All for one

Or not finished for quite a while, my latest collection of King's Musketeers and Cardinal's Guards from Strelets.

The mounted figures

King & Musketeers

Cardinal & Guards

Various French "Gentlemen" with a General

The new cavalry merged with the old Mars version

The duelists

The rest of the foot figures

I added a couple of the Ultima Ratio Musketeers so I could make a complete musketeer unit for Pikemen's Lament.

There weren't quite enough for the Cardinal's Guards, but I'll just add the halberdiers in when needed.

Late War German armour

My large batch of late war German AFVs produced on my 3D printer have now been painted. They are all 1/76 except for a couple of vehicles from Simon R, which I think are 1/72.

A rare survivor from early war a sdkfz247 ausf.B

Reconnaisance - a pair of Aufklarungpanzer 38(t) flanking a Panzer II Luchs. I used the turrets from the PSC sdkfz250 neu as they had better detail than the resin version.

Hetzers for the "1001 Nights" kampfgruppe. Hence the ambush camouflage

Marders: A Marder I and a pair of Marder IIIs (Marder I and a Marder III, courtesy of Simon R)

The heavy hitters a Brummbar and a Grille

Crews will still needed to be added to the open topped vehicles.

Romanian T1 Tankettes

I have had a single tankette for years and always hoped to acquire a couple more, but never managed to find any affordable one. With the arrival of my 3D printer I could realise my ambition, so here are my reinforcements.

They really are small, see the picture below with their bigger cousin.

Reinforcements for Tunisia

Some more of my 3D printed tanks, plus an old Matchbox Panzer III reworked as an Ausf.N

The sdkfz 247 is the repaired one scavenged from 3 badly printed ones, the only visible signs now being the rear mudguards. Along with the 15cm sIG 33 B Sfl auf Panzer II it has been on my bucket list to reinforce my DAK for a long time. Providing backup are a pair of Italian Semovente da 90-53.

Preparing for Stalingrad

Some more of my 3D printed vehicles finished. They are painted up for early war, probably for Stalingrad.

There was a bit missing on the rear idler of the Sturmpanzer III, but it was easy to fix with a blob of green-stuff.

Just need to add some crew to the vehicles.

Some progress from Q2 and my total painted stands at 1,701 items

• WSS 517
• WW2 348
• Ancients 334
• Modern 236
• Napoleonic 67
• Colonial 64
• Terrain 62
• SYW 48
• AWI 26

Compared to plan
The big problem in now achieving my existing plan is the purchase of a 3D Resin printer, it has taken time to learn how to operate and then to conduct operations. The benefit has been to be able to print a lot of items at a more reasonable cost than direct purchase plus I can print in my preferred scale of 1/76 to match most of my WW2 collection. It's optimum operating temperature is 20-25C so I have tried to get my printing done before the cold weather gets going especially as it needs ventillation.

Back to my original plan:- I’ve decided to concentrate on five main painting/modelling themes this year, quite a bit is based on new and forthcoming releases:

• Complete rework of my Vietnam War collection by integrating the new figures from Orion - started with the newly released figures from Orion and still not decided about whether or not to repaint my older NVA to match
• War of Spanish Succession - French infantry and cavalry plus British cavalry, plus more as Strelets release them - Completed the existing infantry and cavalry and about to get started on more cavalry. I'm also waiting to see what Strelets next release in the winter will bring
• WW2 Japanese for Battlegroup Pacific - not started, I've now acquired a lot of figures in my last order, hopefully once I finish my current WSS I'll get started on these.
• Rebase my Early Imperial Romans - these are the last ancients that I haven't upgraded - Completed
• Napoleonics, Prussian cavalry, reworking old artillery limbers, Russian peasants for skirmish scenarios, more Spanish cavalry, potentially upgrade British infantry? - completed the Prussian cavalry and Russian peasants in Q1 nothing done since and I suspect the remainder will slip into 2022

Then a host of minor themes in order of preference rather than importance:

• WW2 SAS & LRDG. - Completed
• More "Three Musketeers", especially once the new Redbox mounted figures are available. - underway, hopefully finished shortly
• Colonials - Boer Artillery and French Foreign Legion in camp and 37mm. - Completed
• TYW Imperial Croatians/Polish Pancerni/Cossack horse archers/Russian hussars. - not started
• More British and Jacobite for the 45, WAS and SYW, when Redbox release more figures. - Not started, still waiting, but the British cavalry have been announced
• Medievals - Scottish shiltron, Revolting Peasants (Zvezda), other odd units for Montgisard. - not started - another for 2022
• SYW Austrian infantry (Roth - Wurtzberg) - Completed both Red and Blue Regiments
• Revolution Cisialpine Infantry - three or four 12 figure units. - not started - another for 2022
• The terrain I have failed to make for the last two years. - Vines and Russian fences completed, still need wadi sides, etc.

Then if time permits:

• More WW2 German cold weather infantry - 2 platoons. - not started - 2022
• Rework/Rebase Zulu War forces. - not started - 2022

I’m not making any plans for gaming, but once the show circuit starts I’ll try to get to as many as possible. Plus Crisis Point in April and a possible 2021 Big Game. Crisis in Antwerp would be a big attraction if it goes ahead Shows have started and I hope to get to some over the next few months. Crisis Point was run in September. The Airbus club has folded so my club gaming is now concentrated on the Beacon Gaming Club in Elton.

On the Workbench - October 2021

An all time record for a month when I haven't been sick or away, zero items completed in September!! Meanwhile the heap of unpainted resin grows, with just a small amount in the last few days.

In total I have successfully printed over 80 vehicles in September, now I have to paint them so in September my plan is to

• Assemble and paint the vehicles I have printed
• Finish the French Musketeers and Cardinals Guards (I did managed to put a bit of paint on them last month)
• Start on my next WSS British and French cavalry.