Morphean Highlanders WIP and a few painting WIPs

I shall get this out of the way first: my laptop fucking sucks!! I really hope that if I get this apprenticeship (for lack of a better phrase for it. It's complicated) then I can save up money to buy a new one. 

Anyway, between job searching, the lack of money from being jobless and the general feelings of not being good enough to have anything good happen (thank you, anxiety and stress), I have not been as productive as I would have liked, but over the last few months, I have had sporadic moments where I've been able to accomplish things. Some things.

First up: We have the a group shot of the Imperial Space Marine model, painted in the colours of the Raptors chapter, on the left, the sergeant for my first squad of Morphean Highlanders, with torso, legs, head and sword from Victoria Miniatures, while the laspistol is from the Forge World Cadian respirator upgrade kit, and the trooper on the right with the legs and bayonet from Victoria Miniatures (again) and the torso and arms from the vanilla Cadian Shock Troopers kit and the head and backpack from (again) the Forge World Cadian respirator upgrade kit. 

As of now (September 5th), I have painted two more models for my Morphean Highlanders, one carrying the vox-caster and a normal Guardsman. It is a pain when you try and paint tartan but put the wrong colour for the stripes first. So... blegh.

 Next up is my retinue for Lion Rampant, made from the Perry Miniatures 15th century Mercenaries box and the Mounted Men-At-Arms box.
The composition is as follows:

• 6 Mounted Men-At-Arms, with my leader (6 points)
• 6 Men-At-Arms (6 points)
• 12 Foot Serjeants (4 points)
• 6 Handgonnes, the official rules of which are included in Wargames Illustrated issue 330 on page 62 (4 points)
• 12 Crossbowmen (4 points)

So 24 points overall. Still yet to play a game with them though. Plus, since the date of this photo being taken, I have started painting them.

And lastly, we have the best example ever of me pulling my thumb out of my arse: I have put the greenstuff for the plaids on my Morphean Highlands. After sitting for almost half a year half done on my desk. The ones at the bottom are for my first infantry squad while the one sitting in the pin vice is for my Heavy Weapons team. He'll be the loader for the heavy bolter since, if you can't see it clearly, in his left hand, he's carrying an ammunition box.

The soldiers are, once again made from a mix of parts from Victoria Miniatures (the legs, weapon barrels (curse me desire to have a unique force) and heads), Anvil Industries (weapon sights), Secret Weapon Miniatures (the backpacks) and Games Workshop and Forge World.

Expensive for one squad, I know. But goddamnit if I don't want them to look great in the end.

So goodbye until next time.

Trip to London Photoset 2 of 2

As promised, here's the second photoset of my trip to London in May. And here is where the bad quality photos are shown. And believe, these ones were the better of the photos I took.

 British 25-pounder howitzer, in desert colours as used by the British 8th Army during the North Africa Campaign

 Various WW2 Russian infantry weapons, with PPSH-41 varieties (top), scoped Mosin-Nagant (middle) and SG-43 Goryunov medium machine gun (bottom) 

 Sherman tank

 Katanas surrendered to Royal Navy officers by Imperial Japanese Army officers. Only the middle sword is an authentic katana, the rest are copies

 German Flak 88mm

 Nose art from the Royal Australian Air Force Avro Lancaster heavy bomber 'Old Fred'

 One of the casings of the Little Boy atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima

 British Ferret armoured car in United Nations livery (or "just fucking shoot me" paint job)

 Humber Pig armoured car as used by both British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary during The Troubles

 German built twin-linked BOFORS anti-aircraft gun (I think)

 Soviet built T-34 tank (again)

 One of the gargoyles, in the shape of a tiger, on the roof of the Natural History Museum of London

 (Not sure if it's really clear) Another gargoyle of the Natural History Museum, this time in the shape of a pterodactyl 

 The reproduction diplodocus skeleton in the foyer of the Natural History Museum

 The animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex in the dinosaur wing of the Natural History Museum

 Model of a megalosaurus (or possibly allosaurus) head

 Reproduction of an allosaurus skeleton (I am positive that's what it is. I really should have made notes)

 Reproduction of an iguanadon skeleton

Animatronic models of a pair of deinonychus

 Reproduction of a skeleton of a camarasaurus

 Taxidermy model of an American Brown Bear

 Taxidermy model of a red panda (my favourite animal)

 Memorial to Frederick Selous (1851 - 1917), who contributed many exhibits of animals to the museum

 Plesiosaur skeleton, as discovered by Mary Anning (1799 - 1847)

Statue of King George V (1865 - 1936) in Old Palace Yard, Westminster

So that's all the photos. Hoped you enjoyed them. I'd have taken more, but as I said, my old camera is complete crap and these were the most salvageable ones.

Trip to London Photoset 1 of 2

So earlier this year, May 10th to be exact, I went with my father down to London. He had to go because of a job interview with the police, and he took me along because... well, he thought it'd be a nice gesture, which it was. During the trip, I took my camera with me and, regretfully, I forgot to upload the photos on to my laptop.
Until now.
Now, I did originally try to put these photos on to my Tumblr blog but, well, it's the same issue with the Rhodesian Brushstroke camouflage tutorial I made: Tumblr just refuses to let me post photos. So I'm doing them here instead. Now, I've got 50 pictures, so I'll be splitting the photos up in to two groups, and since they were done on my old camera, the quality will be a bit... well, crap.
Captions will be included at the bottom of the photo (or pair of photos) but don't expect a truly accurate caption.

  A dreary morning over the Thames, with Westminster and Big Ben to the left and the London Eye to the right.

 The 15-inch guns from HMS Ramillies (closest) and HMS Roberts (furthest)

 Harrier VTOL jet (top), V2 Rocket (right) and Supermarine Spitfire (bottom)

 WW1-era British Army Field Gun

 V-1 and V-2 rockets

 Soviet built T-34 tank

 Scale model of a WW1-era battleship (possibly British or German, can't remember which)

 German Uhlan's (I think) uniform at the outbreak of WW1

French Infantryman's uniform at the outbreak of WW1

 French 75mm Field Gun, WW1

 Various types of grenades, mortars and close combat weapons used by British and German forces for trench raids during WW1

 German trench mortar

 (From left to right) German, French and British attempts at body armour along with modifications to allow observers to watch No-Man's Land safely from the trenches (above)

 Royal Navy cannon used during Gallipoli landings

 Uniforms worn by Axis forces in the Middle East during mid-WW1. (left to right) Possible Austrian/German infantry uniform, French infantry uniform, Turkish officer's uniform

 "The rifle that armed an empire." The Short -Magazine Lee Enfield (SMLE), various makes with bayonets

 Artillery howitzer, possibly either British or German

 Captured German weapons and equipment

The bottom front of a Mark IV 'Male' tank. Just behind it is the tail of a (possible) Sopwith Camel biplane.

 Rear view of Mark IV 'Male' tank

 British built variant of the Maxim machine gun, the Vickers

 British weapons of WW1: (from top down) SMLE with rifle grenade cup, SMLE with bayonet, Lewis light machine gun, ammunition pouches, Mills bombs hand grenades.

 Uniforms and equipment of German Stormtrooper (sturmtreppen). At the bottom is man portable version of MG 08 and to the right is the fuel cannister for a flamethrower.

Late war uniforms: (left to right) American infantry, British infantry, French infantry.