Another Slippery Slope

Matchbox M16 (2)

2012-05-26T19:33:00.001-07:00

Tonight was the Eurovision Song contest. Surely a great excuse to do something else, so I got down to work on the M16.

Assembly was pretty straightforward, with everything fitting together pretty well. First job was assembling the chassis. The only 'challenging' bit was the vinyl tracks, which of course won't stick together for anything! Fortunately they were sized well, and hold in place pretty much under their own tension.

Next up was the Quad .50 mount. Bit tricky as pretty much all the parts need to go together at once! This was one of those jobs where tentacles might have been more useful: at one point I think I was trying to hold five different pieces in place to glue them, all of which wanted to point in different (but wrong) directions.

The hull was then pretty straightforward and has some nice details, like all the spare ammo cans in the rear. I added a driver, one of the spare crew from the Hasegawa Jeep (poor lad had to be chopped off at the knees to fit though), before putting the front screen on.

Next up, adding details like stowage, followed by decals and painting.

Matchbox M16 (1)

2012-05-22T16:58:00.001-07:00

Generally I've been posting completed models recently. As a bit of a change I thought I'd do some posts following a single project through.

Next up for attention is an old Matchbox kit, and M16 Half Track. As I've mentioned before, I have a particular soft spot for this kit, as I made one whilst still at school. At a time when I was mostly building model aeroplanes (and mostly getting bored and not finishing them), this was one of the few ground vehicles I made (the other being a Leopard 1), and one of the first I completed without help from either my Dad or Grandad (the other two prolific model botherers in the family!). It later go repainted and converted to be used in GW's Dark Future road wars game and after that, who knows? I picked up this kit from ebay, the box is a bit tattered, but otherwise everything is in perfect order.

First up, the box art...

I like how matchbox boxed their kits. You could see a bit of it, there was a nice clear drawing of how it should look assembled, and the box artwork was always top notch.

First job, after clearing away any flash (absolutely minimal with these kits, despite their age), was a quick spray with Flames of War, US Armour. This gives me a good base to work from, as well as getting the main colour on and making sure it gets into the nooks and crannies I wouldn't be able to paint with a brush once assembled. Small details get picked out as required, in this case the tyres (vallejo grey-black), small metal parts (MG's, winch), seats (FoW Khaki) and the gunner (FoW russian uniform for fatigues, Brown Violet for helmet, and GW Tallarn Flesh, all washed with Devlan Mud)

Assembly comes next. I am not looking forward to sorting out those vinyl tracks...

I'm going to take a bit more care and attention with this one, compared to some of my recent builds, So expect it to end up with some extra details like added stowage and crew (those spares from the Hasegawa Jeep are likely to find a use here).

Until next time...

Jeepers (scale) Creepers

2012-05-16T00:47:00.002-07:00

First off, apologies for the awful pun in the title of this post, I couldn't help myself.

Having just finished one jeep from the matchbox/revell 17 pounder kit, I couldn't resist trying another one. This time the Hasegawa Jeep and 37mm gun (which I haven't built yet). It's a fairly basic kit, not strong on detail, but it was very quick to assemble (one evening, not including spray painting the base coat on the sprues) and gives a nice result, ideal for wargaming, it feels pretty robust.

The kit also comes with the 37mm anti-tank gun that was used by US forces early in the war (but quickly replaced with a version of the British 6 pounder) and a trailer with lots of spare jerry cans etc. Another nice feature of the kit is it comes with 8 'crew'. There are only 3 poses (drivers, an officer/NCO with binoculars and someone either signaling or waving in a somewhat camp manner...) and they're pretty simple sculpts. However they paint up OK (as the driver in the above photo attests) and will be useful for all those kits that don't include drivers, crew etc. I added a passenger to this one from the HaT US Tank Riders set as well, just for completeness.

Which leads me on to questions of scale. The trouble with using '20mm' kits for gaming is the weird split in standards between 1:72 and 1:76 (made even worse by certain companies that describe one as the other). The two jeeps I've just completed are a great example of the issue, with the the Revell one clearly being 1:76 (and apparently driven by a midget, even if allowance is made for rationing in the UK!), and the Hasegawa 1:72. Here are some comparison shots to show what I mean.

At least it won't be a problem with these two, as they're unlikely to be put on the table at the same time, but it means that units of the same vehicle need to be carefully planned out. It will be interesting to see how the matchbox M16 I'll probably build next compares with its Italeri M3 cousins.

