On the workbench - May 2025

Well, April has been a mixed month. When planning I had forgotten to take into account the duties of a son on his mothers 99th birthday!! and then my car was involved in a collision with an opening van door as I was parking!*? So progress has been very slow.

So I'm still working on:-

• Almoravid heavy cavalry (basic colours all done)
• Four units of SYW British infantry (All primed, half with their facings blocked in))
• Paint the Vietnamese buildings (Primed and first coat now painted (cheap rattle can matt sand from ebay))
• WSS Franconian grenadier battalion (Primed)
• 3 units of WSS French cavalry (Assembled and washed ready for priming)
• A Prussian artillery commander base (Primed)
• Bavarian Frei Kompanie Prielmayer (Primed) (I found this from the stash after finding an image of the unit)

Wild West scenery

It's been a while , these scenic items were almost finished before I went away and finished shortly after I returned, but "real life" intervened. They were all printed on my FDM 3D printer and then assembled onto bases. In future I'll assemble them onto bases digitally before printing.

Crates

Fence post cactus

"Poka-dot" cactus, I plan to print more small versions for mediterranean prickly pears.

classic "tree" cactus

My mine railway and wagons, the tracks were based before printing. I still need to build a mine entrance and workings.

SYW Prussian Pioneers

Quite an unusual unit for my Seven Years War Prussian army, the short lived Pioneer regiment. It became the 49th fusilier regiment in 1758 see Kronoskaf for more details (link)

These were converted from the Revell Austrian artillery with fusilier hat swaps from the HaT Prussian infantry marching. Don't look too closely or you'll see the problem I had welding the two different plastics together.

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.

El Cid era Spanish light infantry

Almost the last of the box of HaT Spanish infantry produced an archer unit and three units of skirmishers (two javelin armed and one sling)

I would have liked a unit of crossbow but you only get four in a packet of ninety six!

WIP - Henschel Hs 123 & Dewotine 520

I have completed the assembly of the two aircraft. I experienced the usual problems of fitting the struts and the upper wing on the top of a biplane.

Now onto fitting a screw underneath for the magnetic stand and then it's painting

On the Workbench - March 2025

Just back again from Granddad duties and I now see myself with a clear period for a while, so a chance to get back on track I hope.

I'll be working on:-

• Assemble and paint the Hs 129 and Dewotine I started while travelling before I found the task lighting was too poor for my old eyes.
• El Cid era Spanish light infantry - nearly finished painting
• Finish repainting a trio of old Matchbox M3 Stuarts - they now have caunter applied
• Three Early War German MMG teams - nearly finished painting
• Almoravid heavy cavalry
• Three units of SYW British Infantry
• Start the FDM 3D printer - I have found some interesting Vietnam buildings by Rubicon on Thingiverse

Western Gunfight buildings

Here are the four buildings I received from my daughter for Christmas, they are all now assembled and painted, and have even been used once in their unpainted state.

I will add some logos later once I have sorted something out.

Clear out now on ebay

Well, after some problems I have listed my current army surplus on ebay. They can be found here, but if anything is of interest let me know and a deal may be possible. link

Beautiful Boy

Just returned from visiting my daughter and my first grandchild my first thoughts are of John Lennon's "Beautiful Boy"

He is called George after my late father, which is very touching

I feel my life is going to change, in many ways!

On the workbench - February 2026

If all goes to plan I will become a Grandfather this month, I expect this will involve quite a bit of time away from the painting bench. January has been a reasonable start and pleasingly I have rebased all my Russian Cavalry. I have also installed Cura on my laptop to replace the Elegoo version and refreshed my understanding of how it works. I now feel I can get started once I get a clear period at home.

I'll be working on:-

• While travelling, attempt to assemble a few of the remaining plastic kits
• Paint the Wild West buidings I received for Xmas - I have already part assembled them
• El Cid era Spanish light infantry - they are already primed
• Finish repainting a trio of old Matchbox M3 Stuarts
• Three Early War German MMG teams - also primed
• Maybe get started on the Almoravid heavy cavalry

Vapnartak 2026

I visited Vapa as a punter for once not as a demonstrator as I was in transit. I usually enjoy the show, but I was underwhelmed. There were very few demonstration or participation games unlike the past so very little inspiration was on offer. It was also the first show I have been to where I have left with zero purchases, nobody stocked Vallejo or the Javis scatter I use (there are usually 2-3). So a brief set of pictures of the games

First off is Ken (Yarkshire Gamer) with his splendid game of Germantown 1776.

A Battlegroup Northag game

The Italian Wars fought using Midgard

Another AWI game from the Brompton Bankers using Rebels & Patriots

Something unusual the naval battle of Harodate 1869

Chariot racing, photogrphed during a lull in gaming

Panzer 38(t)s and a Jeep

As part of my attempt to clear the stash I assembled these back in September last year. Both kits are by Fujimi, the Jeep crewman is a 3D resin print, just a little on the large size.

The Panzer 38(t)s will join four others and allow me to better game the action of the 7th and 8th Panzer Divisions in France 1940 as well as Russia in 41/42.

Now off to my first show of the year - Vapnartak

El Cid era Spanish heavy infantry

I had painted the officers and standard bearers earlier as they came in the HaT command pack. I added the heavy infantry from their infantry pack to make up three units

Napoleonic Russian Heavy Cavalry rebased

Continuing my rebasing I have turned to the Russian heavy cavalry.

The Dragoons, all HaT

The cuirassiers, two are HaT and one Zvezda

The Zvesda figures have been painted as the Chevalier Garde

Napoleonic Russian Cossacks rebased

I debated whether to sell or rebase my HaT Cossacks for a while, but finally I decided that I could make a decision unless I did it, and if I did it would make them more saleable. So they are done and I'm quite happy with the results.

There are a couple of bases of Zvesda Cossacks mixed in, but they were used to to make up the numbers and they are slightly oversized. If I tried 3D printing some new cossacks these would probably be the first to be replaced

Looking at the pictures I still need to use some matt varnish on them to reduce the shine.

Napoleonic Russian Light Cavalry rebased

My first batch of Russian Napoleonic Cavalry has been rebased they are all Strelets figures except the Guard Cossacks , which are Zvezda.

Pavlograd Hussars

Tiraspol Chasseurs a Cheval

Guard Cossacks

Tchougouiev Lancers