OLD MODEL REPAIRS

The fragile leg finally gave way after 34 years of 
supporting the Orc and Wyvern

I've owned the Marauder Miniatures Orc War Wyvern since 1992, and although its not the oldest lead miniature I own, it was one of those that I managed to paint and feel fairly proud about. He sits in a quite prominent position in one of my display cabinets amongst other models that I purchased around the same time and that are still in my collection.

Sadly the intervening years, with a model that is decidedly top heavy the single supporting leg finally gave way. Truth is the model had tilted a few times over the years and my efforts to straighten it probably contributed to the onset of metal fatigue and the eventual failure just above the ankle.

So a few small holes carefully made with my Dremel tool allowed me to super glue in a section of a large paperclip that had been clipped to size, and two extra clear perspex rod supports were positioned to prop up and support the weight of the model and counteract any future lean. Much the same as is often seen supporting large heritage trees that are in danger of collapsing under their own weight and age.

The support on the left of the left image above was put in when I built the thematic ruins as a base for the model sometime around 2016/7 and gives a better look at the full model. While the image on the right shows two additional perspex supports designed to hold the weight so that the drilled pin is not solely responsible for holding the model in position.

Let's hope it holds another 34 years.

STRIPING BACK TO DO-OVER

I stuffed up.

I made up a number of the Warlord IJA soldiers went through the base debate, and then decided to do a test paint or two just to see how they would look. And I stumbled at the first step. Either the spray can was held too close, or too far, or maybe not shaken enough, or rather that the humidity level is currently just too high since it's the tail end of the Monsoon and I need to wait for a better time, but regardless the result was a speckled and splattered base coat totally unsuitable for contrast paints to spread.

So along with the gloss painted Type-95 Ha-Go gift from a good friend with the best of intentions*, it means that my 28mm Bolt Action IJA force starts not with painting but rather paint striping. 

Something, that even after 40 years in the hobby, I have never done. So after a little bit of online research, then confirmed through multiple sources, the process seems simple enough.

A leisurely isopropyl-alcohol (91+% pure) bath, followed by a nice scrub with an old toothbrush, repeated until most of the paint has been stripped away and I'm happy. Then a nice rinsing wash in some dish detergent and warm water followed by another wait as "reset" figure dries.

I'm led to believe that not all the paint will be removed but that I should be left with a figure that is "reset" enough and that all the speckling should be removed enough so that I can try again.

* I have been contemplating just touching up and repairing the Ha-Go, maybe using some Army Painter Anti-shine to tone down the gloss, and some powders to add some dirt, but basically keeping it "as is", since there is something nicely nostalgic about retaining it as my friend finished and gifted it. I'll have to try and paint a sister tank to match.

STANDING TALL - BASING

Enhancing a 30 year old gift of old Dark Ages Miniatures -
a shield transfer, a wash, and a 3D printed base. 

Thirty or so years ago a good friend "gifted" me a real mix bag of 25mm Dark Ages troops, enough to field at least two skirmish forces from at least three indeterminate allegiances.

And there they sat, safely stored until a few years ago when I, inspired by Saga and then Ravenfeast, decided that they needed to be re-based and "tarted" up a little in order to make them usable. So some shield transfers (better suited to modern flat shields than the domed style of early 1990's sculpts) were clumsily applied, the figure was given a wash of Agrax Earthshade, then they were rebased on a solid 25mm 3D printed base similar to those used by Games Workshop before being a affixed to a magnetic base. The advantage with this method is that it "lifted" each figure a few millimetres and put them at the same eye-level of more recent 28mm sculpts.

So as I start to plan my IJA forces I started to wonder if their would be any advantage to using a similar basing style to help distinguish my figures during club nights and at least lower the risk of my models going on a little temporary holiday into another club members collection. Or would another method be better suited in aiding such identification maybe a simple colour dot stuck to the bottom of the magnetic base, since the "height boost" is not really needed or even wanted?

CHUUK - NIPPO MARU

Built in 1936 by the Kawasaki Dockyard in Kobe, the 3,763-ton Nippo Maru began its life as a civilian cargo ship before the Imperial Japanese Navy requisitioned it in 1941. It spent the early years of the war functioning as an auxiliary transport and water tanker, delivering vital munitions and supplies to Japanese forces throughout the Pacific.

