Progress at last

I finally got some painting done. Two of my Red Vectors russian village pieces are now complete.

I used an old washcloth for the thatching and I think it came out alright. I still have another shed and two houses to do as well as a pig sty. Then that little corner of my village will be complete and I can move on to Things From the Basesment's Russian village. Those are far more intricate buildings and have intimidated me to paint them so far. I am hoping to overcome that and knock them out by next week.

Speaking of Things From the Basement, they are run by a great guy who is adapting his 28mm chicken coop to 15mm for me just because I asked. I ordered some fences from him and he offered to send me a test run of the chicken coop in 15mm. That is an item that I have been wanting for some time. I have an HO scale chicken coop that I am not entirely happy with.

Yesterday, I engaged in retail therapy. Besides the fences I ordered, I also ordered the ruined version of the Red Vector's Russian village. And some roof shingles from Warbases. I am excited about this and it should help me finish the Second Kharkov campaign. Speaking of which, I and well into the second campaign that will be in the book. Have been working on scenario 2 of 6 for the second campaign. The map is done and I think it looks pretty good. I am doing all of the game maps in Campaign Cartographer instead of using aerial photos like I did in the first book. Hopefully they will be clearer.

Once this is done, I will be back to making 1/300 sailing ships to wrap up the last bit for my KMH supplement. Onward and upward.

Painting Time

I have been getting busy on my Russian Front Terrain. I have two buildings primed now and waiting for the Gesso to dry. The buildings are from Red Vectors. I have three houses and two sheds on the table right now. As I am working on these, I liked them enough to order the ruined versions. With the new changes in Chain of Command in the France 1940 supplement, I will be able to replace the complete buildings with the right destroyed ones. What I haven't figured out is how to model burned out thatched roofs.

If I get these finished this week, I plan on moving over to the Things from the Basement Russian buildings. Their website is phenomenal as it has plenty of tips and tricks to get the buildings done right. One thing I have noticed, is that he has more items in 20mm and 28mm than in 15mm. I am casting a covetous eye on his chicken coop. The website doesn't show it in 15mm but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask. Who knows, he might make it.

I have also started surfing Warbases again and found out that they do roof tiles in 15mm. Definitely ordering that if I can.

Lastly, I am very sad to see that the Star Fort Miniatures site is down. I have two buildings from them that are fantastic. A Russian Water Mill and a southern European building. I wish someone else had picked up the range but I haven't been able to find anything, yet. Does anyone know if they are still availible?

Also, it looks like Foundations of War has closed as well. I bought a fantastic warehouse from them a few years ago and have been meaning to shop them again. Very unfortunate. Need to look at ebay, I guess.

Thatched Roofs

One thing I have been wanting to do was to create thatched roof buildings for the Eastern Front. I have the buildings that have some rather plain MDF roofs. I have been struggling with this. I attempted to copy what the Red Beard Baron did on youtube with caulk. The caulk I had dried clear and looked bad. I switched to spackle. That was worse, brittle and ended up needing to be cut off of the roof. Furiously searching the net I came across the War Bard's article on his towel roofing. I decided to give that a shot. And... It looks like it works. I have three of 4 buildings with strips of a worn out wash cloth across them. I glued them down with a mix of tacky glue and water. Then once attached, I have covered it in more glue and water. It has dried hard and looks sturdy. The tough part is working around the chimney's of two of the buildings.

My goal for tomorrow is to give the whole mess a base coat in black. If I have any motivation left after that, I may even paint some. I'm not holding my breath though. Still really tired and weak from the hospital. But at least I am back home.

With these four buildings, I should have a decent amount of terrain to start laying out my Second Kharkov games. The buildings are really nice but I can't remember who the manufacturer is.

Pressing On

Well, it is day 8 in the hospital. I am passing time watching YouTube terrain making videos. Hopefully they will let me go soon.

A Wrench in the works

Well this happened. Back in the hospital since Friday. Last two weeks have been really feeling bad and ended back up in the hospital. They haven't indicated how much longer they will keep me. But it has derailed most of my plans. Hopefully I can get back to work soon.