Some updates

Since I have been pretty sick all Easter with a horrible cough and cold I have not managed to do anything hobby wise. I have also been unable to find the flat Black undercoat that I normally use. The last Zulus I prepped were done using what I thought was the normal undercoat but it also had a top coat combined with the undercoat. I did not realise this until after I finished prepping them. I first thought that there was just a load of unpainted metal showing through rather than the shiny top coat. Anyway once I sprayed with the brown layer things turned out ok.

I have ready for paint; a Company of British Infantry, a V100 Commando Patrol Car (resin) and Zulu wound and disrupted markers. I am just waiting for four Empress wounded Zulus before I paint these last items.

Last week I dropped into my local Model-shop which has relocated into a larger premises and have started stocking more items. They now carry quite a bit more basing style items and paints. I found some large packs of miniNatur tufts, one of which matched the old Army Painter Highland Tufts.

Some of you might have been wondering whatever happened to my Resin making project? Well I am pleased to say that I have ironed out almost all of the problems that I had been having and am well on the way to the assembly stage. Except I normally find terrain is a winter project so have put it aside for the moment. I've also put away all my modern items so no hurry for these now.

The first thing I found out was that heat is vital to the hardening of the resin. So while we had a "few good warm days" during the Summer break (I kid you not, its been miserable) I found an old desk lamp which I put as close to the moulds as I could. The resin turned out really hard and took undercoat really well.

Loads of wastage

However I still had an occasional soft casting which seemed to be worse when I did some small mixes. I found that when filling the measuring jars some of them have varying degrees of convexity of the base. Meaning part A is often far less fluid that part B.  In the photo below I poured the desired amount into one container and then poured half into the other by using the divisions. You can see the quantities are very different. The water in the lefthand container does not go all the way back to the rear. I finished up using separate containers to measure out each fluid and then combined them into one. Its probably the way you are meant to do this but not so obvious to a beginner.