Workbench Update - March 2017

Getting back into FLW Toy Soldiers has been a little more convoluted and slow going than I expected. Even before I picked up a little soldier I had to begin to reorganise the complete mess that is my 'man cave' (stroke home junk yard). But, the good news is I can actually see some carpet now, though the mountain of boxes of 'crap' I've moved to one side of the room is threatening to avalanche on top of me every time I venture upstairs!

However, I did manage to dig out a couple of hibernating projects and I have managed to make some progress with them. So, here's what's on my workbench (come TV Dinner tray) at the moment...

1890 French Infantry of the Line
I do love my little Belle Époque French soldiers - Black Hat mouldings - and I'm really pleased to get this little half-regiment back on the march again.

They are a tiny bit taxing as there is a reasonable amount of preparation work to be done on these white metal figures. The fit is a wee bit of an issue, and pitting is the other. I've had to resort to the liberal use of white Milliput putty to fill in and smooth out some of the gaps and holes. But hey, that's white metal models for you!

Faux 1900 Heavy Artillery
I also dusted off my 'poor man's Britain's Gun'. This die cast model - by Crescent - is actually a WW2 era 4.5 inch gun, but I'm modifying it to make it look more like a turn of the century piece.

The whole reason for doing this is so I can paint this gun in 1890 Molatero artillery colours (black and white). And while I already have two examples of the lovely Britain's 3.5 Naval Gun model, I do not want to desecrate either of these by painting them. (Crescent die casts are  cheap and widely available on eBay.)

I'm just working on fixing the scratch built gun shield onto the model's chassis. And then - once I know all my plastic parts fit correctly - I will remove them again and begin to strip the green paint off the metal model.