May Day

I spent May Day appropriately painting some 15mm Peter Pig SCW Republican militia.....

I found some undercoated figures that had been languishing in a box for probably close to 20 years......yikes!

It's been a long time since I painted 15mm. If memory serves, I used to alternate between SCW and ancients in 15mm with the 30mm Spencer Smiths (which required radically different painting techniques).

The militia had a mix of unpainted and painted figures, so it was a challenge  to match what were very well painted miniatures with 3 shade layers on black undercoat......

It didn't help that I couldn't find the Humbrol acrylics I'd used for some colours...

We'll see how they turnout......

An update on things and sidetracked by Spain

 As we approach the end of April, I thought I'd better post something to prove the blog is still going.

While I'd hoped to make progress painting the Estavian Imperial army, sadly nothing happened. The effort of completing Arcadia left me disinclined and somewhat discouraged (lots of little things went wrong for reasons that are unclear).

Then I got sidetracked (more on that later).

Things have resumed with cleaning up and converting two of the Electoral army contingents, Naervaron and Cleve (swapping Grenadier heads and shaving off copious amounts of flash). They are done, varnished and awaiting undercoating, so nothing picturesque. In addition, I also (on a whim) made some more Fimo personalities with the last of my plastic horses.

Turned out OK, but I wish I'd baked them longer as they turned out brittle; the problem is I've had some be left in too long and they almost melted!

As it is, I ploughed on and got them done with a PVA coat ready for the black undercoat. I had only a vague idea of what I would do; a realisation that Arcadia have an heir that probably needs a figure was the start, but the bug was on me and I ended up with 8 figures (including my 2nd female riding side saddle.

They fill some gaps - Banst, Sinistria and Cleve all have heirs or brothers and three are destined for the Imperial service and fit right in. Another example of the organic way the project has grown while having fun and indulging myself.

Diversions

It started with buying more books on the Spanish Civil War (SCW). Then on a whim I bought these:

https://wargaming4grownups.blogspot.com/p/for-whom-dice-rolls-description.html

Many (many) years ago I bought Peter Pig starter sets for both sides at one of the few Cornish war games shows (as did two other people). They languished. I had wanted to do the SCW since seeing the series in Military Modelling. It was only when I bought a copy of Command Decision that I thought about using the SCW figures with the guide in the Command Post Quarterly for the SCW.

I painted some forces and played a number of games, adding figures and vehicles to the unpainted pile. As happens, things moved on and they have not seen much use. However, the urge to restart grows now prompted by the rules above.

They will need adapting; my figures are two to a base representing a platoon, so will have to think about movement trays or similar. What I like, is that as per Command Decision, training and morale are separate, so it's possible to have untrained fanatics and well trained but nervous troops. The use of cards is interesting; especially since I managed to obtain some unique Nationalist and Italian sets in addition to the standard Spanish decks.

I feel I should take some pictures.....

Another impromptu parade

 Another quick parade after completing the Arcadian army for Soldier King.

Massed Guard Cavalry

Guard foot

Grenadiers 

Line Infantry

Artillery

Light troops

Staff

Fun with Flags!

With apologies to Sheldon Cooper of the Big Bang Theory......

It is how my wife refers to my Imagi-Nation vexillological sessions.....

In this case it is Arcadia, the last of the Soldier King nations from the game; I have added others from the non-owned provinces in the game. I have a soft spot for Arcadia, probably deriving from playing them in the game.

I envisaged them as a sort of Prussian - Wurtembourg - Danish hybrid. The heraldic symbol is a black lion on gold / yellow. From the start I had clear ideas about them in my head. Maximum guard heavy cavalry and veteran foot clothed in yellow (from Neil Cogswell - "Oheim's supreme moment" the Wurtemburgers were clothed in yellow for a brief impractical period - 1752 - I checked - it's in Knotel if nowhere else).

The flags were harder; I had the idea of black and white to stop them being too gaudy and sketched something from IIRC Dutch flags around the central emblem.

Top row shows the Naval and Foreign regiments, Dragoons. Next 3 rows are line regiments with Guard infantry and cavalry towards the bottom with the second Dragoon unit.

And Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat......

When I informed my wife of my inability to find the paint I needed, and the consequent halting of progress yesterday, she said "if you order some you will probably find what you already have..."

Needless to say, she was right! I had left the figures and bases out and before tidying them away, I had a final search. It was only when I moved the box where most of my paint I'm using and painting stuff (brushes, palette) that I discovered my part open pot had fallen behind the box. Hurrah!

Here follows an impromptu parade of Argozia's finest, with the glue still drying on their bases......

For the want of a nail........

Or in this case paint......

Progress on the Argozian army for Soldier King came to a screeching halt today upon the discovery I had apparently run out of the particular paint colour I use for the figure bases - Vallejo Game Colour Goblin Green.....

This has been rectified but alas brings further progress to a halt until it arrives.

I had managed to make progress with the bases during the week after finishing work, doing a little each day. Alas, I made the cardinal sin of assuming I had some in stock, based on the not unreasonable assumption that there must be a pot due to my prelidiction for hoarding such things (to avoid the very thing that happened!).

Sadly, the Goblin Green is a perfect match for the Wilco test pot I use for the balsa bases; needless to say I have industrial quantities of this paint!

What's most distressing is that I don't tend to forget such things, normally able to recall when I'm running low. It must be age.......a fact both worrying and depressing!

