Airborne recon platoon

These guys will fill in my 1500 all US parachute company. It's been nice painting up some vehicles for a change. I'd say they're around 80% complete.

Just need to paint up the gunners, apply decals, some washing and weathering and hopefully they'll be ready for war come this friday night :)

Currahee!!!

US paratroopers anti tank platoon completed

The final element of my 1K US paratroopers force is finally done :)

I'm glad i painted these last because they are really nice models. Nice silhouette esp from the side. You gotta some really big balls sitting behind those guns waiting for tanks to appear esp if u see and hear a big tiger rumbling close by.

Well, they're not fearless veterans for nothing huh.

Not one to rest at the moment so my next project is the paras recon platoon consisting of 8 armored jeeps equipped with .50 cal machine guns.

This is to complete my 1.5K list and will not feature in the market garden campaign....well perhaps they could. Lets see how fast i can get them done.

Silver Skulls test model

Minor distraction last weekend. This model was done last Sunday.

It's another test model for a project next year. Lesser known space marine chapter. It would certainly be a more affordable and doable project than the pre-heresy Emperor's Children, which i will do one day :)

My initial choice was the doom eagles but finally settled on silver skulls. Ditto on doom eagles coz their chapter specialty is assault marines....and after my descent of angels list, i'm in no mood to paint more jump pack marines.

The silver skulls have a darker metallic tone compared to doom eagles and after reading up on them i was hooked. An ultramarine 2nd founding successor chapter who believe deeply in signs and portents.

As you can see, i'm experimenting with weathering for this project. Although i don't want to over do it.

I still need to work on making my chips look more realistic. And i'll be getting the gw silver skulls shoulder pads so please forgive the crude freehand rendition.

In the past i would've been pleased with this result but a change is needed.
I have to learn new tricks :)

And in case you're wondering, no i haven't forgotten my airborne troops. The guns for the anti-tank platoon is all done :) 15 more infantry models and my 1K parachute infantry list is all done!!!

Appreciate your comments guys :)

US paratroopers Machine Gun platoon completed

These were actually completed yesterday morning but i wanted to share the matt varnish tip first :)

Apologies for the dark pic.

And continuing my color coding system, this platoon got light green dots.

This platoon will be divided into 2 and attached to 1st and 2nd infantry platoon. They'll be providing covering fire while the brave fearless vets mount their assaults. Also useful for providing defensive fire in case the platoons are assaulted. No bazooka teams because i didn't have the points. For my 1.5k list i will definitely have 2 bazooka teams for added anti-tank threats.

I just have to paint my anti-tank platoon to finish this 1K list and they'll be ready to take part in operation market garden :)
I'll start on that tomorrow.

In the meantime, yesterday afternoon and the most part of sunday will be occupied with a test model for a project scheduled for next year.

Of course when i say test model you know it won't be FoW models hehe.

In the next post :)

Matt varnish

I was having trouble with matt varnishes going all dusty white a while back. I tried using gw and vallejo varnishes and both gave me the same results. After airbrushing the varnish on, white dusty specks would appear after the varnish dried up. Maybe its because i used an airbrush to spray it on. It can't be the product because i bought both quite recently.

Anyway, my good friend Jeff suggested another product. Share and share alike :)

These are the 2 products.

1. Daler-Rowney soluble varnish matt
I got this at Arts Friend at Gardens for around RM25-30. Sorry guys, i forgot the actual price.
It is an acrylic resin based varnish. The liquid is quite thick and needs to be diluted for our use.

That's why we need product no.2

2. Ace Hardware mineral spirits odorless paint thinner.
Again i apologise for not remembering the actual price but it shouldn't be more that RM30.
You should be able to get this at any Ace Hardware store. I got mine at Midvalley.
We'll use this to thin the varnish down. Its odorless so it won't stink up your hobby area. But do work in a well aired area for safety reasons :)

Because the varnish is quite thick, you don't need to use a lot. I use a ratio of 1:3 varnish:thinner and it's worked beautifully for me.

The color after diluting. Its ready for airbrushing now. I've always used an airbrush to varnish my models.

But for the sake of my friends, i tried using a brush to see if it would produce the same results.

Before varnishing.
After varnishing. The one on the left and in front was done using a brush and the other using an airbrush. As you can see, they produced similar results. Fuhhhh :)
I can't quite show the level of mattness (is this even a word?) in this picture but I am very happy with the results. I would swear by them :)
Next time, i'll buy the gloss or semi-gloss and see how it works.

2 lessons from this methinks.

1. Share and share alike. If you're having a problem just tell your friends, they could hook you up with a solution.

2. Go outside the standard hobby range of products. You never know what gems you can uncover. This varnish should last me for avery long time. Not bad for a RM50 investment :)

Thanks for sharing Jeff ;)
No going back for me.

Machine gun platoon update

Started work on the machine gun platoon last Sunday. They would've been done except that i think just 2 models on the normal base leaves it looking rather empty.

There isn't much reference on the net that i've managed to find and even the FoW site has just one clear pic. So i decided to paint an extra figure for all the teams.

Should get these guys done by this Saturday.

1 week for 1 platoon...just going with the flow :)

Easy Company 2nd platoon completed

Completed 2nd platoon today. Changed my style of painting from single bases to doing the whole platoon at one go. Through trial and error, i believe i've got down my process and painting these models are becoming a bit quicker. Which is good because i still have a lot to paint to finish this army :)
I've continued with using different colors to differentiate each platoons. 2nd got blue.
And this is what i've managed to paint so far. Co HQ with 3 bazooka teams, 1st platoon, 2nd platoon and field artillery battery. Not bad huh :)
And all of them fits snugly into these trays which i will share in the next post. I'm sure you guys can guess where it comes from. Suffice to say, they're AWESOME!!! Must buy for FoW players/hobbyists.
Next up is the machine gun platoon.

