Cardboard buildings from Metcalfe

The Metcalfe Factory situated in Oosterbeek just before a lot of paras appear.

My pals Koen, Thomas and Daniel staged a participation game of Chain of Command at Smashcon the other week. I was fully occupied with gaming with my son David during that day (and with daughter Johanna the next) so the only thing I did for that game was to bring some houses, among them a cardboard factory I made several years ago.

Another view of Oosterbeek

That got me thinking of those unbuilt kits from Metcalfe that were hidden in the bottom of my mini-mountain of terrain-pieces.

The rest of the Factory

I got the remaining building from the 00/H0 Small Factory box and also 00 Water Tower and Sand House. They are really excellent stuff, easy and fast to build.

Sand House

I will probably use pigments to dirty them up a bit, but I prefer to do that outside as it is rather messy and we’ve just got a lot of snow here so that will have to wait.

Water Tower

Hotchkiss H38/39 from S-Models

Thomas and I are doing our best to fill the gaps in our French and German forces for France 1940 and Chain of Command.

We checked what we had and made a list of what was really needed and that list wasn’t too long - essentially a handful of figures with special weapons.

When I rummaged around in the box of 1/72 scale WWII-stuff I found some unbuilt tanks that just really wanted to be built. So, as a warm-up to the French soldiers, I built and painted these H38-tanks. Really nice kits, you get two in a box and can make a choice between long and short guns and also open or closed commanders hatch.

I chose to have two opened hatches as I have two commanders from the Matchbox Char B1:s that will fit well, but they are not painted yet.

So here you have four tanks to my ever expanding French 1940-army.

Zvezda’s Vickers Machine Gun with Crew and another give-away

Another great little 1/72 kit from Zvezda’s Art of Tactic range. When you look on the cover art of the box one thing is immediately obvious, namely that the machine gun looks somewhat strange. Yep, the real thing didn’t have the shield. So if you’re building this kit, just skip that (I used mine for one of my LRDG vehicles).

The cover says it is usable for 1939 to -43, but considering that the crew is wearing gas masks and 1939 pattern entrenching tool I would advise against using it later than 41, if that. Anyway it is perfect for BEF 1940 and Operation Seelöwe.

One thing missing in the kit is the condensation can that was used to preserve cooling water. I scrounged one from a Hät-set of British machine guns.

The soldiers were painted as presented in the painting tutorial.

Don't forget my give-away, open until December 22.

Don't forget The Batman Holiday Giveaway at Tales of a Tabletop Skirmisher. Great site, great giveaway

BEF painting tutorial

I have painted a couple of 1/72 British Infantry from Battlefield Miniatures and their Blitz range, using the reference books as inspiration. This is hopefully something that is close enough to the real thing.

I’ve included paints below for more specialised equipment too, just to have everything in one place, and you will see examples of that in future posts.

Paints used:

Uniform, water bottles – Vallejo 921 English Uniform

Helmet, ammo boxes and other equipment – DOA Khaki Green G3

Boots, scabbard – Black

Webbing, pouches, anklets – 881 Yellow Green

Helmet nets – drybrush 819 Iraqui Sand, no wash (note – these were uncommon for BEF in 1940)

Anti-gas cape (rolled on backpack), gas mask bag (on chest) – 887 Brown Violet

Band to rolled anti-gas cape – 819 Iraqui Sand

Wood – 984 Flat Brown

Steel details, weapons – 863 Gunmetal Grey + two washes of Army Painter Dark Tone ink. (note, on these minis I used 863 Oily Steel and Strong Tone wash, but it is not as good)

Machine-gun band – 819 Iraqui Sand

Cartridges – Brass

Text on ammo boxes etc – 948 Golden Yellow

Everything washed with AP Strong Tone ink.

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BEF – A9 and A10 from SHQ

These tanks are the latest addition to my now growing force of BEF vehicles. I bought them years ago, and they got totally wrong colours then. A bath in acetone made short work of the paint (and super glue).
The kits are of descent quality. It's quite a lot of work to get them presentable, and there are some prominent mould missmatches and partly destroyed moulds making for less than perfect detail. 

