Latest From Shapeways

Here's my latest collection of finished models from Shapeways. First up a brace of Sopwith Dolphins. I'm awaiting the completion of a set of deailing parts from "Colinwe" on Shapeways that will include extra Vickers guns so that I can add one or two to these late war "monsters"

Next up - a Siems Schuckert D.III and D.IV. My personal favourites from this batch, they have a great deal of charm about them. I don't have any lozenge camouflage decalling so the scheme here was handpainted. This was quite daunting but I think the effect looks good (I was painting "for effect" when looked at from a foot away rather than a strict recreation of the scheme).

Early war now, and a couple of Nieuport 11s. This is a nice model and compares well with the Wings of War Nieuport 16 and 23.

Another late war "monster, this time the Pfalz D.XII. Again, a lot of character in this one, and a lozenge scheme based on "that looks about right"

Early war Brits - a Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter (fitting a pilot beneath the win was a real challenge!) and a Bristol Scout. Again, I'm planning to add a Lewis Gun from Colinwe's detailing pack when available.

Another favourite now, the FE.2B. Again, awaiting a Colinwe Lewis Gun for the "up and astern" gun. This aircraft has a real bulky feeling to it. Makes a good comparison with Fokker E.IVs and DH.2s. 

Target time - a BE.2C. Not all that much to say about this one, other than Kampflieger has really done well to  capture the gangliness (and "shoot me here") look of the BE.

a Halberstadt CL.II and Fokker D.VIII - the former completed before I summoned up the courage to try a haqnd painted lozenge scheme, so the model is resplendent in a 1917 scheme. I might get another to make a late war two seater for my D.VIIs and suchlike to escort. The D.VIII again painted in "pre-hand painted lozenge" times, but a decent scheme that is reminiscent of a wasp - quite appropriate for this incredibly manoeuvrable and quite deadly fighter.  

here's the complete collection, with a couple of Farman F.40s in there from the previous batch.

Finally, an Etrich Taube - not a Shapeways one (although I believe someone is working on one just now). This is a plastic model / toy from China that is almost correct dimensionally. The fuselage is way too deep (I had to file it down a lot to even begin to look OK) and the nose way too wide, but it'll do for now and gives my E.IIIs something to escort.

Happy Christmas :)

Just a short note for all my regular readers and casual passers-by, to wish you all a very happy Christmas. Our house is now full of shredded wrapping paper, books, Skylanders, half empty boxes of chocolate and very sleepy kids, cats, kittens and parents :)

Santa was specifically asked not to bring wargaming stuff this year (so we have a blu-ray player and associated amplifier gubbins and a million and one socks this time around) but despite that I did get something of a naval persuasion - Norman Friedman's new book on naval weapons of WW1.

This is based on a manuscript started by Campbell (whose similar book on WW2 weapons is "required reading at the Academy"), but with extensive additions.  Looks like a cracking good read!

Anyway, off for a well-deserved snooze now, and back with some more SCW stuff tomorrow.

SCW (And Beyond)

Another of this year's projects has been to finish off my 15mm Spanish Civil War collection. This began as a simple "paint up what's left" operation, but as with so many things in life, it took on a momentum of its own and snowballed slightly. This was due in no small part to the Abbey Wood irregulars and their "Very British Civil War" games in 28mm, of which I've played in a few. I liked the quirky "anything goes" approach and the odd local militia units and 1920s/30s "technicals" (including, in one game, an armoured horse-drawn stagecoach!!). I thought it would be fun to try in 15mm but in a mythical 1930s Central/South American (or I suppose a Southern European) "imagi-nation" so that I could use my SCW kit as the bedrock and supplement with odd units of "irregulars"

Just recently completed are a couple of units of civilian militia with assorted transport. I used a variety of Peter Pig packs for these, including the French partizans SCW bomb-throwers and other odds and sods. it makes a nice irregular unit, IMHO

Transport is provided by a Peter Pig Russian staff car, an ex-SDD Home Guard armoured bus and an armoured steam roller (!) Fire support is courtesy of a couple of Garford Putilov armoured cars from PT Dockyard, and WW1 Russian and Belgian armoured cars from Peter Pig

