Record number of posts and plans for 2023

I tried to put a bit more effort into maintaining my blog last year and it has paid off, with 80 posts - the most I've ever managed!

Looking back over the last 12 years, I can see how the events of my life affected my spare time.

Starting with 60 posts in each of the first couple of years, I managed to up the number to 65 for 2012. Things dropped off in 2013 with only 51, then down to 24 for 2014.  In 2015 we had our first child, as seen by the fact I only managed 9 posts!  I crept up to 11 posts in 2016, then 34 in 2017.  2018 I fell back to only 12 posts.  When our second child came on the scene in 2019, only 6 posts.  2020 was a strange year, partly due to COVID and working from home, but also for family reasons that I'll go into on another post.  The end result was that I completely missed the 10th anniversary of my blog, but never mind.  I've managed to slowly build up again since then, thanks in part to the AK-47 Republic Facebook Group running regular competitions which kept me particularly focussed on finishing things this last year.

T-55s for AK-47 Republic

I started off my blog to document my move into 15mm sci-fi wargaming.  Since then, it's expanded to include other scales and periods.  I have always enjoyed Heroquest dungeon escapades and I've been constructing plenty of scenery for this and have run several games.

Part of my Heroquest dungeon.

 

I've played Epic (6mm) gaming ever since I got the original Space Marine & Adeptus Titanicus back in the late 1980's and having a 3D printer has allowed me to indulge in expanding my armies with minimal effort. I've also been putting a lot more time into 15mm scenery recently and have been making a real effort to organise my hobby more efficiently, which has obviously been yielding results.

3D printed Epic 40K.

I can see how my painting style has changed over the years.  I started off painting in acrylics - even now, some of my lesser used original Citadel Colour paint set are still going strong, 30 or so years after I got them.  I started using inks but didn't really get on with them, mainly because it never occurred to me that perhaps I might dilute them to get a better result.  I had switched to Humbrol enamels for some of my figures and most of my vehicles around the time I started my blog, but have gradually moved back to acrylics, mainly because of the wider range now available.  I particularly like the Vallejo acrylics.  Many of my earliest 15mm figures were an enamel base coat and a lighter shade enamel drybrush as a highlight.  I had tried using inks for shading but had difficulties getting good results.  I also went through a phase of using black enamel thinned with white spirit for a shading wash but looking back on those figures now, they appear murky and have some very obvious tide marks!  My earliest 15mm Old Crow vehicles were just a black undercoat, drybrushed with the camo colours on top. 

Old Crow Glaive with black undercoat.

 My painting improved considerably when I got a bottle of Pledge floor polish, the renamed version of the famous Johnson's Klear/Future floor polish beloved by modellers for many years.  A friend at Cornwall Military Modelling Society had told me about this back in the early 1990's, when he used to use it for his amazing military aircraft, but it was a long time before I decided to try it myself.  Using a coat of the polish before applying waterslide transfers really helps them blend into the surface.  I also started mixing in some black or sepia ink for a shading wash, giving far better results than my heavy handed undiluted ink shading from earlier years.

 A few years ago, I bought a bottle of Vallejo matt varnish to try and remove the shine left on models from the Pledge.  This didn't work very well, leaving a whitish residue from the matting agent in some of the creases on models.  It suddenly occurred to me that I'd been really stupid and should just use the matt varnish for the shading washes.  Nowadays, I use a mix of equal parts ink, matt varnish and water which works very well.  Vehicles tend to get their base colours, followed by a floor polish glaze to seal the surface, then waterslide transfers, then a matt shading wash over the top, with a final dusty drybrush.  Some of my older vehicles are being upgraded with polish and washes to bring them to the same standard.

Old Crow Lancer IFV with black ink wash.

I've tried to learn new techniques along the way.  I started sculpting my own stowage for vehicles from milliput and I'm very pleased with the results I can get now, especially when I mix hand-sculpted tarpaulins with 3D printed or purchased items such as Jerry cans.

Hand sculpted tarpaulin and purchased stowage.

My first experiments with trying a water texture from toilet paper also yielded satisfying results, so I'll be working with that technique again in some of my scenery.

Toilet paper water effects.

Talking of scenery, this was something that I knew I needed to work on, so in 2020 I decided to try and improve my disparate and somewhat variable in quality collection of terrain.  I have learnt a huge number of new techniques, mainly from watching Geek Gaming Scenics and other channels on YouTube.  Luke showcases an amazing variety of techniques and money saving tips for terrain making and it has really inspired me.

Some of the new terrain I've made.

For 2023 I hope to finish off several part complete groups of models.  My 15mm Action Force project has received a new lease of life thanks to a Patreon with files of some of the more unusual characters. I have a large amount of MDF scenery that I have been enhancing in preparation for making a multi-level ruined urban board in 15mm.  I have several starships to be modified and repainted as scenery for 15mm games.  There are a lot of vehicles I'd like to print for AK-47 Republic, and I need to get some extra figures to build a couple of armies.

We have a major house extension currently under construction and the end result should yield a large new dining/living area (suitable for wargames) and larger garage (suitable for making more scenery and a better 3D printer setup).  I'm excited to see how things progress from late Spring/early Summer when the work is all finished.

Thank you to all those who read and comment on my blog.  Hopefully you'll find a few more items of interest over the coming year!