The ship's service came to a violent end during Operation Hailstone on February 17, 1944, when USS Essex dive bombers struck it with three 500-pound bombs. The crippled vessel plunged into the waters of Chuuk Lagoon, where it now sits upright at a depth of approximately 50 meters. Today, the wreck is famous for the hauntingly preserved Japanese Type 95* tank that remains parked on its port side deck alongside artillery and other wartime cargo.

            

In late June 2015 I spent nearly three weeks hopping between different Pacific locations exploring WWII sites both above and below the surface. I dived the Nippo Maru at least three times in the week I was in Chuuk, with the goal of trying to get a "good shot" of the tank* and unfortunately due to a number of factors - silt, lack of light, equipment, and mostly user error the images on the left above were the best I managed to take. Those on the right, are after much fighting, cajoling, and AI hallucinations, Gemini enhanced. Below are some shots from the back of the same wreck where there sits three 47mm Type 1 Anti-tank guns all jumbled up, these have been edited only for exposure, brightness and contrast, no AI help at all.

 

* There is some debate, and some sites actually list the "tank" as a Type 97 Ke-Te  Tankette, however the Senshi Sosho (the official Japanese Ministry of Defense's history)  lists the logistical manifest of the 52nd Division Tank Unit as explicitly being equipped with Type 95 Ha-Go tanks. Added to which the supply chain convoy that the Nippo Maru operated in included the San Francisco Maru and it famously has three Ha-Gos on its decks and was sunk nearby.

AT ARMS DISTANCE

So yes I “bit the bullet” and procured some IJA troops for Bolt Action. Or rather I secured some more troops, since I already had a tank in the "lead-pile". BUT,

I hate painting miniatures. 

There I said it.

I’m not very good at it, I never have been and I have never bothered to spend the required time to get good at it. 

And if I am 100% honest I am not sure I will ever spend the time to either.

I love the look of a painted army, and would never field one unpainted, but it is the history, the research, playing the game, the collecting, and the camaraderie that are the highlights of the hobby for me. I do however like making terrain which ironically does include some painting. (go figure)

The fact I have painted armies is more a result of, at one time, having a disposable income high enough to start my various collections, and throughout my wargaming life buying or being dumped with old projects from friends for whom a period or scale no longer held fancy. The number of units that I have actually painted is quite small, and while it is in double figures, it’s not as high as it probably should be for forty plus years in the hobby.

Kleve-Berg, my single painted battalion from my first "lead" purchase.

The figures I have painted are “table top” quality at best only saved by some nice basing and some pretty flags. So “at arms distance” is how I hold my mini’s and how I like to look at them. It’s also probably why I love 15mm, there is enough detail to look good en-masse but not enough to show my lack of paint brush dexterity, thus I get to have the “sense” and “look” of a battle while also recognising my painting limitations. 

Sadly being of a certain vintage, I now need to get myself a magnifying lamp* before I start putting paint onto plastic and I need to embrace more "modern" painting techniques beyond blocking and dry-brushing. Which brings me to Speed or Contrast paints, brand description aside, these do offer a short-cut to someone like myself. Videos online show a 28mm figure table ready in as little as 10 mins (plus drying time).

Whole squads ready to fall-in and offer themselves up to the vagaries of my poor decisions and the fickleness of the die in a gentlemanly repast accompanied by a fine spirit. Sounds too good to be true.

Wargames Delivered, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LURg44kQekY&t=5s

And while this sounds so simple, there are no hobby stores where I live, the mail is unreliable at best, and as I mentioned in a past post things like paints have to be purchased as part of holiday and travel plans, which sometimes limits the options available often due to stock and delivery time limits. And while others question the use of AI in the hobby, its support in identifying matching colours between manufacturers of both model paints and commercially available spray paints has proven a boon for me, and has helped plan my next (painting) steps.

* I can no longer see the little buggers in enough detail to paint them without some technological help. And even with the help of my specs I don’t feel comfortable unless the model is a lot closer, thus a good light source and a magnifier is now needed.

DIPPING MY TOE - BOLT ACTION

not pictured: a box of IJA Bamboo Spear Fighter Squad

I decided to do it.