17 pounder (and chips)

2012-05-13T16:46:00.001-07:00

The QF 17 pounder anti-tank gun that goes with the Morris Truck is now complete.

This was a (now out of production) Revell kit, but originally from Matchbox, so it goes back a few years. That said, it's still an excellent kit, well cast, easy to assemble, but still surprisingly detailed. In particular there's an impressive amount of detail around the breach, including aiming wheels and cocking handle (if that's the right term).

I only have two criticisms. One is that the spades on the ends of the trail are designed in such a way that you can only assemble them in the 'travel' position, on top of the trail, although as the kit is intended to be built as towed, this is understandable. The other is that the peg on the underside of the gun, which allows the gun to traverse on the carriage, is a bit weak (I've broken it twice since assembling it last night). If you don't mind not being able to traverse the gun, I'd suggest gluing it firmly in place on the carriage, it'll look absolutely fine and should be solid as a rock.

When put next to something for scale, like the jeep that also came with the kit, you can see it was a bit of a beast of a gun! I'd meant to take a photo of it next to the Airfix 6 pounder for comparison, maybe later...

Like many Matchbox kits of the era, this also came with a scenic base, in this case the front of a destroyed boulangerie. With a bit of work I hope to turn it into a scenery piece. A project for another day...

More Brits and Unlucky Stars

2012-05-12T16:24:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update. I've pretty much finished a Jeep and Morris Tractor for the Brits. Both from a Revell (formerly matchbox) kit. As the Morris Tractor was used to pull the QF 17lb AT Gun, I'll give you only one guess as to what I'm working on now...

These were a joy to build, light years better than the awful Airfix Bren Carrier and 6lb gun. These two went together really well, parts fitted with minimal trimming, instructions were clear, and they're nicely detailed. The Morris kit includes Lee Enfields and a Bren for the gun crew, stashed in the trailer. The gun crew are a bit disappointing though, there aren't any...

The other major annoyance with these models has been the decals, and in particular the allied stars. The rings around them mean they come with a lot of spare decal space, and generally they seem to be pretty big (I guess they'd be rather useless for air recognition otherwise). The resulting problem is that they often want to sit right across bits of raised detail, particularly on tank roof and bonnets and never settle neatly around them, so you end up with shiny and unsightly bulges of decal instead of nice, crisp, highlighted details. If anyone can suggest a way around this I'm listening, especially as I have an M16 half track to do soon, which features a socking great big star right across the bonnet.

Updates and Additions

2012-04-23T15:01:00.001-07:00

First, some progress with some of those recent plastic kit acquisitions.

Here's the Airfix 6lb anti-tank gun and Universal Carrier, painted but awaiting decals and detailing. I've added a couple of HaT tank riders for scale. Not the most pleasurable kit to build, the AT gun is fiddly, lacks detail and feels very fragile. The carrier is mostly OK, some parts needed trimming and shoving to fit but I think it looks acceptable. I've not finished the crew yet, a couple need head swaps, one won't get used at all, and just wait until you see the shell that one of them thinks he's going to shove into that teeny tiny breach...

Also in the top photo is the Matchbox Daimler Dingo from the Monty's Caravan set. This was a much better build, nicely detailed and all the parts fitted pretty well. The only problem was the brittleness of the plastic which meant I broke a couple of the wheel suspension units cutting them from the sprue. They still fitted and aren't obvious, so I can live with that. Not started assembling the Leyland Truck yet, may leave that for a bit.

Other than building, I seem to have been on a bit of a buying spree (only genuine bargains of course...). Over the last couple of weeks I've picked up the following kits:

Revell (formerly matchbox) 17 pounder anti-tank gun with Morris tractor and jeep. This looks a nice kit which I'm looking forward to building. It also come with a nice diorama base of a bombed out building that will become scenery with a little work.

Hasegawa Jeep and 37mm anti-tank gun. Along with the above Revell kit, helping to solve my lack of jeeps. It's a basic looking kit, and i'm not sure I'll be using the gun much, but looks like it will go together well enough. Some handy crew for the gun, although with some 'interesting' poses...

Matchbox M16 Half-Track. I'm particularly pleased to have got hold of this kit. The matchbox M16 was one of the first kits I assembled completely on my own as a kid. If I remember it later got converted to be used in games of GW's Dark Future and who knows where it ended up after that!

And finally...

Trading off cash for time and effort, a nice little pre-painted diecast M8 armoured car. It was only a couple of quid more expensive than most of the kits that are out there, and didn't need assembling, so there we go! Shown with a GI from the Caesar US Infantry set 1.

Who needs some Russians?

