Copplestone's

Some of you may be unaware of Mark Copplestone. I believe he once worked for Foundry, but these days he has a wonderful business of his own. http://www.copplestonecastings.co.uk/ I haven't bought anything from him in a while, but all the models I'm working on right now are his. He's produced a series of models perfect for skirmish games, from WWI to dinosaurs, the yeti and aliens.
I've been doing some painting - forgive me, but I am not a speedy man - of eight or so of the models I'd undercoated the other day. Believe it or not, but my eyes are actually getting better. I never used to be able to manage them at all, but taking note of the advice given on For The Warp, always to paint them before the face, I am slowly improving.






Happy New Year, everyone!

Deadly robots, a debonair detective and a ponderous pachyderm

I've been a bit busy working my way through Christmas book gifts these past few days. On Monday I also went out for a long walk with some friends, so I got very little done then. I didn't get round to checking the route out in advance, so it came as a surprise when it transpired that we were walking on ice. The canal path - we avoided the canal - also switched sides a few times, so we had to slip and slide our way up and down several gently inclined bridges. Still, only one of us fell over, and I think we all had a grand time. The pub meal at the end
went down very well, anyway!

Anyway, this evening I have managed finally to assemble an elephant I bought years ago, to repaint a pair of Terminator-esque robots I bought at the same time, to start repainting a detective, and to undercoat half a dozen RN sailors, five Inuit hunters, a couple of alien hunting types, and a few other bits and bobs. I shall insert some pictures into this post after I have caught a few hours of shut-eye.

The robots:



The RN contingent:






Inuit hunters/trackers:




The aliens who prey together stay together:




British Army Lewis Gunners:




An archaeologist, bookended by two detectives:




There's more subtlety to the black of the leftmost detective than can be seen. So here's another attempt at demonstrating it.




A Guardsman who wandered in from a box, and who will eventually man a Sabre AA platform:



Another attempt at black, which inadvertently demonstrates the problems I've been having with photography lately. Sometimes the angle is perfect, and then an instant later dreadful.





A heffalump and German mercenary:

Merry Christmas

I have no new work to show you today, but I just wanted to wish all my readers a (perhaps belated) Merry Christmas!

Walls and Hero Quest

I've mainly been working on a number of old Hero Quest miniatures as the aforementioned Christmas present, and I painted a couple of walls following the formula given by b.smoove here: http://agentlemansones.blogspot.com/2010/12/recipe-stone-and-bone.html He's got several other recipes for colours up - red, black and gold come to mind, so he might painting a German flag ;-) - which you might like to take a look at. Anyway, here are the walls:







Here are the Hero Quest miniatures. A pair (I think two more must be hiding in my attics) of Chaos Warriors. I have attempted throughout this Hero Quest painting period an ideal of making each of these identically moulded models appear to have some measure of individuality. So one of these fellows received a base coat of Citadel Colour Burnish Gold (I don't know if this colour still exists - the pot is round, and the lid old, white and plastic). I put a wash of Thraka Green over that, then a drybrush of Citadel Colour Burnish Gold, then a lighter drybrush of modern Citadel Colour Mithril Silver. His gloves, boots and the wood of his axe received a coat of Dheneb Stone Foundation Paint. I washed Ogryn Flesh over the gloves and boots, and the Devlan Mud wash over them and over the axe's bit. For the axe itself, I mixed Boltgun Metal with Adeptus Battlegrey Foundation as a base. Then I worked up slowly, drybrushing with Boltgun Metal, then Chainmail, then Silver. The chainmail at the crotch has received a wash of Badab Black to make it seem a bit distinct from the rest of the armour. Frankly, I find it a bit too dull, so I'm glad I only used it there and on the reverse of the model. The grip of the axe I shall deal with in a moment. I picked out the helmet slit in black.

