Argentinian Dassault Mirage IIIeA part three

 Argentine Dassault Mirage IIIeA Part three 

Out of the paint shop, I painted it with Vallejo colours using a camouflage guide from the net that a Argentine modeller had put on his 1/48th kit, plus some guess work looking as some paint guides on the net crossmatching Hakata to Vallejo, quite happy with my result.

Paints used

• Base surface primer Vallejo Israeli sand grey 70.614
• under belly Vallejo Air Pale Blue Grey 70.046
• base khaki Vallejo Air Khaki Brown 71.024
• dark green Vallejo Air Russian Green 71.017
• light green Vallejo Air Olive grey 71.015
• Black nose Vallejo Glossy Black 70.861

Gloss varnish done and black lining complete. When you paint things you do see bits you have missed and if it was going to be a display model I may of went back and fixed them particularly joints ... as the I have run out of Tamiya putty so had to resurrect some squadron putty that was not quite good enough....need a replacement putty. 

Next was my problem with Decals........Hannants are no longer shipping to Europe and with no European supplier with any decals in 1/72 I though I may of missed the build deadline for the Brexit Modellers build. My mate Robin saved me with a set of micro scale decals that he had is his stash, we swapped for a set of Mirage 2000 drop tanks.......

 I now need add the guide wire for a flying model, though the chassis, then touch up paint bits, add the squadron markings, add the pilot, missiles, drop tanks, antennas and canopy, then complete!

Cheers

Matt

Terrain Tuesday Tabletop scatter

 

 Tabletop scatter

Some more 20mm additions completed for ww2 and modern town and ville scatter. Enjoying these pieces in between painting projects. Again mostly HO train bits, the cross is from a rosary sized set on a base and  large saint Anthony was from a brocante, he was missing his head so now has a essex late roman head. 

Argentinian Dassault Mirage IIIeA Falklands War Part 2

Argentinian Dassault Mirage IIIe WIP 

A work in progress shot, completed the pilot and painted the air intakes and exhaust, a few sinkholes and gaps to be filled then off to the paint workshop, hope to get a coat on it by the weekend.

cheers

Matt

Argentinian Dassault Mirage IIIeA Falkland War part 1

 

Argentinian Dassault Mirage IIIe

A wet day today in Sunny Mayenne so not feeling like doing more trees or painting horses (big napoleonic cuirassier commission). I have been recently watching a documentaries on the Falklands war and reading Dougies wargaming blog on his Falkland war builds. With that in mind I ventured upstairs to the stash and found a old Frog Dassault Mirage IIIe kit.  

A very simple kit, but as a wargaming model that is a good thing, I should have it built and ready for the spray painting yard by tomorrow....I will wait until it warms up later in the week before giving it a once over. I will need to source some transfers from the UK I think, so a searching I go!

Not decided on which groupo I will build as yet, more research to be done.....

cheers

Matt

  

Tree Renovations Part 9.......Palms

 Palm Trees

As they say, a change of scenery is as good as a holiday! 

I have decided to complete some palm trees from the collection, similar basing to my other trees, lots of work, undercoat base coat, ink wash, highlight, I made the root systems for these from green stuff, before I decided to make a resin mould in the two different tree trunk sizes to speed things up for the next 40 odd trees. really happy with the results.

I will use these in the middle east for my modern games and pacific island WW2 games, I am also setting some aside for my 20mm Middle eastern city fight games for gardens and such and making traffic islands with trees etc. 

I say Pierre, I think we have taken a wrong turn......

cheers

Matt

Terrain Tuesday Village Scatter Terrain part 1....

 Village Terrain

As I move through my renovation projects I have decided to start adding and renovating my village and town accessories, a majority is HO scale model railway pieces which I find particularly good  for 20mm terrain. 

Every French village and a number of crosses in and around the village, also most main cross-roads have a cross also, many were erected in the 19th century after the revolution, although we have one from the twelfth century only a few hundred meters from us, this piece is for a village square, and I have commenced several others for the countryside cross roads. 

A simple chair beside a lamp, be useful for a bus stop or near a garden

A horse trough, can be used in a yard or in a square, I post from a model railway fence, the rough also, scratch built spout. 

 I have a number of fountains to do, including a sculpted copy of a Marizan fountain from the 17th century which was a set pattern during the revitalization of town water supplies by the Jean Colbert (minister of Housing 1680s).  

cheers

Matt

Tree Renovation Part 8 ....oh the pine

 Ohh the Pine

more pines completed, after this lot I have about 20 to complete and the pines are done, then complete some palms,  then the huge 100 odd european tree collection. 

cheers

Matt

Tree renovation part 7 ...your dead

Dead Trees

Another mix of part renovation and new paint jobs, the large dead trees are metal from the eighties at least and used to be on a square base for a cemetery pulp game, so I pulled them off and added them to the round large 50mm base as per the larger tree renovation. I also added additional root systems from green stuff, then a new coat of paint, inks, drybrush and rebased to match the other renovated trees. 

The smaller stumps I purchased a long time ago and while digging for spears last week in the spares box I found them and added them to the pile of to be painted terrain box of trees. Notice they have faces so I suspect they are pre 80s metal from one of the fantasy ranges, anyway they will still grace the table without much comment unless someone is looking closely!

cheers

matt

Tree Renovation Part 6, Work in Progress Palms

Palms 

When I ventured upstairs earlier in the week I also found my Palm trees, suitable either for the desert or Pacific beach landing scenarios.  I purchased in bulk around 80 odd palm trees in three different sizes again from China. So possibly by the end of next weekend they will also be another 80 odd completed trees. Repainting the trunks and foliage, washing then highlighting, plus I will make a master and cast a root base for the three different sizes, so I do not need to green stuff each one individually. I now want some date Palms and will possibly order some in a week or two after I complete my european tree project.

cheers

Matt

Tree Renovation Part 5 ooh the pine

More Pines.....

