MODELLING IN MINIATURE

Davids Ultramarines 2

2012-01-09T00:25:00.000-08:00

It has been a very long time since my last post as my life was really hectic and the only painting I have done has been on my Naps. Anyway my nephew David has continued doing loads of figures and just before Christmas I started taking pics of them so I will start posting them over the coming months.

1st up some more of Davids Ultramarines, This time with white helmets.

These guys have came out really well.

And 1 of Davids many terminators.

Davids Tyranids 2

2011-09-11T09:45:00.000-07:00

It has been an awful long time since I posted an update. I have managed to just about maintain my Naps blog over the past months but this and my Carluke Wargames Club blog has been badly neglected.

Yesterday I managed to attend our club and my Nephew David brought down a couple of Tyranids that he has been working on.

This is actually 1 I started work on but only took it to a base coat before I lost interest. Young David decided it was about time it was finished off.

I can't remember what these beasts are called now but I think they are a couple of main dudes.

This is a very small part of the David's Tyranid collection and I'll get more pics uploaded when I get the time.

FOW

2011-02-14T23:10:00.000-08:00

So more figures from young David (I will have to stop calling him young David soon as he has now hit 18!)

These are from David's 15mm FOW collection that he has put together himself. All US.

What I found really interesting is that he was searching all around the web and FOW info for how to paint the vehicles and in the end he came back to myself to ask how I did my 1/72 scale vehicles. It seems that the airbrushing, detailing and basing is pretty much the same.

I was well surprised that the price of the FOW 15mm stuff is as expensive as the 1/76 and 1/72 scale stuff I did so long ago!

Davids Ultramarines 1

2011-02-14T23:08:00.000-08:00

And some of my nephews awesome Ultramarines and again he has an awful lot that are not shown!

My brother David actually scratch built a Thunderhawk gunship!!! It is superb but unpainted at the moment.

I have to admit that I do like the idea of Assault Marines with jetpacks blasting around the battlefield.

And the main guy himself, can't remember his spelling(Marneus Calgar?). I will check later and correct it.

And a regular grunt with yet to be completed base.

Not sure when these guys will be completed as young David jumps from subject to subject just as much as me!

And I believe this is a dreadnought painted my David snr and again the base is not finished!

David's Displays

2011-02-12T13:47:00.000-08:00

Over the years my brother David, my nephew David and myself have built up quite a collection of 1/72 and 1/76 scale models in plastic, resin and metal and this is just a small part of the collection!

It would be fair to say we were over the top with our collecting.

We collected everything from late to early war by many manufacturers (Milicast, Esci, UM, ACE, Revell, PST, Planet Model etc). I had no space for the collection so it was up to the Davids to house the lot.

We have so many unbuilt and half built kits it is unbelievable, even after a couple of my friends helped me part with a good many of them last year I still have probably over 200 resin, plastic and also metal kits stuck in my loft.

I am getting my loft floored and turning part into a painting room at the moment and I plan on going back to building and painting my WW2 models once again. However I would guess a large amount of the boxed kits will find their way onto ebay!

Most of the models you can see were done before I joined a local modelling club and bought my 1st airbrush so you will see that the weathering is very dark in areas. Still you have to start somewhere and we got a lot of enjoyment out of our wee vehicles and figures.

David's ACW

2011-01-23T08:37:00.000-08:00

My brother David and my nephew David and I headed down to Dumfries for the Albinach Show yesterday and I had my camera in my bag so I thought I would take some pictures of their collection of figures and vehicles when we returned. Some Confederate command.

These are all 15mm ACW from David snrs large collection.

This is some eye candy for the table. I think it will be an ammunition wagon?

It is not a period I really know so I will let the pictures speak for themself mostly.

The figures are from different makes, Old Glory, AB and many more. More eye candy, a couple of confederate limbers and guns.

An unknown general (unknown to me that is!).

And some red guns (I think David seen this in a book?).

