Oldest Figure I Still Have

   This is him, a halfling from the old Grenadier Miniatures box set 2002 Halflings.

   I got the boxed set for Christmas when I was in fourth grade (I think - maybe fifth). That was 1981.  I would have been nine years old. He was painted with Testors Model Enamels and a Q-tip for a brush.

The old box

For almost 35 years old, that enamel really did hold up pretty well.

From the halls of Montezuma...

   I spent a couple of hours on Wednesday prepping a lot of 15mm WW2 US Marines. The figures are from Peter Pig, and are destined to be the core of a Marine Rifle Company in Flames of War - Pacific.

A selection of Marines, ready to charge to the spray booth.

   So far, I have trimmed up and de-flashed (not that there was much of that) and glued them to 'jumbo craft sticks,' aka tongue depressors. Each stick is a mix of figures that will make up an individual base or team, if you prefer. I've done enough to make:

• 24x 4-man BAR Infantry teams
• 4x 3-man HMG teams
• 3x 3-man 60mm mortar teams (plus the mortar, of course)
• 4x 3-man 81mm mortar teams (plus mortar)
• 2x 2-man observer teams
• 6x 3-man command teams (CO, 2iC, platoon commanders)

   If my math is right, that's about 158 figures on 43 tongue depressors. It nets out to two infantry platoons, two mortar platoons, a HMG platoon, and a scout platoon. I will still need a few things to finish off the force, like some more LVTs, some war dogs, and the Marine Engineer Assault Section.

This may be what made me decide to collect a USMC force.

War dogs!

Images from Battlefront and the Flames of War website.

   Next step is priming. I have an ultra flat olive drab spray that I am thinking would work as a base. It would speed up the painting process, maybe, since these Marines are all in the old pickle suits. I'm going to try it on a couple of 'extra' figures and see how it works before I commit to the whole company.

Tigrid Air Support

   I recently finished painting this Matchbox Turbo Tornado aircraft to fit in with my Tigrid alien force for Gruntz. These were produced in 2014 and 2015 in different color schemes. They run a couple of bucks on eBay.

It started off like this:

Now, after a shot of black primer, and a lot of Vallejo Ochre Brown, it looks like this:

   I'm pretty happy with it. I just need to figure out a flying stand for it to make it more useful on the table.

Affirmative, Master!

   Another little fun project I have been playing with has been some Doctor Who figures. These are more for fun and maybe for background civilian figures than for serious gaming. Unless of course I paint up that mighty Dalek Horde sitting upstairs in plastic.

   At any rate, I have a few figures: Third and Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane, and K-9. So far, K-9 is finished. The rest are about 80% done. I just dug them out of a box, though, so maybe in the next week or so I will get to them. Not that I don't have plenty of other things that actually need my attention, both painting and otherwise...

He's a good dog.

Oh Bad Doggies!

So my dogs ate two minis last night.

Well, not ate them, but chewed up pieces of them beyond any real hope of saving them. Bulldogs, even ones that are only 10 months old, have rather powerful jaws. I think the chihuahua taught him this trick, as she has gnawed on minis before.

Here are the remains:

The front of a hull for a small airship. Remains of the paint on this one.

It's been warped pretty badly so that it won't fit any longer.

This was a driver/pilot for the Minion Quadricycle.

He's lost his head. Legs are crushed. One side is mashed flat.

LOTS of toothmarks.

  To top it all off, these minis are irreplaceable, essentially. They are from Parroom Station and the related Secret Science lines, sculpted by Bob Charrette and formerly produced and sold through Brigade Games. When they split last summer (2015), I snapped these up before they were gone for good, or at least until Bob finds a new manufacturer. Total loss on them.

Here is how I am dealing with the situation.