Other Polish stuff

My final post on my 20mm Poles covers the odds and ends, otherwise known as Army assets.  First up we have a Heavy Artillery Regiment.  155mm (Schneider) by Hinchliffe, crew  by FAA and C7P tractor by Frontline.  I've had the toys for a while and finally got round to finishing them last month.

AA Regiment.  The gun (representing a Vickers 75mm) is from the Irregular 'Really Useful Guns' range.  The tractor is another Frontline C7P.

The Army signals detachment.  Polski-Fiat 508 and radio trailer by Frontline, with a spare Miltra cavalryman added.

Type 97 Chi-Ha - part 1

Given the number of Japanese aircraft I have amassed and the recent expansion of my Jap ground forces to two division-equivalents of infantry, I decided that it was time to paint a batch of vehicles I built some time ago.

A pair of Airfix Type 97 Chi-Ha tanks and an  Isuzu lorry (Frontline) during the painting process.

I confess that I had put off painting the tanks due to the colourful but intricate Japanese camouflage patterns.  I used a base colour of mid green (over matt black), with stripes of brown and yellow.

Airfix Chi-Ha with camo added.

Markings posed another problem as there was virtually nothing suitable in my markings box.  There was no option but to paint them on!

Chi-Ha with markings added - turret green/white marking based on photos of the 9th Tank Regiment, an approximation of a Japanese character on the hull side and a Jap flag on the front (and rear) hull plates.  This model was missing a drive sprocket, so I cobbled one together using Sherman parts

Photos of the completed models will follow soon.

Jack & George

No - it's not an episode of The Sweeney  (for those unfamiliar with this televisual gem see http://www.thesweeney.info/), but another pair of Japanese Navy fighters.  These are both F-Toys kits which I completed over the Christmas holiday.

Firstly we have 'George' - more properly known as the Kawanishi N1K-J Shiden.

And then 'Jack' - the Mitsubishi J2M Raiden.

Both of these fighters lack (to my eye at least) the elegance of earlier aircraft like Zero, Tojo etc and look very brutally powerful in a manner reminiscent of the P-47.

Mystery T-34s

Regular readers will have noticed that I have not posted anything for a few days.  This is because I have been away in London for a work-related conference and dinner.  The speakers at my company's annual meeting included Nick Robinson (the BBC's Political Editor), England Cricketer Alistair Cook and selector Geoff Miller, one of the Chilean miners who spent 69 days trapped underground, and a Mr D Beckham - who I understand plays some football.

Anyway, in between all the business stuff, I managed to grab some wargames-related activity - lunch with Alex Kleanthous and dinner with Bob Cordery and his wife.  Bob and I did actually manage to play a quick game in between chatting, looking at his toys and trying on silly Russian hats.  As I was leaving, Bob (clearly glad I was going) kindly gave me a couple of 'surplus' 20mm T-34s he had. 
I have photographed these below and would be glad of any information about their makers.  Both are the same size - slightly bigger than my Airfix & Matchbox (1/76) models and shorter than the Esci (1/72) T-34.  Hull length is the same as the Fujimi (1/76) T-34.
Firstly there is a T-34m42.  Both models are metal and plastic.

The underside of the m42.  It shows signs of having been fixed to a display plinth.  The tracks are a bit nasty and as can be seen, one of the wheels fell off as I was taking the photo!

The second model is an m40 with the early style gun and mantlet.  This is to my eyes a rather nicer model.

Again it looks to have been fixed to a plinth at some point.  The tracks are more detailed than the m42.

Any help identifying these would be appreciated, and thanks again to Bob for his generosity.

Added 23/01/11 at 1115 GMT:
Thanks for all your helpful comments about these models.  I can now confirm that the m42 is by Deagostini  (see http://tanks.deagostini.co.uk/tanks.aspx) and the m40 by Dragon (http://www.dragonmodelsltd.com/catalog/dragon_armor/).  Both will eventually find their way into one of the two Megablitz T-34 boxes.  I'll not repaint them as such but will add a fair bit of weathering to make them look suitably scruffy.