2012 Update

This seems like a good time to review how my resolutions are holding up after 3.5 months. For painting, I've gotten as far as: "1) Continue practicing on 25mm figures.
2) Finish the 6mm stuff that's been on my painting table half-started for a stupidly long time (I think I have a friend who'll paint the rest of my 6mm WWII stuff on commission for me)."

The 6mm stuff includes both polishing off what I got commissioned, and the tanks that have been sitting on my table for ages, doing nothing more than serving as a backdrop for pictures of what I was actually painting.

The 25mm figures still lag, partly because of the desire to catch up on the 6mm, partly because it's a real pain doing character figures with different paint schemes all the time. This doesn't bode well for some of my 28mm projects like VSF and pulp skirmishing...

On the other (non-painting) tables, things are a bit better - a lot's been done - but I'm now conceding I'm a month behind. Here's what was planned through April:

"Jan. - Cardboard terrain
Feb. - WWII plane prepping
Mar. - Base texturing (for all the stuff I based in 2010)
Apr. - VN terrain, including hills"

I'm still working on basing, the Vietnam terrain hasn't come out of storage. Part of the reason for the delay was I was working on both modern and WWII plane prepping - I had a lot of moderns come in from Shapeways - and partly because I rushed through cleaning and prepping 6mm microarmour so I could get them off to be painted.

I've also been distracted trying to prep up my Star Trek and Star Wars ships, including priming with gesso. Plus (lots o' excuses today) March is a crazy month for work and play, and I was away for all or parts of five straight weekends, home for one (Mar 31/April 1) then away last weekend again.

So I'll spend April working on bases, then get onto the Vietnam terrain in May (also a crazy month for work).

B is for Beer

A few years ago I started coming across cool individual WWII plane identification references for the RAF like "B is for Beer" and "R is for Robert", although I'm sure I've come across them before, but never consciously noticed them ("beer" probably got my attention this time). Early attempts to find the complete list failed, but recently I found the entire 1942-43 RAF phonetic alphabet online, so here it is:

A Apple
B Beer
C Charlie
D Dog
E Edward
F Freddy
G George
H Harry
I In
J Johnny (Jug)
K King
L Love
M Mother
N Nuts
O Orange
P Peter
Q Queen
R Robert (Roger)
S Sugar
T Tommy
U Uncle
V Vic
W William
X X-Ray
Y Yoke (Yorker)
Z Zebra

Land forces at the time were using the Abel, Baker, Charlie etc. system, replaced in 1956 by the modern NATO system of Alpha, Bravo, Charlie etc. (ain't the internet wonderful).

So now when I add ID codes in decal to my British and Canadian planes, I'll make sure I know how to translate them.

Decal Day

I know things may seem a bit crazy, what with two blog posts in one day, but last night I got caught up* on decalling (or is it decaling?), and here are the results:
The Halberstadt CL.IV is from CinC, the other two are Goblintooth's.

Close-ups of some:

My patrol boats for Vietnam got their stars:

And some of my 25mm foot knights got aligned (kind of randomly, I liked the decals):
* I didn't do any Vietnam helicopter decals, as I realized I don't have the low-viz decals some helicopters need, and nobody makes "UNITED STATES ARMY" decals in 1/600. I've put in an ask to Dom's Decals, hopefully they can be made, otherwise I'll have to just go ahead and pretend they're there. They were pretty low-viz anyway (black on olive drab), so maybe no one will notice, specially once the rotors are in place.

Funky Colour Schemes

This link was posted on The Miniatures Page today, it's a forum for plastic aircraft modellers I guess. This particular 46-page thread is about what-if paint schemes the members have come up with, either photos of models or illustrations, mainly for modern planes.

The link is to the last page, but it's worth the time to go through more or all of the site.

Some schemes are just modest variations of what's out there today, others are of special one-offs (final flight planes etc.), but some are right out there.

Which means they're great to "borrow" for some of my other plans - sci-fi sure, but mainly Victorian Sci-Fi, and Aeronef in particular. Maybe Iron Stars spaceships, but I picture them as pretty serious; maybe Land Ironclads too, but ground vehicles get pretty beat up in the course of a day.