As always, i appreciate all comments and suggestions.

Thanks for reading guys :)

Parachute Field Artillery Battery Completed

Completed the command, staff and observer teams. Now this platoon is done and ready to lay down some hurt to support the infantry platoon before their assaults.

I'm really enjoying painting these guys :) And to keep with my color recognition system, i painted dark purple dots to mark them. It's not too visible from the picture but they're there.

Up next is 2nd platoon. But a neat project just got whispered to me during work and it's sounding really interesting hehe. Let's how fickle i am....


Must paint 2nd platoon....must paint second platoon....don't look at those marines.....don't...paint 2nd platoon....huh!!! where did that come from..... ;)

Cheers guys :)

Parachute Field Artillery Battery

These guys took a full solid week to finish. 16 models and 4 guns. I have really over estimated my schedule to finish my para company hahahah. Don't we all :)




Unfortunately, i haven't completed the command,staff and observer teams....sighh....9 more soldiers to complete my artillery platoon.

Currahee!!!! :)

Easy Company 1st platoon ready for war

Finally got these guys done :) I'll admit that when i started this project i thought it would be easy and quick. Quite the opposite...

What you see here is the basic strength of a US para platoon. 1 platoon command, 1 bazooka team, 1 mortar team and 6 infantry teams. 32 small soldiers in total. Of course they're not as big or detailed as your average marine figure but those figure do stack up....

I had this idea of painting lines at the back of the bases to differentiate between platoons and independent teams but settled on using dots as these are easier to paint. So red is my Company HQ, yellow for 2iC and khaki are 1st platoon. Maybe blue for 2nd. This way when my troops are on the table i can easily identify where each platoon is and give necessary orders to destroy the enemy :)

Group pic of all completed teams. HQ, 2iC and 3 bazooka teams, 1st platoon and platoon command for 2nd platoon.

I'm tired of painting infantry teams for time being so went with these guys. Am sure you can guess what will go in the middle...

Goodnite and currahee!!!

101st progress

Completed the 1st platoon HQ and 1st squad. Progress has been slow this week but progress is still progress they say :)

So this is what i've done so far.

Company HQ consisting of Co commander and 2ic supported by 3 bazooka teams. 1st platoon ; platoon command and 2 rifle/mg team= 1 squad. I painted an extra command team which will be 2nd platoon's.

The followings pics are esp for 4eyedmonster, a fellow hobbyist and blogger i met for the first time over the weekend :)
You can check his blog here http://foureyed-monster.blogspot.com/

I use a small computer fan to dry paints faster when i need to. It uses a usb connecter and i plug it in to my laptop.


I like to paint my Fow individually bluetacked on whatever i can find as opposed to using the icecream stick method. Although i still do batch production painting in small squads. The good thing about batch painting is you feel a sense of achievement seeing the models completed. Squad by squad until its all done :)


And this is my ultra sophisticated photo studio hehe. A3 size paper and Ikea table lamp.

Have a good holiday everyone :)

Ghemehaal Annihilation video recap

Yesterday's hobby nite was truly FUN!!!

That was the best campaign experience ever in my life :)

I can't give away too much ..... you'll just have to wait for the video recap.

On that note I'd just like to give a big shout out to the awesome forgemaster Jeff the man Brooks. His videos for the campaign recap are truly the best there is out there. Without a shadow of a doubt.Great production and superb narration.

Let me share with you his production for Turn 1 and 2.





A big thank you to all those who showed up to make the night awesome!!!

Company HQ completed

My Company HQ is done :D !!!

I've included 3 bazooka teams for the HQ. In an all infantry list having extra anti tank elements is always prudent in my experience.

Next up is 1st platoon.

Currahee!!!

101st Airborne Division - Screaming Eagles

This post is dedicated to Hong Yip aka Cookie Yip.

Was in painting limbo until last Friday night. Started after I had completed painting my 2k points angels sanguine for the Ghemehaal campaign in September. Took a break for a while. Then had this over-whelming desire to paint but just didn't know what to paint. Worse was i couldn't find inspiration to paint anything.

Painted a test model emperor's children. Project for next year.

Painted the ancient stegadon. Lost interest.

Painted a DIY marine chapter. Lost interest.

Bought a dark eldar reaver and just completed one rider. Started on his bike but lost interest.

That was until Yip showed up at hobby night with his FOW US paratroopers company box set :)

Saturday morning, ransacked my hobby room to find these guys. In a forgotten box, in a very dark corner.

These are my US para models done in 2007. Wow...that's nearly 4 years ago....

They were my very first FOW infantry unit and i was new to the hobby :) Ugly bases huh...

Well, its Oct 2011 now. I've been in the hobby for some time now. A little bit wiser and learnt some skills along the way.

Had some spare models and ...

I give you Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division, the Screaming Eagles. This is the test model for the command squad led by none other than the legendary Lt Spears.

Yip - check out those unit patches on the left shoulders hehe.

Had so much fun painting these models!! Now i need to do a major de-base and paint removal project and start getting the 1st platoon done. Thanks again Yip. Hope this encourages you to paint up your paras :)

Let's set the military exercise date for end December...let's make it 6th January Hobby night :)

Curahhee !!!