What happened last year?

 Last year started off rough with covid followed quickly by an ice storm knocking out power for six days. 

That really put a damper on the whole thing killing a lot of my motivation. Never really did feel like doing anything on the computer.

I did do some modelling and painting!!!    Let's take a look at some of the things I did. 

Well the next thing in my painting journal is actually a 40k Space Marines Rhino/Razorback.

   BUT NO PICTURES  ???? So you don't get to see that just yet.

That's okay because my next thing is a project like my F4 Phantom vs. Mig 17. 

I present....The Gruesome Twosome:

This kit actually has some really nice details. Good panel lies too.

As always with 1/72 models there were no pilots so I had to go get my own and these are pretty good.

And as always I spent a ton of time on the cockpits when no one is going to see them other than on this blogspot. 

Since these are going to be flying models there was a modification or two that needed to be made. The tail wheel doors are molded open so those needed to be closed.

I also had to do something with the props.

Going to try a bit of a new technique (for me at least) on these.

First cut out the circles and try to make them as circly as I can.

Locate the center and then tape the actual prop to the back to use as a guide.

Then airbrush those bad boys!

After assembling the rest of the planes it was time to paint.

For one I just masked off the entire cockpit without the canopy because I'm not real confident in how I masked the canopy on the other. I went for the safe move on one and got a little aggressive on the other.

After watching and reading stuff about bare metal painting techniques I decided to go with a black base coat and do some pre-shading on the tails.

There were decals for the yellow stripes and red bits at the wing tips but went with paint instead. I figured it would look more uniform with the pre-shading and wouldn't be such a stark bright yellow contrast. I definitely didn't want that.

I also had to go back and add yellow to the props.

Here's photos of some real life P51s I'm trying to emulate:

I didn't want to even attempt the cowling. Those stripes are just too fine detail to get right. Decals did the trick for this.

The model I bought was a Lee Archer kit so I had to hand correct the "73" and "Alice-Jo" for Wendell Pruitt's plane. I was so stressed I would mess it up and fixing wouldn't be easy but it turned out pretty good.

Once they're hung it'll be fine. I actually finished these by November 2021.

This is part 1 of the project much like my F4 Phantom vs. Mig 17. I built the good guys first this time.

Now I have to build the bad guys.

Hope you enjoyed this.

Hope I can get more updates in without the huge gap again.

Thanks for stopping by.

Day or three late October update

 

Totally missed posting on Halloween! 

        Busy Trick Or Treating!

To make good on my teaser from last post, I worked on some of my Brexit minis.

Did I tell you about my Brexit minis? 

Way back, however many years ago it was when the Brexit was first announced, the exchange rate went way in favor of US. How can you pass up a chance like that? So I spent a bunch of US on a bunch more UK worth of Hasslefree minis.

If you aren't familiar with them, Hasslefree Miniatures (hfminis.co.uk) Lots of great minis. Good sculpts, good service, all round great company. I love these guys.

So on to what I've been painting.......

First up...not Snake Plisskin

I like this guy. Turned out great. He's named Cobra in the Hasslefree store. A bit more ripped than Kurt was but he's probably okay with that.

Next up is Lord Ulthrak

This is one of those minis that you typically see in dark colors, reds, blacks, etc. So I decided to do something different. 

I did find some green metallic paint. I had some green metallic from the old Reaper paint line but it finally dried up after 7-12 years and it's discontinued. AK makes some color metallics. I used emerald metallic for the magic axe and a beryllium glow for the helmet horns and some other highlights.

I attempted some OSL glow for the axe. My first real attempt at something like this. It didn't turn out all that great. The bit on his knee armor is okay but I am really disappointed with the hand. I was really scared of overdoing it and just got to that point where I had to say "STOP! before you screw it all up!" 

Overall it's still a good looking mini and I like the white armor to be different from the typically darkness I usually see on minis of this style.

Finally is Gillermo

He's kind of a monochrome study in red.

I primed his using the red primer from the Ork Trukk instead of my usual grey primer. I guess that's what gave me the idea to go with a real red theme on him. I've got to use up that primer on something.

Oh yeah...and a bit of RedBull inspiration for his shield:

So that's what I painted up this last session.

Next I'm working on a project that I've been wanting to do for a long time in the same vein as my Phantom vs. Mig project. Not sure if I will have it all done for presentation by end of November but I will have something to post for sure. 

Until next time...one more of Not Snake.

Thanks for stopping by.

Ork Afrika Korp

 Along with my Ork Trukk from Kromlech I also got the Afrika Korp troops. Plus some extra bodies and arms to go with all the extra heads I have in the bits box from other stuff.

I was going to make this a totally separate project but since I already had my trukk crew to paint I went ahead and did the whole unit.

Somewhere I read an article or saw a YouTube video by someone showing off their Kromlech minis. They mentioned how large the heads were and that made it difficult to paint the figures once they were fully assembled. I started looking at how these would go together and yes there would be some difficult parts to reach once fully assembled. 

So using some white glue I started putting heads on sticks.

Then assembled the bodies and arms and bases separately.

For basing I have a bag of coarse coffee grounds that I used for a rocky kind of terrain. It's already been used to brew the coffee so there is not really any waste going on. 😁

There's a bit of headhunter totem effect going on here. 

I have my own ork flesh recipe that's a bit of olive and earth brown. It keeps most of the army consistent with still a bit of variation here and there. 

I really like these Kromlech minis. The heads especially have a LOT of character. They are much bigger and definitely a different style than the Games Workshop 40k minis. 

I bought some Panzer Aces Afrika Korps uniform paint specially for these guys. It's a pretty cool tan/khaki color I'm sure I will find a use for in other things as well. Once I got it on, I then noticed how close it is to my ork flesh recipe.

There's still enough differentiation to see a difference. The skin tone is a bit more green. It worked out well.

And now the finished product:

The Unit Leader

Heavy weapons

I like this guy the best. He's definitely crazy. Just look at the one eye.

I'll say it again. All of these heads have a LOT of character.

And finally, the whole unit:

Well, thanks for stopping by again.

Leave some comments if you like.

Until next time.....

here's a preview: