Questionable Carlist cavalry conversion - complete

Here are the completed Carlist cavalry.  A small unit of half a dozen (I'll stick with 12 for infantry and 6 for cavalry units in this era), resplendent in green tunics, red breeches and enormous red berets. 

As usual I found a flag on the internet.  Forgive the hurried photos.

The complete unit - I rather like them.

Questionable Carlist cavalry conversions - commenced

 

I painted a unit of these chaps over 10 years ago as part of my fictional Balkan-style army of Forbodia.

Here they are in action against Martin's comic-opera Prussians back in 2012.

The figures are in fact these - amazing the difference paintwork makes!

Fast forward to a few weeks ago and a conversation with my wargaming friend Diego.  He had asked me about sourcing 54mm figures for the Carlist Wars in Spain.  I explained that there probably aren't any but many exist which can be bodged into figures with a suitable  - or at least tolerable - appearance.  I undertook to produce a couple of units so Diego won't have to carry the entire project.  And I'm easily led.

A bit of research revealed that the government troops had a very 'Napoleonic' appearance.  As I have er, 'some' Napoleonic figures and a few (really this time) I painted as Neapolitan government troops (see here), so I figure that the priority should be on the Carlist forces. As always with 54mm, I find that results are yielded by a combination of looking at pictures of troops and thinking what figures could be suitable bodged and looking at figure ranges wondering what they could be bodged into.  

A painting of Carlist cavalry in the Osprey book sent me off in search of the figures above.

Initial work consisted of trimming off the carbine and cartridge box and cutting off the crown of the hat.

A dab of Milliput was used to add the distinctive shape of the Basque-style beret.

Berets came in different colours but red was popular.  I repainted the trousers red, touched in bits of damaged paintwork on the horse and prepared to repaint and tone down the tunic.

Going for a Schwimm - part 3

 

The Schwimmwagen came with some useful figures.  The para with the bicycle will doubtless see service in a recce role while the pilot will have further opportunities to show off to young Helga.

Going for a Schwimm - part 2

 

Here is the completed model.  I opted for a plain sand finish.  The driver is from a Tamiya Kubelwagen kit - he looks decidedly apprehensive about taking to the water!

Going for a Schwimm - part 1

According to the date stamp on the photos I built this back in January.  So here it is, better late etc.  It's a nice crisp kit and small vehicles like this are always useful.

 

Italeri Panzer crew - part 2

 I finished these chaps ages ago but forgot to post the photo!  Part 1 can be found here

For some reason I didn't photograph them all so this will have to do for the moment.

Italeri Panzer crew

 

I need some tank crews for a couple of games I have in mind, so this venerable set was cracked open today.  Venerable?  Definitely!  Although the box is marked ‘1995’, I remember this set from the 1970s.

Despite it’s antiquity the mouldings are pretty crisp.  Not up to Tamiya standards but still very respectable.  I think that their 1970s equivalents was moulded in white plastic.  For a set still readily available for under  £10 there’s quite a lot in it. Six figures, two barrels, a wooden crate, four buckets(!) and three helmets. 

You don’t see box art like this on modern kits!  But in those far-off days before the widespread availability of reasonably price uniform books this would no doubt have been very useful. 

32nd Battle of the Isonzo - air recce

 

As the day draws close, both sides have dispatched their heroic aviators to photograph the enemy positions.  The Ansaldo SVA (above) is a pre-built Italeri model while the Hannover is the Airfix kit a built a few years ago - see also this post.  Both are 1/72 scale.

Type 96 15cm howitzer. sort of...

Or is it? Once again my perceived need for artillery for my 54mm Japanese has led to the adoption of desperate measures. This time what began life as an Italeri 1/72 kit of an Italian 149mm gun has fallen victim to my savage bodging. The crew are adapted from the Tamiya Japanese infantry set and the emplacement is the one donated by Brian at the Plastic Warrior show last month. I’m pretty sure the sandbags look better in beige than the original green-blue plastic...

Type 98 20mm AA gun

Back now to the Far Eastern arms race, c1939. 

Japanese artillery and towed guns being rather thin on the ground in anything bigger than 1/72 scale, a touch of ingenuity was clearly called for.  Along with low standards...

The Type 98 was apparently a versatile weapon, capable of engaging targets on the ground or in the air. It’s key characteristics are a three legged mount and wheels which fold off the ground when deployed. A rummage in various boxes yielded an Irregular Miniatures 15-20mm scale model of a 75mm AA gun on a 4-legged mount. ‘Close enough’, I thought and began work. A pair of spoked wheels was sourced from a wagon kit and after adding a load of glue, it all hung together. 

The crew are from the Tamiya Japanese 1/35 scale infantry kit - 2 such sets gave me 8 figures, enough for three guns. Mixing and matching legs and torsos produced some suitable poses. I’m particularly pleased with the chap anxiously watching the sky

Lavochkin LA-5

Friday.  Needing another Soviet aircraft to accompany my Sturmovik  I went rummaging for the fighter (was it a YAK or a Lavochkin?) I was convinced was in stock.  Either my search skills or memory were at fault though, as I couldn't find such a thing.  The internet responded well to the challenge and this Italeri LA-5 kit arrived on the Friday. 

 Saturday.  The following day I built the thing.  It wasn't a challenging build

Sunday.  I spray painted the ensemble green.
Monday.  Painted camo and details.
Tuesday.  Applied decals and varnish.

Wednesday.  Used it in a game!  more on the game coming soon.

Added 20/12/17 - last Wednesday John A presented me with an old kit of an LA-7 he had stumbled upon.  Expect to see it soon....

Austrian Hussars

These chaps had their debut outing at September’s Leipzig game. The figures are actually Italeri French hussars which I have owned for some years. They were painted by fellow blogger, wargamer, author and all-round good chap Conrad Kinch. Apparently at least one member of the aristocratic Von Kinch family served in this very regiment......

Hungarian Infantry Regiment

As part of my efforts towards next month's Leipzig game I undertook to produce a chunk of the Austrian Army.  I have now completed a grenadier regiment, one of jager and four of line.  Daring to be different, I decided to finish this, the final line regiment, as an Hungarian unit.  The essential difference is the blue (as against white) trousers.

These chaps are Italeri figures which paint up rather nicely.  The flag was sourced from Warflags, printed on a laser printer and finished with the same two coats of clear gloss Ronseal as the figures.

 I did take a few photos of the earlier Austrian infantry - I'll post them when I find them!

a weekend of painting

I managed to get a fair bit of time to paint at the weekend.  The focus is still very much on churning out figures for the Waterloo game next month.  The first two photos were taken on Friday evening...

 ...showing a variety of odds and ends, including these old Airfix French Guards.

 Among the figures progressed were these command figures from the Irregular range and the mounted officer from the Italeri command set.

I'll post photos soon of some other recently completed figures just as soon as the varnish dries.

Yet another box of delights - part 2

In a shock development, only 24 hours after getting these chaps home I had them PVA'd onto my usual mdf bases.  Next will come tickling up the paintwork and applying a lot of varnish.  There are about 30 French infantry (2 units) and 10 Old Guard, plus the four Brunswickers and 20+ Brits.  Not in the photos are the 7 French Dragoons and 5 Brit cavalry.  That there are only 11 horses isn't a big issue as I have plenty of remounts.  The figures seem to be a mix of Airfix, Timpo, Italeri and Call to Arms.