Treadhead Week - Part III

So all the models got built and undercoated. I have concerntrated on the Shermans to get them to a reasonable finish state slong with an Archer SPG and a Comet tank. The results look pretty good with decals and a light weathering. Need to restock on those decals by Doms Decals.

 Warlord Archer

 Warlord Comet

 Warlord Sherman Vs

 Warlord Sherman V with the S&S Dozer kit

Could not resist getting the Diamond T tank transporter and escort out!

Treadhead week - WW2 British Armour, Part II

So this is a mid week catch up on the armour project, so far so good. Only one kit lefy assemble, a M3 Half track.

As a side project, I created a scenic base board to photograph completed models on. This was a lump of old hard board modified with polyfilla, basing sand and static grass. Hopefully that will improve photographs on this blog. Now I need to source a back scene for it.

 So a discussion on the kits....

 Butler printed models preying mantis. The print lines are a bit deep for my taste and the chassis detail is a bit sparse. Like the prototype, the centre of gravity means it tips over! This will need weighting to prevent this. Very quirky prototype.

 Warlord Games late war Bofors 40mm cannon. This was a pig to assemble and needed shims building for the out riggers made from plastic card. However it looks amazing when assembled.

 Warlord Games Lloyd Mk II carriers, simple, detailed and very easy to assemble. Going to be used as tows for the 6pdrs.

 Warlord Games Churchill. Already discussed in a kit review on this blog, an easy build. Blittzkreigs resin offering is just as detailed and very quick to put together. It is a bit thinner than the plastic Warlord tank. No cleaning up needed on the resin.

 Warlord Games plastic Sherman Vs. Quick and detailed builds. My favorite of their plastic kits.

 S & S Dozer blade was simple to attach and makes for a mean looking model when mounted on the Sherman V.

 Clearly Warlord have changed their kit as it is larger than the previous plastic kit. New kit to the left, old in the centre and a Rubicon M4 on the right. The new kit scales well against Rubicons. As you can see, some of my 'completed' armour needs finishing off fully.

Another side project is to complete three of these DD tank skirts by Urban Constructs to allow beach and river crossings.

Treadhead week - WW2 British Armour

Over the past year I have hoarded numerous armour kits from a variety of manafacturers. This week I am going to focus on assembling them as a break from regiments of Prussians! Hopefully the air brush bought last year will also get it's first run out. Priority is to fill the Sherman and Churchill tank troops. Then the wheeled recce troop.

Kits include:

1. Churchill Tanks (1× Warlord plastic & 1x Blitzkrieg resin NA75)
2. Sherman V (2 x Warlord plastic, one a S and S dozer blade)
3. M3 Halftracks ( 2 x Warlord plastic)
4. MK II Lloyd Carrier ( 2 x Warlord resin)
5. Preying mantis ( Butler printed models)
6. Comet (Warlord Resin)
7. AEC Armoured Car (Blitzkrieg resin)
8. Staghound AA (Blizkrieg resin)
9. Humber Armoured Cars (Warlord resin)
10. Bofors AA gun (Warlord metal)
11. CMP 15cwt truck (Rubicon plastic)
12. Humber utility car (Anyscale models)

• Also there is still work to do on the existing armoured force including detailing, weathering, transfers and trying to get some consistancy in style and look.

On completion of this, I only see myself doing conversions for niche RE, REME and RA vehicles, oddities and filling various holes in the force which should be able to cover the NW Europe campaign from D Day through to the Rhine Crossing; Berlin or Bust!

Warlord Sherman with an Urban Construct mine flail kit to create a Sherman Crab. Needs weathering.

Sarissa Precision railway signal box

Calling the Sarissa Precision signal box complete. Now to sort some track out to finish the terrain collection. A joy to build, I am really getting into mdf terrain.

Paint table Sunday

The Easter edition of paint table Sunday was very productive. Not only did the trench prototype get finished but also some AFVs and the Sarrisa Precision 220 loco was completed.