But a tiger-skin painted zeppelin? Or hot green with hot blue with more serious blues and greens? Definitely worth trying out! I'd already come up with some national schemes while doodling around, now I'll see about integrating with some of my favourites from this site.

Mimi Redux

More shots of the Screamin' Mimi, showing her business end.

Canopies Complete, World Continues Spinning

I finally got the last touching up done on my first large batch of helicopters for Vietnam. These have been kicking around in previous posts for a while, but I'm now down to a coat of Future, decals, sealing, and rotors.

Other stuff has been going on in the meanwhile, some of it's below, but a ton has just been prepping mini's for the usual billion other projects going on. Some mounting got started last week, including 28mm sci-fi, more 25mm fantasy, and some 2mm Star Wars.

So with only that brief intro, here's some pics (as always, click on the pic for a bigger version):

The big shot of everything.

Huey Hogs, Frogs, and Snakes, with some OH-13's on the side. Two 13's are for Vietnam, the two medevac ones are for any Korean gaming I do. I still have 4 more of the things primed, I'm holding them back for AK-47 or some other odd side-project.

The other half - more Hogs and Frogs (back), OH-6 and 58 (back at either end), Slicks and CH-46's (middle two rows), more Snakes, including a pair in the Widowmaker paint scheme.

An even slower moving painting project finally got done too. These HH-60's have been sitting around for 18 months, part of a test painting project before I realized I was actually ok at painting these small things. Two are done for the navy, the rest for special forces.

And those of you with good eyesight might have picked out something odd at the back of those helicopter pictures above. As mentioned/promised previously, here's my secret painting project for Vietnam - 80's TV favourites.

The trio.

You have to figure the A-Team got their van's paint scheme from somewhere, so here's a OH-58 done up for clandestine missions. Obviously Murdoch is flying this, so I guess I need another secret project for the rest of the team...

And of course TJ was a pilot in Vietnam before making it to Hawaii, so here's the first Island Hopper...

Last, and most obscurely, Screamin' Mimi from the less remembered Riptide. I haven't watched the show since its original run, but I liked it, and always remembered the Mimi. The red scribble is actually "Screamin' Mimi" in script, but yes, I cheated, it's just a scribble.

My US infantry bases have also been progressing, flesh and uniforms are done, details and weapons are next. Here are a few work-in-progress pics:





I've also been testing my painting skill at the larger scales, using some old (literally - some of these have been kicking around for 25-28 years) figures from D&D days. I have more of these in line, including some that I and my brothers tried painting, and gave up painting, back in the day, and others that have a bit of sentimental value to me, as they represented my favourite RPG characters - Rolstun Goldaxe and the Swerlin/Verlin/Twerlin lineage of disposable magic-users.

Anyway, here are some pics of my first tests, the mummy I winged, the foot knight in red was done using the army painting guide from the D&D Battlesystem book, the elf archer from the advanced techniques guide in the same book, and the foot knight in green was done using a TooFatLardies mass painting technique from one of their specials.

Christmas in July

This morning, while contemplating getting out of bed or having another 9 minutes of sleep, I heard the outer front door slamming, suggesting a parcel being placed between the doors! Bounding downstairs, I found a small, but heavy, package with Royal Mail markings - my latest Irregular order had arrived!

Risking being late for work, I spent some time fondling the new arrivals at the breakfast table. This order was my biggest yet, and was all over the map in terms of projects (hence the ridiculous label list for this post). Actually it was so big and spread out, I can't even remember exactly all of what I ordered until I cross-check the codes with the master list.

But, some early comments and plans...

VSF in Space - I like the Iron Stars rules, but have never been jiggy with the miniatures; to be honest, I've always liked the look of the Battlefleet Gothic ships for VSF. But not their prices. So I picked up the Heirs of Manacus (and expansion) and Heirs of Uranus fleets - look good! There's a new maker of ships in plastic (via Shapeways) of Gothic ships, hopefully that can be a third fleet for my VSF in space ideas.