The reddish-hued model received a base coat of Brazen Brass and Tin Bitz mixed together. Then it was washed with Baal Red, and drybrushed that with the same mixture and a little Chainmail. The gloves, boots, axe-blade and heft got the same treatment as on the other Warrior. Having done the initial work, I wanted to bind the two models together. Since one was greenish and the other reddish, I decided to use the main hue of each as the spot colour of the other. The green-hued Warrior received a red handle for his axe, and the red-hued Warrior a green one. The green grip received a base of Orkhide Shade, and highlights of Goblin Green. This was then washed with Thraka Green. The red handle received a Mechrite Red base, which was highlighted with a mixture of Blood Red and Blazing Orange. A Baal Red Wash then united the colours.



I have a feeling that the rest of these models' colour-schemes can be divined from these photographs, but if you do have any questions, by all means, let me know.

There's an octet of Orcs, a quartet of skeletons, and a septet of Goblins
. There's a trio of heroes, too, with an Elf who cunningly hid throughout the photo session, and has only just reappeared as I type this!

Demolishers, Basilisks, Krieg Command and Engineers

I'm sorry I've not posted in a few days. The weather's got worse again, and standing around in my bedroom trying to take pictures of models is a recipe to feeling cold. I am only now shaking off the desire to stay snug and warm in my chair. Despite the lack of pictures, I have not been idle. As I said, I decided to drill gas escape points for the Demolisher barrels I'd thickened.





Then I produced another seven barrels which will be placed on a different model of Demolisher turret with an angle of about 70 degrees off the horizontal.



I have had some Krieg models (Command Squad and Engineers) sat about for ages. I've been doing a little work on them today and yesterday.





Before that I spent many hours doing dull assembly-line work for my scratch Basilisks, marking out, cutting out, sanding into shape, and gluing together enough sides for about ten vehicles.



I have also been working on a present for a friend. Money isn't what it was, so I've been doing up a few figures from Hero Quest for him. Fingers crossed he'll like them! I haven't yet mentioned it to him, and I'm sure he doesn't read this blog, so surprise shouldn't be lost. I shall get some pictures of them before I wrap before I wrap them for him.

Demolishers

I have decided against replacing the existing three turrets. I simply lack the requisite parts. I have, however, managed to find enough parts for the seven other turrets for the company. I have been working on them and on the main guns of the 5th (Thunderer) Company most of the afternoon and evening. I'll put up some pictures tomorrow. The main part of the work on the Thunderers has been to add two plasticard tubes of decreasing thickness to the inside of the current gun, and then to drill eight holes around the edge of the gun. If you own one of the (current or older) Demolisher tanks, you will note some small holes surround the barrel. On a real tank these would allow the escape of gases, and it is these which I am trying to replicate.

Demolisher Company

I have all the hulls for this formation, but am far from having enough turrets. Indeed, the turrets I do have aren't very appealing, so I shall probably replace them. The whole force will be resprayed in line with the Russ company from the other day. However, I resprayed 3rd (Vanquisher) Company
this morning, and almost exhausted my yellow primer. So I shall have to replenish my stores before I can get these painted. What I've been working on with these models this afternoon is raising the hull of some tanks so that any turret can rotate without hitting the track guards. I have also added magnets to five of them. Allowing for magnets for five turrets, and leaving a further three magnets for the monitor, they're all assigned. I shall have to get some more! I'm moving to a new system with the photographs. Rather than having them take up the whole page and bump into other things, they'll henceforth be thumbnail links to Photobucket.

Some old faces

Seven scratch Russ here, and eight turrets. Two further turrets have almost been completed, so I just need to get three hulls done, and this company (7th) will be finished. Several of these tanks had an old colour scheme quite similar to the current one. It was cream, terracotta and green, so only the cream has changed to yellow. I intend to unify the regiment with a single colour-scheme. I am also seriously considering unifying the tank, artillery and infantry regiments into a single combined arms force.

Clockwork, magnets, fighting and photography

First, I intend to move to a three updates a week schedule. I appreciate interest drops off when nothing happens on a blog for a long time. Second, I've lately been putting to good use some magnets a friend got for me. They're doing a stand-up job securing turrets to hulls. I've been very scrupulous and so haven't experienced the heartbreak of accidentally inverting one yet. Third, I've managed to get in a series of small games against my brother. We should be having another small fight tomorrow (IG vs. IG, Attackers 750 pts, Defenders 500). So, fourth, I shall try to get a few snaps to put up here, technology permitting. On that same note, I will also try to get some snaps of vehicles up for scrutiny.

