Final Painting of 2012

Yesterday I completed a small batch of disparate figures that had been sitting around my painting desk for far too long.

First some Miniature Figurines American Revolutionary War figures:

An American general, using the MiniFig General Washington figure, painted from scratch.





And a Hessian general, using the same figure.  This was a repaint of a previously painted figure that I purchased.



New figures for Bland's Dragoons (American).  I previously had inherited a unit of nine of these from my friend Doc Ord.  With the acquisition of three more, they are now part of a six stand regiment.  The newly painted figures are the officer on the front stand and two of the four figures on the back stands plus three of those four horses.  I think I did a fairly decent job of matching Doc's paint job.

And the whole regiment together.  They will be used to help oppose my British cavalry - 17th Light Dragoons, Queen's Rangers, and the Loyalist York Dragoons (an "made-up" designation).

An Old Glory Darkest Africa figure:

This is the leader from the Old Glory bearers set.  I needed a senior leader for my Zanzabari units and he seemed to fit the bill perfectly.  He is a slightly taller figure than the rest of my Zanzabari so he'll stand out as their leader.



My Chinese Back of Beyond forces needed some additional leaders so I added the Pulp Figures PYG-14 Chun King warlord command pack.

The warlord in the center and the standard bearer will lead the entire Chinese force.  The two figures on each end will join one of his warlord infantry units to replace some leader figures who are getting promoted.  The bald-headed guy in khaki will lead my German uniformed Chinese forces.  He's armed with a submachinegun and looks rather nasty so he'll be a good guy to keep them in check.  The basing details correspond to the units that are already done to which these guys will be added.

And my early 20th Century "Pulp" forces got some additional stalwarts to increase the strength of the "Knights of the Cresent Moon."



Three Tommy Gun toting "Knights" from the Brigade Games line of figures.  They'll join the ones I already have painted.



To make a fairly heavily armed band to help protect the treasures of the Near East from those ravenous "tomb raiders" who plague that part of the world.



And finally, Bob Murch's Pulp Figures of "The Sergeants Three and Gunga Din."

Those three brave and rogueish sergeants plus the bugle tooting Gunga Din.  The bases aren't completed yet but they are ready for adventures.



Ice Halo around Moon

This evening as my daughters left to return to their house, we noticed that the moon had a huge ice halo around it.  It is the biggest halo that I have ever seen.  The halo was wider that my outstretched hand from the end of my thumb to the end of my little finger (about 9") at arm's length.  It truly was a magnificent sight.

I have taken a picture of it but my camera's field of view wasn't wide enough to catch the halo is all its glory.  But here it is for your viewing pleasure.

The halo ring is out at the margins and corners of the picture.  There was a smaller ring much closer to the moon.  The dark splotches in the lower right corner are the upper branches of a huge oak tree in my yard.

The picture was taken about 9:00 pm CDT using an Olympus SP-320 digital camera with the night scene setting from my driveway in Jackson, Mississippi.

New Additions to Possum Ridge

It has been too long since I posted here.  So in light of the Christmas season, here are some of the new additions to the imaginary town of Possum Ridge, Mississippi, which is an O-scale railroad layout and town constructed every Christmas at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, where I work.

Previous posts about Possum Ridge can be found at "Christmas 2011 at the Barracks" and "Trains on Christmas Day" on this blog.

The biggest addition is a crop dusting airstrip and plane.  Crop dusting was (and still is) used extensively in the Mississippi Delta for insect control.  For many years it was the only way to control the deadly cotton boll weevil which was devastating our cotton crops.

A new piece of motive power for the railroad is this Shay engine.  It provides the sawmill in town with freshly cut timber from the surrounding forests.

And you can't have a railroad without a hobo camp.  This one is located very close to the area's still!  The hobos know where the "good stuff" is.

One of my donations to the collection was a Model T Coca Cola delivery van.  Here he is making a delivery to Osborne's country store.  The van is a Matchbox Model of Yesteryear vehicle and was excess to my needs.  I decided it would be a great addition to Possum Ridge.

And the final addition is another delivery vehicle that I donated, a Carnation milk truck, which has just made a large delivery to Luna's Coffee Shop.

All here at Col Campbell's Barracks wish everyone a

very merry Christmas

and a

happy and prosperous New Year!