Off-topic

Yesterday I started working with MRC, or Mawusian Royal Constabulary, patrol for our campaign games opening, which is modelled after scenario "Down on the Farm" (which can be found from Ambush Alley-games excellent FoF-sourcebook "Bush Wars"). I will upload our variant in some point, but expect nothing fancy.

I didnt want to take pictures of unpainted and mostly unconverted (okay, headswaps - but we dont count that!) PPs figures, so instead I decided to post a part of something Ive been working with lately - part of arsenal to be seen in Sino-Russian borderconflict, timelining from ultra-modern to close future, officially me and "Mr. China" decided it "will happen" in 2016. So, here it is:

Its Zvezdas (rather excellent, but sadly quite simplified) "Hot War 1990"-series 1:100 T-72B m89 or 88. Bought to standard of modern day russian army (or to be exact, T-72BA1)  by adding TCs NSV (From Eureka), IR-searchlight and accurate commander hatch overall. I also reshaped the rangefinder (?), added smoke launchers (not too happy with them, but will do), wind meter being part of upgraded FCS and redid main guns mantlet. Not visible in picture, but I also added "tracklog" - I was not too happy with the OOB-version included.

As we are going to get that campaign started, much of my interests will be towards Afrika in weeks to come, but I will definetly keep the "Russian Project" running alongside it.

Quickdate vol.15 (and half)

Nothing special - I have had sleeping problems recently, and few nights back I was a) awake in 0200 b) clear-minded enough to let myself go near painting station.

I manage to do quite a lot of stuff (though tone primings and assembly - but hey, it need to be done!) then, but didnt actually finish anything. I managed to get some painted weatherings to IrishSerbs (rather awesome - highly recommended!) ERC-90 F4 Sagaie. I still need to do some colour blendings and play around with dusts and pigments, but in terms of general colour scheme it is ready.

Again, sorry about less hi-qu picture - must say, I am missing school and "the perfect light".

Also, it seems that something (fluidy) has ended up to the lense of my camera, no idea how to remove it (as I dont even see it!) but I am working on it.

Inflation, Escalation, and so on.

Again, its been way too long since last blog entry, but I havent rested:

Sorry, no pics this time, but something else - Ive been kinda tied down to other projects (both cold war and ultramodern/close future), but I have given some attention to Afrika too. first of all, we are having new gamer, and faction to rumble Mawusian soil.
As I graduated (..and "one of us" started/continued his military service..) my meetings with other fellow Afrika-gamers did become a bit harder, we have still manage to game few matches, ending commonly to victory of the insurgents, though my mercenaries managed to push hard and defeat them in our latests showdown.

But about that new faction:
One of the more arabish tribes of Mawusia has been active for long in areas around great lake, but only after mass-deseration (due to months of unpaid salaries) in local garrison, and after that pseudo-religious faction "Sons of (the) King" ransacked that empty garrisons depot and armory, it become far more serious threat to all conflict belligrents. After multiple requests of laying down their arms and even attempts of disarmament, six peacekeepers had lost their lives and many were wounded. It was only then when UN announced that Sons of King, or SOK or Sierra Kilo as known in military sector, has been added to list of illegal armed forces operating in Mawusia - and as a response, West Prussian UN-Battallion were transferred from the western province to assist local law enforcement and Afrikan UN-units.

But I did have some actuall stuff - again, sorry about my english:

Both UNIFIM (United Nudities Interim Force In Mawusia) and Mercenary (Privateer Security International Ltd.) factions Intelbriefings, in PDF formate, for Force on Force. UNIFIM one includes both,  West-Prussian and "local" (=Afrikan) peacekeepers along local lawenforcement (MRC - Mawusian Royal Constabulary) - the Mercs booklet includes all major formations deployed by Privateer in Mawusian theatre. Please note, that eventhough being labeled as 2.0, this are still under WIP-status, and that will, most likely, explain largest inconsistencies - also, the PDF lacks attribute "Shrinkage" from the MRCs section.