And a small Rebel unit.

And here is a WIP photo of some of David's Perry 28mm ACW figures. I'll show some close up pictures when they are all finished.

Isherman in 1/72 scale

2011-01-02T00:35:00.000-08:00

A happy and peaceful New Year to everyone around the world!!!

1st up for the year is a model I painted almost 12 years ago that I recently discovered pictures of, so here they are. I had never worked on Israeli armour before and really only did this (and a Centurian) for a friend who wanted me to paint them for someones collection. Someone else built the kit and the only details I added were the antenna and also some little lights.

I base coated the vehicle in shades of earth tinted with a little green and then progressively lightened the colour until I reached a colour scheme I was happy with. I then worked on the base imprinting the track shape into polyfila mixed with white glue I then added various grades of grit and then bound this with white glue mixed with water.

The base was also given a spray with various earth and sand shades and lightened to almost white in areas and finally dry brushed in sand/white. Once the kit was joined with the base I went about matching the 2 together with pastels and the vehicle also received a light wash with a little burnt umber and black oils diluted. The markings were penciled on then hand painted.

I think the figures are also from Exokit and are very slim with sunken faces I tried to get as much detail as I could from them.

Although Israeli armour is not generally my thing and I didn't build the kit I did enjoy taking it to a finish. Not knowing anything about the subject I cannot comment on the accuracy of the model.

The model seems to have a lot of good points with lots of detail around and many hatches open the only thing I was not so happy with was the dip in the gun barrel. Overall I am pleased with the final result.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T08:29:00.000-08:00

Well that's all my wee men packed away for the year so I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!
See you all in 2011.

Warmest regards
Paul and Mai

Tyranids & Marines

2010-12-18T03:14:00.000-08:00

Sorry for neglecting my modelling blog, I have been pretty occupied by our club and my Napoleonic blogs. There are hundreds of figures and vehicles I should be taking pics of, my brother has scatch built a thunderhawk gunship (needs painting) and loads of ACW, WW2 and 40K

For the moment here are some 40k stuff my brother and nephew David have been working on. This big beast has still to be finished off so I'll post more pictures when it's complete

This has got to be 1 of the most frightening sights in the 40K world, a swarm of tyranids coming at you!

Young David is really getting his eye in with his painting.

Pendraken 10mm ACW

2010-11-17T09:28:00.001-08:00

A few of the guys down the club are into 10mm ACW in a big way and soe it was inevitable that I would end up joining them. My brother and I decided to go for a couple of the army packs to start us off. These are the 1st 10mm figures I have ever painted and the level of detail on them is surprisingly good.

This is a little unit of dismounted cavalry I have been working on.

These are the regular infantry figures from Pendraken with the guns altered to look like shot guns and rifles. I believe they also do the dismounted cavalry figures as a seperate pack?

I have added in some extra items to give a little interest to the bases.

My brother David picked up a bag of 10mm ACW figures and Accessories from an unknown manufacturer in a bring and buy last year. Amongst it were loads of casualties as well as destroyed and discarded items.

I have had the figures finished off for a good while but didn't get around to posting the finished units. I should have added in some of the little accessories to these guys too as they have loads of space on the bases. I think I will probably go back ad do that later?

10mm WW2

2010-11-08T19:18:00.000-08:00

It's been a good long while since my last post basically because I have been busy with my 2 other blogs:

http://napoleonicsinminiature.blogspot.com/
http://carlukewargamesclub.blogspot.com/

So I thought it was about time I posted a little report.

Here are a couple of pictures of a superb 10mm WW2 battle last Saturday. You can see more over at the Carluke Wargames Club Blog above.

Not taking part in the battle but from my personal favourite period of interest from WW2.

Vehicles are from John M's collection. I think I will be getting some of these soon.

Just like from my childhood only smaller. I think almost every wargamer and modeller has build an Airfix short barrelled PzIV in panzer grey?