Star Wars in 2mm - I got a bunch of the basic WWI/WWII infantry and MG/missile stands for troops, and some of the 2mm sci-fi support weapon stands too. I picked up the two and four legged walkers, and I think I'm going to prefer the Ground Zero Games/Germy walkers. Irregular's two-legged walkers look good, but are bigger than the GZG AT-AT clones, so they wouldn't match up (would be ok as AT-ST's on their own though). So I think the Irregular walkers will join the land ironclads I also ordered for some Land Ironclads gaming (they'd look good bronzed up).

WWI in the Air - I picked up the 1/300 WWI aircraft Irregular makes that no one else does, and some others that were just cheaper. This is a case where I can't remember just what that was though, although the Taubes were pretty obvious!

WWI on Land - Picked up some 2mm WWI tanks, either for a future If the Lord Spares Us project, or to trick up for Land Ironclads.

WWII on Land - To supplement my GHQ and CinC stuff, I picked up a fire engine as background fluff, and the steam train, it looks pretty sweet. I also got the doors, windows, roofs, stairs scenics pack, to try making some of my own buildings.

19th Century - Picked up more artillery for my fictional setting, but also for...

18th Century Imagi-Nations/SYW in India - I'd like to do the SYW in India (maybe in Europe too) in 2mm, so I picked up British and French SYW army packs to get me started. Also picked up additional artillery pieces, the army packs tend to be a bit short on that. I plan on using the King of the Battlefield rules, though I also picked up the new pdf of Might and Reason recently too, more for bigger 18th Century battles in Europe though, not India.

Kull and Imaro - Finally, I ordered a ton of codes to get further ahead on my 2mm fantasy projects. Lots of elephants and war mammoths, and infantry. Will have to make another larger order (e.g. 70+ of some codes, times two or three figures per code...) later this year. I messed up my polar war chariot order though, forgot the wolf chariots are single items, so only ordered 3, when I need 6 (see my There's no basing like sno' basing post for the start of the stands). Some of the elephants (the non-Howdah) ones are going to be converted to gunkwu's, I'll see how that goes, it's going to involve a fair bit of chopping.

Anyway, happy, happy!

July's order will be some more Splintered Light Miniatures (they're having a sale), some Calvacade samurai dwarves (another sale), and an order from an architectural model supplier, for 2-6mm civilian stuff (cars, small trains for targets, transport trucks).

Berry Berry Quiet on the Front

Well it's been six weeks since I last posted, and in one sense things have been pretty quiet on the miniature's front, as April and May are my busiest periods for work. I don't spend much time at home and I'm usually about 10 minutes away from nap-time when I am, plus this year I had the added pleasure of breaking a finger (a pinky finger, so no threat to painting etc.!).

I've also been slowed down as I've had a slew of Vietnam stuff on the table, and I hit a bit of a wall in terms of maintaining momentum when it's the same old stuff to do every night. In this case, doing a bit of sculpting on some bases where figures are in dugouts or behind fallen trees. However, in my first bit of news, Charlie Don't Surf has now been released by Too Fat Lardies, along with a scenario supplement (Surf's Up), so I should get moving again.

And while things have been slow on the painting table, that hasn't stopped me from spending money like a drunken sailor on new mini's. Some birthday money helped on that front, and I had two large orders filled by Dom from Dom's Decals (a fine purveyor of Tumbling Dice mini's). I finished Vietnam both tactically with helicopters and aerially with North and South Vietnamese aircraft, as well as the USAF, USN, and USMC.

I also got the 1960's/70's Indian and Pakistani starter packs, and a ton of modern Warsaw Pact stuff. Of course now that I have it, I'm trying to remember what my plan was! I think it was to work on a modern Chinese air force, as that's a future conflict I'm most interested in trying out on the table.

Going further back in time, I also got some early WWII aircraft, France, RAF, Luftwaffe, Poland, Finland, and Russia. I also got some early war FAA aircraft and extra German aircraft to play out some naval aerial action under the alt-history that the Graf Zeppelin was completed. I've been picking up some Axis and Allies' 1/1850 ships to serve as targets, and with the GZ available, I wanted to be able to defend her. So some Ju-87's will serve as the two proposed naval equivalents, Bf-109E's will play 109T's, and then the poor Fairey Fox will defect to serve as Fi-167 torpedo bombers. I'll probably use some 109G's to act as Bf-155's (or whatever it was), although they don't really look alike; but then nothing does.

