Foundry 40mm Confederate Cavalryman

This is my latest figure -- a minor conversion of a 40mm Foundry Confederate cavalryman.  I didn't like the head on the original figure.  It was wearing a kepi (made him look too Union) and he was looking straight ahead rather than in the direction he was firing.  I had received a Foundry infantryman in a trade (thanks Michael) that didn't have any arms but who did have a great head wearing a slouch hat.  So I swapped heads, making sure that the new head was looking off in the direction he was firing.

The cavalryman and horse furniture (saddle and blanket, saddle bags, blanket roll and overcoat) were painted with Vallejo acrylics while the horse was painted with MIG oils.  I adapted a tutorial on painting 90mm horses that I'd seen on the Michigan Toy Soldier website.  I'm pretty pleased with both the figure and the horse, and feel that my painting is getting better with each figure.

Next up?  Maybe some 40mm Sash & Saber colonial militia at Lexington Green.  Or maybe their Confederate artillery crew . . . .

I bought a boatload of both Sash & Saber and Foundry 40mm Civil War figures back in September and I'm just now getting a chance to paint some of them.  These were a little more challenging to paint because of all the small trim and the closed nature of the pose (made it hard to access all the areas).  S&S are sculpted a bit roughly, but I actually like this aspect.  It makes them a little easier to paint and frankly a little more fun. 

I'm really getting hooked on 40mm figures.

Custer 1876

This is a Sash & Saber George Custer during the 1876 campaign.  It's a little small for 40mm, but it still painted up OK.  I would have preferred that he was wearing the blue fireman's shirt like the standing figure in my very first post.  It would have provided more color than the buckskin.

Sash & Saber 40mm ACW

Before starting back to school I went on a run painting a bunch of 40mm Sash & Sabre Civil War figures.  Once school starts back up next week my painting time will be drastically cut.  I wasn't too sure about the S&S when I first got them -- they appeared very rough with some exaggerated detail.  Once I started painting them though I took a liking to them.  Clean up is fairly quick and easy and the exaggerated details paint up nicely.

My next project was going to be a 40mm Foundry ACW gun and crew, but after painting these I might just paint up a S&S gun crew instead.

Thanks Michael.  The two charging Confederate infantrymen are from the lot you gave to me.

Pirates

Here are a few 28mm pirates I just finished.  I don't have the slightest idea where they came from, but like their character.  The third one is my favorite -- because of the pose and I feel I painted it better than the other two.  Boy I wish I could improve my picture-taking skills, because I really think these look tons better in real life.

I like the base on the first one.  It came in a pack of four from a company named Malifaux.  The other three were just as nice but unfortunately weren't really usable.  While they're nicely sculpted and paint up well, they're poorly designed -- leaving no room to put the feet of a figure.

Some New 28mm Figures

These are three new figures I finished this week.

The first one is a Foundry Viking who's been vanquished by a Gripping Beast plastic Saxon.  I thought about putting some blood on the Viking's hand/head but that can look kind of cheesy if it's not done well.  So, rather than take the risk of upsetting the finished skin tones I left it alone.

The second and third figures are both from Reaper Miniatures' Chronoscope line -- Zorro and Ned Lewinsky, Mad Bomber.

The Zorro figure was my first attempt at painting a large area of black and I'm pretty happy with it.  I went light with the highlights because I was concerned about over doing them.  Traditionally, I suppose Zorro would've had a black sash, but I thought it needed some color to punch it up.  Call it artistic license.

Next up . . . pirates.

Italeri's 1/72 M8

This isn't a bad little kit, though the suspension is really weak.  The brush guards on the headlights were way out of scale so I covered them with some epoxy sand bags.  I also cut open the drivers' hatches and scratch built new ones.

WWII US Infantry

These are the new plastic US infantry figures from Warlord Games.  I've been waiting for them to produce WWII US infantry in plastic for a while.  Though they are a little chunky I really like the variety of poses.  I just wish they had included decals for the divisional patches as they did with their British infantry set a while back.  The ruined building is Warlord Games' "Ruined Hamlet".  I used just a small section of one house.  The kit includes three of the same house ruins and is pretty nice -- except the price.  I thought $50.00 for three plastic houses was a bit extreme.  But then, that didn't stop me from buying them, so.....

 I know, an NCO probably wouldn't have been on the BAR but other than the officer his was the only other helmet whose back was towards the front of the vignette.

1/48th British Desert Patrol

If you keep following my blog you'll find that my interests vary greatly.  My favorite historical periods are the American Civil War and WWII, but I'll branch out to any American War from French & Indian to Korea.  I also have a real interest in the American West.

This vignette is made up of elements from several manufacturers.  The basic jeep is from Tamiya with a resin conversion set from Black Dog and figures from Evolution Miniatures.  Evolution's figures are THE finest 1/48 resin figures I've ever seen, with details usually found in much larger figures. 

The rock in the background was made out of plaster using a Woodland Scenics mold for model railways and carved to the desired shape and width.

Foundry 28mm Vikings