The Guild D-Day Speedbuild: C-47 with a twist - finished? and other ramblings

With little time to spare, I completely burned out and posted the following 4 pictures for the competition.

I posted it on a few forums too to finish my running topics, but I have not had the nerve yet to read the replies. On the one hand I just have bitten off too much then I can chew, but to be fair, with better focus that might have not been the case.

But to spill the beans a bit, last week I was diagnosed with Depression, and seeing this is my third time in 7 years I kinda know how it goes, and it ain't pretty. I truly don't care about anything right now, hopbby, wife, kids, myself, nothing. I spend 2/3's of the day in bed. When I do have bursts of energy it pisses off my wife and confuses the heck out of the kids, so I just go to my hobby room and paint there for 3-4 hours straight while watching Youtube tutorial (and Fallout 4) videos. Since this is my third time, and my docter is super worried I've been labelled Priority and have my intake tomorrow. There is a bit of discussion whether to admit me for a short period so I'm away from everything or have me over 1-2 days a week for therapy and meetings. To be honest I don't care what they choose for me, I just want to get rid of this black hole that is inside me and swallows everything, from energy to feelings. I mean, I don't even care about painting right now, and I love painting. I've been on a downhill slope ever since losing my job and it is spiralling out of control ever since the news that my knee damage is permanent, and I just don't see the light at the tunnel anymore.

It sucks, but that is the way it is. Having said that, I've managed to snap out of it 2 times before. I have every intention to do the same thing again this time. But I want to ask them to treat it differently this time. Dark moods are a part of me ever since I was a kid (but I never was a Goth or anything) but I never discussed that with my family cause I knew very well what they thought about people that don't fit in their little world. I did find out pretty quickly that being by myself and/or with others and doing hobby related stuff meant it got pushed back. For quite some time I didn't have issued with it anymore and I kind of forgot about it. I have the hobby (gaming, painting) to thank for that.

So what changed? I'm not sure. When I got older I started to run into more and more people who don't accept my hobby as being something a adult should do. That it is a waste of money. I stayed friends with people who either like or have the same hobby, and tried to get rid of the ones who disapproved of it. Problem is, the disapprovers in my inner circle are my next of kin. My dad in particular has expressed more then once that he would come over, dump everything in a trash container and that would solve the problem once and for all. They see my hobby as a problem, as a disease, a money pit. I've long since given up the fight to change their views. I hardly ever show off painted stuff on my own FB page and keep it mostly to closed FB groups, a few forums and my Blog.

So why am I telling you all this? Well, I've never been the best in expressing myself verbally. I can talk long stories but sometimes it is hard to tell where they start and where they end. It's hard to explain the problem when I myself can't understand my own problem most of the time. Does this mean I have no more love for the hobby right now. No, it does not. That I don't care about it right now does not mean I do not love it. It is just that 99% of it gets blocked and only 1% actually manages to get out.

Like what I painted in between painting burst of the C-47. A local friend of mine commented that he would like and try to revive the cancelled 2012 Afrika game and see if we might get 3-5 players and have a small campaign with them. Even in my blocked off state, this triggered something as I had spent a lot of time on the background of my faction, the mercenaries called Zwartwater, and gathered quite a bit of kit for them. Also, this happend just at the moment I was watching a documentary on Netflix called "Only the Dead"

During the chat I saw this on my screen:

A press SUV in Iraq, 2003

.....and I wanted to paint that. What I normally do these days, is that I see something I think of interesting to buy, paint and have, I just copy-paste the picture, print it, and stick it on my whiteboard.

This months "Things I wanna have" list

But I did not want to paint another SUV, as I already have a Press SUV/Armoured Car (see ZNN
I gave it away to Bryan of the Hobby Den, then painted another one which I still have not finished (just needs varnish) for my own collection). I did however see, while cleaning in the attic.....

The attic. Welcome to hell/heaven and my Nemesis!

...a built, based and washed Lada Riva from SandS

And then magic happend, as I got through my numbess and painted my little heart out. I even cut apart white bar decals to represent the tape used to mark the vehicle with TV. I kept the clourscheme the same. And this is what I got:

Just so passing gunships know what you are.

Plenty banged up

Oops, missed that bit of gloss paint next to the window, will remidy that

As much as I love them, SandS casts are rough and usually have plenty of air bubbles to clean up. Since I paint up most of my stuf as bangers, not always a problem, but sometimes it is just bloody annoying. But for the price he charges I really can't complain. He asks 6.50 Pounds for these and I get my Guild discount on top of that, and then some when I order up a bit more. Thinking about ordering up 4 or 5 more to paint up as Iraqi/Afghani taxi's. Also thinmking about planting a money tree. Hah!

And while I was at it, I even made rules for it in Battlegroup (Moderns).

Press chit. This replaces a 1. When pulled, play on enemy unit and put a Press vehicle/3 man team on the table.
1-2 Unit too busy to fight cause they are recording messages for Mom and Dad. - no action next turn
3-4 Unit goes all out and puts up a show for the Press - Free action next turn
5 Unit is portrayed badly in the eyes of the Free World and loses D6 BR
6 Press is unwelcome. Place chit on enemy unit instead

Optional: If you have a translator team you may add or subtract 1 from your roll.

Right, tomorrow after the meeting I will come back home, clear my hobby desk, give it a good cleaning and the decide what to do next. Taking a week or so off doesn't sound so bad right now.

