Bargain basement hill, with a side order of frog legs.

Picked up something at Marktplaats on wednesday, and it arrived today. The 2 (of 4) part hills from GW from 2004. I already have the single hill painted up for the desert, and thought this would be a nice addition for 3mm games and 28mm Pulp and God knows what if I leave the flock off. Was very surprised to see my 10 euro bid get accepted, but to be honest the pics looked shit and the flock applied to it didn't do it any favours cause it just looked...weird? And nobody else bid either, that helps.

I will never understand why people flock bare plastic, and do that with that mucky plastic kiddy thick Uhu glue. The bits on the left came off in one long strip of thick congealed glue, some of the flock on the right did the same but there the glue just broke off in chunks. After 5 minutes I was fed up with that, dunked it in a bath of hot water and soap and just left it there for 10 minutes. Then some elbowgrease was applied and 99,5 % came off cleanly. Job's a good one!

Also, I could use some opinions of Mr Frogleg here.

Cape is ok, nicely highlighted to a orangy reddish colour (and I just noticed I nicked his loincloth there), the green skin has 2 highlights but it is not working for me. I have not painted 28mm for ages, so hey, any pointers are appreciated. Nice model though, from Kolony87.

My Brigade Models order - a small review of small stuff

I made a small Brigade Models order for some sets of 3mm scale appartment buildings, 2 (more) Wizard Hoverjeeps and a spaceship on the 10th of July. A few days later I got cold feet (cause really , how hard can it be to read) and decided to cancel all of the appartment buildings except 1, just to test the water, and exchanged the ordered flats for 15mm containers. Cause you now, scenery.

Lucky me, Tony Francis emails me back on the 14th, no problem, nothing shipped yet, he just got back from holiday, and he wasn't feeling to well so things were a bit backlogged. No problem, no rush. Tony reported on the net that he really wasn't well so things could be delayed, a few days later.

With only a couple of days delay, Paypal sent me a message that my order had shipped on the 23rd and today, the 28th, my order arrived. Well packed, the whole lot nicely in the box, wrapped in bubblewrap, hoverjeeps nicely in ziplockbags and everything copiously covered in foam filler chips...we call them wokkels :)

In no particular order....

SFS-5013 The Astral Pioneer cargo spaceship at 3.50 Pounds

Here compared to a BFG cruiser hull and a custom made large BFG transport. There is a very small slit on the front of the model that I assume is the steering house, it has a big turret on top and a tiny, slighly offisde aiming chin turret. The underside has 4 big plates, which, in my imagination anyway, would make nice points for 4 landing legs if you would make a starport, or you could paint them black to give the impression of opening so it can function as a small escort carrier. Or just keep it as a cargo transport, of course :) To try something new, I glued one of my larger magnets to the hull as this is a heavy ship and I want it to stay in place. I will need to make some heavy duty flying bases as well :) Hardly a mould line to find, just many spikes from the casting vents to be removed, but nothing that you can't fix in a good 1 minute cleaning.

SF15-915 Small Cargo Container at 1.75 Pounds each

1x1 cm pattern, so you get an idea of the scale.Doors on the front, closed up on the back. Nice and simple, will be a breeze to paint up, some simple weeathering, a few decals, great table filler. Some airbubbles, but not more then a few and easly filled in or dug out to recreate damage. I must get more of these.

SF15-1507 Wizard Hover Jeep at 3.00 Pounds each

The Wizard as compared to the containers, so you can see how large the containers are and how small the hoverjeep is. You could almost park one inside those containers.....but you will void the warranty I reckon. It is in the Mercenary list, one of the newer ranges, and if you want my opinion, this vehicle is a must for any self respecting frontier world or colony or plain civillain vehicle. Tony really should show pictures on his listing showing that the back is actually a seperate metal piece that you can leave off to make a pick up truck...albeit a tiny one. Leave the weapon off the roof, put a guy with a pintle mounted support gun on the back and Bob, your uncle, has just made a Technical for your insurrection. If you dont like the top weapon or the hatch, the holes are pretty shallow and easy to fill with some plasticcard or riller. Every selfrespecting frontier Redneck should have one. Or two. Now to figure out what the little nub on the left side is.....a antenna mount or a exhaust (though the latter would not make sense for a air cushion vehicle?)

And then the reason for the order, the appartment buildings. Truth be told, it does say on the webpage these are 2mm models, as is the rest of their scenery range. They will work fine with their range, and other peoples 2mm ranges should be no problem either (not that you would be spoilt for choice).
But for some stupid reason my head didn't get the message and I had assumed they would be bigger. Only after reading the page again, but now with a clear head, I grasped the scale difference and canelled everything except one tester. Anyhow....

SSS-8067 Appartment Blocks (pack of 5) at 2.50 Pounds each

Well cast, well made, look at those details! And yet bloody tiny.

