6 pounders are finally done.

Sorry for the lack of progress folks.  I did manage to get into the garage and finish up these AT Guns though.  :)
I scored the bases with a knife before glueing the fully painted figs down and then covered the bases up to the height of the figures feet with drywall spackle.

I let the spackle dry overnight.  Then painted it all Flat Earth.  I kept things basic and didn't do any further detailing on these so that they would fit in with the other 4 guns that are already in the collection.

 Once the flat earth dried it was just a matte of mixing up some white glue/water and sprinkling on the static grass.   I also added some silfor tufts.

Im especially happy with the detail and finish of the troops.

Next up is a US Armored Recon platoon!  :)

*Update*
Figured out how to edit posts :)   Here is a picture of the Didis magic wash and Flow Aid I use for the washing  of all my armored vehicles.

 Heres a link to the site although I bought mine at Michaels here in Canada. http://www.liquitex.com/flowaid/

 And here is my next project.  The Armored US Recon.  I assembled them and applied a spray coat of black and then the US armor paint from battlefront SP03.  Ill continue this in a new post.  :)

Finished AVRE and progress on 6 pdrs.

I managed to finish up the 2 AVRE Churchills and one MK VI variant.  Ill pick up where I left off.
Once the varnish dried I was able to apply the decals.  Varnishing helps to smooth the surface out and goes along way to eliminating the tiny pits, scratches and imperfections that water can sit in behind your decal.  The effect of which we call "silvering"  I tend to use Matte spray varnish but I know Gloss is even better.  You go over the whole mini at the very end with a final matte coat which will get rid of the gloss effect once your all done.

I used a combo of BF british decals and some I special ordered from Dom's.  I will be reviewing the Dom's decals in a later post.
I refrenced the british tank markings chapter in Turning tide and also the article British tank markings in Normandy on the FoW site.  From what I could tell the AVREs where apart of the 79th AD.  But were attached out to support various other units at the D-Day Landings.
The Loyd carriers for the 6 pdrs are from my wifes Guards armored division.  And so I marked them with 77.  For the anti tank regiment.

Once the decals were dry I brushed over them with gloss varnish to seal them good.  I used the vallejo gloss varnish.
The next step was the wash.  I like to do basically bathe my tanks in it.   Although I do dilute the wash with some water and a few drops of flow aid.  Flow Aid can be purchased at Michael's in North America or Im sure any artist or craft store.
After the wash its time to go over all the raised parts with a dry brushing of Russian Uniform and 25% Green grey to lighten it up.  Using white to lighten sometimes results in a lime color.  Be sure to pick out all the raised  details and corners/edges here.  I use a wider flat brush.
If the details dont seem to be popping enough add more Green grey and do another pass.

The next thing I did was add some rust pigment to the tracks.  I put a healthy amount on.  Later you can tone it down if you want.  These tanks probably wouldnt have had much time to rust yet but some would be apparent from their training in England Im sure.  

After the rust I went over the entire model with a light dry brush of Iraqui sand.  Hitting everything.  This further brings out the details and also simulates dry dust.

As mentioned I wanted to tone down the rust pigment on the tracks.  To do that you can dry brush Gunmetal along the tracks.  Or use the side of pencil.  

Once your happy with all the drybrushing its time to hit up all the details like shovels, tow cables and tarps etc.  For all the shovels I used Beige brown for handles, Black for the metal followed by a gunmetal drybrush.  You could skip the black and just use gunmetal though.  All the tarps I used Grey Green mixed with Khaki 50/50.  There are also some stowage crates that I painted Flat brown and then drybrushed with Beige brown.

Once all the details were done I hit them with a final coat of Matte Varnish.  All thats left is my crying when the wife rolls these out on me!
Oh and the 6 PDRs.  Just have to base them and the crew.

Thanks for looking.  And don't hesitate to ask about anything.  Im new at posting things up so Im sure I missed stuff.  :)

Random shots of some of my FoW minis.

While I wait for the varnish to dry on the AVREs I started messing around with the camera on my new Iphone.   I have to say it is a huge improvement from the Ipod.  Let me know what you think.

 Some Panther love.  These are all BF minis.

 StuG life

AVRE work continues

Well Im back!  Yay!! :)   It is good to be home.  For anyone interested in where I spend my weekdays for work click here  Its fly in only or once winter sets in you could drive via the ice roads.  But Ill take a 1 hour flight on a Pilatus over a 18 hour drive with zero civilization on the way any day!

Anyway last week I started on my wife's Churchill platoon.  Specically the AVREs for her Commando Company.  Using a hobby knife and a small file I set about cleaning up the model.  Aside from some flash on the tracks there was really nothing to clean.  I did have to trim out the inside of the turret mounting on the hull so that the turret would sit in nicely and rotate though.  Otherwise It was ready for assembly.  

 These models are huge!  Very imposing on the table top as Im sure they must have been on the battlefield.  The BF model is just shy of 3 inches long!    The details on the track are awesome.  

Also worth mentioning is all the stowage/spare tracks and barrel options you get.  AVRE petard mortars, MK IV,V and VI.  And 3 crew with 2 different variations.  The only thing missing is decals.  Luckily I have a ton of them I just ordered from Dom's Decals.

I used gamesworkshop model glue to affix everything.  Being sure to score the hull and the track where they would meet.  I also used small pairs of clamps to hold the tracks while the glue set.

Once they were all assembled they headed into my makeshift paint booth (Cardboard box turned on its side) and got a base coat of black followed by the War paint British Armor spray from flames of war.  After that had dried I also gave it a coating of Matt Varnish.  Gloss is probably better but Ive always gotten good results with matte.   This coat will help to reduce decal silvering and also aid in washing later.  I also added magnets.

Next step I will paint the tracks using Gunmetal grey.  I  will try to update with progress later this weekend.  At the same time Im also doing up some 6pdrs and crew but Ill save that for another day.  :)
See ya soon!