Perfect Six barricades - a review

In my last order from Perfect six I had a set of barricades and this is both a guide to painting them and a review.

Preparation

Perfect Six scenics are generally very cleanly cast and these are no exception so only a tiny bit of clean up required around when the metal comes into the mould.

As I want to use them within my buildings I did not want to put on a base but I also did not want to have bare metal on the bottom. My solution was to glue on to thin black plasticard. I can't remember how thick it is now - as I got it for other reasons - but it is less than 0.5mm I think but not the paper thin stuff.

I first super glued on to the plasticard sheet near the edge.

This gives an idea of how thick it is.

Next I roughly cut them out with a knife.

And next I trimmed the edges so they were flush and used a file to make sure it was completely flush with the metal.

Painting

I used Tamiya light grey primer (looks pretty much white actually) followed by a Flames of War spray called British Armour - a nice earthly brown as a base for the painting.

I then painted the ground part with Games Workshop Steel Legion Drab, the barrels and 'bricks' lying around Games Workshop Mournfang Brown and finally the pieces of 'wood' and the crate with Vallejo US Field Drab.

I then gave them a heavy wash with Games Workshop Agrax Earthshade. The front one below has had the wash and it does make it look very different - the wash gives the browns a different tone and highlights the distinctions as well as edges the detail but I just couldn't get it to show up in the photo (probably should have taken it up on to my terrain boards but too late by the time I realised I should have done that rather than take the photo on my work table).

I then painted some highlights with the original colours and then with a bit of Games Workshop Ushabti Bone in the Mournfang Brown for the barrels. I used Vallejo Light Brown to highlight the bricks scatted in the earth and that is quite an orangey brown which looks the part and gives more variety in the colour contrasts.

The final stages. All of them have been brushed with an acrylic varnish then sprayed with anti-shine.

And as a final touch a few pieces of foliage have been added to give a bit of colour beyond shades of brown.

Barricades in use

For Napoleonics these are not just scenic pieces but I will be using them as markers. For many rule sets I have looked at recently they make a distinction between moving through / just having entered a built up area and defending it. When Richard said he was going to do barricades I thought these would be an ideal way of marking the distinction. Put the figures in on the first move with no barricades, then when moved to defending add barricades to show the unit is now defending the buildings.  I have also thought about fortified built up areas (i.e. preprepared defences) and these could be marked with more substantial barricades (e.g. bits of furniture in them) and the number of barricades indicate the level of fortification (rules sets I have seen this is usually 1, 2, 3 or 4 so can easily have a barricade on as many sides as needed to show the strength). Anyway, need Richard to do the alternate barricades for that but for now I have a way of showing occupation and this type of barricade could still do that alongside the more substantial one for the level of preprepared defence.

Here are some examples - I did discuss with Richard the sizes that would be useful to do so no surprise the work well with my buildings!

Example one:

I have used barricades on each of the three routes into the village but when using as an occupation marker the number does not matter - just for aesthetic reasons really.

So now the battalion has either just entered the village or is moving through on the road and hence no barricades - it is not defending the village.

Example two:

Different village, just for variety really.

And once again just moving through.

A few examples now with 10mm WW2 figures to show how well they work at that scale. These could be used to show entrenched in FOW or defensive positions.

Conclusions

I really like them and being made for 6mm they work very well with the Adler 6mm Napoleonics and I think they are going to be a great marker to show the unit is defending the buildings. Not sure how many I will need until I play a few games with multiple villages, but I suspect I will put more than one on just for the effect even if one would do the job to show the unit is defending. So will probably need some more I would guess.

For WW2 they woudl also work well for 6mm and for 10mm I think they are fine for light barricades or entrenchment markers. Would need something bigger for anything that is supposed to be a fortification / heavily barricaded.



For an easy way to see all my Napoleonic posts check out the Napoleonic summary page.

For an easy way to see all my WW2 posts check out the WW2 Summary page.

Putting realistic foliage camouflage on 10mm vehicles - tutorial

I bought some materials to do camouflage on my 10mm WW2 Germans quite a while ago but the Stug IIIs I had been intending to use it on have not made it on to the production line until now. The Stugs are Takara and I have pointed out in previous posts that they often need some touching up on the detail but the Stugs are quite poorly painted and so I wanted to redo them completely - hence the delay. I also did not fancy trying this on my metal models as I was not sure how it would turn out.

The effect I am going for is this sort of thing:

I came across some materials at Antenocitis Workshop - see their article on how to use. They were for 15mm and the example wasn't a tank so I was not 100% sure it would look the part. To do this you need seafoam sprigs, camouflage leaves and two types of sticky white glue. I got two packs of the sprigs but when they came I think I only needed one as there is lots - one pack in the photo below!

Following the article on their web site I cut some small pieces off the seafoam, tested them out against the model and then put some tacky glue on the back using a brush. The article didn't say anything too specific about how log to wait before putting on the model and the bottle just said to leave the glue a few minutes to go tacky. Not really sure how long to leave for best results but I think it was probably 3 or 4 minutes when I did this and even though still looks white it does stick well to the contours of the model. As you can see below there are a few blobs of white visible as this was taken immediately after sticking to the model. These dry to go clear but a bit shiny - not sure if they eventually go matt but it actually stays tacky for a long time even when you think it has dried and the leaves actually stuck to it later so no shiny bits of glue showing in the end at all.