I also got some late war RAF to go with my late war American and Soviet forces, as part of my hypothetical East-West war in 1945+.

I should be done painting everything sometime in 2150.

Still on my airforces, I made my first order with Heroic & Ros, under the new ownership of Andy Kirk (I'd never placed an order with the old ownership so I don't have a comparison). Everything just arrived yesterday and looks good, it took only 10 days or so to get here from the UK. This order was for the basics of WWI aerial gaming, I'd been buying a lot of stuff unique to CinC during their sales this winter (including a STUPID amount of Nieuport 11's - so every nation could have their allotment). Now, I have all the classics, as well as a good representation of heavy bombers. Future orders with Irregular and H&R should round me out shortly, I'd like to have everything in hand by the end of the year.

But since there is the well known axiom that once you have finished buying or painting all your miniatures your lifespan is measured in mere seconds, I have started on some new fronts.

• 15mm Freikorps (QRF) "History of India" figures for skirmish gaming using Songs of Drums and Shakos by Ganesha Games. I ordered through a nice new US company, Miniature Armies. I've begun rating the figures in the SDS system, just working on fine tuning them.
• I've been on a space kick lately, and while I have avoided buying new mini's, including some of the nice new ones available in plastic via Shapeways, I have started on notes for a campaign using Starmada and Victory By Any Means. I figure I'll use my billion Starfire counters to start, and have actually made some good progress in converting Starfire's (3rd Ed.) tropes to Starmada; I always liked a lot about Starfire's background and tech levels, just not the mess of rules.
• I also almost got into Star Trek (TOS) gaming, but the apparently terrible state of ADB molds has put me off. Of course, I also have a billion Starfleet Battles counters from my one purchase of the Captain's Edition rules, so I could use Starmada and the counters. There is an authorized Starmada conversion (Klingon Armada, Romulan Armada), but I figure I can do it my way easier.

There are also some great new Splintered Lands miniatures out or on their way to production, so that may occupy a summer purchase, but a multi-project Irregular purchase is next on the list.

Doing my best, doing what I can, I get them ready for Vietnam

With apologies to the Ramones (and while a catchy tune, I'm still not sure what "Commando's" about - and I'm a Ramones fan). So the last few weeks have been busy getting 3mm forces ready for "Charlie Don't Surf". I had most figures already on hand, but needed more infantry and some vehicles. The reinforcements just arrived Friday and many are now in progress.

I've based a company of US forces (at this scale interchangeably Army and USMC, as well as ANZACs), one of NVA and one VC. I've also got most vehicles based, and most helicopters are primed. Next up is finishing the few remaining vehicle bases, and then texturing all the bases. A few that are going to be really muddy (M109's in position) or on pavement (some jeeps and M48 tanks) were textured before mounting the vehicles.

So, while still a work in progress, I thought I'd show off what's been going on in the couple of weeks since my last post.

An overview of everything on the table, all 3 companies and vehicles.

Half of the US forces. M109 self-propelled artillery, M60A3 tanks, LVTP5 carriers for the marines (I have another 10 but need to think about basing them for beaches and/or in-water), M113 (couple types), M577 command track, M106/M125 mortar carriers, jeeps (with and without weapons), M60 LMG's, and infantry. On the fly I decided to put the M113's on smaller bases, as they looked lost on the pennies (and base size doesn't matter); I kept the mortar versions on pennies as they'd be likely dug in with a small base around them. Two of my M577's were like this too for the same reason.

The other half of the US's forces. Trucks, some based for dirt roads (left) and some for pavement (right), also M48 tanks, also based for both on- and off-road. Also some medic stations, more jeeps, more infantry, and command stands.

A North Vietnamese Army company, including RPG's and MG's; plus some spares and 5 T-55's.

VC company.

