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I'm glad to hear more is coming. I'm up to page 7 now, and have enjoyed lots more cool stuff. I especially like the shots of your entire guard force, and that transport you made from the German halftrack. I can't believe how much you improved on that.

The Hanomag conversion was an awful lot of fun- and something I'd been thinking about doing for a long time, glad you liked it! For me, one of the most serendipitous finds was the broken bit of USB plug adapter in the parking lot- it became the hatch coaming for the TC's position. It was the most extensive kitbash/conversion I'd done up tot hat time. The Phaeton ammo hauler is all scratchbuilt except for the tread units (which are from a Soviet WWII B4 tracked howitzer). The howitzer it supports will (hopefully soon) be my first complete scratchbuild from start to finish.

Thank you for looking in!

Welp, this is what I have been up to since last posting: the Raging Heroes figures as a Panzerjaeger/1st Grenadiers Platoon or Company Command Squad is finished. I didn't want to bother folks with partially painted, or just base painted figures- I wanted something substantial to show.

When last we spoke, I was gnashing my teeth over the indignities of resin. I have to admit, once you realize you have to invoke the Dark Arts to keep the blasted stuff together, it does take paint rather well, oftentimes having detail superior to many plastic castings. Having said that, if I can buy one-piece resin castings, vice little kits, I'd far rather that.

Here's what we started with:





ww.dakkadakka.com/gallery/944896-Command%20Team%2C%20Female%2C%20Imperial%20Guard%2C%20Infantry%2C%20Raging%20Heroes.html][/url]



I used just about every trick I've learned over 40+ years of painting, and especially what I've seen/benn instructed in here on DakkaDakka:
- Thin my paints
- Wash low areas dark
- Drybrush high areas light (mixed my own colors)
- Paint the face background and eyes first
- Outline with black where you can
- Freehand the flag if you can't get a transfer on it
- Pay attention to the 'story' for each figure (why they do what they do, what they're doing now, what they'll do next)
- Have fun with it (otherwise, go back to real life work)

Here's what we finished up with:

Group shots:





Colonel Ludmilla Magdanova:





Color Sergeant Volga Potemkine:







Fleet Officer Irina Kurganova (we have to nuke the site from orbit- it's the only way to be sure). I was going for a naval landing party look with her- Navy-issue coat, so no one mistakes her for one of the knuckle-dragging mouthbreathers (like me), but with a pair of borrowed grunt boots and some tac equipment to keep up on the ground:





Security Sergeant Aaqila Noyakin:





Medical Specialist Sergeant Karoline Nedalka:





As for go-backs: I'm going to touch up the bases and dry brush some white over the Astro-granite and I'm going to add color to the trim on the hood of Fleet Officer Kurganova (couldn't see it througfh my magnifier, took the photo being enlarged to make out the detail- now I've seen it, I can't _not_ see it). I look forward to your observations and constructive criticism to help me see other things through your eyes.

On to the next- more follows soonest.

Looking great! As for tiny details only revealing themselves, be glad you have the regular military style ones. The jail birds rag tag gear makes it even more “fun” to figure out what is going on.

Love the recent (to me) projects Meer_Cat! And I found point you’ve raised about the idea of modelling and painting for the sheer joy of it quite poignant. I’m in the same category. I don’t game, simply because I don’t really enjoy that side of it. I just enjoy creating and painting something that I can call my own with out having any barriers. I think that element gets lost sometimes with tabletop modelling.

Great stuff as always!

Loving the model Meer_Cat! For eyes, try shading the whole eye socket, then painting into that, it gives adramatic effect and makes it easier to touch up if you have too much white around the eyes. Your colonel and medic wold greatly benefit from that IMHO. Oh, and don't fret about what you're showing us: if you feel like showing PIP, do so. It's your blog, we're just happy you're showing your work

Good effort all round.
Always good to try new things. Only way to improve.

Unfamiliar with the models. Interesting to see.

Thank you all for the comments- it means a lot to hear what you think!

 ChaoticMind wrote:
Looking great! As for tiny details only revealing themselves, be glad you have the regular military style ones. The jail birds rag tag gear makes it even more “fun” to figure out what is going on.

Thanks CM! I've got some of the Jailbirds hanging around somewhere- I think when I get around to them I'm going to primer in a color other than white to get a better idea of what's going on!

 Bash the Bosh wrote:
Love the recent (to me) projects Meer_Cat! And I found point you’ve raised about the idea of modelling and painting for the sheer joy of it quite poignant. I’m in the same category. I don’t game, simply because I don’t really enjoy that side of it. I just enjoy creating and painting something that I can call my own with out having any barriers. I think that element gets lost sometimes with tabletop modelling.

