle sharp tools were involved.
Tim, them call him...
Monday, January 1, 2007
Entry for January 01, 2007
Happy New Year!
Ok, I hate new years day...unless they have a good marathon on A&E or the Hitler channel...no luck this year...maybe I should take up drinking?
Ok, I hate new years day...unless they have a good marathon on A&E or the Hitler channel...no luck this year...maybe I should take up drinking?
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