A bit of spraying for Kleinstadt

Nothing too exciting but I am trying to get back into the habit of posting more regularly.  

It was a beautiful day - if a little cold once the sun went behind the trees, so I took the oportunity to locate outside and use the bigger compressor and Iwata spray gun.  I was also using Tamiya colours with the lacquer thinner so it is much better to do it outside with a lot of air movement.

I basecoated in a dark brown to give some shadows, then put a first coat on the roof, a dark red base to the hald timbering and a mustard to the plasterwork.

    

I am basing this building on this and plan to have it just inside the gates on my town.

Also put first coat on the stucco part of the tower and the small church.

And a few pieces for another two models that I have started before I finished the ones already started .... and I wonder why i get very little finished.  

The making of Kleinstadt

I'm starting the building of a walled town set somewhere in south-eastern Germany / Bohemia.  It will be used with a small but growing collection of Thirty Years War in 10mm as well as WSS (which is a much longer term project).  They are both being built with the excellent figures from Pendraken.  

I know I will stretch some of the architecture in terms of period - but it is the look I am going for.

I have been getting great inspiration and learning from panzerfaust200 over on the Wargamers' Forum as he builds his 1/72nd scale town of Neustadt. 

On a family holiday to Europe (when we Australians were allowed to leave our country) 4 years ago, we spent some time in the stunning town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber where I was blown away by the town walls and the architecture (it helped that it was winter and they had a lot of places selling Gluwhein).  

So this will be a walled town with various half timbered buildings as well some later more Baroque looking ones.  I have kits from Faller, Vollmer and Kibri.

When I saw the pictures of the town hall in Lindau I knew it had to be a centrepiece for the town given the painted roofs and the frescoes on the frontage.  I built this over the past few weeks and still need to place the finer pieces of decoration on it and do some weathering. 

Next up was a half timbered market building from Kibri.  It was only after ordering a number of the Kibri buildings that I realised that their half timbering consists of a sticker that I am meant to cut windows out of and stick to the outside of the building.  I contemplated that for a little while as I think it looks cheap and nasty.  

So I have embarked on creating my own version of the timbering that I hope will give it some relief and allow me to paint and weather in a way I could not with the sticker.  I photocopied the sticker onto ordinary paper, glued that onto 0.20 plastic card and then began the laborious and fine process of cutting my own. 

All done and now the process of sticking it on before I can undercoat.

Hopefully more as I progress.

Mausman memorial build

Finished this in the nick of time.  A memorial build of a tank and crew for John Dowman who as I said in the previous post provided years of inspiration and support to those of us on the Wargamers Forum and prior to that on the Guild and prior to that on .... etc.

Mausmann Memorial Build

Over the the Wargamer Forum there is a group build underway in memory of one of the forum’s driving forces who suddenly passed away earlier this year. 

While i never met John in person, his encouragement to me and many, many others was constant. His work - both quality and quantity was a great source of inspiration.  

The theme is a tank and figure. What better tank than one of the true big ones.  This has sat under coated for more than five years. Sprayed the pattern on it yesterday and done some filters and decals-as well as tracks and tools tonight.  Tomorrow will be more pin wash and more weathering. 

A gathering and a game

There has been some easing of restrictions in NSW. So a few of us got together this weekend for a meal and game.   Four of us met on Saturday for a few drinks, very nice dinner and humorous game of Impetus 2 after dinner (and drinks).

Next day a few others joined for a few more games.  After playing Basic Impetus for a number of years we were very keen for a return to the full rules with Impetus 2.  So more as a learning experience we put quite a bit out on the table .....

The table with Carthaginians and their Gaul allies on the right facing off against six Roman Legions

We gathered at a friend’s house in the Southern Highlands of NSW - an absolutely beautiful area at any time - but especially in Autumn.  A view out from the back of his house.  

Something for Berlin

My latest build from the "pile of plastic" is another ACE kit - the Geschützwagen 638/18 SF Ardelt Waffenträger.

There was an almost absolute need to replace the barrel as the one in the kit had quite a bend in it.  I have another 88mm ACE kit downstairs (PAK 43) and it also has the same bend in the barrel.  I replaced it with one from the armorscale range (and luckily I have another one in the stash for the other ACE kit).

The tracks on this one are link and length with each side made up of 25 separate pieces ... aaargh.  But it is done now and I think will paint up to be a great kit.