New Arrivals

I've been rather quiet on the gaming front of late, not regularly attending MIGS nor sitting at my painting desk. I've been fortunate enough to procure a very short-term contract for some work at York University. This fortunate event has a down-side: my hobby has reluctantly had to take a back seat. This whole working for a living thing sucks! On the bright side (for my hobby, at least), the contract is finished next week so I should be able to catch up on some projects on my desk over the Christmas holidays.

On the slate are a number of 1/56 vehicles for my WWII Germans along with some new guns for both the Germans and the French. Also to be tackled soon is the new 1:6000 naval collection. In fact, I received my order from Magister Militum yesterday, a mere 13 days after ordering. In a very small box (see picture below) were well packed Figurehead 1:6000 WWII ships. In fact, in that tiny box were more than 40 ships; enough to fill out the entire order of battle for Cape Matapan (I believe the largest naval battle of WWII in the Mediterranean). I'm waiting now for my custom cut bases from Litko. These will be of the same general style as for my 1:2400 WWI naval project but somewhat smaller. I have yet to decide whether to paint the bases or render them in Photoshop and print them on label paper. The former would probably be the easiest since I have already figured out the process for the WWI collection.

And soon to be discussed, the possibility of the notion of maybe, perhaps delving into the intriguing world of 18th century ImagiNations! More of that anon...

1:6000 WWII Naval

I received last week from the ever-friendly and helpful Ron P a bag full of Hallmark 1:6000 WWII boats. Thanks to Ron, the number of models I need to order for the Battle of Cape Matapan OB has been severely lessened. Thanks again Ron!

Littorio class Italian battleships.

My first impression when opening the package was, "Holy crap! These are damned tiny!" My second impression (after I put on my spectacles) was, "How do they get all the detail that small?" The largest ship in the batch is the Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto that measures in at a astounding 35mm long! How am I ever going to paint these? Of course, also on the question list is how to base them. The ships come with bases into which the ships fit, with molded waves. Very cool, but very small. Even with the bases the models are far too small for my stubby fingers to move about efficiently (and we won't even talk about Michael's bulbous bear paws!). So I need to devise a basing system that is easier to handle and looks good. My first thought is to emulate my WWI 1:2400 ship basing, but with slightly smaller bases. Probably the best way to go. But  I found an interesting basing idea here and I've included a photo from the site below. I like the way the graphics have been rendered and produced on a printer then attached to the base. The ship model is then placed on the "water." More to think on!