Figure Painter Magazine No. 3

A quick review of Figure Painter Magazine number 3. The on-line magazine can be picked up for £1.00 from here.

82 pages with some adverts, but mainly a great read. In particular I enjoyed the tutorial on painting metal (chainmail) by Marta Slusarska. Something that I will be trying to repeat once I have a suitable miniature. I would have liked more content on terrain or bases, but this is only a minor criticism.

I have written about issue 1 here. However there is no review of issue 2. I tried ordering it and succeeded in downloading issue 1 twice! So be careful with using the site.

I would have preferred a paper magazine, finding them easier than on-line magazines, but as regular readers will know, I am a bit of a dinosaur. Regular on-line readers will find no problems with the easy to read format.

Well worth the £1.00 download price and a good read, definitely getting better.

Tony

Model Shipwright

A recent trip to Tewksbury, Glos. saw me coming away with these two books; Model Shipwright numbers 14 and 15 from 1976. The books were in this clearance box - £1.00 each and I choose the two with illustrations and plans of paddle steamers. As you can see from the second image there were a number of similar books being offered for sale.

Both books are packed with illustrations and information that should prove of worth and interest to me. At just £1.00 each a real bargain. I should also point out that the box and books were brought to my attention by Sue - thank you.

Tony

Harpy - The Pledge for August

My Pledge for August begins. I am starting with the 'alternative Harpy' miniature (on the right) as the basis of my conversion. The miniature was bought from a Bring-and -Buy earlier this year. This will be my final figure for my Fighting Forty-Firsts, see this link and previous posts for more details.

With the main troops finished, I now needed to start work on Luke Benson's cousin, a civilian character from Amorica armed with a six barrel boarding musket.

Photo Two - I have removed the sergeant stripes and cleaned up some of the mould lines, most of the conversion work has been carried out to the back of the figure.

Photo Three - In this case, I think a picture is worth a thousand words! Some quite dramatic lead surgery removing a good portion of the miniatures back. I used a modellers or jewellers saw to cut off a large chunk of lead.

Photo Four - Some 'Green Stuff' filling and remodelling. To the front some coat cuffs and a shoulder bag strap.

Photo Five - To the rear, building out the shoulders and adding bulk to the figure. I decided to build up the collar before adding any hair - a little wrong, but it worked.

Photo Six - Now added to a 2p coin base with the groundwork built up with Milliput.

Photo Seven - Hair added.

It is obvious from the photos that I have not tried to strip the figure prior to the conversion. With 'Green Stuff' modifications this dramatic, I was not too worried. The biggest challenge is yet to come, the 'pork-pie' civilian headgear!

Tony

11,400 page views in one month

It would be wrong of me to say that I do not follow my Blogging Stats on a regular basis, similarly I do not check them every day. In July I saw the highest monthly view count I had ever experienced, 11,400 views. Prior to this my highest was just over 11,000. 

9,000 - 10,000 page views being the average in a normal month.

The bulk of the views were for posts featuring my book Building Wargame Terrain. 

I have tended to judge the success of my Blog. by comments left rather than page views, believing that comments left are a better measurement for how posts have been enjoyed.

I also know that the book Building Wargame Terrain has taken up quite a bit of my Blogging and modelling time - the books do not get wrapped and posted by themselves. Now that things have begun to quieten down, expect things to get back to normal, well as normal as can be expected now that Holly is home from Thailand! Plans for this week include stripping and repainting a Welsh Dresser.

Tony

Building Wargame Terrain - we have a winner.....

The 100th signed and numbered books has now been paid for and posted. I stated in this post that when the 100th book was sold I would hold a prize draw for one of the models featured in the book. The model I have chosen is the 15mm Normandy Cafe, (see image below) and the winner is Lee Hadley of Big Lee's Miniature Adventure (BLMA). The prize will be posted off later today. I hope he likes it.

I still have 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 numbered books that have been ordered/reserved but are still to be paid for and if for any reason payment is still not received by Tuesday of next week. I will offer them up for sale. If you have ordered a book and not paid please contact me as soon as possible.

Finally for this post, I have a couple of spare copies (unsigned) that I was keeping in reserve or for emergencies. If you would like a copy (and they are going fast) please contact me via this post which gives details of postage costs and how to order.

Thank you to everyone who supported this project.

Tony

Building Wargame Terrain by Tony Harwood - the situation four weeks on

UPDATE

Dimitrios Boussios (Germany) has just ordered the 100th Limited Edition numbered and signed book!

I have a very limited number of unsigned books that I was keeping as spare or emergency copies. Should you wish to order one, please go to this link.

There are no plans for a second print run, just a couple of spare (un-signed) copies kept in reserve. Similarly there are plans for a PDF version, but not in the foreseeable future. When I have more information I will post details on this Blog.

Thank you to all who supported this project and a big THANKS to all who have ordered a copy. Book Two (Dampfpanzerwagon Guide No.2) is proceeding and once I have something to show, I will post details.

Tony

Oswald Pepperkettle - part five

Oswald, the Pledge for July 2013 is finished. I've given the miniature a coat of Ronseal Gloss varnish and a couple of further coats of Galleria Matt varnish before adding some static grass to the base.

Photo One - The Grand Duck, Oswald Pepperkettle.

Photo Two - the finished figure from a different angle. (I have noticed that I missed the skull above the bugle on the Shako. It should be silver).

Photos Three and Four - I thought it would be of interest to post these two images. The first shows the original purchases, bought at a bring-and-buy table at Alumwell earlier this year. Both figures were mounted onto Balsawood bases with simple railway scatter for ground cover. I paid 50p for each model.

Here you can see the two minis. Now mounted onto my preferred 2p coins with the bases built up with Milliput. The Oswald figure has been stripped of paint by soaking in a tub of Dettol while the bugler was simply painted over.  Both figures were painted over a Black undercoat and followed the colour scheme show on the front cover of Days of Daring, a Commando war comic number 3765, for details see this link.

Just one figure/character to go and the group of eight miniatures will be finished. 'The Fighting Forty-Firsts'.

Tony