Finally got some painting done - Bolt Action

 So I've* finally finished painting some 28mm WWII miniatures.

The Bolt Action starter set - D-Day Firefight and a US Airborne force.

All things considered, they painted up pretty quickly and I'm really happy with the way the bases came out.

Just the photos for now. More to follow on painting and basing in the next post.

D-Day Firefight Germans

D-Day Firefight Americans in progress shot

Bolt Action US Airborne

Bolt Action US Airborne

Bolt Action US Airborne - 75mm  Pack Howitzer

Bolt Action US Airborne - 60mm Mortar

Bolt Action US Airborne - 57mm anti-tank gun

Bolt Action US Airborne - .30 Cal LMG

(* Have to acknowledge that it was a team effort, with painting assistance from my wife and basing assistance from my son)

Improvements to the painting cupboard.

I have a painting cupboard. It started life as a computer cupboard but as I realised that I was more likely to paint if my stuff was out and set up rather than boxed away, I moved the computer out and the painting gear in. When I'm not painting the doors close and the place looks tidy.


But when it opens up it is full of painting goodness. I'm generally pretty happy with it and have been tweaking it over the years.

The paint station in operation.

It gets a bit disorganised.

 One of the problems I've found is that I am starting to have too many paints and they start to take over the desk. I've been branching out a bit into getting some larger craft paints for bases and scenery, and some craft inks for experimenting with. They are all bigger pots than the Vallejo and GW paints that I have generally used, and despite this picture, the carousel is overflowing. So I did a bit of google work and got some inspiration for paint storage on YouTube. Tips: Vallejo Color Paint Rack.



 Turns out that a really good option for holding onto Vallejo paint bottles is a bit of plastic designed to hold 1" conduit. Available at the hardware store for 20c each.




So it is a work in progress. I have some MDF to go down the side of the cupboard and a collection of the clips (I also got a couple of larger clips to hold some inks and derivian paints).

The position for the MDF

Three Rows holds 68 Vallejo bottles and 12 of the larger bottles.

The plan is two rows of clips screwed together across a small piece of right angle aluminium to use to mount to the MDF.

I am using the MDF rather than mounting direct to the cupboard in case I need to one day return it to its original role as a computer cupboard.





Now I am thinking about what to put at the bottom of the MDF. Maybe a tray to hold the GW paints.

And to make matters even more entertaining, the shortest piece of MDF I could get was twice as long as I needed, so I can do something similar on the right hand side of the cupboard as well. If I can think of something worthwhile.

More photos to follow as I finish up.

Popski is back

Well it's been a long time since posting and I've done a bunch of painting, but not much writing about painting.Here are some photos of the things I've painted since the Napoleonics.

Stonehaven Dwarves from their Kickstarter

More Stonehaven Dwarves

and even more More Stonehaven Dwarves

Last one finished. 10 to go.

A couple of Games Workshop minis

Fulamber and Garrick from the Reaper bones line.

Reaper Bones werewolf - more practice for the arrival of the Reaper Kickstarter

More reaper

More Reaper

Space Hulk minis

More Space Hulk minis

and more

Space Hulk Genestealers

more of the brood

 There are others, but I thought I'd set up for a different background for my Dystopian Wars fleets.

One thing that jumped out at me is how much kickstarter has influenced my painting and will continue to for the foreseeable future. Many miniatures both here and on their way.

More to follow.

Popski

The foot finished cont......

OK, I need to close out how I finished off basing the mini's.

I essentially just worked my way through the directions that came with the Baccus basing kit.

PVA glue and add sand - in retrospect I should have applied a line of brown paint to the base before I attached the mini's. From a top down view you can still see a bit of the wooden base between the stands.

I watered down the PVA a little. The beer bottle cap makes an excellent PVA pallete.


I normally use a small container when I'm doing sand and grass etc for bases. Because I couldn't find one I had to come up with another solution. The dust pan.



This is now my standard solution. It makes it extremely easy to pour the excess sand back in to the bag it came in.



All of the stands with sand. I let them dry for a good 24hours. I've made the mistake before of not letting sand try well enough before painting and trashed a couple of bases.



Painting the foundation wash onto the bases.



The progression of drybrushing.



The bases with the sand drybrushed and edges painted green.



All grassed. I was on a run and didn't take any photo's mid process. I used the watered down PVA and the dust pan again.



Flags added. Flags came with the Starter set, but you can buy them seperately. Cut them with a knife, PVA both sides and added them on. In retrospect I should have considered turning them 90 degrees so they were more visible from the front. Note the white lines on top of the flags. They're gone on the photo's below where I've painted them. The facing colour worked well on top of the regimental colours. Not sure if the black was the right approach for the King's colours, but not sure what else would have worked.


I shaped the flags using a pair of tweezers and doing a couple of diagonal folds. The PVA used to glue them helps them to hold their shape .



The finished mini's. Now they just need some artillery and cavalry support and a general and then an enemy. More to follow ........

The foot finished

Well it is a bit after midnight here and I have pretty much finished the foot.




I did this stand up this morning before I left for work.




Finished the other 9 stands this evening. Pretty happy with how they have turned out.
It's getting a bit late now for me. Too much time painting, not enough time blogging. More to follow.

The British Foot almost finished

Well Sunday night almost 11 and the foot are at the stage where they now just need to be based.

I worked my way through three stands on Friday and finished the rest tonight.

Painted the white straps and shako plumes.



Painted the red on the plumes, and the brass badge on the shako.



Painted the facings. 3 green, 3 blue, 3 yellow and one red. (Matched the flags that came with the set)



Then removed them from the painting sticks and attached to bases using PVA. Decided to have the front rank at the centre of the base so more room in front.






Next step is to finish up the bases. That'll start tomorrow night. With glue and ink etc drying I expect it will take a few days until they're finished. I'm really happy with how they've come together.

Once these are done, I'll do some more work on my 15mm woodland creatures from splintered light miniatures.

I'll also have to post what my outstanding projects are ... (that could take a while).

Naps update

Good progress made. Amazing the way that feeling an obligation to write a blog that no-one reads is a motivation for painting. Whatever gets the job done I suppose.

I need to give some credit for my painting methodology to MONKEY HANGAR's workbench article on the TMP page http://theminiaturespage.com/workbench/729939. I have used it as the basis for my painting technique. Colours have differed based on availability but sequence has been pretty much the same. Once I get to the basing stage I will transition to the Baccus basing set instructions.

The update photos....

All of the black bits painted - hats, packs and boots


The bases painted brown



And inked ...



My temporary painting station



I'm spending a fair bit of time away from home this year for work and away from my painting station so it's all a bit improvised.

My home painting station looks like this....






I miss it. It has taken a bunch of years to get it set up how I like it.

The best thing I have done is move the daylight lamp with me. It really makes a difference.

I'll be away for a couple of days so won't be any progress for a while.
Finishing bits now and then on to the basing.
The end is in sight for the foot. Then the cav and the artillery, or maybe one of the other projects I have on the significantly large backburner. I'll go through all of them in one of my next posts.
Out for now...