FOR SALE Airfix Sahara Desert Fort

 Hello There! I have been meaning to put this up for sale for a while and at last I have had the opportunity!

I have this work for sale. It is the Airfix Sahara Desert Fort which has been refurbished and reconditioned. It has embossed sheet walls with worn plaster finish and replaced gate surround. Gates are fixed in place. This model was the subject of the feature published in Wargames, Soldiers and Stratagy magazine issue 105.

The Illustration shows two SHQ Italian figures for scale comparison.

Price is £60 plus postage and packaging sent fully insured.

Reconditioned Hex Terrain Rock Faces.

Hello There. I have completed a commission for a friend which is some of the last hex terrain I have to recondition for him.

The three hex terrain tiles were originally representing high ground but had no rock face. They were typical of the hex terrain available from the 1980's onwards. I covered the raised areas in styrofoam off cuts and after glueing them on with gorilla glue, or polyurethane expanding adhesive, I let it dry and carved the exterior to match up between the tiles.

The styrofoam was carved to match up between tiles. When I was happy with this I took a sharp scalpel bpade and carved the basic corrugated shape. I wanted the face to be irregular but also the separate layers of the styrofoam to be disguised so that the layers of foam board could not be seen. 

Once this was done I then ran the sharp scalpel blade paralell to the ground many times to form the geological layers in the rock faces. Every now and then this cut small piecs of the foam face free of the board but this is not a problem as the irregularity of the paralell cuts makes the frock look more realistic.

Then paint the whole face in black. As there are many recesses in the rock face I added some water to thin the paint and some washing up liquid to break the surface tension of the paint and water. This allowed the paint to better permeate into these recesses. I found that spending a long time under a strong light led me to miss many spots here and there and tell tale bright blue styrofoam would poke through here and there. I had to take a break until my 'paint gap blindness' went away.

Once I was sure this had all been covered in black I then heavily dry brushed the rock face surface in dark grey and progressively lightened the grey and made the dry brushing more subtle until you reach a very slight dry brush in just white. This process picks out the subtle gaps and spaces in the rock faces.

Here is the last remaining half tile to show what I had started with. This system of dry brushing can be used with different colours. Sandstone cliffs are various shades of brown so that could also be used.

The sample figures are 28mm Perrys ACW Confederate infantry and a mounted Union Colonel from Old Glory for scale.

Murawski Polish Foot Artillery 28mm

Hello there! The latest item I have finished is this Polish artillery battery. There was a delay finishing this when there was a small mix up in my order with some 'firing' figures having made their way into my 'loading' figures. It was soon sorted out and the results are here.

 

The cannon is also from Murawski and was easily put together. The figures were clean casting with very minimal flash.

I have started to glue the cannon to the bases now. Initially I had the option of changing the cannon for different sizes. While this is probably more relevant in the American Civil War period here it is less so.

At different time the Polish troops had Prussian, Austrian  and French guns. Here I have used a French supply.

I have many figures from Murawski, to paint, and if these and the infantry on the previous post are anything to go by they will be a pleasure to paint.

Murawski Polish 1st Infantry Regiment 28mm

Hello there! After an illness and operation I have managed to continue completing a number of units which have patiently waiting to completed. Here is the latest.

These are intended for use in the Maida project that I have already completed two British battalions, some Royal Foot Artillery and three French battalions. The Poles were brigaded with the Swiss, which I have also completed, and look very splendid in this picture

The flag is from GMB, here, and I replaced the pole and halberds with brass wire because I have not yet found a whilte metal or pewter pole which has withstood wargaming. I do this as a matter of course now. The Polish Eagle is from Front Rank, here, and I managed to use the same halberd blade and flags. I drilled out these with a pin vice and a fine 0.8mm drill bit.

I like to provide pictues of closerr views of completed figures as it gives a better view for you all but sometimes I can see things I either got wrong or missed out!

These are painted in the earlier 1807-1809 system of regimental facing colours which makes them a lot more colourful.

In Shako II rules an infantry battalion consists of three bases of six figures. Here is the grenadier company which although they are in bearskins I have read that this headgear was not issued until after 1809, Oh well!.

The Line Colonel looks really nice and the splash of yellow stands out well. I have continued to use the method of using 6mm long static grass held in place by neat PVA.

Lastly I tried to show the colourful drummer which I have taken from the Morawski plate of the same figure.

Shako II Scenario Books

 Hello There! I am a member of a number of Facebook pages on a number of Wargaming periods. This includes the Napoleonic Wars and on the 'The Napoleonic Wargamer' Facebook page, here, I contacted the author of these scenario books.

The titles include, Rise of Eagles, 1805, The Roads to Vienna, 1809, Eagles Over Bavaria, 1809,Duel of the Princes, 1809 and Blood Along the Danube 1809.

Each one is a massive amount of work on the period.It includes chapters on figure and ground scale, terrain rules, troop types, playing the game, units of measurement, formation morale tests, national characteristics and finally battles. All have a similar set up except for the 1805 book which has a campaign overview and a shortened version of the chapters listed in the 1809 books above.  

Coming from Canada these took six weeks to arrive but they are more than worth the wait. The offer a wealth of information and can be used for other rules sets with a little modification.

Highly recommended.

Metallic Paint

 Hello There! In an effort to find a metallic paint that provides a realistic finish and does not go 'claggy' as soon as the container is opened I have purchased some items from the Roberson Artists range of metallic paints.

I will admit that these are expensive, (a 30ml bottle is between £6.10 to £7.10 depending on colour). However this amount shouls last forever!

The consistency is midway between water and single cream. It is water based and can be thinned with water but this is not necessary from the bottle. Although not in a dropper bottle it can be transferred to you if required but I have had a bottle of this 'Classic Gold' for three years and it has been fine to use. It has started to thicken up but adding water returns it to it original consistency.

