Cornelivs Maximvs Allied Regiments

[GreenScorpion]

A chimera and a leman russ join the painted models :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The painting operations will stop for some time, as I will be busy taking care of handling stuff related with the move, but hopefully it will resume soon, even if at a slower speed due to less hobby time.

 

In the meantime, I have been running some inventory on parts and I have a large shortness of left arms when compared to the available right arms. I guess left arm prosthetics will need to be issued if I am to use all those right arms. Will need to find an efficient way to get the needed arms, as building them with greenstuff would likely take forever to accomplish, if I am to spend all spare parts I have left. Perhaps I could make some moulds and cast them in the quantities needed based on sculpted arms, but I would have to become a better sculptor to achieve that. I guess this is going to be a learning opportunity :)

From vehicles I don't have many spare parts and most of the spares can likely be used as platforms, ladders and other stuff for terrain, while any left over weapons can certainly be used to convert other vehicles.

I have been eyeing the grognard HWT from wargames atlantic, but the fact that they have so many spare heads and no imperial regiment needs that many head trophies, has been keeping me from getting some boxes, especially because the spare cadian HWT bits I have should be enough to make a bunch of weapon platforms/teams.

Hopefully by the time I buy a house I have found an adequate solution, but until then I am not running out of things to build or paint anytime soon :) (I was not hoarding, I was just buying things to work on when I returned :D ).

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The tanks are well-painted. Making the edges a lighter color, outlines them and helps prevent the tank from blurring into a blob in a viewer's eyes. What decals will you use to decorate the tanks and ID them as belonging to your regiment?

[GreenScorpion]

The tanks are well-painted. Making the edges a lighter color, outlines them and helps prevent the tank from blurring into a blob in a viewer's eyes. What decals will you use to decorate the tanks and ID them as belonging to your regiment?

 

Thanks for the tips :)

I have been looking at the decal sheets while going through the boxes, but I haven't made a final decision on which ones to use. I was thinking the white skulls might go nicely with the black hulls of the vehicles as well as the black shoulder pads of most infantry. There are lots of skulls of different sizes on most sheets, so it should be sufficient for most regular infantry units and vehicles.

I still need to practice a bit with using the decals to ensure I don't mess up with the real thing.

[GreenScorpion]

Today I bring a small update on the mini diorama with the Nut Cracker walker. The woman I have shown previously has been added to the diorama and the ground was filled a bit more to conceal the small base I used for her.

 

 

More angles under the spoiler.

 

To complement the scene, my mom has made some flowers and although they are a bit too big for the 28mm scale, they will look nicely on the diorama and I doubt the details would look nice on a smaller size anyway :)

As you can see things like sculpting nice things with modelling clay seem to skip generations :D

The not fully painted set of flowers on the right was the initial concept, but she decided to go with the slimmer version on the left, as it fits better in the space of the diorama.

 

 

[GreenScorpion]

One last thing before I have to vanish for at least a few days, the Nut Cracker mini-diorama is now painted :)

 

"The warrior inside the walker knew that their time was limited and they really had to keep moving. Honouring the dead hero would have to wait until the entire area was cleared of enemies. He spoke to the young lady,  as she cried while kneeling in front of the cross marking the final resting place of her brother.

- We have to keep moving, miss! Your brother was a great man, but we cannot remain here, my scanner indicates that we have many enemies closing in on our location.

The woman remained silent, but cleared the tears from her face The warrior spoke again.

- I promised your brother I would keep you safe, after all I owed him my life after he saved. Like he carried me trouble the battlefield, after the grenade destroyed my legs, I will carry you through the area, forcibly if I must.

The woman finally got up and replied to him.

- Lead the way to the imperial lines! Once I get my armour and additional gear I will return and have my revenge!

- Follow me and keep your axes ready, I suspect we will have to fight our way through."

 

 

[GreenScorpion]

A very short update from the front, I finally finished my move and despite not being able to bring the WIP models due to logistics, I was able to bring some of the unbuilt boxes and my hobby supplies. The plan is to build a couple of the infantry boxes first and then start painting again. I left my "painting studio" (read cardboard box which I use to spray paint) at the family house, so I need to find an adequate replacement. The box I brought with the infantry boxes is a bit too narrow for a proper studio, so I might need to use another one. Regardless, I need to get some supplies and tools ordered, so I might wait until I get those to see if the box is more suitable.

 

On an unrelated note, I was wondering if anyone here has experience with skaven models, as stormfiends (https://www.games-workshop.com/en-EU/Skaven-Stormfiends) look like they could be around the scale of a dreadnought (perhaps a bit taller judging by the pictures). I have some humanoid moles on my books and they make use of strange underground creatures, so it would fit the theme somewhat (I think I just like giant rats with gatling guns).

[GreenScorpion]

A quick update from the front, I was able to build a box of grognards which I intend to prime once I find a suitable box to use as the painting studio. I have ordered some supplies which might bring the solution to my problem, but some stuff was out of stock and it is difficult to know when things will be shipped to me. Besides some paint restocks, some bases and tools, I have ordered a few more of the ACW cavalry to bring them to the 60 I had planned (excluding the 2 officers from the "battle in a box" set I got previously). Hopefully things get delivered in the next couple of weeks so that I can continue working on stuff as planned.