2012-04-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

I've recently acquired some russian infantry armed with Panzerfsusts, machine guns and pistols, thanks to the slightly bizarre mix of models in Italeri's Anti-Tank teams set. As I have don't currently collect anything for the eastern front, and have no immediate plans to start, I have no use for them whatsoever.

Here's what they look like (apologies to Plastic Soldier Review)

So... Who would like them?

As there are two sprues in the box, I'm going to say that up to next Friday (13th April), I'll split them between the first two people who express an interest by commenting on this post, otherwise it will be first come, first served.

Now come on. how often to you get an offer like that... :-)

It's alright lads, help's on the way!

2012-04-08T10:56:00.000-07:00

It's been an odd few weeks, gaming and modelling-wise. Family were coming up to visit this weekend, which has meant a concerted effort to make the spare room habitable. We've left off decorating the room for some time, as it's had a bit of a damp problem from next door's leaky shower; however it looks like their landlord is finally sorting things out after some thinly veiled threats about involving Environmental Health. Whilst it's nice to gain a spare room again, it has meant some serious thinking about all of my gaming stuff, which has been stored in there. The agreement with 'er indoors (or, my lovely and very understanding wife, Melissa) was that I could keep out a handful of projects I was actively working on and the rest would have to go into 'deep' storage in the attic. After some consideration I decided that I'd keep out the WWII Normandy stuff (which takes up little room anyway, being 1/72 scale), and a handful of models that I fancy painting for the sheer pleasure (my collection of 'C' series ogres by GW, the 'old school' Imperial Guard and a few other odds and ends. This does mean my Warhammer and AI armies have gone into storage for now but, as my main opponent for these, Matt, has b*****ed off to Japan to teach English or a while (Hi Matt, hope all is going well!) they wouldn't be getting much use anyway.

So, on to current projects:

Thanks to a possibly ill-advised trip to a model shop in Derby while Mel was out with her old school friends, and a bit of ebaying, my Brits have some reinforcements on the way. First up is some much needed anti-tank support in the form of an Airfix 6lb gun and carrier.

Although the 17lb gun (the same one used on the Sherman Firefly) was more effective, the 6lb was still widely used throughout the war, being lighter and more maneuverable (and was the main armament on most Cromwell and Churchill tanks). It was also adopted by the US as the 57mm gun, so this model can do double duty with my US forces. The kit is a little on the small side, being in Airfix's typical 1/76 scale, but not worryingly so. It's a pretty basic kit, but nicely moulded generally; the crew are pretty awful though, so are likely to be replaced with some of the leftover models from the Hat Mortars and Heavy weapons sets I have.

Next up, arriving from ebay just yesterday, we have a Daimler Dingo scout car and Leyland Truck from the venerable matchbox 'Monty's Caravan' set (later re-issued by Revell, but out of production now I believe).

Dingo's seem to be really tricky to find in this scale, unless you want to go metal or resin (which for some illogical reason, I'm trying to avoid unless I have to, can't explain why!), and I need at least one for either command or scouting duties in KGN. The Leyland, although configured as a command vehicle, will fill in nicely for all kinds of command/control/supply/objective duties as needed if I don't look too closely and squint while doing so (Airfix make a nice pair of bedfords that might get added some time).

Also arriving from the reserves is Italeri's Anti-tank teams set.

For some reason, none of my sets of German Infantry included any panzerfausts, which this set has four of. It also gives me access to a US mortar and browning .30cal, albeit airborne, but with a decent paintjob this shouldn't be too noticeable. The British Infantry in the set are also airborne, but I already have PIATs so don't need them immediately (but will hang on to them as I fancy doing a small force of paras at some point). There's also four soviets per sprue that I have no practical use for , more on them anon...

More of the Old Guard

2012-03-11T03:20:00.001-07:00

A few more vintage Imperial Army painted up. Still awaiting basing.

Anniversary Army

2012-02-29T18:19:00.001-08:00

Like many others out there, the 25th anniversary of Rogue Trader being published has seen me dust off some of my old minis and give them a repaint (and in some cases a first paint!). Here are some first edition imperial guard and a couple of pirates for consideration.

Base colour is GW codex grey, but in a few cases I've varied that with Adeptus Battlegrey, to get in some subtle variation that suggests personalised equipment for officers NCOs, or just gear that's faded or been issued at different times.

Express Delivery

2012-02-11T17:53:00.000-08:00

I know I said I was going to give the WWII stuff a bit of a rest, but I just couldn't resist...

