Workbench update...
Here in the suburbs of Tokyo, I'm lucky enough to live in a nice house that is quite spacious by Tokyo standards, and which is surrounded by a lot of green hills and is close to the Tama River. I also really enjoy my work here, which takes me to various locations in and around the Tokyo area and beyond.
But the downside of life in this metropolis of 12 million people is that commuting can really eat into time and- moreover the energy- for painting. Still, I've been trying to discipline myself to do a little something at least every day, even if it is for only twenty-thirty minutes or so.
The weather- and light for painting- has been crummy recently. The paintbrush muse has clearly been off on his summer vacation these past few days, so instead I decided to go for a change of pace and try to get some more figures assembled and ready for painting.
Above is a shot of the workbench. In the foreground is a 10 pdr. licorne howitzer of the Russian Horse Artillery (a section of two guns in gaming terms) for the Streifkorps. It's just waiting for the epoxy to cure.
It will have a crew of four, be mounted on a 60mm x 80mm base, and will have a battery commander on a separate base at the rear. The commander himself is a simple conversion, a SYW Prussian in cloak with his head replaced with that of a spare Russian dragoon trumpeter. He is accompanied by a British officer- no doubt making sure that His Britannic Majesty is getting sufficient "bang" for his subsidy guineas.
In the background you can see "Da Boss" himself- General Olsuviev waving his hat. This is actually the Front Rank single-piece casting of our beloved Czar Alexander, but I'll demote him a few ranks so that he can serve as the commander of the IXth Corps.
I had doubts about the strength of the horses' rear legs, so I drilled a hole -very carefully- through the base and up through one of the legs, and epoxied in a piece of hard steel piano wire. Short of banging him directly on the head with a mallet, he'll now stand up to pretty much any abuse the tabletop can offer (although damage from disobedient cats and from earthquakes is a much bigger risk!)
Assorted aides and hangers-on in the rear. The figure in white doffing his hat is another major conversion. He's a cuirassier officer, in undress order, serving as an ADC on General Langeron's staff. He'll be bringing orders to Olsuviev, and is here accompanied by a cossack in a epoxy putty cloak. In the back is another conversion, a rather haughty and arrogant looking Cossack officer. Looming in the background on the right in black is a Russian ADC in hussar uniform.
But the downside of life in this metropolis of 12 million people is that commuting can really eat into time and- moreover the energy- for painting. Still, I've been trying to discipline myself to do a little something at least every day, even if it is for only twenty-thirty minutes or so.
The weather- and light for painting- has been crummy recently. The paintbrush muse has clearly been off on his summer vacation these past few days, so instead I decided to go for a change of pace and try to get some more figures assembled and ready for painting.
Above is a shot of the workbench. In the foreground is a 10 pdr. licorne howitzer of the Russian Horse Artillery (a section of two guns in gaming terms) for the Streifkorps. It's just waiting for the epoxy to cure.
It will have a crew of four, be mounted on a 60mm x 80mm base, and will have a battery commander on a separate base at the rear. The commander himself is a simple conversion, a SYW Prussian in cloak with his head replaced with that of a spare Russian dragoon trumpeter. He is accompanied by a British officer- no doubt making sure that His Britannic Majesty is getting sufficient "bang" for his subsidy guineas.
In the background you can see "Da Boss" himself- General Olsuviev waving his hat. This is actually the Front Rank single-piece casting of our beloved Czar Alexander, but I'll demote him a few ranks so that he can serve as the commander of the IXth Corps.
I had doubts about the strength of the horses' rear legs, so I drilled a hole -very carefully- through the base and up through one of the legs, and epoxied in a piece of hard steel piano wire. Short of banging him directly on the head with a mallet, he'll now stand up to pretty much any abuse the tabletop can offer (although damage from disobedient cats and from earthquakes is a much bigger risk!)
Assorted aides and hangers-on in the rear. The figure in white doffing his hat is another major conversion. He's a cuirassier officer, in undress order, serving as an ADC on General Langeron's staff. He'll be bringing orders to Olsuviev, and is here accompanied by a cossack in a epoxy putty cloak. In the back is another conversion, a rather haughty and arrogant looking Cossack officer. Looming in the background on the right in black is a Russian ADC in hussar uniform.
