Polish stable

 To add some more variety to my 1939 Polish model village, I added a stable.

The basic shape is identical to the polish houses I did so far. Large carriage door in the center of the long side, horse boxes on either side.

Basic styrene build, so far so good.

The planks went on okay, but I did not realize the roof was going to be a problem. Building tip: never ever use a striped or otherwise patterned towel as thatch.

The wash should have covered the stripes. Should. As you can see, it didn't.

The walls were primed with chalk paint, and after three applications of ever thicker washes the stripes finally surrendered. 

Naturally, by then the strucure of the towel was also burried under all that acrylic, so I had to brush the roof to get at least a semblance of the right texture back.

The finished building, complete with Soviet medics who plan to turn it into a field hospital. 

So boys and girls, what have we learned today? 

Striped towels may be fine for drying, but NOT for roofing.

More early war 1/72 plastic Soviets

Good progress on my early war Soviets. Here you see the now completed bataillon command plus a few extras, the infantry company command and two infantry platoons, the third one still stuck in the painting queue somewhere.

Soviet WWII medics

Another project I've been working on for a few years now is Flames of War in 1/72 plastics.

Though I've bought stuff for other theaters and years, for now I've been concentrating on Early War, starting with German, Soviets and Polish armies for '39, and just for fun a Partisan platoon and some other optional troops.

Luckily, the availability of 1/72 plastics is nearly overwhelming, especially to somebody who grew up with the limited Airfix program as the only thing in the shops.

This is a small but very nice Soviet medics set by Zvezda I was given by a dear friend, a good illustration of the quality of plastics available now.

Only two and a half years later I discovered that Soviet nurses wore blue skirts, contrary to "regular" female troops. So, I corrected it.