Saved by a Dropcloth

I had a near disaster tonight at the painting table.  I used my normal set up - in front of the TV using two small folding tables to hold my work and tools.  On returning from a trip to the bathroom, I nudged one table and jiggled the paint pallet off.  Murphy's law held true and it fell paint side down depositing a lovely blob of blue paint (being used as the sea). 


Luckily I listen to my wife (at least in this case) and use a drop cloth saving both the floor and my butt!

Actual Painted Miniatures

OK, still works in progress for the most part, but it's been too long since something came off the workbench.  Here are some shots of my WW2 Med RN ships.  The photos are not as clear as I would like, but I'm still learning how to use the new camera.  We don't have a fancy one so this may be as good as it gets.  In which case I have successfully reproduced a hazy day at sea!  Ships were primed white by spray-bomb then painted with artist/craft acrylics including washes and highlighting.  Name labels, pennant numbers and possibly full smoke to come.

HMS Arethusa escorted by 6 destroyers 3 tribals and 3 H class.  The Arethusas were worked hard in the Med and lost 2 of their number.  They were smaller than other cruisers and lightly armed with only 6*6" guns.  Given treaty limitations on total tonnage, the RN decided that more small hulls would be more useful than fewer larger hulls.  It all had to do with patrolling the world's sea lanes of course. 

Close up show of the Arethusa with the troublesome floatplane.  It turns out that GHQ had it right  and the class landed their catapults Walruses (Walrii?) in 1940-1 before arriving in the Med.  However, the crane remained and GHQ supplied the sprue with sea planes and cranes (common to many GHQ packs).  Having glued the plane on and painted reasonable looking roundels, I am considering a Walrus-ectomy.  The DDs in behind are the ubiquitous tribals. 

And a trio of H class DDs, standard pre-war journeymen vessels.  The camouflaged model was based on a picture of the ORP Garland (lend-lease to the Poles), but her stint in the Med was brief.  Similar patterns appeared on many RN ships.

Next time, the Regina Marina.