Welcome to drumandflag.com, the companion website to the Drum & Flag eBay toy soldier shop. On this home page you will find details of the latest updates I have made to my toy soldier hobby info & gallery site. The main sections of the website can be accessed using the tabs at the top of each page as well as via links in the text. More information about this hobby site and about Drum & Flag in general can be found under the About tab. If you have arrived here looking for my online shop and wish to go straight there click the link below: 

 

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WHAT'S NEW ? ( SITE UPDATES / PAINTING BENCH / BLOG etc...)

30/06/09 - Conte Spartans. Not quite "The 300" but these five were challenge enough to paint!

To see many more pics click here: Spartans

 

30/06/09 - Eaglemoss Lord of the Rings Collectors Models

This partwork subscription series is now well into 130+ issues. Most of the figures are to 1:29 Scale (around 60-70mm) but some of the more recent releases have included pieces in other scales. For 28mm Games Workshop LOTR gamers these can be very useful.

This Great Beast for example is 8cm long and 5cm high and is ideal for pulling Grond, siege towers, catapults etc...

Minas Morgul Gargoyle (6.5cm high)

Great model for adding some character and grimness to any of Sauron's fortresses.

The Argonath Elendil & Isildir

These are about 7cm tall so smaller than the ones in the DVD presentation pack. Good for statues / ruins elsewhere in Middle Earth etc...

There are also many other useful models (Trolls, Orcs, Watcher in the Water, Gondorion Warriors etc...) that can be used as they are, repainted as statues or creatively "re-profiled" eg 1:29 scale orcs could be used for 28mm gaming as giant orcs or trolls. Most pieces are pretty well painted so you may just need to rebase if that.

You can get back issues of the collection from the Eaglemoss website and figures are also to be found on eBay.

 

21/06/09 - Del Prado Relive Waterloo Hougoumont.

I did not paint this polystone model of the Gardeners House, just assembled and based it. It came in several unassembled pre-painted packs as part of the Relive Waterloo (25-28mm) figure subscription partwork. It measures approx 24cm x 8.5cm x 15cm and is really heavy! It also comes with a small piece of exterior garden walling (not pictured).

Here's the internal courtyard view.

 

21/06/09 Italeri - 1/32 Scale Napoleonic French Supply Wagon

Click here for more wagon pics & info

Next up in this scale some plastic Conte Spartans which are about 2/3 done now.

 

21/06/09 American Civil War 1/72 Redoubt

Click here for more Redoubt pics & info

 

21/06/09 - Napoleonic Prussian Landwehr

Click here for more Landwehr pics & info

Next up some Prussian Jaegers, more Landwehr and then the Regulars.

 

25/05/09 Airfix Waterloo Vacform Terrain Piece. With the reissued Airfix Battle of Waterloo set you get a couple of plastic terrain pieces that can be joined together to form a diorama base for the farm house. I took these pieces and cut them about to form three general features for my gaming tabletop. For more pics and info click here: Terrain Pieces

 

25/05/09 Games Workshop Goblins. More pictures added - click here to view relevant gallery page: Goblins

 

 

19/05/09 Italeri 1/32 Scale Medieval Arab Warriors (Cavalry) - Unpainted sprue pics added here: Arab Warriors

 

 

  

21/04/09 Games Workshop Trolls & Ents. I recently bought one of the GW plastic Ents which like the GW plastic Drummer Troll I purchased longer ago contains optional parts so you can choose to build from several model variants. This is great but it does leave you with the left over parts sitting in your bits box crying out to be used. It took me a while to bite the bullet but I eventually summoned up the courage to have a go at sculpting my own components and am reasonably pleased with the results for a relative beginner.

This little project sent me off surfing the net for tips on scuplting and I found several useful info pages. I had already cottoned on to using florists wire armatures, building up in layers and the importance of "sausages" but learned much more. Not least that a mix of "greenstuff" and Milliput is considered by many the ideal combination for sculpting giving a balance of the formers flexibility and the latters hardness once set. It also had me amazed at the skill experts in this field have.