Russian T60

2010-07-30T00:41:00.001-07:00

Well it has been a mega long time since my last post and I was beginning to think I may have begun 1 blog too many as I also maintain our club blog and my Napoleonics blog.

I had started to plan putting all my works in the 1 blog but I decided no, I need to keep my main interest Napoleonics seperate.

And I am sure in the near future I will be back building and painting more 1/76 and 1/72 scale models again.

This is a model I finished a few years back a Soviet T60 from Milicast. I airbrushed the vehicle with dfferent greens and added a few little extra's. The figure is from Cromwell Models.

The idea in my head was somewhere around the prippet marshes at the start of 1941.

Army Painter 28mm ACW2

2010-04-12T02:28:00.000-07:00

And that's my Berdans finished off.

I might actually give them a bit of a highlight later on and a spray of matt finish to take them a little duller but for a unit put together really, really fast they look fine for me.

My brother David has put together a shocking amount of 28mm ACW troops now!

Infanrty, Artillery and some beautiful cavalry. I will get some pictures up soon.

Army Painter 28mm ACW

2010-04-08T15:39:00.001-07:00

Well at the 2 wargames clubs I attend there has been a bit of a bug going around.

It's been quite infectious and it's ACW 28mm. Chris let me in on a not very well kept secret of the Army Painter Quick Shade and I decide to give it a go. ACW isn't really my thing anymore however with the thought of being able to paint like a child again and still get nice looking results.

The cry went out "just slap the paint on, you don't have to undercoat or highlight just paint on the colours and give it a dip!"

These are my sharpshooters all ready for the magic to be cast! I'll post some pics of the finished figures soon.

I have decided that once they are varnished that's them. No repainting or highlighting as I want a force ready to use fast. We will see if I manage to stick to that!

German Tankers Winter Uniforms

2010-03-13T02:20:00.001-08:00

This is another set I did for Tom at Milicast a number of years ago. I really need to get some better pics of these as Tom took the pictures when he was just getting into the whole digital camera and computer thing and they are too small. Also you can see with the first figure in this set Tom has had a little tinker with photoshop removing a little beard I painted on him.

You should never reveal the secrets of the dark arts to new blood as when you leave them on their own there is no telling what they will do!!!

As These guys are in Tom's shop they have had a hell of a lot of handling as you can see. Not even 2 coats of revell matt varnish could protect them from the greasy hands of passers by!

I was pretty proud of them when I first done them as the camo was a bit of a challenge.

Germans at Rest or Prisoners?

2010-03-13T02:17:00.001-08:00

Yip more figures I done for Tom down at Milicast

These excellent pictures were taken my a modelling friend of mine Alex Clark who was writing a book for Osprey at the time on 1/72 scale tiger tanks.

I believe Alex has done 2 books now, 1/72 scale PzIV's and Tigers?
I was lucky enough for Alex to include a picture of 1 of my hanschar figures in the tiger book for size comparisons

I have recovered from my big swollen head. I haven't painted any WW2 figures for a few years now as my brother, nephew and I have moved onto wargaming with Napoleonic and ACW figures.

I think this picture was taken by Tom for his website?

And this is the set in it's original form. I think this is a really nice set and I always planned on putting some of them in a little scene in normandy sitting at the side of the road with a couple of British (or Canadian) soldiers drinking wine as a Sherman firefly rolls past. One day I'll get it done as I have the shermans built and packed away in the loft.

Scotland Visit 2009

2010-02-12T00:39:00.000-08:00

This summer my wife Mylene and I were very lucky to have a visit from Tony and Megan Ivey from the US of A. Tony and I share a passion for smallscale modelling and have exchanged emails from around 1998 or 1999? We lost contact for a while as I spent a little time living and travelling abroad and moving from house to house before settling in Scotland again a few years back. So when I heard Tony and his good lady wife were planning a visit to Alba I was well looking forward to meeting up with the guys.

