Or rather my part of it is finished …. Anthony still has the bases to finish. I will leave it to him to photograph them finally when he gets the bases done.

Well, actually I still n need to do the unit flashes but that will the last minute job.

I finished the first five bases today, recovering as I was from watching the Netherlands finish the demolition of Brazilian football. I’m pretty happy with everything on them, except for the unit flashes. Looking further at the flashes on-line this evening they seem somewhat straighter and smaller. Oh well, I guess I will touch them up when I do the next batch of uniform dry-brushing.

Apart from that, I am happy with them. I don’t have to worry about finishing the bases, Anthony will do that so they look the same as the other troops in his forces.

The main colours used were the following (Vallejo unless otherwise noted):

• 921 English Uniform
• 988 Khaki
• 924 Russian Uniform
• 982 Flat Earth
• 967 Flat Red
• 963 Gunmetal Grey
• 995 German Grey
• Barbarian Flesh (from Army Painter War Paints)
• Devlan Mud (an old Games Workshop Citadel wash)

The figures themselves are OK although they appear a little large for 20mm (1/72) and there are a few in odd poses – like the bloke squatting as if he as answering a call of nature whilst pumping a few rounds off from his Lee-Enfield SMLE. The hard plastic takes paint quite well though and has the advantage of not bending like metal does when you bump a figure accidentally.

I was knackered last night so went to bed early. I followed my usual routine, large drink of water, clean teeth and retire to slumber. Usually, as the last thing before sleep, I will watch a movie or TV show on my phone. I know, it’s supposed to prevent you sleeping well but I find it relaxing … go figure! Last night I watched the first episode of Reign. I’ve been kind of caught up in the world of the Tudors recently and it was good to see how far the producers, directors and writers of the shows I have been watching have drifted from the history.

Anyway, I watched, snoozed then slept … only to awake at about three in the morning, unable initially to fall back to sleep again. So, what else does one do at three in the cool of a Singapore morning? I got up and painted for a while. Painting is a catharsis for me (as compared to cathartic for which I rely on a good, heady beer) and usually calms my mind, spirit and emotions so that I can relax. I was hoping that a 3:00 am painting session for about 30 minutes would help me to sleep again. It did.

I had decided that rather than work on all the figures in a single batch, from yesterday’s point onwards I would work on 5 or so bases at a time. That way if any of the technique or paints did not work out I only had a few to repaint rather than the whole batch.

The painting sessions yesterday and this morning were initially to get the webbing done but I decided to do some washing and dry brushing as well, just to see how things turned out.

Webbing and packs were painted in a khaki colour

A brown was was applied. When wet, it looks like all the colour has been sucked out

The same group once the wash has dried. The colours are a little more separate again

I then dry-brushed some English Uniform (the brown colour) to restore some depth to the uniforms

Followed by a dry-brush of khaki to lift the webbing and the packs

And lastly, some Russian Uniform (green) across the helmets

The picture quality is not great – the phone’s camera combined with the light on the painting table tends to wash the colours together but I am quite pleased with the way that batch looks now. The wash has picked out items such as the collars on the uniform and other fine details. It has also provided an edge between the uniform and the webbing.

Next task will be to do the same for the rest of the figures, then pick out the weapons, water bottles and other smaller items such as the bayonet scabbards.

I had hoped to have uniforms and webbing done but I was only using a standard sized brush (about a size 0 or 1) – the uniforms took somewhat longer to paint than expected (memo to self: “self – get a couple of bigger brushes  … when you get a job”).

Next up – webbing and other impedimenta. Then wash, highlight and lastly pick out the weapons.

No more beer money left – time to get cracking on the painting. Yesterday was a good day – two colours were added to the figures.

The first colour to go on was the hair. Yes, I gave the Tommies hair. There is enough of an area under the helmet and above the neck that if it is left flesh, well, they’ll look like a little unit of Sinead O’Connors!

I also touched up the helmets on the painted figures as well as I want them to look like a part of the same unit. The helmet colour will soften a little as well when I apply some brown wash.

Next up – uniforms and webbing.

The beer was good so the painting is underway.

The figures have been under-coated in spray black. I like to use a brown undercoat these days, works as well as the black and makes it easier to see details on the figures as they are painted but I am trying to match his other figures a little so black under-coat was the way to go.

After under-coating, especially when dealing with black under-coat, I like to paint the flesh next. It helps me see the other detail and generally it is the lowest part of the figure to paint (well, the face is anyway) so I can paint up to the edge of it easier.

Next up – uniforms, helmets and webbing.

Painting some plastics for a mate here … the things I’ll do for beer money 🙂

Some British WW2 Infantry, figures in grey are from the Model Soldier coming I believe and the light brown are Zvezda. The 2-pdr base has had some modeling plaster added to it to help bed it in finally as the model was a bit unstable just attached to the wooden base.

Figures are just now sitting and I’m letting the glue set before adding sand to the base and undercoating. Target is to paint them by mid week.