First Painting post - but its not my work!

I am an infrequent painter as I am my own biggest critic.  What I see from other gamers is the standard I want now, without the trials & tribulations of trying out different techniques & developing my own preferred style of painting.  I understand that this takes time but in my mind I want that now.  Yes, I know that is a childish view but that is something that hasn't changed over the years.  However, with my son now just turning 8 he has shown an interest in painting so I intend to change & make it a learning journey with him.  He has a love of tanks and what 8 year old boy doesn't.  We have made a few which I have spray-painted for him but these have been fairly basic and he now wants to paint his own.  I normally buy Armourfast tanks for him as they are quick to build with minimal parts which he can easily assemble in a short session.  Also, as they are relatively cheap with two tanks to a box it doesn't matter if any mistakes are made and we have to start again with another model.  The Armourfast range is fairly extensive giving us a good selection of tanks to choose from.  They aren't something I would use in my games as I find them a little large compared to other manufacturers and do not fit with what I already have.

The pictures here are his first attempts at painting models.  I had undercoated them white & then base coated them German dunkel-gelb to get him started and left the rest up to him.  He took some inspiration from pictures I found on the internet for the stripey Jagd-Panther and came up with the other one himself.   The tracks still need painting which we will do next time we paint together.  All in all, for a first attempt, I think he did a pretty good job. 

The Man Cave takes shape

I have a room down in the cellar of our home in Germany.  Since moving here in the summer there have been a number of other tasks which have taken priority, & problems with the floor in one room which we needed to get sorted, but over the winter I found/made the time to begin work on what is to become my haven from soaps and reality programmes that the DCOS/LHG chooses to watch.  The room is a good size & has another room leading from it which will be used to store all of my goodies.  I have fitted an L-shaped work surface by re-purposing an old kitchen work-top, & put up some shelves along one wall.  Along with the shelves there is one full height cupboard and a smaller one to hold my projects, whether in progress or waiting to be started - of whch there are quite a few!  

My airbrush & an extractor sit on one end of the work bench with my painting area beside that.  There are 2 chairs in the room to provide myself & my 8 year old son somewhere to make & paint whatever takes our fancy.


A cable has been ran inside from our satellite dish to provide me a feed for a TV which also give me the opportunity to play DVD's while hiding in the sanctuary.  An X-Box 360 is there to provide the ability to play these DVD's & 'kill stuff' while I shoot up the world on a game or 3.

I hope to get some additional power sockets installed & improve the lighting at some point in the not too distant future.  But as the house does not belong to us we have to get permission which may take time if we get it at all. 

The back room has sufficient shelving in place to store all of my wargaming figures & models along with my stash of un-made models.  I intend to put a table in here to give me somewhere to game with my son.