US Marine/Navy Landing Party Howitzer and Crew

Hello all!

It's been a while since I've posted anything here. All I can say is that work has ramped up quite a bit and I don't have as much free time as I did a few weeks ago. Sometime last week I finished up the field gun and crew, and I managed to snap some pictures of them today.

The (rather blurry) Crew: Sergeant Owens, Corporal Richie, Private Jenkins and Seaman Sherman.

Working the gun.

As I mentioned here, the gun is from Minifigs and the crew is from Lyzard's Grin. The Crew in kepis are painted up as Marines, wearing white dark blue fatigue shirts (with insignia), summer trousers and kepi covers. The sailor is wearing blue trousers, white shirt, "bluejacket" and straw hat, with tarred brim and black ribbon sporting the sailor's ship. The gun is inspired by a number of pictures of Civil War era Dahlgren boat howitzers on field mounts, with grey carriages, black iron and brass fittings and a brass gun tube. All are mounted on clear plastic bases.

Coming soon: I've got several figs on painting sticks ready to be painted. I'll try to get some of them painted over the long 4th of July weekend.

Questions, comments and suggestions are always welcomed and appreciated. Thanks for looking!

-Chuck

First Painted Characters and New Figures

Hello all!

Finished up the first two character figures over the weekend:

Captain William Johnson, USMC

Major Marshall Benton, Ex-CSA

Check out the "Cast" tab at the top of the page for more detailed bios of these characters.

Both figures are from Chinstrap Miniatures, sold through Left Hand Miniatures, LLC here in the States. Both are very colorful sculpts and were a joy to paint. My only quibble was that Johnson's scabbard did not get completely filled in the mold and is truncated, which is a pity. Both are mounted on Litko 20mm clear plastic bases, which is a first for me. As such I overestimated the amount of super glue I needed on Johnson and a big white frosted spot ended up surrounding his feet. I learned my lesson and Benton's base looks much better without as much glue.

I also got in a few more figures today: a 3-inch Ordnance Rifle and artillery crew, both off of eBay.

Lyzard's Grin (Houston's Civil War) Fort Artillery Crew

Minifigs 3-inch Ordnance Rifle

Both the crew and the gun are true 25mm figures, as they say on their respective packages. They are just a hair shorter than the Chinstrap figures, but I don't mind mixing figures of different heights. The gun came with a sprue of tools, which is fortunate because the crew figures are cast with open hands and did not come with tools of their own. The crew members for the gun (there are four of them) I shall paint in USMC and US Navy uniforms to go along with Captain Johnson's landing party. I've already assembled the gun and crew, so al I have to do is prep the figs for painting and get to work!

Questions comments and criticisms are always welcomed and appreciated. Thanks for looking!

-Chuck