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Those reeds are probably paint brush bristles (cheap coarse decorating brushes are perfect for this) and shockingly enough the twig is a twig.

Oh that's slick. Can you prime/paint real wood like you would plastic or metal? I feel like a legit twig in its natural form would be to "real" for a miniature.

I was thinking coating the base in sand, painting it like dirt (dark brown base with lighter brown highlights), then adding some static grass in patches. I could then add large rocks or tall grass to accent. Think that would work? Any other cool tips or tricks? Any idea how to make dead leaves for the ground?

I paint the sand. A dark color and usually 2 highlights. It really helps bring out the colors on the models. Static grass is great too. At least thats what I think.

First off, nice conversions and very original, don't let any blue belly yankee scum tell ya otherwise!

and as to basing, sand with a few chosen pebbles for rocks looks great on a base, just place them before undercoating the model, and drybrush in desired tones, I usually use a light grey, and as for leaves...heres my secret ingredient


Tea leaves, just get some tea bags, cut em open and sprinkle on the base, makes pretty convincing deadleaves, ground clutter.

and static grass is excellent, it available in many seasonal tones, check the model railroad sites or your local hobbytown USA.

Keep up the great work.

I love this so much. While the out-and-out non-GW minis are way too small, they seem to kitbash pretty well. You might want to GS your perry parts a little thicker, though, so that they go to scale properly.

And I LOVE the heavy weapons, especially turning the missile launcher into a 3-pounder.

Tea leaves, just get some tea bags, cut em open and sprinkle on the base, makes pretty convincing deadleaves, ground clutter.

Brilliant sir! And that's one thing I have plenty of around the house...

I love this so much. While the out-and-out non-GW minis are way too small, they seem to kitbash pretty well. You might want to GS your perry parts a little thicker, though, so that they go to scale properly.

That's a bit beyond me. I don't plan on using the non-GW minis (Perry Minature plastics). Maybe keep them around as militia for apocalypse games... Dremeling out the old three band muskets and putting in some lasguns would be cool though...
Most likely I'll throw em in close formation on some plasticard, paint em up, and put em on my shelf to look pretty...

And I LOVE the heavy weapons, especially turning the missile launcher into a 3-pounder.

Many thanks (but they are actually 10pound Parrotts )

I suppose it puts a new spin on 'traitor guardsmen'...


*Darth Vader voice* 'Now Lincoln is your Master....'


Oh, Dear God, I just had this mental image of an ork built 'Mecha Lincoln'...

Oh, Dear God, I just had this mental image of an ork built 'Mecha Lincoln'...

More updates...

My Kell model. I tried to follow the pose of the original pretty closely. He'll be holding a regimental standard in his power fist hand, I just need to get the right size plastic rod. Note the bugle replacement for his loud speaker.



Slung rifle on the standard bearer:


Idea for a socket style bayonet. Think it looks ok?



And finally, I got around to painting a model. I think it turned out pretty well, the pants are just too dark a blue to be period correct so I need something lighter. Any critics or criticisms?

Looks good. The socket baynet looks real nice.

Always nice to see a historicaly themed 40k army.

Makes me wish i hadn't got rid of my French Resistence IG three years ago.

They look really nice, although your faces could use some badab black washes, or even devlan mud

i think the best wash would be ogryn flesh although changing you skin color paint might help, as it is a bit too pinkish, maybie mixing in a little bit of dheneb stone?

BaronIveagh wrote:I suppose it puts a new spin on 'traitor guardsmen'...

It sure took a long time, but the south did rise again, i guess...

Overall these look really good, nice blend of 40k and confederate. I will echo the recommendations of washes. If your on a budget, skip purple and just use devlan.

I'm running Secret Weapon flesh wash over Model Master acryl skin tone warm. It's the only flesh paint I had laying around... Most of the paint I have laying around is Tamiya acrylics, but I'm hoping to switch to Reaper once I get some money. I'm a bit new to this highlighting thing, so I need practice. Hopefully the models will improve in time . Thanks for the advice though. I'll try lightening the skin a bit next time.

Well done man, these officers look the part for sure, I like the other parts of the army too, Very well themed. The mold lines could use a cleaning though, i recommend cleaning them up before doing too many layers of paint.

The mold lines could use a cleaning though, i recommend cleaning them up before doing too many layers of paint.

Yeeeaaahhh, I will admit to being lazy when it comes to prepping models before painting. The nicer guys will get mold lines removed and gaps filled, but the line infantry will not get any special treatment.

Any other thoughts or suggestions?

Merry Christmas guys. Hope there were plenty of GW and other assorted modeling products under the tree/menora/whatever

As for me, I got enough money to pick up a few Reaper paints, so I'm going to hold off any major painting until I get those in.

