Peter Pig US Forces+

I purchased a few packs (a couple of US and French forces) of Peter Pig (http://www.peterpig.co.uk/) 15mm modern minis from their AK47 Republic line (http://www.peterpig.co.uk/range17.htm) from a US distributor (http://brookhursthobbies.com/). Reasonable shipping rates and arrived in TX from CA in a couple of days .

One of the packs I bought was called "Dictator" (http://www.peterpig.co.uk/AK%20character%20dictator.jpg) which had a large general in 3 poses (sitting, standing and dead/prone along with a guard). He is a bit portly and wears a general's uniform; I will let the pictures show how much character this mini has rather than try to inadequately describe it further.

As I started painting him, I realized he really needed some type of vehicle to ride in for the seated mini. While shopping at Target I happened on a $0.97 matchbox vehicle called the "Sahara Survivor" that looked the part (see picture to the upper-left). I removed some of the the roll bars in the back with an exacto knife and then gave it a new paint job, results with the Dictator in the picture to the upper-right above. More shots below:

Other vehicles in my collection (L to R)

GZG, 1:72 prepainted LAV (also a Target purchase, has more head room for the 15mm troops), and the matchbox.

I also finished my second pack of GZG Spacefarers which are some pretty cool minis too.

What I Am Working On...

• Rebelminis Civilians (11/21 complete)
• Rebelminis Contractors (0/21 complete)
• Coldwars Zombie Swat (0/5 complete)

Wish List (Cliff Notes version)...

• 15mm seated soldiers to go with the dictator (I call him "The General")
• 2-3 15mm armored humvees with a 50 cal machine mounted in a cupola
• 2-3 French vehicles and a tank to go with the PeterPig French troops
• 28mm modern squad, maybe the Eureka French Foreign Legion that I saw the greens for

I've also done some more 28mm lately and hope to post pictures later in the week.

Painted Storage Container and Aliens

I finished painting the storage container, was going for an old rusted look (still need to find stencils to put shipping markings on, no luck looking at Hobby Lobby yesterday as all were bigger than I was looking for).

I also completed my Khursan Garn Command Pack, really nice figures shown below.

Also finished the pack of Hammerhead Space Demons (also from Khurasan). colors look much better in person. I painted them by:

1. Base coat of Krylon XMetals red Chrome

2. GW Badab Black wash

3. Very light dry brush of GW Red Gore

The Krylon XMetals really has a nice non-metalic wet look to it which I think works well for these guys.

Below is my first 15mm conversion. I took the lady (from the GZG civilians set) with the short coat and hat and filed her chest and hair down. I then lengthend the coat and added a scarf with GW green stuff. Next to him is another GZG figure that I tried to paint up to look like Jayne of the Firefly series.

What I am Working On...

- Rebelminis Civilians (8 of 21 CMP)

- Newbold Space Trolls (sculpted by Bob Olley, 4 of 6 CMP)

- GZG Spacefarers II ( 1 of 6 CMP)

It looks like Bob Olley is opening his own site up again (http://www.olleysarmies.co.uk/home.html),

right now it has a bunch of pictures of some really cool terrain and miniatures, he is a pretty good painter too. I still need to finish a couple of his western looking space scrunts and a guard with guard dog.

Storage Container

Being a lurker at TMP (theminiaturespage.com), I saw a link to an Spanish site for a guy that makes his own scenery:

http://www.toposolitario.es/workshop/container.html

He made a really cool shipping container that I decided to try and copy for 15mm. I try to save "bits-n-pieces" of things that might be viable for terrain and it looks like I had everything I needed to make a working prototype/proof of concept.

Contents Above:

• thick baseball/football card pack cardboard
• small nail/braid
• metal paper clip
• Starbucks cup insulation (also have the Seattle's Best ones)
• small piece of left-over plastic card from the DPM building kit

I guesstimated the dimensions and starting gluing things together with supper glue which took pretty well. Below is the assembled container, hope to post some picture this weekend of how it looks painted.

This took about 30-45 minutes to complete. I will take care to keep track of measurements better next time so the containers will be the same size. I also need to find some stencils to put information on the sides.

What I am Working On...
- Rebelminis Civilians (8 of 21 CMP)
- Newbold Olley Space Trolls (2 of 6 CMP)
- Khurasan Hammerhead Space Demons

Seymour Block (DPM HO Scale Building Kit)

I picked up a HO scale model building while at Hobby Lobby by a company called Design Preservation Models (DPM). This is the first time I have ever tried this, but it looked like it would be fun and I could get my 2 girls involved (9 and 7 yrs old). It really is a neat kit and came out pretty well; the girls liked doing the dry brushing of the bricks and adding some of the larger details. It cost about $17 USD and came with plastic for windows, but I may leave those off. I will probably pick up some other HO scale stuff.