Painted as my other BEF-vehicles; camouflage Dark Green G4 and Khaki Green G3 from DOA. Tracks Vallejo Panzer Aces 304 drybrushed with Vallejo 865 Oily Steel. Rubber GW Black. Everything washed with a dilute wash of Army Painter Quickshade Dark Tone.

Decals from ‘BEF – set 2 AFVs’ from Dan Taylor, and ‘UK – Tactical Markings UK-4’ from Aleran Miniatures.

A dusting with pigments to make them a bit dirty.

BEF – Scout cars, trucks and ugly guns

First batch of 20mm BEF vehicles painted and ready for action.

First two Daimler Scout Cars from Skytrex. Really nice metal kits (They have been re-launched by 20mm Zone/Early War Miniatures with new moulds and all).

Bedford OYD 3 ton Lorries from Frontline (number B16)

Morris Commercial 15cwt Platoon Truck from Frontline (B1) and Bedford 15cwt light truck from Brittania (RVM24)

Finally three 2pdrs. They were ugly when I built them a long time ago, and they are still ugly. But they were my test-cases for the new paints. I have a couple of Zvezda ones that I plan to build shortly. They are much, much nicer.

So, what about paints then? British vehicle colours are a tricky issue, and Mike Starmer did a great job at figuring out the exact shades of the colours used.

DOA is a new company, specialising in WWII paints. They’ve used Mike Starmer's results and has produced a great set of paints for everyone interested in British armour. I bought mine from Trackpads. Highly recommended.

I used Dark Green G4 and Khaki Green G3.

The gas-indication colour patches on the bonnets are Vallejo 923 Japan Uniform WWII.

As if colours were not enough, we have the markings of the vehicles to take into consideration. The soft skins were relatively easy, as I used the excellent ‘BEF 1940 Softskins (1)’ sheet from Dan Taylor Modelworks for most of the decals. Also 'British Arm of Service Markings AD38' from Skytrex Decals and a little bit of free-hand painting.

The scout cars were a mix of ‘UK – BEF 1940 Markings’ from Aleran Miniatures and ‘BEF – set 2 AFVs’ from Dan Taylor and some free-hand painting.

All decals applied on gloss varnished surfaces, and were coated with Vallejo Decal Medium and Decal Fix, and a final coat of Matt Varnish.

The vehicles finally got a dusting with pigments.

Welcome follower Sanguemarcio with the blog Miniature Warfare, a really nice site on wargames, miniatures and terrain – beautiful stuff.

Hangar in 1/72 scale

I got this kit last winter, started building it and put it away as I needed to spray-paint the components and that is best done outside when the weather is decent. So, off course, I forgot it.

During my big drive to tidy up and organise my gaming stuff, the hangar surfaced. As one of my goals this year is to finish all my half-made stuff, this got a bit of priority.

It’s a laser-cut cardboard kit and produced by GPM, a Polish company. It is cleverly done with corrugated cardboard for all the walls and the roof.

Construction of the kit is a bit fiddly, and especially the beams are prone to bend when you put them together and when you place the beams onto the walls. I used a good trick I learned from Battle Systems; I coated the fragile ends with super glue, turning them rock-hard.

A good advice is to dry-fit everything before gluing (I used superglue gel) as the instruction sheet isn’t very clear. I assembled the individual walls first and then put them together as an open box. Attached the girders for the roof after that, and when dry attached the corrugated roof. I then glued the hangar onto the ground-sheet and finally attached the doors.

I attached the windows in a different way that the instructions said, as I thought that looked better. So, do try everything out beforehand.

The end result is an enormous hangar. Really good-looking and a very useful addition to our Italian desert airfield. Soon to be raided by LRDG.

Recommended!

French trucks and a van from Frontline

Working hard on removing the WWII-vehicle plastics/tin/resin mountain. I have around 20 British vehicles built and waiting for paints to arrive, and while waiting I assembled some Frontline 20mm resin vehicles, two civilian ones - C3 Lorry With Canvas Tilt and C4 Delivery Van – and two Polish (and they were recommended as French when I bought them a couple of years ago) – P10 Polski Fiat 508 Light Pick-Up Truck.

