Sunday, 15 June 2025

Commission painting update!

 Right then, so back to the business of painting model soldiers!

I'm currently basing 24 strips (12 bases) of Warlord Epic Spanish Scutatri for customer Leo in the United States as part of his 72 strip order, the final 12 bases set for July. Really enjoying painting these and trying to capture those typical Spanish shield designs.




This coming week I'll be painting two more British Infantry battalions for Mark Lodge which completes his second 'batch'. I have spaced these out over the month as the 18mm AB Napoleonics are very demanding to paint compared with say an Essex Miniature because the detail is so much finer, an example being the strap work which on an Essex figure stands up more which makes accuracy easier. This said the results are very pleasing, latest battalion being the 81st Foot with Buff facings and thus belts.


Need to gold edge the drum and flag pole heads.

Old John Cunningham of course still has plenty left here to work through over the next couple of months at least! A box of Austrian infantry firing line and more Stretlsi units of 24 figures each. John told me that has now covered most of the 96 different poses available in his units and I estimate to have painted at least 20 such units so far which must be an incredible sight on the tabletop.

For Noel in Ireland I have yet another Epic ACW order for July, being mounted cavalry and Zouaves.

I also need to finish the remainder of the Space Hulk figures for David which were exchanged for his copy of 'Battle Cry' ACW 150th Anniversary Edition boardgame ( my painting time for the game which is very hard to find anywhere except at very high cost.).

Overall I'm pretty well booked but will be in a position to accept one more rolling commission once Leo's Ancients are completed and shipped in July. and I'm discussing another possible Warlord ancient project at the moment to replace this.

Model railway progress.

I continue to enjoy the challenge is building my first model railway 'micro' layout and am now at the stage where I begin to add the fine details such as post and wire fence, model sheep, lighting/lamps etc platform furniture/trolleys , flower beds, postbox in the street, maybe a milkman, leaning bicycles etc, the list goes on. I started with a 1960's Ford Anglia on the road over the bridge as my Father had one and I remember going to the car showroom as a boy with him to purchase it so it's pre nostalgia. Lovely little resin printed models and they come pre painted for £4.50. I'll be ordering more 1950's/60's models to dress the road up a bit more. A few more shots.





Graham Farish 3F 'Jinty' tank loco (front) and 4F tender loco (rear)
.

Thursday, 5 June 2025

Something different!

Work is progressing well on my first model railway 'micro' layout representing a steam branch line terminus. There are many crossovers between the two hobbies, especially around the scenic work. All wired up and running just fine at slow shunting speed I'm finding it incredibly rewarding. A few shots so far.









Monday, 2 June 2025

1000 YouTube subscribers!

Something of a milestone for me to hit 1000 (currently 1.1k) subscribers on my modest YouTube channel which focuses on painting model soldiers and nothing else! I enjoy the level of engagement and number of comments and the process of making the videos is far easier for me than typing blog posts. Views on the blog has fallen away dramatically over the last couple of years and now averages just 50 to 60 views per post. That said I will continue to update  the blog as it's a great source of reference material of past projects and something of a 15 years 'hobby diary' to look back upon.

Latest video uploaded this week below (currently 1.9k views). I know it's not all about the stats, I'm enjoying the process so I'll keep on going.

This week, more painting for ;Old John' and those Epic Warlord Celts in close up.




Saturday, 24 May 2025

French cavalry close ups and based Celts!

 Peninsular Napoleonics for Mark (18mm AB) & 12 bases of Celts for Leo (Warlord Epic 13.5mm)









Tuesday, 20 May 2025

A quick update!

Keeping busy here, currently painting more lovely AB Napoleonics for Mark and first batch of the 75 Epic Ancient strips for Leo in the US plus still adding to the Space Hulk figures for David. A few photos below.








Also started a new channel for the Branch line terminus model railway that is now well and truly underway bringing many fresh challenges such as electrical wiring, soldering and buildings card building kits etc. It's called 'The Painting Pensioner' should anyone care to take a look. Early stages but a nice way to document a new project.

YouTube - N Gauge micro layout.


Wednesday, 7 May 2025

How did I miss this? & 2nd Light Lancers.

My very obvious error was pointed out to me by a YouTube follower, I had glued the wheels on 12 ACW limbers onto the wrong axles! Not sure where my brain was when I built them but these things happen and I have even had a couple of messages saying they did the same thing. Funny enough customer Noel had seen the photos and when I sent him the video link he said had I not pointed it out to him he probably wold not have noticed it. Of course all corrected now and ready to be packed up and sent back to Noel in Ireland this week.


The next two weeks I'm back painting for Mark Lodge, more Napoleonic Peninsular cavalry starting with the 2nd Light Lancers, 8 figures and unusually for AB Figures the lancers are one piece castings while the officer and trumpeter the traditional horse and rider. Today it's onto the 26th Chasseurs - 10 figures. Gloss varnish as requested really helps the colours to pop.











Sunday, 4 May 2025

Latest video - revisiting Bolt Action!

 I'm gradually going back through the blog pulling together images from old projects for a series of videos on my YouTube channel. This is the latest, the Bolt Action project from about 7 years ago or so, as usual great fun putting it all together but I no longer own a single piece of it!

Next up will be Flames of War then 15 years of 6mm painting.




Monday, 28 April 2025

A bit of military detective work!

 I was watching the latest video from of a group of Urban Explorers I follow on YouTube last night and in the cemetery of an abandoned church was an interesting memorial which had the battle honours of numerous Napoleonic and Crimean war battles upon it. There also seemed to be a Highland Bonnet above the Waterloo honour. I'm guessing it's possibly a brigade memorial? I would love to be able to give the guys a bit more information so can any of you guys help please?  Around the three minute mark you will get a close up of the memorial which fascinates me!

On a wider note these guys are very respectful of the abandoned sites they visit and never remove any property or enter anywhere by force. This fine old building shows clear signs of vandalism including stones through the lovely stained glass windows.



Saturday, 26 April 2025

Get your soldiers painted here!

Keeping busy here, finished the first batch of 18mm AB Napoleonics for Mark and painted more 'Epic' scale ACW's for Noel (including some Peter Pig limbers) and more Russian Streltsy for Old John. 

Difficult to photograph the Napoleonics with the glossy varnish under my lamp but here are quite a few anyway.













The 12 Peter Pig limber sets for Noel, plus a couple of Peter Pig Tepees included in the order!





More Streltsy for Old John plus some Turkish artillery, 1/72nd plastics. I make that 18 units each of 24 figures so far for John with more Russians to come!! I try to vary the coat shades as much as possible between units. Also a mounted Catalonian general.