More painting and Herculaneum

I’ve been fairly busy this week, with another holiday next week. Mainly though gradually improving my health. However, the painting is progressing fairly well.

First up I have finally painted my first unit of Japanese Samurai/Ashigaru, these are all Perry figures and were quicker than I expected to paint 

Steve gifted me a few extra 15mm bits recently and I have painted these up for North Africa

Some extra Sherman’s

Panzerjager and anti aircraft gun or simple paint schemes

Finally and perhaps my favourite this week a unit of French Carabiniers, Perry plastics painted in their slightly earlier 1810 uniforms 

A rare shot of the sunshine in the Lake District this afternoon.

Finally some more shots from our recent holiday as well as Pompeii of course Vesuvius in 79AD destroyed the smaller town of Herculaneum 

A shot over the preserved town as it is today, the current ground level is shown in the background and the whole of Herculaneum has been excavated below this level, buried as it was in about 8 metres of volcanic rock. Part of the difference between the two famous sites was their preservation due to the type of volcanic rock they were buried by, this means the preservation at Herculaneum was because it wasn’t impacted by volcanic ash.

The site is famous for the level of preservation with lots of wooden items and structures such as the screen above, one of the things you don’t get from other sites is perhaps just how crowded with stuff Roman houses would have been

Also plenty of preserved roadside advertising signs this one outside a shop I think

Like Pompeii lots of shops selling food 

Plenty of mosaics preserved

Herculaneum is very famous for its bath house , but sadly it is currently closed to visitors whilst they work out how to balance tourism with preservation ? The shop above was taken through the locked door 🙂

The site also has many buildings which are preserved to a second or third story and again plenty of garish decorations on show 

I won’t go through the history of excavation at the site which is in itself very interesting, but for a long time they didn’t find any bodies thinking that the majority of the occupants had perhaps escaped, more recent excavations in the area closest to the waterfront at the time found this was the final resting place of many of the occupants of the town.

Another of the well preserved interiors, as I mentioned with Pompeii I have increasing sense that the Romans would have liked Disneyland rather than elegant white marble.

Thanks as always for checking in, I’m away on holiday again next week some I’m not likely to post much 

Matt 👍

Portuguese Cacadores and another Sherman (plus Pompeii)

This weeks painting update 😀

First up a unit of Portuguese light infantry, Cacadores can’t really do the Peninsular without these, seems hard to find a consistent uniform as they are shown in many different variations, in fact every publication seems to show them slightly differently ? Anyway this seems pretty standard approach, they are Perry figures with the base on their left being Atiradores armed with rifles. I think I also have another small unit to complete in the future.

Another addition to the Sicilian collection a second Sherman, a Warlord Resin kit picked up off eBay 

Finally a couple more wound markers with some ‘fake’ Russians

And as promised some more Roman stuff from our recent holiday, a few photos from Pompeii fairly easily accessible from Naples by train unless there is an unexpected train strike on the day you have booked to go ! Despite these challenges we got to the site pretty early before the mid-day crowds. It is a pretty impressive site, still undergoing excavation. There are also fairly random and irregular sections of the site closed off to the public ?

One of the many paved roads running towards Vesuvius in the background

One of the roadside fountains

Wonderful stucco interiors preserved 

Pompeii famous for the casts of many of the unfortunate inhabitants caught by the eruption back in 79AD

A bakery

Many beautiful painted interiors, perhaps one of the most famous being the House of the Mysteries

It is breathtaking 

But it is not the only painted interior, in fact you get the sense that the Romans pretty much painted every surface of their buildings both inside and outside, rather than delicate white marble I sense they preferred a gaudy Blackpool or Disney land approach

Some of the frescos are fantastically detailed

Mosaics a plenty including several warning guard dogs

Roadside shops on nearly every corner, for those that rent aware each hole in the surface actually represents a large earthen jar buried into the counter containing liquids or perhaps olives etc…

And finally a shot outside the Amphitheatre, the town council kept the area clear of traffic and shops if you imagine the tourists in togas it might be very similar to the view back in 79 before the eruption.

We actually spent the entire day at Pompeii so this is just a snapshot of what is a very large site, one day I might well return for another visit ?

More holiday shots to come next time and perhaps some more painting as I wait to feel a bit better.

Thanks Matt 😀

American Paratroopers WW2 and some Roman Stuff

Hot on the heals of the Imperial Guard are some American Paratroopers. One of my plans for this year was to expand my Sicily / Italy WW2 collection so to supplement the existing Americans I picked up some second hand warlord plastic Paratroopers. I had few spare bits as well and managed for a very modest cost to make them into three 10 man squads. 

Each one has a BAR, a sub machine gun and a squad leader with a carbine.

Took a while to find the right colour scheme as I wanted them to be different to the other US troops I have.

The Stars and Stripes flags are actually cut down from some old flames of war transfers I had, unfortunately I only had enough for about 2/3rds of the figures, you can’t really see it but I have painted a very rough 82nd Airbourne badge on their left arm as well.

The whole group together…..😀

So the next bit of our Naples trip, there are plenty of Roman remains other than Pompeii and Herculaneum. We had a couple of trips to the north of the Bay of Naples to the small towns of Baia and Pozzuoli (visited by the Giro this year the day after we left Italy)

Much less visited than the other tourist hotspots but some fantastic history for those interested in the Romans an entire complex hillside settlement which is made up of ‘sea view’ posh villas, a small theatre, baths etc….

and a wonderful Temple potentially inaccurately named the temple of Mercury

I had little expectation of the Amphitheatre in Pozzuoli but it turned out to be magnificent. It was once about twice the height of what remains in the photo above, and is currently undergoing extensive excavation and development with the building of a new museum

But what makes it worth the visit is the extensive underground structures which all remain in place. It was reputedly the third largest Amphitheatre in world ? Seating upto 30-40 thousand spectators. The photo above shows the skylights through which animals etc were lifted into the main arena using ropes/pullies etc….

Next up the tourist fleshpots of Pompeii and Herculaneum that is when I have completed some more painting 😀

Thanks as always for popping by….Matt