More from the BMC Iwo Jima set

BMC also do equally inexpensive sets for D-Day but these figures are much more of a toy style. I'd definately recommend the Iwo Jima set for the price. I think mine are likely going to end up a Nephew's Christmas present one day.

BMC Japanese and Marines

I bought a bag of both Japanese and US Marines by BMC at a Toy Solider show a couple of years ago. I think it was about £8 for the whole back and there was about 40 figures in total plus a model of the flag raising on Iwo Jima. I wanted to see just how cheap you could put a skirmish togther. I painted them in a 'Toy' style and the Japanese are all finished. They are made from a strong plastic that is very easy to paint. Some really good poses in there too.

ACW

I have tons more still to paint. Painted them in a traditional gloss finish. The Timpo Union troops are inexpensive and look great. The Rebels here are mostly Imex, with a few Call to Arms. This project started when I painted one I had from my childhood (the one with the brown base) it turned out pretty good so I bought some more and carried on.

New Airfix releases

So far we have British Infantry, Commandos, Paratroops and 8th Army and the American GI's.

No Germans yet but by the speed that these have been comming out lately I think they will be here by Christmas.

Favourite box art so far is the British Infantry!

Collectors items

Had a few ebay wins a while back. The Modern Russians are very rare, unfortunately they are quite under scale. They are definately 1/35.

A bit of background..

I must have been about six or seven years old. I had a collection of odd's and ends of Airfix, Timpo and the like and a few painted Britains plastics (more on them later). One evening a lady came to the house, no idea who she was and no one remembers to this day. She had with her a box and said that her son didn't want these things anymore and so she brought them round for me. My parents decided I had been good enough to have the things there and then. Upon opening I found it was full of more Airfix, Timpo and various other makes, it doubled my collection there and then and was one of the best presents I ever received. From then on there was no turning back!

Panzers East!

These tanks are 21st Centuty Toys. Won them on ebay last Christmas. Figures are old Airfix, again rescued from ebay and painted.

These are all Italeri figures. I gave them a Forces of Valour jeep, felt sorry for them that the gerries have so much in the way of transport and armour and they had nothing.. a bit like America did. If anyone wants to get me a T34 for Christmas I would be very happy!

For the Motherland!

Old and new! Old airfix Russians with the new Italeri figures. I have the 75mm gun too but need to finish painting the crew for it. These figures go very well togther. Sadly there is no hint from Airfix as yet as to whether they will be releasing the Russians. I still have a pile of old ones from ebay wins so will use these. I painted these as usual but gave them a black wash before dry brushing with buff as normal. It makes them look much more filthy. My 8th Army didn't get this treatment as they wouldn't really have had a muddy look from the desert.

Germany pushes East..

These are old Airfix figures I won on ebay. The Opel Blitz is a 21st Cen Toys model. I now have the new k-resin British Commandos so these may find a new home soon.

Italeri 1/32 British Light Cavalry

Did these a while ago. Not really a Napoleonics fan but they were so good I couldn't resist. I do have the French Dragoons too but they weren't turning out that great so have been put on a back burner. These are meant to be in a more traditional toy soldier style and gloss varnished.

Airfix 1/32 8th Army

Painted up my first box of the new k-resin 1/32 scale 8th Army from Airfix. Old moulds - new figures! This is the best thing to happen to my wargames career in a long time! The figures are perfect as they are easy to paint and anatomically correct with decent poses. At £5.70 a box they are cheap too! 14 figures to a box, with 4 boxes I easily have a Rapid Fire battalion! I dug out some Timpo machine gunners, radio opperators and Monty himself to complement them. Will post pictures of the whole lot when they are done.

I've been painting these up very quickly by just doing the basic colours and then a bit of dry brushing with a buff colour to bring out detail and give them that embattled look. It seems to work and I can put out 14 men on the table painted in an afternoon. I use Games Workshop Skull White undercoat spray and this saves a huge amount of time as well as being a really good matt finish to take the colours. I finish them off with a humbrol spray matt varnish, which seems to be just right without making them brittle. The k-resin they are made from should hold the paint for a long time without chipping or cracking as long as they arn't handled too roughly.

More to follow...