Tuesday, August 27, 2013

UH-1 Huey Progress & Painting Frenzy

Anyone remember playing Avalon Hill's "Squad Leader" when you were younger and rolling a "snake eyes" on your morale check?  What happened to Germans and Russians on the Eastern Front?  BERZERKER!  You charged the nearest enemy unit regardless of your condition.  I lost many a squad that way, charging across the street in the urban nightmare of the game's first scenario.

That could probably describe events in the hobby arena as of late.  Lately life has been busy but I've been managing to get in a game here and there or to slap some paint on my patient miniatures - there are alot of irons in the fire!

I have also been slowly assembling a UH-1D "Huey" for my upcoming LZ X-Ray battle.  Here are some interesting pictures of all that nonsense going on:
this is the Italeri kit.  It comes in several configurations you can choose from - West German Search and Rescue, Italian or Spanish Army, or US Army in Vietnam.  I obviously am choosing the latter.

Here is a shot of the troop compartment so far...

What a pain in the ass these pieces were to put on.

the model builds shape...

fuselage - now they are all OD Green after spraying along with the additional pieces for the external body.  I taped off the nose and will have to HAND DRAW the 229th Aviation Regiment's crest on the nose.  I am going to be modeling a ship from Major Bruce Crandall's A Company.
Additionally, besides the LZ Xray project, there are at least 4 Napoleonic battalions being worked on now.  An additional Legere unit, 2 French Infantry Battalions, 2 Cavalry units, and 1 British Battalion.  The LZ Xray Project has 4 additional NVA Platoons being completed, along with my Warmaster Fantasy Orc rebasing project.  My workbench is a mess!
Everyone's attending this party...

French infantry and cavalry waiting for their uniforms.  These will turn into 2 more French Battalions.

More British.
SURPRISE!  Quality Castings 15mm BMP-2 for my moderns...I imagine when all the Zvezda Modern 15s I've ordered come in, these guys will take center stage.

Orc Regiment - the Warmaster troopers are also part of the rebasing project, and are being based on 3 x 1.5" "Regimental" stands now.


Unfinished French Drummer.  The red figure on his belly behind the drummer is an experiment I'm carrying out - Black Powder has an almost insatiable need for casualty figures.  So instead of paying 15 dollars for 4 casualty figs, I'm going to make my own with HaT leftovers...Wish me luck.

 Add to all this my American Civil War rebasing project, 15mm Moderns Project (cold war moderns) "man cave" reorganization, and my "R&D" research and development programme looking into modern 1/3000 ships for Victory at Sea moderns and I've certainly got my hands full.

If this was a squad leader game, my stand would be red...

4 comments:

  1. A lot of good looking stuff going on, love the Caeser orcs. I need to finish mine up.

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    1. Thanks, Sean. I have a few Regiments of the lovable fellas painted up. Every halloween (around Halloween) I play a warmaster game - empire vrs orc. Both sides are 1:1 for wins/losses!

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  2. Nice progress and work in progress!
    Try sanding the face down side off the "dead" guys. I did it with some Airfix cavalry on the belt sander a while back, but I'm sure some coarse sand paper would work too.
    That UH will be great!

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    Replies
    1. Ben,
      That is a great idea! I have a dremel sander that might work!!! I am going to give it a shot tomorrow.

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