 

Later down the road the plan would be to order some more of the World War Toons models to make a sizeable armoured force to support the infantry (I missed a nice promotion on those due to the move but I am hoping they become discounted again in the future to make it easier to get the numbers of tanks I have planned without spending too much in one go).

 

 

In  the meantime, I was doing some math while building the box of grognards and each sprue has 9 pairs of arms (plus one extra right arm), meaning that the box has 72 pairs in total. Given that I still have 48 pairs of arms from that box, I just need to get 48 bodies to be able to spend them. Building those extra 48 would reduce the amount of spare heads to only 120 per box. Once I get my supplies I will start to sculpt some of the bodies for those 48 and then depending on the result I will see what is the best way to scale the entire thing up (it is 48 per box and I bought 5 of them, so only for grognards I would need 240 bodies).

[GreenScorpion]

I was saving a small cardboard box to disassemble and use as the painting surface inside the paint box, but yesterday I kept thinking that it just looked great for making some terrain.

The bulk of the box will likely be used for a tunnel/underground entrance, but it still needs to be reinforce in the interior for such a task.

Some smaller parts of the box seemed nice to create barriers, so here is the first prototype of that concept:

 

The barrier is tall enough to cover most of the miniature, except when they have ridiculously tall hats :)
It can be combined with other barriers to create a wall with small openings to fire against the enemy, something which I will demonstrate when I glue the other ones. A bit of sprue is used to glue both parts of the barrier and keep them in a roughly 90º angle. Both the bottom cardboard support and the barrier are the size and shape, so they can be easily interchanged, meaning the barriers are extremely easy to setup :)

[The Pounder]

I’m absolutely loving that Guardsman with the tall hat!!

 

Makes me smile.

 

When can we see more of those lads painted?

[GreenScorpion]

If things go well, I should start priming the ones I have been assembling on the weekend of the 17th, so hopefully I should have a few more painted in a couple of weeks. I was trying to see if my supplies arrived first, but I guess I will have to carry on if things get delayed (the only thing I need to get locally before priming is the actual spray primer, the rest I have in enough quantity for at least a few more batches of models). The weather was bad for painting on the previous weekends, but it seems like it will be quite the opposite on the next weeks (going outside will likely burn instantly but the paint will dry amazingly fast).

[The Pounder]

Looking forward to it!

[GreenScorpion]

I was able to build another box of grognards throughout the past week and that now leaves only one more to assemble (I had bought 5, 2 were already assembled but are not painted yet along with the other stuff which is not in this house).

 

I primed the previously built box of grognards yesterday and gave them some a few minor corrections today in places where the spray paint didn't reach. They should be painted in one or two weekends, lets see how it goes.

 

I built a second of those cardboard barriers and took a photo of how they can be used together. There is still a large gap between the vertical and horizontal piece of cardboard, which I plan to cover once I bring some supplies from the family home. If everything goes ok, it should look fine after painted.

 

The largest parts of the box can be used as a tunnel or some sort of entrance into the underground and they can be used together or separately (that being the reason I cut the box nearly in half). I still need to reinforce the structure with something sturdier to force it to remain vertical and give it some additional resistance to weight, but nothing too difficult to do, I just need access to my vast supplies (which are not here unfortunately) and some time.

 

On the negative side, it seems the out of stock items from my order of hobby supplies are stuck customs, at least that was the feedback I got from the store when I asked them about the status of the order. Some of the things are not urgent, but I might need the glue soon (which was in stock), so lets see how it goes. The store told me that if I wish they can send the things that are in stock soon and the rest later at no extra cost, but I think I will wait a week or so and see if things develop positively or not.

[The Pounder]

That’s good of them. I’d get the in stock stuff so you could get cracking!

 

I’m still loving those big hats!

[GreenScorpion]

That’s good of them. I’d get the in stock stuff so you could get cracking!

 

I’m still loving those big hats!

The paints I had ordered will be in stock this week, so they will send everything but the cavalry before the end of the week. If it ships Wednesday it should be here on Thursday. Either way, I have a restock on hobby stuff and some more stuff to work on afterwards, including actual sculpting tools for some more experiments.

I certainly hope the big hats look nice painted, as I will have hundreds of spare ones from the 5 boxes and I intend to use them somehow :)

 

 

On an unrelated note, I have been experimenting with some more cardboard based terrain, this time a bridge for infantry and cavalry (should be too narrow for most vehicles). The concept is based on another ice cream box (don't judge my weekend dessert tastes :P ) and basically I cut the box in half along its height and use the two halves to have a stronger walkway. I still need some stuff to get it ready, but that will have to wait until I go home, likely next month (I have lots of the glue I need there, so no need to purchase more locally).

Below you can see how it looks roughly, the openings will be used as ramps, once the walkway is elevated with some pillars (potentially bottle caps or something similar, depending on the intended height). Some partially painted minis for scale purposes are also provided, unfortunately these are not the big hat ones :)

 

[GreenScorpion]

A very short update from the front, I have built the last of the Grognard boxes.

