Unboxing John's latest arrivals.

I actually did this several days ago but as I'm almost ready to get started I thought I would share some of the goodies within! 

I have another couple of ECW foot regiments to paint for Graham to complete the current batch which will be four in total, each of 27 figures, latest is this blue regiment. For the week ahead I'm going to alternate between the two Peter Pig units and some of John's plastic WSS figures which will be painted in batches of 8 foot at a time. I must say looking at these Strelets figures that plastic soldiers have come a long way since our Airfix days in terms of moulding, detail and anatomy and I'm looking forward to painting them.

Of course beside the plastics ( 2 x 24 figure infantry regiments and 12 Hanoverian cavalry) there is a ton of metal in assorted boxes! John always provides a detailed list of what's what and printed colour references for everything that really helps and saves me a lot of research time so I can just focus on the painting, which is the bit I enjoy. The old Minifigs box brought back memories and a peep inside revealed some lovely old Minifigs Turkish archers.

So, all in all lots to keep me busy going forward. I'm still in the process of putting together a page featuring John's Ottomans, many of them from the collection of the late Eric Knowles.

  

 

Prussians for the Jolly Broom Man & thinking small!

 37 figures by Fightin'15's painted for JBM's Victorian Sci Fi project. Enjoyed doing them. Note the central unit wearing gas masks, with the requested silvered lenses giving them a quite menacing appearance. They are finished with a satin varnish and JBM will be texturing them. I did attempt a test paint over the white base coat but really could not make it work so they all got a thinned wash of matt black before I started.

Couple more ECW units for Graham coming next and then next week I'll make a start on John's latest box which as usual contains some really interesting figures. 

Now then, thanks to JBM sending me a link to some beautifully painted and based 2mm (yes, 2mm) figures I simply could not resist seeing if I would be able to achieve the same standard of painting on them. I had actually been looking at them on the Irregular site for some time, but the wonderful examples on the Sidney Roundwood blog pushed me over the edge ....... so I have a small (!) order in for some of the ECW blocks. I'm rather excited about this as a potential challenge. Take a look at these wonderful 2mm games,  The Siege of Portsmouth 1642.     Lutzen 1632.

 

Back to more 15mm's for the week ahead.

With two packages ready to go tomorrow - one for John and 48 ECW horse for Graham - I'm going to turn my attention this week to 37 x 15mm Prussian infantry for the Jolly Broom Man! These are intended for his Victorian Sci-Fi project and are really nice little castings. One unit of 12 are wearing gasmasks and all arrived ready based and undercoated so no prepping required. 

I also have 3 more regiments of foot for Graham in the pipeline, one has been finished and flagged as the Kings Lifeguard as requested.

Poles!

Just require varnishing now but about done. Last of the previous box for Old John.

First, the Hinchliffe Winged Hussar.

 

Pancernci by Hagen of Germany.

Rear: Lithuanian officers (Minifigs S Range) 

Time to get packing!

Another small box of figures arrives!

Follow up box from Old John, did make me laugh when it arrived. I always take great pleasure in carefully unboxing these and discovering the model soldier treasures within and was not disappointed, more as things progress. Painting the final dozen mounted figures from the previous box today and Wednesday, Polish Pancernci, Polish/Lithuanian officers and the winged Hussar, Then I will switch between more ECW Peter Pigs for Graham and JBM's Prussians which are intended for his Victorian Sci-Fi project.

I have lots of photos of  Johns Ottoman figures which had belonged to the late Eric Knowles, they are wonderful in their diversity so will be putting them all together on a page which I will link here as I'm sure others would like to see them.

Another productive week.

Not bad going for a weeks painting, 40 x ECW cavalry for Graham C. plus the 7 x 20mm infantry featured in the previous post for Old John.

The cavalry were painted in units of 8 with variations in coat colours and horse blankets etc whilst trying to retain the overall look of blackened armour and buff coats. Basically the same for Royalist & Parliamentarian horse save for the red or tawny sashes. 

Tomorrow I'll prep up what's left of John's current box, a dozen mounted figures and the next box is due to arrive! 

I also have in the pipeline 36 or so lovely 15mm Prussians (1860's era?) by Fightin'15's for 'Jolly Broom Man'. These arrived ready undercoated in grey.

The figures for John this week include this fine old Hinchliffe Winged Hussar. The Hagen horses are beautiful sculpts too. 

The figures from JBM arrived in splendid style tacked down to the bottom of the box and packed out with pillow stuffing!