Palouse Area Modelers Show

Today Austin and I packed up our entries and headed down to Moscow for the 2009 "Show Off the Good Stuff" IPMS show. In between setting up our entries, acting as judges, and playing a rousing game of Fire and Fury, we were able to get some photos of the many entries. Because I had so much to do, I wasn't able to get as many pictures as I would have liked. I missed out on getting shots of the best tank, best car, best aircraft, best figure, and best diorama, which is really a shame. They were all very nice. The diorama, which was of a Panzer II Luchs, was in the running for best of show.

The Palouse Area Modelers are a pretty active hobby group. We have monthly meetings in Moscow, but the showpiece event each year is the annual model show. We have more than 100 entries each year, taking up the entire floor of the Moose Lodge. In addition to the awards in each category, individual members sponsor special awards. Scott R. sponsors the "singing aircraft" award, which goes to the model which is not necessarily the best, but which provides a visual thrill. Don sponsors the "singing tank award." Jack sponsors the "best figure under 60mm" award. This year I sponsored the "best gaming miniatures" award. We all exempt ourselves from consideration, of course.

We practice open scoring. Within each category, multiple entries may win a gold, silver, bronze, or highly commendable ribbon. I brought two entries, my 1/35 King Tiger and my 28mm WAB Macedonian army. Austin brought two units of 18mm AB 1805 Napoleonic Russians, his cuirassiers and jäger.

My King Tiger, which is the first serious tank model I've ever built, earned a bronze ribbon. I thought that was about right. My build had some serious flaws, including a noticeable seam on the barrel, another on the front hull join, and some glossy areas showing through the dullcote. I didn't even try to make screens for the engine deck.

Don's version of the same tank deservedly earned a gold ribbon. The ambush camouflage pattern was especially nice.

It was a good day for King Tigers. This late war tank sported an overall olive green paint job with panzer yellow camo pattern.

I was really impressed with this Afrika Korps Panzer I.

The figure helped to make this vignette work, I thought.

The "singing tank" award went to this winterized SU-85.

The same guy entered a large number of models. Here's his excellent StuG IV.

This German SP gun had an interesting zimmerit pattern. The modeler used the wheel of a cigarette lighter to make the pattern.

Here's a closer view of that zimmerit.

Long time club member Will really stepped it up this year. He entered about a dozen models, earning several plaques, including best car. This is his outstanding Messerschmidt 109.

Scott R. always enters great looking aircraft. This George was in the running for best aircraft. I don't know planes that well, but I thought it was the best in the show.

This Stuka won the "singing aircraft" award.

Will's TIE Advanced won the plaque for best science fiction / space flight model. After the show, Will popped the hatch to show me the pilot, an apple box!

Will's daughter won the juniors category with this P-47.

Ships are always a strong category. Rodney, who won best in show last year, entered this Baltimore class cruiser.

Roger comes over from the Olympic Peninsula each year with at least one outstanding ship. This early US aircraft carrier won best ship and best in show. I wish I had more good close-ups of this model. The level of detail was just outstanding.

Jack usually owns the figures category. He displayed a formidable collection of 120mm Napoleonics, but asked that they not be judged. As always, I was blown away by his use of vibrant colors and natural skin tones.

Here's another of Jack's impressive Napoleonics.

We get some really impressive figure modelers every year. This 200mm bust of a Luftwaffe pilot gives you some idea of the level of talent on display at our little show.

In addition to being one of the best armor modelers I know, Don can really paint a figure! This 120mm US Marine took a silver ribbon. The lighting in the Moose Lodge isn't very good for photographs, but this figure really popped.

My second entry was my 28mm Macedonian army. Here's how I displayed it for the competition. I got a gold ribbon for this entry.

Austin's Russian Jäger earned him a gold ribbon and two plaques: best wargaming miniatures and best figures under 60mm. For the second award Austin was competing with my Macedonians, and he won. These are really beautiful figures.

Austin got another gold ribbon for his cuirassiers.

Scott R. entered a US paratrooper battalion and earned a silver ribbon.

It's tough to make US army uniforms pop, but Scott R. pulled it off. These were excellent looking figures.

Of the four members of my gaming group at the show, Austin was the big winner. Don didn't win any plaques. Scott R. didn't win and plaques. I didn't win any plaques. But Austin won two of them.

Usually Austin doesn't enjoy these shows as much as the rest of us, but I think he was pretty pleased with the results of today's judging.

So it was a fun day. I got to catch up with a number of good friends, including Dale, who introduced me to wargaming. I got to see over a hundred excellent models. I bought a couple of new kits and stocked up with modeling supplies. I got to play a game of Fire and Fury and sweep poor Dale's rebels right off the map. And I got to vicariously enjoy Austin's triumph.

Tamiya 1/35 Königstiger

These are some pretty big pictures, so go ahead and click on some to get them full sized.