Many years ago after a visiting my mum and hometown I was later surprised by a parcel from a friend. He had inquired into the "what's and wherefore's" of Wargaming, "dipped his toe", decided it wasn't for him, and then sent me his few initial purchases as a gift. A single IJA Type 95 Ha-Go tank accompanied by a Japanese Daihatsu-class Landing Craft, both were 28mm, which immediately told me my description of scales had failed, but I was quite touched by the gesture and these have sat proudly inside one of my collection cabinets ever since.

I have also Dived (and travelled) across the Pacific and thus swum (and trod) many of the battlefields for that theatre, and while I did start to raise forces for the Fall of Singapore in 20mm (painted but not based) I have never really fully embraced the Pacific and the Far East. 

And with too many options on the Allied side to narrow down without some long thinking, but only one for the Axis, I resolved to start there and raise a small IJA force. After all the Japanese are needed everywhere in this theatre so are somewhat essential.

So I then did what all "real" Wargamers do, I rushed out and spent a pile of money without a clear plan or any idea what I really needed. And when I say "rushed out" I mean I spammed an online store with my credit card and had the parcels delivered.

And thus, faced with a boxes of figures and a new "lead-pile" I have retroactively decided on a plan to start with a small 3rd Ed.* 500 pt. force, a (hopefully) manageable chunk to try and paint and ONLY when it is done slowly expand this effort 250 pts. at a time. Ideally I should not have to purchase anything beyond my initial "splurge" apart from the usual consumables that a new project usually demands. (any paints, glue, decals and basing materials, etc...) But I am sure this will change as no "army" is ever really complete, and I already know I need an extra tank or two...

So my first "paint of attack"

So 40 figures to paint up, with a rough plan for the next 250 points to include some tanks, but first things first, and for the start of the new financial year, I now have the start of a plan. (maybe even a cunning one)

* I will most probably need to buy the 3rd Ed. Rules and the new Armies of Japan book as well.

TAKING STOCK & STEPS

A long time ago, on a table far, far away...

I’ve always played 15mm when it comes to Horse and Musket and my Greek Hoplites, 20mm when it comes to World War II, and 28mm for Dark Ages, but that is only a small skirmish collection gifted from a friend over thirty years ago and is really only two small skirmish forces with enough flexibility to act as Normans, Saxons or Vikings, but not all three at once.

I also have a few “Oldhammer” armies but they are currently packed away and have not seen dice or a table for at least a decade.

My wargaming room, my figure and terrain collection, and my war library, all remain "at home" while I am currently living in another country. So save for a small box of modelling supplies, some terrain projects that I resolved to complete and a small collection of figures that I included in my shipping.

Also there is a lack of opponents in this part of the world which means that I have to focus on other aspects of the hobby and then seek out active time to game when holidays roll around which is also time I want to spend with my wife as we do our best while being geographically separated. (Visa requirements and job contracts can be a bit bothersome for the married expat)

A lack of opponents also means a lack of hobby stores, this, coupled with an unreliable mail service means any projects need to be carefully planned around holiday and travel plans, with "blitzkrieg" shopping strikes to gather everything that is needed. Which means flexibility when it comes to consumables, particularly around paint brands that might not be readily available. AI has proven a real boon here, enabling me to quickly identify the closest colour and style match between manufacturers. It helps offer good suggestions for alternatives and has allowed me to "translate" the paint options used in some tutorials to more readily available choices when I go holiday shopping, and when I do get to visit some of the local art supply stores.

Luckily my gaming group resides in the same city and country as my wife. Unluckily they all have a not so minor obsession with Bolt Action, particularly Bolt Action in the Far East. And with so many years (and dollars) invested in 20mm World War II, the idea of a 28mm project is one I have chaffed at, but am also slowly coming around to the idea of, even if I still hold some reservations. Though, if honest, I'm starting to see some merits, chief being that in the small windows of time that I do have I would be able to bring something to the table.

So in short, my hobby life has to compromise to fit around the realities of needing to “earn a crust” while also competing with a hobbyist (moi) who is quite skilled at finding reasons to procrastinate. And yet at the same time I need to scratch my hobby itch and maximise the time I have.

Or as I like to say “too many periods, wrong scale and not enough time”.