A short while ago I picked up the Airfix Forward Command Post set, mainly for scenery. I've not assembled the main building yet, but couldn't resist painting up the despatch rider that came with it.

In KGN, despatch riders can be taken to represent improved communications, increasing your chance of calling in artillery support for example.

Short Blokes

2012-02-09T16:21:00.000-08:00

As a bit of a change of pace, I've finished off a couple of dwarves I started work on before Christmas. No gaming plans for these, I've just always had a soft spot for the models. These are from the old Grenadier Models range of Fantasy Warriors sculpted by Nick Lund. For me, these are how dwarves should look; heavily armoured and grim looking, not comedy bearded drunks.

Not sure I've got the colour balance right, I think I should perhaps have gone for more coloured gloves to balance out the trim on the chainmail. Pleased with the armour though, it looks solid and functional.

Quite a few of the range are still available through Mirliton and EM4 miniatures.

Meet the Gang, 'cos the Boys are Here!

2012-02-06T15:21:00.000-08:00

Yes, more Brits painted for Normandy. I now have enough painted and based for a full infantry platoon, including PIAT, plus a Vickers MMG. The 3" mortar is being based and will join them soon.

Here's the gang, along with their armoured support and recce.

Infantry are mostly from Caesar (maybe with one or two from Matchbox hiding amongst them), with support weapons and some of the HQ from Hat. The Shermans and Cromwells are from Armourfast and the recce consists of a Hasegawa Humber and that Dodgy Daimler.

I even stretched to one or two basic conversions to fill out the ranks, including a Bren Gunner who's a Mix of Caesar and Hat Tank Riders (didn't realise until I looked at the photo just what a bad job I'd done of the face!).

And here are some of the support weapons.

So I can now field a complete Infantry platoon of US, UK and German troops, plus some armour for each. Still lots I can add, aircraft, artillery, transports and light vehicles (jeeps, definitely need jeeps), anti-tank guns for the allies. However I think now that the Brits have a full platoon I may take a little break. With the 25th Anniversary of the release of Rogue Trader, I might dig out a few more of those first release Imperial Guard :-)

[Edit 7th February]

FInished the 3" Mortar and crew as well

More Updates!

2012-02-03T10:33:00.000-08:00

I've managed to find a bit of time to add some more stuff to my WWII collection.

First up, and just finished today, a Humber Armoured Car for the Brits (yes, I wasn't happy enough with the Daimler and caved in to replacing it). The Kit's from Hasegawa and was an absolute gem to put together. Just the tiniest bit of flash to remove then everything went together really easily. I particularly like that the kit includes some stowage. My only worry is that thin gun barrel, I have a feeling Ill be having to replace that with brass rod at some point...

The rest of my Brit armour has also had a bit of work, adding some detailing and unit markings. They're far from accurate, but I can live with that.

Finally, a little run-around for the Germans in the form of a Kubelwagen (the other part of the Airfix German Reconaissance set).

There's also some infantry on the way, more on that later.

By Tank Into Normandy - Book Review

2012-02-02T15:34:00.000-08:00

At the start of the new year I read an excellent book; 'By Tank Into Normandy' by Stuart Hills. Hills was a Tank Commander in the Nottingham Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry (practically a local regiment to wear I live), fighting from D-Day through to the end of the war. The Sherwood Rangers were an independent tank regiment, attached wherever needed, so saw action throughout the war and with a number of other units, including the US 82nd Airborne as part of Market Garden, as well as numerous British and Commonwealth units.

It's not a long book by any means, but as a first hand account makes for a fascinating read. It's not a book that delves into grand strategy or large-scale actions, but does give an excellent account of small-unit actions at company and platoon level, and the effect of combat on those who took part.

The bravery of the young men who time and again got into tanks knowing what could happen to them, and the randomness of the losses is very affecting, but particular mention must be made of the unit's padre, and amazing man who took it upon himself to personally recover every lost tanker and see to their burial, because he didn't think the crews should have to see what could happen to them and then have to get back into a tank and face combat again.

From a wargaming perspective it certainly brings a new perspective. The actions described are often of a scale that would make for interesting scenarios, and are often accompanied by sketch maps of the action. It also contradicts some things that many games and rules seem to encourage.

One thing that comes across strongly, in contrast to what most of our games would suggest, is how rare tank on tank combat was. It's some time after D-Day before he first recounts a meeting with another tank; most of the combat the regiment see is supporting infantry units and, rather than their big fear being Tigers and Panthers, it's threat of an infantryman in a hedgerow with a Panzerfaust that pre-occupies the tank crews.