Finally, I have replaced my old SDD BT-5 and T-26 models with some of the lovely releases in plastic by Zvezda. The BT-5 is the BT-7 model out of the box (to me they look close enough). The T-26 is a conversion, replacing the original turret with that of the BT-7. I now have load of BT-7 hulls and T-26 sloping turrets (so I'm looking at decent BT-7 conversions and wondering if a simple turret swap would make a good BT-7M, or whether to scratch build a turret and make a BT-7A; I've already decided my "imagi-nation's" more regimented neighbour and nemesis is going to be based loosely on the Finns, if for no other reason than I can use some Battlefront BT-42s!)

Covenanters

Regular readers will recall that one of my objectives for this year has been to finish the Peter Pig ECW Scots that I bought several years ago. These poor sods have languished on the painting table for many months, always losing out to the latest 1/144 arrivals from Shapeways, ACW ships or SCW 15mm stuff and I was sure they'd be No. 1 on the "to do list" for 2012. However, a sudden burst of enthusiasm changed that this week. I'd started the foot troops some time ago, so its these that I've finished. I still have the cavalry and command stands to sort out, but for now getting the foot sloggers sorted is a major victory :)

This (apart from the cavalry and command) just about finishes off my ECW project that was born out of a weekend campaign run by Peter Colbeck some years ago. Rules are based on DBA with the Humberside extension, and a few local "tweaks" (although I must admit, the file with those tweaks has gone missing). I quite like the idea of resurrecting this campaign sometime in the near future.

Early War Shapeways

Its been a long time since I've posted here. Since September most of my painting has centred around some lovely 1/144 3d printed models from Shapeways. the latest batch was finished today, and I've posted some photos for your enjoyment.

I've become a big fan of these Shapeways. the detail is fine and having them come in one piece means no fiddling around with spars and wings and things. Some of them are quite fragile, the Farman F.40 in particular. This one was broken during the printing process - Shapeways printed a replacement and also included the damaged one for free. Some reconstructive surgery was needed to the tail booms and the model has a slight skew as a result, but its fine for wargaming.

Autumn Stocktake

As we approach the twilight of the year I thought it would be a good time to do another stocktake on where I've got to. Regular readers will remember there was "a plan". Lets see how we are doing today.

1) 15mm ECW - No progress here at all since last time. I fear this part of the plan may never get off the ground!

2) Wings of War - doing really well here. I'm up to 110 aircraft of various types, and the latest additions are various 3D printed models from Shapeways. they look  alittle rouhg, but fater painting and undercoating they come up a treat.

3) 15mm SCW - Another dollop of good progress here. All my outstanding frigures are painted up (standfast a few casualty markers). This is morphing a little into an "imagi-nation" 1930s civil war setting, so as well as normal SCW troop types I'm indulging myelf and getting odd vehicles and troop units that are "fun". More on this in a few days (inclusing the armoured steamroller")

4) Coastal - no, STILL nothing going on here, apart froma  few new modern 1/1200 models.

5) The Room - I've managed to clear the room for gaming a few times. At the moment its strewn with 1/600 ACW. Unfortunately tha table is too temptinga dumping ground..

6) ACW Naval - Mission complete :) All 1/600 and 1/1200 models painted up and ready to go :)

I'm quite pleased with the way things are going. I just need some motivation to sort out those Scotsmen :)

Finished At Last!

I've been suffering with a bad cold recently, but I was able (through the haze of reddened eyes and lemsips) to finish off drybrushing a brace of Thoroughbred mortar schooners. when I'd done that i realised that I had at last painted up all of my collection of 1/600 ACW naval models and associated scenic "bits". This called for a fleet review, and so here they are arrayed in all their glory!

For a project that started off as a sideline centred on one specific battle, it certainly turned into a big job! its not entirely complete yet. I still have to add flags to most of the ships, but at least the painting side is done.

Must be time for another order to Bay Area Yards :)