Some days are better than others

Some days it's just so awesome being a wargamer and today is one of those days. First off I sorted out payment for an auction I won on eBay, a German Focke Wulfe Fw190. I'm so looking forward to putting this one together.

Remember to click on the images for a bigger version.

Then at lunch I head down to the local game store to use the rest of a gift voucher I got for my birthday. There wasn't a lot of 1/48 armour kits its left in stock and I was having a hard time picking something that would play well and look cool on the table. I was about to give up when I was directed to a huge shiny pile of new kits that hadn't been put on the shelves yet. I grabbed two of the kits when I thought to ask the prices, $20 per kit I was told, so I promptly grabbed another two. I was so close to picking up a couple more but thought against it (see Vicki I can control myself).

US M4A3 & M4, German KV-2 754 and a Russian T34. The T-34 was a especially sweet deal as the interior of the tank is modelled as well. It's huge kit with 372 parts over 13 sprues.


Here's a shot of the pile of unbuilt or unpainted kits. I really have to say that I'm so impressed with the Hobby Boss kits. They're not as detailed as the AFV kits but they're way ahead of the Tamiya ones. What's also nice is that the kits come with alternate parts, including complete alternate turrets for one of the M4's.


Pleased as I was with my purchases of the day, I came home to find my order from Black Tree Design waiting for me. I may have looked calm and collected but on the inside I was giggling like a madman. Everything was there except for the LMG teams for the US Paratroopers. At least all the Germans are there because you kind of need them for any WW2 game. Besides I'm more interested in playing the British than the Yanks anyway.


I am so glad I have the airbrush setup now. Painting these all by hand would take me forever, no actually I'd probably never finish as I'd loose focus and just end up playing with unpainted minis for the next decade. No, I will say focused and I will finish these. I'll just have to get myself more organamasized.

Pssshhh... pssshhhh.

I finally stopped procrastinating and bought an air compressor for my airbrush.

Remember to click on the images for a bigger version.

And by airbrush I mean this. I know it's not all shiny like the ones all the cool kids have but it has served me well over the last year and a bit.


Tonight was really just a run through to make sure everything connected and worked. I ran some paint thinners through the brush and it al came out with a nice crisp hiss. I had a bit of thinners left when I thought what the heck and threw in some NATO Brown. The results don't look like much but I'm pretty happy.


I'll do some more tests this weekend and when I'm confident I'll put some paint on the tanks. Hmmm speaking of tanks I really should get back the StuG.

StuG III

I bought another tank. Since the British and the Americans have a tendency to team up against the Germans I felt it only fair to even things up a little. Remember to click on the images for a bigger version.


Again the kit is pretty much what you would expect from Tamiya with detailed parts and clean mold lines.


I bought some more air (canned) for my airbrush. Yes I know it's cheap and nasty, but it's better than painting them with a brush... right? I will eventually buy a real-life airbrush and compressor but right now that's $300 odd that I can use to buy a Russian force. Then I can buy all those cool Russian tank kits. Anyway when I've got this kit finished I'll spray all three kits together.

More photos as the build progresses.