I have varnished my figures using a layer of aerosol gloss artists varnish and then two layers of matt varnish. With this finish I have still noticed this metallic paint shining through the varnish.

As it is waterbased there is no odour, (unlike Tamiya!), and does not seem to damage your paintbrushes.

Lastly I prefer to support my local art shop which is a small family rrun business and they also provide a lot of advise as well.

Front Rank 28mm French Napoleonic Mounted 9th Chasseurs

 Hello There! Another addition to the Maida project are these mounted chasseurs. They are the only complete unit that were present in the battle, the British having some residual cavalry but not enough to make much of  a difference on the battle itself.

The flag is from GMB and I have used brass wire with an eagle from Front Rank. The facing colours for this regiment is pink which shows up really well on the unit.

I have read many time that a trumpeters shabraque may have been in black but have seen a number of contemporary illustration showing the same as the men. I concluded that regulations stated black but that this was not always followed.

The individual figures have company pom poms wnd the officers jacket again stands out in tehe facing colour.

I included the elite 'company', although I have read that it was actually the first troop of the first company only uniformed like this.

Here is the remaining base of men. I am beginning to enjoy painting cavalry and have tried to have a unit of mounted troops always on the go so I do not end up just paintng cavalry figure after cavalry figure so running the risk so getting fatigued.

Spanish Napoleonic Civilians

 Hello There! I have added some further figures to the Napoleonic skirmish project. These Spanish gentlemen are to accompany the Spanish ladies that were posted here.

They are part of the Perrys Carlist wars range found here,  

I copied the colours from the Perrys website with a few changes.

This farmer figure held a long pole which was made out of white metal. I cut this off and replaced it with brass wire. This has the benefit that it will not snap off later but will also serve as a reminder to be careful with my figures, (I sharpened the point as per Peter Gilders figures at the wargames holiday centre).

The figure on the left appears to be more affluent and is dressed smartly while that on the right looks to me like a worker. The casting were all very clear and required minimal deflashing.

The man on the left can be added to the clerics and monks I have painted here. The Spanish army employed clergy to encourage the troops during a battle to fight so this chap can be employed for that. The man on the right is smoking a clay pipe. This is something I have found a lot of pieces of while digging my garden over. I refrained from glueing a small piece of 'smoke' to the end of the pipe!

SHQ BV80 Scammell Pioneer R100 Heavy Wrecker

Hello There! Another additon to the tank recovery game project is this Scammell wrecker. It is originall an artillery tractor but the model comes with the option of a gantry and canopy to fit.

The chipping can be done in many ways but here I painted the chips on with a fine brush.

The windscreen is a scap piece of acetate packaging from a screen in a plastic package. It is cut to size with a sharp scalpel and glued in place with PVA.

The coarse vegitations is bristles from a coconut hair brush and the finer plants are the method I described in the post on the British Napoleonic foot artillery, here,  

The original gantry from the model was very small and did not allow me to thread any chains through it. I wanted to model some representation of a block and tackle so had to make a new gantry from plasicard parts then use chain from my bits box.

Here is a better view of the gantry. I am now working on a German tank transporter for the DAK for the same project.

Front Rank 28mm British Napoleonic Royal Foot Artillery

Hello There! Another addition to my Maida project is a battery of artillery for the British. It does not appear to be clear what calibre the guns present this a 9lbr gun model.

I replaced the sponge/rammer with a piece of wire as I find the white metal fitting usually snaps far too easily when in use. I drilled the remaining ends out with a pin vice and glued back together with superglue.

The rocks are Cotwold Buff stone chipping painted then dry brushed. The vegitation infront of the cannon is an experiment that I decided to try out. I noticed that not all plants grow out at an angle like the commercially available tufts. I took rolled some 6mm long static grass between my fingers and plucked any ends that stuck out either side and put these piecs bac in the centre of the grass. This levelled the static grass so that both ends were relatively flat. I placed a layer of neat PVA on the base and stuck the end of the staic grass into the PVA and left it to dry.

Unlike tufts the grass stays upright and you can cover any area that you like. After a day of drying get a large paintbrush with soft bristles and gently brush from the bottom to the top over a sheet of paper to reclaim any excess. This has made a convincing out crop of plants.

 

Getting the barrel and brass finish is always a problem. It either ends up looking too shiney or has a flat finish. Here I put a layer of brass metallic paint then after that had dries I added a wash of army painter strong tone around the raised parts of the barrel. This did not work too well at first as the wash gathered into globules or just migrated to the lower surface of the barrel. I added a small brushfull of washing up liquid and used the strong tone wash neat and did the upper surface first and allowed it to dry, laying level, and the turned it through 90degrees and wash again. I wanted some more detail to stand out so I rubbed the raised detail with a soft duster and this removed any wash to make the detail stand out a bit more.

I have further artillery to complete and these will be in future posts.

Murwarski Polish 28mm 6th Line Regiment Colonel

Hello There! I have started a second Polish battalion, this time for the 6th Regiment. I started by painting the line colonel as I like to keep my hand in doing horses. This is so I do not get bored doing the same thing all the time.

This figure is in the 1807-1809 uniform which has the regiments grouped into blocks of four 'legions' or 'divisions' with different colour lapels, collars, cuffs, piping and buttons. This chap looks resplendant in crimson and is intended to fight the Austrians in my 1809 project.

 

I have recently purchased a wider range of metallic paints and the saddle cloth fringe has been painted in a combination of these newly purchased paints and Army Painter strong tone.

I cannot wait to do the rest of the battalion but have to resist the urge to be diverted from the first battalion I have already started.