In the grand plan of life my wee wife through no fault of her own unfortunately lost her job in the spring of 2009 meaning life became a little hectic for myself working months straight to keep things ticking over. So by the time the guys arrived I was well strung out and it was a great relief to finally get a break. It also gave me a chance to catch up with some old friends. The guys were only here for a short stay so we planned to take them to the usual tourist traps. From left to right Mr Ian Hanratty, Megan and Tony Ivey and wee Mai Provan

We took the chance to take some touristic photos of the castle!

This time I managed to sneak into the photo (nice pic Ian). This is the entrance to the castle. Once you reach this point you have already been robbed by the cashiers for your entrance fee.

In true Scottish fashion I'll have a moan about the price for entry into our historic buildings, they are lovely places but boy do they screw you for your pennies! I feel sorry for the tourists coming to the UK as the fees everywhere are extortionate!

The gang all happiness and smiles. That's the way we like to see you!

I try to get as many people as possible into my photo's. Here a couple completely oblivious to the camera. I would guess they are Polish? Answers on a postcard

Mylene working her charms on her new best pal.

The 2 Megs: I thought it was really decent of the Edinburgh people to name 1 of their main attractions in the castle after our visiting guest Meg.

My wee wife with Grey Friar's Bobby.

The Iveys on the Edinburgh skyline.

A shot from within the little chapel at the top of th Castle.

Here we are in the Heart of Lothian on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.

For those of you who are not aware of the ritual surrounding this place the custom is for you to spit in the centre of the heart on your 1st visit to the spot!

We had a great day.

We managed to pick Calum Melrose up later on and Tony got a change to have a look through his excellent WW2 German models afterwards Ian invited us all back to his place for some pizza and beer. Guess who was driving :-(

Russian Tank Riders

2009-12-28T04:07:00.001-08:00

Well my quest to make a record of all the figures and tanks I have done over the years continues . . .

This is another set of figures I painted up for Milicast and are photographed by Tom.

A nice little set of figures for sitting on 1/72 and 1/76 scale Russian Tanks.

I used a lot of different shades of khaki and browns to make the uniforms stand out from each other (I know you can't really tell from the picture).

I believe this set is FIG052 and can be bought direct from Milicast in the UK.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-21T00:19:00.000-08:00

I know it is a bit early and I had planned to do a load more posts and have a lot of pics sitting waiting for uploading but I have been busy with our club and my napoleonic blog so to finish off the year here is a little fun santa I have been working on.

The figure is a Warhammer Fantasy zombie converted with with Milliput. I slammed it together pretty fast for a zombie project Stuart and I are working on at the club.

You better go run
You better go hide
You better not shout
I'm telling you why!
Zombie Claus is coming to town!

He'll eat you when your sleeping
He'll eat you if your awake
He'll eat you if you've been bad or good
so go hide for goodness sack!

So have a wonderful Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and I hope everyone gets all the figures and kits they want!

Happy Modelling and Wargaming!!

And see you all next year . . .

Halloween Zombie Fun

2009-11-08T02:17:00.000-08:00

For Halloween this year we decided to have a little fun, zombie fun!

As the zombie woman catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror what is she thinking? Is she having flashbacks to a time when she was alive? X factor, Strictly Come Dancing, Britain's Got Talent, Banking Crisis, Wars and Corrupt Politicians . . .
Is it so bad being a Zombie? Better Zed than Dead!

Since I was a teenager I have been a big fan of zombie films and with all the new ones in the past years and soon to be released what better to be at Halloween than Zeds . . .

I feel my body lends itself well to becoming a zombie, out of shape and carrying a few extra pounds.
You too can achieve a zombie physic all you have to do is eat loads of take away meals, drink beer and wine, eat lots of sweets and do no exercise for a couple of years.

You have no idea how amazing it is that my wife let me show these pictures. My wife is a Filipina and from the age of 6 months has been striking a pose as soon as she hears a camera click! For my wife to show herself looking anything than at her best is a big deal so good on you Mai!!

