War of 1812 US Militia

 Progress this week has been glacial - cant really explain why but I got home from work closer to 7pm than  6pm a couple of times and just could not be bothered heading out to the painting desk in the garage to do any work on these. Additionally, if I am honest, I find non uniformed figures from this kind of era pretty uninspiring to paint, so I don't really enjoy them - fortunately, this is the only militia unit I had to do, the remaining four unpainted US units are all in regulation uniform - the first of them are under coated and ready for me to start work on. As with all my US 1812 collection, the figures are by Old Glory.

This is the full unit - the Stars and Stripes are how they appeared in 1812, according to Google

I put the officer in a semi regulation uniform

The rest of the figures are in a mixture of civilian dress

There are several wearing what appear to be sombrero like straw hats - I assume the sculptor had some reason for putting his figures in this type of headgear!

Hopefully I have a better week at work and painting motivation will be consequently higher, leading to another completed unit of US Regulars this week - stay tuned!

Butterfly Blown Off Course.....

 I have painted six (of fifteen) US 1812 Militia and a further six have been under coated this evening, but....in the meantime....I felt an urge to paint a few more of the 3D WW2 Soviet girls, and here they are!

Reporting for duty - not quite sure what use I can make of this figure but I like the pose!

Kneeling sniper with scoped rifle

A blonde bomber with sticks of TNT tied together!

Standing sniper

Two views of the last figure, a kneeling pistol armed medic

I did not do the "whites of their eyes" this time - I may go back and change that, not sure. Below is some source material for anyone seeking inspiration for Soviet female figures - I watched this 6 or 8 part serial from Star Media right through on You Tube - its not a bad tale!

Its called " The Dawns here are Quiet"

Thats my lot for tonight - more 1812 figures soon, promise!

A Labour Weekend Labour of Love!

The third Monday of October is always "Labour Weekend" here in New Zealand - I assume because May Day in the northern hemisphere is in spring and our colonial ancestors thought a public holiday to celebrate the working man, forty hour week etc should be in the same season, rather than mid Autumn (or perhaps there is a more specific reason, like the anniversary of some forward looking piece of worker friendly legislation - if you are sufficiently interested, you can Google it!)

The point is - I had an extra day off work, we are still restricted to the boundaries of metropolitan Auckland, and as is traditional, the weather has been pretty average - queue a lot of time spent at the painting desk!

The outcome of this is a completed regiment of Old Glory War of 1812 US Regular Infantry.

The full regiment advancing 

The right flank 

The left flank

Two shots of the command element, followed by one shot each of the remaining six. The flag is a generic regimental colour found on the internet, as is my wont.

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I have several units of these to paint up, plus a 15 man unit of US militia, who are on the painting desk as I type - they are proving pretty quick to paint so likely to appear here in a couple of days time.

The Beginning of the End......

 ....to steal the middle lines of Churchills famous line about El Alamein....I am at the beginning of the end of my Border Reivers project, with the last seven English Militia/Garrison men completed. I now have two forces of "regular" Government troops, one from  each side of the border, plus assorted Reivers who can really be used for either nationality. I really should get mounted versions of the Reivers but we will see how that goes....I still have 6 or 8 TAG foot Reivers to paint up, and that will be the project 80% to 90% done....lets hope I can get a game in with them at some point! Here are tonight's "Fresh off the painting table"

Above, all seven of the new additions, whilst below is a close up of each of them in turn

Finally, below, two "action shots" of a confrontation between English and Scots forces - the Scottish leader really should not be pointing like that, hasn't he been on any public order courses - that is NOT the way to de escalate the situation!

Next up - US War of 1812 infantry.

A Few More Heroines of the Soviet Union!

 Today being a pretty miserable Sunday in Auckland, despite the fact we are theoretically halfway through spring, it was a great opportunity to spend a few hours at the painting desk and finish off a few more of the JJG 3D printed female Russian figures, including the medic hauling a wounded male colleague to safety!

In deference to my previous comment to Stew (Loss of Lead and Wealth), I have made sure to have a variety of hair colours, and none of these ladies is a blonde, although the wounded bloke is!

First up a fiery redhead, armed with a PpSH SMG

She actually reminds me of a girl who used to work as a Business Analyst at my company - minus the uniform and the SMG of course!

Riflewoman armed with a Mosin–Nagant 91/30 bolt action rifle. As you can see, she has black hair tied back in a pony tail

A kneeling brunette riflewoman

A red headed medic evacuating a wounded colleague under fire!

Note the trail of blood where she has dragged him across the rough steppe

The final figure for tonight is armed with the PpSH and unlike most of the others, is wearing breeches rather than a knee length skirt.

Once again, I am happy with the way these figures have turned out. Back onto a couple more Reiver figures next and then I might do an 1812 regiment for a complete change of pace.