Great stuff as always!

It's good to have you back- Bash! The one governor I had in the past to keep me from buying more than I would ever, ever paint was the stricture that it had to fit into an Army so it cold be gamed. No that I'm customizing everything and starting to scratchbuild more and more, I'm not as tethered to the 'gaming' aspect of things and can give in and just create things for the fun of it, without worrying about 'counts as' or whether a gaming group will let a piece in. I'd play if I could (I think), but between work, fixing up a farm, rescued Shetland ponies and a wife that reasonably expects some attention from time to time- gaming will have to wait!

 CommissarKhaine wrote:
Loving the model Meer_Cat! For eyes, try shading the whole eye socket, then painting into that, it gives adramatic effect and makes it easier to touch up if you have too much white around the eyes. Your colonel and medic wold greatly benefit from that IMHO. Oh, and don't fret about what you're showing us: if you feel like showing PIP, do so. It's your blog, we're just happy you're showing your work

Thanks CK! Believe it or not- my technique for eyes is very close to what you describe. I found a video on Youtube, and the guy said to paint the whole socket a darker color, then fit the white in, then paint vertical thin lines for pupils (rather than try for dots) and trim everything in with skin tones. I've tried it a couple of times now and think I'm getting better at it (compare with the female panzerjaeger from a couple of projects ago) but even with a fine brush I'm still a bit ham-handed, if better than before. I'll give it another whirl and we'll see what comes out with a bit more practice!

 Dr H wrote:
Good effort all round.
Always good to try new things. Only way to improve.

Unfamiliar with the models. Interesting to see.

Thanks Doc! And more new things for me coming up, I reckon. The figures are Raging Heroes KST Troops in resin. They're billed as 'the Toughest Girls in the Galaxy'; I thought they made for good commissars and commanders and such.

More follows soonest!

Hey Meer Cat , great looking figures matey !

I too only paint and, more interesting to me convert, stuff. I like you basic colour layout, personally i'd go a little darker in the recesses, lately I've found purple and blue work surprisingly well on all kinds of colours, particularly in this case of greens and reds instead of perhaps the more usual brown or black which tends to make the piece look "dirty" if done to heavily.

I mostly ignore eyes completely as at this scale they are way too small for my eyes, however i sometimes will paint a turbo thin line of cream for the eye, paint the flesh around it and then let a tiny pool of skin wash form the eye, its the only way i can do it !

Meer_Cat, you wouldn't bother us with smaller work in progress posts, we visit your blog because we enjoy your work. Though you are right, this is certainly a substantial (and I'll add impressive) post. I especially like the armor and details you picked out on Colonel Ludmilla Magdanova, and the coat on the navy officer. I hate to criticize since it's better than I can do, but the eyes on most of these girls seem to be really bugging out, and I find it distracts from the high quality of the rest of the paint job. I wish I could offer some advice, but I can't paint details that small, and I've completely given up on trying to paint eyes, I just fill the eye area on my models with a dark wash and call it day.

 Big H wrote:
Hey Meer Cat , great looking figures matey !

I too only paint and, more interesting to me convert, stuff. I like you basic colour layout, personally i'd go a little darker in the recesses, lately I've found purple and blue work surprisingly well on all kinds of colours, particularly in this case of greens and reds instead of perhaps the more usual brown or black which tends to make the piece look "dirty" if done to heavily.

I mostly ignore eyes completely as at this scale they are way too small for my eyes, however i sometimes will paint a turbo thin line of cream for the eye, paint the flesh around it and then let a tiny pool of skin wash form the eye, its the only way i can do it !

quote=Syro_ 717308 9949777 6829858d63fba14ed8dfa5380ea9abdd.jpg]Meer_Cat, you wouldn't bother us with smaller work in progress posts, we visit your blog because we enjoy your work. Though you are right, this is certainly a substantial (and I'll add impressive) post. I especially like the armor and details you picked out on Colonel Ludmilla Magdanova, and the coat on the navy officer. I hate to criticize since it's better than I can do, but the eyes on most of these girls seem to be really bugging out, and I find it distracts from the high quality of the rest of the paint job. I wish I could offer some advice, but I can't paint details that small, and I've completely given up on trying to paint eyes, I just fill the eye area on my models with a dark wash and call it day.

Command group came out looking great.