The other is the frequency with which the tanks would plaster the landscape with HE 'just in case'. On the table we have a 'god-like' view, and many rules encourage this by having all fire as direct fire. It's interesting that Kampfgruppe Normandy splits suppressive fire and Direct Fire, which requires a spotting test first.

All in all, a good read and recommended. The only drawback is that at full RRP (£8.99) it's pretty pricey for what you get. Not quality, just length. However I picked mine up for much less in a small bookshop, and there are plenty of cheaper options on Amazon.

They Came from the Sky!

2012-01-29T14:09:00.000-08:00

Time for a bit of a change from all this Historical activity...

At the weekend my friend Matt and I met up at Maelstrom Games in Mansfield for a couple of games of a personal favourite, Aeronautica Imperialis, and a general catch up between Matt's various travels (he's off to Japan to teach English in a couple of months). Matt had come up with a scenario he wanted to test that involved escorting a ground convoy across the table, all he needed was an idiot to test it out on, and I was happy to play the role!

The scenario was that I had to get a convoy of vehicles from one short edge of the board to the other, under attack from the air. One of the vehicles (my choice) contained a VIP that had to survive. Opposing me would be an aerial strike force of Matt's Tau, and I would get support from my own squadrons that would arrive as reserves. To use one of Matt's favourite quotes 'How hard could it be?'

With 150 points to choose from, I kept my choices pretty simple:

2 Hydra Flak Tanks and a Manticore to escort the convoy (which would consist of a further 4 Chimera APCs)
1 Thundebolt, Vanilla Flavour
2 Thunderbolts with Skystrike missiles
2 Lightnings with Skystrike missiles

I assigned all my flak to the convoy and split my aircraft into three groups (the two lightnings, two thunderbolts with missiles and one plain thunderbolt) to maximise my reserve rolls. Matt deployed his force in one go, consisting of:

2 Tigershark AX-1-0 (with the big, nasty railguns and extra seeker missiles)
1 Barracuda with Seeker Missiles
5 Barracudas

Worried about being outnumbered? Me? Naaa...

So, without further ado, onto the story of the attempts of the 7th Hadley's Reach Yeomanry and 105th Devlan Fighter Wing to protect General Lord Farquharson Smythe from the alien raiders...

The convoy moves out from the city edge, AA scanning the sky

The Tau strike force moves in. Lot of 'em aint there?

I fluffed my first reserve roll, giving the Tau two turns to get into position. The non-missile armed barracudas, which were unable to attack ground targets, maneuvered to avoid the convoy's flak envelope and headed at full speed for my baseline to intercept any arriving Imperial fighters, while their attack aircraft, led by the missile armed barracuda, swung out for a strafing run on the flank of the convoy.

My Thunderbolts arrived on turn 3, but were far too distant to do anything but watch as the Barracuda unleashed all of its Seeker Missiles, brewing up the lead Chimera.

The Lightning's arrived next, screaming straight up the road at full military power and low enough to count the kerbstones. Up ahead the road was already storm of cannon fire, missile trails and energy beams, as the Tigersharks started their attack run. By the time the smoke cleared, one of the Hydras was burning and a Chimera was damaged, but still mobile, but one of the Tigersharks had been wiped from the sky by a combination of autocannon fire and a lucky manticore shot. down the road the fighters met head-on, with the Imperials coming out best from the initial exchange, damaging one Baracuda and downing another, although one the Thunderbolts was now trailing smoke.

One of the Tigersharks lines up for its attack run

The Imperial Lightnings arrive on the scene

Tau Barracudas head-on

Unfortunately, whilst the convoy powered on up the road with determination, things started to go very wrong for the escorting Imperial fighters, as the next two turns saw every single fighter downed without taking out a single Tau aircraft. That job seemed to be left to the flak tanks, as the manticore managed to damage the remaining Tigershark as it pulled away from its strafing run.

The Tau, however, had problems of their own. With one of the Tigersharks down, the remaining one low on ammo and none of the Barracudas equipped with Seeker Missiles (in AI, only weapons with the 'Ground' characteristic can strafe ground targets), they were running out of options for attacking ground targets. The low maneuverability of the Tigershark also meant it was likely that he'd only be able to pull round for one more pass at the convoy before it reached safety, he had to hope he'd either already hit the General's transport, or that he'd get it with his one remaining chance.

