I guess I just got burned out. That's how it is with me and hobbies. I'm all in for five years or so and I then I need to take a break. I always seem to come back to them, however. I spent my time doing genealogy research, something I hadn't done in twenty years, reading and running. Then I started to feel the need to create. I got inspired by my daugther and her many crafting projects.
I explored many avenues before I settled on what exactly I wanted to paint. I like many areas of history so of course I've been tempted by many genres. I also flirted with 15mm figures. I looked into (added to my mountain of shame, bought books, etc.) 15mm American War of Independence, primarily the Battle of Bunker Hill as I have ancestors who fought there; 15mm Civil War, never been a big ACW nut, but I have always wanted to finish a Fire and Fury scenario; 20mm WWII, Eastern Front, a big interest of mine; 15mm Ancients, Romans vs. Dacians; 15mm WWII, Pacific War and finally 15mm Vietnam. What did I learn about myself during all this crazyness? 20mm is the scale for me. 28mm is too expensive, takes too long to paint and I don't feel confident enough to sculpt for it; 15mm, well, they take just as long to paint as 20mm if they're done right and I don't find them as much fun to paint ... just too small. I need variety. 15mm, painting, gaming involves too many figures of the same pose. I like clean, crisp models. I don't like spending too much time cleaning up models. A lot of 15mm figures I came across had indistinct faces and a lack of detail or casting faults. I need to really like the figures and don't like to mix figures from different makers. AB Figures have many pluses, but I was really disappointed to find that size difference among the range is huge - plus some of the casting isn't so great.
So I landed where I left off. I just really like RH Models' stuff so I'm sticking with them. I might not be able to get more of them, but I've got about 10 years worth of stuff to paint already. Rolf, if you're out there I've got a large order I desperately want to place. Please reach out. Everyone else, if you have some spare RH Models to unload please get in touch with me.
For starters I finished a set of ICW figures I was last working on. RH Models don't have leader figure so I made one with a head swap and some sculpted equipment, included a holstered pistol. They also don't produce a British Lewis gun team so I did a weapon swap with a such a weapon and a headswap with another to make a team.
My first new painting foray is going to be figures for the 2nd Indochina war (French vs. Viet Minh). I also have some 15mm Vietnam US Army and 20mm modern Australians to base. My recent research has included the civil wars of Nicaragua and El Salvador.
Welcome back! Your blog sits towards the top of my 'Blog Bookmarks Folder', and I've been periodically checking for updates since you last posted.
ReplyDeleteThis batch of ICW are fantastic, and I really like the simple head-swaps to round out the range. I'm looking forward to seeing more from you, but particularly more 20mm ADF.
Good to see you back! I was wondering where you went. In the meantime, I have made the transfer over to 15mm, as getting new 20mm stuff from the UK has gotten really, really expensive, (and from RH Models impossible) and used or new 15mm is considerably cheaper (up to a point) and converting stuff goes a lot quicker :)
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