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Thanks, that is really cool

Change of mission:



This is the Smilodon class main battle tank of the Nekomimi Winterguard. It's a resin casting also obtained on Etsy before prices went crazy for so many things and is, as you can see, a fairly substantial piece. I've got quite a lot to say about it, but will wait for now. The camo scheme I want to try is best applied with my airbrush and with the apartment still torn apart awaiting repair (23 weeks now) I just can't get everything I need dug out to put the airbrush into action.

So I'm going to do this piece next:



This is a Snow Leopard Self-propelled Gun (SPG). It's really a repurposed D.U.S.T SPG, but a very nice model, I think. As pictured it came with both a 65mm gun and a 107mm mortar to outfit it- I may keep both for this one platform or scratchbuild a second platform, we'll see. (I haven't scratchbuilt any vehicles for awhile, now.) It's been waiting around for years for its moment and that moment is now. The primering/basecoating is already complete and a big part of the project will be converting Winterguard figures into crewcats (artillery and heavy weapons are Boom Pixies- yet another uniform scheme I might try to come up with).

I guess in an actual game it could be played as a Sentinel, or possibly a Cataphract; in a game amongst friends it could have the same weapons' stats as a standard lascannon, the movement of a Rough Rider, but its own footprint- which leads to greater vulnerability to counterfire.

In any event, another cool addition to the Doom Pixie Brigade.

More follows soonest.

I like big tanks and I will not lie...

.....though other gamers may deny!

Cool, glad I checked in here, looking forward to seeing what you do with them big tanks, and definate Tank Girl vibe going down on the last page

Thanks, PaddyMick! I loved that movie, and yes- the Nekomimi Winterguard when combined with armour have distinct Tank Girl vibe.

The Snow Leopard is nearly done- just a bit with some washes to go and then on to the crew. The figures I have are very much infantry, and the resin they are cast from is brittle, so it's going to be interesting converting a couple.

I'm indulging one fundamental and suppressing another with this build: on the one hand I love vehicles with crew and tank riders and things, it's the people who make the piece come alive. On the other, as mentioned before, I seem to have a small talent for dirtying up vehicles, but I want a bit of a cleaner profile on the Leopard, as with the Sirocco tank.

More (hopefully) follows soonest.

So, no hobby work for awhile. The good news is- after five months- they are finally starting to repair the flooding damage to the apartment, Horrible pic, but here's what things look like at the moment:



That's the new flooring for the kitchen area and some of the replacement cabinets plunked in the middle of the concrete bunker I call a living room.

The bad news is, after telling me for five months that the modeling/hobby junk on the remaining strip of carpet didn't have to move, now they want it moved. Fortunately, they won't be back to do the carpet until 10JUN23, so I have next week to box some things up and stash them, because to move the shelf units out means having to deflate my air mattress to make room in the bedroom (which is already holding everything else) for them. At first, the email I received made it seem like they were coming back this coming Saturday (03JUN23) and my blood pressure went right through the roof. The true situation is slightly better.

I'd hoped to finish the washes on the Snow Leopard tonight and make a start on kitbashing the three crewcats for it, but I just can't muster any enthusiasm, knowing I'm going to have to stop before the project is done to accommodate the work.

Thanks for letting me whine, more follows after this word from our corporate sponsor <insert Drink Tab Cola commercial here>

Best of luck Meer, here's hoping the apartment gets fixed up quickly and you can return to normal hobby time soon (with no future flooding).

Okay, almost back in business.

The minions of chaos have finally replaced the bottom two feet of sheet rock, spackled, painted, laid new kitchen flooring, new carpeting over 70% of the apartment, and installed new lower kitchen cabinets. And all in only five and half months (or 23 weeks, if you prefer, or 161 days, or half a year). All that remains is the very minor detail of rehanging the valance across the bar that supports the vertical blinds (which they knocked off somehow) and confirming that they have, in fact, reconnected all the appliances in the kitchen properly. I'm very used to different crews coming through and concentrating on just their area of primary responsibility and there is no overall supervision. When I went to check the washing machine they had connected the feed hoses, but not the drain line; if I wasn't such a suspicious old curmudgeon I'd have flooded the whole place again. I'm particularly worried about the natural gas range- most states require a technician to unhook and rehook the gas lines and I doubt these miscreants did that. So I'm not using a fething thing until I have something saying in writing that it's okay. And the restoration job ain't complete until the appliances are usable, so says the Virginia Housing Authority.

