Wheely good guns.

As part of the recruitment drive for my 1/32 scale early 20th Century 'Russian' (or Tratvian) Army I needed some more machine guns.  As I already had a few spare Charbens MGs (see this earlier post) it seemed churlish to consider anything else.  I did, however, decide to make them more 'Maxim-like' by adding wheels.  A rummage in the spares box yielded some 1/72 PAK-40 wheels which I thought looked vaguely suitable.  Having now painted the ensemble I am rather pleased with the end result.

The photo shows a pair of the newly varnished Maxims with excited officers shouting encouragement.

Sharp dressed man

For my recent birthday, John Armatys presented me with this rather nice 54mm metal officer he had found at Tankfest.  I've no idea who he is - the uniform suggests cavalry officer but could equally well be cinema commissionaire!

I can see him becoming a staff officer in the Army of Imperial Tratvia as he looks easily capable of toadying to the Tsar.

Your suggestions for a name for this chap are invited....

Shiny Happy Cossacks

The third and (thankfully) final regiment of Tratvian Cossacks is now complete!  Resplendent in their high-gloss topcoat of Ronseal outdoor varnish they now fear neither man nor weather. 
Like their chums, these chaps are Armies in Plastic 1/32 figures.  Light conversions were required to produce the standard bearer and trumpeter.

54mm works in progress

Aside from a few random aircraft I don't seem to have finished anything for a while, but here are some of the 1/32 scale toys being in the early stages of work.  Above is the third (and final!) Tratvian Cossack Regiment.  Just to prove how easily distracted I continue to be, below is another wild flight of fancy.  More soon.

Even more Tratvians!

The sixth and final infantry battalion has now been accepted into the Tratvian Army.  Actually this is the Second (Rifle) Battalion and joins 1st Rifles and the Naval Infantry in 1st Infantry Brigade.  All clear?  Good.

 Like most of the Tratvian Army these chaps are Armies in Plastic figures.

I have tried out a new varnish on this unit - Ronseal Outdoor Gloss Varnish.  It takes rather longer to dry than the other stuff and being solvent based it's rather smelly, but it does give a lovely high gloss finish.  I think I'll stick with it.

 For extra stability all my 1/32 infantry are based on 30x40mm pieces of MDF.

More terrors from Tratvia

The Tratvian armed forces continue to expand. Rushing to the front with their varnish still tacky is this battalion of Naval Infantry. All 54mm figures are by Armies in Plastic. The standard bearer was produced with the aid of some minor surgery and a laser printed flag. Forward to the West! Whichever direction that is....

Tratvian trio

The continued growth of the Tratvian Army means I need some higher level command figures.  These chaps are (from left) the Brigadier, standard bearer and adjutant for 1 Brigade. They will ultimately be responsible for three infantry battalions (two line and the naval infantry).

All three figures are by Armies in Plastic - the officers from the WW1 Russian sets and the standard bearer is a converted officer from one of the napoleonic landwehr sets.

Quick Steppe

Recently emerged from the trackless Tratvian steppe is this Cossack Regiment. These are 54mm Armies in Plastic figures painted in my usual 'toy soldier' style and topped off with two coats of floor varnish. As the Tratvian Army will eventually include three such units, I was able to mix and match from several sets in order to have matching poses (of troopers and horses). This is the 2nd Regt, the 1st can be seen here: http://megablitzandmore.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/tratvian-cossacks.html

The only light conversion work concerned the standard bearer whose sabre was replaced with a florist wire flag pole.

A car for the Tsar

Well two cars actually.  The (as yet unpainted) Tsar of Tratvia, Vladimir IV now has this pair of 'big splendid motor cars' to ferry around he and his (also currently unpainted) staff. 

These 1910 Cadillacs were built from Revell 1/32 scale plastic kits.  They were originally made by the Gowland (no relation...) company in the 1950s!  This great age shows up a bit in the fit of some parts - cue the usual sanding, filling, more sanding, etc...  But in the end they look pretty good.

Tratvian Militia Battalion. Another one.

Newly formed in Travia is the 5th (Militia) Infantry Battalion.  The 54mm figures are from the Armies in Plastic range and were originally destined by their manufacturer to be Napoleonic Prussian Landwehr and Russian Militia.  Mixing the contents of three boxes has enabled me to have decent numbers of the same poses in this unit and the 4th (Militia) Battalion. 

 As usual the flag is laser printed on paper and PVA'd to a florist wire flagpole

Tratvian Engineers

The Tratvian Army continues to recruit specialists, including this Engineer Company.  They are at their happiest building bridges.  Or blowing them up.  Maybe that view is influenced by the (retired) engineers I know...
All the men carry rifles, however, and have passed through basic infantry training. 
The figures are all Armies in Plastic Napoleonic era Landwehr.  So don't look too closely.

