Finished: 15mm Valentine bridge-laying tank

Hi folks,

Another quick catch up post on a model I painted for this years AHPC. 

As a big fan of engineering vehicles in my 15mm collection, I jumped at the chance of picking up this 3D printed beauty. It came from Battlefield3d and is resin printed, so nice detail and no obvious print lines. 

Best of all, the bridge game with a hinge in place:

The hinge allows the bridge to be mounted on the vehicle, or deployed for tabletop use. 

I marked this model up as belonging to the brigade HQ of 33 Armoured Brigade. As such, it will support my 144RAC Shermans. Severely tempted to pick up another, just for the symmetry of having a pair, and the flexibility for big games. 

The bridge is mounted on a Valentine tank chassis, and represents the only model of this type in my collection. The bridge carried was rated up to 30 tons, and as such could be used by Shermans and Cromwells. 

I applied my usual basing style, but actually used a similar style of painting to that on my Cold War Dutch. It didn't take me long to get this single model sorted, even with the bridge. 

Finished: 28mm Necromunda figures

Hi folks,

So, again, trying to catch up on recently complete bits for the AHPC which haven't featured here yet. 

Part of my plans for this years challenge was to make use of the Army Painter speedpaints I got for my birthday this year, and get figures painted for Necromunda. This is very much a learning process for me, as I'm not used to painting:

- 28mm figures

- with speedpaints

- non-uniform models

And as such, I figured the best way to get my 'eye in' was with a batch of Chaos Cultists. Specifically, models I plan to use for a Helot Cult gang. 

These models are mainly plastic cultist figures from GW, with a 3d printed Psyker designed by Imitation of Life Miniatures and purchased from CrisisActorMinis on Etsy. I've also included a more modern cultist with grenade launcher and sniper rifle from various GW sets, bought individually on Ebay. 

As these guys will likely form a Tzeentch inspired gang, I went with blue as the primary colour. Not all the figures will be in the gang at the same time, but it was good practice to do them all and I think there are scenarios where having a horde of bad guys could be useful. 

I also painted up some more scatter terrain, in the form of barrels, as well as the two platforms. 

To support these guys, a Chaos Spawn proxy has also been painted:

This is another plastic GW figure from one of their recent chaos sets. I'd not quite finished the base when taking these pictures - it's been tidied up since. 

one of the small issues with having a mix of GW and 3d printed models is some of the differing sizes:

The model in the middle is large, and is mounted on a 40mm base. However, the two female figures are supposed to be around 28mm, but one is much smaller and slighter than the other. Still, this could be more a factor of a slightly built individual compared to a larger built one, so I'm not worrying too much. 

The 'Ammo Jack' and 'Chymst' models are also 3d prints, from the same source as the witch model above. 

All of these models have been painted primarily with Army Painter speed paints. Some highlighting has been done with Vallejo paints - mainly around skin tones. While the cultists received a black wash to try and tie them together a bit, the other models have not. 

I have struggled a little to get decent pictures - my desk light seems to be interfering or flickering at a rate which messes with my phone camera. This means my lighting options are a little limited, and the figures look darker in the pictures than they do in the hand. 

Overall, my view of the speed paints is positive. They are a decent tool to have when painting these types of mini. I've ordered some of the new Vallejo range to test out as well, just to provide extra tones - and really to try out their flesh option. 

I'm currently working my way through the other models I bought to act as hangers on, some more scatter terrain and figuring out what paint scheme to go with for my Goliath, Beastmen and Escher gangs.... I've also got a game of Necromunda booked in for the 28th with Dave and Martin - doubtful I'll have those gangs painted by then though!

Finished: 15mm Dutch M109s, M106 Vehicle Crews, YPR HMG turrets and YPR-765 OP vehicle

Hi folks,

With this years Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge in full swing, I've been focusing on getting entries painted and have fallen behind a bit on my own blog updates. These models did feature in my 2022 roundup post, as I completed them in December, but for the sake of keeping my 'finished' blog tag up to date, they deserve their own blog entry. 

These models are plastic Battlefront offerings - from the generic NATO M109 box I think. As such, they came with a variety of  build options and unit cards. However, mine being for the Dutch army, they were a nice simple paint job, though I did struggle a bit to find what option fitted a mid 1980's Dutch force. 

One thing I can't get over is the size of these vehicles, especially when compared to my normal WW2 collection. The M109 is easily bigger than a Tiger tank, and the barrel length has meant I've had to get a special box lid for my storage solution. 

The turrets for these guys are magnetised, and I've got a commander in one of the turret hatches. No radio aerials as I struggled to see where these would fit on the model compared to images online. Decals have been applied from the Dutch decal set that came with the box - thankfully I've a collection of these now, as you only get a limited number for the M109 on each sheet. I guess BF figured people would have lots of sheets through collecting an army. 

Alongside these three monsters, a Butlers Printed Models YPR-765 PRCO-C-4 model. This will serve as the OP vehicle for my army. It's missing (as far as I can tell) the correct cupola and fifty-cal, but I wasn't too worried about that. 

This is a nice model that looks ok detail wise once painted. Track detail is lacking, but that seems to be common for 3d printed offerings. Once on a base and weathered, it's not an issue. 

Clearing the decks a bit, I also completed the mortars and crew for my previously finished M106 SP mortars. 

These look cool with the crews in them, pretty happy with these now they are done. The M113 is one of those vehicles that's just nice to paint. 

And in keeping with my intention to clear my work in progress queue a bit, I also completed the alternative HMG turrets for my YPR-765s. These will allow me to field at least one platoon and a command vehicle as some of the '2nd line' versions without the 25mm turret. 

These were assembled from spare bits on the M113 sprues, and some spare M113 hatches acquired from Dave. 

That's all the Dutch stuff for now - I do have a platoon of YPD-408s on the paint shelf, along with 2 more PRAT YPR-765s and a platoon of M113s for a recce unit. As well as an M577 command vehicle base. So those will probably be my next Cold War painting targets. I also have a load of MUTT jeeps with TOW and RR options (again, 2nd line support, for use in Battlegroup or 7DTTR). However, for now, I'm painting Necromunda figures (up next).