WW2 British Motor Gunboat, Würzburg Radar & Sailors

A few years ago our small wargaming group gave a demonstration game of the Operation Biting Bruneval Raid at a local comic / cosplay / gaming event.

The scenario was  designed by one of our fellow gamers Iván, who also built the magnificent terrain board and coastline.

You can see a game report on the link below, which will open up in a new window if you click it. It's in Spanish, but with pictures that speak for themselves

https://wargamestenerife.blogspot.com/2015/03/bruneval-commando-raid-1942.html

For the game we already had plenty of 1/72 scale Germans as the defenders, and also lots of British Paras left over from an Arnhem wargame campaign (albeit in the wrong uniform for this raid, but we could live with that) and more than enough scenery.

What we didn't have were some rescue vessels to to provide covering fire as the paras were picked up from the coastline, and something to represent the Würzburg radar.

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Würzburg Radar

We knocked up a crude representation of the radar just a few days before the game.

Well, I did say crude  ........

It's basically a perspex ball cut off at the top and mounted onto a structure taken off a toy crane, and then fixed onto the base of an Italeri 90/53 Gun.

A good dousing of grey paint and on the day it did its job and nobody mentioned that it bore only a fleeting resemblance to the real thing.

Should also add that nobody mentioned either that the British paras were wearing red berets and were dressed for Arnhem.

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British Motor Gunboat

This was a bit of an invention, made from a modified toy motor launch.

The missile launchers and oversized MG on the the stern were removed and the bridge was taken off and moved forward.

It was also cut down to make it a waterline model and two Bofors were added, one the bow and stern.

Painted grey and with a Royal Navy Ensign flying, it makes a more or less passable MGB.

And here she is, MGB "Conversio" providing covering fire as the Paras made their way down to the beach with a German prisoner and parts taken off the radar. 

The landing craft crashing onto the beach in the foreground is an Airfix LCM with the pilot's house removed and a few other minor conversions. 

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Sailors

The vessels couldn't be complete without crew members, and the sailors are mostly conversions with a mix from various sets.

There are a couple of Airfix civilians and a Dapol railway worker with new heads, plus a few Revell Kriegsmarine figures and some Emhar WW1 British

Quite a few of the sailors have heads taken off the old Airfix British WW1 figures in caps as they make good donors and you just need to slightly trim down the visor at the front and they are perfect for representing the flat visorless hat worn by British sailors. 

The idea for using the WW1 British Infantry heads like this isn't my original idea, I got it from a very old Airfix magazine article back in the 1970s.

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Just to say that I was inspired to finally get around to posting these picture after viewing an excellent post on sailor conversions and a huge WW2 vessel by Simon from the Service Ration Distribution blog which I recommend you visit. You can access his post on the following link (click and it will open in a new window)

https://servicerationdistributionhobby.blogspot.com/2020/05/ships-finishing-touches-lock-down-catch.html

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As always, keep safe and hope that wherever you are the lockdown is easing and that we are all slowly but surely getting over the worst.

Work in Progress - Rorke's Drift Hospital and Supply Depot

My wargaming buddy Carlos recently bought the Italeri Battle of Rorke's Drift set which comes with a very nice MDF version of the hospital and supply depot.

Image from www.italeri.com



Carlos had put the buildings together but said he wasn't in the mood to paint it, so I was more than happy to give it a go.

The walls were first given a thin coat of Vallejo "Sandy Paste" to give them more of a gritty look.



Then once the sandy paste was dry, the buildings were given an undercoat from a cheapo spray can of matt black paint bought in a local Chinese shop (here in Spain there are thousands of these shops that basically sell low-grade dollar-store items and cheap / tacky stuff. They're affectionately known as "chinos" as they are generally owned and run by people from China).

After the undercoat was dry, the walls were "whitewashed" with a few thin successive coats of acrylic paint.



The buildings were then detailed, and finished off with some dry brushing, washes and given a good dousing of pigment powders.

Enjoyed painting these, it was a nice change from tanks and figures, and I'm pleased at how well these laser-cut MDF building look once they're painted. They're also very sturdy but lightweight at the same time.