2mm Appartment Blocks compared to Fighting 15's Middle East Village. In case your head worked like mine, this is the difference. Which makes the 2mm buildings perfect for people who like their buildings to have a smaller footprint, so a 3mm or 6mm gamer could use these and the other buildings for their layout. Or you could have them on the table for airgames, as they make nice Governmental buildings (aka target). That is what they will become for me. At 2.50 Pounds per set of five this is a bargain for well made resin terrain.

There you have it, the usual small order from me. Tony is a gent to communicate with, quick replies, even for a man just back from his holiday and sick at the same time. Well packed, well made, what is not to like.

And in case you are wondering, no freebies in this one, the entire order was paid in full by me :)

Edit: I made a promise to myself not to order or trade anything new till these are finished (except the appartment buildings) so I spent this evening priming and basecoating everything with the airbrush, and gave everything a nice gloss varnishcoat as I noticed the containers have a bit of a rough texture as I assume they are cast off 3D prints? The space ship too btw, there are fine lines to be seen. When the coat has hardend it is time to add in other colours and decals, varnish them again and then weather and wash and rust them.

The 2 Wizard Hoverjeeps before being primered, holes filled in and one now has some sidewalls for his truck bed.

Rome wasn't built in a day

I have mixed feelings about these.

Bright spots:

• It looks really, really good, pretty fast. The time per building isn't all that bad.
• Easy to edit the PDF's by copying them to Paint and keeping the same ratios.
• It's a bit relaxing tbh.
• It is super cost effective.

Dark spots:

• Up close, it is not all picture perfect.
• The paper tears easy when wet with glue, so apply sparingly, but that means you have to work faster and only really get one go to get it right. It also helps if the knife used to score the edges does so lightly.
• Cardboard glued to the inside makes it really strong, but concaves the walls.
• These really need bases to live as long as possible. 
• My inktjet isnt up for the task other then checking if I got the dimensions right, even the merest hint of water lets the ink bleed. I'll have to ask Remco if I can borrow his laserprinter again.

A friend just told me I might get rid of the concave walls by glueing a piece of paper to the bare cardboard side to lift it, I will give it a try.

The jury ain't out on this yet.

Edit: Tbh, this is my usual problem, I want it picture perfect or not at all. I have to learn to accept that it doesn't work that way if I want some games in. It is pointless to keep dropping stuff cause it does not meet my high standards. So, I will proceed with these items, making as many samples as I can to be printed off by Remco when he gets back from his holiday. Also, I need to find a cheap source of 1-1.5mm mounting board to base the building blocks on.

Does my building look big in this?

Just trying out ideas that don't cost much for me to work with, in this case Dropzone Commander buildings scaled down to 30% (in the logic that 100% is 10mm, so 3mm is 30%).

As they are free, I will just need to edit the scaled down versions onto a A4 sheet and ask Remco to print them for me, build them, stiffen them with card on the inside as I just did with this one, and the idea then is to base these too in City blocks. Also to edit them in my not-photoshop so I can get lower buildings and different, like tarred, roofs.

Also light weight, and due to their block plan and little height, easy to store in trays, which is a great plus for me.

So, what do you think?

My Mininatur order - a short review

Mininatur has been my one stop tuft shop from before the tuft craze started. You could buy tufts at various other places but they tended to be his stuff with a new label stuck on it and the contents halved. I used to order there once a year to stock up on tufts, but that ground to a halt around 2012 when I ran out of money. Not that much has changed now, money wise, but hey.

I felt I had postponed a new order long enough as especially my moss pads sheet was almost empty and I had been unable to find any at last years Crisis show. So, I saved up, made the order for 4 boxes of tufts and bits, paid and waited.

And waited.

Nothing came for a month, which was unusual as they have been superfast the previous times, so I sent out an email enquiring to the status of my order. But then I got word no one could find my payment (I did a banktransfer) so I sent them all the details and waited again. After 2 more weeks I was getting a tad upset so i emailed again and I was told that they had found my payment, but the day it arrived the owner had passed away (at a mere 66 years old) and then everything became one tangled mess.....I can only imagine. I had this happen before during a emailconversation with the late owner of Britannia Miniatures who died after we had been chatting about my order and what he needed to get done before he could cast my order etc. Now I'm starting to feel like s shop owner killer or something......

Anyway, they sorted everything out, told me they would get on it, and I told them to take their time to get the shop up and running again and I'm in no rush what so ever anyway (as always really).

So, yesterday, a box is delivered, and upon opening I'm greeted by my order and then some.

I only ordered the 4 boxes, I was surprised to find rolls of tufts stuffed in the box.

Upon opening both rolls I find strip after strip after strip of various type of their product.

I was a bit gobsmacked by all of this. Some seem to be endpieces, but others are exactly what you would get in a small pack. There seems to be about 30 euros worth of product stuffed in besides my order. I'm not sure what to say.

