'Gulliver' 1/72nd Confederate cavalry and Strelets Austrian infantry 1705.

 Really enjoyed painting these 12 plastic cavalry, made in Germany in 1993 by 'Gulliver'. Lovely horses, three are attached to the base by just one leg so I added a small touch of super glue to strengthen the joint. These are of course for Old John.

Next is another box set of Strelets Austrian infantry, this time in Attack poses, 30 figures. These go with the Marching pose set I painted last week (below). I also painted 14 French Engineers, resin prints by BUM of Spain!

After these I'll be starting work on the first 4 battalions of 3D printed Epic compatible Dutch Belgians for Stephen, each of 80 figures.

In the New Year I'll have another exciting and substantial new commission on the way from Mark but more on this after Christmas.

Latest video - John's ACW's.

 I'm enjoying myself - in conjunction with John of course - putting these photo montage videos together! This one looks at just some of the ACW's painted for John over the last 14 years plus a step by step series of images painting the some Confederate cavalry.

'Old John' The Movie !

 As I'm very much enjoying the progress of my YouTube channel I recently invested in a subscription to Power Director in order to work on improving my video editing ability. The latest offering from 'Gruff Mumbling Productions' represents a slight step forward in that it is by way of a series of images of figures that I have painted over the last decade or more for Old John with a narration overlaid. Early days but I'm slowly getting the hang of things!

John and I are now going to work on another video featuring as many of the ACW figures as possible that I have painted for his huge collection. I hope to improve on the production quality. 

THis one features some of my personal favourites as well as a few shots of John's wargame room and table as well as the man himself. There are also a couple of shots of WSS Les Higgins cavalry I painted for Tony ('Foy') some time back. Not exactly seamless quality but fun to do.

A new cornfield & more Mahdists!

 Oh yes, it's cornfield time again! I just could not resist making another one for my AWI project, this time a non hex based field but with the same lift out centre section that can accommodate a single base unit for DBAWI. Same plastic product, not cheap at £16.00 but well worth it and I enjoyed making it. The field is 120mm x 80mm so can only really be used one way facing but that's fine on my small table.

I'm busy packing up the Indian wars project ready for collection by Mark hopefully before Christmas but still getting plenty of painting in, another 20 bases of Epic ACW's for Noel with more for Old John next before starting on some of the 3D Dutch Napoleonics units for Stephen so ticking over nicely.

The final 10 painted figures for the Pony Wars commission! 5 Indian scouts mounted and dismounted.

Currently painting some British Artillery for the Sudan project having added more Dervish and Beja troops for the Mahdist army.

More Sudan progress!

A quick photo post, Peter Pig 15mm Colonial range so far. Added 3 bases of Mahdist cavalry, one of camels and Highlanders in kilt plus a British command base (couldn't resist a redcoat on there).Really enjoying painting these. Just arrived in the post are more Mahdist infantry, British artillery and Egyptian infantry. 

Old v new technology, 3D prints by Hoplite Miniatures.

I have to say that I am  staggered by the quality of these 13.5mm (Warlord Epic compatible) prints of Dutch Belgian infantry. Stephen has sent me 8 x 80 figure battalions to paint and they are really well detailed and clean and robust little prints. It got me thinking about how much this technology has changed our hobby as one who started out back in Airfix days. Of course I still paint lots of 1/72nd scale plastic sets for Old John and they retain that charm of their own. In the latest video I take a look at the 3D prints alongside some old and new boxed 1/72nd sets.

Mahdist command base, plastic palm trees & more 7th cavalry!

I must admit that I'm rather pleased with how this little command base of two camel mounted figures turned out. I'll be painting one for the British this week along with some  Mahdist cavalry. 4 bases of Beja Warriors have been added during this past week. The plastic palm trees arrived and are wonderful, I was expecting to have to paint them up a bit but they look great as they are and at just 40p per tree represent great value. 

The Pony wars commission is now close to completion with just a few mounted and dismounted Indian US scouts left. I'll be scouting around for a couple of new customers come the New Year to sit alongside my regulars, Old John (of course), Noel and Stephen. 

Footnote: I also have plans to add more bases to my AWI armies including more Hessians and French so they are not going anywhere!

Sudan progress and some dismounted 7th cavalry.

Another busy week, more Sudan stuff for myself and dismounted cavalry for Mark, all just a joy to paint! Also a couple of experimental desert abodes from 2mm MDF, textured with Vallejo texture and finished with Vallejo Plastic putty applied by finger, messy but works well, just need to add a bit more to cover the faint blue pen lines. More figures on order including Madhist cavalry and camels, British cavalry and a base of Highlanders in kilts because you just have to have them don't you. I have 4 bases of 'Fuzzy Wuzzy's' (Ok sorry, Beja Warriors) for this week. Finally I am rather more excited than I'm sure I should be about the arrival of 20 plastic palm trees due this week via ebay!

Housebuilding kit!

Guards, just need to touch up that cross belt!

Dismounted 7th cavalry, will be 12 pre troop plus 2 horse holder bases. All in shirt sleeve order and Marks brief was for varied 'faded' shades of light blues and greys.