30cm Nebelwerfer - part 2

Here is completed lash-up.  It's not quite a replica of the original but conveys the message - a big scary rocket launcher!  I cannibilised two of the rocket crates to provide 'empties' as clutter and rockets for two of the crew to lug around. They don't look too pleased about it.

I rather like the result - what do you think?

 

30cm Nebelwerfer - part 1

Perhaps inevitably there was a chat about Nebelwerfers over lunch during the Twin Villages game a few months ago.  It was agreed that the 30cm version was a relatively rare sight in wargames, so needless to say I took this as a challenge!  I knew I had some suitable(ish) rocket crates from a 1/43 halftrack model, so these were swiftly adapted and mated with a chassis frame and wheels.  Crew were sourced from a Tamiya gunners set. Dubious origins but really no worse than the real one. 

Sherman ARV - part 2

Here is the completed Sherman ARV.  Painted, marked, varnished and now confidently waiting for a (3D printed) Firefly to break down.

Sherman ARV - part 1

A few months ago I discovered that I 'needed' a British Sherman ARV.  A review of my fleet of 1/50 scale M4s revealed this plastic and diecast example which didn't really fit with either it's Solido or Corgi equivalents..  Off went the turret to the spares box. An mdf circular base covered the turret ring and various bits of stowage added.  Now for some paint...

Hawker Demon

Sorry it's been a while since my last post - busy with work and other stuff, meaning lots of screen time and a resulting disinclination to write blog posts!

Anyway, let's have some pics of toys, 'cos that's why you're here, right?  Readers of a nervous disposition look away now.

This battered specimen was part of the loot from COW last year.   I've always liked the Demon/Hart/Fury family of pointy biplanes.  While planning a Spanish Civil War game a few months ago I felt a need for a republican light bomber/recce biplane.  The 'correct' thing would have been a Breguet XIX.  There were also a few (three?) Hawker Fury fighters in Spain so it didn't take my fevered mind long to join the dots.  So Demon = wrong.  But then Demon = free.  Still with me?

Repair work commenced to my usual high* standards - liberal doses of blutac and glue being employed in the process.

Elegant eh?

Soon everything was perfectly* aligned.  

I managed to preserve the previous owner's impressing rigging thread.

Paint was added and markings were also painted on.  The result is clearly Republican and has the correct quantity of wings, and for a walk on part in a daft game that's good enough for me!

Torpedo Boat 196

In need of a small Great-War era destroyer for a forthcoming game, I decided to build one in 'cartoon' scale from bits and pieces. 

The hull and most of the superstructure were carved from balsa.  The funnel and torpedo tubes are plastic tube, turret and TT mounts pdf bases.  I'm particularly pleased with the bridge - part of a mounting from a roller blind which 'looked useful' and ended up in the spares box some years ago.

The turrets are resin castings I bought a few years ago - again, they 'looked useful...'  The crew figures are from a Strelets 1/72 set of Crimean War Russian naval gunners.  Finished in overall black, here is it wearing the first of no doubt many flags of convenience!  It's combat debut will be later this month in a game set in 1939.

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.

M-163 Vulcan (Israeli)

 

Another of my M-113 bodges now.  3D printed turret atop my usual insulation foam/card/balsa bodge. It looks the part though.

M-163 bodge - US

Hot on the heels of the M-901 is this Vulcan.  Again, the turret is a 3D print on a hull of insulation foam, balsa, mdf and card. 

I think it looks the part. 

M-901 bodge (US)

Here is the completed M-901, with a 3D printed ‘turret’ on a hull bodged from insulation foam, balsa, mdf and card.  

Paint is overall olive so I can use it in a number of armies as well as that of the USA. 

As with all my similar bodges, there are plenty of faults but it’s clearly what I intended it to be. 

M-113 bodges - batch 3

See this earlier post about the previous batch of M-113.  This batch was prompted by the arrival (some months ago if truth be told) of some turrets kindly 3D printed for me by Pete.  

I followed the usual process of carving the basic shapes from 2-inch insulation foam. The running gear was added from images found on the internet and printed on thin card. 

Hatches and grills were added from mdf and balsa. 

Nieuport 12ish - part 1

For a game I have in mind I need a French two-seater.  There being none available in 1/72 - at least none I could find - I decided to bodge something along the lines of the Albadross.  

I had this kit in stock and selected it as my victim. I had in mind the Nieuports 10 and 12 which saw service with the RFC and Italy as well as the French air service. It didn’t look much like the N28 but as it had the correct quantity of wings and engines I decided it was close enough. 

I hacked out a second cockpit and added a couple of figures from this useful Orion set. 

It doesn’t really look big enough to be a two-seater, though the real N12 was only slightly bigger than the N28. While the glue dries I’ll think about colour schemes. 

Sdkfz 233 bodge

This was a lockdown project completed sometime last year. My starting point was a Solido Sdkfz 231 which had a broken gun barrel. As I have a couple more intact ‘231s I decided that a bodge was called for and remembering the possibilities of the old Airfix kit I opted for a short-barrelled 75mm. The gun and shield were cobbled together from plastic card and bits from the spares box. It’s intended to be representational and robust rather than accurate so I think those limited objectives have been met. 

Republican Asalto Company

 According to the UK Government's COVID 'road map', we can get back to outdoor wargaming from the end of this month.  With this hope in mind I'm planning a Spanish Civil War game and after a review of the available forces I decided to recruit a small unit of Assault Guards - the paramilitary police force which largely sided with the Republican government.  

Rather than do anything rash like spending money on expensive but possibly accurate figures, I decided to bodge some from old figures I already had in stock.  The key characteristics of the uniform I wanted to replicate were trousers with no puttees or gaiters and the 'Gorillo' or 'cheesecutter' side cap.  Or a round-topped peaked cap.  

A rummage through a big box of plastic tat yielded Airfix Afrika Korps and Mountain troops who had the correct trouserage.  Some knife work carved the caps into more or less the right shape and removed most of the webbing, water bottles, gas mask canisters etc.  Blanket/greatcoat rolls and satchels were added to some figures using Milliput.  The machine gunner is an old hollowcast metal figure wearing a peaked cap.  The uniforms were painted in dark blue and white piping added to the caps using a paint pen.  As usual, a finishing coat of Ronseal satin light oak varnish was applied.

Albadross C-type part 3

 

Here then is the completed Albadross.  I made up what felt like a suitable colour scheme - the decals are a combination of what came with the kit and from the decal box.

I'm particularly pleased with the observer.  He started off life as the dismounted motorcyclist from the Airfix Recovery Set and was obligingly already clad in crash helmet and gauntlets.  His right arm - previously stopping traffic - was angled down to grip the edge of the cockpit while his left was given a bomb (from a 1/144 scale kit) to drop on the wicked enemy.