Me, I don't mind how I look in photo's, My beauty years are well past me and most mornings I pretty much look like a zombie anyway.

The zombie wife searches aimlessly for her Doritos and white wine.

Special Effects : Talc, eye liner and tomato sauce (Heinz works best!).

And this is how we look normally . . . Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Scary?

Can you believe we only got 2 small groups of trick or treaters at the start of the night and we had bought in a load of sweets and apples too since we had load of kids come round last year.

Hanschar from Milicast

2009-10-07T18:44:00.001-07:00

This is another set of figures from the milicast range I did for Tom

There is loads of detail on these guys to paint and I managed to pick out the medals and ribbons etc.

They are a very unusual subject that I dont think have been covered by any other companies. I really enjoyed painting these guys.

Brush Painted WW2 Camo

2009-10-03T06:04:00.000-07:00

I wrote this guide for painting WW2 German vehicle soft edge camouflage a few years ago when I didn't have an airbrush. I now own an airbrush but I think it will still be of some help to modellers who don't have 1 yet.

I would guess a good many modellers still haven't got an airbrush to their name and this can cause a bit of a problem when trying to create a realistic 3 tone late war German panzer camouflage that was applied in the field by the troops with an airbrush. So here is my simple solution that I stumbled upon a few years back. (it's best to use enamels for this)

STEP 1 Always keep your old brushes, I trim mine down to varying shapes and sizes, have your brush cleaning fluid (turps, white spirit etc) in a small easy to handle glass container sitting close by (work in a well ventilated room).

STEP 2 Base coat your vehicle in your chosen colour (I use Humbrol dark yellow 94). This should be left to dry for 1-2 nights. Also you should have a good idea of what camo scheme your looking for.

STEP 3 : Your now ready to apply your second colour, it is up to you what colour you start to apply next either red, brown or green.

After mixing the paint well I paint on a couple of sections of the second colour with a normal brush and then I switch to 1 of my old trimmed brushes first dipping it in the cleaning fluid to get it damp then I dry off the excess liquid on an old rag. Then I gently begin to smudge the edges of the newly painted colour and this begins to give a nice feathered texture to the paint finish (smudging with different brushes produces harder and softer effects). It will take a few nights to do the 2nd and 3rd colours and it's best to limit the amount of sections you do in each painting session.

CONCLUSION Hopefully with a bit of time spent you should end up with a more natural looking 3 tone camo with an airbrush finish. Unfortunately this will not replicate totally the excellent effects achieved by using a high quality airbrush but it's worth a try.

Riders of Rohan

2009-09-30T07:02:00.000-07:00

As a young lad along with my friends at school I had been into Dungeons and Dragons (I really just enjoyed painting the figures to be honest) so when the Lord of the Rings films came out and figures were released it was obvious that this would be another painting avenue my brother and I would follow.

Surprisingly we were quite slow to pick up the figures at 1st. I guess this must have been because my nephews were still small? Just as well as they were and still are pretty expensive if you want to build an army. However we soon made up for it! Ebay is a wonderful thing to spend your money on.

We bought up badly painted figures and large lots by the ton then striped them back to their original state and before we knew it we had quite a sizeable collection to paint up. (The Riders of Rohan are just a small part of our collection and we have around sixty of them, 40 are completed so far).

As we have so many of them I thought it would be a nice idea to convert some of them to give our units a fresh look. I sanded down helmet rims, altered arms and changed weapons. We managed to get some flags printed out too. I stopped short of finishing the bases and tidying up the banners but I am sure I will get round to that. We will be having some really big battles with these guys as my brother David has picked up 3 Mumaks to fight! 2 are finished!!

Figure Painting Guide

2009-09-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

I created a version of this guide a few years ago for my old website when some friends asked me how I go about painting figures. So I thought it would be a nice idea to rejuvenate it for this blog.