On the figures pictured I have only used standard Milliput but will give the "greenstuff" mix idea a go soon. In addition to a complete Drummer the Troll set offers arms, heads, weapons and chest armour for an Isengard Troll and a Mordor Olag-Hai. For the Mordor Olag-Hai I took the parts as is and made the rest myself. He is pictured just below and is about to be undercoated:

  

For the much converted Isengard Troll (picture at the top of the page) I have uploaded the details into the completed figure gallery here: LOTR Monsters Page  . I originally thought the Trolls would be easy and the Ent almost beyond me but it pretty much turned out the opposite. Here's my Ent awaiting undercoating with the plastic gray GW parts clearly visible. I will upload completed pictures of these figures when done.

     

As you my have gathered by the recent entries War of the Ring has rekindled my interest in Lord of the Rings and sent me off in all sorts of directions. As well as the Ents and Trolls I am playing about with making my own Minas Tirith wall sections from plastic building card, Balchoth / Wainrider chariots (from plastic card, cocktail sticks and 1/72 plastic wheels), HQ tents for Gondor and Rohan army commanders from 1/32 Timpo Medieval Knights Tents and turning Warlord Games Celt Warriors into Balchoth / Wainriders.

26/03/09 Dol Amroth / Lord of the Rings. Have decided that my GW Last Alliance Numenorians and converted plastic mounted MT knights will form my Dol Amroth army painted in blue, white and silver as I prefer these to the designated troops. Painted pics to follow at some stage.

20/03/09 Painting Bench Update. Not a lot happened on this front of late mainly due to the upheaval caused by me moving my painting desk into another room and the ongoing setting up of my wargames room. Hopefully this should all be sorted reasonably soon and I can crack on.

20/03/09 Games Workshop War of the Ring. Seeing all the new LOTR upcoming releases in the latest White Dwarf caused my wallet to run for cover! The impending wave of purchases plus the setting up of my wargames room did give me pause for thought however along these lines: 1.) Have I the time / space / cash to keep adding to my already large stockpile of mainly so far unpainted GW LOTR items? 2.) If so should I abandon my rebasing policy and use the GW round bases and new movement trays? 3.) If I do sell my GW LOTR collection should/could I instead make some LOTR armies from 1/72 plastics instead?

Having mulled these questions over in the dark watches of the night I fell asleep thinking change was likely...but I awoke the next day to tell myself not to be so stupid as to sell off my beloved collection and to stick to my own square basing system. I did come up with a few possibilities for 1/72 scale LOTR units and characters though. The www.plasticsoldierreview.com site was a great help in viewing the various sets on the market which gave me the following ideas:

Variags of Khand:  Zvezda and Italeri Mongols

Haradrim: Italeri Saracens

Dunlendings: Zvedza Vikings

Knights of Dol Amroth: Zvezda Polish Winged Hussars

Dwarves: Some of the poses in the Caesar Dwarves set.

Gandalf: There's a very good wizard in the Caesar Adventurers set

Mumakil: Zvezda War Elephants

Rohan: There a couple of good mounted poses in the Revell Anglo-Saxon set but you'd need a lot of sets with just two figures per set.

Gondor: Zvezda HYW French / English knights

Goblins/Orcs/Uruk-Hai: The Caesar Orcs and Goblins sets are great but too cartoony for me so I found it very difficult to think of what could do for these guys. Maybe Ancient Britons/Gauls/Celts/Dacians etc...

Wainriders / Balchoth: Airfix Ancient Briton Chariots / HaT Chariots

Elves: Revell Norman archers

Easterlings: Zvezda Russian Knights

Rangers: Airfix Robin Hood

Nazgul: Some of the Zvezda/Italeri mounted Teutonic/Livonian knights?

          

07/03/09. Guide Updates - I have updated a couple of my most popular guides. These being Painting Toy Soldiers which has some minor text and photo alterations and Collecting Del Prado which has a new section on repairing Del Prado's and some other Del Prado related hobby tips.

On the subject of Del Prado and other partworks series I am about half way through revamping my eBay store listings. I hope to have this process completed shortly and then each listing will have new photos, better text descriptions, more straightforward pricing etc... I also have a lot of new stock that will be uploaded as part of this revamp. The only downside to all this is that it is a time consuming process hence painting bench activity is slow just now.

07/03/09. Wargames Room - With not a little persuasion / bribery I have managed to convince my long suffering other half that she is happy for me to convert a guest bedroom into a wargames room! When this is up and running I hope it will enable me to get more gaming done and thereby also start to populate the wargame picture sections I have already set up on this website.

07/03/09. Games Workshop - War of the Ring. I am pleased to see lots of new figure releases planned to support GW's imminent mass battle version of their Lord of the Rings gaming system. As visitors to this site may already know (see my LOTR Galleries ) I base my LOTR armies on square bases (as opposed to the round bases provided) and form them into units for use with my own mass battle rules. I doubt I will change now but it will be interesting to see the GW rules when they come out and all the lovely pictures and ideas. I think the rulebook will be over 300 pages long so plenty to get excited about. GW are issuing movement trays that accomodate the individual round bases which is a good idea enabling folk with existing skirmish figures to easily build bigger units. For more info see the GW website.

 

17/02/09. 1/72 Scale Covered Supply Wagons. Following on from my entry of Feb 8th I have now completed about 20 of these wagons with their florists wire and paper covers. See the Gallery 72 Union and Rebels pages for more pics. I have also added a few other pics to these ACW pages plus one or two more pics (as below) in the Scenery and GB Nap sections.

 

I just have some more horses to paint to pull the wagons and that's it for ACW 1/72. I will then move on to the 1/32 scale projects outlined below. May also add some TSSD US GI's to this list. After that it's 1/72 Napoleonics and 28mm GW Lord of the Rings here I (eventually!) come.

09/02/09. ACW 1/72 Scale Siege Mortars, Heavy Rifled Guns and "Making Breastworks" Markers. As you can see from recent entries I have made more painting time of late.

 

 

I am in the closing stages now of finally finishing off my ACW armies. Once the supply wagons (see below) are all covered that should be it - until anything new worth painting is released that is! The latest completed pieces added to my collection are above - Italeri Union Siege Mortars and Heavy Parrot Rifles plus some "Making Breastworks" markers for both sides using coin based figures from the Revell CSA Pioneers set. To see additional images click here: More ACW Pics

08/02/09. 1/72 Scale Covered Supply Wagons.

 

For each of my wargames units I like to provide them with a supply wagon, use of which is incorporated into my rules. A problem I had was that the mainly Imex sets I use for these do not provide every wagon with a cover and I wanted them all with this feature. Having mulled the situation over for quite sometime I think I have now hit upon a solution I am happy with. This involves two simple materials - florist's wire and paper.

Having experimented to get the correct length the wire is clipped to size and carefully bent around a chunky round marker pen (any suitable object will do) to get the U shape. It is then firmly glued in place with SuperGlue as you can see in the picture above left. The cover is made from plain paper cut out having used a card template to get the right shape (see below). This is then glued to the frame. The back end will need to have cuts made in it to allow you to fold the edges to give a partly enclosed end. I will add more pics when the covers have all been cut out, stuck on the frames and painted.

A note on florist's wire - as the name suggests you can get this from flower and craft outlets. I originally bought it for flagpoles but found it is too easily bent for this use. However it has really come into it's own for this wagon project. It is also good for making a skeletal frame for Milliput / Green Stuff if sculpting your own figures.

Above Pic - Wagon Cover Templates

08/02/09. Italeri 1/32 Scale French Supply Wagon. I am in the closing straights with this set at present. Note the use of pegs / tweezers etc... to hold the figures whilst they are being painted. Where possible I cut nearly all the sprue away leaving just a pole joined to the figure. The driver, horses and wagon will be assembled and stuck on a road with the three infantry figures in greatcoats gathered round a campfire or similar at the roadside when completed - as is depicted on the box artwork pictured below. The base for this little diorama is MDF (medium density fibreboard) which has been cut to size and undercoated brown in it's early stages of completion. When finished this piece will be auctioned off on eBay.

 

Part-Painted Pieces                                               Undercoated MDF Base Board

Box Artwork

08/02/09 - ACW Panic Markers. Here are some coin based 1/72 scale figures I use as markers to indicate the panic status of units in my ACW wargames rules. The figures are painted up as a CSA Louisiana Tiger Zouave, two US Zouaves, a CS Infantryman and a Union Infantryman. Everytime a unit witnesses a friendly unit routing or destoyed more of these markers are attached to it increasing it's own chance of running away next time it's own morale is tested.