The flags of Argozia

 Here's last weekend's work, the flags of the third of the Soldier King armies - Argozia.

It is the "green" army based on the game heraldry of a black eagle on a green field.

Consequently, the troops are mostly wearing green or have green as facing colours. This army caused considerable thought to avoid them looking like Russian clones, and I struggled to find suitable schemes. Oddly, in one of my earliest doodles I sketched the white infantry flag in the 2nd row (now belonging to the 3 foot garde regiments) which I liked so much it has had little revision and forms the basis for all the foot colours.

And yes, it is very influenced by Austrian and Hungarian colours of Maria Theresa's army. Strangely, although the influences were more from the Kingdom of Italy and American Loyalists, when painting the General staff, their uniforms (while green) were influenced by those of the Austrian army in Mollo, although not planned as such.

The army of Hrvatska

 Last weekend I industriously took photos on my work supplied phone. Excellent quality, but alas due to aol changing email settings, they were stripped out from the email attachments. Attempts to upload from the phone were scuppered by security protocols.....sometimes I hate technology!

After wasting time trying to correct, it has had to wait until now for me to revert to using the tablet. Hence, three posts on Valentine's Day!

I present a parade of the army of Hrvatska (envisaged as a sort of Saxon-Polish theme with hints of Hannover and the Baltic):

Guard Cavalry

Line cavalry and Uhnlan lancers 

Army and Corps commanders

Infantry

Militia and Pandours

Massed artillery

More Israeli Sherman

 As noted in a previous blog post, I had started work on more Sherman conversions, this time using 47 degree hulls. Progress so far:

The M-50

The M-51

Start of the Jordanians

 As most of the Jordanian army in 1967 used equipment supplied "as standard", most vehicles are available from Roco (M48, M47, Centurion, M113 and "Long Toms" with appropriate fully tracked tractor) or Wiking (landrover) in 1/87. Jeeps and trucks will be  US pattern, 25pdr from ERM. What's missing are M-52 SPG as used in the 40th and 60th armoured brigades (along with M-42 Duster SPAA). This vehicle has been neglected in most scales, Archer used to do a 1/76 version, and I saw an expensive resin 1/87 version once upon a time but neglected to buy either when the opportunity was available (along with similar opportunities for AMX-13s). I could wait for a 3D print version to become available or scratch-bodge my own. I opted for the latter.......

The model uses an M-41 Walker Bulldog hull with the tracks having one end cut off, reversed and glued to the opposite track to give the parallelogram shaped running gear. The turret is from the M-59 SPG with rear plate removed and cut in half down the middle to reduce width. Various bits were removed  and added to mimic the shape. The mating of the two was assisted by the M-41 having had a turret ring cut out with some work was able to accommodate the original cut down lower plate of the M-59.

I was greatly assisted by a 360 degree walk around set of photos on the net (of the ex-Jordanian M-52 in Israel's armour museum I believe). Having cut, hacked, filed, filled something into the rough shape, I realised it was too short. Initially I thought "good enough", but it kept nagging at me. In the end, I relented and retro-fitted an extension to the rear using surplus M-59 turrets. The turret is slightly too tall and the shape is a bit off, but it rotates and the gun even elevates, all be it minimally! It awaits storage and painting. The copious liquid green stuff is to smooth out some of the rough joins. 

They may not be pretty nor win prizes, but they are mine!

Long time no speak? So what's been happening?

I cannot believe my last post was in November!

Rather than let the blog's progress fall by the wayside, I thought it opportune to post something on my own blog.

Throughout the pandemic I have been "working from home"; as such I regard myself as more fortunate than many who have lost their jobs. The opportunity for furlough has not been available, which is a mixed blessing.  The upside is financial certainty, but it's with a certain amount of envy that I see the amount of time available for painting that some people have reported! However, I'm aware that being on furlough is not a choice and carries a lot of uncertainty. For me, it has felt like I have never been as busy, which saps motivation at weekend's. 

I had hoped to use the Christmas break to get some painting done, but alas, it was not to be. A combination of post work lethargy, illness and the toll of lockdown put paid to that. I still have not shook off whatever cold/ flu bug I managed to pick up (despite rarely venturing outside).

All I managed to do was tackle some more Arab-Israeli 1/87. I converted / scratched / bodged 2x M52 SPGs for the Jordanian armoured brigades. But, despite trying to convince myself, I wasn't happy with them. I could live with them being slightly too tall in the turret but it wasn't long enough. Looking at what bits I had, I set to reluctantly extended the turret. In the end they turned out OK but are unlikely to win any prizes for modelling. I still kick myself for not picking up some resin versions I saw on eBay. At the time, the cost, with shipping from the USA was prohibitive and I convinced myself to do things on the cheap and maybe use the under scale Eko / Arii (and others) version, but it's more like 1/100 and looks too small.

For reasons best known to myself, I have decided to create more M50 and M51 upgunned Shermans; I had 2x diecast 47 degree hull M4 so turned them into one of each. They have come out OK; I also added the ring and haversacks around the rear turrets of the previously done M50s. Emboldened by this, I'm contemplating another 47 degree M51 and an M4a1 M50 with the rounded cast hull. I still have 3x M1 Super Sherman with 76mm gun to convert in addition. I invested in the Tom Gammon "Israeli Shermans" reprint which is well worth the high price.

Pictures when the light improves.