Followers:

Sunday 22 November 2009

Generic Iraqi Force: RH Liberation Miniatures T-62 tank finished



The RH Liberation Miniatures T-62 resin kit is finally finished. Here are a couple of pics, together with the Britannia T-55 I do now have two tanks to oppose the American invaders in Iraq. :-) Yes, I know: the tracks are the wrong way, because stupid me didn't pay attention. Some might think I overdid the weathering, but I do like totally worn third world country tracks.


Saturday 14 November 2009

Generic Iraqi Force: T-62 MBT - work continued

Hey - no, I am not dead. Although it ain't much there actually is progress. I applied the second layer of paint to my Iraqi T-62 and what you can see in the picture above is my rather smelly workplace. Smelly because on that pic you see the tank and its wash of burnt umber oil paint drying. Thinned down with turpentine...headache-causing progress I can tell you. When the wash has dried I'll give it a light drybrush and then comes the part I enjoy the most: detailing and unit marking as well as weathering, tear and wear. Soon...

Wednesday 30 September 2009

Winners of the Britannia Build at the Guild: the competition is over

The competition is over at the forum of the guildwargamers.
The first time ever I took part in such a thing and guess what - I really made 4th in the ranks of 34 competitors !!!
Not even that - I was later awarded with the price of the 3rd rank, because one of the top 3 ranks was also painting for the competition's sponsor on a regular basis.

In other words, I am 4th in the ranks but got awarded Bronze !!! I am proud that people liked my ZIL-157 truck and my T-55 Battle tank.

I will for sure take part in any other sponsored competition again in that forum. It was a funny, fair and an interesting match and made me finally paint something from start to finish in one go.

I will go back on working with my Chinese PLA next. Stay tuned!

Sunday 20 September 2009

Generic Iraqi Force: ZIL and T-55 finished !!

First pic shows spent 23mm ammo shells made from 2mm long pieces of 0,8mm thick copper wire, second the finally finished ZIL-157 with ZU-23-2 AA gun (removable to turn the truck into resupply vehicle) and the T-55 tank.


Friday 18 September 2009

Generic Iraqi Force: ZIL-157 "Resupply"



I obviously so far didn't take any pics of the unarmed ZIL-157 variant I made for some reason - so here's the "Resupply" truck (above).

Oh, and I did paint the blinkers orange now. Looks better, doesn't it? Base done, too....

Thursday 17 September 2009

Generic Iraqi Force: detailing the ZIL-157




Got back to painting today and tried finishing off some stuff. Hence, I gave the ZU-23-2 a drybrushing in two stages for rusty, used and dusty look. I covered up some of the way too big blotches of chipping paint and totally repainted the wheels. I decided Tamiya's NATO black looks more like tires as GW Chaos Black ever will (lol).
Gave the ZIL an Iraqi liscence plate and in general just applied some details here and there. Than I had an (rather brilliant as it turned out to be) idea: dust effects on the windshields and a look as if the wiper blades have removed some of the desert sand from the windshield.
I did that by cutting some templates out of scotch tape with a scissors, applying these to the model and then just drybrush it with some GW Bleached Bone. I love the effect. Looks really cool.
That leaves the bases to be done, some more minor details and a repaint of the blinker(s) into a rather orange tone. Yellow's too bright IMO.



Wednesday 16 September 2009

Generic Iraqi Force: first time used oil paint for washes



This was the first time I used oil paint for washes instead of GW products. I intended to give the ZU-23-2 a full wash for a rather dirty and rusty look but had so much thinned down Burnt Umber paint left that I started to give the tank rain marks (in Iraq, I know - lol) and rusty spots for the ZIL.
I also applied some Iraqi decals that I had left over from a SU-24 kit to the truck. Next step will be to try to conceal some of the "chipping paint effects" as I consider them to be too large for this scale to look convincing.
And then there is even more rust, dust, exhaust smoke and grease to be added. The painting war goes on :-)

Sunday 13 September 2009

Generic Iraqi Force: latest WIP shots of the Britannia-build contest


Well, its still not finished, but at least we are slowly getting there... Work on the tank is almost done, going to concentrate on the ZIL for now. Some quick shots of the progress so far can be seen above. Note the chipping paint - its the first time I use this sort of weathering.

Friday 4 September 2009

Generic Iraqi Force: Some progress in painting my vehicles.

Yeah, I know. Not much done so far. I really need to spend more time on the painting table. I am sure the T-55 is going to look stunning once done. I am pleased with my work so far, although I could really need more practice. Oh well...

Wednesday 26 August 2009

A quick test miniature: USMC MarPat (woodland) Liberation 20mm figure





Another test, this time with a "proper" miniature. 20mm modern US soldier from Liberation.
Base still needs some flock added. There is probably a thousand and more painters out there who could do a better job, painting MarPat woodland camo, but I think this one looks convincing enough.
Now I gotta order some more battle brothers for this guy. Until I finally end up with a full strength platoon plus support units.

Tuesday 18 August 2009

Black October: middle eastern fundamentalist project





Fighting the infidel will need more than just infantry. The Black October fundamentalists rely on technicals of various brands to reinforce their efforts to drive the foreign forces off their holy soil. Facing air superiority through their enemies I thought equipment such as the Russian-built SA-7 anti-air missiles could be of great help for the Insurgents...



