Giving simple MDF buildings a makeover!

Things have been quite hectic around here this past couple of weeks, as domestic manoeuvres have taken priority. Our middle daughter Jess and her partner Blake have moved out of our house and into a place of their own, in time for Christmas. They are very happy and the house is now once again quiet and feels very empty. Although we miss Granddaughter Lily's smiling face each morning it's great to see them settled. Of course there is still one to go, youngest daughter Chloe who is 15 and keeps things lively at home!

So the upshot is that I will again have the freedom to set up the full 6 x 4 table downstairs using the TSS 'spacesaver' boards I bought a few months back, to which I intend to add the matching hill system that gives a lot of scope for layouts. In order to break up the park like appearance of the bare boards I plan to make lots of terrain features that can be placed. I'm going to work on the field system, texturing the carpet tiles to look more realistic and varying the shape and size.

My current job (aside from shifting furniture about) is to base and tart up the MDF buildings that I have. I decided to start with the four 'Arcane' buildings, nice simple and relatively cheap kits designed for Flames of War base sizes, using the garden bases that you can buy with them. As you can see I painted them first (a touch colourful I know), and then textured the bases around them. I started with my standard earth flock then added patches of static grass once dry. I then went slightly mad with the flower strips, adding borders etc. The final touches were to add climbing 'Ivy' using the Noch leaf material that I think works wonders in order to disguise some of the joins, and then a few drilled out bullet holes on exposed walls. I might paint the doors and frames in due course, but for now I'm happy with the overall look. I'll print a couple of suitable signs for the shops and stick them on.

Next I have four more MDF buildings by '4Ground'. These as you might expect are more detailed MDF models and come pre coloured. I actually bought these as a job lot via eBay so they were ready assembled and nicely finished, they are mostly collapsed buildings, with partial roofs etc for contrast. I really like playing around with MDF buildings and dressing them up.

Pictures show the almost finished Arcane shops and cottages on modular bases, I will repaint those back gates brown I think, but overall I'm happy with the result.

These are the excellent 15mm 4Ground models, same size and scale as the Arcane cottages but far more detailed (and more expensive) as you can see. I'll enjoy basing these up.

Simple explosion markers for Flames of War.

Thanks to Mel The Terrain Tutor for this great idea (check out his YouTube channel HERE), these are my explosion markers for 15mm scale, simply made from clump foliage. I had considered buying the resin version via eBay, but the 25mm base was just too big to sit on my 15mm scale tank models.

A dig through my old coin box found lots of small coins suitable for bases, around 10mm that would sit on top of a turret or hull of a knocked out tank. I already had a load of clump foliage rescued from my attempt at making bocage before I replaced it with a commercial product from S&A Scenics so I simply selected some bits that looked to me most 'explosion/ billowing smoke' like. I superglued them to the coin bases then took the lot down to my undercoating shed at the bottom of the garden and gave them a thorough soaking with Army Painter Matt black. They took an age to dry and a couple of coats, but when I went back down to get them I was very impressed with how realistic they looked (to my eyes at least).

Had another watch of Mel's video before painting them and basically copied his method of starting with a fairly dry brush of yellow, then mixing to orange and finally red. The billowing smoke was then drybrushed with grey and Hey Presto .... finished. I might need to do something with the bases, I have the option of touching up the black or removing them to leave the markers freestanding, not sure yet.

Much better than using cotton wool or synthetic fill I'd say, you can see the effect on the T34 in the pic below, explosion has blown off the turret leaving a fiery plume of smoke. Next up a spot of 15mm gardening as I work on a few Arcane Scenery houses and backyards.

The finished product, 20 x explosion markers from clump foliage!

Recycled from old hedge sections.

A couple of thick coats of Matt black spray gives a nice billowing smoke effect

And a quick paint job, yellow, orange red then grey drybrush.

Half tracks and more Panzers!

This last week has been spent finishing off four Forged in Battle half tracks and three Battlefront late war Panzer IV's (model H - in my previous post I mistakenly described them as Panthers). I like the FIB resin models a lot, probably prefer them to Battlefront now.

The half tracks will provide transports for the hard pressed German Grenadiers and the Panzer IV's with their stand off additional armour will add another platoon to my tank collection. The 5mm thick 'Schurzen' was found to be effective in reducing the penetrative ability of armour piercing shot as well as proving protection from enemy tank hunters. As the box of 5 models included 10 sets of Schurzen I decided to paint up extras for an existing platoon of 4 earlier model Panzer IV's only to discover that they could not be fitted as they do not have the support bars, so that was a bit of a waste of time! I still have 2 more of the MK IV's to build plus a box of 5 StuG's, but I'm taking a break from kits now to re focus back onto terrain for a while.

As I was lucky enough to win the 'Mad Tin Hatter' competition for a £20.00 gift voucher ( I never win anything normally!), I will use it to provide some seated figures for the half tracks, and I have requested that the voucher be for Peter Pig figures. Thank you James.

