Christmas “Domes” for 2013

A few years ago, I began making these for the special people in my life…sometimes they are purely whimsical and sometimes they have a hidden meaning, special to me and/or the person receiving…many of the figures are Darksword 28mm miniatures…some are from the “Hasselfree” line…

Loralee’s” “What Troubles thee?”

Loralee’s: What Troubles Thee” Alternate view

Betsy’s: “”Afraid of the Dark”

Tom’s: “Basilhare and Earakorn”

Eckert’s: “Bad Kitties”

Bobby’s: “Batman in Classic Costume”

Bobby’s: “The Dark Knight”

Creecy’s: “Break Time at the Mini Mart”

Creecy’s: “Break Time at the Mini-Mart” alternate view

Greg’s” “Trouble at Pirate’s Cove”

Mom’s: “The Parley”

28mm Perry Plastic Cavalry Arrives!

28mm Plastic Perry Union Cavalry Left View

28mm Plastic Perry Union Cavalry Right View

28mm Plastic Perry Confederate Front View

28mm Plastic Perry Confederate Right View

28mm Plastic Perry Confederate Left View

My painting for Sam Mustafa’s Longstreet ACW Rules continues. I just completed painting two small regiments of 28mm Perry Plastic Cavalry Figures, one Confederate and one Union. I found the plastic figures reasonably easy to assemble and work with. There are a few mold lines, but nothing too dramatic. They painted up rather easy and were a good value for the money. I am working on the dismounted figures now and will use 28mm Perry Metal figures for those units. I find the Perry mixes well with Old Glory 2nd ed. figs.

28mm Old Glory and Perry ACW Longstreet Project

My latest project…converting my 28mm skirmish ACW figs over for “Longstreet.” My figs are based on 1″ stands. In order to try the rules, I will use 1 fig per stand and 1″ as my BW size for measurement purposes. later, I may use 2″ sabots to mount 4 figures per base, but I have a great deal of painting left to do before I can do that. For now, 2-10 figure regiments will have to suffice. My artillery is based on a 1.5″ stand. Doesn’t exactly match up to the 1″ stands as per the rules, but close enough for me.

28mm Old Glory Confederate Artillery

28mm OG and Perry

Artillery Based on 1.5″ Litko 3mm stands. Infantry based on 1″ Litko Stands.

 

 

ACW Diorama

My latest project: An ACW Diorama Display in 28mm featuring Old Glory Figures.

Close Up

ACW Diorama

Old Glory 28mm Figures

Odd Fellows

An assortment of 28mm Napoleonic Command Figures…mostly Front Rank…..

Battlefront vs. Gaming Models Miniature comparison

To be up front and honest, I have always been a huge Battlefront Fan….I have never owned or painted any 15mm WW2 models other than BF’s….on a whim, I decided to order some of the Gaming Models Resin tank miniatures to see what they looked like…you judge for yourself….to be fair, the BF’s have my paint job and some extra “bits” to detail the BF models while the Gaming Models are right out of the “box”….the JagdPz IV GM’s are unpainted….the Stug IIIG & T-34/85 have the stock GM paint job. The Stug IIIG from Gaming Models is much smaller (even more so in “real life”) than its BF counterpart…the JagdPz IV from GM is much wider than the BF version…the BF’s pictured are the short 75mm version while the GM’s pictured have the L/70…overall, the GM T-34 looks decent (note: I do not own any BF Russians for quality & size comparison) as does the JagdPZ IV….the only real complaint is that some of the guns are bent such that the soft plastic is warped and cant be bent straight…crooked guns on about 20% of the vehicles I ordered. The cost is $4 per model for GM’s vs. $12+ for BF’s….I received a polite e-mail when the GM’s were shipped and received my order in about 2.5 weeks….the GM’s can be ordered painted or unpainted (same cost eitherway)…the Russian paint job is okay…I do not care for the German Yellow-Tan shade as it looks “off” to me…my assessment would be to use GM’s where a large # of vehicles are needed (Ie., Russians) and/or cost is a factor…. whereas w/ Germans I would be more apt to collect the BF’s…my 2 cents worth… http://www.gamodls.com/

Battlefront (L) vs. Game Model (R)

Battlefront (Top) vs. Game Model (Bottom)

Game Model (L) vs. Battlefront (R)

Battlefront (L) vs. Game Model (R)

Game Model (L) vs. Battlefront (R)