Most of my US helicopters - Huey Slicks, Hogs, and Heavy Frogs, AH-1 Cobra's, OH-6's and OH-58's. Chinooks and some Huey 1B's that I'll use for medevac and command helicopters are on their way from Dom of Dom's Decals. Click on the picture for a full-sized version with better detail.

Marine CH-46 transport and supply helicopters. These guys have been primed for a while and finally have some brethren to sit with on the painting table.

Recently arrived OH-13's, very early observation helicopters in Vietnam, famous for their role in MASH (so I guess I'll save some for Korea then).

What's on the table to be filed and then soaked (I use vinegar for a couple of hours) - PT-76's for the north, in between Sheridans (left) and Walker Bulldogs (right).

Things I Learned By Taking Things Apart

Like everyone else I've been collecting bits here and there, but recently I had to dispose of a stereo that was pining for the fjords, and on a whim I took it apart to see if there was anything useful inside. When I'm in a good mode it seems like I see terrain anywhere, so along with what I found thanks to Aiwa, I've included some of my other interesting discoveries and my thoughts on what they'll turn into.

Before I begin, a word of warning on taking apart a stereo - there's a lot of sharp bits! I spent parts of a couple evenings taking it apart and ended up with bloody knuckles both times. Tools used were screwdrivers, pliers, and tin snips.

These could have a number of uses - oil tank targets for 1/600 air gaming, barrels or other containers at 28mm, but my first thought, inspired by things like this, was Victorian Science Fiction (VSF) steam-powered walkers (the giant coffee pot kind). Some of them even have the remains of the connecting wires on the bottom to give them the starts of legs, e.g. the one second from the left.

Any good mad scientist will need coils, so the ones at the front are probably slated for 28mm gaming, but the ones at the back look (to me) like good 6mm turbines, maybe found in the ruins of a power generating station. Good for WWII, modern, or sci-fi.

These were really cool, I have no idea what they actually are, presumably some sort of transformer, but I'm also entertaining there were micro-robotic ants planted in my stereo...

So that's my first couple of thoughts for the five in the middle - giant clockwork ants for 2mm VSF, riding ants for 6mm, pet clockwork ants for 28mm. I like the muted colour scheme they come in, but they could also be bronzed up (or your metallic colour of choice). Legs could just be a few staples still stuck together, maybe angled a bit, done three times to give them their six legs.

They could also be added to ships to turn into VSF space ships, they'd be funky looking engine pods. Turned on their end and keeping the wiring, they look kind of like boilers or water heaters, good for 6mm (or giant ones in 2mm). Added to the coils above, they might also be part of that mad scientist's lab.

The two on thingies on the right are similar, at 6mm they look like they're from sort of piping or wiring system. I'm not sure yet about the ribbon cable at the top, maybe some sort of fencing at 28mm, for this size, I have some narrower cables for other scales. Maybe roofing.

This is the laser mechanism from the CD player, turned on its side like it is here and put into a wall, it would be the interface to a Babbage Engine (clockwork computer), maybe a sentient one.
This photo doesn't capture the indentations on this, which in a former life was the connector for a ribbon cable. In real life, it really resembles a dam face, so it's slated for a 1/600 target scenic. Someone on the 1/600 air combat Yahoo group did a really slick dam target, and I'll be doing something similar, just I'll have my dam pre-made.

There were repeats of a lot of those when all was said and done, but otherwise that covers what comes out of a dead stereo. Now onto other finds.

On the right is a Sensodyne toothpaste cap, I now have a bunch of these to play with. They have a slight ribbing to them about every 60 degrees around, suggestive maybe of pillars or external supports. Perfect for 2mm fantasy temples or palaces, or sci-fi buildings. Maybe I'll add a dome for the roof.

I bought this bottle of orange juice the other day (pulp free "Simply Orange" if you're looking) without paying attention to the cap. Then when I went to pour the first glass I went "hmmmm". It's about 1" high, so in 2mm it could be an enclosed coliseum (again maybe with a domed roof) for fantasy terrain. For modern or sci-fi 6mm it looks kinda like a 1960's public building (Expo '67 anyone?) made of glass and steel. Maybe with a tower rising from it.