The regiments of Aidaca shall march forth once they are painted :)

 

Counting the 2 boxes I had built previously, I have now built 120 grognards and I have to say the kit is extremely nice to build and the variability, despite only having 3 poses of the bodies (using the HWT boxes you could get more), is actually quite high. They are honestly good kits :)

The only issue I have found with them is that the long coats take a long time to paint, but that has more to do with my personal painting skills and the colour I chose for them.

 

Hopefully this weekend or the next the first batch of 24 gets painted so I can show something somewhat finished (I know none of my current models is based, which I am planning to do in the future, or has any decals, which might be added later).

 

Next on the assembly line are the afghans I am using to represent the regiments of Harpig.

 

As a final note, things I have been considering as potential future additions to the pile of shame (which is being reduced steadily since I returned to Portugal, so not much shame there :P ) :

• Armiger Warglaives (a box or two) to have as a slightly larger walker vehicle;
• Ogryns/Bullgryns and Ogors as a way to get some ogres with a mix of technology and savagery (either 1 box each or 2 boxes each);
• Some sort of french cavalry as rough riders to match the grognards (somewhat in doubt since perry miniatures stuff seems to be difficult to get in EU now);
• More of Meng's World War Toons tanks to reinforce the armoured division (they are just so cheap and fun to build :) );
• Some 1/35 tanks (potentially Leopard 2) to use as a representation of super heavy tanks;

[GreenScorpion]

After a few weeks of showing grey models, it has now come the time to show something painted :)

The heat has been making it easier for paint to dry quickly, but I have been "melting" while painting which is certainly something I don't recommend.

The long coats of the grognards were a bit challenging because of how tiresome it gets to paint 24 of these and while at the end I was taking around 3 minutes per model to paint the entire red areas, the average was certainly much higher (it took around 2 hours for the full 24 in red and it was not all on the same day).

 

 

Next weekend I should prime the next batch of grognards, which will have a similar set of areas to paint, but with a different set of colours (e.g. main colour as blue instead of red and so on), so the ordeal should start again :D
Lets see how this week progresses but with all the heat I might have to slow down, hopefully that is not the case.

[The Pounder]

Good start!

 

I think the weather has been scorching everywhere this summer.

 

Keep it up!

[duz_]

Love the gold on it for extra pop :tu:

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Your models are well-painted. How will you decorate their bases?

[GreenScorpion]

Your models are well-painted. How will you decorate their bases?

I have always liked to see rocks in bases as a somewhat generic way to deal with basing, so my plan is to use small rocks to have something that would fit most of my terrain plans (obviously nothing fits with everything, but it is what it is). I should already have some for an experiment (which were used in other things like as counter-weight for small scale aero-generators), but I want to handle the painting of most things before I start with that, given my hobby space at the moment is sub-optimal and I am hoping next year I can have something far more suitable :)

Just to have an idea, the rocks I plan on using are basically aquarium gravel sized rocks, which are easy to get on DIY shops or pet shops.

[GreenScorpion]

It seems my order was finally sent out today (well everything except the cavalry), but since I had told them to change the address for the future cavalry delivery, it seems they changed the delivery for the order that went out today as well, meaning that things will not arrive where I would be expecting them :(

Still, I have a week of forced holidays next month due to the yearly shutdown of the company, so I can certainly bring it back when I return.
Lets see if the glue holds out until then or not.

[GreenScorpion]

Some more assembly progress from this week, this time a box of the Afghans for the regiments of Harpig.

 

The forecast for tomorrow includes rain, so I am not sure if I will be able to prime the next batch of grognards, I will have to wait and see.

 

PS: Cardboard can be a real life saver. If you notice the cardboard it has a stain which happened when my agrax earthshade fell to the side and spilled about a third of its content. Due to the cardboard the clean up was quite fast, but it was shame to waste so much. I guess I am clumsy when the temperature is too high.

Edited July 23, 2021 by GreenScorpion

[GreenScorpion]

I have been thinking about the size of my current collection of models.
Below I have the calculated totals which might be off by a bit but is updated with the purchases until the first half of 2021.

 

Some notes:

• This includes Space Marines (Warhammer Conquest), Death Guard (Warhammer Conquest), Imperial Guard (various sources), Blackstone Fortress miniatures and many more things.
• Infantry models include soldiers, characters on foot and most small creatures.
• Cavalry includes cavalry and equivalents (like fantasy centaurs).
• Heavy Weapon counts the actual weapon and crew the soldiers crewing them.
• Vehicles include the ground and aerial vehicles, with crew being the visible tank commanders or drivers (Taurox).

The building rate is certainly over 50%, but the painting rate is quite lower than that, although it has improved significantly since the second half of 2020.

[The Pounder]

You’re so organised!

 

Better crack on with the backlog!!

[Warhead01]

So which do you like more, painting or building? 
 

... Wait... that's nearly 2000 infantry models... Holy cow!