Inspirational 15mm

If you want to see some amazing 15mm, go check out this blog:
http://15mmfun.blogspot.com/
Compare his QRF humvees here.
To mine here.

I mean, they're pretty close... right?...Right?

Man........

Some great ideas there I need to borrow / steal!

Quick Peter Pig vs. QRF M113 size comparison

I've just quickly thrown together a quick comparison of the relative sizes of a QRF ACAV and a Peter Pig M113 that I had in the cupboard.
The comparison is intended to be on size rather than the quality of the model, as the Peter Pig has been cleaned up and undercoated, whereas the QRF has been tipped out of the bag where it's languished for the past year of two and then clumped together with Blutack.
The QRF is also missing its headlights and the driver's hatch that I didn't blutack on (it DOES say QUICK comparison!)
So without further ado, here are the pics (hi-res if you click). I'll leave you to make your own judgements on compatibility.

Christmas Loot!

As promised (and because it's also an easy first post for the new year), I give you :

The Christmas Loot

First up, some air support for my AA/FoF games:


Three Night Hawks (I'll probably drop the mods back to a typical Black Hawk) and an Apache.

Two M2 Bradley's and an Humvee Troop Carrier from QRF:

The Bradleys were inspired by reading House to House.  The Humvee was because you always need more!

Next up are 3 Pinzgauer trucks and a bag each of the new command and grenadier modern british figures from QRF.  Together with the figures I purchased last year, I can pull together a 8 british fire teams + some additional command; and with the Pinz and the earlier land rovers, they don't need to walk everywhere!


Below we have a platoon (3 sections and a command section) of Egyptians to be re-purposed as Iraqis for FoF.  It will also give me th opportunity to drag out some T-55 tanks I have kicking around.  I'll be attempting to keep these fairly generic for use as a general arabic army of the period.


I'll leave it at that for the moment.

Coming soon - pics of the Flashpoint stuff I got around Oct last year which got saved as a Christmas gift.
Also Ambush Valley and more!

Gloss Humvees - finale

I finished up the glossed Humvees on the weekend.
If it hadn't been for the gloss, I would have done these very differently.
They've ended up looking quite dirty and worn, and this is largely due to my efforts to sort out the gloss, rather than a focused approach to painting wear and tear.
Here are some pics, click them for the full size:

Now, to get back to painting infantry!

Gloss Humvees - now with pictures!

Okay, so I finally sync'd the camera and took some pics of the QRF HMMWVs.
Here are two of them with the unfortunate gloss undercoat. You can see where it's run in around to a lot of the detail. Check out the front wheel of the M2 HMMWV (left). Click on the images for the full size:

I've started trying to paint up an M998 first up. Here's a progress shot from my first Glass Humvee post where I found out that the paint would stick! I've also tried to matt-down the gloss with some paint.

And here's where I had to leave it last night:

It needs some further tidy-up and some inking and dry-brushing, it's starting to get there.
Hopefully finish up tonight, and then it's on to the Mk19 and M2 equipped models.

It's a girl!

Not a lot going on (on the miniatures front) at the moment, because of the recent arrival of our first-born, "Elora May", on the 15th.

I had vast plans about trying to use a little bit of my leave to get some more painting or terrain done, but it was not to be so.
I addition, my powerbook hard disk up and died so I've lost all previous stuff completely.
New drive now though, so at least I'm up and running again.
Back at work and busy, so I'll leave you with a few delights until I can get into action again...

I've just seen two posts by an amazing 15mm painter over at the Ambush Alley forums.
Check them out!
http://http://www.ambushalleygames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2925
http://www.ambushalleygames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2871

Also while I've been "offline" Rebel minis have released more Sahadeen!

QRF have also expanded their modern British line (no pics yet, unfortunately).

And finally, the local guys at Flashpoint have pics up of stuff coming into the range:

Vietnam Civilians
The watchtower

and also pictures from the recent playtest of the new rules!

QRF HMMWVs - M1025

Here are the bits you get with the M1025 HMMWV from QRF.