Here are a couple of quick shots of the next project- a mortar battery of the 7th Ladogan Infantry Regiment. I saw these inexpensive wheeled mortar kits on eBay some time ago, they've been cluttering up my workbench for awhile, waiting their turn, and that time is now. The kits are from Technolog/Robogear and, as part of a larger order, came to about US$3.00 each. I like the look of the old Soviet heavy machine guns and mortars on wheeled carriages, so grabbed them up.



They are intended to be a spring loaded toy that goes with one of their gaming systems, so I modified them a little bit and used modeling putty to fill in the gaps in the slot on the top where the loading arm would have gone- I glued the loading arm in place and now what would have been the driver for the round of ammunition has become either an optic of some kind, or a recoil absorber, or something.



I wanted something on the nose of each round to indicate its purpose: high explosive, illumination, smoke, anti-personnel, but didn't want to be bothered freehanding a stripe, or masking and painting a stripe, so I took some 1/4 inch hobby tape in different colors, cut it in half lengthwise and wrapped it around the shell. It's a little thick when viewed close p, but at any reasonable distance it looks pretty good (and will get weathered and washed, to take the shine off). I just have to remember to position the slight overlap in the tape down/hidden when the shells get fitted into the bases.



I debated, but will end up cutting the bottom part of the rounds off- they're just too big as is.

The crews will be a kitbash of GW and DreamForge parts. During one stretch of my time in the military I was a mortarman (81 and 107mm guns), so I'm hoping to take my time during assembly, push my greenstuff skills further and impart some good, realistic articulation to the figures. The peak scene I want to attempt is one crewman fusing a round with an arming wrench. We'll see.

All bets are off if my Empire of Men Kickstarter figures get here before I'm done with this battery!

More follows soonest!

Next time I need to add lobbas to my grots, I'll know where to look . I'll have to look into robogear - I see it pop up on all kinds of conversions, and it looks pretty nice.

I love the Tehnolog stuff, but hadn’t seen these. They’re great, and don’t need any 40K-ifying/de-toying like their other stuff!

If my Empire of Men stuff shows up, it's alllllllllll over for me.

Loving the mortars, I would imagine if you ever start playing your opponent is going to look at all those tanks and heavy weapons teams and say "Oh $&^&!" Love your stuff Meer keep it up.

Those mortars are brilliant, great idea!

Thank you for all the responses!

 CommissarKhaine wrote:
Next time I need to add lobbas to my grots, I'll know where to look . I'll have to look into robogear - I see it pop up on all kinds of conversions, and it looks pretty nice.

It turns out that Robogear/Technolog put out all kinds of stuff- including a lot of medieval/historical things that are just crying out to 'grotified'. I have a T-rex walker (much like an armored sentinel) from the Robogear line that needs to get built. And the sets are so cheap, kitbashing and parting out is almost what they were made for!

 JohnnyHell wrote:
I love the Tehnolog stuff, but hadn’t seen these. They’re great, and don’t need any 40K-ifying/de-toying like their other stuff!

I found these and a sort of 'deathray' thing that I ordered along with a couple more tank hulls and anti=aircraft turrets- hadn't seen them before either but they looked like naturals for IG heavy weapons. I don't mind the GW mortar, but it's just not as cool as these jobs with wheeled carriages! "How do you know we will win the war, Comrade General?" "Because our mortars have _wheels_ Grigoriy!"

 Briancj wrote:
If my Empire of Men stuff shows up, it's alllllllllll over for me.

I started out with a 'reasonable' amount of figures in my pledge to put together a good platoon, with a command team, recon squad and three line squads. What I ended up with was most everything from the Empire and enough Dominion stuff to make a good 1000 point per side battle. Really like their figures and vehicles, and when they come in they get first priority. I've kept myself firmly to the rules "one project at a time and it must be finished before you move on" but I'm waiving that when the package gets here.

Yorkright wrote:
Loving the mortars, I would imagine if you ever start playing your opponent is going to look at all those tanks and heavy weapons teams and say "Oh $&^&!" Love your stuff Meer keep it up.

Peace through superior firepower. Or, as I read in someone's blog quote "If your overwhelming force isn't getting the job done- you're not using enough." Thanks, man!

 Apollinaire wrote:
Those mortars are brilliant, great idea!

Thanks Apollinaire!

Actually got some painting and figure shaping in tonight- but won't have any real pics to put up until maybe Monday. Tomorrow after work I head up to the farm and become the loving husband and rescuer of Shetland ponies until pumpkin time Sunday night and I have to go back earning a paycheck- darn that Real Life stuff!

More follows soonest!

