Central Asian Magnetism

Hey Internet,

Just a very quick update. This week I have cracked on with the worryingly enjoyable task of re-basing all of my colonial russian/khivan stuff. Getting to around the 60 figure mark now. I also painted four whole russians!

Slightly more interestingly, due to my immense irritation with bent bayonets,  I have gone from storing my figures in foam boxes to storing them in lined box files.

I started out by lining the boxes with steel paper and attaching base magnets to my models, but that did not work out. The base magnets doubled the thickness of the model's bases, amongst some other things.



Rather grumpy that I had spent £20 on magnets that looked crap, I then found out that pennys are made of brazen steel rather than copper nowerdays, and are as a result magnetic! That meant I could just line the file boxes with cheap magnetic sheeting and they'd stick to it.....so that's what I did.



The magnetic attraction this way round isn't as good as having magnets on the models, but it is far cheaper and the models don't look awful, so its a winner on balance. The attraction isnt bad by any means though, as this photo shows they are happy to be lent on a 45 degree angle without any of them moving - so its plenty good enough to keep them safe on the back seat of a car.

1877 Peter The Great 1/2400

Hey all.
As anyone who's had a peer though my blog will know, I have been for some time putting together a considerable Russian fleet in 1/2400 scale. It has annoyed me throughout making this collection that I could not find a suitable model to represent my Flagship, the most powerful ship in the Russian Navy, the turret ironclad 'Peter the Great'. I have tried to use some models from the fantastic Tumbling Dice range, first the HMS Devastation - a turret ship that was far too short (about 100' in scale!) - and then the HMS Monarch - who matches the Peter The Great in all dimensions and in her armament but otherwise looks nothing like her. Anyway, what I am rambling into saying is that, dissatisfy with these models I did the one thing that I could do - made the damned thing myself.



The model is converted from the Tumbling Dice model of the USS Colossus. I have fairly simply cut the original model up and rearranged it so that it looked roughly like the Peter The Great, then built a new hull out of cardstock and milliput, cut down and re-built the turrets, added masts, flagpoles and flags, a new smokestack, some 1/1200 scale deck funnels - then I just had to paint it up. Rather easy really - if rather time consuming. This is by far the most ambitious shipwright-ing project that I have undertaken so far and I am really rather happy with the result. In my little wave of enthusiasm following the realization that I could have an accurate model for one of my favorite ships of all time I finished the whole project - from the thought popping into my head whilst walking the dog to posting the finished photos on my blog - in under 48 hours.

So, yes, without further adieu - the Photos.















MM

Last thing before bed.

Ive had a rotten day so the last thing I thought Id do before settling down to bed was pop up the little progress that I made tonight painting wise.

I have defrosted my two walkers and Gatling gun after the earlier spray varnish fiasco using gloss varnish. Worked well - about 80% of the whiteness is gone but they are now glossy as hell - so I'll have to apply (with a brush!) two or three coats of matt varnish over the top to dull it down.

Painting wise I have finally got around to painting the US War Rocket 'Ajax'.

Hope you like it.

 MM

First Khivians

I poped up some pre-undercoat shots the other day and have now got round to painting the things. They are only quick painted to a 'gaming standard'.

Hope you like them.

Couple of Khivians

Ive been having a bash at knocking together some models to represent the armed forces of the Khanate of Khiva today. A good friend of mine gave me a nice little heap of left over Egyptians from his own Anglo-Egyptian colonial project, and all I have done is sculpted some big fuzzy hats out of Milliput over the top of their fezzes. 6 down - 60+ to go.

Do tell me what you think