Here are the assembled views. I'll apologise for the big blob of BluTack holding the Mk19 on, but I couldn't keep it in place any other way. It should glue on a fair bit nicer. There's a little depression on the roof (if you zoom the photo above) to place the upright on the weapon mount into.

QRF HMMWVs - M998

I wanted to get some HMMWVs for my US forces for my Day of the Ranger games.
I needed some unarmoured M998s and the M1025 weapon carriers, rather than the newer M1114 up-armoured HMMWVs. QRF has a wide range of Humvee variants, so I ordered an M998 along with M1025s with a .50 cal and the Mk19 AGL.
Here is the M998 (temporarily stuck together with BluTack):

This was the generic troop carrier variant. Here are the bits you get:

Some more shots (click for the full size):


As you can see in the pictures, the model needs a bit of a clean-up; particularly around the windows.

And finally the comparison. I think I might need to base them up to get the height right vs the figures. It would mean less wear and tear as well, I guess.

M1025 pics coming soon...

QRF Land Rover Wolf

Next up is the other Land Rover I've just received; the Land Rover Defender Wolf from Quick Reaction Force.
Here it is:

And in pieces:

The only issue with this model is the fragility of the windscreen frame attached to the roof. This area will probably need some puttying up and smoothing off as it's a bit rough.
Here it is up against the OG WMIK. I think they're a pretty good match.

And finally, a comparison including the QRF Scorpion:

That's pretty much it for the british vehicles.

Next up will be Humvees from QRF.

Old Glory WMIKs

Here is one of the Command Decision WMIKs from Old Glory.  I've stuck it together with Blu Tack (although it's orange) at the moment.

I thought the model was quite nice, with plenty of moulded-on extra details like netting and ammo boxes.
Here are some more pics assembled, trying to show that detail.

And here's all the bits you get:

There were also some extra wheels, I think there is enough to mount a spare for each of the 4 vehicles. I only got 3 of the LMGs, but since the crew come with a pose including an LMG, I didn't really need any.
And finally a comparison shot with a range of figures:

Left to right : Irregular US, QRF modern British with SA80, Peter Pig militia, and Cannon Fodder militia

British Infantry from QRF

As part of my last order from QRF I got one each of the modern british infantry packs.
Here they are:
MBI-5 Infantry with Minimi

MBI-4 Infantry with LSW

MBI-2.  The figure on the end on the right is the gunner from the WMIK crew for comparison.

MBI-1

Finally, here are some pics of the Old Glory/Command Decision WMIK crew

QRF Scimitar

The first set of detail from the QRF order.
I took the Scimitar out of its bag and found I could prop it up together.

I had to slightly bend the track guards to fit the tracks in and the RARDEN cannon was a little bent from its trip from the UK. I need to straighten it properly rather than just the quick fix with my fingers.
More pics assembled:

And the bits:

My QRF order came in today as well.

Humvees, landrovers, british infantry and a Scimitar.
Detail pics as I unpack them over the next few days.

Attempt at a new way to base....

Since my efforts with basing my 15mm stuff for Ambush Alley (see here), I am still not happy that I have a good method of doing this.
My approach then was to use Selleys Liquid Nails to adhere the miniature to the washer, and then use a filler to fill in around the base on the washer. The problem is that the filler doesn't really achieve the correct hardness that I'm seeking. I probably need a different product, one that does harden up properly (months later it's still soft).
At the time, Eltnot suggested that the Liquid Nails does achieve the correct consistency. With that in mind, I tried using extra Liquid Nails on the washer and attempting to spread it once the figure was in place.
The bottom line? It was sticky and messy, but the end result was exactly what I wanted.

From 15mm Modern

Once it started to harden, I could easily trim away any excess using a blade.
I tried this on the Israelis I posted earlier, and I'm going to try it again today on my SAW gunners and TV crew for Ambush Alley. I'm a bit put off by the mess (particularly my fingertips afterwards), but the end result might just be worth it

I'll leave you with this image of a fireteam patrolling to protect a significant Glue Storage Facility.....

From 15mm Modern