I need French trucks for future CoC or IABSM scenarios, so French they are…

The trucks and pick-ups were painted with Vallejo 975 Military Green and dry brushed with Vallejo 978 Dark Yellow. Tyres black. Decals from Aleran Miniatures France -40 series, French Transport.

They got a very light dusting of MIG PO39 Industrial City Dirt pigments.

The van was painted Citadel Foundation Necron Abyss and dry brushed with Vallejo 965 Prussian Blue. The signs are some posters I found on the web, and printed on a colour printer. It’s a liquor, of course…

Don’t forget The Miniatures Man 50K Giveaway! We have reached more than 100 followers, so the stretch-goal is unlocked.

Welcome

- One A Day Tech with a brand new tech-blog with the same name.

- DeanM with WAB Corner on historical wargaming.

- Karitas with Excommunicate Traitoris – a wargaming and modelling blog. Lots of 40K and fantastic painting. Well worth a visit.

- Will Mays with Will’s Ramblings about miniature wargaming and photography. A very nice site.

- Lord Siwok with blog Brains and Guts! -you guessed it – zombies!

If any of you do have blogs I’ve missed, then put a link in the comments below and I’ll link to them.

LRDG-crew

At long last I have finished the crew to my Chevy, and also two improvised LRDG-soldiers on foot.

The driver is original as base and has had his right arm switched to one that could hold the steering wheel. The arm I used had short sleeve, so I had to build a new sleeve and also shoulder with green-stuff.

The Boys ATR is metal and from SHQ. The crew-member manning it is also based on the original, but I switched the right arm and the head to suitable pieces from the box of little toy soldiers and shoulder and scarf from green-stuff.

The standing crew-member comes from Revell Scottish Infantry, 8^th Army, and I removed his Thompson machine gun and pinned him to a suitable thin base, and got a figure that had perfect height to man the Vickers.

The wounded man on foot comes from Caesar WWII Underground Resisters. I removed his Sten gun and remodelled his left arm slightly to remove the armband. Also a helmet from the bits-box.

The last man comes from Caesar WWII Partisan in Europe and is straight from the box.

All figures painted with an assortment of sand-colours and browns. Washed with Citadel Devlan Mud.

50K hits! Yep, reached it in record time, so a give-away is coming. I just have to have a bit more time to prepare. 

Fieseler Storch in 1/72 from Academy

In my last post, about the LRDG test-game, you saw an unfinished Caproni-bomber on the airfield, belonging to Laffe.

A couple of mails, initially about who would get, and not get, what from the Winter War Kickstarter, got the snowball rolling. No one wanted the Finnish bicyclists, and by the way, I had started on my Fieseler Storch.

One thing led to another, and a competition was on.

The rules:

The one (me or Laffe) to e-mail a picture of the finished plane to the others was the winner of the competition.

The quality of the paintjob should be good enough to post on our blogs

To avoid a decisive victory the looser has 24 hours to finish his model. If he achieves that, the victory is deemed a minor victory.

Prizes:

Decisive Victory: The looser gets the bicyclists and must paint them within 3 months. Bragging rights for the winner, and he also gets to choose the next competition.

Minor Victory: The winner gets a limited bragging right. Thomas gets the bicyclists and can choose the next competition.

Well, I’m going to brag now. Guess who won. Yep, I don’t have to paint bicycle troops, and I will decide the in-group Painting Challenge II. That challenge will see Thomas participating also.

This turned out to be a great way to finish a prioritized model in record-time. Within 24 hours of me posting my picture, Laffe sent a mail of his Caproni. Newly painted. He took the advice from Thomas, and took a pic of what was ready. Turned out the underside wasn’t finished yet, so he swallowed the shame and admitted humiliating defeat.

A, sweeeeeeet.

Anyway. The winning model, from Academy, is a Fieseler Fi. 156 Storch (which can also be built as a Morane Saulnier MS 500/502 Criquet, used in Vietnam for example) in 1/72.

A straight-forward build. Some of the smaller details are on the thick side, which is good for our wargaming uses. The canopy is a bit tricky, as it is made from five clear-plastics pieces. I didn’t get a perfect fit and had to use some green-stuff.

