Mirage III - part 1

According to Cambridge Dictionaries Online, one definition of a Mirage is "a hope or wish that has no chance of being achieved."  None of which bodes well for the chances of my completing this kit...

Rather an old Airfix kit (originally issued in 1964...) I really can't recall the origins of this one.  It came to me bagged rather then boxed - possibly having been part of a set?

Anyway - the major parts went together reasonably well, with the aid of tape and clamps to hold everything in place while the glue dried.  I'm thinking silver finish again.

Triples Tuesday

With less than three weeks to go, here is a list of the games so far booked for the show.  More news as it breaks at the Sheffield Wargames Society website:

Barnsley Assoc of WG - Horus Heresy 30K
Beasts of Bolsover ?
British Legion Charity Game - 20mm 1980s
Chesterfield Open Gaming Society - Flames of war 15mm WW2 tank Battle
Chesterfield Open Gaming Society - Ripper St Tong Menace
Chesterfield Open Gaming Society - Information stand
Sheffield Occasional Wargamers - Stalingrad board game Rattenkrieg
Company of Veterans - East Prussia Napoleonic 15mm
Huntingdon & District - Stalingrad 1/35th
Ilkley Lads - Zorndorf 1758
Lance & Longbow Society - Saturday 28mm Participation Jousting Tournament , Sunday Demo - Battle of Bauge 1421
Leeds Wargames Society - Scorpions sting 28mm WW2
Like A Stone Wall - Alamanza 1707
Mosborough Old Boys - First St Albans
Penarth & District - ?
Sealed Knot, Newcastles Whitecoats - Reenactment Society
Sheffield & Rotherham Wargamers - ?
21eme Regt de Ligne - Reenactment Society
Wargame Developments - Doodlebuggers - 1/72 WW2 Participation game
Wings of Glory Aerodrome - WW2
Wings of Glory Aerodrome - WW1
Wings of Glory Aerodrome - Display  info table
COB Old Boys - 28mm Indian Mutiny
Chris Parr - Shockwave Station, sci fi battle (Sat only)
Sheffield Occasional Gamers -   15mm WW1
Gunsmoke  - Wild west
Ilkley Old School - Longstreet 28mm ACW
Derby Wargames Association - Relief of fort St John  28mm french indian wars
The Glory Boys - Last samurai
ABW Irregulars - German invasion of Ireland 1940
Bruce Weigle - St Quentin 1871 6mm Franco Prussian
KB Club - 1/72nd modern
KB Club - 1/144 Sci fi
Doncaster - 28mm Zombie participation

Dodgy Dornier - part 2

Here is the completed Do28D, painted pretty much as per the kit instructions.  Interestingly the camo scheme covers the underside as well as the top surfaces which doesn't bode well for the 12 passengers and their in-flight meals....

Dodgy Dornier - part 1

Another bizarre aircraft build now!  I bought this kit a couple of years ago in one of Modelzone's odd sales events.  I forget the original motivation, but the Little Cold Wars project provided an incentive of sorts to build the thing.
And you thought Dornier had perished with the Third Reich.....

The ghost of President Fred?

While on holiday last week I spotted this headline in a local paper and decided it was too good to resist.

 Life imitating art?  Well games anyway.  I think so.

Talking Turkey - or taking the pith

I finished these chaps weeks ago but kept forgetting to take decent photos.  As you can see I still haven't taken any...
They are WW1-era Turks, and rather than go for the 'Tommy Cooper fan club' look by painting some of the Armies in Plastic Sudan war Egyptians, I decided to make life more difficult and try to reproduce the distinctive 'Kabalak' or 'Enveriye' headgear.  As my starting point I took the AIP British colonial infantry and carefully trimmed off the rim of their Wolseley pith helmets.  A rapid paint job (Dulux again!) was followed by drawing on the cloth strips of the Kabalak with a paint pen.
It's best not to look too closely but they sure look like Turks to me.

Super Sabre? F-100D part 2

Here is the completed '100.  I really like the look of this aircraft and clearly remember seeing Danish F-100s over Scotland in the late '70s(?).  So I may yet build a Danish Sabre. It this one, as can be seen for the photos is now in French service.  The overall spray of silver was as per the Lightning I completed recently (actually I painted them both at the same time...) and I finished the thing off with a set of French markings from a Matchbox Mystere kit.  So cheap - the kit cost less than £2 and the markings were effectively free - and reasonably cheerful.
Coming soon to a garden Wargame near this blog....

Super Sabre? F-100D part 1

As part of the programme to build up some air support for my Little Cold Wars project the time had arrived to crack open on of several PM F-100 kits I had in stock.  I had picked these up from a large online retailer a couple of years ago as they were irresistibly cheap!  So on with the build.  Given the price I wasn't expecting great things - which was just as well.  Parts fit was a bit iffy but as this model is intended as a Wargames toy I'm not really bothered.

Given my objectives the build proceeded quite swiftly.  Place your bets now on which Air Force it will serve....

