Just a quick update on my progress towards the challenge - to paint two German Grenadier Platoons, a HMG Platoon and the company command (with Mortars and A/T squad) in April.
I've started the basing this week, and hopefully will be on course to get them all done this month, on target!
Peter Pig HMGs and Grenadiers - Tuesday nights progress
Wednesday night's progress... Into the tub. Basing walk through is still WiP.
Peter Pig HMG Platoon - Thursday nights progress.
Peter Pig Grenadier Platoon - Thursday night's progress
Company HQ's Peter Pig Mortar teams - Thursday nights progress
The efforts tonight (Thursday night) have been trimming and sorting the bases and touching up the brown. This took a bit longer than I thought it would, but behind tonight's stuff is the next platoon and command A/T squad ready to be based.
Lots of progress, all backed up by the google hangouts with:
Lots of interesting chats helping me to make constant progress!
The end of week 2 of the April Challenge and I'm making some good progress. Batch #1 and #2 are painted and just needing based. I had a bit of an issue with varnish, having decided to try out some of the new Vallejo Polyurethane Matt Varnish. I tried to apply this in the usual way, giving it a good shake, etc. It ended up all bubbly on the model which left marks when it dried.
A lot of messing about and the models didn't look very matt. I tried the Vallejo Matt Varnish and still no matt, so I tried a spray. I'm still not happy that they are as matt as they should be but they are better than they were.
With the second batch I tried the Polyurethane varnish again, this time opening the bottle and stirring it (as per the Vallejo website instructions). Still shiny and no matt effect. Small bubbles started appearing while painting on the varnish, possibly caused by the brush? I switched to the standard matt varnish while the other was still wet and it seems to have saved them a bit. It's still not as matt as I would like.
Next batch I will just use the normal matt varnish. I think there is something with the Polyurethane varnish I am missing or doing wrong.
Anyway, 7 strips of Peter Pig infantry to go and that will be everything painted for this month that I had planned. The bases are all covered in the resin, so just need trimming, painting, flocking, etc.
If I have time spare (Ha!) I might start either the Mortars of Pak40's.
After a bit of restructuring the 'randomly regular' weeknight paint and chats are going to be hosted by a new Group called Miniature Modelling Mayhem, while the more 'formal' Paint and Chats are going to remain under the Tabletop Commanders banner.
As a way of launching the new group we are having a small Painting Challenge!
The aim is to paint a number of units in April and May - the number you pick is up to you, which units you pick are up to you. Basically we want to encourage people to take part in the hangouts once or twice in the months - use the hangouts to keep your motivation up, talk about what you are working on, talk about the unit and it's history, if you hit a problem with your painting then ask for help or advice. Or just tune in and see what everyone else is doing. Some of the chats will be live and recorded for upload to YouTube, others will be just visible to the people in the hangout and will not be uploaded to YouTube.
For those of you who have not tried using the hangouts, it's a really great way of talking about history, toy soldiers, painting and modelling, etc, while getting some models painted and talking to fellow hobbyists. All you need to take part is a Google account and a mike if your are on a PC or Laptop. You can also use a webcam if you wish. There are apps available via the App Store on the Ipad and Iphone (Called Google Hangouts) which makes the process of joining in easy and use the Iphone or Ipad mike and camera (you can turn the camera off).
Whether you join in for 15 minutes or 3 hours is fine - or for the live ones you can just watch 'live' via youtube.
You can find an example of one of our hangouts here:
So the challenge involves:
1) Picking a number of units you want to paint, either over one or two months. Any unit size, any period or scale. I'm going to aim to do 3 units a month which is a push for me.
3) Join or Watch our paint and chats, talk about what your working on and generally use the chats as a way of keeping yourself motivated.
4) Post your progress on your blog on YouTube channel, let us all see what your doing!
And:
5) Finish a month of focused hobby work having gotten a unit or two (or more!) that you've been staring at for a long time done and out of your painting queue!
And example of what one of our contributors will be working on can be found here:
Feel free to leave a comment here if your are interested. I'll update the post with links to the various Google Plus and Facebook groups once we have everything set up!