Paints used (Vallejo):

Inside cockpit – 973 Light Sea Grey

Top – 929 Light Brown

Underside – 971 Green Grey

White band – 883 Silver Grey

Propeller – black

A dusting of sand-coloured pigment overall, and some black pigment from the exhaust.

Good enough, but won’t win any prizes… well, actually, it did J

LRDG Chevy in 1/76 from Revell - WIP

Been working on this for a while, and it starts to look fit for fight. I still have to finish the crew-members, add a Boys ATR for the man riding shotgun and a magazine for the Vickers. Also some pigments here and there. But you get the feeling for how it will look.

A big welcome to follower Paul Smith. I couldn’t see if you have a blog of your own. If you have, then write a note below and I’ll put in a link to it.

I’ve passed 40K hits on the blog, and when I reach 50K and/or 100 followers there will be a blog give-away. Lots of stuff waiting for new owners.

Savoia Marchetti S.M. 79 in 1/72 from Airfix

I picked up this old Airfix set, Savoia Marchetti S.M. 79 Mk II, a while ago at Hobbybokhandeln. Another ‘target’ for the LRDG, so it’s supposed to stand still on a desert airfield. No crews on board and a minimum of extra fluff - I skipped the optional armament and the torpedoes.

It’s an easy build, even though some of the pieces don’t fit that well. Some green stuff and sanding was needed here and there to cover the worst gaps.

Anyway, I wasn’t interested in a museum piece, as it is supposed to become wreathed in flames during the scenario we plan to do.

Paints used (as usual Vallejo unless otherwise noted)

Interior: 906 Pale Blue

Sand colour: ArmyPainter spray Desert Yellow

Underside: 989 Sky Grey

Brown Camo: 984 Flat Brown

Propeller hub: Citadel Foundation Mechrite Red

Propeller blades and wheels: black

Exhausts: Vallejo Panzer Aces 302 Dark Rust

I painted all areas to have decals with gloss varnish, and then I used Vallejo Decal Medium on all decals when I placed them on the model. When dry I painted on Vallejo Decal Fix.

Everything was then coated with matte varnish.

It fits exactly into my Ikea drawers. If only a couple of millimeters higher, and I would have had to re-position the cental propeller.

Ready to be shot to pieces.

Hotchkiss H35 in 20mm from Frontline

More resin models from Frontline, this time the French Hotchkiss H35.

The pieces was placed in water and machine-wash for about an hour, to get rid of the mould release.

Lots of bubbles and pits on the models, so quite a lot of preliminary work before I could start painting. Since I bought these I have seen that it is possible to buy these tanks in plastic, and I really think that would have been preferable, as the quality is somewhat lacking in these resin pieces. 

Colours used (Vallejo unless otherwise noted):

Base coat - 978 Dark Yellow

Green stripes – 894 Camouflage Olive Green

Borders – 980 Black Green

Exhaust – 302 Dark Rust

Tracks – Citadel Tin Bitz drybrushed with Citadel Chainmail

Washed with Citadel Devlan Mud overall and Citadel Black ink on springs.

Dusted with MIG pigments – P023 Black Smoke around the exhaust and P234 Rubble Dust and P029 Brick Dust overall.

Welcome follower InChigh74 with the blog 1914-45 – modelling and wargaming WWI and II. A really nice blog.

A farewell to Donald Featherstone, who has passed away.

Pz I in 1/72 from Minairons Miniatures

Got one Pz I A from Minairons from Thomas of Learning by Doing. I've been interested in this company for a while, so this little gift was most welcome.
A box comes with three tanks, each comprising of 9 parts (and an alternate turret). This is obviously a fast-build and as such it is somewhat simplified, as you can see. With the kit is a sheet of decals – early German, Koumintang Chinese and Spanish Nationalist. The crosses on this one comes from my own stash. 

The kit went together easily, and I painted it, as usual, as an early war tank. Checking my references I norticed that many Pz I:s were without numbers on their turrets, and being lazy I skipped them on this one - I concentrated on fast in fast-build...

All in all a very useful kit. Strongly recommended if you’re interested in early war Pz I:s for your wargaming and isn’t bothered by it being a bit simplified.

An variant with a 20mm Breda anti-tank gun, used very sparingly in the Spanish Civil War. Four made, I think.