President Fred's Funeral - part 4 - grave news

By now the hearse was entering the churchyard - the latter lined by numerous armed representatives of the various factions.  What could go wrong?  At around this time, Captain D'eath had been making a nuisance of himself by successfully arguing that several parties from LADA deserted.  Tempers within LADA were not improved when their drive to identify Freddist loyalists in the crowd came to nought.  Indeed several mourners later reported being accosted by suspicious gentlemen with heavy Spanish accents asking about their political leanings....

The streets of downtown Ph'tang City were rather crowded!

A late moment of tension occurred when this LADA BTR-152 crashed through the wall of the churchyard.  But still there was no gunfire....
This turn's arguments were as follows:
While Captain D'eath was being interviewed on live TV by Roger Mellie, LADA argued that the interview went badly resulting in a further argument from D'eath where he shot Mellie in the head on live TV!  Oh, the drama!  Meanwhile, Comrade W escorted Mrs F into church - could this be a new power partnership?
The final analysis (it's too scientific to explain) revealed Mrs F to be the overall winner, having achieved all of her objectives.  So no doubt we've not seen the last of her.  And who will take over from Roger Mellie?  Could it be Ph'tang's answer to Jerry Springer - Captain D'eath?
In conclusion - a great game, made so by four imaginative players and their hats.

The none too grief stricken mourners.  From left - Captain D, Mrs F, Comrade W, Colonel Incognito.

President Fred's Funeral - part 3 - enter the hippo (again)

Back to Darkest Africa now.  Above can be seen the funeral cortege underway, accompanied by armed retainers from several factions.

The only ones to bring an AFV to the fiuneral were (of course!) L.A.D.A, whose BTR-152 can be seen bringing up the rear.

Meanwhile by means a matrix argument and clever use of a cue card, Roger Mellie was being mobbed by locals (or are they leftist revolutionaries?) desperate to be on TV.

The cue card in question.  Oh and there's that hippo again...

Not to be outdone, Captain D'eath had some of his men in attendance.

Some?  Well quite a few actually - many hiding in buildings!

The hippo was attracted by the noise of motor vehicles (you may remember it's fondness for such things from before).  Firing soon began - started by the UN(!), with Capt. D'eath soon joining in.  They all missed though and the unfortunate beastie was finished off by the P.O.O.F.S.  And all on live TV....

By now mourners were gathering from all around and the cortege had swollen to epic proportions!  So now that the sound of gunfire has at last been heard, what next?

Part the last coming soon...

Triples Tuesday

Five weeks to go!  The latest news is that we have made an arrangement with a couple of hotels and can offer the following deal on accommodation over Triples weekend:

The Royal Victoria Holiday Inn and the Holiday Inn Express are offering a discounted rate for people wanting to stay there on the Triples weekend. The rates are as followed (subject to availability):-
Royal Victoria:-
1 night bed and breakfast £69
2 nights bed and breakfast £109
Express:-
1 night bed and breakfast £59
2 nights bed and breakfast £99
Per room, per night (rooms sleep 2 people)
To book you need to contact the Reservations team on + 44 (0) 114 252 6511 and tell them you are booking for the Sheffield Wargames Society Triples Weekend.

Lightning fast build - part 2

 Here it is finished and wearing the markings (straight from the kit box) of 5 Sqn.  I now have Lightnings in three scales - 1/300, 1/100 and 1/72!  Compare and contrast this latest offering with my (rather neater?) 1/100 version: here.  

Lightning fast build - part 1

As my 'Little Cold Wars' project gathers pace I decided to avoid doing anything really useful (like painting infantry figures) by throwing together this Airfix 1/72 kit of a BAC/English Electric Lightning.  One of my favourite Cold War aircraft, you never so much heard a Lightning as felt the noise in your guts.  I gather they were popular with their pilots, less so with the maintenance crews as the stacked engine arrangement made access something of an issue.
And so back to the kit.  It was very much built down to a basic standard as it it destined - like all my toys - to be a wargames toy rather then a display piece.  I had originally intended to go with the grey and green camo scheme but was unable to resist the can of silver spray paint....

More when the decals are on.

President Fred's Funeral - part 2 - a pain in the hearse*

The table set up and ready for ....who knew what?

The four players (all of whom should have know better) were John (Capt. D'eath), Kayte (Mrs Fred), Jerry (Comrade Wrist) and Martin (Col. Incognito).

The funeral cortege trundles along at a respectful pace.

The local emergency services were on standby.

Roger Mellie (for it is he) prepares for a live broadcast at the entrance to the churchyard.  Martin provided the hills and 'old colonial' buildings.  All the other rubbish is mine.

Tension builds as the cortege reaches a corner.  Note the bunch of P.O.O.F.S near the school bus...

Another TV camera crew films the solemn event.  The rather splendid Cadillac hearse is a Hot Wheels model.  The four main mourners were in the dignified Daimler DS420 limo.  Many years ago I used to drive similar (but rather scruffier) Daimlers for a wedding hire firm.

Action at last!  The P.O.O.F.S crewed bus rams the lead UN truck and brings the cortege to a halt.

The shaken P.O.O.F.S tumble out of the bus.  What would happen next?  As Roger Mellie commented in a news bulletin - "Two turns and no gunfire - this is probably the longest period of peace in Ph'tang's recent history."

Stay tuned for the next load of old nonsense....

*saying this is much funnier if you can manage a Dundee accent.