Over the past two days I've been able to get a lot of my junk back where it belongs- enough that I hope to pick up painting again on the Snow Leopard and its crew and get moving on with the Doom Pixie Army of Total Heck.

Meantime, an odd supernatural (or supranatural) phenomenon has manifested itself on my painting desk:



Can anyone explain to me what that odd, bare, wooden-looking area is on the left side of the picture? I've never seen it before, usually only having the parts for fifteen or so projects scattered about.

More follows soonest.

Yes, that is a strange phenomenon on your painting desk. And sorry, I can't help you identify it, as I have never encountered it myself
Thank goodness you discovered the outlet was hooked up, and I think it's very wise that you are waiting to make sure everything is hooked up properly with paperwork to support it. Looking forward to when you can get back to the Doom Pixies.

That's weird! Never seen that.

Welp, flooded again. I waited an extra two weeks after the repairs to the apartment were declared 'complete', waiting for official word, in writing, that all the appliances had been hooked up correctly and were safe and ready for use (was really worried about the gas stove). I received an email to that effect on 29JUN23. Tonight, the clothes washer flushed all its water out onto the floor- all the carpet and walls is soaked again. It appears something was broken when they yanked it out to replace the flooring under it, in its little laundry cabinet. I was actually excited to sit down once I got home from work to finish up the Snow Leopard. Laugh or cry time, I reckon.

Wow, that is utterly ridiculous that you are still having to deal with this after being so careful. Hang in there buddy.

Sorry you're dealing with all that crap mate, hopefully it'll be fixed soon!

When it rains it pours, mate. Hang in there.

It ain't much, but I'm back in action.

Tonight I broke out the airbrush (meaning: moved its little table back where it belongs, found all the bits and bobs and put everything back together) and added a little bit of winter camo to the Snow Leopard- I should either have put the white blotches on heavier or the German Medium Camouflage Brown lighter. Also hit it with some Nuln Oil wash and added a little bit more detail to the gun action.

I also cut out a couple of disks from treadplate plastic to add a fighting platform under the gun- so that the crewcats move with it instead of being fastened to the actual deck and restricting how much you can traverse the gun.

I can start on the crew now, and also the heavy mortar that also came with this kit, so it can be either a tank destroyer or an assault support artillery piece (we used to call mortars 'hip pocket artillery').



I'm hoping to start on the remaining pieces tomorrow night.

More follows soonest.

Awesome to see you back in action!

Thanks very much, Syro! There's still a fair bit of 'putting back' to do, but I was very happy to get a small lick of painting in. Need two more sessions this week to meet Goldfinger's definition of 'enemy action':

"Once is an incident, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action."

More follows soonest (hopefully later tonight).


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Some work done tonight- two of Goldfinger's three data points to indicate deliberate action (or a trend line, in analysis):



The heavy mortar (from the relative size compared to the admittedly slender Doom Pixies, probably a 150 or 160mm) is mostly done, but in the photo I see where the blue expanses are entirely too clean- this will require some additional weathering- I may just hit it with some white from the airbrush, so it blends with the prime mover better. Also looking to see where there is space to add the signature Schwarz Kat decal. The mortar and the anti-tank cannon are interchangeable.

The crewcats are assembled, primered and have their first skin tone base coat layer. The oddly positioned ones are going to be the drivers- in better pictures you'll see that the Snow Leopard has separate lateral track controls, like in the World War I Mark I's and II's- it literally takes two people to steer the vehicle straight or in anything than a circle in one direction.

More follows soonest.

More than half of the basecoating done- just the boots and hair to go and then highlighting, washes and inks:



More follows soonest.

It's great seeing you back in action

So, proof of life with tonight's posting. I really want to get this project finished, as I am on the road for work next week and would like to have a clean work desk waiting to start something new, but we'll see.

These Panzer Pixie Redlegs (Mech Artillery) are completed for basecoating, all that remains is to apply the several washes and drybrush a couple of highlights, glue them to their gun platforms and- in the case of the drivers- add their remaining arm and paint that and bob's your uncle- they're done:



There's a lot yet to do in non-hobby related work, so we'll see.

As for what's next, I'd like to build a ground mount that will accept the anti-tank gun or the heavy mortar- so that whichever isn't on the Snow Leopard could be used as a ground mounted heavy weapon, or fixed emplacement heavy weapon. Nothing elaborate. After that, I really need some more Doom Pixie and Snow ixie infantry- my vehicles almost outnumber my grunts! If I'm ever gonna game them, I need more cannon fodder.