As promised, here are some pictures of my 1/35 Tamiya King Tiger. This is the Ardennes kit, and I was actually able to find some photos of 204, the tank I built, after the US Army captured it. As far as I could tell from the photos, the tank did not have zimmerit, nor did it have the late war "ambush" paint scheme. It did, however, have "hard edge" three color camouflage. This was the first model I had ever airbrushed, and I didn't quite feel up to masking and spraying, so I did a soft edge spray.

I built the tank before painting, so I had to prime the undercarriage with dark brown and drybrush the wheels and tracks.

I primed the body of tank with Tamiya panzer yellow, then sprayed the green and brown camouflage. I gave the tank an all over wash with dark burnt umber oil paint, then a pin wash with various shades of oils, including black, Indian red, and burnt sienna. When the oil wash was dry, I drybrushed the tank with panzer yellow. Now I affixed the cables and spare tracks. I had primed them with Tamiya gunmetal. I picked out all the tools with craft acrylic paints. Then I applied the decals and began weathering.

The first stage in weathering was to apply scratches with a silver colored pencil. Then I used a reddish brown acrylic to paint some rust around rivets. Finally I used some panzer yellow and some brown to do some paint chipping.

Once the painting was done, I sealed the tank with a clear gloss acrylic from PollyScale. Finally I hit it all over with a can of Testor's Dullcote. Here's the tank at the end of painting.

The last stage was weathering with pastel chalks. I bought a cheap set from Michael's and got to work this morning. The wheels and undercarriage got a heavy dusting of straight black, as did the area around the muzzle. I used a dark brown on the tracks and coming up the sides of the mud guards. Then the whole tank got a liberal application of bright tan dust. The last stage was applying a red brown to simulate rust. I wanted this tank to look like it was on active service, so I rusted and dirtied it up a great deal.

I'm sure you can find many mistakes on the tank; I know I can. But this is the first serious 1/35 tank I've ever painted. I'm pretty happy with how this initial effort turned out.

WAB Macedonian Army

I've been working on this army in fits and starts since last fall. Regular readers of the blog will have seen some of these figures before, but I want to show the whole army as I'll be displaying it at this weekend's show.

All of the figures are Foundry, except for the Greek hoplites, which are Crusader. I was able to buy most of the figures on eBay, getting them for around $1 each for foot and $3 for horse. I did take advantage of Foundry's Christmas 2008 sale to round out a few units.

The spears, javelins, and pikes are all from North Star. I wanted this army to be able to endure frequent handling, so I used five minute epoxy to affix all the weapons. You'll see a slight bulge at the join on many figures, but these weapons are not coming off, ever.

Many of the shields have transfers from Little Big Men Studios, but many are hand painted as well. For the phalanx rank and file, I went with a very simple shield color scheme of gold drybrushed over brown. This represents the stamped bronze shield facings that Macedonian armies typically issued the men.

I used Litko bases with Wargames Accessories metal bases glued to the bottom. Skrimishers got 1" steel washers. By using steel bases I can use my magnetic sheet movement trays during games. The bases were finished with Noch brown ballast, Woodland Scenics talus and clump foliage, and Silflor prairie tufts.

General: Alexander the Great

This paint scheme is based on the Pompeii mosiac. Alexander got the most ornate paint job of any figure in the army.

9 Companion Cavalry

I wanted a uniform look for each Macedonian line unit in the army, and I settled on red tunics, white linothorax armor, and bronze helmets. The companions got yellow cloaks with a purple stripe.

10 Thessalian Cavalry

The Thessalians got blue cloaks with a yellow stripe. The yellow I used is actually a very pale tan color, almost straw. I had experimented with straight yellow, but the primary color was just too jarring against the more naturalistic tones I had used. I found the same thing with the red cloaks. If I used a straight red, they overpowered the rest of the figure and just looked too neat and tidy. By highlighting with a pale brick red, I was able to get a more worn "campaign" look.

10 Greek Light Cavalry

I abandoned the uniform color scheme for my skirmishers. I wanted them to look very motley, so I mixed a wide variety of tunic colors.

10 Greek Javelinmen

You can read all about the skirmishers in my previous post.

10 Greek Javelinmen

10 Greek Archers

28 Greek Mercenary Hoplites

The hoplites are definitely the most colorful unit in the army. I varied the colors of tunic, linothorax armor, helmet crest, and shields.

14 Hypaspists

The hypaspists are the only unit in the bright pastel colors one usually sees in Macedonian wargaming armies. I'm unconvinced that the rank and file wore such bright colors as you see in various ancient sources (and in Angus McBride's artwork), but if any of the troops were so colorfully attired, surely the hypaspists would have been. I used a cream color for the linothorax armor, and a bright blue for tunics and helmets. Still, I didn't go nuts. Shields are pretty plain (apart from the bright decal), and plumes are all white.

28 Phalangites

This is my biggest pike block, and all these troops have lovely plumes. I'm thinking of using these as asthetairoi. The shield designs on the officer and musician are from Little Big Men.

20 Phalangites

20 Phalangites

20 Phalangites

So there's the whole army. There are 130 close order infantry, 30 foot skirmishers, and 30 mounted men. As the army now stands, it comes in at about 2500 points. I may expand it more some day, but for now I'm calling this project complete.