The minis shown above are some GZG Sci Fi civilians and look in scale with the picture displayed on the model (the building has really long windows).

Below is a picture of the building with a matchbox size delivery van I picked up years ago when I worked in Toyko, I think they look pretty good together.

Below are some more pictures of Khurasan Minis 15mm Garn, I used GW Graveyard Earth for the skin. I am working on a command squad that I hope to have finished next week.

I would like to pick up some 15mm police figures (maybe Rebel Minis) and some more modern US forces (maybe Peter Pig Marines or QRF US) to add to the mix.

What I am Working On...

1. GZG Civilians (7 of 8 CMP)

2. Khurasan Garn Command (0 of 2 CMP)

3. Rebelminis Civilians (8 of 21 CMP)

4. Khurasan Space Demon King

Let me know if you have any other suggestions for buildings or your take on painting some of the miniatures that I've shown.

Khurasan Miniatures: SF Aliens

The pictures I've seen at TMP looked pretty nice, so I bought:

• 5 packs (all different) of Space Demons
• 3 packs (2 different) of Garn (space lizardmen)
• 1 pack of Vampires

The Space Demons had some pretty cool poses and were very nice sculpts. The only problem was that some had some heavy/thick metal by the elbow joint but this removed easily with a file. Other than that most did not require much clean up.

Shown above are an infiltrator (foreground) and assault warrior (background) with a queen behind a Rebelmini special trooper.

I will try to get some more pictures up soon as I've finished 3 of the 5 packs I purchased.

As cool as these guys were, the Garn are my favs. These guys just look brutal and I am really happy with how my color scheme worked out:

1. GW Dessert Yellow
2. GW Devlan Wash
3. GW Dessert Yellow highlight
4. GW Rotting Yellow highlight (used sparingly on eye ridge and raised scales near the spine)

I finished one pack this weekend, some pictures below:

Really pleased with this purchase, link to their site:

http://khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/

What I am Working On...

• GZG Space Civilians (4 of 8 cmp)
• Khurasan Garn (0 of 5)
• Rebelminis Civilians ( 8 of 21 cmp)

I am always interested in hearing (and seeing) pictures of how others paint their minis, so let me know if you've done any of the above and what you did.

Armed Rebelminis Greys

I finished the pack of Rebeleminis Armed Aliens. I used GW tin bits(?) for the base of my leaders (greys w/ cloaks) and then did some washes with GW Baal Red. I was trying to mimic a technique that a guy on TMP used for some of his aliens.

I now have a 40+ greys (all Rebelminis) and a couple of flying saucers that I created from milk carton lids. I need to create a few war machines and the force should be good-to-go.

I've also been working on some GZG space civilians. These come in a pack of 8 (4 poses) and make pretty nice generic humans. They are more hefty than the Rebelminis civilians I have, but they are also wearing heavier clothing so this does not bug me.

I want to pick up some of the other GZG unarmed civilians and techs at a later date also.

My cheap vehicle find came via my 9yr daughter who went to a birthday party and go it as a party favor and then gave it to me. This is really pretty cool and matches the 15mm scale IMO. I will need to weather it, but it looks nice as-is too.

What I am Working On...

• GZG Space Civilians (3 of 8 cmp)
• Rebelminis Civilians (6 of 21 cmp)
• Coldwars zombie in overalls (tried a new color scheme but failed, re-priming ATM)
• Buildings - I want to try to make some basic buildings, inspired by some 15mm habitats shown recently on the TMP.

Thanks for reading.

Rebelminis Greys (15mm)

Here are some Rebelminis Greys (aliens). I want to use these with the Spriggan Miniatures SPUGS (space bugs) so I tried to paint mine to look ant-like. The picture to the left has a 28mm nuclear reactor I picked up from The War Store (thewarstore.com) that looks spot on for 15mm imo.

I painted them using Ral Partha Dragon Tongue Purple and then did washes of GW Ogron Flesh and Baal Red. Next I did some highlights with the Dragon Tongue purple again. I think they have a cool look to them. I have the Greys with weapons to also paint and am looking forward to doing so.

Here are some side-by-sides showing the relative heights of some of the 15mm miniatures that I have. L-R:

• Rebelminis Grey
• Rebelminis Special Forces
• Spriggan Games SPUG
• Mech Warrior Clix Infantry
• GZG Trooper (SG1 pack iirc)
• GZG Space Traveler

Currently working on:

• Rebelminis Civilians (5/21 complete)
• GZG Civilians
• Coldwars Zombie in overalls

Thanks for looking.