669 - 2018 Winter Challenge: British Paras! Days 33+

Alright, All?

Well, it's the last day of January and I have failed to make my challenge. 

However, being the generous person that I am, I have magnanimously decided to give myself a ten-day extension. This is because of four significant factors. 
1) I mentioned before the Bolt Action 'Desert Heroes' event up in County Durham, but I'd failed to take into account that it would wipe out three whole painting sessions;

This remains the last photo taken, but now, they ALL have almost all
of their khaki bits painted. That honestly doesn't leave much!

2) I utterly hadn't anticipated needing to both build and paint the Cruel Seas starter vessels - my pal needs them for a demo he's running this weekend. We worked on this together...but that;s something else for a future post! 

Terrible flash-pic: they look cracking in real life!

3) I also got the sudden commission to build this 28mm 4-Ground kit on a five-day turnaround. It's immense (7" tall; 12" wide), and ridiculously complicated: hundreds - quite literally hundreds - of those planks had to be individually stuck on:

4) Finally, Mrs Drax and I (and sadly now even Draxlette No.1) have all come down with - in my doctor's words - "a bad case of the flu." This is the first time in three days that I've even been able to look at a screen for this long! 

So...

The 2018(?) Winter Challenge continues...!

Watch this space.

- Drax.

668 - 2018 Winter Challenge: British Paras! Days 16-32

Evening, All!

This screen-grab of my latest Draxian Painting Chart(TM), shows which
Paras are built so far [pink] and which are currently being painted [blue].

Again, mixed fortunes in the interim with regard to to the hurried painting to completion of my 21st Independent Coy Paras. On the one hand, my red ('Crusted Sore!') arrived and - although the pics below won't do it justice - it's PERFECT...

...and on the other hand, THIS arrived,  

...so naturally I had to both build all the vessels and play a game of it. Two more nights gone, and totally worth it. More on this second naval skirmish in a future post.

Then I did manage to get some painting done. Whist still waiting for the Crusted Sore I painted everyone's flesh and even managed to complete the painting on my RAF Regiment PIAT team:

It's hard to tell, but the fellows below now have the red-brown camo patches:

...and then, THIS happened: I had to dig out my Sikh and Destroy army for an early-war desert-themed event hosted by the entirely excellent Vital Ground Wargames Group up in County Durham:

I had to repack these to get them into my carry-on

My end of the 24ft-long table during Turn 1. I had a blast,
but - inevitably - this is for a future blogpost.

(Note the new mug)

I'm pleased to announce that - even with too many evenings squandered on my poxy day-job work - I believe that I should be able to get the remaining tropers FINISHED in 5-6 days.

Do I have this long until the end of January (my arbitrary time limit)? - Yes. Just. But already, REAL LIFE is threatening those remaining days (note that I'm typing here - not painting!) so I may run over time. C'est la vie, eh?

So there. I may well manage it, but I'm not going to break myself trying, that's for sure!

TTFN,

- Drax.

667 - 2018 Winter Challenge: British Paras! Days 9-15

Evening, All!

It's been a mixed week. I made a lot of progress to start with, and then realised - to my utter frustration, that I was missing a key colour: the red-brown for the camo. 

As you might be able to see from the test figure I did, below, (which is only about 90% complete) the brown is just too...brown. Rats.

So how, then, did I fill the time in my hour of need? Well firstly, I got all the green patches, helmets and equipment...

 ...including my 4KSLI medic and my RAF Regiment PIAT team, just because they were at hand (note the RAF shoulder flashes on the chaps at the back):

I also bought this paint rack for a few quid. It's basic, but fits inside my little hobby cupboard:

 ...and whilst I had the Russian Armour green out, I took the chance to prime and base-coat my Challenger A30 - more on this in another post, sometime.

I also finished off the last of the Sarissa MDF scenery I was putting together for Guy, for Beyond the Gates of Antares:

And finally - I quickly put together a small rocky outcrop with a simple automated lighthouse and hut for Cruel Seas:

Annoyingly, what makes this worse is that I thought I'd ordered the red-brown colour. The paints arrived today, and I didn't. That means an even longer wait, and so I'll have to work out what to do with the paras in the meantime: probably boots and flesh at least...

- Drax.