Progress against plan 1Q26

So one quarter down and 295 items, which was not bad considering my time spent on becoming a grandfather and successfully getting the FDM printer going. Breakdown of progress so far:

1. Reworking my Napoleonic Russian Army - well underway
2. Enhance existing armies- well underway
3. 3D printing terrain (FDM) - started, but lots of learning to consider
4. 3D printing vehicles and figures (resin) - not started yet as too cold
5. Continue to clear out all unwanted items, including painted figures - started, a certain amount cleared but still more to do
6. Enjoy Games & Shows- OK so far

Amplifying the above:

1. Reworking my Napoleonic Russian Army

• Rebase existing Russian Line Cavalry - done
• Decide whether to replace or rebase existing Cossacks - tested rebasing and decided to stay for now with existing cossacks
• 3D print Infantry to replace Version 1 Springwood Infantry - waiting for warmer weather
• Rebase Version 2 Springwood Infantry, plus new 3D printed officers, etc. - as above, waiting for warmer weather
• Decide how to replace existing Militia (HaT) - decided to sell and have sold

2. Enhance existing armies - already planned are

• Napoleonic Saxons/Westphalians when I can find suitable STL files - still have not found suitable files
• 28mm Wild West terrain including a mine (non MDF) - All printed need to assemble and paint
• Some more 28mm Gunfighters including some Indians- not started
• 28mm Gangs of Rome figures.- not started
• Some Spanish medieval infantry for the El Cid period- completed apart from some crossbowmen
• 3 units of Almoravid Heavy Cavalry- about to start
• 3 units of SYW British Infantry - about to start 4 instead of 3 units
• 4 units of WSS Spanish (Walloon?) Infantry - not purchased yet
• 3 units of WSS French Cavalry- not started
• Legion Nautique for the French in Egypt 1800 - not started, waiting for warmer weather to print
• Hanoverian limbers for the SYW - completed
• a couple of units for the SYW - I decided on Hessians and have completed them.
• Assemble and paint Wild West buildings received at Xmas - I have assembled and painted them apart from some signage
• Support the stash reduction by painting useable items -started

2. 3D Printing Terrain (FDM)

• Test printing a Horsa using FDM- conducted a digital test and decided it was feasible
• Vietnamese hooches - Printed, but still need to paint
• Western European buildings - not convinced by the files I have
• Spanish/Mediterrainean buildings - not convinced by the files I have
• New bridges - not started

3. 3D Printing Vehicles & Figures (Resin) - in the summer

• Napoleonic Saxon and Westphalian Infantry - not found suitable files yet
• Napoleonic Russian Infantry - just waiting on the weather
• Maybe Napoleonic Russian Cossacks? - not needed
• Gradually replace existing diecast and other poor quality AFVs in my collection - slowly clearing them out

4. Continue to clear out all unwanted items, including painted figures

• Re-assess each existing period, army, and units to consider if I am really going to use them - no progress yet
• Sell the identified surplus, probably on ebay - sold a certain quantity, just need to keep on
• Review stash (figure and plastic bits box) aiming to reduce from 3 to 2 crates by painting or selling the excess - no progress yet
• Identify replacement STL files for my 1st version Springwood Prussian figures for 2027 - not convinced by the files I have found so far

5. Gaming

• Continue supporting the Beacon Club and attending as many weekend events as possible - OK so far
• Try to attend the same number of shows as last year - Managed to get to Vapnartak but unfortunately WMMS was cancelled this year

In the Workbench - Apr 2026

Well at last I got the FDM printer working and I'm very happy with my "Vietnamese" buildings, unfortunately the decals for my Dewoitine disintegrated so it will have to wait till I find some replacement decals.

I'll be working on:-

• Almoravid heavy cavalry
• Four units of SYW British infantry (I've struggled to clean these up, but I found I had sufficient for an extra unit)
• SYW Prussian pioneers
• Paint the Vietnamese buildings
• WSS Franconian grenadier battalion
• 3 units of WSS French cavalry

SYW Hessian Infantry

While sorting out my British figures for the Seven Years War, I found that I still had some HaT SYW Prussian infantry figures in the stash. AS the British needed quite a bit of cleaning up they pre-empted them in the painting queue. They were painted as the Hesse-Kassel Erbprinz (yellow facings) and Ysenburg (buff) regiments.

Unfortunately the version of their flags with a white and red lion in the centre was not introduced until after the end of the SYW, so I just used the version with the Landgrave's cypher.

Henschel Hs 123 finished

The kind donation/swap from Alan Mc is now ready for action. So I now have a Henschel Hs 123 to support my WW2 German forces through Poland, France, the Balkans and even into Russia.

Unfortunately the decals for the Dewotine D520 that I was also working on disintegrated when I tried to apply them despite having had two coats of varnish applied first

FDM printer is running

At long last I am producing some 3D printed terrain from my FDM printer. it's quite slow as it is on the finest setting, but there are very little visible lines.

These are the excellent Rubican Oscar Mike buildings that are available on Thingiverse (link). There are a total of 9 different buildings. I have printed mine at 60% scaling for 20mm.

The roofs are removable and there are internal walls

I have also been printing some railway track, and wagons for my Wild West mine, along with some Cacti, all purchased last summer from MyMiniFactory (link) in last summer's sale.

M3 Stuart Honey tanks repainted

Back in the mists of time I painted three Matchbox M3A1 Stuarts for my Late WW2 British army. Since I replaced them with some more correct M3A3 these became available so I soaked them in dettol to remove the old paint and then repainted them in Cauter for the Western Desert.

WW2 German MMG teams

A small update as I complete some missing MMG teams for my early WW2 Germans, I had been using some late war version up until now. The fogures are mainly "First to Fight" with the comanders from the Airfix Pak 40 set.