New project, and old

Just a quick pic or two:

On the left, my new 1/1800 ships from WTJ, with a pair of extras that were sent just in case some of my order fell afoul of a production problem.  Awesome service from WTJ!  Now, for some primer...



And on the right, one of my 1/600 Xyston ancient vessels, and assorted bits.  I am going to take another look at this scale for my Tékumel naval project.  One item that I can see already is the size of the 'castle' from Xyston.  It seems to be slightly small.  A scratch-built replacement might be in order.





Lastly, the Tékumel naval project got another boost with this:

I finally purchased my copy, and I am looking forward to reading through it again.

Huaxtec, part 7

A few more Huaxtec warriors completed, except basing (Potentially NSFW):

These warriors have an assortment of weapons, but the same plain shields as the first set, with the exception of the red rims on the shields.

It is not visible at this angle, but some of the ink used for the tattoos and weapon decorations lifted off during the varnishing phase.  Nothing serious, but it is giving me second thoughts about the Winsor & Newton inks.

As I am slowly painting up these figures, I am contemplating an order for some more Huaxtec, this time from Outpost.  More warriors are needed, especially bowmen, some more suit wearers, and a few high command types.


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Review of Painting War #5 - Spanish Civil War

Herein is my review of the recently published book, Painting War #5 - Spanish Civil War by Rubén Torregrosa.

Front cover

Back cover

This volume is, depending on the source, 88 or 92 pages in length (curiously, the covers seem to be counted in the pagination), perfect-bound, and A4 in size.  It is printed in full color throughout.  Six of the pages are advertisements.  A few pages are given to basic painting explanations, but this is completely outshone by the specific painting guides.  

There are two, multi-page and fully photographed, step-by-step guides for painting miniatures, one a 1/72 scale militiawoman from Minairons, and the other an Empress Miniatures Carlist requete in 28mm.  Below is part of one of the guides:

I am not including many pics of the specific pages; just enough to illustrate my points hopefully.

And the bulk of the book, 39 pages, is used for painting details for different units of the Spanish Civil War, with one faction being used for each page.  From Andalusian militia to Condor Legion flak crews, the unit is very likely to be here.  Each unit has a listing of the specific Vallejo paints used for the miniature, and each page has a historical factoid and painting tips.

I have only a few issues with this volume.  One, scattered throughout are minor typesetting errors and misspellings.  Most are minor, but one stands out - 'let it fry' instead of 'let it dry.'  That one is a bit humorous!  Also, there are no hints to painting tanks - towed weapons, yes - but not for tanks.  It is my understanding that the author has a separate volume on painting vehicles.  The only issue that might be serious is a repetition of paragraphs.  The two paragraphs at the bottom of page 13 are repeated verbatim at the top of page 14.  It might not be a problem, but it is noticeable.  


Overall, this is an outstanding guide to the painting of miniatures for the Spanish Civil War, and I consider it to be $30 well spent!


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SCW, part 2

The book buying continues...

Lovely, used but in almost perfect condition hardbacks, at a price that was almost impossible to ignore.  A brief glance through both of these tomes shows a lot of good information.  War Is Beautiful has an odd title, but it seems to be a great source of little details and background for the Spanish Civil War.


And:

Hot off of the presses, this perfect-bound softcover is a magnificent source of painting information, right down to the specific paint used by the artist for the uniforms of dozens of different units, from militia to Foreign Legion. 


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