As soon as I do, I will send them a email confirming the arrival of my order and how I feel about all the extra bits. I know it is super generous of them, but they did not have to do it, and gifts of any kind make me very uneasy (I can never just accept stuff, ever.....I think I'm just weird that way)

Anyway, the order. What I ordered is there, and the items I selected blindly are what I expected of them....his item photographs are very good and detailed.

• 747-24 Moss pads - late fall. This is what I use for low grass on 20mm figures, and fields of small bushes in 3mm. I use this stuff all the time.
• 002-24 Grass Flock, 2mm, 50 grams, Late Fall. A slightly lighter shade then the Moss Pads, I picked it up for dry grass in 3mm scale and from the looks of it is perfect :)
• 737-33 1:45+ 2 Colour grass tufts, Early Fall. For the ruined city and the other post apocalyptic stuff.
• 717-23 Short tufts, Early Fall - for imitating large bushes and shrubs in 3mm and swamp areas

As you might notice, I prefer my grass/tufts to be of a brownish tone....bright green is fun if you are playing on a Games Workshop goldcourse, but nature tends to be more muted.

Anyway, their service is still excellent, and according to the website, his son and daughter and employees will continue the store so I will be back. Next year.

More 3mm Panthers ahead

After posting my previous post lastnight, I went out and made a Bergepanther as well.

I see I need to clean up the spare roadwheels I put in the box. And yes, the box on the deck is a bit crooked, but I gave up after glueing them to my fingers twice and then just thought the hell with it. It looks ok-ish

 Then went and built a Regelbau Pantherturm for a non-city environment (Italy, Germany)

Yes, complete with backdoor!

Then based up 4 Panthers, 1 Co and 3 regular ones. One is actually a spare for a bigger game, as in Battlegroup the unit is normally 3 tanks (1Co and 2 regular ones). Now I need to get some Greenstuff and make 3 more casts for the 3 wrecks that I want to build, then get everything basecoated and paint it all in one go.

My CO's will be the ones with a turned turret.

While the regular ones will be stock standard casts.

Now, since my book is in storage *somewhere* I pcicked up the Panther pack as a test to see if things clicked for me. And yes, they do. Since Modhail likes the desert, I've decided to focus my attention to the upcoming release of Battlegroup Afrika, and guesstimate what I need based on the previous books. So I need to sort out Infantry, trucks and armour. Artillery bases, as they are usually offboard for me, can wait till next time. Sofar I have 15 euros in the pocket for my budgetted 50 euro order, so I need to get my thumb out and find more stuff to sell.

But, I'm not going to splurge or anything. I want smal to mid point lists, 4 per main battle tank, 1's of recce vehicles, enough trucks to transport troops and have supply trucks as well, 1 platoon of infantry with all options, and all of the air support choices available (but that is never more then 2-3 aircraft and maybe a bomber). The handy thing about Oddzial Osmy packs is that they (usually) have 15 of the same vehicle in the pack. So3-4 for the desert, 3-4 for early war, 3-4 for Winter war and spares for Late War oddballs (well, this applies to the Germans only of course). If I still have too many of a certain vehicle I can always trade them with others.

So, on the buy list is:

• British Infantry
• German Infantry
• British Trucks
• German Trucks
• Italian Trucks
• French Trucks and car
• Russian Trucks
• A modern car pack ....because it has a Beetle in it.
• British Cruiser Tanks
• German Light and Medium Tanks
• British and German command group
• German Armoured Cars
• British Armoured Cars 
• Palm trees

Anything else is for next time. I've given myself 2 months to clean, base and paint the 2 mainforces (aircraft and wrecks can come second this time). For now, I can get a head start on painting the houses and basing them up.

My first 3mm WW2 ground unit! (WIP) - Berlin Pantherturm

Groundbreaking work today. Well, 3mm groundbreaking anyway. In my last Fighting 15's order I picked up a pack of 3mm Panther G's, and I moulded 3 of them today, and cast 2 whole one s and 1 with half a hull to make this conversion.

20mm square base, middle of the engine bay cut out as I did in my 20mm scale model so the crew can enter, copied off a pic from Berlin or one of the other cities that I lost ages ago. Piled dirt up around it and some bigger tiles, now looking to add a single roadwheel and expended shells using my die punch and lenghts of wire. The muzzlebreak I will paint in. New hatch added with die punch as the original was too tall with a MG.

So, my first ever 3mm WW2 ground unit......

....has caused me plenty of headaches sofar. As these will be used to skirmish Battlegroup with Modhail, I've thought about adding a label to the back. This worked quite nice with my 6mm and my 1/3000th Navy, but I don't like it. You are only looking at about 20-30 units per side, give or take, so I have decided to do labels, but to put them on the underside of the base. If you are really afraid you have mixed things up, you can always pick it up and look at the underside. Same for infantry, but they will get colour coded on the thickness of the end of the base.

Should be dry in a minute or so, will basecoat it before going to bed, just need to do the roadwheel and empty shells first.