Bastogne Barracks museum

 During the recent trip to the Ardennes, Russell and I visited the Bastogne Barracks AFV collection.  I'd seen this in 2017 (see link here) when it was rather crammed into a single building.  Accommodation and visibility has considerably improved (although the lighting isn't great), with the collection spread between two buildings.  It's well worth a visit!  I'll let the photos tell the story.

Stug III

M-16

M-26

German 20mm AA

"Forward to the West!"  Russell and 'his' JS-3

Valentine

ISU-152

Staghound

Opel 'Funkwagen'.  Not a mobile disco...

Bedford QL

detail of the Sdkfz-7

Berliet recovery truck - still in use around the workshop!

Panzer IV

M-22 Locust

M-4A3E8 Sherman

AMX-VCI and M-75 APCs

The JS-3 again

M-41

Belgian 47mm AT gun

M-16 again

M-41 again

Hetzer

Humber Heavy Utility Car

Lloyd Carrier

Daimler Scout Car

Panzer IV

Sdkfz-7 with 37mm AA gun

M-32 ARV

and a Sherman.

Blandford books

 I’ve made reference in posts to several of the Blandford series of books over the years.  I have mine gathered in one shelf within easy reach of my painting table.  Here are all 43 of them, inevitably sharing space with various terrain bits and a few figures, including a 1/32 gorilla.  Don’t ask.  

I used to have rather more but I’ve hung on only to the military(ish) stuff.  I gave the car and rail related books to a local RMBI care home which particularly wanted books on these subjects for a couple of residents. 

To save your eyes I also photographed the books in batches.  Let me know in a comment if you’d like to see more of any particular volume. All but three are hardbacks and I don’t think more than half a dozen were bought new. 

This pair were the first Blandfords I owned - from c1980.   One still wears it’s price tag - £3.75 - though I suspect it was actually cheaper. 

As to picking a favourite, that’s always going to be tricky.  This one, however, is a particularly well-thumbed tome, containing as it does all manner of outlandish stuff!

I mean, what sort of maniac would build anything like this?

Matilda II

Hot on the heels of my Matilda Mk1 is this Mk2.  Built (quite some time ago!) from the Fujimi kit, I painted this to look like a well-travelled BEF tank.  This was the first (and so far only) time I'd built the Fujimi Matilda and it's quite a crisp little model.  A little more involved than the Airfix kit of the same tank, though the latter still holds up well. For a look at some Airfix Matildas (built for service in North Africa) see my earlier post here.  The commander figure is a Raventhorpe metal casting. 

Matilda I

I took these photos ages ago - at the same time as I posted the photos of my other early WW2 Brits - then kept forgetting to post them!   This Matilda Mk1 was built from the Skytrex metal kit and was already quite elderly when I acquired it nearly 20 years ago in battered but unbuilt condition.  I feel that the paintwork is certainly showing it's age, especially in the harsh glare of the camera flash.  Do I need to repaint it?

Big toys at Shrivenham

Having visited Shrivenham on two previous occasions and taken many photos - which have already appeared on this blog - I only took a few on the day I was there helping to run Memphis Mangler.
As usual I was drawn to the Strv-103 'S-Tank' and photographed it from various angles.

 
 
 The artillery hall didn't escape my attention either.

I have always rather liked the FH-70, but had never before noticed that this example....

...is sporting a splendid (for me) number plate!

I was interested to see this view of the M-270 MLRS 'Grid Square Removal System', which shows the method of reloading using...

...the palletised ammunition system.