Yeah, links:

Privateer Security International Ltd. - from Dropbox

 UNIFIM - from Dropbox

Also, all graphic material included in those briefings is purely for demontration only and I own no rights towards them etc etc. Though what comes to text, thats completely my own - so please be advised, if you want to spread them from some other source than download-link above, please let me know, or even preferrable, dont do it as my work is still in beta-phase. I have started working with small MRC-band and around platoon strenght of "local" peace keepers, which shall be mounted in Irish Serbs rather wonderfull looking M3 Armoured Cars - and Im still doing bit of a wrestling with their gear, that APC is sure as hell, but obsolete MBT (as QRF just today informed me via their newsletter that they are going to drop their post war and modern stuffs prices in early november!) is still bit open as Im temptated by Vickers Mk3 or some arab-chieftain (or even Mk2 chieftain!) but also some light-tank support which, a bit sadly, has kept disappearing from battlefields, like AMX-13 and PT-76. I shall return, and hopefully, with pics!

It been quiet - too quiet.

Long time no see, long time no hear, so call me again and..

Yeah - even though I managed to do some progress in 15mm front during the spring, I was awfully busy with armored museums custom scale model (which was also my final work), 1:16 Ft-17 c.1930 of the Finnish Armed Forces armored squadron, built from scratch. I did it, and Im still proud as hell - neverthless to say, I also graduated due to that project. Like allways, it was "free of charge" studentwork with only material expenses to be paid by my customer (in this work, Im quite sure I cant tell the exact price, but it wasnt much), and I must admit, that when you do ~14k € work for free, it kinda kills you inside :D

But yeah - if you visit Armored Museum of Parola here in Finland sometime, please, lay your glaze into museums scale model collection too - this (and few other large scratch-builts) can be found from there.

And now, Im a professional model builder too :)

But yeah, thats about that - my local gaming club had annual "weekend of existentric tabletopgames" in less-urban enviroment, and again, it was rather enjoyable weekend with less-played games, new (and old) people, sauna, lake and long gaming related conversations after few beers in saunas terrace. Ofc, I brought small game along me, sadly I have not gained any photos from the gaming enviroment itself from our official photographer, I shall post them when I receive them.

But what did I brought with me to that happening? Favourite skirimish ofc, my Afrika-mod to Force on Force, or FoF. I really couldnt make much variation, and the scenario we played was from Day of The Ranger, the "Q-truck", where mercenaries hunted down marauding Mawusian pirates using kind of a trojan horse-strategy. I really didint need new figures for the mercs, with exception of LMG, so I got few jungle-brits with Bren from PP , then I did some headswaps and straightened the mag, and Voilà, we have L4A4.

But the main effort was to paint enough pirates for that - Im quite sure I will expand that range with few technicals and rubber boats, and maybe even a improvised gun truck. Anyway, its totally in "Category X" what comes to expanding it.

Two groups of militia, and in front row there is squadfull of former military servicemen. And in the back, Peter Pigs fuel station accessories, with modular base used in my demo table.

 I had conversation with other members of our campaign, and after that I ended up starting "Rogue General"-style army next - solely with soviet equipment, at least the real steel is going to be: AKMs, T-34s, T-55s and BTR-50s/BMP-1s. So its kind of a total opposite of my PMC force, as PMC is completely wheeled, quite flexible and with only light to medium assets - and mostly obsolete ones - but well trained and relatively well supplied. What the Mawusian 8th Armored Brigade (the former name of my rogue generals unit) is going to be, is to move from place to place with tracks, and prefer brute force over actual skill or complex tactics. So quite poor in terms of iniative, but at least they have artillery and MBT-support available.
Eventhough Im still drawing lines for that army, and I havent made any actual purschases yet.

But my another project which is still kinda PiP, the Rooikat:

As mentioned, still Painting In Progress, but it takes shape - its imaginary version (Rooikat 90), fitted with same french-origin high-velocity 90mm gun found from ERC-90 too.

Next in the pipeline are AML-60, and final PMC squad - and one technical, at least. Though Im working with cold war brits too atm, so it might take time `cos I fell in love with old glorys (or skytrex) FV432- fantastic casts, to be said!

