Hi folks,
Having had my blog roll fill up with bloggers all over the world wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, I thought I should do the same. So a Merry Christmas from me and mine to you and yours!
And with the New Year approaching, I'll take this opportunity to express an old Scottish sentiment to everyone out there: Lang may yer lum reek!*
This won't be my first Christmas spent in England, but it will be my first Christmas and New Year living here. The next year is going to bring a lot of change (again) with hopefully a house move at some point and our wedding in October. Hopefully, on the Hobby Front, I will also be able to find somewhere to play and keep going with my painting.
I'm planning to start the new year off with a theme, in order to give me some focus for my painting. So I've decided that January will now be Gunuary - A time for me to focus on getting my artillery units up to scratch. This will include:
- Getting the bases of all artillery and mortar units up to date (flowers, tufts, etc)
- Building, painting and basing all 8 outstanding 25 pdrs
- Finishing all outstanding 25 pdr crew figures
- Sorting out the replacement figures for my 4.2" mortar platoon
- Building, painting and basing my 2 Battlefront 40mm Bofors (and finishing the whole unit off)
- Building, painting and basing my 5.5" guns (on the assumption the whole unit arrives in January - a tearful Amy informed me last night that despite the order being placed with Battlefront in November during the sale, none of the models ordered for my Christmas have arrived)
- Paint my Auster AOP model
And if I have time (doubtful) then looking to build, paint and base my PSC 6 pdrs for my 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry list.
Phew! I think I will be lucky if I finish one item from that list, but I will push myself and try to get as much done as I can.
Anyway, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all! I hope Santa is good to you and the heartburn medication works out fine!
*Long may your chimney smoke/May your always have fuel for your fire/Live long and prosper ;)
Thursday, 24 December 2015
Monday, 21 December 2015
Review - Waugh Games 15mm Resin Cromwell and Churchill
A week or two ago I saw a request on some of the Flames of War pages. Brian over at Waugh Games was asking if any bloggers would like to review some of their new 15mm resin tanks, and given that Waugh Games is just down the road from me, I thought I would volunteer.
A quick run over to the other side of Middlesbrough later and a little chat with Brian, and I had some samples to paint up and review. I'll state up front that the models were provided for free for the purposes of a review, but that I have no other connecting to Waugh Games other than replying to the request on facebook!
Waugh Games are in the process of producing a range of resin vehicles in various scales. The models start as 3D sculpts, which allows them to be scaled quickly. I had a quick Q&A with Brian tonight, which I will detail later in the blog.
Anyway, on to the models. Brian provided me with a 15mm Churchill (I think a Churchill VI) and a Cromwell. Both are early prototypes although Brian does have them available for sale. I believe these retail for £4.50, although Brian stated that there were discounts available for models bought in bulk - the more you buy, the cheaper they are individually. Some shots of these 'naked'.
So starting out with my trusty craft knife, I set about cleaning up the resin. Cleaning and prepping the models was pretty quick. I decided to go two different routes with these two models. With the Churchill, I would give it the same treatment as my Battlefront models. With the Cromwell I would paint it straight from the pack with minimal prep or other work.
The resin itself was pretty easy to work with. It cut very easily without being brittle, and I was able to apply downwards pressure to clean up some of the sections that had resin in them - like on top of the tracks on the Churchill.
The other positive side effect of this type of resin is that should you dislike the cast on base, it would be easy to cut off. Of course, I base all my vehicles anyway, so the bases were no issue for me. Brian mentioned that the standard thickness for these is (I believe) 3mm.
With the hull, turret and gun, there was no major construction of the model, so it was very quick to assemble. The Churchill turret had a very short 'stalk', so I wasn't able to magnetise it. At the other end of the spectrum the Cromwell's turret had a long 'stalk' and sat quite deeply in the hull. This would have been easy to magnetise, should I have wanted to. I drilled out the gun barrels myself in order to make them look like the typical muzzle break 75mm.
No spares came with the tanks, so no crew or turret MG's.
Having cleaned the models up and given them a wash in warm soapy water. After this I took some plastic putty and filled in a lot of the larger bubbles in the resin that I could see - I gave the Churchill a lot more attention here, leaving the Cromwell as it was from the packet. I also added stowage to the Churchill from my collection of Battlefront, Skytrex and Peter Pig parts.
I then primed them with some black brush on primer. The models certainly looked better with some colour on them, the white resin hides a lot of the detail on the model. I applied a coat of Russian Uniform (Vallejo Model Color 70.924) as a base coat. At this point I noticed a lot of small bubbles. Having discussed this with some fellow painters, the consensus was that the models had not been 'de-gassed'. My conversation with Brian tonight confirmed that, although he did say that this part of the process was being introduced within the next few months. To help with this issue I gave the models a coat of Vallejo brush on Gloss Varnish.
Once that had dried, I tidied up the Russian Uniform, painted the tracks Black Grey (Vallejo Color 70.862) and the stowage various shades of Khaki. I then gave the models a wash of Army painter Dark Tone and drybrushed them back a bit with Russian Uniform. I then highlighted with a mix of Khaki and Russian Uniform. Tracks I highlighted with a lightened Black Grey. Stowage was also highlighted.
