Spring Clean Miscellany 2022

Last year I put together a relatively small Spring Clean Challenge to paint up a few models that sat outside any of my ongoing projects. It worked pretty well, so why not do the same this year?

I’ve gathered together a few models acquired as gifts, freebies or as samples for possible future projects. The goal is simply to try and paint as many as possible, whilst keeping other projects ticking over.

I got the painting rolling with the easiest model, as there was no need to look up references for uniform colours etc. I also had a few samurai on my paint desk, so she slotted in alongside them quite well.

The next models I’m going to paint are the Salute 2018 show model. I’ve not painted any WW1 stuff before, and beyond having an idea that Germans wore grey uniforms, the British brown, and the French light blue, I need to find some reference images to guide colour schemes.

A bit of searching on the Internet, and I came across these pictures. They might not be 100% accurate, but will serve as a good enough guide.

I really like this little diorama from the 2018 Salute show depicting soldiers from Fance, Germany and Britain sharing a drink together.

I ended going for a more green-grey than dark grey for the German uniform; not sure if that’s entirely right, but I quite liked the final look. There’s probably also other colours across the whole thing that are strictly accurate, but I’m happy enough with the end result.

Next up for this project is a few sample 15mm English Civil War figures by Steel Fist Miniatures. My vague idea of appropriate colours for the ECW involve buff coats and earthy tones, so I again searched out a few images online to act as references.

This little sample pack was quite a lot of fun to paint. The models by Steel Fist Miniatures are ‘true’ 15mm, nicely proportioned and are have a really good level of detail.

I snipped a couple of brush bristles for my pikes, which seems to work okay. One pike lots a bit lumpy thanks to excess superglue I neglected to remove. I could have addressed it later, but I often like to leave mistakes on my test models as a reminder to avoid repeating them in the future.

As these are just test models, I’ve based them individually on 1p and 2p coins, but would look to doing multi-bases if putting together a proper collection. These models are definitely tempting me to look into doing an ECW project in the not too distant future, so if anyone has any recommendations on appropriate rulesets, please let me know.

This was a freebie model bundled in with an order from CP Models. It’s a very simple, elegant sculpt, and was fairly intimidating to paint as a result. In the end I went for a fairly restricted palette, which I think worked okay.

I was stumped for base ideas, and eventually went for trying out painting a cobble/flagstone effect. For my own reference as much as anything, here’s a quick step-by-step.

Last two models done, and probably the ones I’m least happy with the final result.

Things didn’t start very well, as I dropped the weapon sprue and shattered the servant’s spear. That made me really paranoid throughout the cleaning of the resin models in case they were as brittle. Using the spear was a non-starter, so I salvaged the servant’s hand, drilled out the centre and gave him a tetsubu I had spare.

I then just struggled with the bigger samurai model, not quite sure how to best paint the rotting flesh. I called these done pretty quickly as a result.

Although I didn’t set a very ambitious Spring Clean Challenge, I’m still surprised to have got these all done before the end of April.

Since there’s a fair bit of spring to go, it looks like I need to add a few more things to paint. A quick dig around has found a handful of old Warhammer Quest models that are long overdue a coat of paint.

The Witch Hunter is from one of the Hero expansion boxes from the original Warhammer Quest, dating back to ’95 or ’96, and wss sculpted by Gary Morley.

I really enjoyed painting this one. Nice single cast metal, clearly defined areas of detail, it practically painted itself.

This annoying little snotling would cause chaos for Heroes by stealing their lantern, plunging them into the dark and making them more at risk from traps and other dungeon dwellers.

I decided to try OSL for the first time on this very characterful model. It went… okay-ish? Really need to practice the technique more, but for a first try, I’m not unhappy.

Gorgut the Warboss and a pair of his boys from the Lair of the Orc Lord expansion for Warhammer Quest.

Sadly missing the shields for the boys, but otherwise quite happy how these turned out.

My last unpainted Heroes for Warhammer Quest finally finished. I quite like the arrogance of the Imperial Noble, and enjoyed picking a fairly flamboyant colour scheme.

If I remember correctly, the Wizard is supposed to be from the Grey College, and has such strong Gandalf vibes there was little point in resisting a matching paint scheme.

Thanks to the generosity of ZebraOutrider from the OTT community, I had a few shields arrive in the post, so I was able to get these boys properly finished.

The faces are a bit goofy looking, but I’m not too unhappy with how the freehand went. Main lesson learnt was to plan the designs properly rather than just winging it. Simple stripes and dog teeth patterns don’t need much forethought, but for a more complex design I really should have sketched out the end result, and possibly the order of building up the paint.

Very chuffed to get a Golden Button for this project, and hearing/reading all the positive comments. The encouragement from the OTT community is really great, so thanks very much.

I doubt I’ll be adding much more to this project before the Spring Clean Challenge finishes, but I’m going to try and finish up the last of my unpainted Warhammer Quest models before the end of the year. There’s not many, three minotaurs, a dozen spiders and a few bats, and the project will stay live until I’ve painted them all.

Nothing to see here…

Continuing to work through my unpainted Warhammer Quest models. Just bats and spiders left now.

Spring Clean Challenge is finished, but I’m still going to crack on with my last few unpainted Warhammer Quest models. Some of the bats were next in line. Pretty fast and dirty painting, but they’re finished, and that’s the most important thing.

The last unpainted Warhammer Quest models I had were a dozen plastic spiders. They looked pretty good with just a black undercoat, but I decided against being lazy and added a few quick details. Quite rough and ready, but turn them around in about an hour and half.

Finishing the spiders draws a (belated) close to my 2022 Spring Clean. A little behind the official end date, but it feels very satisfying to have finally got a complete box set of models done, albeit at least 25 years after purchase!