Its been a while, so..

I ve been busy with my (actual) school works, and on top of that, me and my girlfriend just moved into larger apartment, so the "lil men" have been on a break. Still, I ve managed to do some stuff (mostly cold war tho, but a bit of afrika too) and even managed to pull few hours to finish my UH-1B shown here earlier.

 

Im quite happy to the result, the camera smoothened up most of the dust lines but Im still happy with it - might need a bit more chips, but I dont want to overdo it like I did with Saracen. Basic colour was aplied with airbrush, other work done with brush.

I also build and applied basic tone into my another (still yet ago unbuilt) Saracen APC, and I must admit that it does look better than the first one. QRFs vehicle itself was quite horrible, there was huge mould line going thrue the wheels (everyone of them!) so I changed them to ones taken from Zvezdas Art of tactics 1/100 Matador AEC as they were excellent quality and were quite similiar.

Last but not least, the "final" TO&E for my merc Section.

Nothing more this time, Im working with the ERC-90s and Rooikat AFVs paint job atm, I hope I can post pics of them sooner than I did post these.. :D

Housing issues & sick leave

I catched a cold (and it became flue) about a week ago and instead of school I had to spent my week in bed. Now Im starting to "regain my powers", so I decided to post small "here n there" stuff I did just before my sick leave.

Not much done, most notably the BTR-60PB moulding is quite much done what it comes into resin parts, and first tester is complete. As it didnt come out as nicely as I would have liked, I had to do some overhauls, but Im quite sure Im not going to fix the mould as my main intention is not to sell them, Im just going to need quite shitload of those for my DDR NVA and Afrikan Republic - and later, for my cold war Finns too. So as I said, the moulding is complete - Thou I was not completely happy to the results (small fails in master, but nothing absolutely horrific - most notable problem is the another side of the lower hull where the wheels should be fixed into, its not completely straight. If I use good superglue, Zap or 3M fex - I have no problem with that as long as I pay enough attention), they will do and Im going to put the few white metal parts into mould during next week. I didnt took any photos about the tester, but heres the master basecoated, in just out of the mould condition.

So some stuff has happened, most notably the fume extractors and handrails along the vehicle. I did do some simplification to the belly of the vehicle, as my moulding techniques aint that sophisticated. As my B-project, Im having 1:100 Mi-2 "hoplite" to be casted before I graduate (hopefully) later this spring. Before that, Im still having shitloads to do, most notably architechtural model (Detailed 1:100 House - my sisters one, to be excat. Im not completely comfortable with the techniques as it should be done mostly from cardboards and prints, Im more into the plastic card and "mechanical" detailing techniques. Also, the Parolas Armoured Museums order is still waiting - 1:16 Ft-17, hull is finished but Im still lacking the track-engines and allmost half of the trackshoes are still uncasted. And of course, last but not least, my "Grand Finale" during the April)


But more:

I re-painted the Gaming Clubs 15mm houses, or at least most of them, Allmost immediatly after applying varnish, I found few more of these babies from box under the gaming tables. I was quite in hurry at that point, so I just left them.. But at least they do look better than before! I should have taken some before/after pics, as the single-toned spray-can issued "sandish" colour didnt look so good at all.

3D-prints, BTR-60PB masters and mayhem.

Been busy with the school lately (partly explained later), but Ive managed to squeeze some time (especially during the winter holidays) for painting work. Sadly my territorialheer has stolen quite a lot of time away from my Afrika projects - and coming to that: Ive been thinking, should I start including also cold war (and other) stuff in here? Ive been less-active updater for long now, and partly the reason is that I have nothing to show.