I drilled out a couple of holes in the Churchill turret and put in some fishing line. I then painted this black. I also weathered the tracks and hull slightly, and added some rain water streaks for the first time.
I glossed the areas where the decals would be going and applied them. The Cromwell is marked up as a tank from 1 RTR, 7th Armoured Division, while the Churchill is 7 RTR, 31 Tank Brigade. I drybrushed the decals with some Russian Uniform to tone them down a bit. I then matt varnished both tanks.
The base I coated with PVA and dipped in fine sand. I then painted them Flat Earth, applied more PVA and added static grass and various tufts.
The resin itself was pretty easy to work with. It cut very easily without being brittle, and I was able to apply downwards pressure to clean up some of the sections that had resin in them - like on top of the tracks on the Churchill.
The other positive side effect of this type of resin is that should you dislike the cast on base, it would be easy to cut off. Of course, I base all my vehicles anyway, so the bases were no issue for me. Brian mentioned that the standard thickness for these is (I believe) 3mm.
With the hull, turret and gun, there was no major construction of the model, so it was very quick to assemble. The Churchill turret had a very short 'stalk', so I wasn't able to magnetise it. At the other end of the spectrum the Cromwell's turret had a long 'stalk' and sat quite deeply in the hull. This would have been easy to magnetise, should I have wanted to. I drilled out the gun barrels myself in order to make them look like the typical muzzle break 75mm.
No spares came with the tanks, so no crew or turret MG's.
Having cleaned the models up and given them a wash in warm soapy water. After this I took some plastic putty and filled in a lot of the larger bubbles in the resin that I could see - I gave the Churchill a lot more attention here, leaving the Cromwell as it was from the packet. I also added stowage to the Churchill from my collection of Battlefront, Skytrex and Peter Pig parts.
I then primed them with some black brush on primer. The models certainly looked better with some colour on them, the white resin hides a lot of the detail on the model. I applied a coat of Russian Uniform (Vallejo Model Color 70.924) as a base coat. At this point I noticed a lot of small bubbles. Having discussed this with some fellow painters, the consensus was that the models had not been 'de-gassed'. My conversation with Brian tonight confirmed that, although he did say that this part of the process was being introduced within the next few months. To help with this issue I gave the models a coat of Vallejo brush on Gloss Varnish.
Once that had dried, I tidied up the Russian Uniform, painted the tracks Black Grey (Vallejo Color 70.862) and the stowage various shades of Khaki. I then gave the models a wash of Army painter Dark Tone and drybrushed them back a bit with Russian Uniform. I then highlighted with a mix of Khaki and Russian Uniform. Tracks I highlighted with a lightened Black Grey. Stowage was also highlighted.
I drilled out a couple of holes in the Churchill turret and put in some fishing line. I then painted this black. I also weathered the tracks and hull slightly, and added some rain water streaks for the first time.
I glossed the areas where the decals would be going and applied them. The Cromwell is marked up as a tank from 1 RTR, 7th Armoured Division, while the Churchill is 7 RTR, 31 Tank Brigade. I drybrushed the decals with some Russian Uniform to tone them down a bit. I then matt varnished both tanks.
The base I coated with PVA and dipped in fine sand. I then painted them Flat Earth, applied more PVA and added static grass and various tufts.
I'm quite pleased with the results, given the time I spent.
The models actually came up a lot better than I expected, especially for early versions from a manufacturer that only started making these in October 2015. There are obviously areas where the detail is a lot less than that on Battlefront or PSC kits, but in all honesty at tabletop distances I don't think the differences are as pronounced as I thought they might be. Especially with a little stowage and the likes added to draw the eye away.
Scale wise, they also compare quite well to Battlefont (I am holding off on building my PSC Churchills until S&S models bring out their AVRE conversion kits next year).
The models actually came up a lot better than I expected, especially for early versions from a manufacturer that only started making these in October 2015. There are obviously areas where the detail is a lot less than that on Battlefront or PSC kits, but in all honesty at tabletop distances I don't think the differences are as pronounced as I thought they might be. Especially with a little stowage and the likes added to draw the eye away.
Scale wise, they also compare quite well to Battlefont (I am holding off on building my PSC Churchills until S&S models bring out their AVRE conversion kits next year).
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| Waugh Games Cromwell and Churchill |
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| Tabletop distances, BF churchill on the left. |
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| BF on the left. |
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| BF on the left. |
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| BF on the left. |
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| BF on the left. |
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| BF on the left. |
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| BF on the left. |
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| BF on the left. |
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| BF on the left. |
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| A side shot for better size comparison. The track details on the WG tanks were lacking, but I honestly didn't mind that as I hate painting tracks... |
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| BF on the left. |
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| BF model in centre |
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| Battlefront Crocodile on left, Waugh Games (WG) model on the right.Tabletop distance shot? |
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| Battlefront Crocodile on left, Waugh Games (WG) model on the right.Tabletop distance shot? |
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| Battlefront Crocodile on left, Waugh Games (WG) model on the right. |
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| Battlefront Crocodile on left, Waugh Games (WG) model on the right. |
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| Battlefront Crocodile on left, Waugh Games (WG) model on the right. |
So, some nice models at a price point lower than that of Battlefront - and bought in bulk, potentially PSC.
