Finished Baja Bases and Sneak Peek!

So, I finished the first two test bases of the first Beja unit a little while back but couldn't find the time and room on the painting table to take any pics. This I did today having finished glossing and matting the Mounted Infantry for the Second Battle of El Teb.

First the Beja bases. I'm really pleased in the manner in which these mini's have come out. The skin tones are almost exactly what I was looking for and the basing has worked well and as it's a light desert colour it really sets off the miniatures. The Glossing and Matting down phases of painting cannot be overstated IMHO, the Gloss smooths and blends whilst the Flat Matte gives the miniatures in a really pleasing look  without the glare of the light which one gets when leaving miniatures unvarnished.

Take a look for yourself, hopefully you will agree that they're turned out well(?):

As I've mentioned I also managed to get the Mounted Infantry conversions for El Teb finished but as yet they remain un-based. The Matting Agent I use can easily take 12 hours to go off and be completely dry. It's worth it as it is by far the best Matte Varnish that I have ever used. I don't miss the old formula Dulcote at all these days.

In all there are six mini's that were requited. Here's a Sneak Peek prior to basing:

That's all for today. I've got a lot to do tonight..... ;>)

Beja Base Two Complete.... Another Four to Go!!

..........and that will only be one unit done out of the five that I'm initially aiming at!!

It took a little more time than I had imagined (birthday celebrations getting in the way) but I'm happy to say that the second Beja base has been completed. I'm still messing around with the composition, which one reason the miniatures are only blue-tacked onto the bases, another is that they haven't received their traditional coat of Humbrol gloss followed by the matting down process. I use HMG varnish for matting down. If one was to take the 'old' Dullcote recipe out of the equation then HMG is about the flattest Matt varnish available. I find the 'new' Dullcote recipe to leave a satin sheen which I really do not like one bit. So, HMG Matt varnish comes highly recommended form these quarters!

The second lot were all metal (from the Perry Miniatures Mahdist range) and were very different than their plastic companions to paint. I found them easier to get into for some funny reason and I'm sure that it's not just a case of getting used to the different undercuts etc that are presented by plastics. Perhaps it's just a matter of me getting more used to painting up plastic models. Something that I quite enjoy, they are after all a bit of a different challenge than the metal models.

Here's a few pics of the Beja as they were a few minutes ago on the painting table. The varnishing process will help smooth out any jumps in tonality just as a wash would do.

The Two Bases:

A Couple of Close Ups:

New Remastered Pics of Beja

I finally managed to get Photoshop to run properly on my new laptop so I can now present more 'real' images of the Beja and in particular the skin tones and what I was saying in a previous post about the reds I had added to the first two of the Foundry Musket Brown triads. The last i found needed no red adding as it was certainly red enough!

Without further ado:

Hope you can see the difference a bit of lighting can make!

Cheers for now.

First Base of Beja Complete!

Well, not quite the first base. I've got another six metal Beja which I'm starting to paint up right now that will me mixed and matched with the first and possibly the third plastic base. I find that many of the plastic mini's have a similar stance in that they all seem to be leaning forward a little so it's imperative for me to have more variation in the units, thus adding the metals.

I'm quite pleased with how they're come out given that this was a run through to see how what was possible and that a certain amount of detail had to be added by hand.

I sent for a reddish skin tone on the first unit as the colour of the skin tones in and around the Red Sea Littoral could vary from tribe to tribe (within tribes too one would imagine). I may try a darker tone next time but as I have 30-36 of this batch to do I'll worry about that later! The mini's haven't been varnished as of yet as I prefer to do them in batches of about ten. Saves quite a bit of time.

At present, the miniatures have no concrete spot on the base so I can play around with the composition more when I've got the metals painted up and come up with a more dynamic scene.

Without further ado, here's the 'first' base:

Perry Miniatures Plastic and Metal Beja Comparison

As promised (how very unlike me!) here are a few comparison shots of the Perry Beja in Metal and in Plastic. I've left the metal one's without an undercoat for now so it's obvious which mini's are which.First, before any discussion here are the comparison shots:

The first thing that struck me is that the metals are slighter than the plastics, not by much but it is noticeable. Not by all that much and with a lick of paint I don't really see that the size difference will be obvious without really scrutinizing the miniatures. What i am looking to do is get as much variety in the units as possible so with the addition of the 12 or so packs of metals this should be a very achievable aim.

So, how does the detail on the metals compare with the plastics? Generally the metal miniatures have more character and are in more dynamic poses too. The character of the metals is however offset not just by the cost of the plastics but the conversion possibilities they present. I'm really looking forward to hacking a few of the plastics up and creating some casualties as well as a series of vignettes that i have planned. This of course all be published and discussed in detail in future posts. For now it's a matter of getting used to the plastic mini's before embarking on any chopping! I find that if you give yourself a chance to get 'used to' plastics then you get a much better feel for conversion possibilities and perhaps more importantly, what will look right.

OK, it's late so that's it for now.

Cheers.

Project Sudan is Underway!!

Firstly, please forgive the quality of the pics in this little article. Due to circumstances beyond my control I haven't got my lighting system and I've just switched from my Laptop to a Lenovo Yoga and frankly the software for pics compared to what I normally use (Photoshop) is complete rubbish. I've got a CRR/WR on it's merry way to me but as it hasn't arrived as of yet I'm having to make do. I'll re-process the pics as soon as I can install Photoshop! These pics are a bit dark and likely to be very large when you click on them, as I say, circumstances beyond my control.

The Sudan project is under way!!

It's been a while as I've had quite a few personal problems (still have!) since my last post but I'm beginning to get back into the hobby again so that in itself deserves a big "Hurrah!!"

I've manages to glue myself together the first 13 Beja (or Hadendawa in this case) and I'm quite pleased with the results. They were very easy to assemble, which counts for a lot when one has to assemble a mighty host; I've got three boxes to do in total! I'm going to do half as Beja and Half as Kordofani Tribesmen as I want the Beja to be as naked in terms of their clothing and the Kordonfani Tribesmen to be more fully clothed. I'll be mixing in a lot of metals on the bases too to keep as much variation going as possible. There are likely to be a few conversions as well but at this stage, lacking all my gear (I think I've got some Grey Stuff somewhere??) I'm going to stick to just well, sticking them together. I always find that this gives a greater 'feel' to how they can be varied so it's not such a bad thing to wait a short while anyway.

Tonight I'll take some shots of the plastics next to the metals as I'm sure that the former are slightly bulkier than the latter. Anyway, it will give me an idea of how to best fit them all in together in a particular unit. It might very well be the case that the metals have lower and less bulky bases in which case adding a piece of card/platicard below the bases of the metals will do the trick nicely.

For now,here are the pics of the plastics glued together:

So, until tomorrow and the comparison shots between the plastics and the metals, it's cheers for now.