Over and out.

Good News!

Loyal followers, I say that prisoners will be prisoners no more. Er, wait, no. I say that after a spot of experimenting, it seems likely that I will be able to upload pics from this EeePC after all. I have played a few games against my brother (who hasn't played anything even vaguely GW-ish since the mid-90s). So far I massacred him in the first game, and he's slaughtered me in the two subsequent ones! We shall play a fourth game tomorrow, and I intend to get some pictures up. As things stand, there's nothing grand going on here. If he's enamoured of the game, I'll give him a guiding hand with modelling and painting (and I'll probably give him some of my models, too - he's been awfully good to me, so it's only fair), but I shan't put my stamp on him. After all, he's beating me thus far, so it'd be a bit silly to have him defer to me!

Our games thus far have only been small and studiously equal. I don't think it wise to start off with Baneblades - or even Russes - so our largest opposing forces have been 5 Stormies, 10 Guardsmen, a Chimaera, and a Russ Annihilator (good old Forgeworld!). I intend to bring in the idea of Platoons (and Officers and Orders) tomorrow. Grand plans afoot here.

Twiddling my thumbs

The old computer is most assuredly dead. So I'm stuck with the EeePC. Nice though it is, uploading photos will be nightmarish, if it's even possible. So I might start doing some game write-ups. This assumes I can persuade my brother into giving me a hand by taking on the opposition. We should have free time, anyway. Aside from clearing the drive of snow several times a day, there's not much going on these days. Is there ever? Stay tuned.

Computer problems

My main computer is either dead or nearly so. Inevitably, I cannot upload any pics to it, and this wee one I'm using to type this isn't really high-powered enough to get the job done. So although I have been working at various projects, I shall have to keep you waiting, o audience, until I can sort out a solution to this problem.

The Leman Russ "Crusader"

First, apologies for the long hiatus. This is connected to the second apology for getting no work done on the monitor. I have done no work on it, and have thus managed to put off updating this blog with what little I have done. Let us grandly sweep that aside.

From the above title you might think I have come up with a derivative Russ based on the Landraider Crusader, bristling with Sponson Bolters and so forth. In truth I have something derivative from quite another source, Britain's Crusader I tank of WWII. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusader_tank This beasty had a forward turret mounting an anti-infantry weapon, which struck me as the solution to a problem I have toyed with on and off for several years. The Leman Russ chassis thoroughly displeased a friend, even to the extent that it put him off the Guard. To be precise, it was the existence of the sponsons that so seriously dismayed his ordered mind. Over the years I have had a few goes at finding a solution to modelling a Russ that looks right for gameplay and makes sense on the battlefield. I am closer now than I've been ever before!

The initial "Russader" is shown here with stand-in turrets for the main gun (a FW Annihilator turret) and the hull-mounted Lascannon (an old Chimaera turret with IG Heavy Weapons Team Lascannon replacing the Multilaser).





One of the problems I have had is trying to have a fairly realistic allowance of space for the crew of the Russ while sticking as close as I can to the existing dimensions. The Russader is pictured here with a Chimaera chassis doing duty as a lower (and slightly shorter) local variant of a Russ. You can see here that I am pretty close to having the right length.





I am also near perfect for width.



Last, height is very near spot-on, too.





As you can see, the wheels need work. I have coated some bottle caps in plasticard, and am not at all happy with their appearance. I've used them on superheavies before, when the skirts have hidden their defects. I may take that route with the final cut of this vehicle, too. This evening I shall try to sort out my final plans. I appreciate that the above vehicle doesn't at first glance appear to address the concern of sponsons! This rough draft of the next generation should give some idea of my plans.



I shall shift the existing turret on the forward hull slightly to the left, add a mirror turret on the right, and perhaps increase the height difference between the fore and main hulls in order to fit in the hull-mounted weapon.