20mm ANZAC Centurions

I picked up these three Britannia Centurions from Paul at the Defenders club a couple of months back.  I managed to get them assembled in the run up to Christmas, but with family visiting and then Christmas itself, I finally got round to getting the spray gun out on Monday and have been working on detailing them since.

They are primed light grey, then sprayed with Russian uniform and highlighted with the base colour mixed with a little German camo bright green and pastel green.  Tracks are gunmetal grey, canvas is khaki or US dark green.  Exhausts are tan earth and orange-brown.  Hatch interiors are ivory, weapons, berets and rubber wheels are NATO black dry brushed basalt grey.  Commanders uniforms are Russian uniform, highlighted grey green.  The model has been washed with Army Painter strong tone ink diluted 3:1 with flow enhancer and a matt polyurethane varnish applied.

On reviewing the photos, I notice that I've forgotten to detail the lenses of the searchlights and I need to add brass for the cartridges in the HMG belts.  Will get that one before I put them into their storage.  Hope to get these on the tabletop soon.

Thanks for looking and have a very Happy New Year!

15mm Taliban motorcycles, HMGs and dickers

I've been working on these off and on for the last couple of months - irregular figures always seem to take longer due to the eclectic mix of clothing colours.  These are Fireforce 15s, available in the U.K. from Old Glory.  First up is a pack of irregular figures on motorbikes, six models in total, two with rider and pillion carrying RPG, two rider with pillion carry AK-74s and two solo riders with AKs.

Viewed from the front.

And from behind.

Next up is part of the pack of irregular leaders and HMGs.  Here are two leader figures with binoculars and AK-74s, plus two Dushkas with 2 man crew.  Again, front and rear views shown.

And from the same pack, here are two dickers with mobile phones in front and two figures using PCs behind, all carrying slung AK-74s.  Again, front and rear views shown.

These will form opponents to my Peterpig USMC troopers, but are part of a long term project involving more Old Glory Command Decision irregulars and heavy weapons and several Middle Eastern buildings from the Baggage Train, including a mosque, market and several residential buildings.  I may also add an Ottoman fort from the same range.

Well, it's fast approaching teatime on Christmas Eve here in the U.K.  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, what with the selection of cards, drinks and sweets laid out, presents under the tree and my son getting increasingly excited.  He's currently bouncing up and down shouting "It's Christmas Eve and Santa's coming next day!".  I hope you are all where you want to be this Christmas and with those you want to be with.  So, have yourselves a merry little Christmas, may your lead piles grow enormously tomorrow.

Have a great Christmas and thanks for looking.

20mm Britannia Chieftain

Another purchase from Paul at the club, this is a Britannia Chieftain to provide a bit of heavy armour to my Cold War British army in 20mm.  This was quite a frustrating kit, due to the number of bubbles, particularly leading to missing details.  I had two passes over the model filling in holes, then undercoated it and found more, then base coated it Tamiya NATO green and found even more.  There are still a few but I'll live with them as battle damage!  Black splodges are Vallejo NATO black, as are the MG and the strapping on the gun barrel although these are dry brushed basalt grey.  Tracks and towing cables are gunmetal grey, while tarps are khaki, orange brown, NATO green and golden olive.  The commanders uniform is NATO black dry brushed basalt grey with a NATO green bone dome. Insulation wrapping on the barrel is green grey.  I also used a Tamiya mud stick to add mud to tracks, side skirts and bow and rear of the hull.

Photos show the model from various angles.

This will go with a company of British infantry that I'm planning for Force on Force or Arc of Fire, using figures from Elhiem, Britannia, RH Models and Platoon 20.  These should also mix well with Royal Marines figures that I have from RH Models, Stonewall Miniatures and Platoon 20.

I hope to get one more post in before Christmas, some Old Glory Taliban in 15mm.

Thanks for looking.

20mm Vietnam-era ANZAC platoon

I finally got round to ordering a pack of ANZACS from East Riding \Miniatures Platoon 20 range to finish off my ANZAC infantry for Force on Force.  There are four 10 man sections, each with an M60 or GPMG team, scout, and LAW AT weapon plus each man is armed with either an FN, M16 or Owen SMG.  The first three sections will form a platoon, along with the three man command team in front, while the fourth section will represent either a section from another platoon if needed.  There are also some extra RTO figures who can form spotter teams for artillery or air assets.

The entire force.

The command section.

The LAW AT and scout figures plus a prone figure that can represent a sniper or just a prone rifleman.

FN and M16 armed figures.

M60 and GPMG teams.

Slightly lower perspective - the view from the tabletop of the command team.

Similar perspective of the M60 team.

View of the unit from the rear.

Waiting on the painting table for me to spray are three Britannia Centurions, which I bought off Paul at the club, and assembled this week.

Then there are two 15mm Battlefront ANZAC Centurions, from Steve at the club.

And finally an M577 command vehicle.

Now all I need to complete my ANZACs are three M113s with Cadillac Gauge turrets and an M113 fire support vehicle.

As ever, thanks for looking.

6mm Sea Vixen and Gannet

Not much painting progress recently.  I painted these a while ago, but never got round to photographing them.  These are Heroics and Ros Sea Vixen and Gannet models, representing aircraft that date back to the 1970's when Britain still had real aircraft carriers with fixed wing aircraft, unlike today where we have new aircraft carriers being built but nothing to fly off them for a few years yet!  Tax money, easy come easy go.  I spent my teenage years in the mid- to late-70's fishing for Flounder on the River Tamar under the shadow of first HMS Eagle and then HMS Ark Royal before they were eventually towed away and broken up for scrap, thus ending the need for aircraft like these.

They are painted in dark sea blue and ivory, with royal blue and flat red hand painted markings.  Flight stands are from Litko.

The twin boom Sea Vixen. 

The Gannet, loaded with lots of electronic kit.

Nice models, relatively simple to paint with no assembly.  Not sure I'll ever get them on the table top,  but nicely evocative of the period.

Thanks for looking.

20mm Special Forces in Multicam

This week I'm on vacation.  In between shopping trips, I've been working on some Elhiem 20mm Special Forces figures.  These generic figures will find use as SAS and SBS, as well as US special forces or contractors.  I wanted them to have a more uniform look than "normal", with just variety in headgear, scarves and the like.  I opted for multicam and followed this link http://skirmishsangin.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/dougie-painting-british-part-3-multicam.html (thanks Dougie).

These are from pack SF04;
Front

Rear

These are from SF06, veterans;
Front

Rear

And these are from SF11 Support weapons
Front

Rear

I also took some individual figure shots of the ones I liked best.  This guy obviously has some link to Texas as I've tried to show him in a Houston Astros baseball cap.

I like the pose of this figures advancing in a multicam bush hat.

And this guy, I particularly like his hirsute appearance.

This guy is either a leader or scout as he's signalling to troops behind him - that or directing traffic.

This guy advancing has a nicely hunched stance and looks like a grizzled veteran of too many campaigns.

And finally, three figures from SF13, Jtacs, Etacs and Combat Controllers, minus one figure who found his way into my US Marine forces.  I gave these a more varied look with denim jeans, cargo pants and lots of sand or khaki coloured clothing.

Quite time consuming to paint, but I'm really pleased with the results.  Thanks for looking.