First up is the Urban Construct's Churchill ARK bridging tank. The casting was a bit messy and required a lot of cleaning up with files. The ramps are printed and thus have the line patina common to printed parts. Overall a decent model that reflects the prototype. I heavily weathered this  model to reflect the rather disposable and abused nature of this bit of kit with other AFVs crossing over it. Still need to add transfers to this model. This model will join my ever growing Royal Engineer echelon for my WW2 late war British Army and will add some flavor to gap crossing scenarios.

Next up was Rosa Miniatures A30 Challenger. This was my first fully printed tank; needless to say I am very intrigued by the technology. The barrel is a bit chunky as are a few other parts and the hull has the usual print lines which are difficult to remove. A bit of effort saw the turret cleaned of these lines and barrel reduced a little. The model scales okay against the Warlord Cromwell. This kit is cheaper than plastic or resin and fills the gap in the range of the big makers. Stowage by Tamiya. The A30 Challenger tank was a variant of the Cromwell tank, which had a lengthened hull and a larger turret to house the 17 Pdr anti tank gun. They were usually deployed within Cromwell Troops, with three Cromwells and one Challenger tank. Later on they were replaced with Sherman VC Fireflys or Comet tanks. Surprisingly even with the taller turret it is still slightly lower than a Sherman.

The last item was Sarrisa Precision's 220 locomotive finished in wartime austerity black and heavily weathered due to wartime neglect. Buffers were converted from map pins, charcoal added to the tender to simulate coal and a vacuum pipe added to the front made from wrapped wire. This loco shall be used on tables representing WW1, WW2 and even the RCW. A fiddly MDF kit, well designed and worth the build.

Trench terrain

Managed to get a terrain project nearly finished! This was a prototype trench section, I intend to do more to fit the length of a six foot table. Using principles from my favorite terrain building book, the now sadly out of print How to build wargames terrain by GW, I attempted to use bits of domestic waste for the build.

The starting point was hard board packing from a furniture box. I then used polystyrene packing glued to that base to form a rough outline of the trench. These were then cut back at a slight angle. Sections of corrugated sheet Slaters plastikard were glued in to form the revetment. Plastikard angle sections were then glued on top to restrain the sheets. The polystyrene was then covered in polyfilla. The front facing side of the trench had Renedra sandbags glued in to form a parapet. Using card robbed from a cornflakes packet, I cut them it into thin strips and glued it into the bottom of the trench to simulate duck boards. The model was then coated in sand gravel mix and PVA to fix it. Painted and inked in acrylic paints.

Very happy how the trench turned out, this can be used for WW1, WW2 and possibly Cold War Warsaw Pact trenches. Now to build five more sections and some gun pits!

28mm Sarissa Precision Railways

Taking advantage of a railway special offer last year,  I had bought Sarissa's 220 Mixed Traffic Locomotive and Signal Box packs.

The Signal box was a joy to build and looks a great reflection of the prototype. The 220 engine was a beast to assemble, but again looks magnificent. More work on sanding the boiler flush and sourcing some buffers and vac pipe before painting.
Considering a generic black freight/ mixed traffic livery with plenty of weathering to reflect wartime austerity conditions.

So now I own two armoured trains, this loco and some lineside equipment. Just need to base the track and build some embankments and the railway project is complete...  apart from a British WW2 armoured train for Bolt Action.

Bolt Action Game

My first real game in ages, 2000pts. I opted for a late war British armoured unit, my opponant a late war Waffen SS list.  Needless to say I was rusty and got trounced thanks to 'Mr Naughty' a Tiger Tank.  Great fun though.

 The dining room table repurposed using the new Killing Fields teddy bear fur mat.

 The line of advance for the British. Somwhere lies a PAK40...

 Burning Cromwells

 Lots of burning British tanks. German forces having pushed hard over the table.

 More burning Cromwells...

 17pdr armed Achilles taking a shot

 Sexton strikes a Panzer Mk IV

 The infantry engage with the Panzer Mk IV

The Sherman Firefly strikes a hit on the Tiger amid a field of knocked out tanks