Black October: middle eastern fundamentalist project





I just continue to publish more shots of Rob's impressive work. You'll see how much little detail he has created on each and every single miniature that is part of this huge project. It seems like every miniature tells its own story. So, you will find IEDs as well as hidden snipers that are taking their chance to fullfil their duty for the cause.




Black October: middle eastern fundamentalist project





The Black October project originated from the need to have a large amount of middle eastern style insurgent miniatures for the use in Ambush Alley and as support for regular troops in Force On Force games.
All miniatures displayed are 20mm miniatures from Rolf Hedges' PLO range (Liberation miniatures). A very good friend, Rob, took over the tremendous work of painting and converting over 40 miniatures and vehicles for me. Rob, who is known as panzerfaust200 at The Guild forum has years of expertise in both, sculpting and painting. I don't know how to thank him for the probably best miniatures I have ever seen in my entire wargaming career. His work makes every game of Ambush Alley an unforgettable joy for all players involved.



Generic Iraqi Force: painting has started (finally!!)


I am proud of myself: I finally started to paint some of this black pile of models! A layer of Vallejo's US Field Drab is going to prepare these vehicles for the desert scheme I do have in mind. Hopefully my job gives me enough time on the afternoons of this week to add some more paint to these models. I already got myself an interesting article on the markings of the Iraqi Army. Should be fun to paint some details such as liscence plates in Arabic letters and brigade markings. We shall see..

Sunday 16 August 2009

Generic Iraqi Force: reconnaissance force vehicles ready for painting

With the completion of the fourth UAZ 469 my Iraqi recon force is ready for painting. I now have two 106mm guns that can be exchanged for SPG-9 73mm recoilless rifles and two weapon carrier variants with fixed guns.
As the Britannia sponsored Group Build contest will close next month I should start painting now for the Guild forum. Well, my first layers of paint will be released with pictures right here, so stay tuned.

The Dragon Rises: second WZ 551 IFV ready for painting

Today I finished the conversion of a second S&S models WZ 551 Infantry Fighting Vehicle. Another two are already purchased, giving me enough rides for a whole platoon + command section. I only hope Shaun will release the Dongfeng copies of the American HMMWV pretty soon. I need some recon forces for the PLA.
If he won't come up with the release of the HJ-8 carrying version of the WZ 551 soon, I will by no doubts start a heavy conversion on one of the IFVs.

Thursday 13 August 2009

The Dragon Rises: WZ 551 IFV and Type 99 MBT







What you can see above is a very early WIP shot of the two main vehicles you will spot in my PLA project soon. Both are from the excellent 20mm scale range of modern era resin kits of Shaun Matthews (S&S models). As you can see there is more than just resin and metal parts on those kits. Although I think that Mr. Matthews has done a fantastic job in the creation of these, it was obvious to me that I can add a lot of details with just kit-bashing some Revell plastic kits to get parts.


For example I added the undercarriage and wheels of a German Luchs to the WZ 551, as well as some tools, tail lights, rear view mirrors and wheels. In case of the Type 99 I replaced the whole main gun with T-72 parts and added the fuel drums to the back. By no means I do claim the vehicles are now exact copies of their original exemplars, but there is no doubt they do certainly look a lot better with those bits. If you like them, feel free to leave some feedback.

Sunday 9 August 2009

The Dragon Rises: modern Chinese PLA project

Some of you might have wondered why Sgt. Scream did not update his Iraqi Force project recently. Well, after assembling a lot of middle eastern armour I was kind of fed up with it for a while and so I took the step and started building some stuff I was first not up to release already. It is a project that I have planned for a long time.
The modern Chinese People Liberation Army or PLA has grown into a force not to be underestimated. Within the recent years, studying of western technology has had a major influence on Chinese weapon construction and research.
I am going to add infantry, armour, APC and IFV as well as some air units to a force for some nice Ambush Alley F-O-F games. My goal would be a platoon of mechanized infantry with some battalion support assets. First pics will follow soon.

Wednesday 5 August 2009

Generic Iraqi force: Sukhoi Su-22 "Fitter" (MasterCraft 1/72)



The 1/72 MasterCraft kit of the Sukhoi Su-22 Fitter is going to add some air support to my Iraqi force. The kit allows to assemble the Su-22 in two different ways: recon and fighter/bomber. My version will of course be the armed one.
There is some pretty impressive ordnance included but I will not add these weapons to the kit. I found some reference in the internet and my version is going to carry two AAMs, rocket pods and a bomb rack for small bombs. The quality looks good - I hope there is no nasty surprise when I am going to build this kit.

Generic Iraqi force: T-62 Main Battle Tank

T-62 Main Battle Tanks from RH Liberation Miniatures. The wargaming model is a simple resin kit with metal parts. Hull and turret are cast in resin while gun barrel and tracks and search light are made from metal. I only added a Liberation Miniatures tank commander into the open hatch and a Britannia HMG to the gunner's hatch. Barrel and hatch were pinned into place.
It's a rather simple kit, but I think it does fullfil its purpose. I wouldn't mind getting myself another one of those.