Week Six: Rob Villnave This week I am happy to show you that platoons are being finished.  In this weeks update I have two Sherman platoons finished.  At this stage I am very happy with these two platoons.  I am also very happy to now be working on the main body of the army….My infantry!

Well ladies and gentlemen, the end is here.  In reality this is still only the beginning.  There is so much I want to do with this force.  My first plans are to add in the 6pdr platoon and then flush out the artillery to have four guns each.  Maybe later I will add the rest of the artillery so I have all 8 platoons.  And of course what infantry company would be complete without an HMG platoon and some mortars for smoke.  Once those are finished it will then be time to switch out the Sherman and Firefly tanks for some Cromwell and Challenger love.  Of course this may require a few other platoons to be switched out, but that is more than a few months down the road.  And the list of possibilities goes on forever. Over the course of this challenge I did run into quite a few pitfalls I would like to share.  First of all stick to your time table if you create one.  Build time in there for you to take breaks from painting and assembling.  I did not do this so I would find myself need of a break and it made it difficult to get back in the swing of things.  You needs tools beyond your files and brushes to help you manage painting to a schedule.  Writing it down is the first step. Also, before you ever spray your models with a dullcote be sure to test it out first.  Right at the last of this my M10’s looked like they were hit by a blizzard.  So don’t be in a rush.  Take your time, it will always work out.  Remember when I mentioned how brush and foliage camouflage help to cover up mistakes?  Well I took full advantage of this as the result of that snowing was bad. And a good bit of advice from Joe was to mix up lots of your wash and flock/static grass before you get started.  It is always better to make more than you will use, but it is a pain to try to make more that matches the original. I would also highly suggest painting vehicle crew out of their vehicles.  I always added mine in before painting because it seemed I would never get back to painting them and then lose them.  So now my plan is to paint them first and then the vehicle.  This way I get the best of both worlds.  But painting crew in those little carriers was a pain.

Below: Rob's completed army.

This project has inspired me to paint more infantry.  They are not nearly as difficult as I have always left myself believing.  It just seems like a lot at first when you are looking at 100+ 15mm soldiers.  But if you take it one platoon at a time you can crank them out and have a great sense of accomplishment as you go which helps keep the fire burning.  With this I have assigned myself my next challenge.  I will paint five Infantry companies worth of compulsory choices.  I have not put a time table down on this yet.  However as I write this I am sure someone at Battlefront will talk me into doing so.  And I do not plan to take it easy on myself.  I do plan to put a Soviet force in that to do list.  Though I may switch it out for Romanians or another infantry horde type.  It will not be all peaches and cream by doing 5 team platoons.  So keep an eye out for those articles in the future. And lastly I want to thank Joe Krone for organizing this little venture and for hounding us all to “get your write ups done NOW” during the course of it.  It was great fun and I look forward to the next one.  Not soon though as my fiancé would like some time for a little while. Good luck in your hobby adventures. ~ Rob.