Russian decoy guns for Kursk, Part 1

I'm having a small factory line here....producing decoy guns for the Russians players for the game in August, based off a original schematic. I'll be modifying it in places to make it more wargamers/builders friendly though. Doing this on a practically 0 euro budget as well.

They are not hard to build and add a little character. I'll leave it to the Russian players to use them or not. More progress and details soon.

Flak Build - Праща

This is my entry for the Flak build.

Праща (in English: Sling) is a ad-hoc weapon system created by the Serbs in the later part of the Third Balkan War. It is made up by using the gunmount of the M-55 20mm towed AA gun, a welded, adjustable frame with what appears to be a car windshield, 2 hardpoints and 2 AA-8 Aphid short range IR missiles, as seen here:

For my version I've used the base of a RH Models ZPU, brass wire and plasticcard plus the hardpoints and missiles from a old MiG-29 kit.

Gamewise I intend to use this as a Sa-7 in Rapid Fire Moderns. Primeraly meant for Yugoslavia, it might even get some use in the Afrika Big Game later this year.

Translator Team transport, Zwartwater

Finished the transport for my 4 man Translator Team. Wanted to give them something with local flavour and not an armoured car, so took my alltime favorite, the Britannia Beetle and used that. Added a skibox and extra headlights for looks. I don't think the team will be quite happy driving this rickety thing, but at least they blend in more :)

Skibox is custom made, extra headlights come off a truck kit, Beetle is converted stock model from Britannia/Grubby Tanks. Decals letters are from I-94, licence plates from a Leopard 1 kit I think. The text in the picture means My day is a bad day (though not 100% if I spelled that right)

Khin Hla, Red Team Leader, Zwartwater

Finished the 3rd member of Red Team for the 2012 Africa Big Game, Khin Hla .

Khin Hla, from Myanmar, is a political refugee serving with Zwartwater. He is the teamleader of Red Team, a softspoken but commanding man. Not much is known of his past as he keeps to himself, and he is very sensetive about his old and worn red scraf he wears. He has upgraded his M4 with a 100 round C-Mag, bipod and red dot scope so to better support his team.

Model comes from the Generic SF/Contractor pack from Wartime Miniatures. I've added a MG-13 ammo drum from I think Elhiem as well as the bipod from it.

More WIP's

Received a few things in the mail this week,

A 2nd hand Cromwell MT-LBu for my Russians and 6 Reaper Dust Scorpions that I think should do well for my Fallout bits....I'll propably do 5 normal ones and 1 albino. Size wise they are a bit in between normal and giant ones, but hey, the other ones I found towered over 20mm figs and these should do fine with 15mm figs as well. Or Modhails 28mm ones.

Also in the mail this week, a SandS Bedford RL, the closest I could find that resembles the Fallout ones. I'd like to chop one up and turn it into a tractor but can't afford that at the moment, not for a scenic piece anyway, these cost 11 quid. From my stock I converted my last M35, ready to accept a SandS container pod, only to find out it doesn't match my drawings at all.....

...so I've gone back to the drawing board and started to build one from scratch. I only need the one anyway as a command vehicle for my American troops. I've found a picture of a modified SUV that is used to control UAV's that I will copy for my mercenary radio vehicle, so that is set as well.

On a more personal note, I broke my favorite pair of clippers :(

A busy WIP table

I have a very busy WIP table at the moment, and these are just a few of the vehicles.

From left to right:
FoF Renault UE, a bit of cleaning to do and then convert it to the Wurfrahm version, my first model for KGN.
Hobbyden Technical, based and washed, ready for weathering. Just a display tester as I won't be doing Militia (any time soon that is).
Hobbyden Shorland, based and ready to be turned into a ZNN news car for the Africa game and propably quite a few other things.
Hobbyden Mercedes, suitably trashed and based, a bit of detail needs to be added before it is ready to be painted for the scrapyard.
The hard shelter of a Eastern European truck kit, based by itself, meant as a small (guard) shack for my Stalker project.

Decided to replace my MD-500 gunship (it just didn't look right)) with a old Matchbox Dauphin that I am turning into a Harbin Z-9W. So far so good, fit isn't that good but filler helps as does crossbracing the cockpit area. As the weapon mounts are quite thin my usual magnet trick didn't work so I opted for aluminum tubing. I've started out with turning 2 modern 500 pound bombs into 7.65 gun pods, just need to add the barrels, good excercise. After this I need to make a set of 23mm cannons and a set of AT missiles. Their rocket pods are a bit different compared to anything in my collection so not sure how to work my way around that. Decals weren't really easy to find but with some assistance from Sgt. Scream these have been sourced as well. Lots of work to do though, sensors, tail, more sanding, weapon pods etc. But the Rutger Base (TM) works like a charm.

I've been updating these Britannia M35 trucks into M35A2's by adding an exhaust system.

I also removed the winch from 2 of them and need to change the soft top into a hard top, basically add a bit of putty.

They are meant for transporting my US troops for Fire in the North and TW:2K but can double for almost anything as you see them second hand all over the world.

This one will double for TW:2K as well as my mercs for the Big game Africa, but is has been on and off my table for a dozen times now. I can't seem to make up my mind about what course to go with it. Uparmoured the cab area but took it all off again as it looked like shit. Anyone got ideas?

A objective for modern games (or something for the junkyard....) with Fire in the North in mind, a F-111 cockpit:

Picked up a few ECM F-111's after the holiday sales for a few euros each but their wargaming potential is minimal. At least this way I'm getting some use from it and the rest can go into the spares bin.

More letterboxes!