Pulling as tight a turn as possible, the Tigershark managed to line up on the lead Chimera, the Target Lock chimed 'acquired', the pilot pulled the trigger and the Chimera vanished into a cloud of dust and smoke... only to roll on through it with nothing but chipped paint (and probably a need to visit the laundry tent later).

With no more ground attack ordnance left, the Tau had to break off the attack and it was time for me to reveal which vehicle had been carrying the general. It was the third Chimera in the convoy, the one the Tigershark had in its sights with the last of its ammo... Technically I'd won, but with all of my aircraft down, it didn't exactly feel like it!

LESSONS LEARNED

Well I won, but more through luck than judgement. Choosing the Hydras for the convoy worked well, they made life very difficult for the attacking Tau. The manticore paid its way when it rolled extra damage against the Tigershark, but with the Tau only able to attack from Altitude 1 I didn't really need its range. In reality my aircraft did little to protect the convoy and just became wreckage. It was a schoolboy error, I know perfectly well from previous games that the Tau Barracudas are extremely effective in a close up fight; they can slow right down to stay on station, they're cheap and numerous, and the all round drone cannons allow them to mob enemy aircraft. So what did I do? Rather than blast straight through with slashing attacks, I slowed down and tried to dogfight, result? I got slaughtered.

I make a big mistake and get mobbed...

As for Matt, he decided he'd have been better off sacrificing one of the Barracudas and taking more Seeker Missiles instead. As it was he was reliant on the Tigersharks, which, with low maneuverability, were going to struggle to make more than a couple of passes (but were pretty efficient when they did). The Tigersharks also started too high, by the time they dropped low enough to attack, they were within close range of the Hydras and on the receiving end of six dice worth of attacks, instead of getting a couple of turns of shooting in first. But as for the Barracudas, ouch! They worked well!

ROUND TWO

To test the scenario a bit further, we ran it again, this time with my Imperials attacking. I took a pair of Maruader Bombers, two Lightnings for top cover and three Thunderbolts carrying Hellstrike missiles. Matt escorted the convoy with two Skyrays, placed a third dug-in in the destination city, and spent the rest of his points on Barracudas. I chose to send one of the Thunderbolts after the dug in skyray, the remaining two at the flank of the convoy and the Marauders straight up the road.

In a partial repeat of the first game, one of my Marauders fell to the convoy's AA before it could attack, but the other successfully bombed the head of the column (Matt had sensibly split it to reduce risk), taking out three vehicles in one go. The Thunderbolt attacking the Skyray failed to destroy it, and took damage in return, in hindsight a waste of missiles, which should have been expended on the convoy.

The remaining Thunderbolts managed a couple of passes at the convoy, but were unable to score any hits. They faced heavy fire from the convoy and the escorting Barracudas, managing to take out two but only losing one Thunderbolt (thanks to some lucky 'Durable' saves. Once again, history repeated itself, as my last Hellstrike equipped Thunderbolt lined up a final shot... and missed. Matt's VIP turned out not to be in any of the vehicles I'd hit, giving him the win.

Again, I made some errors, I should have equipped more ground attack ordnance, and going after the skyray was pointless. The surviving bomber was extremely effective, hurrah for 'Bomb Creep'! With Hindsight, equipping some of the Thunderbolts with bombs and hurling them straight up the road might have been more effective. A Marauder Destroyer might have been handy too, as it could have engaged the rear half of the convoy at the same time as bombing the front. Matt meanwhile did a bang up job of defending. Splitting the column reduced the effectiveness of my bombing and as usual I was hounded by what seemed an endless stream of Barracudas, although this time I avoided getting into a close range knife-fight, which is why I still had some planes left at the end!

The Marauders about to swing onto the road

All in all, honours even and another great game, and a fun and challenging scenario from Matt!

Cheers!

My Little Tank!

2012-01-18T17:20:00.000-08:00

Just a quickie. I've finished the Airfix sdkfz222 that I was working on. In comparison to the Daimler I did recently, this was a dream to put together. All the parts fitted together with no problems and the instructions were nice and clear. I'm not sure if it looks a little small compared to some of my other Armourfast stuff, as it's in 1/76 rather than 1/72, but it's not supposed to be a big vehicle anyway.

My only real criticism is it's a shame that Airfix didn't attempt to replicate the mesh anti-grenade screen that's normally seen on top of the turret, I'll just have to assume it's been lost to a low hanging branch somewhere!

The two figures came with it and are nice and sharp too, although one seems to be carrying something that seems to be a cross between an MP40 and MP41, but is actually neither! Also in the set was a Kubelwagen, which is assembled but awaiting painting.

Lt. Gruber would be so proud!

