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



Chipped and Dipped (in the mud).

Hit the KV with the foam chipper and dusted the chassis and fenders. Probably spending too much time on this on but it is a huge mini compared to the others I have painted - weighs like a pound or so!

 I think I will add some slogans to this one - Za Rodinu! or some such...

 I may add some mud and static grass to the running gear as well but not sure at this point. All paints used on this mini were Vallejo; washes all vallejo paints with plain water and all airbrush work thinned with plain blue Windex with a drop of Windsor Blending medium to aid flow and prevent nozzle clogging.

Happy Holidays!

Troy