08/02/09 - 1/72 Scale Chevaux de Fris. Here's some examples of completed and work in progress scenic accessories. The completed pieces are from the Revell Confederate Pioneer set. The pieces in the bottom pic are from Esci, Italeri and Imex accessory sets. The process for these is usually: wash > assemble > SuperGlue to base > undercoat black > apply dark brown > apply lighter brown dry brushing > apply still lighter brown highlights especially to cut ends / spike tips etc...> apply sand to base > wash it with black ink wash and dry > apply hairy grass using pva glue > matt varnish.

29/01/09. Airfix - Waterloo Accessory Set. Having been too busy for much of the past couple of months I finally found the time to complete this set. Click here to view more pics: Accessory Set Pics

28/01/09. Film - "Valkyrie". I enjoyed this Holywood version of the true story of the last plot to assassinate Hitler. Tom Cruise has his detractors but he was a good lead here, ably backed up by a whole host of mainly British supporting actors.

22/01/09. Film - "Defiance". Went to see this WW2 movie yesterday. It depicts the Bielski Brothers resistance movement who survived and fought the Nazi occupation of Belarus. Generally I agree with most critics who give the view that it is not a bad film but it could have been a lot better. Off to see Valkyrie next week.

21/12/08 SEASONS GREETINGS!

I can't believe it's now only a few days until Christmas Day. In these tough economic times I am very glad to say I have been rushed off my feet with the online shop and hence haven't had the chance to "come up for air" and do other things like paint or update this site until now. So a good time to say thank you to all my customers and to wish them and visitors to this site a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

21/12/08 Sprue Pictures. I have set up three new web pages under the "Products" tab. These being 1/32, 1/72 and 28mm. I will use them to show more pictures of new (unpainted) figures than I do on my eBay listings.

For example here's the new Italeri 1/32 scale templars.

  

18/12/08 Perry Miniatures and Warlord Games. Following on from my earlier entry about Victrix I have now also added more 28mm hard plastic figures to my stock from these two producers. The figures are very good and the box art work is stunning as you can see below. If you have read my wargaming guide you will know in the interests of time, money and sanity I try and limit myself to 1/72 Napoleonic, 1/72 ACW and 28mm Lord of the Rings. May try and bend my own self imposed rules by using the Warlord Celtic Warriors for Tolkien's Balchoth / Wainrider type tribes.

   

18/12/08 Painting Bench. I am determined to give my painting area a good dusting and clean up over the Christmas period when I will have small break from packing parcels. Will then try as a new year resolution to do some painting most days if at all possible. I get withdrawl symptons when I don't paint for a few weeks and must do better in 2009! Not least because this site will become stale if I can't keep up a semi-regular flow of new pictures etc...

18/12/08 New Links - added to Links page.

www.britishbattles.com I was reading Julian Spilsbury's excellent book on the Crimea - The Thin Red Line and wanted more info on the Battle of Inkerman. So I Googled it and came across this informative site that "gives you the battles fought by Britain and its Empire forces from the 18th Century to the end of the 19th Century, illustrated and mapped."

www.colonialsoldier.com This is Stewart Tuckniss' site where he showcases his fantastic "strictly limited edition handmade wooden soldiers". I bought one from Stewart in 2002 and had him on display outside my old shop in Warwick. He was about 4 feet high and by day he had to be padlocked to the wall to prevent him being press-ganged (ie stolen!) and during the night taken inside to prevent worse and unmentionable things befalling him! He is now safely retired and keeps me company packing parcels.

27/11/08 Victrix. This company have just released some 28mm Napoleonic plastics that look good and I have stocked them in my eBay store. I am tempted to see what they are like painted up so may sneak a set for myself (perk of the job!)

  

27/11/08 Painting Bench - Due to festive season work committments only making slow progress with the items listed below in previous entries. Hope to finish them off around New Year and start 2009 with fresh projects. Business before pleasure and all that.

03/11/08 Painting Bench - Italeri Union cannons and Imex Civil supply wagons painted with first green coat (Vallejo Game Color Cayman Green #67). Union artillery crew - flesh applied (VGC #41 Dwarf Flesh). Airfix Waterloo accessories - black undercoat drybrushed with first brown coat (VGC #45 Charred Brown). Revell ACW pioneers and accessories also coming along.

