Poseur De Pont - AMX-13 bodging Part 2

As a couple of you correctly guessed, my AMX is on it's way to becoming a bridgelayer.  Or to use the correct title: AMX-13 PDP (Poseur De Pont) Modèle 51.  Poseur De Pont.  You have to love that. name.

This being me, the model will bear only a passing resemblance to the real deal - but we will end up with a AMX hull with a bridge section on the roof.  The bridge section in question comes from our old friend the Matchbox AVRE kit - but suitable widened and strengthened to support die-cast 1/48ish scale tanks.  I'm not after a scale replica here - rather a working wargames bridgelayer.

To support it I knocked up a box section of plastic card.

Sleek eh?  I am consoled by the fact that the real thing looks like a lash-up too!

I wonder if it will look any better painted?

AMX-13 bodging

You may remember my £0.99 AMX-13 DCA a few months back.  Well, I found another one.  Same price.  As I don't really need another DCA (the AA variant) I settled on another plan - which would involve removing the turret.  This meant I had to dismantle the thing - as can be seen in the photos.

This process has certainly increased my appreciation of these Solido models - they are rather cleverly thought-out models.

But what of the AMX-13's future?  More on that coming soon....

A to Z of wargaming. D is for...(part 2)

...Dundee Wargames Club.  Now I fully appreciate that this will be a pretty dull post - even by the low standards I have established - but it's important to me.  And a few others.

I refer here to the 'original' DWC which used to meet in the '70s and '80s at Douglas Community Centre as pictured above.  Leading light of the club was the late John G Robertson and it was here that at the tender age of 14ish I first witnessed grown men playing with toy soldiers.

So here's to you all - JR, Colin F, John, Lee, Ian, Tony, Billy, Dennis, George, Richard, Scott, BT, Paul J, Andy, Ricardo, Wayne and many others.  Thanks for tolerating the teenage me and not putting me off this insane hobby.

Making a MILAN - part 1

I decided that my West German forces for Little Cold Wars needed some up to date (for the late 1970s...) AT weapons.  The interwebnet was duly scoured for decent photos of the Milan AT missile and I set to building a couple in roughly 1/32 scale.  The 'gunner' in the photos is an Airfix figure with his MG-3 carefully carved away.

Most of the thing is made from plastic - tube and girder sections with a few bits from the spares box, while the troublesome tripod is copper wire.  This came from an offcut of the rather chunky cable used to connect a new cooker a couple of years back.  There was a length of 8 inches or so spare so I cut off the plastic outer and that gave me several lengths of useful looking wire.

The tripods were adjusted for height until they fitted the figure and then the ensemble was PVA'd to an MDF base.  More when they're painted.

It's a GAZ GAZ GAZ!

Just finished this trio of 1/43 scale GAZ-69 Russian 'jeep' type vehicles.

This lot are part of my Little Cold Wars project and are dodgy diecast models....

 ...which originally looked like this!

 The red paint was a bugger to cover.  Even after two coats of green spray some still shows through.  Still, rather scruffy paintwork looks somehow 'right.'

 The second GAZ has a light overspray of grey.

For the third GAZ I couldn't resist some 'parade' markings.  It makes for a much more conspicuous target!

  All three are marked as HQ vehicles.

Another tank attack! LCW game report - part 3

We return to Kakstadt just as NATO air makes it's first appearance.  You will no doubt recognise my recently completed F-104 on it's debut mission.

 Actually the Starfighter was in fighter mode and tasked with the interception of a nasty MiG-21.

The Fishbed soon flew off - no doubt much to the relief of the Chieftain crews below.....

....but it wasn't all good news for NATO.  This Chieftain had to make three saving rolls - needing 3+ on each.

The Luftwaffe soon returned...

...in the shape of my Alpha Jet.  No WarPact fighters appeared to chase it off and in went the strike.

The 'stick' of bombs took some of the shine off the WarPact victory by converting a couple of T-55s into scrap metal, but by now the British tanker had decided it was time to clear off.  And it started raining again.

This game not only provided us with another run through of the tank/AT/ATGM gunnery systems but also gave the revised air/counter-air rules a decent workout.  To sum up, this game saw 2 WarPact tank battalions against a dug in reinforced British tank regiment.  Both sides had sporadic air support.  The game took under 2 hours of real time.

Star Fighter? F-104G - part 2

Behold the completed Starfighter!  I used the markings straight from the kit, making this a naval aircraft.  Here it is en route to the coast.

Star Fighter? F-104G - part 1

I have never previously owned a 1/72 Starfighter so when I was wondering what else to build as air support for my Little Cold Wars West Germans this was an obvious candidate.

The parts for this Academy kit emerged from the box looking crisp and so it was with a sense of great optimism that I embarked on the build.

So far so good......

But here is the trouble spot.  The main undercart doors consist of four pieces which basically only have each other to cling to.  I just couldn't make it work and so gave up and stuck a single piece of plastic card in the gap.  Only enemy AA gunners will ever notice and they'll be too busy.  And it's a 'working ' wargames model anyway.

Another tank attack! LCW game report - part 2

2 Battalion on the move - having waited until 1 Btl were taking plenty of NATO fire!

1 Btl closing with the enemy

With a combination of us moving and the enemy dug in and with really thick armour they were buggers to hit.

2 Btl on the move - a glorious sight!

The Commissar leading bravely from behind...

Closing the range

A hit at last!

With everything still to play for, part three - the last - will be along soon.