"You are young," said the palaces and the temples and the shrines, "but we are old. The world was wild with youth when we were reared. You and your tribe shall pass, but we are invincible, indestructible. We towered above a strange world, ere Atlantis and Lemuria rose from the sea; we still shall reign when the green waters sigh for many a restless fathom above the spires of Lemuria and the hills of Atlantis and when the isles of the Western Men are the mountains of a strange land." (R.E. Howard, The Shadow Kingdom)

So that's some of the setting for Kull, specifically the City of Wonders, Valusia. Lotsa towering buildings, strange architecture, and antiquity. The glue bottles above are on my hit list - once empty their caps are going into the Valusian landscape. The pill bottle cap on the left is another temple or coliseum in-waiting.

The armies swung out of sight around the gem-blazing shoulders of the Tower of Splendor... (R.E. Howard, The Shadow Kingdom)

There's no gaming reason (at least in 2mm) to build the Tower of Splendor and palaces of the king of Valusia, but, but, but, it would be cool. I've sketched out out what the palaces looked like, based on text descriptions and the illustrations in Del Rey's Kull - Exile of Atlantis. So along with bottle caps, I'm collecting anything that could be an imposing tower in 2mm scale. On the left is the end of a ball point pen (conference freebie), on the right is a syringe cap.

For an science education program I oversee, amongst other things, we made frequent use of office water coolers (Greenway), and these are the protective caps from the spouts. About 1" tall. Potential oil tanks for 1/600 targets. Or towers, turrets.

One summer my summer students managed to kill three portable power transformers, and I've saved them for future use. They have a sort of futuristic generator or quonset hut look to them, and obviously the stormtrooper is guarding them for a reason. Use the back end here as the outlet (if a building) or the control area (if a generator).

Was going through my fishing tackle while in a VSF frame of mind and realized I might have a motherlode here for VSF or WWI gaming. VSF and WWI dirigibles and balloons or Vernian VSF rockets. (Caution: This is REAL lead, so even more care is needed than usual when handling)

Like this test VSF balloon, made from a split-shot sinker, rare earth magnet (basket), and beading (connecting "flame).

Other uses for dead pens would be VSF ships/space or regular dirigibles, or REALLY tall towers.

Around the same time I had the eureka moment with the fishing tackle, my deodorant ran out (sorry if that's too much information!). Anyway, looking at it, thinking, I saw some possibilities. The cap, on the left, could be the gatehouse to a 2mm fortification, or a funky manor building (say elven or another culture that is into curves). The rod (centre) that pushes up the deodorant gel looks like some sort of nasty 28mm VSF business, maybe the front of a drilling machine or the barrel of an aether gun. Then while taking that out, I took a look at the bottom of the thing (right). As it happened, I'd been poking around into 18th century India at the time, and had seen photos of this:

Hmmm, yeah, that's it. A 2mm Red Fort gatehouse thanks to Gillette. The shapes don't quite match up as well as I'd initially thought, but I'm only looking to do an impression of the real thing to use for 18th century India or 19th century Mars. Any battles would be occuring in front of the fort anyways (I think, anyway).

FYI, the dial thing was a bugger to get rid of, but after taking the photo, I spent a half hour with tin snips and chewed it up from the inside till it came off.

These are the before pictures, hopefully in 2010 I'll get most of these turned into something.

Happy holidays everyone!

The Story So Far, Part I - Aircraft

One of my abiding interests has always been aircraft, and much of my family spent WWII in the air or otherwise involved in the air war. One grandfather worked at de Haviland Canada, the other was a bomber navigator. Two of my one grandfather's brothers were air crewmen on bombers in the RCAF, a brother of one grandmother was also in the RCAF (communications, I believe). Another close relative was a flight instructor in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.

Having said that, aircraft and their role in war are fascinating in and of themselves, from WWI up to the modern day (although unmanned aircraft aren't too jiggy). As much as they may look like unflyable crates today, those first aircraft were the F-22's of their time, the most sophisticated machines man could make.

