Massive Update! A beginning to the work.

All right fellow eichi, pilots and commanders; today is a massive update so pay attention some. A few days ago, I received from Britain or the UK the first batch of two of metal troops and vehicles from Miniature Figurines http://www.miniaturefigurines.co.uk/Home.aspx. This should be enough to create two full companies of infantry, one for the Imperial Japanese Army and the other, the United States Army. 

The following items were bought.

1x MVF101 VAB 6x6

1x MAV105 M557

7x MI022 US Infantry (Fritz Helmets)

3x MI023 US Support Weapons

2x MI024 American Crews

The mortars are a bit tricky with all of this flashing. For those that are inexperienced, here is a sort of helpful guide as to where to cut the excess "flashing"as it is called.

 With troops snipped, trimmed and sanded and washed (To wash away the mold release that might still be attached. To do this, warm, soapy water and a tooth brush and a strainer so none are lost down the drain), they are applied to strips of duck tape for priming.
Priming allows a coat of paint to be applied as compared to it smearing or not sticking to the white metal figures bare. It also enhances the coats of paint that will go on top of it. There are plenty of on-line guides that goes in depth how to paint wargaming miniatures and what types of primer and colors to use.
Anyway, the troops are split into their individual groups.
A. M60
B. M249 SAW. Also the F2 Minami.
C. M47 Dragon ATGM (Anti-Tank Guided Missile)
D. From an earlier project, can't recall time number they belonged to but they are being counted as the FGM-148 Javelin ATGM.
E. Infantry armed with M16A2's. Since about half of them will be IJA, they will be based on what I can find on the JGSDF (Japanese Ground Self Defense Force) TO&E (Table of Organization and Equipment) of a typical JGSDF squad and I am using that as a basis for an IJA squad and such and such and so on, they are armed with the Howa Type 64 or the newer Type 89.
F. M557 counting as a M1068A3 Standard Integrated Command Post System (SICPS).
G. Radiomen.
H. Officers and spotters.
I. From MIO12 West German Support Weapons Panzerfaust, counting as the LAM 110mm. 
J. Troops armed with the M16A2 with the M203 40mm Grenade Launcher. 
K. BGM-71 TOW (Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided) ATGM.
L. A French VAB 6x6 counting as the Type-82 Command and Communications Vehicle.
M, N, O, P, R. Artillery Crews for future 155mm field howitzers. Part of next months batch.
Q, S. Mortar crews. 

Here is a closer look of the troops but these have gone grey. Since they will appear easier on the camera, they will be my guinea pigs as I paint 2 paint schemes I never done before; modern US Army camouflage circa 1998 during the UN intervention of Bosnia and JGSDF troops.

 The whole lot painted black on one side. Now to flip them around.

Carefully peel the troops fro the tape as not to chip their primer. There may be some spots that due to deep recesses or crevasses were missed. Do not worry about these, they will be touched up later. For now, set them aside.

 Using tweezers, pick them up from their base and apply them onto a new strip of duck tape.

 When dry, repeat but rest them on their base this time and GENTLY spray the top side of them to get those areas that were missed. This concludes the tutorial and brief review of what I have to work with. Hope you all enjoyed this and see ya next time.

More Reinforcements!

      The Apache received a touchup of its rotors and canopy and the decals applied.

 

     And in other news, REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVED! I must admit, I did procrastinate for a bit and should of updated when these arrived but oh well.

The clear things to the right are the now OOP (Out of Production) DARPA Alpha Dogs from Fox One. The green ones in the middle are the Type-60 Recoilless Rifle carrier and the ones on the right are the Type-87 Self-Propelled Anti-air Guided vehicles aka Guntanks. Both are from Konami.
     5 Eagles have been built, a 6th is being built and the final one is still in the box. Some of the new BETA cards have been made. Awaiting funding to complete the rest. I am expecting the infantry to arrive this week or the next. Yay. With that, until next time.

AH-64C Apache Completed.

After an hour or two worth of painting and touching up, the first AH-64C Apache is done. Learned a lot from this one and expect the other 3 to be even better construction wise.

The Apache went Tamiya XF-67 NATO Green. The wheels, to be honest should of gone black, went Appel Barrel Pavement.

The canopy went Ceramcoat Satin Black for its partial shine and the edges Folkart Silver as well as the hydraulic arms for the landing gears. The weapon pods gone Tamiya FX-62 Olive Drab.

The chain-gun went initially Model master Enamel Gun Metal followed b the muzzel-break going Tamiya X-10 Gun Metal.

And that is it. I can't wait to get 3 more and have a whole attack wing worth. Until next time.

Helis!

Besides the TSFs that I really should photograph, the first of the units to resist the BETA in March is built. From Zvezda is the 1/144 AH-64 Apache. After some research found out that this is a C model. So card has been made up, kit built and primered. Now onto the painting. Tomorrow.

A New Beginning

Hello fellow eishi and commanders. Today marks a new beginning for me. For the past month and a half, I have been working on a table top war-game ruleset that in detail depicts the struggle and conflict with the human forces against the BETA.
I will draw upon my experience with creating my other anime mecha ruleset, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Gravity Front http://gravityfront.blogspot.com that depicts the One Year War on Earth. So far, it had great success but is in need of a major overhaul of cards and rules.
Drawing from these experiences and a love of the Muv-Luv series, I; as stated earlier, took upon the task of creating a ruleset that utilizes the existing models to create a combined arms force that will combat the BETA or each other. That is still pending.
As of now, testing has been limited and forces too small to best stress the rules. Even though, there are major reinforcements that are coming in. As these come in, I will document the process of painting and such as well as sources of where I have gotten these vehicles and troops and guns and aircraft and such.
On another note, the game will make its debut at Cold Wars 2017 at Lancaster, PA. https://hmgs.site-ym.com/default.asp?page=CWHome
Hope to see you eishi there.
Until next time troops.