I have come close to thinking I have finished my ACW armies on several occassions but then some idea or other crops up to delay completion again. The latest development being that I want each of my 12 stand units to have their own dedicated full accompaniment of markers. These comprising coin based disorder / breakthrough / low ammo / destroyed / hold / panic / making breastworks markers. Some totally unnecessary really and I certainly could make do with a shared pool of markers but I like doing markers so they get on the painting bench!

Add to that each infantry unit now has it's own artillery stand with limber / destroyed battery / damaged battery marker / low ammo marker. Plus supply wagon and team.

29/10/08 Drum & Flag Mousemats - In an attempt to pretend there is no economic downturn I decided to invest in a bit of promotional material! Click here to find out more: Mousemats

26/10/08 Italeri Bridge. Click following link for a couple of pics of the assembled and painted 1/72 Italeri bridge kit. Bridge Pics

26/10/08  Painting Bench. Waterloo accessories now undercoated. Italeri Union heavy artillery men and rifled cannons likewise. Also hope to upload a few more ACW gaming marker ideas - panic (running away figures) / making breastworks (pioneers with pick axes from Revell set) / hold (stacked muskets from the Revell Napoleonic British Artillery set). Should finish my ACW collection this year so I can start on Napoleonics and LOTR properly in 2009.

26/10/08 Exchange Rates. Only a few months ago the Pound:Dollar rate was 2:1. Today it's heading for 1.5:1 which is quite a fall in a quick space of time. Unfortunately and inevitably this means that some items sourced from outside the UK will be quite a bit more expensive for me to buy and therefore the prices in the store will have to rise too I am afraid. The only good news is that I bought in good quantities of many items before the rate fell off a cliff so you can still get some products at what are now the "old" lower prices whilst stocks last.

12/10/08. Airfix Battle of Waterloo Set. As a kid in the 1970's I remember receiving the Airfix Battle of Waterloo Assault Set as one of the best Christmas presents I ever had. Some 30 or more years later Airfix have repackaged it and re-released it including the farmhouse, all 9 sets of Napoleonic figures they produced, a diorama base, paints and...the legendary accessory set! And all for £29.99! Needless to say I had to have a set for my personal use and will be painting up the accessory sprue in the coming weeks and will post pics on this site as usual.

      

07/10/08. Have finished the Mortars - now for the crew and then onto the Heavy Rifled Artillery. Mortars were a bit fiddly to assemble but are pretty good models when all comes together. Mixing Vallejo Game Color black and gunmetal seemed to do the trick for the right colour paint. Should have painted the insides black as you can see the original blue plastic showing through. I would not want to be in the besieged Rebel trench lines when these guys open up! (Revell figure shown for scale).

  

04/10/08. Started painting some Italeri 1/72 scale Civil War Union siege mortars.

03/10/08. www.terragenesis.co.uk Latest link added to Links page. The site tags itself as "the place for model terrain" and you will see why when you visit.

28/09/08. Italeri 1/72 Confederates - Now finished and some pics uploaded in the Gallery 72 Rebel page. Click here to view: Italeri Confederates . Next on the agenda is to tidy up my Union units before moving on to some Napoleonic and Lord of the Rings projects.

19/09/08 New hobby guide added to Guides section. This is: A Guide to Basing Wargames Figures. Click here to view:  Basing Wargames Figures . I have used some of the Italeri 1/72 scale Confederates I have painted up to illustrate this guide. I just have to varnish the 100+ stands I have produced and then will be uploading photos into the Gallery 72 section of the site.

19/09/08 www.redskorpio.com.ar  Latest link added to Links  page. Redskorpio are a company located in Argentina dedicated to selling mainly 1/32 scale plastic toy soldiers made in Argentina by DSG from the molds provided by Britains and from DSG's own molds. Also sells other toy soldiers and collectibles too. They have hundreds of historically accurate flags for use with your figures.