I got some work to do for some prospective jobs I'm looking at for the future, so I'll probably be kept pretty busy for the next two weeks. Hopefully I'll get the more mundane conversions out of the way (cannon crews, head swaps, bayonets, more rough riders, etc) before the paint shows up. Keep an eye out for more updates, and hopefully I'll have this army wrapped up here relatively soon.

Cheers

Oh, one question. The green stuff bayonet didn't work. The glue wouldn't take, and it was way to flexible to accept paint. Any other ideas on how to make socket bayonets? It would be nice to get an actual triangle blade on the end, but I can't find any triangle rod small enough. Anyone have any idea where to source some, or other things that might work as well?

maybie a thin rod of somesort, and carve a point on one end..

I ordered some triangle rod to see if it would work for the bayonets. Got some round rod as backup as well...

Yes, there will be paint...

I need tutorials on grass flocks thing. which glues do you use for it? PVA or Cyano-Acrylate? or something else?



is this an accurate expressions of Confederacy infantrymen? aren't there any standing army? each infantrymen in the same unit doesn't wear the headgear of the same designs and colours (but they looked alot like 30-years war musketeers) . unike the union troops (which looked alot like european standing armies).

one of every ten or twenty infantrymen wear hard leather trousers rather than blue denim (??)

Well you have to understand, the movie Gettysburg used many different reenactor units that supplied their own uniforms (usually made from the wrong kind of material). God and Generals did a much better job with uniforms and is worth watching for that.
Southern troops were usually dressed much more consistently then portrayed in movies and such. Uniforms were standardized soon after the battle of first Manassas (prior to that many southern troops actually wore blue uniforms) and were manufactured in both the south and Great Britain. The butternut color you sometimes see is a result of poor dyes being used and fading in the sun. Light blue trousers or gray trousers were worn depending on the regiment and year, with uniform changes taking place over time. Uniforms were also made out of cotton, not denim.

As for static grass, all I use is some Elmer's glue (I suppose any PVA glue would work) and a dedicated brush. Paint the glue on (not to thick or it will run, but not too thin or you'll be loosing your grass over time), then I sprinkle the grass on top. I then turn the model upside down and tap the bottom of the base so that the grass will stand upright and the extra grass falls off. Make sense?

dude, you are awesome! I love themed armies, and yours is a really good one! I really like the cannons, and the gunline dudes look awesome too. Keep it up!

Amazing stuff.

KillerAngel wrote:
Southern troops were usually dressed much more consistently then portrayed in movies and such. Uniforms were standardized soon after the battle of first Manassas (prior to that many southern troops actually wore blue uniforms) and were manufactured in both the south and Great Britain. The butternut color you sometimes see is a result of poor dyes being used and fading in the sun.

Not entirely true. If strictly speaking of the Army of Northern Virgina, then yes, the butternut was a result of poor quality dyes late in the war. However, it should be pointed out that fading in period dyes, such as sumac based dyes, can happen as rapidly as ONE MONTH after dyeing the article of clothing. However, compared to other elements of Confederate forces, ANV had better consistency in it's uniforms then, say, Western or deep south forces, thanks to the amount of grey cloth that Richmond Depot got from blockaid runners from England.

Units in the west, however, largely made do with either brown or plain butternut, or grey dyes derived from sumac that tended to turn brown or even khaki very quickly. (IIC Hood's troops resupplied in transit from ANV to AT at Richmond and their smartly turned out uniforms actually confused the Union troops opposing them as they were much more used to brown and tan as the colors of thier opposition, again IIRC)

Baronlveagh, you are absolutely correct. To clarify, this will be an ANV army and therefore will have a pretty standardized uniform with a little variance for flavor. Not going for ultimate realism here, so I'll be throwing in some browns, khakis, and blues.
Interesting story about Hood though, I didn't know that

With regards to the army, painting is a slow process right now with everything I have to do, but I have gotten a few guys painted and I think they look awesome. Once I finish getting this Lascannon team painted up I'll post some more pictures.

Thanks again for the kind words guys...

So, the result of my weeks of effort. The pace is very slow due to school/job hunting, but hopefully I'll have a fully assembled and painted army within the next few months.
Up next is the rest of the Lascannon HWS, the last two members of the CCS, some Rough Riders, and some "Ratling" sharpshooters, but there is no telling when the next update will be.

great job on the flags, they look awesome!
And the lascannon is really good as well! keep it up!

Im liking this blog, the Parrot cannon/missle launchers are a great idea!

The firing line look is fab, keep it up!

Update was well worth the wait. Standards look good and the cannon are fantastic. Keep it up!

I say, this looks rather awesom