Month: February 2020

CP Models, SHQ Miniatures and AB Figures British Infantry in 20mm

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 5 Comments

I finished one more platoon of British Infantry for my Battalion of Northumbrian Light Infantry. These guys made up of 5 figures from CP Models, 4 from SHQ and 1 from AB Figures. All great ranges of figures. My aim is to have a full 3 companies x 3 platoons and support without duplicating a single figure. I have about forty figures to go before completion, so getting there slowly.

The group of five men, including the waving officer with the SMG, are from CP Models. I love their range of figures. Great detail and interesting poses. They are especially easy to paint as everything is so clear. I keep faces simple with a basecoat, a red oxide wash, and then some lighter fleshy highlights. The officer has a nice blue bandana round his neck. My only criticism maybe is their legs get a bit chunky, but you do not really notice. CP do provide bases with slots but I usually cut off most of the slots and glue them into clay on 20 cent pieces. CP have a fab range, I have a bunch of Germans from them getting ready for camo smocks.

The group of four men are from SHQ miniatures, also a company I like. Their figures are cheaper than other brands and slightly smaller. The detail is not as clear as CP or AB but I still really like their poses and they fit in nicely with the other brands. Subtle differences but these differences just add to the look of the unit.

The last lonely man in front of the Brasserie is an officer with an SMG from AB Figures. I have written enough about AB Figures! Great figures and a fantastic range. My battalion is 50% AB figures, but the other manufacturers are very worthy accompaniments for them. All my plastic will now be consigned to storage or eBay as it has all been replaced by these excellent metal miniatures.

 

Charlie Foxtrot Models Houses in 20mm

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 5 Comments

So I have painted up the first three of my new houses, starting with three kits from Charlie Foxtrot Models in England. The Brasserie, Dormer House and Shed. These kits are pretty reasonably priced and come in pieces in plastic bags with a stapled cardboard header and a single sheet of instructions. The main structures are MDF with other bits and pieces being plastic, like chimneys, and balsa wood shutters.

My first impressions were excellent with nice clean bits of MDF which all fits together well. But the instructions are terrible. They could easily write and print much clearer and precise instructions. It must be the smallest outlay of the whole kit, one sheet of paper, but they have not given the modeller much help. So you kind of have to wing it. Luckily most buildings are just a box so you cannot go too wrong.

Armed with PVA glue everything fits together and the kits can be built quickly in an evening. Now as always with MDF kits i have to add and amend plenty of things to get them up to scratch. First up is a layer of plaster over all the outside walls. I did this on the Brasserie and the Dormer House. For the shed i coated in textured plastic sheet to look like stonewalls. You will need to sand the plaster to get it smoother. It covers up all those annoying MDF corners. I also added some tiled roofing, some pantile, some slate, as I really cannot deal with the MDF roof that comes 100% flat. You could also use cut up cardboard for the roof tiles. My last pet hate for MDF kits is the chimney pots. So i added all my own metal chimney pots I had purchased from an excellent model store in the UK.

Once I had made all these additions the buildings came up a treat I think. One last tip for doing gold letters for the Brasserie was to buy a gold paint pen from the newsagent. This made it much easier than trying to paint with gold paint which does not cover very well.

Even with all the additional work I think these Charlie Foxtrot kits are very good and measure up with other MDF producers like Sarissa. If you need buildings quickly and not too pricey check out Charlie Foxtrot