Painting for the School Fair

Every year Columba College has a school fair - and every year I have never actually got around to donating anything for it. This year's New Year resolution was to be a more active parent. Unfortunately that idea failed miserably. I am not the type of person to give up the comfort of my evenings to sit on committees and I am too lazy to coach a sports team. I am a bad parent.

However, I have decided to donate a set of 1/32 Hat Russian Command figures to the school to auction off at the fair. Over the last week I have been painting and basing and they are beginning to look pretty cool. I wonder if anyone will buy them? There can't be that many Napoleonic nerd dads amongt the parents but you never know....

The problem about painting 1/32 figures is that they are so big that they almost demand to be displayed when they are finished. I don't really have space ti display figures like these - especially since I am not really a painter with the skills to produce to competition standard. With 1/72 the figures can be stored in a box and can still look pretty cool even with my meager skills.

So there they are! I hope a Columba College dad finds space in his man cave for my first efforts in 1/32 for about 10 years!

Waiting for the Spanish...

I ordered 10 boxes of Spanish Napoleonics from my Australian supplier a few weeks ago but I'm not sure when the figures will reach Australia from the Chinese factory where they are being made at the moment. It seems that Australia is the first country to get hold of any new production from Hat Industrie (which does the coolest plastic Napoleonics). In the meantime I am at loose ends as to what to do in terms of painting. Over the last week I have pulled out some of my French battalions
and started to put some flags on them to replace the ones which were originally part of the figures. This will entail a repainting and I am not too happy with the results. I've done about 15 battalions so far. I guess it adds a bit of spark to those tired old early painting efforts. I also notice that I had better get may paints out and touch up those musket barrels....

No Painting This Week

This has been a hectic week. Work is busy and promises to be the same until next Sunday. I have spent this Saturday loading a 9 metre mini skip with crap which we have accumulated over the last few years. There is so much greenery on the property that we are probably going to need another skip in spring.

On a brighter note, a bought a few more books for my mini- library....

Once upon a time I did actually have an Austrian army of sorts. The Austrians and the French were the first armies that I painted when I was at uni. Sadly, I only decided to repaint the French and the Austrians were relegated to boxes where most of their paint flaked off. A well painted Austrian army would look lovely but I am not sure whether I want to put the Austrians ahead of a Spanish or Portuguese army. At the moment I don't have either but I do have a birthday coming up... perhaps that can justify an army painting binge over winter...

Another Sunday - Another identical set

Here are the Prussians riding in front of four battalions of British foot which happen to live in the same box as the Prussian Curassiers. To the right are a couple of riflemen sniping some of Boney's officers!

I thought that when I finished the Guard Cavalry (Curassiers - without Curasses - go figure!) I would move on to other sets. But then in the back of my mind a had a niggling idea that there may have been other set in the basement -  a set that I bought when I was living in Hong Kong way back in '92. I went for a hunt on Monday after work and there in a box filled with odds and ends of years of on and off collecting - was a bag of figures of original Esci Prussian Curassiers. And it is these that I present to you now. I painted them as dragoons and according to my daughter they look better than the first ones I did last week.

It seems this gentleman doth paint too often...

Another lovely weekend in Eastern Otago. The weather packed up a little on Sunday but I did get the lawns mowed and the shopping done. I also managed to paint early war Prussian cuirassiers all the way to finished basing. Now apart from a box of French Infantry and Cavalry I really am out of Napoleonics to paint. I do have a box of Northern ACW artillery which I could have a go at...

Out in the sun porch which I call our Wintergarten because it sounds cooler! The camera picked up the box pretty well but not the figures.

A better version. Not sure if they are the prettiest figures which I have painted but still quite pleasing.

OMG Three Years Ago Today...

The Google NZ homepage had a little poppy at the bottom (which I thought had something to do with the 100 anniversary of WW1) but it marks 3 years since the Christchurch earthquake. Wow time flies.

I haven't been up to Christchurch since the earthquake (I was there the day before at an NZQA conference) so I am sure any future visit would be pretty spooky since most of the buildings in the centre of the city were torn down due to weakening. It is great how the South has recovered though. Canterbury house prices are rocketing and the rebuild is injecting millions into the economy. All up we are going far better than anyone would have expected.

Saturday Morning

No more to say....