Red Devils - first section

It has been a couple of weeks since the last post, but when work and life get busy it is always blogging that goes first. After all, my hobbies are reading, painting, modelling and gaming - if I gave these up there would be nothing to blog about.
So the first catch up post is a commission that I am doing for John. He bought the British Paratrooper 1000 point starter army from Bolt Action and it arrived last week, so here is the first section.

The full section

I am really enjoying painting these, and the only dark spot is that I had to use Gesso to undercoat them. No-one in town stocks Games Workshop because of their ridiculous pricing and ordering structures, so no Chaos Black spray. The nearest city with a gaming store (one and a half hours away) only stocks a few cans because they are so bloody ridiculously expensive and Army Painter is a better alternative. Only there is no Army Painter available at the moment, so it is a one and a half hour drive to buy an over-priced can of $35 spray paint. Luckily, there is an alternative in Plasti-kote metal primer - half the price and just as good. But upon going to order some at the local hardware store I was informed that they are no longer making the spray in black - only white, grey or red oxide! Arrrgh!

Some closer pictures of the paras.

And the rest of the section.

So John is making a trip to Hamilton next week and will buy the last three cans in stock at Mark One of Chaos Black, and I can finally undercoat the Paras properly and the whole painting experience will be that much more pleasant.  The problem with gesso is just its thinness. I find it chips far too easily, taking the top layer of paint with it.

I wish there was an easy way to get hold of the Army Painter undercoat via post in New Zealand. If anybody knows of a way please let me know.  I'm aware of Slave to Painting, but they haven't had it in stock forever.

By the way, I have figured out my 800 point Polish army for FoG Renaissance and will start rebasing this week. I've read through the rulebook and have a fairly good handle on the basics of the rules, so look forward to trying them out.

Last picture is of my poor old companion, Oscar, looking absolutely enthralled as I moan to him about the difficulties of getting a good undercoat. He loves sitting with me when I paint or do modelling. He's probably inhaled as much static grass and spray varnish as I have, but he is still going!

'You bore me... but you feed me. So I'll hang around'

Nate