Game Model (Top) vs. Battlefront (Bottom)

Game Model w/ Basic Paint Job

Game Model w/ Basic Paint Job

Marders, Jagdpanzer IV’s and such….FoW Progress Update

Despite a hectic schedule at work & home, I managed to get a few new vehicles & items painted for our next FoW game….ordered in 3 x Battlefront Marder III M’s, 4 x 7.5cm Stuk 40 Jadgpanzer IV’s, some heavy mortar teams and managed to paint the 4 x Sd Kfz 250’s I had laying around for awhile….also painted another Sd Kfz 10/5 & 7/1 so that I could add a 3rd AA vehicle to my AA platoons…I now have 3 each of those types as well as 3 Flakpanzer 38’s….Next – I will probably try and tackle another panzergrenadier platoon w/ the new rubble FoW bases I just received…looking forward to fielding some of these new items next weekend…..!

Capt. Von Bell leads his armored troops in the assualt!

0 armor value, but a nice AT weapon @ the same price as ATG’s

T-34 Hunters!

These are among my favorite German vehicles….

Von Bell orders Pvt. Becker atop his command track to spot!

My typical grimey campaign look….

“Ok, Ira will these bases work?”

Dug in behind dragon’s teeth!

Battlefront Panzergrenadier boxed set

I painted up a BF Panzergrenadier Platoon this week….though the cost is a bit steep @ $60 +/-, I really enjoyed working these up….I love the BF figures & vehicles…they paint up rather nice….still getting back into 15’s, but im starting to get comfortable painting them again…The figures required some prep work as some of the BF molds must be getting old…fair amount of flash & trash to clean…but I like the size & bulk of the figs vs. my other Old Glory Germans that I remounted for FoW….The halftracks were mostly plastic, w/ a resin hull…lots of extra stowage items…I really got a kick out of the gear hanging from the sides of the vehicles…BF has done a good job with the extra stowage items…some of the crates were out of my “bitz” box, but the helmets & such were included in the platoon box…fun project…working on 2 x 7.5cm ATG’s next & then some Marder III M’s….

Battlefront Panzer Grenadier Platoon

Note Platoon Leader’s 3.7cm Gun Mount

Grenadiers unloaded & ready for action

“Berlin or Paris?”

Battlefront Panzergrenadier Platoon

“Hmm Fritz…perhaps it’s time for some overdue maintenance on the track?”

Halftracks issue covering fire….

This Week’s FoW Progress

Work is muderous here lately, but I did manage to paint a Platoon of 5 x Mk IV H’s….these models were from the BF Platoon boxed set and come with some nice extras….decals…stowage bits….open or closed hatches w/ a Tank Commander…and the rare earth turret magnets….the plastic Shurzen side plates are a royal pain, but look cool once they are in place….I had fun doing these up….taking a break the rest of the week from painting to read rules for our Game Session on 5/21….hoping to get a few of these on the table in our 1500 pt Mid-War game….

Hunting for Russian Armor!

His face was a bit “off”…he needs a nose job real bad…

Hmmm…I need to replace those missing side plates…

Near penetration to side skirt…

They are running @ full speed to get to Saturday’s Game!

Flames of War Progress

Shifting gears a bit from my usual 28mm Napoleonic painting…..I have spent the past week painting some Battlefront 15mm German Vehicles and remounting all of my Old Glory 15’s to FoW stands….Managed to do up 2 Stug III G’s, a Mark IV H, 3 Flakpanzer 38 (t)’s and a pair of Sd Kfz 7/1 Quad 2cm’s…..obviously an anti-air theme going on here…..gearing up for a 1500 point Mid-War game later in the month…..Late War is my favorite period, but Mid-War is the next best thing…:>)

Rolling out to stop Tom’s Sturmoviks!

“Keep your eyes peeled!”

Single 2cm Mount

These guys held their own last weekend against Tom’s Sturms….

Infantry & Man Packed Gun Teams

Guns & Misc

On the prowl for T-34’s

One of my favorite German Vehicles

Late war….yum…yum…my favorite period!

“Where are Tom’s T-34’s?”

“Dirtied up & tattered…just the way I like ’em…”

“Veteran T-34 killer…”

Quad 2cm Mount

“Here Sturmies….come closer….”

“On overwatch….”

“Not sure why we bothered to put air recognition flags on…we dont have any aircraft!”