19/09/08 Economic Downturn. I get asked quite a bit how the ongoing turmoil in the global financial markets will affect (my) business. The answer is I don't know for sure but it will certainly make currency exchange rates more volatile and encourage manufacturers to even more carefully consider their production and pricing strategies. Both these factors will manifest themselves in the quantity and price of new releases I guess. Beyond that I am cautiously optimistic - certainly for the majority of the products I sell. Why? Well....there cannot be many hobbies where the basic cost of products such as 1/72 and 1/32 plastics are still relatively low and yet the time they are enjoyed for is so lengthy. For example most boxes of 1/72 figures remain around £5 for 50 figures (ie just 10p each) and so if painted and then gamed with that initial investment will pay back handsomely in the form of hours and hours of pleasure. As many folk look to tighten their financial belts somewhat I think this aspect of the toy soldier / wargaming hobby at least is in good shape to weather any storm.

15/09/08 Runnymede. Despite having lived in Berks & Bucks all my life (with the exception of some good years in Amsterdam and Staffs) I had never been to nearby Runnymede. I put that right this weekend. The river, meadows and wooded hillside make it a lovely setting but the three memorials / monuments give it something more special. Firstly there is the JFK Memorial set on the wooded hillside up a flight of cobbled stones and a bit further along and lower down is the Magna Carta area celebrating the birth of modern democracy. The real unexpected highpoint (literally as well as figuratively) however for me after the long and steep climb up through the woods was the Airforces Memorial. As usual the site is beautifully maintained by the Commonwealth Wargraves Commission and is set on heights offering fabulous views over towards London. This magnificent and moving memorial complex commerorates the 20,000+ lost in WW2 in operations from bases in the UK and W. Europe. Fortunately we discovered there is a road leading up the other way so it's easy to get to if the walk is not for you. Find out more from the CWGC website: www.cwgc.org

15/09/08. New hobby guide added to Guides section. This is: Wargames Figures - A Storage Solution. Click her to view: Storage Solutions

12/09/08 Italeri 1/72 scale Confederates - may take a bit longer to complete than planned as loads of deliveries for the eBay store arrived this week. Have based them though which was fun - now need to add flag stands, apply sand, ink wash, flock and varnish. Bases are 3cm square plastic card. If you are new to this material it's easy to make these bases from A4 size sheets using a metal rule, scribe and craft knife. Much can be done by scoring and carefully bending to break rather than cutting all the way through which is harder work.

 

12/09/08 TSSD have recently released their new 1/32 scale plastic set #11 - WW2 Late War Elite German Troops. An interesting set with 2 mounted poses included. Available for sale in my eBay store. www.stores.ebay.co.uk/drumandflag  

08/09/08 Italeri 1/72 scale Confederates now all painted. This week will see them based, flocked and photographed for uploading here.

08/09/08 War Movies Guide updated. See Guides tab.

03/09/08 Conte have recently released their new plastic spartans. Great figures featuring a unique poseability meaning you can change the many poses Conte produce (23 spread over 9 packs) into an almost infiinite variety to suit yourself. Available for sale in my eBay store. www.stores.ebay.co.uk/drumandflag 

03/09/08 www.Astronomican.comComprehensive site for the Warhammer Community featuring news, articles, role playing, fiction, modelling & painting etc...Added to Links  page.

03/09/08 Book Just finished reading "The Terror" by Dan Simmons. Historical / horror novel about the ill-fated Franklin Expedition to find the fabled North West Passage. When I am not reading military history or Tolkien or Football I turn to Polar adventure - although must say can't think of anything I'd rather not do myself! "The Terror" weighs in at over 900 pages and is well worth the effort.

29/08/08 Painting Bench This week has seen much work on my 200 or so 1/72 Italeri Confederates and I hope to complete them, photo them and upload them pretty soonish.

29/08/08 Price Rises & Exchange Rates. Now may be a good time to pick up certain sets you have been watching for a while as for some product lines prices are likely to rise in the near future. This is for two reasons. Firstly several manufacturers have put their prices up or are about to soon. This is mainly because their costs have risen to a point where they have to pass at least some of the pain down the line. Some makers increase prices every year but others rarely do and it's the latter I am picking up on the radar. Secondly Sterling has been steady at around two US Dollars for quite some time but it is on it's way down and some analysts predict it is likely to fall to 1.7 or lower. Whilst this makes UK purchases cheaper for US customers it is not so good for UK customers as it means products of US origin are likely to have to rise even if some of the increase is absorbed by sellers such as Drum & Flag. Those in the Euro zone have had a good rate vs Sterling for months and this seems likely to continue for a while although this apparently may not be the case in the medium to long term (UK early to recognise economic downturn and maybe first to pick up compared to Continental Europe?). Generally I tend to filter rises in as I get new stock, rather than increase all affected stock at one time, so you may see similar products at old and new prices for a while until the older stock sells through. Obviously things can change quickly depending on all sorts of factors but this is how I see things as of now having made myself sit through a couple of business/economic tv programmes recently!

