Under the Spreading Apple Tree

The village smithy stands.  Or it may be a chestnut tree, but I don't have a lot of confidence in my arboreal knowledge.

Neither am I all that sure it's a blacksmith's, it's probably just a barn of sorts.  What's most important is that it is another building finished and ready for the next game.

This is another Resin Building of Unknown Origin that I picked up in Vancouver back in the eighties. 

The more I look at it and at the last building I completed, the less I think that they were actually Gallia models.  I also have a two-story timbered cottage that I know for a fact is Gallia, and the  moulding was a lot cleaner than was the case for these two.  

This one was covered in bubbles, oozing resin eruptions, chips, and scars; it took a lot of work just to  make it look presentable. 

Still, when placed on a base and decorated with a GW tree, a barrel and spare wheel, and a pile of cannonballs painted up as a supply of (overripe) fruit ready for plundering, it looks decent enough for the tabletop.

Rear Window!

I'm glad to get these done, as it leaves considerably more room on the painting table to work on miniatures.  

There is one more building I need to work on for scenario I have in mind for the upcoming game on the 21st, and this one will be considerably bulkier!  The good thing is that I'm getting considerably better- and faster- at making buildings.

This Old (Resin) House

My eyes needed a break from close-up painting work, so yesterday I treated myself by painting up some buildings.  I managed to finish this well-known tavern, La Belle Alliance, so that at least the boys will have some refreshments available when waiting for their turn to slap around Matt's 74th Foot.

 

When I was back in Vancouver earlier this year, I had taken the opportunity to sort out the closet full of wargaming items still in storage at my parents' place.  In the process, I came across a bunch of resin buildings of what are pretty much unknown origin.

Definitely useful for our games here, so I promptly had them shipped back to Tokyo.  I bought this one at the old Sentry Box West gaming store many, many years ago.  It may be an old Gallia model, but I wouldn't swear to it.

 

Regardless of provenance, it was designed for (back then, true) 25mm figures, and is on the small size for 25mm at that.  As such, it actually scales out very well for both our 20mm and 28mm games, as for the latter it does not take up such a large footprint on the tabletop.

It had been very simply block-painted for fast service on the tabletop, and was in this state when I bought it back to Japan.  Since then we've used it for both Napoleonic and WW2 games.   

You can see it as it used to be in the centre left of the picture below, from a game we had last autumn.

Basically it is still a good model after all these years, so I decided it was worth tarting it up a bit.  So I gave it a fresh new coat of paint and placed it on a wooden base, taking the opportunity to go for a new blue slate tile roof instead of the original dull red.  I thought this would make a nicer contrast with the brickwork.

Attaching it to its new MDF base proved  more difficult than I anticipated as the model did not sit flat on the table.  But I used lots of epoxy and a sand/ PVA mix to build up the baseboard and to fill in any gaps that appeared along the bottom edge. Worked like a charm.  I then painted the base in a raw umber and flocked it in.

"Alors, right now a glass of claret would go down well, mes amis, Non?"

Oh, and when working on buildings and terrain, I go through paint like a frat party goes through cases of Schlitz.  I really appreciate those Ceramcoat craft paints, which remain very economical for this kind of work.  

All told, I think it looks great, and Bob Vila and Norm Abrams would be proud.  I have a few other buildings which need the same treatment, too.  I'll be working on them between my miniatures.

"By God sir, you've lost an arm. And a head!"

In between the rush between trying to meet year-end deadlines at work on one side, and preparing for the holiday season on the other, I managed to sneak in some painting and modelling time this week.

Some French infantry are now sporting natty overcoats and habit-vestes, and I was able to texture the base of an artillery piece.  But a sudden- and, these days, rare- creative urge flew in through the window from out of nowhere, and perched itself on my usually lethargic shoulder.  

Before it had a chance to take flight again, I quickly took out the razor saw, pin vice, epoxy putty, and some wire in order to do some converting.

 

This is to be the chef de bataillon of another regiment of French light infantry I've been working on.  He was converted from this Front Rank mounted French officer.

 

A nice miniature, but unarmed, and as this unit is to be modelled assaulting its enemies with ferocious élan, I wanted something more dashing and more evidently eager to inflict some serious GBH on his foes.

I like my French officers to be unrepentant dandies, so this one is sporting a colpack, with a flamme waving behind him in the breeze.  Both were modelled from epoxy putty, and I used a filed-down shako as the frame for the new colpack,  texturing the "fur" using a sewing needle.

 

I added a plume that I had lying around, left over from a previous conversion done some time ago.  I swapped the arm with that of a figure waving a sword, re-positioning the angle of the hand so that it looked more natural given the pose of the figure.  After some judicious work with a rat-tail file, I then added epaulettes, a new collar and a gorget, all from Tamiya epoxy putty.

Not Perry sculpting by a long shot, but I really like the way he turned out.

Tomorrow should be clear and dry here in Tokyo, and he will get a coat of primer.

 

I have decided on which task I would set myself for the La Bricole painting competition, part of which you can see in the photo above.  On the agenda next week is trying to set aside an hour or so every evening on the necessary- if tedious- task of removing the flash and cleaning up the moulding seams.  

I like green uniforms, I do...

Update: the weather cooperated, so here it is primed and ready for painting, once the primer has had some time to cure.

"En avant!!"