Metal finishes

Here's the first model painted with the Alcald line of metallic paints.

It's a Korean war era fighter. F-86F

Been pretty busy working on scale models the last 9 months since I dropped into a hobby shop on vacation to the Hearst Castle last November. But now with the release of the Dark Ages rule set "Dux Britanniarum"
I've ordered some 15mm and 28mm miniatures which will occupy my hobby time through the end of the year.

The beautiful Wingnuts Wings kit of the Hansa Brandenburg WW1 seaplane sadly goes on the shelf.

Dux photos coming soon!

Scale modeling update

I've actually done it, posted an update within a timely manner. Here's the 1/72 Jake I've finally finished.

And the Junkers D.1 The decals silvered badly on this one.

Another New Years update

Seems the only time I post lately is around New Years, it is a time for reflecting on the years changes and accomplishments. My hobby took some strange turns this past year, selling then buying and getting back into the card game Magic the Gathering in February, then dropping that in November for a return to my childhood love of scale modeling. Not a miniatures game played all year. I did sign up and pay for some convention appearances but managed to duck out at the last minute. I did manage to play some board wargames early in the year, ASL and the OCS (operational combat system) game Baltic Gap. That didn't prevent me from buying a half dozen war board games though. Again I cleaned house and dumped the balance of my WOW planes and some board games on BBG and the Surplus Wargame forum. Still more to sell as I'm consolidating my Mini's down to 2-3 rules systems and a manageable amount of figures to finish painting. "Sharp Practice" and "IABSM 3" are a lock to remain, while I'm debating selling or keeping my "Mud and Blood" ECW and WW2 skirmish figures. Now on to the scale modeling. I've been building models since I could remember, the old Aurora, Airfix and Monogram models of cars, monsters and planes. I revisited my modeling days seriously in my early 20's when I bought a Paasche airbrush, and have dabbled on and off over the years. This time I'm seriously into in, my first venture into scale modeling since Al Gore invented the internet and the advent of Photo-etched and cast resin aftermarket parts. I had a few kits laying about and started on the Stuka JU-87 and the British Universal Carrier before diving into the more complicated models I began purchasing.

The Stuka is 1/72 scale and the Carrier is 1/48. Next up was a 1/72 scale Japanese WW2 seaplane, a "Jake" as the allies codenamed it.

This model has 4 coats of paint from primer to a metalized aluminum to a red oxide primer and then the final color coats. The plan is to weather the model so at various points the red oxide primer and eventually the "bare" metal aluminum will show through wear and chipping.
The metalized finishes available today got me curious in doing a modern bare metal jet so loving the early jets of the 1950's I picked a cheaper 1/48 scale F-86F Saber to practice my painting skills on before moving onto a better, more detailed kit.

This plane is awaiting accurate rescribing of  the panel lines before painting.
The last model in my current build line up is a Junkers D.1 WW1 all metal monoplane. Again the metallic finish (interior only this time) intrigued me. The interior is base coated gloss black as a prep coat for the metalize aluminum paint.

The interior detail on today's models is amazing, and taken to another degree completely with the aftermarket resin cockpits and photo-etched details. I'm getting my groove back slowly before diving into a larger 1/32 scale super derailed kit.
It seems I'm attracted to the early jets, Sabres, Vampires and MiGs and WW1 seaplanes as that's what stored away in boxes so far. Hopefully I'll be updating this blog a little more regularly than in the past.
Happy gaming and Happy modeling to you all in 2012

Downsizing

Like any going concern in this economy I've downsized my collection quite a bit this year. Partly for economic reasons and partly for the space/time continuum of an aging gamer. Gone are about 50 board games, both war games and Euro games. Board Game Geek was a great venue for the board game sales. Gone are 90% of my WW2 15mm figures, sold off mostly to TFL buddies in the states. Gone are the WW2 1/2400 naval models. Gone are the WW1 plane models. Gone are 50% of the WW2 plane models along with the Check your Six rules and modules. The one surprise was that not one prospective buyer popped up for my mass of 28mm ancients.

