Happy New Year!

Firstly I'll like to wish my fellow bloggers a belated happy new year. I've been quietly pottering away working on several projects. My painting schedule has taken several knock backs after quite a dramatic start to the year, I won't go into the gory details but fortunately it didn't involve my Dad this time.

I have managed to paint quite a few of ECW cavalry but they have still to be completed. However I have finished a few Dark Angels space marines, which I've detailed on my other (rarely used) blog 'Ubique SciFi'.

Regards,
Matt

IWMN - Royal Horse Artillery ‘E’ Battery 13-pounder field gun

This particular artillery piece fired the British Army’s first shell of the First World War on 22 August 1914 near Binche in Belgium during the retreat from Mons. On 15th September the gun received a direct hit which killed crew member Bombardier W. King and injured four others during the advance from the Marne to the Aisne. Note the metal plate repair used to cover the hole caused by the German shell. This gun remained in use throughout the war.

13-pounder field gun

Designed as a manoeuvrable and lightweight to support cavalry the 13 pounder had a range of nearly 5 miles (8 km) but it wasn’t really suited to trench warfare on the Western Front.

The Royal Horse Artillery still use 13 pounders to fire the salute on ceremonial and royal occasions.

IWMN - Leopard Mark IV security vehicle.

This futuristic looking vehicle is actually now quite old. This particular example was used by a police patrol unit in Salisbury, South Rhodesia (now called Harare in Zimbabwe) during the Civil War leading up to independence in 1980.

The vehicle was designed to protect the inhabitants from landmines and small arms fire. Note the ‘V’ shaped hull designed to deflect explosions from mines (a feature only recently adopted in vehicles used by the British army in Afghanistan). The wheels would also have been blown off rather than absorb the blast.

Leopard Mark IV

Spec:
Volkswagen 4 cylinder 1584cc petrol engine and suspension.
Weighs 1980 kg (2.2 tons) and could carry 5 passengers and a driver.

Imperial War Museum North, Manchester

Design by Daniel Libeskind and opened in 2002 this impressive looking museum is based on three elements, earth, air and water and mainly deals with Britain’s involvement in armed conflicts over the previous one hundred years. The seemingly random modern design is deliberately calculated to challenge your perceptions and although not immediately noticeable there are a number of subtle design features. It just is not the height of the viewing platform on the Air Shard that might make you feel uneasy. All the lines are slightly off the true vertical which, without being too obvious, leaves you feeling slightly disoriented. A similar theme continues inside the main exhibition hall where the floor reflects the curvature of the earth and slopes down at a considerable angle from the entrance to the cold war exhibits.

Imperial War Museum North

This was our second visit to the IWM North in Manchester and, quite rightly, I realise that few museums would dare to display rooms full of dusty cabinets crammed full of items (the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford being a fantastic exception). I clearly remember as a child getting ‘culture fatigue’ as my eyes would glaze over staring at Roman collections of fibulas and Samian pottery. However the IWM North seems to have gone too far in the opposite direction and tried to create ‘an experience’. You are initially greeted by a suspended Harrier Jump Jet but then by an awful lot of space in the main exhibition hall. For instance the museum catalogue lists the following seven items as the Large Objects on display in the main exhibition hall:

Harrier Jump Jet
Artillery Piece
Fire-fighting Trailer
Trabant Estate Car
Leopard Patrol Vehicle
T34 Russian Tank
Model Barrage Balloon.

Considering the floor space available these items don’t take up much room. The rotating displays seem more than a gimmick considering the amount of blank wall space there is.

I realise that I must sound like a proper grumpy old scrote but hopefully this somewhat negative review won’t put off anyone from visiting. A special exhibition about naval warfare seemed curiously lacking in any visitors although it wasn’t immediately obvious where the display hall was located but was definitely worth visiting. There were a few interactive displays to keep the kids happy but also plenty of information to study if you wanted to take your time.

Being a national museum entrance is free and there is also an excellent restaurant located in the Water Shard, the pork belly draft in particular was delicious.

T34-85

T34-85

The lighting in the museum is quite subdued hence the usual poor photos (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!). There are a few more equally bad images that I'll post soon. 

Painting horses WIP

As life thankfully returns to normal I now hope to post on a slightly more regular basis. For a long while I have been putting off completing any cavalry figures because of one simple reason - I really didn’t fancy painting any horses. In fact, the idea was so daunting that these are the first horses I’ve ever attempted to paint. It’s funny how you can feel intimidated by a bunch of toy soldiers sitting there, just waiting on your desk with their cold distant stare.

These WIP models has all been prepared using Citadel paints. The caption refers to the main colour used. The leather work is a mix of either Calthan Brown, Scorched Brown or Snakebite Leather.

