More Stalingrad and Plastic?

Hey All.

Added some loose bricks made from foam to the Stalingrad bases. I cut them out of a 2mm thick craft foam sheet and painted them a red-brick color. I will probably scatter a few on all the Russian bases to add some interest. I think these will be stricly rubble based with little or no vegetation. Took a bit of advice and dusted up the figures a bit more.

 The gunner on the left base is a FiB figure with the helmet shaved down to a more historic shape. Actually pleased how he turned out. Some of the issues I had with the FiB figures fade a bit onced based - still dislike their versions of the German/Russian helmet though...

On another note, I have been reading all the talk about Plastics and the like on the BF site...
http://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx?tabid=126&aff=6&aft=524711&afv=topic&afnp=812073

...and on a fellow blogger Tanner's site at http://wwiicentral.blogspot.com/
a great blog by the way...

The discussion reminded me  of my initial dissappointment with 15mm vehicles offered by all the manufactures out there.  Their products have continued to amaze me only in price. Coming from 6mm, I was shocked at how expensive 15mm are! All 15's are cartoonish at best and have become my chosen scale with a fair bit of reservations.  I LOVE DETAIL! and I LOVE ACCURACY! Most kits out there have little of either...

I have always felt that the plastic minis would be more prone to damage over the years than lead-based minis and I still think this holds true for soldiers and the like but vehicles is another thing altogether (broken resin fenders anyone?).

Looking at the T-34's and KV's on Tanner's site made by 'The Plastic Soldier Company' (theres an original moniker!)  http://theplasticsoldiercompany.co.uk/ - leaves me thinking that it is time that other manufactures took notice. 
 The detail on these minis makes existing stuff look like it was made from play dough. The lines are sharp, circles are round, squares are square, there are no issues with massive flash or irregular shapes. I may pick up a few vehicle minis when they flesh out their product line.

Troy

Stalingrad Style Basing

Hey All.

Pictured below is my first attempt at a Stalingrad style basing. Not what you would call interesting yet but I will probably jazz them up with a few tid-bits like barrels, bricks and refuse of war.

Pretty easy method, mixed some sand and white glue and added this around the figures that were crazy-glued down to a FOW base that was scored with coarse sandpaper. Washed with a dark brown, I then painted and drybrushed a mixture of cheap DecoArt Crafters acrylics. Finished by adding a top coat of white glue/water and sprinkling on red brick colored railway balast and a bit of Talus rock to get some contrast.

  I have 3 other Maxims based up but this is the only one that I will be able to post on the BF site as it has no FiB figures.

 Troy

Where in the hell have I been?

Hey All!

Back from hiatus, I have been busy with work and life. Been working on the Russian MMG's and have them damn near done...



   The Russian FiB fellows have me a bit irked. A veritable contradiction in quality, they are great in some areas and poor in others. While face and boot detail are excellent, helmets are plainly wrong, the ammo cans are all too small for the Maxim and there are some issues with straps and clothing folds. Another area that they lose out is the way most figures are holding their weapons. Most look off, a few awkward and some just plain wrong. The German HMGs are really bad for this.

   I would have to say that overall, for the German and Russian figures, I prefer Battlefront. Not that BF is without problems too (see their EW figure reviews on this site) but it seems that there is still some areas that FiB need to work on.

   On another note, I got in some Micro FLAT from Microscale Industries and it is anything but. It come out more of a satin. Bummer... I have also discovered an issue with the Mother of all flatcotes, Testors DULCOTE, when used with Acrylic paints. It seems that it doesn't like to work with them like it does with enamels. The result with a single cote on cured acrylic paint (2 weeks drying) is a slight sheen. Not shiny - but not flat. Two coats work better but not as good as Dulcote works on enamels...or so my testing has found. Maybe they have changed the formula?

I have instead turned to mixing in a blob of white Lepage glue with a squirt of Folkart Artists Matt Varnish and a little water. This yields a DEAD-flat finish. The Folkart varnish seems to increase the durability of the finish so that it can be handled without damage compared to white glue and water alone.

Troy

FiB and BF Russians - a good mix?

Hey All!

I have decided to mix figures from BF and FiB for my Russian Maxim teams. As I am modelling 41-42 troops, I have had to pare away the sholder boards from most of the FiB and the two BF LW figures as they are '43 uniforms. Can't do much about the short collar...oh well...Also, the Maxim wheels from the BF EW blister are considerably larger than the LW pack. The BF model is a bit better detailed than the FiB so I am going with it.

Basically, I am building 4 teams of 3 soldiers. The teams will be a mixture of both companies figures. I've base coated  all of them and began the uniform shadow work. One thing I have already noticed is that there is a 'sharp edge-ness' on the FiB Russian figures uniforms. This is good when detailing straps and edges of tunics but not so good when modelling folds and loose creases. One could remove these before painting but it is just more work in my opinion. As well, I really am beginning to dislike the FiB helmets. They just look wrong. I attempted to pare down the uniform shape and incorrect edge with mixed results. On the positive side, the face detail is very sharp.

Troy

Happy New Year!

Hey All!

Not too much painted with family and visiting but I did get the KV finished. Resisted mudding up the chassis. Hmmm, just noticed that there is a red spot on all the pictures...left over Santa lint maybe? 

I did get a cool package in the mail - a German WWII Quist 62 M35 helmet in excellent shape. Its an original WWII era without a liner and chinstrap but I have ordered a replacement one from Europe. I had it sandblasted to bare metal and then primered it with red oxide. It had been used post war by the Czech civil defence force, painted gloss black and had a post war liner/chin strap. Mixed up an oil-based 'slate grey' color (green, black and white in a 1-3-1 ratio) and sprayed it 2 coats. I may add a touch of yellow and a shot more of black but its tough to find a flat yellow in oil.  

Happy New Year!

Troy