Having had a quick Q&A session with Brian tonight before publishing this article, he was happy to acknowledge that these are prototypes and that there are areas which still need work. I specifically mentioned the turret hatches and the likes, and a few other areas where protruding details were missing but left a bubble or hole instead. These are all things he said he would look at, and we talked about this perhaps being the reason that BF provide a lot of hatches as metal components.
Regarding my specific issued about the condition of the Cromwell turret, Brian stated that he had been trying a new type of silicone mold out and rushed to try both it and the recently received 3D print of the tank out. This resulted in some prep work being missed and the 3D printer marks showing on the cast model. There are also some holes in the hull of the Cromwell which I left unfilled in order to show the package to tabletop paint job. These were, I think, to do with the resin pouring process.
Brian also acknowledged that the very small bubbles were a result of these models being poured resin, but that he was expecting the de-gassing process to be added within the next few months. This will help remove bubbles from the resin and prevent this issue in the future. Brian is very passionate about his products, and I accept that Waugh Games has only been working on these models since October of this year, as I mentioned earlier. He seems very keen on feedback and readily accepts that they are going through a learning process.
The design of the models starts with a 3D sculpt, which can then be scaled all the way from 6 and 10mm up to 28mm. The 3D model is printed and then cast from the print in silicone.
Waugh Games are currently working on an expanded line of 10mm models, which he plans to do in various size packs. In early January he plans to release a range of 10mm WW1 tanks. This range will have around 16 models for both the Allies and Germans - in Company packs (12 models), Battalion packs (36 to 48 models) and blisters of 3.
As I understand it, there is also a range of 10mm resin WW2 tanks coming possibly in April. This range includes Allied and German tanks, with various Shermans and LVT's, as well as DUKWS. There seems to be a particular focus on vehicles used in the Pacific, for some reason... Brian did mention that they also have Landing Craft in the works. These vehicles will be in 3, 4 and 5 tank packs and cost around £1 per model. I have a sample of a 10mm Churchill, which is very nice. I'll try and get it finished and pictures taken soon.
In 15mm they currently have a few tanks from different nations, and are still trying out different techniques. The next big 15mm release is set for the start of the new year, with around 5 different Japanese WW2 tanks.
On the Cold War front, I saw a lovely looking Leopard 2 model, with Brian planning on doing the Main Battle Tanks of all the main nations. Possibly the APC's depending on demand.
So, that's it! A quick review of some new 15mm kit on the market. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have, feel free to leave a comment which will show up after moderation.
Having had a quick Q&A session with Brian tonight before publishing this article, he was happy to acknowledge that these are prototypes and that there are areas which still need work. I specifically mentioned the turret hatches and the likes, and a few other areas where protruding details were missing but left a bubble or hole instead. These are all things he said he would look at, and we talked about this perhaps being the reason that BF provide a lot of hatches as metal components.
Regarding my specific issued about the condition of the Cromwell turret, Brian stated that he had been trying a new type of silicone mold out and rushed to try both it and the recently received 3D print of the tank out. This resulted in some prep work being missed and the 3D printer marks showing on the cast model. There are also some holes in the hull of the Cromwell which I left unfilled in order to show the package to tabletop paint job. These were, I think, to do with the resin pouring process.
Brian also acknowledged that the very small bubbles were a result of these models being poured resin, but that he was expecting the de-gassing process to be added within the next few months. This will help remove bubbles from the resin and prevent this issue in the future. Brian is very passionate about his products, and I accept that Waugh Games has only been working on these models since October of this year, as I mentioned earlier. He seems very keen on feedback and readily accepts that they are going through a learning process.
The design of the models starts with a 3D sculpt, which can then be scaled all the way from 6 and 10mm up to 28mm. The 3D model is printed and then cast from the print in silicone.
Waugh Games are currently working on an expanded line of 10mm models, which he plans to do in various size packs. In early January he plans to release a range of 10mm WW1 tanks. This range will have around 16 models for both the Allies and Germans - in Company packs (12 models), Battalion packs (36 to 48 models) and blisters of 3.
As I understand it, there is also a range of 10mm resin WW2 tanks coming possibly in April. This range includes Allied and German tanks, with various Shermans and LVT's, as well as DUKWS. There seems to be a particular focus on vehicles used in the Pacific, for some reason... Brian did mention that they also have Landing Craft in the works. These vehicles will be in 3, 4 and 5 tank packs and cost around £1 per model. I have a sample of a 10mm Churchill, which is very nice. I'll try and get it finished and pictures taken soon.
In 15mm they currently have a few tanks from different nations, and are still trying out different techniques. The next big 15mm release is set for the start of the new year, with around 5 different Japanese WW2 tanks.
On the Cold War front, I saw a lovely looking Leopard 2 model, with Brian planning on doing the Main Battle Tanks of all the main nations. Possibly the APC's depending on demand.
So, that's it! A quick review of some new 15mm kit on the market. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have, feel free to leave a comment which will show up after moderation.