My Russian list requires the addition of 4 captured German half tracks to transport the infantry platoon so when I saw 4 such on eBay at a cheap price I grabbed them. As you can see from the pics they require a bit of restoration, a couple of front wheels are missing and they look as though they were thrown together. The paint job is interesting to say the least, but they will be repainted in green anyway so that's fine. Not sure of make, but they are plastic.

Going to do I bit of work on my 15mm houses next, completing the back yards and wall sections etc. I'm also starting on adding cork bark rock faces to my hills in order to make them a bit more realistic, and knock up around 20 or so explosion markers from clump foliage, sounds mad but they really do work! These are to be placed on knocked out tanks and look far better than cotton wool etc.

Few pictures, back soon with those explosion markers.

Forged in Battle models.

Battlefront Models Panzer IV H.

Blast ..... oh well.

In need of a bit of TLC!

Need to source a couple of front wheels from the spares box.

Soviet Tank Riders & German mortars.

This last week has been focused upon Flames of war. I had been meaning to get around to painting the Peter Pig tank riders for ages. so they got a black undercoat and a fairly quick paint job picking out the colours, a bit tricky as each casting is 3 figures hunched together behind the turret of a T34. I added 2 'strips' to each tank in one of my platoons of 6 models. My Soviet tank platoons each consist of 4 T34/76's - one of which is the command tank - plus 2 T34/85's upgraded. I have 3 such platoons totalling 18 tanks.

The models are all 'Battlefront' resin and metal kits. Aside from looking good on the tabletop these chaps have a role to play in Flames of War, protecting the tanks from enemy infantry. Page 200 - 201 in the 'Specialists' section of the rule book tells us that these 'escorts' cannot be targeted when on the tanks, firing must go to the tank itself, but when a tank is destroyed the riders are lost with it. The riders can fire independently of the tank whilst still perched upon the back at a ROF of 1 with no penalty for the tanks movement, but of course cannot damage armour only enemy infantry. They should prove to be a useful addition especially where those pesky tank hunters are lurking about.

Some objective markers in the making.

While I have the Russians out I'm going to strip off the horrid hairy static grass from the infantry bases and replace it with the short strand grass for consistency. I have a pack of Forged in Battle mortar teams to add too at some point.

I also managed to finish off a 4 base German mortar support platoon plus command base. These are Forged in Battle with additional Peter Pig figures in late war zeltbahns (cammo smocks). I'm pleased with how these turned out and the FiB & PP figures go together very well. While I'm in a Flames of war frame of mind I'm going to get on with some more German armour as I have a box of  Panthers and a box of StuG assault guns that have been here for ages. I'll start with just 3 of the Panthers (5 per box), they really are fine little models as you can see from the undercoat picture below. Again, all are spray primed with Army Painter matt black whilst still on the sprues before assembly, the plastic cement simply melts away the paint at contact and I have never had an issue doing this. The 'shurtzen' side armour will be be painted on the sprues and fitted once the models are painted.

I hope to get some terrain work in along the line, I'm keen to have a go at using cork bark to create rock faces on my hills as illustrated by 'The Terrain Tutor', what than man can do with a bag of cork bark is simply amazing!

Also added a panzerschreck team Peter Pig figures.

First of the British, Universal Carrier and Banana Beer!

Having made the decision to finally start a British force for Bolt Action I could not resist beginning with the lovely little Universal Carrier model by Warlord. It's the earlier plastic kit, but I have come to enjoy assembling these models as well as the multi part infantry figures because it offers so many conversion possibilities and variation of poses etc. I use Revell Contacta glue as it makes the job very easy and bonds quickly, and also allows you to fill any gaps.

This kit was undercoated as usual with Army Painter Matt black whilst still on the sprues, I have a dedicated little spraying spot in the shed at the bottom of the garden and I now do all of the plastic stuff this way - still on the sprues - as I find it covers so much better with no missed areas. Some parts such as the 4 figures in this case are painted whilst still on the sprues then removed and assembled before sticking into the model. For the British Uniforms I used Vallejo' British Uniform' (there's a surprise!), followed by a Sepia ink wash, then a highlight once dry of the British Uniform/Khaki 50/50 mix. I'll stick to this formula and it should see the force painted up fairly quickly.

Next I'll paint the 4 figure command set (metal), and then I'll do the Dad's Army set before getting stuck into the plastic infantry box.

Universal (Bren) Carrier for Bolt Action.
Cost: 60 points (regular)
Weapons: 1 forward facing hull mounted LMG.
Damage value 7+ (Armoured Carrier)
Transport: 5 men
Can tow: Light or medium anti tank gun
Options: Pintle Mounted LMG (+10 points) replace forward facing LMG with Boys Anti Tank rifle (+10 points)
Special rules: open topped. May turn on the spot enabling it to execute a full speed run rate 'reverse', move, finishing the move facing in the direction of travel.

That's quite a versatile little vehicle that can get itself quickly out of a tight spot and zip about towards an objective.

Sod FIFA, wear those poppies with pride!

The Warlord British HQ set of 4 metal figures. It includes a medic with stretcher and a very 'British' looking officer!

Still working through the beers, didn't think I was going to like this one (bit gimmicky), but the banana taste is very subtle on the top, I actually really enjoyed it!