After something of a hiatus over the summer, it’s
time to get back on with some progress on the painting front, now that Autumn
is on the way. As the dearth of blog updates both here and on Bobinantes can
confirm, I’ve not been particularly busy over the summer, instead having to
concentrate on real life, rather than that in scale.
So what have I been up to? Mainly terrain. I
managed to complete the rocky outcrop and bocage sections I was working on,
and, short of a few bits of detailing that need to be done on the outcrop, I
think they look pretty good-
Something that has been sitting on my workbench
for about a year is a solitary undercoated figure from Elhiem’s Soviet Infantry
in Body Armour set. The idea being to paint up some sort of internal security
forces as an excuse for some suitably wacky, psychedelic “camouflage” uniforms
of the type often seen in the Middle East, Asia and some of the former Soviet
republics. I sort of lost interest in it for a while, but now have rekindled it
with an idea for an “Imagi-Nation” which will form the basis for a more
in-depth future project. To get it off the ground, I cracked on with this one,
and he came out rather well. The lettering on the front of the helmet was one
of those happy accidents, which I will be totally unable to replicate again. It
was originally just going to be 4 white blobs to represent “OMOH” (see the
patch on the back of his armour- that was done first!), but then the paintbrush
started to move, and the rest just sort of happened…
And finally, I have re-started on the Cold War in
20mm! Matt at Elhiem has released some spanking new BAOR sculpts (including
some rather nice RUC, which I have no real need for, but want anyway…) and with
the Autumn approaching (the season for the wearing of tweed, listening to of
Prog and painting of Cold War subjects. It’s the law.) there was really no
choice in the matter!
Started on the next three troops for the 2nd
BMP squad for the Soviets. Nothing much to show so far-
In the tune of something a bit different, I’ve
also made a start on some refugees, of which I aim to have a couple of bases
of. However, these are proving a bit of a pig, mainly as no one makes suitable
80’s civilians! Sure there are IM plastic types, but next to metal wargames
figures, even ones as well proportioned as Elhiem, they look very ethereal and
waif-like, and generally just not right. However, I’ve managed to source some
from Sgt’s Mess, which although wearing more or less 1940s clothes, seem to be
adaptable enough with the right paintjob…
However, I now notice Elhiem have released some
70s types, some of whom may be suitable to join the convoy, however, this will
probably merit some further investigation…
Lastly, a sneak preview at a test subject for a
future project. What could this be…?
…you’ll just have to wait and see!
Iain
