(Soon to be) On the Bench

Or on Brian's bench at least.

I joined in another Baueda kickstarter. Because I love Claudio's work. I picked up a DBA Army of Norse Irish (III/46). I need to base them and get them to Brian.

Jon L. was putting in an order for some WWII. I jumped in to get a Berlin or Bust Pak 40 and crew along with a deuce and a half. This will give my germans some needed artillery and my Americans a truck to pull their AT gun around. 

Lastly, some additional US Navy SEALS. These will complement my original Seal Team 6. These guys are awesome. One of them has bolt cutters and a sledge hammer on his back for breaching. Love it. Can't wait to see these. 

WIP: 28mm Modern MRAP

I can't remember where I bought this mini. But I thought I would update from a Humvee since the MRAP is currently the replacement in Afghanistan for the Humvee. The model is not the greatest. I am not sure if it was a bad mold or what. But I am not that good of a modeller to correct the imperfections.

I am, once again, using Sgt. Scream's method/color scheme. The shot on the left shows a primed, sepia washed and then dry brushed with the Vallejo's DESERT YELLOW (70977) with two parts Vallejo's BEIGE (70917) mix that Chris recommends.

Over on the right, you see the MRAP primed with The Armypainters' primer called DESERT YELLOW and washed with Vallejo's Sepia Wash. I am not brave enough for Chris' oil based wash. The sepia seems to do the trick.

The place that I got this from put the gunner in for free for me. As I look at these pictures, I may have to carve him out of there. He looks too futuristic to me.

WIP: US Modern Vehicles Final

Thanks to Chris over at Small Scale Operations for the reminder that I never posted the final pictures of the US Modern vehicles I was working on!

I used Chris' paint scheme on these. I think it worked out very well. Keep in mind, these are the first things I have painted in 20 years. So be gentle with me. :)

Click the pictures to see them on a bigger scale. No decals on the humvees. I couldn't find enough surface area to use. And I am too shaky to free hand a chevron.

You can go here to see these minis in action. I was rushing to get these ready for the AK47 game in the battle report.

AK47 Battle Report: November 10, 2012

I got together with Gary, Mark and Mike on November 11, 2012 to play AK47. Gary had cooked up a scenario for us that allowed me to bring my US Marines. We basically ended up playing two 2 on 2 games on the same table. (Gary's table is about a football field in length).

I am still very much in the learning phase of AK47. This picture shows me trying to correct my mistake of driving into the town. I could have easily gone toe to toe with Gary's Africans but do to my stupidity with movement, I spent a lot of the game inching my way across the table.

The picture on the right shows my continuing blunders with movement. I went up on the hill on the left. My strategy from the jump was flawed. Take the hill. Take the town. It should have been, take the fight to them. Go AROUND the hill and the town. Gary blew up an infantry stand with an artillery strike. My Abrams tank was a reserve unit and I tried to get him into action as quickly as possible.

Here comes Gary's horde. They finally make it across the river. I am still trying to get my Bradley's out of the town. Gawd.

I did NOT get any pictures of the corner to the top left of these pictures. I actually had a helicopter on the board that spent a lot of time trying (successfully) to light up one of Gary's infantry stands.

Just in time for the time clock to expire, I finally start doing some damage. The Abrams is hammering away. The humvees are too. The Bradleys have caused a rout. It was not looking good for Gary's troops. :)

I definitely want to play on a smaller table. 3x3. Maybe 4x4. I really like the AK47 rule set. I love the random chaos it creates. I want to amp that up by closing the quarters a bit.

WIP: US Modern Marines

The figures are Modern US Marines from Rebel Minis. I bought an infantry pack and a command pack. (I also bought a pack of contractors but those will be saved for later.) I primed the minis with Army Painter Desert Yellow.

After priming, I gave them all a wash of Vallejo Sepia Wash (73300).

The first layer is a mix of 60% (ish) Vallejo British Tank Crew (321 Panzer Ace) and 40% (ish) Vallejo White (951 Model Colour). I am borrowing the scheme from a description on the Eureka forums for Moderns. I was trying for a dark sand look, almost clay. Almost gray. And I did a highlight. Very rough, I know I overlapped onto equipment, etc. But I like the shade from the wash. So I am sticking with it.

Next, I will do the packs and gear. I have a scheme for those as well.

WIP: Modern US Vehicles IV

I applied the first dry brush highlight. I say first because I am already thinking about a final highlight of a lighter color just to pick off the edges.

I used a 1:1 mix of Vallejo Iraqi Sand (819) and Pale Sand (837).

And I am still following (mostly) Sgt. Scream/Chris's scheme. I like it. I am not sure the pictures are doing it justice. But these models look like they belong in the desert or even Afghanistan to me. Tomorrow, I will try to hit the black. Tracks and tires. And the weaponry.

I am planning on playing some Bolt Action tomorrow! Can't wait.

WIP: Modern US Vehicles III

The second layer is a 2:1 mix of Vallejo Beige (917) and Vallejo Desert Yellow (977).

I used a heavy dry brush technique. I can already see the difference between the completed tank and these models. The heavy handed dry brush lets more of the wash show.

Again, just the first coat. I need to paint the stowage and the treads/tires. And highlight.

Next step is the first true highlight layer. 

WIP: Modern US Vehicles II

Here are some pictures of the next stage of painting these vehicles. I used the Sepia Wash from Vallejo.   Sgt. Scream recommends using an oil based paint. But I am just not ready for oil based paint. Washes are a new concept to me. Here are a couple of the tanks.

Here is a closeup of one of the turrets. I originally watered down the wash but quickly realized that I could (and should) go full strength. 

Lastly, a close up of the body of a tank.

I will confess that I was a little skeptical of how this was going to turn out. So, I finished a tank. And I am pretty happy with it. But I won't show it just yet. You will have to wait for it.

Next up: putting on the first layer of the main color.

WIP: Modern US Vehicles

I primed the QRF US modern vehicles yesterday. It took me awhile to put them all together. This is the first time in maybe 20 years that I have put together and attempted to paint any kind of miniature. It was slow going. The last time was probably some Orcs and Goblins for Warhammer.

You should be able to click to expand. The vehicles are all QRF:

M1 Abrams
M2 Bradley IFVs
Humvees

They are primed with Army Painter Desert Yellow. I am going to try to follow this painting guide from Small Scale Operations. I have just ordered some Vallejo paint. I am not going to use the oil wash. I will use just a regular wash. I'm nervous, we didn't wash 20 years ago. :)