I first became aware of figure painting as a young lad watching over my older brothers shoulder as he painted boxes of Airfix figures and I guess soon after I covered my own figures in many layers of multicoloured paint. Over the last 20 odd years I have painted everything from English and American Civil War, Napoleonic, Roman, Dragons, Elves and Skeletons from 15mm to 1/35 scale.

I usually prepare 2 or 3 figures at a time unless painting character figures. Once I've decided on which figures I will be painting 1st thing I do is wash them in cold water with soapy liquid to get rid of any casting agent/chemicals that may remain around the figures then I leave them to dry. Next I will cut and file off any casting blocks or flash and fill any imperfections with milliput or glue depending on the size. Once prepared I glue the figures to little bases of old model box card for easier handling while painting.

PAINTS Mostly I use acrylics but make use of both acrylics and enamels of various makes. I have no particular favourite but you can finish figures much faster with acrylics.

STAGE 1 : PRIMING THE FIGURE Patience is the key to figure painting, first the I prime the figures with a coat of light grey. This acts as a good base for any following coats and brings out detail and any imperfections I've missed. Then I leave the figures to dry for a time depending on what type of paints I've used.

STAGE 2 : BLOCKING IN THE MAIN COLOUR I work from dark to light when figure painting and I tend not to use black neat on a figure unless with panzer uniforms or the base for very small details.

So I start off blocking out areas of uniform with a darker shade than I am aiming for (dark drowns, dark greens and dark reds). I then block out the flesh area using the same method but using a blend of browns and blue and flesh but I make sure I don't go to dark as the paint job can then become a wargames look.

STAGE 3 : PAINTING FACIAL DETAIL I then paint in the eyes with white then Prussian blue, I do this before finally shading the face. Painting the eyes before painting facial features lets you blend them into the face as you begin adding in facial detail. I do this by using a very fine brush to apply subtle shades of the base colours mixed with flesh to prominent areas such as nose, cheeks and ears then gently continue adding a little white until I am happy with the result. I also paint the rims of helmets or hat at this stage. (I do the face 1st as once complete I find it spirits me on to finish a figure well)

STAGE 4 : UNIFORM PAINTING There is no secret in my uniform painting just the same working from dark to light and I leave all small detail till later and treat all webbing and weapons as individuals leaving metals till later too. I also leave headgear till later as I have a tendency to hold the heads with my index figure.

STAGE 5 : PAINTING IN UNIFORM DETAIL I use black neat to pick out buttons, belt buckles, medals and unit insignia then it's down to a steady hand to paint the items in their actual colour and then I finish off headgear and metal objects (this is the points I feel really completes a figure). Then finally I varnish the figure in Revell matt Varnish and I'm done.
So that's my simple method of painting figures and definitely is not the only way but it gives me my best results. (Hopefully it will be of some help to someone else).
Happy Figure Painting !!!

When I am painting figures I try to gather as much reference material on the uniforms as possible, being able to see what your aiming for definately makes life much easier. All the figures shown in this article are from the Milicast range of 1/76 scale resin figures and are sculpted by Tony Boustead of England. Tony's figures are some of the best around for the smallscale modeller at the moment and can be found in many figure ranges such as Milicast, FCM and SHQ.

Milicast British WW2

2009-09-18T17:41:00.001-07:00

I done these figures for Tom at Milicast a number of years ago and was pretty pleased with the finish. They were painted with various types of acrylics and then varnished with Revell matt. I have had a very long break from doing 1/72 scale kits and because of this have seen no point in painting WW2 figures.

I really like the Milicast figures, they are listed as 1/76 scale but fit in great with 1/72 scale vehicles. I am itching to get back into building WW2 armour again but unfortunately I have no space in my wee house to work on them. I'm hoping that over the next year or 2 I will have my loft converted so I will have somewhere to set up my paints and build kits again.

Ultramarines Officer

2009-09-18T11:51:00.000-07:00

I done this guy for my nephew Davids Ultramarines army. I think my brother picked him up in a lot from ebay and decided to change the right arm. I'm quite happy with the way he turned out.