 Saved for future use were the 28mm AWI and 28mm ECW figures. I've actually got a local artist who wants to learn how to paint figures and I'm giving her a crack with my AWI figures. Pictures when she has made a little progress. Enough for now, next time a story about my current project and the wreck of the USS Constitution.

Updates (about time!)

Well, loads has changed in the 10 months since my last post. Most notably I've been cleaning house, selling off loads of figures to Lard buddies and others. I haven't use eBay this time but the Surplus Wargames yahoo group and a short notice on the Too Fat Lardies yahoo group too. Gone are the majority of my 15mm WW2 figures, gone are the 1/2400 WW2 GHQ ships, gone are both the 15mm and 20mm Vietnam figures and terrain and gone are other smaller groups of figures. I still have more to list but the mailing and packaging got to be too much. Another big change in my gaming has been a move to board games, which is where I started back in JHS.
ASL is my new favorite and I get in maybe 2-3 games a month if lucky and have a monster game set up at home since June. More to come as I've criticized a good friend for not keeping up her blog and now have to follow my own advice.

2010 - A New Year's Project List (Part 1 of 2)

In the past week I'm seeing more and more bloggers with end of year and New Years lists so I thought I'd join the club. As for my best of list I'm keeping it short and sweet and listing not only new things but the best of what I've enjoyed most, discovered or rediscovered this year.

1) The Too Fat Lardies Yahoo forum. A witty, rambling roundtable of information and tomfoolery from wargame fans around the world, the only ingredient missing which would make this the best site online is hearing the accents of all involve. A bonus read if you actually own a set of their rules.

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Toofatlardies/

2) The Meeples and Miniatures podcast. And here you actually hear the accents! Coverage of all types of miniature and board gaming, Neil really covers the gamut in a delightful way. His weekly video reviews are a joy to watch. New for me this year.

http://meeples.wordpress.com/

3) The Perry Brothers figures. I've purchased figures from Perry on and off over the years, mainly 40mm Nappies but this year I dove into their 28mm AWI line and I'm dumb struck by the quality of casting, sculpting and posing in this range. Building up forces to do AWI with the supplement and scenarios from the TFL specials. Better looking figures than I've seen in Juggs magazine.

http://www.perry-miniatures.com/

4) The 2 Half Squads Podcast. What could be better than 2 guys sitting around drinking beer and scotch talking about the best board war game ever designed. Dedicated to Advanced Squad Leader and it's continuing expansions they discuss rules, tactics and the joy and despair of the dice rolling life.

http://www.the2halfsquads.com/

Next time I'll try and get my house in order and lay out a plan for purchasing, painting and playing games for 2010.

Sirens of lead

Once again, part way into a new project it's tossed to the roadside for a shinier, newer interest. It seems a word, a reference, a link within a forum or on TMP will zombie like steer me off course. Oh the sirens of lead men call me constantly! Within the past four months I've reorganized, rebased, purchased figures, dabbled with painting, bought books for research, and generally shuffle around both my painting area and my gaming table the following bit and pieces.
28mm ECW figures for a skirmish play test rule set from TFL
10mm ancients for Impetus (painting and rebasing)
28mm ancients for Impetus (painting and rebasing - purchased more figs)
28mm US Airborne for M&B WW2 (finishing out a weapons platoon - Actually got this finished)
28mm Dark Age figures for a skirmish rule set rumor heard on the TFL forum
36mm German WW2 figures purchased as a lark
28mm AWI Perry figures for Sharp Practice (this after finally reading "This Land Divided" a supplement for SP)
Advanced Squad Leader - pulled out my old board games and set up not one, but 3 different scenarios to relearn the rules for this monster from my past.
Rejoined my board game buddies at the local game store for a Combat Commander campaign game every other Sunday.
..and finally, Ambush Alley. I'd purchased a big handful of 20mm modern US and insurgents for this game and as usual started basing and laying down a base coat of paint about 6 months ago and put them away for something newer. Now I find an opponent living just 1/2 hour away and have promised to meet up after Christmas. Can't let my fickle nature distract me from AA till I have at least 40-50 figures finished.
Pictures to follow this weekend of what I have finished, promise.