Troops assembled...

Yeah I know it is a boring title but what the hey.  Yesterday I finished the mass of troops for this American commission and for a second there I thought it was a Soviet army with so much infantry.  All told the count is as follows...

6x SMG equipped attendants
2x pistol equipped attendants
5x twelve man Rifle squads with an SMG and two BARs each
2x bazooka teams
2x sniper teams

So a total of 72 plastic infantry figures.  Now yesterday I was hoping to get them primed but the weather did not cooperate.  Today looks to be the same so I may be taking these to a friend's auto body shop to borrow his paint booth. 

This much infantry has me both dreading and yet still looking forward to starting my  Soviet army next month.  With this same client sending me Soviets at some point in the near future this will be good practice.  

Look for my next update on Monday.

Assembling the troops

Normally I come up with a nice title to go with the content of my updates and this one seemed to fit both literally and figuratively.   I have begun the task of assembling all the plastic miniatures which is something I do quite enjoy.   Out of this mass of figures there will be several squads,  some Bazooka teams, a few snipers, and a handful of attendants for the HQ units that can have them. 

As with any project featuring plastic figures I begin by clipping and cleaning the mold lines from the figures.  This is of course done with the back of a hobby knife to prevent gouging the plastic as you scape off the mold lines.  These figures all had a mold line running along the bodies but it is an easy one to remove.  The kneeling poses were assembled and all were glued to their bases.  I recommend only using plastic glue as I have almost never seen a good plastic figure assembled with super glue.

This evening starts the real fun as I glue pouches on the belts and get to work assembling the rest of the figures.   More updates to come.

Supporting fire incoming...

Friday I finished the weapons teams and command figures.  Aside from some mold lines these figures were done pretty quickly.  Now these were all done on 60mm round bases including the running pose models.  This was done for ease of moving the team as well as to give the opponent an easier time in identifying it as a MMG team.  With these done and ready for primer so begins the infantry.   Sixteen body/arm sprues and nine weapons sprues.  That is 80 infantryman.  Fun times ahead.

So I had this asked by a few readers so I will go over how I approach large projects.  For me I use a few tricks to prevent the dreaded burnout.  To begin I clean, assemble, and prime all the models around the same time.   I personally really enjoy this part just as much as the actual painting.  With plastic kits it really allows you to add a bit of character to otherwise generic miniatures by changing things up during assembly.  After all that is done it is time to tackle the painting.  Here I work in batches.  I usually start with characters as these being individuals I put a lot of detail into their paint job.  Next I go with whatever I feel like painting.   Maybe a few squads then some weapon teams and so on.  Now I tend to take short breaks, usually weekends, to paint some of my own miniatures.  These I make sure are something different than the current miniatures I am painting as it breaks up the monotony associated with large projects.  It may seem like it slows the project down but actually quite the opposite as when you get burned out you slow down your painting.  One last bit of advice is make sure before you start a project you have extra primer and paint just in case.

Look out for my next update as I begin assembling the troops and outfitting them for battle.

The Sleeping Giant...

Like Japanese Admiral Yamamoto once said about the United States this commission may live up to that quote.  I recently recieved another commission from a regular client in the mail and this one is a doozy.  It features an impressive amount of US miniatures from the Bolt Action range.  It is quite a lot to list but the picture should give you an idea.   As I work on the various parts I will be  gradually revealing tge true enormity of this commission.   There will be some works in progress as I go so I encourage you to check back often.  Here are also some pictures of most of the vehicles from this commission I knocked out yesterday.  Missing is one more M3 Halftrack in need of some replacement parts.  My next assembly project will be the weapons teams.  'MERICA

Green is good

As promised more updates from the various commissions I have been working on.  This one was a small Southern army from Heavy Gear Blitz.   This one was delayed from being posted as the commission was a gift and the recipient was a follower of this blog.  Now that the person in question has received them I can post pictures here. 

The client wanted a simple green, white, and black scheme so I got right to work.  I decided subtle highlights as I find those bright hard edge highlights look silly anf a tad distracting.   I also did a platoon of infantry using the studio scheme.  Enjoy these few pictures.

More Protectors of Ulthuan

It has been quite a while since my last post... too long in fact.  Between Gencon and several commissions I have neglected to post an update so over the next few days expect quite a few updates.

One of my larger commissions to come across my desk lately has been a large High Elf force.  It has been broken down into more manageable commissions but this last batch was quite hefty.  Included in this batch of elves were 53, yes I said 53, Lothern Seaguard,  30 Swordmasters of Hoeth, and a Flamespyre Phoenix with rider options.  It was a daunting task to say the least as I personally think the new plastic Seaguard are very busy and unnecessarily so.  Personal feelings aside they turned out pretty well. 

The Swordmasters went very smoothly and I also converted the standard bearer to carry the Banner of the World Dragon. 

The Phoenix was my favorite of this commission and also the quickest miniature to paint.  After assembly I believe it took my around two and a half hours to paint.  It is a nice plastic kit and one I wouldn't mind painting again. 

Protectors of Ulthuan

It has been quite a while since my last post and I apologize to those readers who have stuck it out in my absense.  I have been very busy with commissions since my last post and sadly most I was unable to post about due to client request.  I did however finish a rather sizeable High Elf force for Warhammer Fantasy.  This commission contained 20 High Elf Archers, 20 High Elf Spearman, 16 Silverhelms, a White Lion Chariot, and two named characters.  The Spearman were given the quivers so they can play double duty as Lothern Seaguard.  These were painted to match a past figure I painted for this client.  I am pleased with how these turned out so I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed painting them.