So, where does that leave me in miniature? I love the 1/600 aircraft of Tumbling Dice and Oddzial Osmy (though I can't spell that without looking it up!), and I've gone in that direction for WWII and beyond. My two current periods are (1) late WWII to Korea, mainly for a hypothetical WWIII in 1945, and (2) helicopters supporting land battles. So in the latter case the 1/600 helicopters will be used with the 6mm (1/300) land forces; the scale difference shouldn't be noticeable since the action on the ground is the main thing.

For WWI I went with 1/300, mainly because there is much, much more available, and the smaller WWI aircraft would probably be mentally unstabling to paint. So far I have a few C-in-C aircraft in hand and painted, as well as two Goblintooth aircraft that came with my copy of Hostile Aircraft. My main source will be Navwar/Heroic and Ros, although they've just changed ownership so I'll wait till that settles down. I'll fill things in with C-in-C, Irregular, and Skytrex.

My first adventures in WWI were C-in-C Hanriots, done in Italian livery:


They weren't too bad to do, once I got over putting them together (more superglue ended up on me than the planes). These are on my standard aircraft bases, which I'll discuss below. I've decided the C-in-C planes will be kept on these bases, rather than stored on nails, as I don't like handling and moving them with my clumsy fingers.

Main lesson learned: It's going to take time and touch-ups.

Bonus lesson: I primed everything before I attached the upper wings and this was a mistake; the two parts fit together when raw metal, didn't fit when the coat of paint was added to both halves. I had to file them down after priming till they fit (yes, I almost cried). So next time I'll either have to complete before priming (which could make getting the underside of the upper wings a right torment to prime) or cover up the fitted bits so they stay raw metal.

I've since finished painting a Halberstadt CL.4 (C-in-C) and the Goblintooth Dr.1 and Camel. Kind of a standard scheme for the Camel, went for the obvious with the Dr.1, and pulled off an ok lozenge scheme on the Halberstadt. The undersides have their different colours too, I'll try to remember to take a picture when I have it out next. These guys have been Future'd, and are awaiting a decal day.




For my 1/600 stuff, I pulled the helicopters out of the first kits I had - Korean War USN and USAF - to experiment on, since I was a painting newbie to pretty much everything. These Sikorsky S-55's were thus my guinea pigs, but I think they turned out ok (more worthy than my photography skills show, anyway). They still need for me to pick up some main rotors, otherwise they're done.



Next were some OO UH-60's, done in a variety of colour schemes: standard brown, camo, special forces grey and desert sand. Currently I'm in an "I hate canopies" funk, so haven't gotten further on them. My basic canopy technique is to paint the fuselage, paint the canopy, touch up the fuselage (remember to get in between the canopy panels the first time, idiot!), touch up the canopy, possibly repeat. I haven't gone for fancy canopy efforts yet (adding flashes of white, for example), but may experiment with these puppies.



So I picked up this basing technique from someone on the 1/600 miniature aircraft Yahoo group (I think - may have been a different group, but either way this isn't my idea). All the aircraft get a tiny rare earth magnet (from Dom's decals) applied, then the base consists of a 1" wooden disk with 3-6 staples glued upright, sort of like [. They then get primed, painted, and sealed. The aircraft then spend their time in the "hangar" perched on nail heads, and are added to the bases for gaming.

I started with standard green on brown or two-brown schemes, but the batch below (first picture) was my second bunch, and I tried out different colours, usually when I still had some paint left in my palette from another project.

All told the bases cost about 20-25 cents apiece, plus about the same for the magnet.


Some were primed blue and left that way, for high altitude encounters. Maybe version 2 will have clouds or contrails added.

For action over water I used Polyfil to sculpt some waves, primed blue (as above), gave them a heavy dose of Future, drybushed whitecaps, then sealed with Future (for the wet look).


For action in the depths of space (Silent Death rules), I just primed some black, dotted white for stars, added a couple of comets (right hand column, second from bottom) and nebulae (bottom left), and sealed. The way over-exposed Y-Wing in the second picture is from Studio Bergstrom, and is awaiting its paint job.

Next up in the Story So Far, 2mm fantasy action with Kull of Atlantis and Imaro.