Anyhow, Carlos now has the buildings back and hopefully he'll finish the roofs soon - he's going to use some fake-fur to give them thatched roofs - we'll post some pictures when they're finished. 

WARGAMING SCENERY - How-to Make Rivers, Ponds and Marshes using X-rays

mprovised Rivers, Ponds and Marshes using X-rays

Some time ago a friend from our wargame group, Juan Reyes (Brazo de Nelson Wargamers Club) had a brilliant idea of using cut-outs from old X-rays that he painted over with gloss paint to use as wargame scenery to make marshes.



In a recent game scenario we needed a wide river section to cross the entire table, and so inspired by Juans marshes, we cut-up some old x-rays with scissors to make improvised river sections.



These are not painted, just the bare X-rays but they actually work very well.

The game was one of a series of scenarios weve gamed from an Arnhem campaign. The bridge spanning the river is an Airfix Pontoon Bridge, mounted on supports made from Lego and painted concrete grey.

Toy Tree Upgrade

These are Spanish copies of Britains Deetail toy trees.

I've had them in a box since last year, just before Christmas, when I got them in a department store where they were selling shiny plastic plants and trees for Nativity scenes.

As I'd been working on some other scenery stuff over the weekend, and after seeing that the shops are stocking up again on Nativity scene stuff, I remembered I had these hidden away and so I dug them out of their box.

The trunks and branch structure are basically really good.

The only things that needed changing are the radioactive green shiny plastic leaves.

I gave the trunks a drybrush and added some dark foam foliage.

They just need the bases flocking and they'll be finished.

Abandoned Tram

A few weeks ago my mate Iván phoned me and said he'd found a 1/72 scale model tram lying abandoned in the gutter and immediately thought of me.

I like to think he thought of me because of the 1/72 tram, not me lying in the gutter - as a respectable middle-aged man I now no longer end up in the gutter after a mad Saturday night out.

It's a promotional model of some kind that the local tram company must have been using at some event, and must have been just slung away when they finished with the promotion.

It's a bit scratched, but it looks the business and all it needs is a bit more dirtying up and we've got a nice scenery piece for a modern-day / post-apocalyptic game.

Thanks Iván.

"Dream House"

I was in the UK a short while ago and happened to go into a "Poundshop"

Sifting through the garbage and tat, you can usually always find something useful in those places and I found these brightly coloured 1/72 scale "Dream houses" - well, actually half a house, you have to buy two to make a full-house.

When I get them painted up they should make half-decent scenery items.

More than "amused", I found the description hilarious :-)

1/72 Scale Italeri Coastal Defense Bunker

Italeri 1/72 Scale Coastal Defence Bunkers.

Nice solid models that paint up really well.

These were made and painted by Carlos de Concha from the Tenerife Brazo de Nelson Wargames Club.

Copper Wire Armature Trees

Copper Wire Armature Trees



The technique of using twisted copper wire to make tree armatures is quite well known to railway enthusiasts, diorama builders and wargamers.



The twisted copper wire armatures have been covered with various layers of white glue and black paint and the foliage has been made from steel wool (like Brillo but without the soap) covered by dried herbs and scatter material.

You can also use lichen, as can be seen on one of the trees in the photographs.

Choo-Choo Trains

Browsing in a Toys-r-Us store I found a great bargain, an old-fashioned looking steam train. Not just that, two metres of track, two carriages, a fuel/water tank and even a tractor.



And I'm thrilled with the farm figures and cute horses and cows that come with it.



A railway line, plus train & carriages are just the thing needed to spice up a table.

This train just HAD to be a Russian train too. Once painted black, and with the addition of a couple of red stars and a resoundingly uplifting slogan "death to the fascist invaders" - many thanks to Sveta Thomas, my friend Mark Thomas' wife.





Similarly,the carriages were given a thorough "dirtying"





Below,the tracks after painting and flocking, and the water / fuel tank. I also painted that bright red tractor green and added a couple of stars.



And you know the train actually works on batteries. You can see those wheels spinning like mad, and it also has a little light to see in the dark.