PaintingWar

Seen this? If you haven't its 80 pages of how to paint French Napoleonic figures from a Spanish concern called 'Proyecto Cruz'. Its the work of Senor Rafael Perez who is one of the seemingly endless line of talented Spanish painters and whose collective master works can be found across the blogosphere. Oh and if you live in the UK it will cost you GBP 20.70 (inc p+p). I hate to think what those across the pond might be asked to contribute.

Is it worth it? I put it in these terms rather than 'Is it any good?' because to my weary eyes it is a splendid product. The figures look great and there are plenty of new ideas for Vallejo triads - I have to confess I am a sucker for these. If someone says you can mix Hull Red with Dark Grey Blue and then lighten with the ubquitous Iraqi Sand  to recreate French camouflage at Dien Bien Phu then I am the first to copy the idea (obviously this is a made up reference, try it at your own risk. It may or may not work). This alone had me hooked as I worked my way through the line infantry, the gunners, the cuirassiered miner, the cavalry and finally the Emperor himself.

Lots of good ideas and some nice pictures, what more could you ask? Pedants will no doubt find the curious Spanglish grammar somewhat challenging but any painting guide that includes the word 'neophyte' in its introduction has got to be worth a look. And anyway you know what they mean and if you cannot work it out then perhaps you might have tried a little harder at school. Except in the case of 'neophyte'. I'm still unsure.

Let's face it, when you trust your investment to the Spanish postal service your hopes are not high. But ola, the package arrived in 4 days. Yes it did. So all in all I was happy.

But is it worth it? You'd spend the same on a box of plastic figures wouldn't you? It would get you around 18 metal figures and you wouldn't think twice, would you? But £20 for a magazine?

Varnish and Spanglish

I'm normally pretty diligent when it comes to varnishing a figure. Gloss is no problem - the Humbrol enamel is easy to apply and dries quickly enough (although it does tend to become unworkable after I've used about half a tin and end up chucking it away. The challenge comes when it is time for the matt.

I use the Winsor and Newton galleria range. It's very good and dries flat. No sheen or satin finish with this lot. But can I get full coverage of the figure? I put on two coats and then leave them to dry. After which I'll check the figure and touch up any gaps where the gloss is still showing. Then I repeat and repeat and repeat. No matter how often I check the figure there is always a greater or lesser shiny piece winking at me. 'Where did that come from?' I cry. It wasn't there previously but I suppose it must have been. Any hints or tips out there on how to ensure that this doesn't happen? 'Try harder' is not helpful.

I splashed out the £20 necessary to buy the Painting War booklet on how to do French Napoleonic figures. Not cheap. I haven't had the time to properly read the thing yet but will do a small review once I have. The text is however an idiosyncratic form of Spanglish which keeps the reader entertained. The front cover has a logo which looks like a footprint with the words 'In campaing' stamped in the middle. Go figure! Some very nicely painted models though.

Falklands 2

I put some Falklands photos on the blog recently and they seemed to go down quite well. So here are a few more. I thought I had more but will obviously need to spend more time in the attic. I should stress that these are all from November 82 but the major clear up had not really started. It does give you an idea of the mess.

Derelict Argentine helicopters on the racecourse which was just to the west of Stanley. I gather that an intact airframe found its way to a new paint job in Hereford. Urban myth?

The runway at Stanley airfield. For an old photo it makes the place look terribly bleak. It was!! I remember taking this and goodness it was miserable. Some C130's can just be seen lurking to the left. Shortly afterwards a Phantom took off and seeing the blue flame coming out of its engines was very impressive to a very young infanteer.

The airstrip at Goose Green with a couple of Pucara ground attack aircraft. It gives you a good idea of how flat the ground was. When you read that it was like a billiard table I hope this shows how good an analogy it actually is.

Crann Tara

Not a great picture but I've just discovered the Crann Tara range of Jacobite Rebellion figures. This man is the test run and its the first time I've done tartan in ages. Notwithstanding the painting these are a great range of figures and are without doubt the best clansmen I have come across. I'm aiming to do a few samples to build an 8 man stand. It will take me 100 years.

Camel

BBC Radio 5 (a lightweight current affairs and sports channel ) were doing their bit from Camp Bastion this morning. It was the usual round of interviews but they did go to meet the RAF Regiment who guard the perimeter. No-one had the bad manners to talk about the loss of the USMC Harriers back in September 2012 but they did have a hilarious briefing from one of the sentry towers.

The breathless reporter asked the sentry what he could see. Instead of saying 'bugger all' the alert airman said 'My left of arc is tower 7 and right my right of arc is tower 9. To my front is a man made berm to stop vehicles'. Whilst all very true and correct it was not exactly great radio.

The reporter then asked if anything ever came across the berm. 'Sometimes you see the odd camel' came the reply.

'So what do you do if you see a camel?

'Nothing.. You can't really escalate on a camel'

Amiens

If you get the chance the WW1 museum at Amiens is well worth a visit. On the Somme river its a little bit away from the main battlefields (although presumably the French might have a view on that) but its only a short hop.

Based in the old fortress it's not big but light and well laid out. The exhibits are arranged in an uncluttered and innovative manner and whilst the style might not suit traditionalists it does allow a better view. Dont ask me why but it works.

House

If you haven't already seen it go and take a look at this blog site and see what jaw dropping terrain really is:

http://captainrichardsminiaturecivilwar.blogspot.co.uk/

It is simply stunning and like all good models built from corrugated cardboard. How it is all stored and looked after I'll never know.

But there's always a but. If your terrain is this good, how good must the figures be to go with it? Can you imagine a column of Airfix troops stumbling up and down those cobbled paths? It simply would not be allowed. Unless you have a collection of Perry figures painted by Messrs Dallimore and Dean then nothing else does the tabletop justice and I'm afraid the village must remain uninhabited. Sorry, but that's the law of unintended consequences.