29/08/08 Favourite tunes keeping me company - and no doubt annoying the neighbours - whilst working away on the painting bench this month included: Santogold, The Music, Foo Fighters, Black Stone Cherry, Stone Gods and Journey. I saw the Foos at Wembley and Journey at Hammersmith earlier this summer and loved them both. I was also tempted to nip up the road to the Reading Festival for the first time in years having once upon a time been a serial attendee. Never made it but saw some good stuff on the TV. Audience were about half my age!

26/08/08 New link added. Soldatinionline  http://lnx.soldatinionline.it/index.php?lang=english

Italian 1/72 scale plastics site with Galleries, Forum, News etc.. Added to Links  page. 

18/08/08 Portuguese modeller Nuno M. Cabecadas has started a blog at http://soldadosminiatura.blogspot.com which will be of interest to hobbyists. It is in his native language but pictures are also shown of some of his excellent work. Added to Links  page. 

16/08/08 My experiment with using a container of brown ink wash worked well. These "magic baths" are a really easy way of shading figures quickly and effectively. I will now permanently keep it next to my long established black ink bath. If you fancy a go it's easy to make your own dip - just add a bottle or two of Vallejo ink to about half a pint to a pint of water, keep in a sealed tupperware container for easy dunking and hey presto you have your wash.

16/08/08 Despite it (supposedly) being high summer here in the UK and therefore quieter it has been really busy in the eBay shop. Great for business, less so for painting time but I am not complaining - many thanks to all my customers! It always interests me where folk are from and some of the locations recently have been far flung indeed with parcels sent off to destinations such as Reunion, The Falklands and Brunei.

16/08/08 Film guide updated with "Napoleon - An Epic Life" added. Films

11/08/08 Several painting projects were completed recently and I have uploaded pics accordingly. Italeri 1/72 Confederate Infantry wargames units should be the next lot to be posted in a few weeks time.

Odemars Hougoumont Buildings. See here for more pics: Scenery - Gallery 72

  

Zvezda Borodino Redoubt. See here for more pics: Scenery - Gallery 72

Barzso Robin Hood's men. See here for more pics: Anc & Med - Gallery 32

  

11/08/08 Two new sites added to Links  page. 

http://www.alwaysmodel.com/en/gallery_en.htm  . Bryan's Model store based in Taiwan. Sells lots of figures and kits and also features customer gallery etc...

http://pub19.bravenet.com/forum/1619281253  This is the HaT forum - all things 1/72 & 1/32 plastic

11/08/08 I am half way through watching A&E's 2003 "Napoleon" film / tv mini-series. Interesting enough so far and I will add more when all is viewed.

02/08/08 Film guide updated with Goya's Ghosts and Julius Caesar (2002) added. Films

31/07/08   http://www.treefrogtreasures.com/forum/index.php  added to Links  page. This is a great toy soldier forum if you want to read what fellow hobbyists have to say and have info of your own to contribute.

31/07/08 Painting progress has been slowed by 1.) a sunny day or two! 2.) a massive load of deliveries to be processed for the eBay shop.

27/07/08 www.plasticrush.com added to Links page. Similar to www.plasticsoldierreview.com. Interesting French site to visit for 1/72 plastic fans.

26/07/08. www.soldierssoldiers.com added to Links page. This is John Tunstill's comprehensive site covering lead & plastic soldiers, books, militaria, badges, medals, magazines and postcards.

26/07/08. Started painting some 1/72 Hougoumont buildings from Odemars. About 50% through the Barzso Robin Hood set and 25% through the Italeri Confederates. After only previously using a black ink wash solution I have added a container of brown ink wash to my painting desk and will see what this comes out like - I usually immerse the whole figure in these "magic baths" as opposed to applying the solution by brush.