More follows soonest.

Nice Meer_Cat

Cheers,

CB

In my quest to catch up with DDakka blogs, 7 pages of Meer_Cat today.

Ah yes, miniature pony miniatures. I had forgotten about that.
Nice little stable you gave them.

I remember painting the eyes of my San conversion. Tricky at first. you just have to take a deep breath...
I think I followed a digital anime tutorial when I did it.

Nice work on the Chinese Walled Villa.

good job on the squats.

Nice little river tile.

Cool mech build.

Nice extraction tower thing for the LoER.

Like the snow cat build.

Nice trio of tank things.

Cool wind tank.

And good work on the many other things.

Good to see you posting! Nice updates, the artillery piece looks awesome!

Sorry to have been gone so long- life, the universe and everything all wanted their turn and I then had to overcome non-painter's inertia (NPI- it's a thing) to pick this nearly finished project up and get it across the line (so's I can start something new and even more cooler!).

The basis of the build was a DUST game Soviet anti-tank gun carriage which also came with a heavy mortar. I've configured both to fit and scratchbuilt a stand for the non-vehicle mounted piece, as I hate to see anything sitting off to the side. It can be a fixed defense piece when not riding around putting large holes in the enemies of the Emperor.

Group shot leads off, then both guns showing on the gun carriage, then the fixed point defense stand then a Nekomimi Winterguard Army shot.





































Clearly, I need more infantry. Also clearly, I need to get onto making that photo base to lend a better look to my work. And I'll have to find a place for the Oldhammer guys hanging out in the back right corner that's just for them.

Next project (more grunts, err, kittens) is already started, pics follow hopefully tomorrow. Thank you for looking in and for your constructive criticism.

More follows soonest.

Great to see you back Meer_Cat! Nice group shots too. I'm looking forward to what's coming next

Thanks very much, Syro!

I reckon this next can be considered an 'intermediate' project, as I truly do need to build up my infantry numbers, and Not Online!'s recent complete army paint up has me inspired to emulate his ambition, albeit on a much reduced scale.

So this next is another five Close Quarters Battle (CQB) Snow Pixies to round out that squad, plus a regular Winterguard Doom Pixie lascannon team, to continue building up those numbers.

Not much of a picture, more a 'sign of life' rather than even a WIP:



Continued with Inso's tip to mix up the skin tones on groups of similar equipped and posed figures to help build out the individuality- there are three skin tones here (although you can't really see them in the crappy pic): very fair/pink, tan and dusky.

The basecoating of almost everything is done- skin, jacket and Ugg Boots. The Dove Grey on the Snow Pixie jackets is so close to the primer color I use I wonder why I don't just use that as the basecoat.... Skin needs another layer, it's awful easy for me to try to cover light tones in ine go and then it looks chalky and clunky- trying to avoid that. Tomorrow- hopefully!- web gear and shotguns and maybe some more detail work. Possibly the ears, tail and neon hair tints.

In the background are representative samples of Snow and Doom Pixies as a reference (I have the paint scheme written down, too) but you can sort of see the Doom Pixie riflecat needs a better shade of hair than violent metallic blue (I saw Violent Metallic Blue open for the Stones back in '67 ). The Sno Leopard is hanging out because the left side driver needs a pack that I painted to sit on, otherwise she's 'planking' on just her tail alone.

That's it for tonight, thank you for looking in. More follows soonest.

Catgirl mobile gun platforms looking good!

Thanks Shas- nice to see you in the forums (fora?) again!

Back in the groove, more or less. After three gaffed appointments, the subcontractor has finally installed the new washer/dryer stack unit, (mostly) ending the refurbishment of the apartment that began with the flooding on 05JAN23. I say mostly because the electrical box the unit ties into is dripping loose wires and the unit itself is not level at all- off by 3/4 of an inch over a 26" width. I'm told that can affect the balance of the agitator and lead to problems in short order, so I'll report it and hope to be done with it all as soon as possible.

For tonight's work, I've added the second coat of skin tones (all three), and the base coat for the shotguns and web gear. I've also stated terraining the base for the lascannon, building a berm of the estimable Bruce Hirst's plaster-cast sandbags (I've probably used that mold more than any other, except for the castle blocks- see the castle keep project a few pages back). Next up will be hair, shotgun shells, ears/tails, and then into washes and highlights.



I'm going to mess with my printer and see if I can make extremely small print stickers that read 'Coach' so they can all be carrying Coach bags.
More follows soonest.