No marching required

2012-01-14T15:59:00.000-08:00

Completed some more of the HAT tank riders, this time the Germans. Overall, the comments are much the same as for the Brits and the Americans. Another good set, with a nice range of poses and great detail. The general mix is the same as for the other sets: 11 models, including two tank crew, two kneeling figures and the rest seated. The same drawbacks also apply, with soft plastic and some poorly placed lugs (why always on the helmets? Why?!).

They're clearly equipped more for the early war period, with everyone wearing the marching boots and smart uniform (no camo smocks in sight), and most of the infantry carrying Kar 98s, except for the 'leaders' with MP40s and one carrying a pretty well sculpted MG34 plus ammo. Again, a nice touch is that one of the riflemen is carrying a spare ammo box for the MG, and everyone is carrying extra bedrolls, pouches etc.

Of course a new, late war set would be nice, but until that happens, they'll do just fine for me!

Damned Daimler! (or... you get what you pay for)

2012-01-14T14:35:00.000-08:00

Beware ebay bargains... The run up to Christmas saw me tussling with a very difficult kit of a Daimler scout car, bought as a bargain off ebay. It arrived unboxed but with instructions, and looked simple enough. Instead it proved to be possibly the most frustrating kit I've built; the instructions appeared to have been badly translated, possibly through several different languages, and the diagrams were poorly drawn, badly laid out and, in places, downright wrong (like showing parts for the front being attached to the rear)! The fact that a lot of the parts were poorly fitting just made things worse. The irony is that a bit of research suggests that this kit, from 'Science Treasury' is a poor copy of the Hasegawa kit of the same vehicle (from the 1970's no less!), which I've heard described as a great kit and really simple to build.

Nonetheless, I managed to get it pretty much together, after much trimming of parts and several occasions of having to take bits apart again for a rebuild. You'll note the sheer amount of glue spread everywhere, looking very amateurish!

Detail isn't great either, the Daimler should be covered in rivets, but it seems to be the right shape. The question is, will painting it save it enough to be worthwhile?

Hmm... Well, it's not as bad as I feared after a quick and simple paintjob (Fow British Armour spray, with a quick drybrush for highlights and some allied stars). It'll pass muster on the tabletop but I'm not ecstatic. I have a feeling I'll be picking up another Brit scout car at some point as a replacement. The Humber that Hasegawa made looks like a nice kit...

By contrast, I've also just put together the airfix sdkfz222 and Kubelwagen from their Reconnaissance Set, which was a dream to build, but more on that another time ;-)

Over Here...

2011-11-28T14:49:00.001-08:00

I've managed to paint up some of the US Tank Riders from HAT, they came up pretty nicely I think.

Lounging around a Pre-painted Dragon Sherman

Probably whistling at the local serving girls

They share pretty much the same strengths and weaknesses as the Brits: the gates for the plastic are all placed on the helmets, which makes removing them tricky, and the plastic is very soft, but the equipment carried by the models is well chosen, the poses look natural and each sprue makes a complete squad (plus tankers). If anything these are even more nicely equipped than the Brits; a number of squad members have grenades hanging from their webbing and there's a mix of weapons, with most having Garands, but also some carbines spread amongst the NCOs and those with heavier loads. I particularly like the inclusion, as well as a trooper with a bazooka, of his second carrying spare rounds; it's this kind of thought that's evident throughout the set. One of the kneeling figures also comes with a choice of either thompson or grease gun (and the appropriate ammo pouches too), which is a nice touch, even if the sculpting on the separate hands makes him look like sergeant banana fingers!

Sgt Banana fingers in person...

All in all, another good little set and very reasonably priced, at 44 models to a box! Perfect for filling out half-tracks, trucks and scattering over those Shermans.

I'm working on the German set now, more on that at a later date.

Here comes the cavalry

2011-11-20T13:47:00.001-08:00

A few more updates tonight. My Brits now have some armoured support in the form of an armoured troop of 2 Cromwells and a Firefly from Armourcast. As with the Stugs, assembly was really easy. The only remotely tricky bit on both was the gun, which could sit a bit more securely and took a couple of attempts to sit right on both the Fireflies and Cromwells. Paint is thanks to FoW British Armour which, for some reason, looks lighter on the Firefly...

Crew are from the HAT British Tank Riders set. The Cromwell hatch is pretty tight and a little trimming was needed!

For fast build models they look pretty good. The Cromwells are the better of the two, the Firefly does look a little basic next to a more detailed model. Not sure why they couldn't have sculpted on some of the normal tools at least (Spade, crowbar and mallet!), I might add some stowage later. Here it is next to a Dragon Pre-paint for comparison.

