Happy Star Wars Day

Normal posting to resume shortly, all being well. In the meantime…

AT-ST

This marvellous kit has been in the painting queue for a little while. To be honest I was procrastinating slightly as it’s a big kit (and not exactly inexpensive!) and seemed a little daunting. 

I started off by following Sorastro’s YouTube video but it went a bit awry so I had to sort of rescue it with a range of greys: GW Standard Mechanicus as a base followed by Foundry Slate Grey B then C, then GW Celestra Grey.

To help with this selection I painted up a test card, initially sprayed with GW Mechanicus Grey then painted in the “same” colour from a pot (quite a difference as you can see, spray showing on leftmost side).

Colours painted over the pot version of Mechanicus Grey are L-R, top to bottom: Foundry Stone triad, VMC Neutral Grey, AP Warpaints Uniform Grey, Foundry Slate triad, GW Celestra Grey.

The vision ports are painted in using VMC German Grey and the weapons were washed with diluted black. I do find large flat areas or panels a little tricky, although I have tried to stick to Sorastro’s advice about following the light for highlighting such areas. I may do a little more weathering and washing, especially on the legs, to give it a slightly sand blasted look but I’m happy enough with it for now.

This gives me almost 1100 points from which to choose ‘standard’ 800 point forces. But what to add next? I have a Dewback rider that’s ready for priming, but I’d also like to add the Imperial Specialists too. I’m not a fan of the Moff Gideon figure but the the Dark Troopers look like a must have … hmmm?

More Stormtroopers

Before tackling the AT-ST I felt I really ought to polish off the rest of the Stormtroopers. So, here’s another squad with an extra trooper plus a DLT-19 upgrade

And here’s a Captain and a T-21 Stormtrooper.

However, after basing them and putting them back in the storage box I realised that were still a few more to do 🫣

I’m not sure I’ll need all those HH-12 rocket launchers but an extra DLT-19 trooper, a RT-97C trooper and comms specialist would be handy.

Laser Turrets and Power Generator

I ordered these ages ago as they’re rarely in stock for long. Anyway they arrived the other day, much to my delight. All from the GF9 Battlefield in a Box range.

Here’s a couple of closer pics.

They really are ready to go on the battlefield straight from the box, although I may add a little more weathering etc. I intend to leave them un-based so that they’ll look fine on any type of battlefield from the lush woodlands of the forest moon of Endor, or the ice fields of Hoth to the arid deserts of Tatooine.

More WW2 Scatter

A petrol pump and a few barrels of fuel are the start of a Mediterranean themed rural ‘gas station’. Need to add a dilapidated shed and some piles of junk, rusty car, etc.

Spare gravestones (Debris of War, Ainsty Castings) and an unused medieval figure make ideal scatter to enhance graveyards or perhaps as roadside shrines or statues.

A pair of brick columns (Debris of War again) and a spare ornate gate (Warbases) make for a handy entrance in a walled garden.

Converted Charlie Foxtrot Pantile Stable

The Charlie Foxtrot pantile kits are very versatile, so here I’ve done a very simple adaptation of the stable converted to make a larger store house or perhaps a small dwelling.

As you can see, I’ve blocked off one of the stable doors and replaced the other two-part door with a single piece door from my spares box. A while back I asked Colin to cut some extra doors, shutters and window frames, etc as I knew they’d prove useful.

The side door remains as is, but on the back I’ve added a pair of closed shutters. Painting is the same as for all of my pantile models, please see the “How to” tab above.

A Little Bit of Gardening

A very quick post to show a garden I’ve built from scraps of MDF and plasticard in between working on a larger project. It’s approx 4” x 2.5” so ideal for a miniature backyard.

This sort of thing is super easy to make given the huge range of tufts, flowers and foliage available these days and I feel they add a bit of extra character to a battlefield. Plus they can represent broken ground or, if taller plants are used, could be soft cover. Anyway, thanks for looking!