Last model of 2021 - Mordheim water pump

 The very hard to find 1/35 scale Italeri water pump makes a great piece for Frostgrave or Mordheim. Guess for which game this one is? :P

Goodbye 2021

 A few more days to go till the end of 2021, but for me it can't come soon enough. While it is nice to be painting again, the level of shit this year is getting to me. I've treated myself to a few things at the last minute. I've been dumping quite a few paints from my stash, I have waaaay to many and quite a few have gone off or solidified. Also want to go over all of my brushes to see what can be saved and what can be tossed. I still have a pack of unused sable ones that I'm saving for miniature painting (so not waste them on scenery). My old blue pot of water effects from ages ago had gone off so I picked up a new one, transparant this time, so I can mix it with the paint and skip a step. For now it is meant for my 3mm aircraft over water bases, maybe later when I pick up targets, I mean ships again I will use it for those. Picked up some Flanker Blue as this Russian Blue is great for weathering anything Soviet era stuff. Mecha Rust textture to see if it does anything extra compared to my Vallejo Rust Texture....I doubt it but who knows.

Some airbrushing stencils (or more likely stippling in my case). The Radiation ones are on the big side for 28mm, but the barrel marks are just fine and will save me a ton of time.

And more tufts, as you can never have enough of those. Some spring flowers, some large scale big leaf weed tufts that will come in handy for Vietnam, and some wintery grasses for expanding my Germans into the winter period.

Atm I'm waiting to receive 2 1/400 scale freighters to convert for Cruel Seas, I have a stash of ships for it that I want to paint up in 2022 even though the game isn't very good, but you can use other rulessets with it so.

I don't have many plans for 2022 tbh. Work my way to clear the room, make the gaming table clear again, sell off/trade/give away what I don't want/need, bin what is crap and paint what I want to keep. Basically what I am doing now, forcing myself to make some hard choices. I want to keep this? Sure, paint it. Too much effort? Sell it.

 Gaming wise, the focus isn't changing much. Paint what is fun, painting so we can have a game is even better. Thx to Jacks motivational blog posts 3mm is back on the menu. Bases have been bought and are being made, a set of Jungle, Water, Desert and Winter are planned. My worry about the lack of decals has been negated by a new player in the USA. I do need new epoxy as mine has solidified again....that stuff only lasts a year or so after opening....to put the magnets on the planes. And I need to fix some magnets on older aircraft, the tiny ones don't work and 2 of the bigger ones have shattered. But besides that, I want to get back into air wargaming, and I'm starting with more stuff for Desert Spitfires 1948, as I have some stuff finished for it, and I refound some B-17's and 109's that will be prepped and finished for the Israeli's

20mm wise....my focus is all over the place so anything goes.Still looking at Middle East rebels and expanding my Germans. I hoped Stalingrad would have given me a boost but not (yet). I doe have quite a few Berlin buildings to get through.

28mm. Well, I'm pushing myself to paint faces again as those scare me immensely. Give me machines and wrecks every day of the week, but now that I have painted the 2 ghosts I feel less worried. And I should, as I have plenty to do for Stargrave, Mordheim, Rogue Trader, This is not a Test, Kill Team etc

BFG. Space ships. What is not to like. 

My best step forward this year has been opening the WIP drawer, grabbing semi finished stuff and just getting it done, and this will continue for 2022 onwards. I should also take a step back from making scenery all the time and into finishing more models, but those 2 goals are not mutually exclusive.

And I might even get me a display case. Show off what I make instead of hiding it all in drawers. Purely for motivational reasons, of course.

And that is it. I wish you all the best of luck for 2022, stay safe and happy painting.

Last 50 cent challenge of 2021

 Last one of the year, not bad for a 10 cent purchase and a bit of filler with a snazzy paintjob.

The last picture is the color as I see it. No idea why my camera made it more blue in the first 3 (yet another reason to get a proper one I suppose). 

Nice sci-fi thingamabob or shipping crate. And in case you are wondering how this started life as, well, it's this: 

Till death do us part

 Just finished these 2 Ghosts (yes, I know the lady is technically a Banshee). This picture really is 2021 in a nutshell for me, and the irony is not lost on me the model is also named Johan(n)......

But at least I had fun painting them!

Really starting to dislike my phone cam. No matter what settings I use, frame, timer, etc...I just cannot get hots to focus. Everything is just off by a tiny margin. So for 2022 I will look for a proper camera.

Battery acid, more cargo, big alien egg, lonely robot, desk job and Merry Christmas of course!

 Finished some stuff before Christmas.

Battery Acid (Cargo for Stargrave, repurposed 15mm Old Crow container and a small 6mm one). Red is a hard color to weather, and the 2 on top completely desintegrated, but I managed to salvage it.

More cargo (More cargo for Stargrave, Necron container pieces that, with a different paintjob, make perfect scatter scenery. Cheap too, I can get a set from the box for between €10-€15 that has a lot of parts, just need to find a use for the doors.

Big alien egg (one of my first wargaming purchases ever at the Crisis show, 15+ years ago. It's huge compared to the models but it just works. A bit of contrast, a wash, some gloss paint)

Lonely robot (my scratchbuilt maintenance robot for Rogue Trader/Necromunda, and I'm not sure if I posted it before? Gave it another coat of 2 of matte and redid the lenzes, and now it feels much better)

Desk job (2 Sarissa Precision desks with the tops reversed so they are more like the metal working desks. Again, not saure if shown before, but gave them another good coat of Matte and now happy with them)

And with that, I'm done for today.

Merry Christmas to you all, hope you are having a better time of it then I am. Too much pain to properly enjoy anything at all right now, hope 2022 will be better.

The girls painted their first miniatures

 Local shop has a painting contest, so picked up the models and spent a fun 45 minutes with them.Emma went for full on pink (as always) and Nikki went for a more bright blue. The Emperors Finest, now in fashionable colors.

1948 is back on the menu boys!

 With a little motivation from Jack and a bit of cash sent to my favorite lasercutter this project is back on track. 

 

 

(though the 40mm bases are for Vietnam.....no other way to fit a B-52)

 

There could be the slight issue in the future when I start running out of certain aircraft and Brexit increasing shipping costs and time by a factor of 25%. Same for decals, but at least a US supplies has stepped up in the void left by Dom's Decals going....somewhere?

Anyhoo, bases need to be produced. And then the Netherlands went in lockdown. Again. Jay.