Infernal Machines

The Tratvian Army is clearly trying to shake off it's backward image with the recently formed Machine Gun Battalion.  The figures struggling to get to grips with these high technology trinkets are Charbens plastics - from the same range as the battalion from the chilly Tratvian Far East (link to earlier post).  Hopefully they will soon have the opportunity to mow down waves of pointy-helmeted enemies....

Tratvian artillery

The Tratvian army continues to gently expand.  As a (slight) change from painting infantry I finished the gunners.  These chaps are all converted from Armies in Plastic figures, with shells made from a balsa skewer stolen from the kitchen.  There are four 3-man crews but they are having to work in rotation as there are only two guns at the moment!  The guns are the Britains 'Gun of the Royal Artillery' (Britains code 9715), both of which I picked up still boxed!  I expect that somewhere there are collectors softly weeping at the sight of these guns actually being used...

Another dose of the Trats

News just in from The Tratvian Empire!  The Tsar's army continues to expand, and further recruitment has taken place in the province of Armeezenplastec.  These gallant chaps have been formed into the 1st Rifle Battalion and have recently been mustered for a photoshoot.  Further units are being recruited just as quickly as I can paint them.  So quite slowly then.

Tratvian Guard Battalion

The latest addition to the army of Tratvia is this Guard Infantry Battalion.  These elite chaps are Charbens plastic figures.  Though clearly intended as Russians - the fur hats have big star moulded on the front - their rifles are a bit of a mystery, looking more like short FN FALs than anything Soviet. 
Conversion work was limited to cutting down all the rifle magazines and carving the rifle from the standard bearer before drilling his hands to accept the florist wire flagpole.

The standard bearer - the flag is printed on an HP CP1515n and held together with PVA.

The Adjutant is a splendid figure - clearly raring to have a go at the enemy.  Or anyone really.

The dashing young aristocrat who leads the battalion has already been awarded a medal!

Tratvian Militia Battalion

Hot off the modelling table is this addition to the Tratvian Army.  This Militia Battalion was recruited from Armies in Plastic Napoleonic Prussian Landwehr and Russian Militia figures, while the pistol toting CO is from the WW1 Russian set.

Mangling a Morane - or 'Here comes another Fokker'*

Having decided that the Tratvian Army required some air support I began a search for a Morane monoplane.  Sadly none was to be found (at least not for a reasonable price) so a spot of kitbashing and bodging was clearly required.
I had earlier picked up the old Revell kit (1/72 scale) of the Fokker E.1 for under £3, so even if it all went horribly wrong it would make only a modest dent in the defence estimates.
The Fokker was about the right size and had the correct wing quantity, so after that it was a case of determining the more distinctive characteristics of the Morane.  These seemed to consist of a fully cowled engine, a pronounced fairing behind the pilot, a pointy rudder and much simpler undercart struts than the Fokker.  A new rudder was made from plastic card and the fairing carved from balsa.  The engine cowling was made from a piece of metal foil and the kit parts adapted to produce the undercarriage and the bracing strut arrangement in front of the pilot.
All this made it look, if not exactly like a Morane, at least a bit less like a Fokker!  Painting it green helped too.  A generous coat of gloss varnish was applied to fit in with the 'toy soldier' look of Tratvia's ground forces.
Incidentally, I am told that Tratvian markings are easily confused with those of a (clearly fictional) country called 'Russia'.  You've been warned.

*With apologies to Witnail and I - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwEpq3skueI&feature=fvwrel

Tratvian Cossacks

After a gap of many months I have finally painted some 1/32 toys.  These Armies in Plastic Cossacks form the first unit of the Army of Greater Tratvia (Army Dark Green in Funny Little Wars-speak).  Tratvia, for the benefit of those of you struggling to locate it on maps, is a huge country which straddles Europe and Asia.  Among the countries it borders in the west are Forbodia and Vulgaria.  While economically somewhat backward in our period (1910-ish), the country is rich in natural resources and has vast reserves of (as yet mostly unpainted) manpower.

The figures are straight out of the box - the only slight conversions being the bugler and standard bearer.  By mixing and matching from several boxes I managed to kit out the whole regiment with the same horse pose - in my view this enhances the 'toy soldier' look of these chaps.  As indeed do the two coats of gloss varnish...

The chap on the grey is the CO, to his left are the bugler, standard bearer and the beardless youth who is the unit's junior officer.