HMMWV from IrishSerb

My third post of the day!

Been sort of working on this hummer from IrishSerb for several weeks now, on and off, and I just finished it up last night.  I used MIG Washes and and pigments for the first time.  I love the way it turned out...sort of looks like a recon vehicle or something, with all of the stowage and dirt and grime on it.

If you are looking for 15mm vehicles, Serb's stuff is great.  They are made of resin and are really nicely done.  Personally, I dont think the pictures on his site do them justice....but they are great little models.

Operation Iraqi Freedom

My brother in law had been a long time military man when he was called up by the Texas National Guard to to Iraq in 2004.  His squad captured a couple of insurgents trying to sneak into their 'stronghold' (from the looks of the pictures, just some bunkers out in the middle of nowhere!).  We are all very proud of him.

For their efforts, they got to spend a week of R and R at one of Saddam's undamaged palaces.  Just came across these pictures a few weeks ago when I was trying to find some good pictures of US soldiers in Iraq.  We have several pictures, but Ive intentionally tried to get some of the more 'ambiguous' shots for public viewing!

Cant be positive, but the soldier on the right looks like my brother in law.

One of the insurgents - he is a very bad man

My BIL's squad

Firing a mortar

Corey's Corner

My buddy Corey and I send emails back and forth nearly every day, discussing everything from books, comics, painting and modelling, movies, sports - you name it, its fair game.  Sometimes the emails can get quite irreverent, whether its toward each other, or some other person in entertainment or sports.  They always make me chuckle.

So, in honor of that, and to be able to keep track of some of the better comments, Im adding the 'Corey's Corner' label, so they can be saved forever!

My first post in Corey's Corner comes from Corey yesterday afternoon:



I think Ryan Reynolds is a huge polesmoking switch hitter...

Amen brother.

The first of three posts today!  Come back later for a 15mm HMMWV, and some personal pictures from Operation Iraqi Freedom!

The Lord's scale

I am TOTALLY hooked on 20mm figures.  I dont know what I have been thinking all this time!  It really is a great scale - the figures can have some good detail, plus you get the benefit of being able to buy "regular" 1/72 scale models to go with them.  The companies I have found (Elhiem, Liberation just to name a couple) have wide, wide ranges of modern troops from WW2 to Ultra Modern to Zombies.  Truly the Lord's scale!

Im not saying Ill never paint 28mm or 6mm again, but Im pretty sure Im done with 15mm figures, at least when it comes to modern warfare figures.

Anyway, I just finished 16 Operation Iraqi Freedom (circa 2003/2004) US soldiers from Elhiem figures.  They are great sculpts, and pretty much painted themselves.

Oh jeez - another scale

Ive recently gotten in to 20mm figures - just what I need.  In the past, I have painted 6mm, 15mm, and 28mm.  Who needs 20s right?

Well, I came across some painted at Stan Johannsen's booth at Cold Wars,and I was hooked.  They seem like the 'perfect' scale to me - small enough that I can afford more figures than 28mm, and large enough that I can really paint them with more details than I can with 15mm.

I ordered some Elhiem figures a couple weeks back.  I finished up painting a test soldier - A US OIF (Iraqi Freedom) soldier from 2003 or 2004.

Hunting Trip

28mm 'Alien Hunters' from Copplestone and Hellhound from Heresy.  Get to da choppah!!!

A couple conversions here and there, a Predator 'falcon', and the hellhound doesnt look just like the hound from Predators.  I was planning on adding some long horns up around his head, but it was just such a cool sculpt, that I left it alone.

Its using da trees!

Come for gas, leave with more!

What a deal!  M&Ms and an STD for only 50 cents with the purchase of a drink!

What a great 200th post, eh?

One ugly m@thaf@cka!

Working on Predators ('Alien Hunters' from Copplestone).  The skin on these guys is tough to duplicate - I started off with a mix of some browns and greens on 5 of them - Im going to take the green out on the last 3, just so there is some variation.  I think Im damn close with my first skin attempt:

(Taken from my phone)

 

This will be my falconer.  I tried to recreate the falcon from Predators with putty.  Hard to see in the second pic, but I think it came out pretty well.

Who's bad?

Just found this picture on my phone.  Its from the Cold Wars zombie game I played in.  Michael Jackson lives on - sort of.

Trinity, Mrs Butterface, and Dog

I finished up 3 figures over the weekend from Recreational Conflict.

First, the good news....this was my first dog, and I think he turned out pretty well.  I tried to paint him as a German Shepherd.