Cromwell Swimming

2009-09-14T17:38:00.000-07:00

The Cromwell is from Revell with wading gear from MR Modelbau (It's been a while since I did this one but I believe that the wading gear was part of the centaur conversion set?) Some of the stowage was from MR Modelbau with additional stowage from the spares box. I used milliput to represent the areas protected from the sea.

Figures are from Milicast and different grades of wire was used to make the earphones, antenna and wading attachment.
To acheive the water effect I poured clear resin in different layers mixing in enamel blue/brown/green to get a dull water look and stipled a light grey into certain points to get the froth effect.

Centaur 1/72 scale

2009-09-14T17:35:00.000-07:00

This is a Revell Cromwell converted to represent a Centaur used by the Royal Marine Support Group at the time of the normandy landings. They were used to provide artillery support to the troops during the initial stage of the assaults and were not supposed to proceed beyond the coast however some did advance inland up to 10 miles. The little numbers marked on the outside of the turret were to help direction the fire and was first penciled on then hand painted.

I added additional little details of my own and the figures are from Milicast with a little bit of conversion work. Different grades of wire was used for the antenna and head phones. I worked from pictures of the actual vehicles and I really enjoyed doing this one and feel it turned out pretty well. I took the colours of the uniforms and berets from fellow modellers advice but I believe that the current thinking is that the tankers would have been in the usual uniform of khaki with black berets.

Black Templars 40K

2009-09-14T17:31:00.000-07:00

Probably like most guys my age (3o something) I grew up painting and playing with space marines. My friends and I got stuck right into Space Hulk and the new 40K figures were a revelation for us but through time I drifted away from these little guys. Fast forward 15 plus years and my nephews start buying these little dudes. The gear is a little different and the detail is a lot better but all in all they are the same chaps I collected as a boy and their enemies are beginning to look really cool too.

So what do you do? Well you go online and start buying the little critters all over again and before you know it you have boxes of the little devils armed to the teeth. Add to the recipe an older brother who is more into them than you are and you have a teenage obsession all over again.

So I decided this time around I wanted an army a little cooler than the blue guys with the U on their shoulders and went for the coolest of the cool, the men in black. This will be an ongoing project that I will slowly build on inbetween my main projects.

My first set of double hard bro's finished with the markings of the ork battles. Just a bit of fun to start me off.

15mm Zouaves

2009-09-14T00:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some of my brothers ACW figures

David started playing Johnny Reb II a couple of years a go when some of the guys at the Motherwell wargames club we attend brought out some really nice looking figures.

And that was it David was hooked and has been building up pretty large armies of both Union and Rebs.
This is a battalion of Zouaves from Old Glory he has not that long finished and I think are really nice.

Perry Samurai

2009-09-08T18:09:00.000-07:00

A friend from the Motherwell wargames club had these little guys in with him and I couldn't resist having a go at them.

I have since found out they are from Perry Miniatures. I started off with 28mm napoleonic's years ago but haven't really done any figure painting bigger than 20mm for years so I thought it was about time that I broaden my horizons again.

I have always found Japanese history very interesting if not pretty chaotic and have been looking for a reason for years to have a search about for more info on the country and it's violent past and what better way than some Samurai!

Welcome note

2009-05-06T15:48:00.000-07:00

So here goes, my first effort at posting a blog

For as long as I can remember my brother David and I have been build and painting kits and figures of all different scales and types (WW2 in 15mm and 20mm, naps, ACW, Samurai, Lord of the Rings, 40K) you get the picture. Over the past couple of years we have been joined in our collecting by my nephews. We had a dip in collecting for a few years until we started to attend a couple of local wargames clubs (Motherwell and Carluke) and we caught the bug again.

The reason for this blog is to record some of what we have been doing over the years just incase there is a big fire and all the little figures turn to blobs of plastic and metal.