18/07/08. Will start this week on painting some Barzso 1/32 Robin Hood figures and Italeri 1/72 Confederates.

18/07/08. Technical. It appears some pictures show up fine when I look at the site on my PC but not on anyones elses! Hopefully I have rectified this so that no blanks or crosses appear where a pic should be. Going forward if anybody spots any problems / gliches and is kind enough to take the time to let me know I can be emailed at rupert@drumandflag.com. I also hope to find out if it is possible using this website package to display small pics that load easily that can be clicked to enlarge.

18/07/08. Dragons finally completed. See LOTR Monsters page.

18/07/08. Mordor Drummer Troll added. See LOTR Monsters  page.

18/07/08. http://www.revistasprofesionales.com/principal.php?id_revista=24 Spanish wargames magazine also available in English: Wargames - Soliders & Strategy. I have found it in WH Smith this summer (2008). Added to links page.

18/07/08. Horse & Hound (!) Bizarre where this strange hobby leads you from time to time. I was sitting waiting for my Dad in the Doctor's surgery yesterday and picked up the nearest magazine to read. It being the country this happened to be Horse & Hound magazine which is not a publication I can say I have ever read before. To my growing interest I found it was packed with loads of pictures of all sorts and colours of horses (didn't see any hounds!) which are great reference material for painting the numerous equine mounts my figures require from time to time. Was community spirited enough (!) not to pocket the waiting room copy and eventually found the "horse" magazine section  in WH Smith and snapped up a copy. Won't ever need more than one I doubt and a bargain for just £2.30.

11/07/08. 1/32 Scenery  Customised Barzso Native American Longhouses and Battle of New Orleans 1815 Breastworks uploaded.

  

11/07/08. 1/72 ECW  A Call to Arms Royalist Artillery uploaded.

11/07/08.   LOTR Monsters Gulavhar "The Terror of Arnor" uploaded.

11/07/08. Games Workshop drummer troll has been assembled, undercoated and first two coats applied. Dragons should finally be completed and uploaded in a week or so all being well.

05/07/08. www.toycollector.com added to Links page. As name suggests a site for collectors of various kinds of toys.

03/07/08. Warhammer Historical - The Great War. I have just ordered a copy of these new WW1 rules as they looked interesting. As ever I shall most likely read them and then auction them off on eBay. They should be adaptable for 1/72 and 1/32 plastic figure gaming. For the former Emhar, HaT and Strelets provide a wealth of infantry, artillery, cavalry and tank sets and for the latter larger scale Emhar and Armies in Plastic offer some great figures and vehicles. I can see trench raids being planned in many a gamer's home!

03/07/08.  Battlefield tour links added to Links page. There are several UK firms offering battlefield tours at varied price points - all of which I am sure are good value for the money you pay. I have been on two organised by Leger which were excellent value and most interesting - these were the Somme in 2006 and the D-Day landings in 2005.

01/07/08. Barzso Indian Long Houses and Battle of New Orleans 1812 Breast Works. These are coming along nicely. I have now textured the replacement back ends of the long houses and built up with hard foam and filler the sides of the breast works. All then allowed to dry and coated with black undercoat. Next stage brown drybrushing and detailing. I have also decided to add some pointed stakes to the breast works to make them more formidable obstacles to storm!

27/06/08. Barzso Indian Long Houses and Battle of New Orleans 1812 Breast Works. I bought some of these excellent 1/32 scale scenic pieces to sell in their unpainted state in my eBay store. However upon receipt I realised that their length could make it tricky to conform to box size limits for some of the postal services I use. So I decided to cut them up, base them and paint them. The pics below illustrate current progress. I have stuck the cut up pieces to MDF base boards using Copydex glue which does the job well. The open ends of the now not so long Longhouses have been filled with cut to shape plastic building card - held in place by elastic bands which are a useful hobby tool in my experience. The breast works pieces need a good going over with filler. Next these terrain items will be undercoated black, painted, textured, matt varnished and sold off on eBay.

Barzso 1/32 Scale Indian Long Houses

 

Barzso 1/32 Scale Battle of New Orleans Breast Works

Entries deleted from this page after 1 year.

15/09/07. Drumandflag.com first uploaded!  

 

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