I stuck 3 pieces on - one either side of the gun and one on the back.

Once the glued appeared to have dried I put some blobs of the other glue - scatter grip - on to branches but trying not to go overboard:

Again not sure how long to leave - the bottle says 30 minutes and to the press the scatter into the glue. The Antenocitis articles did not say anything about waiting and as the seafoam is quite delicate I did not fancy waiting 30 minutes and then pushing the leaves against the branches. I probably left it for 5 to 10 minutes but I guess I then bottled it and dumped the foliage leaves on to the model pressing very gently. Again not sure what the ideal is but stuck no problem with the wait I gave it.

I then though there was a bit too little in terms of leaves..

So I put a few more blobs on and repeated. I guess better to keep adding until you are happy than putting too much on to start with.

Here is the finished model. I don't think the photos quite do justice to it as I think it look really good and not at all out of place on a 10mm model. I am now finishing off the rest of the Stugs and will do a post later with all 12 models and some bocage terrain to try and give a better feel for the look.

All in all quite a simple process and I am please with the effect and quite happy to put on things such as my Arrowhead Wespes which are also on the production line.

The tacky glues used for this look quite interesting and I can see my using them for other things. For instance the first is great for gluing the side skirts back on where they are loose (there are posts that slot between the hull and the top of the tracks but are sometimes loose).

For an easy way to see all my WW2 posts check out the WW2 Summary page.

Review - Perfect Six Scenics sacks and crates

If you have been following my Waterloo buildings posts you will already have seen the barrels I have been using for adding a bit of detail to the models. They were the first things Richard over at Perfect Six made as scenic items. The initial batch were resin but they are produced now in metal and crates and sacks will soon be available with more things on the way. Here is the web site:

Perfect Six Scenics web site

I have some of the crates and sacks to review and will go through the painting process and how I have used some of the finished items.

All the items come in a variety of sizes, or in the case of sacks a variety of groups of sacks. I washed the items then cleaned up - which just means taking a few very small lumps off the bottom; barrels currently come in a strip and have to be cut off but Richard also sells flush side cutters (I have had some of these for a while and useful for all sorts of things when a cut close to a model is needed). I then stuck on plasticard (some off-cuts) with a small blob of white PVA glue. I used some old PVA that has gone a bit thick so not very good for basing figures but great for gluing things ready for painting or onto finished model bases.

Next a quick spray with a Tamiya primer spray (light grey)

Then the base colours: Khaki Grey (Vallejo 880) for the sacks, US field drab (Vallejo 873) for the crates, US dark green (Vallejo 893) for the two small square crates, and Games Workshop Mournfang Brown for the barrels.

Then everything had a wash in Games Workshop Agrax Earthshade.

The to finish off:

• barrels dry brushed with Mournfang Brown then some of the highlights painted with some of the brown lightened a bit with Ushabti Bone;
• crates dry brushed with US field drab or the raised detail painted for the US dark green ones (as so small better to paint than dry brush);
• sacks a dry brush in Khaki Grey then again with the Khaki Grey lightened with Khaki (Vallejo 988). The open sack I did as potatoes so painted the raised detail in the opening in neat Khaki then a few spots with Khaki lightened with white.

This is what they look like, although to be honest it is hard to see the real effect until they are put on a model.

I added some sacks to my previous finished models of Papelotte and La Haye Sainte (both 6mm Leven). I also put an extra barrel and a crate in Papelotte.

So Papelotte first:

Two types of the sack groups and a low wide crate sat by the big barn door. A couple of sacks showing potatoes over on the left and next picture a close up:

A newly added barrel and a sack pile on the other side of the courtyard:

A couple of sack groups added in La Haye Sainte main courtyard:

Then one with the open sack and potatoes on view by the little hut in the rear garden:

For a proper look at the two farms before I added the new sacks etc. but with the extension bits I added that are not part of the model as sold see my original posts:

Papelotte

La Haye Sainte


I put the small barrel and the little crates on some French Guard 12 pdr bases and a artillery commander base:

Some cannon ball stacks are due out from Perfect Six some time later and these will be nice additions to artillery bases too.


I put some of the crates in a 10mm Russian WW2 truck (Pendraken Zis 42):

Conclusions:

Barrels are currently available and as I use in every farm I do there is no surprise I really like them. Very clean casting and easy to paint and fit nicely in to 6mm scale items. The range of sizes is good too. The bigger barrels are easily usable for 10mm.

I love the sacks. They are very nicely done and again very clean casting. The range of groups provides a good mix and the open sacks are a nice touch (you could choose other items to paint as the contents and not just potatoes!). Easy to use quite a few sack groups on the base of a large farm.

Crates are nice. I will make more use in urban building settings. Again nice casting and fit in well with the scale. They are also great for WW2 10mm - you can get 10mm crates from Pendraken and 1/144 in Takara (bits included with some of their models), but  Perfect Six offer a wider variety of sizes particularly smaller ones which just add that extra touch to vehicles (in trucks or on the back of tanks). The small square crate can easily be added to some 6mm figure bases - even more options to do that if you use the rules with the very big battalion bases.

So very impressed and keen to see more items joining the range.