Friday 28 December 2012

Bye bye Santa

I hope Santa was a generous type to you this year and either your armies, gaming accoutrement or library swelled with a new addition. I would like to say my armies swelled but that wouldn't be quite correct, my pile of shame grew ...... yes the lead mountain is a bit higher than before Xmas! The new laptop was a welcome addition, ta Santa.

Well the fat gent in the red coat has packed up the left over goodies and with the assistance of a brace of helpers is heading back to the North Pole. It's a tough job but Santa is the man for it






The "pile of shame" is something that I will endeavour to rectify over the coming year and much'd planning will need to be employed, particularly with the shortfall in output for the year 2012. I'm not for one minute suggesting the pile will reduce in size, that is unimaginable, replacements will be found only too quickly but I would like to think that a swelling of my armies will be on the cards, or in the tealeaves at the very least. I have until new years eve to construct/develop a plan of attack, hmm..... should I work alphabetically or use chaos theory to formulate my list?

First off I must make an attempt to clear the decks of last years commitments, commissions and love jobs, and get my eyes checked out particularly with this damn diabetes stuff. I think I'm probably due a new pair of glasses or at least I think I am as the old'uns don't seem to be making life as easy as they once were, I could almost swear Santa's helpers were hot chicks with rosy cheeks!

One of the jobs that annoyed me the most last year was a trio of mounted Russian Nap generals (love job) that were not that well cast, they had cracks and little fissures in the riders and this did not make for a pleasant painting experience. Pete, the owner, said "not to worry about them how they come would be fine", but they got the better of me and are residing in the naughty corner it's time to pull them out and get cracking (no pun) on them again.

Remember to click the pic for bigness






I have "roughed in" a pair of the horses and have drilled a hole in each to pin the rider to the horse, I wont do much more to the horses until the rider is fitted as I'm sure to lose a bit of paint in the process of fitting the rider. The pin is what I rely on to glue the rider to the horse as I usually need to pack under the rider with green stuff to hide the gaps apparent from ill fitting saddlery etc.

 

Two of das Generals after priming and a bit of a wash to the face, the lower model is pretty good unfortunately the other is a bit of a dud and should have gone back into the melting pot, cant remember what t'other one is like.......


Not very pretty is it? Scar tissue....

The full base coat hides much of the nastiness but it will become apparent again when it comes time to high light and shade the coat.

That mold line isn't much fun

Plenty of little cracks on the other side of the coat too......
Started to highlight the back of the coat around the shoulders, I think I will finish the nasty figure first and try not to be too critical, the owner is happy how it comes so I shouldn't worry so much either. I can then get on with the other two and pretend the nasty one never happened.

russian green is Reaper Master Series "Peacock Green"

2 comments:

  1. I can usually live with the odd blemish on a casting, but sometimes it's a downright pain. I've used fillers and even thick paint, but, given the price of a casting, we shouldn't have to put up with it. Invariably we do because of the time and hassle involved in returning the damn things, but that doesn't make it right and don't get me started on the 'carve your own' figures I've received over the years! The only outfits I can swear I've never had a duff casting from are Minden and Ebor and even then I can bet someone will contradict me.

    Ah, that's better. Now, post more pictures of Santa's little friends and all will be rosy again . . . .

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  2. Usually I'd just throw a dud casting to one side and carry on with another however that is not as easy in this case. I'm sure if the dud had been spotted it would have gone back into the pot, well I would like to think so anyway!

    I have 10 regiment packs of Ebor Mini's on the way so I will be able to check out their quality for myself :-)

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