Completed some more Pine trees but come to the realisation after I was about half way through my pine restoration I was missing some of my larger 28mm trees, so up to the third floor storage room for a visit. Low and behold another thirty odd Pine Trees, with a number requiring a bit of a dusting of new flock. plus new bases and more stumps to be made.....so quite a lot to be done. No rest for the wicked as they say.

cheers

Matt

Tree renovation part 4

Garden Shrubs & Bushes

More garden trees this time,  again purchases from China, really like the little topiary bushes, I must have thirty odd of them to either base or put in gardens, more coming as I have completed cutting another 60 odd bases and prepared them for basing today.

cheers

Matt

A little snow in sunny Mayenne!

 Oh the Joy!

We get excited when it snows, Vanessa and I were excited to see snow predicted this week and when it fell we were treated to a winter wonderland! We have been in France for almost three years and this was our first proper snowfall as Ville Mayenne is in a weather Zone 8-9 and we are only 80m above sea level. I thought I would share some photos of the exciting event as two Australians run around excited like school children! And for the first time in my life I shovelled snow off a footpath......and today I am feeling it!

A view of l'hotel Montpinçon, across the road from us, my favourite view!

Built in 1666, the chateau originally stood outside the walls of the city and was built by the de la Dufferie family, purchased by the Montpinçon family then owned by the de Bourbel de Montpinçon until the revolution. After revolution by the de la Sarcus Family. 

It has exquisite baroque interiors and wall tapestries painted by Italian artists in the 1740s. It has an extensive 18th century 3 hectare garden that is a listed monument historic with several hundred tree species from all over the world, including Australian species collected by Nicolas Baudin ( whose descendants still live in the place Cheverus)

One member of the family was Louis Auguste de Bourbel de Montpiçon who served with the Armee de Princes during the revolution in 1791-92, after 1797 returned to French service in time for Napoleon's expedition to Egypt. Was placed in the Maltese navy in command of a sloop, then after the disaster of Aboukir bay, was an lieutenant in the Légion Nautique, then ADC to General Baudot in Egypt, captain 26th Regiment of Chasseurs, 1811 Chef d'escadron 7th regiment Chasseurs a cheval, Major, then lt Colonel of the 7th regt Chasseur a Cheval. fought at Dennewitz, Leipzig (wounded) . 1822 lt Colonel d'Allier Chasseurs a cheval regiment, 1825 Colonel 10th Cuirassier. 

L'Hotel de Hercé home of French Wargame Holidays, you can see the scale in comparison to the car of the window heights, the tower on top is the highest point in the city has great views of the city and the countryside.....from here the Prussian Uhlans were spotted chasing the retreating French Army after Le Mans.

Place Cheverus the centre of our square is also a monument historic along with a number of the maisons.

The statue of Jean Lefebvre de Cheverus, first Bishop of Boston in 1810. During the revolution he fled like many nobles to England, then onto America, he returned to France after the revolution was bishop of Montauban then Bordeaux. 

A view from our second floor of the stables, carriage and servants quarters built in the Napoleonic Period about 1811.

Our Clapier, rabbit hutch in the garden.

cheers

Matt

Tree Renovation part three ....pine

 Pine trees part 1

Still working on trees, really happy with the results, the painting of the bark and stumps, adding a few stones and bits to the bases has been a little therapeutic.

 I am now pressing on through the production line of rebasing the commercial tree lots to unify everything.  Lots more Pines coming after I cut some more bases!

20mm gendarmes inspecting the trees

cheers

Matt

Tree Renovation part two ....shrubbery

 Garden shrubs

Next up are small garden shrubs I purchased from eBay China, about 3cm high they are perfect to fill back yards, town gardens and the side of a road, I am so impressed with these I am going to buy two more packs at least. The bases were cut from MDF using my 2cm holesaw. I glued down the stump base then added my normal sand mix, and painted the stump a khaki brown, base earth brush, drybrushed the rocks added flock. 

Cheers

Matt

Tree Renovation part one ....a little fruity

Tree Renovation

 Well last week I commenced renovation of my current collection of 160 trees, plus the manufacture of 180 new trees 20mm and 28mm. Lets just say it is taking longer then expected as I cutting new bases, making forest bases and small rough ground sections, plus painting trunks on old plastics trees, reflocking some and new ground work on all of them, plus washing bark and highlighting bits, adding moss and twigs etc. 

I have decided to manufacture specific 20mm and 28mm as previously I had one size fits all method. I want larger more scale trees for 28mm naturally so they fit better with skirmish games. I also removed all of the trees I had glued on large wood type bases and then manufactured with MDF woodland bases that the trees slot into so they are removable which suits ww2 and large impetus bases better when moving through woods. Still more work to be done on these as I want to complete the trees before I go back to make the larger bases.

First trees completed and renovated were formally orange trees that I had based for arid conditions, these are commercial trees from woodland scenics range. The oranges were repainted as apple trees, new bases, painted the trunks, added rocks and then flocked with 3mm flock. Most of these will go in a walled orchard that I am making and some will be able to be dropped into backyards and gardens as required.

I am really happy with the results and plan to purchase another 20 odd as Normandy and Maine are full of apple trees....

cheers

Matt