MarkH's Challenge

So what to say about the challenge... it was fun painting models, it was awesome seeing what everyone created, it was frustrating not finishing what i wanted.

When I look back though i am happy with what I got done. battling a back injury and selling my house got in the way of painting.

all in all a great time and I'm looking forward to next year.

From MarkH - Last Submission - 28mm ACW Confederates (552 Points)

Hi everyone,

Unfortunately ran out of time to do fancy basing and attach flags. However basic basing job done and 96 28mm figs painted.  Shame life got in the way of finishing the entire army but still happy to have these done. I also finished 18 more figs but haven't been able to base them.  (I'm sure they are worth some points?) 

I've really enjoyed the Challenge and even though I did less than half of what I wanted to get done in the last 3 months I'm still happy with what I've achieved and most of all enjoyed everyone else's work.

I think this lot may just get me up to the points level I set myself...

Looking really forward to next year.

Whoa! Like Sam Pickens in Dr. Strangelove, this is a nice sized nuke to go out on! Well done Mark! Though the basing is quite spartan, those four regiments of Rebs look very sharp, and the Zouaves are a lovely eyeful in their wonderfully garish uniforms. 

Thanks for coming along for the ride this year, Mark. I hope you join us next winter.

From MarkH - 15mm WW2 German big guns (118 points)

Hi everyone, small post for me today. I still have lots on the go but little finished - this week I finished off some more Flames of War figures.

First up a pair of German Luftwaffe 88's. A total of 16 figures and 2 large guns. 

Next we have 4 late war German 10.5cm artillery pieces. A total of 31 infantry and 4 large guns.

Well that's it for now.

Mark :)

I'm not sure I'd class this as a small post Mark, despite the fact it's 15mm. Having painting a fair few WWII artillery myself I can testify to the amount of fiddling required just to get them assembled, never mind the large number of crew and basing as well. 

Both sets are very well executed indeed but for my mind the pick of the two are the 88s. Not only have you gone with the Luftwaffe crew but you've actually got them doing anti-aircraft work. Almost every set you see are set up as anti-tank guns because of their effectiveness in game terms but this neglects their intended role, especially in the late war when Allied bombing was at it's peak. 

Lovely work mate and well worth the 118 points it earns you. Cheers, Millsy

From MarkH - 15mm WWII Germans (185 points)

Hi Guys

After three weeks of silence and setbacks I finally have some finished 15mm WW2 models to submit.

First up:

A pair of 88's - 2 guns, 3 transports, 22 crew.
A pair of Pak 50's - 2 guns and 11 crews.
3 Captured Russian RSO's painted in German midwar scheme.
A German Pioneer Supply truck (I've been meaning to paint this one up for 3 years!!)

Next up I have some vehicles:

2 Elephants and a command Tiger P

1 King tiger

3 Puma armoured cars

And finially 3 Panzer IV L70 tank hunters

So a bit of a points dump for me this week. Hope I managed to get this in on time!

That's a serious amount of very well painted WWII goodness Mark! I'm particularly taken by the various camo patterns which are both convincing and work almost as well on your paint table as they would outside. 

Don't be too ashamed of how long it took to paint that tractor. We had a kubelwagen that took even longer, despite consistent taunts to it's owner. It eventually became know as "Die Kübelwagen der Scham" aka The Kubelwagen of Shame until I stole it and painted it. 

BTW, I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest those might actually be PaK 40s, not 50s but I'm more than happy to be corrected. 

All up that 184 points of paintwork and I'm throwing in another as a lasting reminder of having finally painted that truck! Well done. Cheers, Millsy.

From MarkH - Hummels and Decimators (36 points)

Not sure if I've got this in too late or not. Been a rough week and got almost nothing finished. [You're in luck mate, evil never sleeps! No, really, I'm an insomniac... Millsy]

I managed to finish off 2 x 15mm FOW Hummels and I did my very first (probably of many) X-wing miniatures repaint the mighty flying tank of the Empire the VT-49 Decimator. (not sure how you will point this one Curt??). [He won't but Millsy will! :-)]

With the Hummels I added some wear and tear as I often do and plan on them having some form of leafy coverage at some point. So 2 vehicles and 6 crew painted.

The repainting of the VT-49 Decimator came about simply from the fact that the basic model straight out of the box is grey with a really average ink over the top.  Most of the x-wing models I have are far better painted (even the tie fighters). I wanted to make the model look like it had seen some action and also give it a big of colour and interest so after a spray of Black paint I proceeded to use half a dozen different grey paints for the panels and along with a nice red stripe and a big of a blue engine effect, a few washes to blend it all together you get this:

Painting the Decimator was a lot of fun and i think its a good improvement over the one that comes out of the box.. The x-wing models are great and take paint perfectly.

Sorry its not much for this week - hopefully a lot more next week.

Wow, two very, very attractive submissions in one post Mark! I'm struggling to decide which I like more... The camo on the Hummels is spot on and well worth the 24 points for vehicles and crew. That X-Wing repaint is just lovely though and given the effort I'm going to call it a 20mm vehicle. Apparently X-Wing is 1/270 so [ahem] close enough. Another 12 points in that case for a total of 36. Awesome work sir. Cheers, Millsy.

MarkH - 15mm WWII German Tanks (30 Points)

Hi Guys

Busy painting week this week but not a lot got finished. There is lots of stuff on the table including 4x 24 man Confederate ACW units (which may be done by next week). Several other 15mm Flames of War units and 21x 28mm Samurai Bandits. (I seem to have the dreaded finishing disease at the moment...)

So this weeks submission is 5x 15mm Tanks

3 Jadpanthers and 2 Panther G's

I've done them with a bit of wear and tear and used filters and streaking effects similar to last weeks submission with the Panzer III in 28mm. The effect isn't quite as good in 15mm but they stand out well on the table top.

Left and right side of Jadpanther 212.

Left and right side of Jadpanther 213.

Left and right side of Jadpanther 214.

I used a mixture of Tamiya and Vallejo Paints and Ak interactive enamel washes.

Left and right side of Panther 420.

Left and right side of Panther 421.

No idea what a 15mm large tank is worth in points but at least i finished something.  

Mark

:)

'Interactive enamel washes'? What is this heretical sorcery? I'm barely interactive when I'm at my hobby desk and certainly don't like the idea of being upstaged by my paint. Seriously though, these are beautiful looking tanks Mark - the camo looks brilliant and so does the weathering.

These five will give you 30 points, but your description of your painting queue sounds very impressive and I sense an impending points bomb on the horizon.  Now, back to work! 

From MarkH - 28mm Panzer Mark III Tank (18 Points)

 Hi Everyone

Here is my very first entry into the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.  I honestly wasn't sure i was going to make this one with all the issues with my back and my camera and light box deciding they didn't want to cooperate - none the less i got something done.

A Rubicon plastic Panzer 3 tank for my bolt action DAK army.

Here are a couple of side views.

And here a couple of close up shots.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out - 3 hours of work spread over the last 5 days. This was a great little model to put together and paint up and I'm looking forward to my next Rubicon model.

I think a 28mm vehicle is 15 points for the competition - I'm sure ill be corrected if I'm wrong.

Till next week. Mark :)

Oooh, that is a rather tasty Panzer Mk III.

Absolutely top notch work Mark! Your weathering is brilliant, especially the chipping and spotting of rust. The only thing I might suggest is adding a little more dust to the bottom of the chassis.  In looking at period pictures of these vehicles in North Africa you can see that they were often virtually caked with sand and dust.  

And you are correct, this Panzer will give you a base of 15 points, but I'm going to give you a few extra for the excellent detail work. Well done.