Bestial Brown

Astronomican Grey

Astronomican Grey

These plastic horse bodies, from Warlord Games, are supplied in two halves which allow you to create numerous variants from within the pack. One small problem is there is often a pronounced joint line/gap, especially noticeable along the neck joint. If you really want, you could use filler but I use either Revell or Humbrol precision poly cement/glue. The brand isn’t really significant (it just depends on what’s available in my local model shop) but the applicator is. I simply run the tip of the metal tube along the visible joint line and let the glue flow between the joints, this melts the plastic and creates a smoother appearance. The same method can be used to hide the joint lines on tank gun barrels although it would be better to use a brush in that instance.

When it comes to horse colours I normally use Google Images as reference as I found that trying to paint from memory doesn’t work for me; copying straight from real life is far easier. Even when the horses are the same colour a lot of variation can be added by painting a different style of blaze/sock etc.

Calthan Brown

Adeptus Battlegrey

Scorched Brown & Dheneb Stone

Here is a link to a very informative GW article about painting horses.

As usual I used my basic technique, namely block painting the main areas, then adding an appropriate wash to create the shadow detail and then finally a commentary highlight. Slapping on the initial paint with a big brush onto a large model can be a relief after during more detailed uniform work.

I had imagined that the attractive looking dapple grey horses would be difficult to paint although this too is relatively easy. Again, using my same standard block, wash and highlight technique I finally cut the tip off an old brush and dabbed (almost dry-brushed) the highlight colour onto the flanks, belly and neck of the model to create the subtle dappled effect.

Attention to simple details such as painting hooves a paler colour if the sock is white and painting on horseshoes is, I believe, well worth the extra effort.

Hopefully this post will encourage anyone to paint a few model horses. They won’t bite - unlike some of the nasty, big, real versions.

Time and circumstance

Regular readers may have noticed the distinct lack of posts for October. Some may even echo the words of singing underwear magnet Tom Jones and say “That’s not unusual”, but, in fact, the month of October and the start of November were a complete write off regarding painting and modelling. My excuse, and it is rather a good one, is that after a relatively minor and routine operation my Dad experienced complications; he endured further major operations and week long stay in Intensive Care, spent longer in a Surgical High Dependency Unit and finally onto a normal ward. He’s currently enjoying being waited on hand and foot at home. One senior consultant even described him as a “tough old bird” which, although not a medical term, does now seem remarkably appropriate. It got to a point when watching the TV drama show ‘Casualty’ I recognised, and even understood, several of the medical acronyms being used (It's surprising how quickly you can annoy your family by repeatedly saying, “Yes, I concur with that doctor's diagnosis”).

What's this got to do with with blog? Well, not much really but oddly enough, whenever I could grab a few minutes (literally) to paint I have found it quite therapeutic. Without wishing to sound too flippant, painting has actually enabled me to ‘switch off’ from worrying about more serious issues, if even for only a short while. Perhaps I should write 'Zen and the art of paint brush maintenance`?

Although I doubt if little toy soldiers will ever be available on prescription from the NHS (which is a great pity) I honestly think it has helped keep me relatively sane over the past weeks.

Normal service will, hopefully, resume shortly. This includes the completion of an interesting project I was working on for someone before being rudely interrupted by ‘time and circumstance’ and which I hope to detail sometime in the future on this blog site.

Derby Show 2010

On Sunday a few friends and myself traveled north up the A38 enduring both the absolutely terrible weather and my equally terrible directions (“Turn right here” when I was pointing left etc.) to attend the Derby Wargames Show. This is one of the few shows I’d marked in my calendar to attend as I enjoyed it that much the previous year.

As my finances are rather limited this year I actually had a budget in mind and I think I showed remarkable restraint in sticking to it, unlike my brother or my other mates that came along. One friend spent more on a single rule book (Warhammer Ancients) than I did in total. I recommended that he should borrow a sallet from one of the medieval re-enactors to protect himself when his wife found out how much he’d spent. In fact I only purchased a few Perry miniatures, a pack of ECW cavalry, a couple of their metal WotR men at arms to mix in with their plastics and a few pots of paint. One reason for this restraint was because I still have books unread and figure packs unopened that I purchased from the same show last year.

For some reason (too busy browsing?) I completely forgot to take any pictures until we were about to leave and people were packing up but I did manage to take one shot of the main display area. The large ‘L’ shaped table in the middle held a massive game of the Battle of Waterloo with had a number of eye-catching Prussian troops on display. A friend did take plenty of pictures of the games so I’ll try and persuade him to post the images on-line.

I had a chat with the chaps from Warlord Games. It was worth having a closer look at their painted figures on display. Their new plastic Prussians had been given an excellent paint job making the relatively simple figures look very striking, although it’s not a period I’m interested (at the moment).

I even managed to spot a number of the new’ish Minifigs 28mm War of 1812 figures which my brother purchased. I remember when we visited Queenstown Heights, on my brother’s insistence, many years ago on holiday which left a strong impression on me.

The venue is the main university building and has decent facilities for attendees. A clever touch from the organisers was that there was also a mini beer festival set up in the student bar with a nice selection of real ales from the Derby Brewing Company. Hurrah for decent beer.

I would recommend this show to anyone if they had the opportunity to attend as my friends and myself had a thoroughly enjoyable day out (even though we did get totally drenched).