Now, the not so good.  I should have known this figure wouldnt go well when I bought it from the guy at Cold Wars.  I said 'I want that dog, and the business lady, and then this chick'.  He kinda gave me a dirty look, sold them to me, and didnt say another word.  Looking on Recreational Conflict's website, 'he' is 'Nicholas'.  I should have painted 'him' in all black leather and called 'him' Trinity from the Matrix.

He turned out ok I guess, but the cast was kinda meh.

Finally, Mrs Butterface.  My intention was to get a business woman that sort of looked like my wife, and paint her wearing the same outfits my wife would wear.  I know I could count on my wife in a zombie outbreak, so I thought it would be a good 'homage'.

Well, turns out, this figure (THANK GOD) doesnt look like my wife at all.  Im really disappointed in this sculpt, especially the face.

This is teh 'good side'!  Well, it doesnt look TERRIBLE from this view, right?

Ugh!  Mrs Butterface!  Queue the Psycho music!!!

Looking back on it, maybe I coulda sanded the face down a little bit, maybe tried to add some putty???  I dont know - didnt really seem worth it.

Im not putting this post up on my regular forum sites for the world to see, but needless to say, I probably wont be buying from Recreational Conflict again.

March 2011 Totals

I did a lot of painting this month, but it really seems like I havent churned much out.  I got the turtle tank completed before I went to Cold Wars on the 10th, and then worked on the Gladiators that I got from the convention the rest of the time.

Ah, Cold Wars - I spent about $450.  I got a wide range of stuff from Macedonians from Sgt Major Miniatures, to fallschirmjagers from Warlord Games, to zombies and zombie hunters, to 1/600 modern fighter jets, to Predators and Terminators from Copplestone Castings.  I have some serious project, scale, period creep!  I guess there is nothing that is off limits for me to paint.

At the end of the month, I also purchased a 'hellhound' from Heresy Miniatures, and also one of their 'Deathball' characters for 10 pounds...about $16.  So, we will call it $466 dollars spent for the month of March.

Completed, for March, 2011:

28mm infantry completed: 15 
15 Gladiators (Crusader Miniatures) 
1 Turtle Tank Completed (Eureka Miniatures)

In progress, March/April, 2011:
Mini Sci Fi Vessel in progress: 1 
1 NAC Suffolk Class escort (GZG Miniatures)  

1/2400 Modern Ships in progress: 4 
1 Arleigh Burke Class ship (GHQ Miniatures)
3 Los Angeles Class submarines (GHQ Miniatures)

15mm Modern Armor in progress: 7
2 M2 Bradley tanks (IrishSerb)
1 HMMWV (IrishSerb)
1 M2 Bradley tank (QRF Miniatures)
1 M1A1 Abrams tank (QRF Miniatures)
1 HMMVW (QRF Miniatures)
1 BMP2 Fighting Vehicle (QRF Miniatures) 

28mm infantry in progress: 3 
1 Nicolas (Recreational Conflict)
1 Wilhelm (my first dog!) (Recreational Conflict)
1 Business Woman (Recreational Conflict)

I did spend a lot of time prepping, priming, and base coating all of the armor listed as 'in progress' above.  I have made several mods to the vehicles, as well as added a bunch of stowage that didnt come with the models.  I spoke with 'TacoBat' (who has a blog I follow) about his armor weathering techniques, and I will be attempting a lot of that in April.

The three figures from Recreational Conflict are nearly complete (painting is done on them, but not the bases), and there will be pictures going up of them next week.  A couple of these are disappointing - a male emo cop that looks like Trinity from The Matrix and a business woman whose face looks like she is already a half zombie (my wife and I have already labeled her 'Mrs Butterface').  The dog is pretty cool though!

The modern ships are also based and primed, although they are definitely on the back burner for the moment.  The space cruiser from GZG has been primed and ready for about 6 months now.

Id also like to build a small 'arena' for the gladiators I completed this month, and give the game 'Red Sands, Blue Sky' a go solo.  But, we will see how that goes.

I cant decide on what my next figures I paint will be, but it will most likely be the box of fallschirmjager from Warlord Games, the Macedonian Pikemen (which I probably want to paint the most, but have NO idea how to paint them), or 6mm Sherman tanks.

Yearly Completed Totals:
25-28mm infantry completed: 26
25-28mm cavalry completed: 3
15mm infantry completed: 33
1/1200 naval vessel completed: 1
Turtle Tank completed: 1

Purchases in March, 2011:
Cold Wars - ~$450
Heresy Miniatures - $16

Total Purchases, 2011
$692.33