When ordering them I hadn't realised that the Firefly kit can also be used to make a 75mm armed Sherman, so I'm going to get another box, then I can use the spare from this one and have two typical British armoured troops.

I'm also getting cracking on some of the other HAT models. Here's some Work in Progress on the HAT mortar and Vickers MG.

I think they'll make pretty good additions. However, I would point out that the sculpting on some of the models is a little 'chunky', and the plastic is very soft (the MG legs in particular are very flexible, making them tricky to paint and flaking easily), so they won't be everyone's cup of tea (or other suitable relaxing beverage) but as a cheap way to ad some decent support weapons, they work for me!

I'm on the hunt for scout cars and Universal Carriers now!

Wherever I lay my HAT... and an offer

2011-11-13T12:35:00.001-08:00

More parcels! This time some more reinforcements for my WWII Brits, US and Germans. The plucky Tommies get some tank riders/crew and some heavy support in the form of Mortars and the Venerable Vickers HMG.

There are also some Armourfast packages on the way; a box each of Cromwells and Sherman Fireflies, and some German Mortars.

I've managed to paint up some of the Brit Tank Riders so far. My plan is to use the riders to mark vehicles that have passengers (taking them out when not needed). Each box follows a similar pattern: 4 sprues of 11 poses, usually including two tank crew suitable for hatches and a couple of kneeling poses that could also be mixed with foot troops as officers/NCOs. The seated models are mostly armed with the standard type small arm for their nationality, plus one support weapon (a Bren, BAR and MG34 for the sets I have).\ Sculpting and detail is good, but the plastic is soft, so I'm a bit worried about peeling paint. One very annoying feature is that most of the models are attached to the sprue at the head, so separating them without flattening the helmet requires care and some tricky trimming. These were painted up in the same way as my other brits. They also look good lazing about, probably waiting for a brew...

And here they are in those Italeri Half Tracks from a couple of posts ago.

Now, I seem to recall I mentioned an offer in the post title... When I checked the box of US tank riders, I found that I actually had three sprues of US troops and one of Soviets! The three correct sprues are more than enough to meet my requirements, so I don't have much to gain by trying to get the box changed at this stage. Instead, if anyone out there could make good use of 11 assorted Soviet tank riders and crewmen, just leave me a comment below and an email where I can contact you, and they shall be yours! (first come, first served!!!)

Caesar Brits

2011-11-09T00:50:00.000-08:00

Nearly finished my first batch of Caesar's WWII British Infantry. Really nice models, great poses, generally loads of fine detail except, oddly, when it comes to the weapons. I also have Bren and PIAT Gunners painted up, but they're going to need custom bases made as they're prone, firing their weapons.

Painting was done mostly with the FoW British paint set (basically Vallejo colours, although the FoW branding certainly reduces fiddling around finding the right colours for the WWII novice like me). Spray undercoated black, then basecoat of British Uniform, with the webbing and helmet picked out in Khaki and Russian Uniform respectively. Faces were GW Tallarn flesh, boots GW chaos black (has anyone else found that particular paint has horrible coverage on bare plastic?), weapons GW bestial brown and Boltgun metal. All were then given a wash of GW Devlan Mud wash, then highlights picked out again in the original colour. I think the bases took longer than the models overall!

40 plus 40 equals trouble

2011-11-04T14:05:00.000-07:00

Finished the crew or the Italeri Pak40s. 6 crew for each gun, all in good, convincing poses, half of them hefting ammo about and the rest lining up and aiming. It looks like they're modelled for colder weather, with greatcoats and parkas, but they paint up nicely in camo (my attempt at the 'splinter' type camo, not great, but at this size and tabletop distance I can live with it) and won't look noticeably out of place on a Normandy battlefield.

Fast build done, um, fast...

2011-11-03T18:13:00.000-07:00

Recently picked up a box of Italeri fast build half tracks. Turns out they do exactly what they say on the tin! After a spray with FoW US Armour, and picking out some details like the seats and tyres, they went together in a matter of minutes without any need for glue.

I also found the time to do a quick re-spray of one of my die-cast Sherman 105s. These are pretty good models, but a bit too dark in colour. Now, I know when I started getting into the Normandy thing I said I was going to keep things simple and not obsess about painting and accuracy but what were the odds of me ever keeping to that! It's come out pretty well, so I'll probably do the other one as well now (the original colour's on the right, by the way...)