About the models:
During my 2 week holiday, I spent a week in my parents house, and I must say that its extremely inspiring district for me at some reason, so I brought my painting gear and a dozen of figs with me. After all, didnt get much done, but my VDVs got their ATGM and AGL teams in paint, and the first vehicle crew too. I also painted 3 bases of Soviet Scouts/Assault SMGs to be used in my LW soviet FoW guards heavy tank regiment-list, to be used against my FoW LW finns so its based around those operated in Karelian Isthmus in "summer of love", `44. For afrika I painted the 3-man fireteam so my first PMC-squad is in full battle strenght, gone up to the 5 man manouvering group (with NCO and LAWs) and 3 man gun group (with NCO and GPMG/M60). Sadly I didnt took any photos of them, but I try to take some snappies next week. For crew purposes (as noted in my last game) I did need more acctuall crew figures, so I managed to fully paint one 3 man crew section, and another is still in PIP-status. But yeah, pics:

My crew, based on PPs 14th army brits - so these babies are with sten-guns. Sad that no-one makes suitable "modernish" figures with SMG, solely.. If we dont take on account those QRFs pw-germans with UZI.

And again, one shot of my "avatar", specfor sniper - I used more downward light for this pic, and now you can see the camo colours from this. Thou Im still not happy with the result...

And about those school projects; during my first year, I was tasked with the project to build scale model without using the acctuall blueprints, just photographs and measurements. I left it hanging, but as my graduation comes closer and closer, I had to eal with it. So instead of 1:5 bicycle (which was recommended project) I went with another approach, 1:100 BTR-60PB master to be casted in resin (and propably in pewter too, as the gun barrel is rather fragile) - I had some picture taken during my last visit on Parolas Armored Museum, thou I based the acctuall measurement process on ICMs 1:72 scale model set - thou my teachers wasnt very happy to my choice, I did work between lines set by assignment.

Ive made some progress from this allready, but didnt took new pictures - I added the exhaust, made the tire and started working with the turret, so its propably on casting stage during next week.

But again, solely speaking about the afrika, my time will be taken pretty much during oncoming weeks by the west-germans "own" army, which shall eventualy confront my VDV in behind the lines-campaign as the WPACT and soviets start massive airborne operation to enchancce their possibilites of major breakthrough. Not to speak about my FoW soviets, I propably receive the 3D-printed master of my KV-1B/C pattern turret to be used as a conversion part to modify zvezdas cheap KV-1m39 into uptodate heavy cast turret variant - so nothing to do with afrika here, but heres the 3D-model:

Again, rather oddball model - not completely accurate, but will do in 1:100. My greatest worry is about the quality of the print, as this (again) was part of my school project and some former student did offer the printing services as school, some reason or another, still doesnt own 3D-printer - well, mouth of the gift horse and so-on..

And in future?

Due to the "Christmas" sales in QRF, I decided to start manning up my territorialheer as most the vehicles I allready had, and the VDV receives "brand-new" obsolete SPG-9 - rather oddball unit, as VDV orbat still includes two of these thrue the 80s in anti-tank section. Ofc should be taken on account that every BMD-1P IFV does wield AT-4 of its own, but still. For afrika, I decided that its time to roll in the big guns - for long time, Ive been thinking the appropriate MBT-ish vehicle to be used as a ultimate support for my lads. I was between the T-62BM/M and some heavier armoured car, as the game takes place in early 90s so the fleamarket of the ex-soviet block is more than a open, but after all, the wheeled vehicles (propably more expensive when compared into colwar-era mass produced tanks which is sold via some crooked brigade general) are notably faster, cheaper to use and easier to maintain. Only acctuall options available were french AMX-10RC and Rooikat from SA - Ive allways liked AMX-10RC, but IRL its extremely expensive (thou its more like a wheeled MBT, but still), so I went with the Rooikat. After all, the SADF went down in early 90s, so at least in thory, few of these might have gone missing... Or some "under the carpet" arms deal in very late stages of border war went wrong and third party captured these. Pirates, maybe? :P

But yeah, Rooikat it is. If QRF keeps up its rather random quality (thou as far as I know, its rather new model, so it should offer better quality), I propably change the barrel into 90mm one, same as used in Sagaie - after all, at least in paper, it performs better than the orginal long 76mm used by SADF. And as the ERC-90F4 is available for the PMC, its likely that "spare" guns are too, or ones looted from lost vehicle. Ive been thinking also the possibility to add ERA into the vehicle, after all, first gen (K-1) ERA should been available thrue the "eastern express"...