I passed on all the Dominion stuff, the rest goes into my IG as various squadron leaders, etc.

Understood- was thinking to do the same myself; but I've got the core of an Eldar Army going, and somehow I managed to talk myself into a bunch of Dominion- plus a lot of the freebie stretch goals were Dominion as well.

If the Eldar fever passes, I reckon I can flog them on eBay!

The mortars looks good, good eye! I'm constantly tempted to pick up robogear stuff, but haven't fallen to the temptation yet.

Yeah, I'm not sure what I'll do with the Dominion Freebies. Probably send them to someone who needs weirdo alien love.

LOving the mortars, some of their stuff had components that actually fired, I said this one of those?

Just wrapping up a long evening with the ponies, apologies for brevity codes replies:

@Syro: You can find Robogear in individual kits, there are still some starter sets out there and Hoard 'o' Bits carries separate parts for cheap. The one starter set was something like US$60 and came with building components, right vehicle kits and some infantry figures. The infantry themselves are too tall, even for WH40K/GW stuff, but their weapons and backpacks are very useful for bits.

@briancj: I'm particularly looking forward to the Lady What's Her Name, and her pet alien tiger looking thing. That one will be fun to paint just for a vignette, I think. Of course, I have to paint every day for the rest of my life and live to be 100 to get everything painted....

@Theophany: Yes, these had a spring and driver combination that fit inside the barrel and ran through a slot in the top of the barrel/tube. I think that's why the 'ammo' was so long- the bottom section locked with the lug on the driver and when you flicked it, it fired. Too much fun- until someone looses an eye or the cat chases, catches and swallows one!

Thank you all for looking in! I've gotten some of the details painted on the mortars (tires, elevating mechanisms) and expect to start weathering when IB can sit down again. And ma starting to get crews assembled.

More follows soonest!

Those gals look great! I have the Kurganova Sisters myself. Interesting heavy mortars, should work very good for the army

 shasolenzabi wrote:
Those gals look great! I have the Kurganova Sisters myself. Interesting heavy mortars, should work very good for the army

Thanks shas! The Raging Heroes line are the first resin figures I've tried (and good to get the experience in, before a metric crap-ton of Empire of Men resin figs hit in the next few weeks!) and among the most detailed I've ever tried. I learned a lot and had some fun along the way.

The mortars are coming along nicely, detail paint done and getting ready to do some (hopefully) light weathering. I say hopefully, because I'm good at heavy dirt, but not so good yet at 'just out of the motor pool but not yet actually in the swamp' levels of dirt. I'm painting a bit on the tubes, then assembling a bit more of a crew figure, then back to painting.

I have (fortuitously enough) three WWII French tankettes that look to be just the right size to act as prime movers for the mortars, so another something new I want to try is to mount the gun with its crew on one base, the tracked prime over on another and insert both into a larger vignette base. I've seen lots of examples here on DakkaDakka, so have that to go by.

Hopefully some more WIP pics tonight, but one way or another, more follows soonest!



Automatically Appended Next Post:
With some incentive from schank23, along with the new mortars and their crews, I retouched my Fleet Officer's coat by painting the trim sections black and trying to pinstripe a red line on that:

Here's what we started with:





Here's what we ended up with:





I like it a lot better- the darker black and the red make it pop, I think (although the other colors, more drab, somber, were a lot more survivable!). Sorry for picture quality, I left my little camera at the farm and took these with my ancient cell phone (but better than no phone or camera at all, for sure!)

I have to chuckle a bit, because one of the first tricks the guy who taught me how to paint Napoleonics gave was outlining in black! After years (decades) of more or less just Imperial Guard and doing everything in camo or greens, I forgot some of the flamboyant basics!

Wow, the new red stripes do really pop. I like the look.

Just a brief update:

The mortars themselves are more or less done; I tried not to over-grunge them, trying for that worn, but kept in serviceable condition look that so many of you are so good at. Apologies for pics again, these are from my phone until I get back to the farm and grab my little camera:





The crewmen figures are nearly completely assembled and I'll be able to start painting them next week. Going for a gaming standard paintjob generally, but want to focus on doing the faces and eyes better- I've not given up yet!

I'm one 60mm base short, but those should be arriving next week also; I have some ideas for terraining them that I want to try, based again on things you folks have shown me. Overall, I'm having a lot of fun with this project: I started it with the idea of going quick and minimal and having some fun with it, to see how those Technolog/Robogear mortars might do, nd so fr I've kept my scope-creeping obsessive compulsiveness in check!

More follows soonest.

Those mortars are nifty.