Little Tanks & Tiny People

Over the last few of months I repainted both my East Germans and my WW2 Dutch army. Having recently bought a new house and being in the process of selling our current one, I haven't really had the time or energy to take proper pictures. What I do have laying around is this picture of my Ibanez 7-string that I repainted over the summer. It's an 1998 Ibanez RG7621 that I bought second hand probably about 20 years ago. I took it apart, sanded the body, filled some dents, sanded some more and then painted it using spray can automotive lacquers. All in all, I think I gave it about five coats of primer and six coats of a paint called  Porsche RS Miami Blue. As I don't have a painting stand and have to paint the guitar one side at a time, this meant over twenty paint applications with at least one full day of drying time in between.  Like with my Flying V , I encountered some difficulties during the painting process.  I had planned on finishing the guitar with a  2-componen...

It’s time to get some more content on this blog for 2025 ! I bought these WW2 Belgians way back in 2021, but it took until a few months ago to finally get around to them. The figures are all from the Warlord Games range and the Renault FT is a 3d print that I got on Ebay.  No lengthy post this time, just the paint recipe: Uniform: Green Brown 70.879 Leather: Leather Brown 70.871 Boots: Black 70.950 (Leather Brown 70.871 for officers) Wood: Flat Earth 70.983 Bread bag: Medium Grey 70.987 Helmet and canteen: US Olive Drab 70.887   Then a veeeeeeeery thin coat of Army Painter Soft Tone Quickshade, followed by a few highlights of the original colours with some white mixed in.

Oops, it’s already August and this is only my third post of the year… In my defence, I’ve been rather busy starting a new job back in April, finishing my PhD in June and starting a new hobby of learning how to fly gliders. While I did do a fair bit of hobbying this year, I haven’t gotten ‘round to posting about it. So, here is a quick post of three more Dutch Aircraft. First up is a Spitfire Mk. V of 322 (Dutch) Sqn. RAF with the markings of Jan Leendert Plesman. After the war, 322 Sqn. would become the first squadron of the newly formed RNLAF. The kit is by Airfix and the markings were cut and assembled from an aftermarket decal sheet for the RAF New Zealand squadrons. Up second is a Gloster Meteor F. Mk.4 of 324 Sqn. stationed at Leeuwarden AB c. 1950. The kit is by Special Hobby and was built as is. The aircraft is very tail heavy and the instructions do not mention that you should weigh down the nose. So, having already closed up the hull and finding out that she would not stand up...

Inspired by a trip earlier this year to the Aviodrome aviation museum in Lelystad, I’ve been working on two Dutch warbirds. Both were designed during the Interbellum and saw action during the German invasion of May 1940. Sadly, original aircraft of these types no longer exist, at least not in the Netherlands. Not that long ago, however, a beautiful full-scale reproduction of the Fokker D.21 took to the skies for the first time in about 80 years.  Fokker G.1   Being such niche aircraft, none of the large companies make model kits for them. Luckily, however, smaller companies have stepped up. The Fokker D.21 is by PM Model and the G.1 by MikroMir. Both are in scale 1:72. The D.21 is a very simple kit with few parts, that went together reasonably well with some filling and sanding. There was very little in the way of panel line detailing, though, so I’ve tried to paint these on by hand. Another shot of the G.1   The G.1, on the other hand, was an absolute nightmare. I’ve r...

I already teased in  my 2024 roundup that I was working on an Athenian hoplite army. I’m now a fair way into what will be my largest army to date. I’ve finished 48 hoplites, 12 archers, 12 slingers and 8 cavalry, for a total of 80 figures. I’ve still got another pack of 48 hoplites to go, but I think I may take a little breather and paint something else for a little bit. All figures are from Victrix. Assembly is rather complex, with each figure consisting of a separate body, head, arms, shield, spear and sword. Just assembling the hoplites took four or five hobby sessions. These hoplites are from the older Victrix kit. I really like the sculpts, but there could have been a bit more variety in the head sculpts. I would also have liked some more heads with Corinthian helmets. Both of these problems are solved in the new kit, however. I did pick up a spare sprue from the new kit on Ebay, just to add in some alternative head sculpts. Spikey phalanx! Shield transfers are from Little ...

I have been neglecting this blog for a little bit. Because I didnt't stop painting I now have a bit of a backlog. To start the new year with a clean slate I’ll quickly summarise what I’ve been up to the past months. Firstly, I’ve finished my Cyberpunk-themed Sisters of Battle army (pics of the full army to follow). I also made this silly F-16 Egg plane by Hasegawa. The kit happens to come with Dutch markings, but I thought the roundel was a bit too big and didn’t look right. I happened to have a set of RNLAF roundels in varying sizes, so I used those instead. I also scratchbuilt three wooden buildings for a Rohan-themed gaming board. They would also fit pretty well with an Early Medieval/Viking board. The walls of the buildings are made of packaging foam, covered in strips of card and coffee stirrers. I made the roofs out of some scrap bits of plywood and covered them in strips of towel to look like thatching. I’ve also been painting up an Athenian hoplite army. I’ve worked my wa...