This year the organisers of the ASL Tournament Bounding Fire have decided to broaden the prize table and so went for smaller dioramas with the theme being Allied Minors (in ASL terms). I came up with a couple of ideas and Simon was quick to agree so a nice easy decision and overall things went as planned.
3D Military Art
Saka Light Cavalry
Saturday 30 September 2023
Bounding Fire Tournament 2023 Prizes
Thursday 24 August 2023
Queue Jumper - Memory Lane
I have been hanging my nose over a bunch of these old Matchbox kits, memories from when I was a kid and also first getting into wargaming.
Of course this is one of the models I never bought before. All my models were for Normandy and onwards. One thing that was a bit of a shocker was the colour of the kits plastic. White and electric blue. Good job I have some good primers.
One of the best things about Matchbox kits is that they come with a little mini diorama so that I can build the kit and have something to base them on. If all goes well with this one I will buy more as time goes on and look to sell them between £25 and £30 for most based on actual cost of the kits as they can be rather expensive. I have also heard that the decals tend not to be useable so the added cost of replacements has to be taken into account. However they should be fairly easy to post out.
Queue jumping? It's possible but I do have several pieces that can not be passed over on the go at the moment. Two mini dio's for Novembers annual ASL Tournament at Blackpool, Bounding First Fire. Unlike the previous years the dio's will be scaled down. This years theme is Allied Minors so we have a Dutch and Polish base to work on. I have finished the Dutch model and just need to do the base whilst the Polish figures arrived today.
I have also built the final figure for my 1/35 scale Tiger dio and hope to start painting the last two figures soon whilst working on the Poles.
Once that is done I hope to carry on with my Ice Cold in Alex mini dio but at this point maybe a T34 might also get into the action.
Sunday 20 August 2023
SS Obergruppenfuhrer Wilhelm Bittrich Bust (SOLD)
Another bust that was picked because it would give me more practice at creating leather effects. This bust was supplied by Mitches Military Models though currently the set it belongs to is currently not showing.
I used my late WWII German tank paints applied by airbrush to the plinth. Adding a Tiger Tank decal then weathered the plinth the same way I work on my tank models to give it a worn and weathered finish.2021 Bounding Fire Tournament Prize
Another commission for the ASL tournament held in November at Blackpool. This is the year I delivered the prize and played through the weekend, though not in the tournament.
A return to using water effects as the action is a river crossing and I made use of a DUWK model as the scenario includes them so why not.I was really pleased with the water drips, really gave movement to the finished model. The kit itself was a mix of resin body and metal parts for the more detailed bits.
I was also happy with the home made sanctions for the barbed wire but I used razor wire for the barbed wire due to finding no 28mm substitute. Not really happy with the historical fudge though it does work well as razor fire as my fingers illustrated at the time.
I often include dead on my dioramas, the idea being to remind those looking at these models that war kills and is not a good thing. I pull back on gore, and heroics. A difficult balance as the finished model is supposed to be something to enjoy.
Friday 4 August 2023
The Ranger, A Fantasy Bust £35 plus post at cost.
Even with that in mind I did not want to paint up Strider, instead just another of the many nameless rangers that protected the people of Middle Earth from orcs and worse!
Thursday 3 August 2023
Bounding Fire 2022 Trophy
After chatting with a friend who wanted to see some of the older work that had not made it to this blog even if they had made it to the ASL blog as in the trophies for the Bounding Fire tournament. This like the others is a 28mm diorama making use of the very wide range of WWII wargaming figures and models out there. As such if anyone wants to commission something and have ideas let me know and we can discuss possibilities.
Every year the winning prize is based on a scenario from the tournament, usually the final round. I tend to playtest the scenarios so have an idea of a scene to depict. This one seemed perfect for the prize.I would guess at between 70 and 100 separate stalks of foliage ended up in the finished model. Not all of them can be seen as the tank sits on a good few. These still needed adding to allow the tank to bed into them realistically. For the grass I used three different height strands with more yellow based next to the hedge and greener healthier grass as it moved away.
I really enjoyed making this diorama, the amount of detail that can be put into this scale is really nice as the footprint is quite reasonable and as such does not take up too much space. Compared with 1/35 scale dio's which whilst making a real statement can be just too big for some tastes.
I am toying with buying the old 1/76 scale Matchbox WWII kits that came with mini dio bases. Generally the decals are shot and need replacing but lots of nostalgia and typically easy to post.
Wednesday 19 July 2023
101st Airborne Lt Winters/Damon Lewis Bust £150
The excellent bust by Nuts Planet representing Lt Winters as played by Damon Lewis in the TV series Band of Brothers is finished.
I was really impressed with the quality of the casting and level of detail. The bust comes in quite a few pieces and it was a bit of a challenge to work where some of the parts needed to go.