Euromilitaire inspiration.

I've never been to the show but the standard of work on display and published in magazines over the years and more recently the web has always inspired me. I've always had a love for figure painting as it was one of the first things I did when starting this modelling lark MANY years ago and although I'm nowhere near the standard of what's out there it's an aspect of modelling I do enjoy.
So this leads me to a 90mm British Hussar figure I painted years ago and last year deciding to strip the paint off and redo it (see my earlier blog post about it here), only to get as far as painting the Dolman and Pelisse in blue and watching the Vallejo paint dry with a glossy sheen. This absolutely kills a model figure so after trying to matt down the blue and repainting it still did'nt work so in frustration I put the figure away. Later last year I bought some Lifecolour paint which for me was awful stuff (I know some modeller swear by the stuff, I just swore AT it) so that was that until I saw the Euromilitaire pics last month and had the inspiration to paint a figure.
I bought the Andrea Blue Paint Set last week, got the Hussar figure out of it's hiding place and FINALLY I have a nice and matt blue uniform;

Obviously this is the basic uniform as I've got a LOT of gold braiding to paint but I'm pleased the Andrea stuff has worked AND it's nice to paint with too, so much so I've ordered a couple of more colours to try.
Funnily enough I'm contemplating going back to enamel paint for figures now that Humbrol have brought production back the UK as these were the paints I used long before acrylics took over. The only reason I stopped using them was that the quality had deteriorated and it was like painting with treacle, this was due to the fact Humbrol had switched production to China a few years ago having closed the old Hull factory to cut costs.
I do paint aircraft and tanks in acrylic (usually Tamiya or Mr Hobby) but for the life of me I cannot paint a face with the stuff and have the utmost respect for those that can so I prefer to paint faces in oils, using acrylic for the uniforms and detail. However now that Humbrol paint is back I have a few of the new tins to try as for me blending the paint for shadows and highlights was FAR easier with enamel due to the longer drying time plus I used to use Sepia oil colour for deep shadows and it just does'nt work with acrylic (an oil and water thing see).

T-26 with paint on

After undercoating with Games Workshop Chaos Black I used Tamiya XF-26 Deep Green for a base colour and lightened it with XF-60 Dark Yellow. It's probably NOTHING like Russian 4BO green but I'm happy with it, all I have to do now is mask off the white, yellow and red bits for the Spanish Civil War markings.

Hobbyboss T-26 built

Well that did'nt take long! To be honest I've had a couple of days off from doing the house (the doc DID say rest) soooooo I've cracked on with the model. It just needs some attention around the turret then it'll be given a wash down and undercoated.
Again it's a lovely little model and just needs a few tweaks so well done Hobbyboss. :o)

Hobbyboss 1/35 T-26

I received this kit for review a couple of months ago and I was quite taken with it so instead of it ending up in the stash I've made a start on it, mainly because it's small and I'm working in an area the size of fold-up camping table.
It's going well so far but OMFG those tracks!!! The track links are VERY small and Hobbyboss will have you fix them together with two VERY tiny pins either side, so having spent the best part of two evenings to put them together and watching them fall apart every time I moved them I've glued them all together and also glued them around the drive sprocket and rear idler with the track pins going in last. They are not glued to the return rollers or road wheels so hopefully I'll be able to remove the tracks for painting meanwhile I'm leaving them for a good couple of days to set, also I've used CA glue to add some strength in places as they can still come apart very easily. Apart from that it's a lovely little model :o)
I did say to myself this would be an OOB build but I am weighing up adding an interior as I have some reference for it via the WWP book, it depends on how the build progresses and my boredom threshold :o).

10,000 views!

Unbelievable! Thank you so much for taking an interest in what I do, it's quite humbling to know that so many people have looked at this blog. Hopefully when I've finished messing about with my house I'll be able to get some models built and put on here for your perusal :o)

Hobbyboss 1/35 Panhard EBR-11 done.

Finally I've been able to put this one to bed so with a bit of luck the full build article may appear in a future issue of Model Military Int'l. On the whole a nice little kit and it's certainly a different looking vehicle.

Academy 1/35 AH-1W

I found this while trawling through the Hyperscale galleries;

http://www.hsgalleries.com/gallery04/ah1wak_1.htm

I built it about ten years ago but forgot all about it after it was put in a box then eventually given to a mate of mine. I still have the other decal options somewhere....hmmmmm..... might be time to revisit this one sooner or later.