LHoffman's Painted Sculpts For Your Consideration

[LHoffman]

@Viracocha:

Cool Tiger… I’m going to start painting my tigs soon, I’ll try that scheme on one of them I think Hoff.

Yeah, didn’t turn out as well as the picture, but it’s a work in progress. Now that I have an airbrush, thanks to Paul’s convincing, I might be able to make the next ones better. Although, I feel like I am wasting my time if I paint something other than Wil’s juiced up Tigers.

As you may have noticed everyone, my project will be somewhat on hold as I am currently working on some units for Paul. However, I am glad for the chance to paint something with real meaning and refinement which turns into a finished product… plus I get to work methods out at the same time. It’s really a fun gig. There will be pictures posted here, on Paul’s thread and probably Wil’s too, so don’t fear. What with so many talented guys painting or modifying their sets we are not left wanting for new pictures.

[sgtwiltan]

Yeah, can’t wait to see what you do with them. Judging from your detail on ships, they might be hard to let go after you paint them.
Check out track link or missing-lynx for painting ideas. Of course you’ll have to translate them to 1/285th or 1/300th scale from the original 1/35 scale
models.

[LHoffman]

@sgtwiltan:

Yeah, can’t wait to see what you do with them. Judging from your detail on ships, they might be hard to let go after you paint them.
Check out track link or missing-lynx for painting ideas. Of course ou’ll have to translate them to 1/285th or 1/300th scale from the original 1/35 scale
models.

Thanks, I will do that. And hey, I know what the feeling is like about parting with your hard and satisfying work… so if you ever wanted to make some for yourself and send them to me, I would love to paint them for you. Unless of course you would enjoy painting them yourself, in which case I totally understand. But the offer stands regardless.

[Tall Paul]

Lucas,

––Wil just sent me, and I forwarded to you a pic of the AK Cargo Transport ship and Early-model Stuart Light Tank prototypes. Check 'em out as they’ll be headed you way, along with the more modern type of Stuarts before too long.

“Tall Paul”

[LHoffman]

@Tall:

Lucas,

––Wil just sent me, and I forwarded to you a pic of the AK Cargo Transport ship and Early-model Stuart Light Tank prototypes. Check 'em out as they’ll be headed you way, along with the more modern type of Stuarts before too long.

“Tall Paul”

Yes, I did see. It looks like fun and I will be waiting, if not quite ready to start.

[Tall Paul]

Lucas,

@LHoffman:

@Tall:

Lucas,
––Wil just sent me, and I forwarded to you a pic of the AK Cargo Transport ship and Early-model Stuart Light Tank prototypes. Check 'em out as they’ll be headed you way, along with the more modern type of Stuarts before too long.
“Tall Paul”

Yes, I did see. It looks like fun and I will be waiting, if not quite ready to start.

––Go “Team WARMACHINE” !

“Tall Paul”

[Spitfire38]

I seemed to have missed this thread in my absence from the forums. Great work, especially the ships!!! They look amazing man  :-o

[LHoffman]

Thanks Spitfire.

I have not added anything for a while because I am in the midst of a project for Tall Paul… some of the units may show up here eventually.

[LHoffman]

Here are some pics of Tall Paul’s sets to give you something to think about.

Battle on Guadalcanal with USMC F4Fs.

[LHoffman]

Early war F4F Wildcats (Midway).

All planes are numbered for men who were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

[LHoffman]

These are mostly, but not entirely, finished US Navy aircraft.

Paul is having (from L to R) 8 SBD Dauntlesses, 12 F4F Wildcats, 8 TBF Avengers and 8 F4U Corsairs.

There will be a mix of early war (with tail stripes and red dot in star) and mid-war planes. Plus some F4Fs as Marine Corps. fighters, as you have seen. (These do not have their final dull-coat varnish applied, so there is still a bit of a sheen coming off the decals. This mostly disappears after a spraying.)

[Tall Paul]

Lucas,

––Let me be the first (of many) to congratulate you on your EXCELLENT paint/decal work!  :-o 
––I’m so glad you posted some pics of these units you’ve done for me. I know your intent was only to share your work with the rest of us “crazies” as I know you to be a humble fellow,…but I truly think you deserve the recognition that your EXCELLENT talent deserves. I am certainly thankful to have you painting some “stuff” for me.  :-D

----The “gun smudges” on the Marine Wildcat’s wings are great! The same for the cockpit framing. And the exact plane numbers on the sides of the fuselages are fantastic! And the Red/White rudder strips turned out as well as I had hoped. Pat yourself on the back for a “job well done”!

“Tall Paul”

[Swedo]

Awesome work, as usual!

I have a question though, why do you have decals on both wings? Since everything else is historical accurate and very detailed, why did you add a decal on the right wing?

[Tall Paul]

Swedo & Others,

@Swedo:

Awesome work, as usual!

I have a question though, why do you have decals on both wings? Since everything else is historical accurate and very detailed, why did you add a decal on the right wing?

––As Lucas painted these for me, perhaps he’ll forgive me for answering this question.

I’m a passionate military historian. But A&A is a GAME, and IMHO sometimes historical accuracy might be trumped by game play factors,…such as making the identity of units more visible. My game board has been enlarged 150% to 48" x 108" and I believe a slight “adjustment” to historical accuracy is a small price to pay in order to enable a player to see & identify his units from 9 feet away if possible.
----Also, my 88-year old Dad, a WW2 vet, plays with us and I’m sure his veteran eyes appreciate all the help they can get.

----One thing is for certain:
Lucas certainly did a great job on these.

“Tall Paul”

[LHoffman]

@Swedo:

Awesome work, as usual!

I have a question though, why do you have decals on both wings? Since everything else is historical accurate and very detailed, why did you add a decal on the right wing?

Thanks Swedo (and Paul)… thought we would keep things going here since we do have some new stuff to show.

To answer your question: I put decals on both wings, first, because that was how Paul wanted them (customer gets what the customer wants) and, second, not all pictures I have seen of early war schemes have just 1 star on the wing. I have seen a number with 2 (such as those below). Markings were not always completely uniform in the service.

For A&A purposes it can also be easier and necessary to compromise some exact details for easy recognition during gameplay, or because the size of the piece will prohibit being completely true to real life.

As Paul said also, he plays the game with his dad (who is a WWII vet) and the easy recognition factor is important for him.

[Swedo]

I dont criticize, i was just curious. Now i know :) and i personally thinks it looks better with a roundel on both wings, i never understood why they only had it on one wing, anyone knows?

I guess its the same reason why some of you put stars on the wings of the soviet air units!

[LHoffman]

No problem… just letting you know.

[jluna1273]

Question:  where did you purchase those decals for the aircraft? Unless I missed them completely, I haven’t seen those on the I-94 Enterprises website.

[Tall Paul]

Jluna,

––The decals are from I-94Enterprises.
Set US-102 includes the Blue circle w/White Stars and Red “dots” that are separate but can be added.
Set US-138 includes the Red/White rudder stripes.
The letters and numbers were also I-94 sets although you didn’t ask about them.

––I happened to see your question and thought I’d save Lucas some time looking them up.
I think Lucas did a great job on these!  :-D

“Tall Paul”

[jluna1273]

Tall Paul,

Thanks for the info, specifically the set numbers. I must have just missed them, I will look again. And yes, I agree, he did an outstanding job on these.