Showing posts with label WW2 Britain & Commonwealth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WW2 Britain & Commonwealth. Show all posts

22 January 2022

Allied "Funnies"

As a follow up to the "Ersatz" Opel Blitz pictures published on the blog last month,  my miniature allied arsenal also has some "funnies" that were pressed into service many moons ago.

Sherman Jumbo

A repainted Matchbox Battle Kings die-cast toy that a mate of mine Iván gave me when we first met and started gaming together on a regular basis some 20 years ago. 

The Matchbox tracks were missing and were replaced with tracks off a Hasegawa 1/72nd scale M4A3E8 Sherman. 

The tank commander is an Airfix British Paratrooper.

Even though it's oversized and clunky, it's seen some action as a Sherman Jumbo in a couple of games over the years. 

When you compare it with a lovely detailed kit, like the Trumpeter Sherman below, it's toylike appearance is even more evident. Anyhow, even if it raises a few eyebrows when I next get it on the gaming table again I don't mind too much.


Roco M40 155mm / Sherman suspension hybrid

About the same time back in the early 2000's, my tiny, but growing US forces were in urgent need of some mobile artillery. Getting your hands an Esci M12 was difficult, but I had a Roco Minitanks 1/87 155mm M40, but without the HVSS suspension. 

A broken 1/76 scale Sherman came to the rescue and donated its suspension and tracks to the allied cause, giving birth to this strange hybrid.

It's small next to a Matchbox M40 kit, but on the other hand, it's only a little smaller in size to a real Esci M12 - which I now have thankfully through Ebay, (and also now some excellent Altaya M12 diecasts).


Sherman Dozer

The British Shermans below were all made back in the early 2000's.

We were going to game a scenario that needed a Sherman dozer. A few days before the game I managed to get a hot-wheels bulldozer from a toyshop, fixed the blade onto the front of one of the Shermans and hey-presto ! Not very pretty but you can see what its function is.  


I did recently get a real dozer blade for my US forces. The blade came courtesy of a kit from UM Models.  Not sure if my version is comical or just sad in comparison.


Thanks for visiting, hope you enjoyed the pictures. Will be back with some new stuff later in the month.

Cheers, John

03 October 2021

Youtube

Recently added two short videos on the youtube channel of some vintage plastic 20mm figures.

If you click on the images below they will take you to the videos and open up in a new tab. Hope they bring back a few happy memories.



02 April 2021

Helmet Scrim for Smallscale Figures

Ever wanted to add a helmet scrim effect onto your minis ?  I've put together a short video on Youtube showing how I do it with just a little gauze bandage, some nail scissors and a touch of white glue.

 If you click on either of the images below it open up the video in a new window in youtube. 

 

12 May 2020

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.



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.



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. 




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.








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



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.

28 June 2017

8th Army Uniform - 1/72 Scale Painting Guide


There was a time when I thought my Airfix sand-coloured plastic figures really looked the business with the exposed parts of the skin painted with good old Humbrol Matt Flesh - and of course to a 10 year-old kid they did.


And that kid still lives in my head, and even though various decades have passed since then, and even if I spend maybe a little more time painting my figures nowadays, I do still try and keep things as simple as possible,



Drybrush & Wash Technique

The figures below were all painted using a simple technique that brings out the detail well and allows you to finish off a large number of figures in a relatively short time.




I'll cover the preparation, basing and undercoating in a separate post in more detail, but the painting technique itself is straightforward and simple as follows.

  • Paint a large batch of figures in the base uniform colour. 
  • Once dry, give them a very heavy drybrush of a much lighter colour to highlight the raised uniform areas, straps, buckles, rucksacks, etc. 
  • Block paint flesh areas and weapons.
  • Finally finish off the whole batch with a wash to bring out the details. 


Acrylic Paints / Colours / Wash

Acrylic paints are the best for this job and I generally use colours from the Vallejo range.

For the 8th Army figures I've used the following.
  • Vallejo Khaki - base uniform colour
  • Vallejo Iraqui Sand - heavy drybrush.






There are various products on the market sold exclusively as "washes" or "dips", but I've found that - at least for me - the best option is to use a good quality artists' acrylic Raw Umber diluted with water to a consistency of milk. In this example I've used the following
  • Van Gogh Acrylic Raw Umber

You just need to squeeze out a half-thumbnail sized blob into a bottle top or similar recipient, mix in water to get the right consistency, and paint a generous dose onto each figure.

The wash will settle into the folds and crevices of the figures and once it has dried you'll see a very pleasing and subtle highlight and shadow effect.


Further Detailing



The 8th army uniform can range from sun-bleached sandy white to the darker hues of khaki brown and even green. This all depends on the issue of uniform, the amount of time exposed to the sun and elements, etc., so you might want your figures to have more variation.

You can use the same technique but paint in more detail before the final wash, and play around with variations on the straps, pouches, rucksacks, helmets, etc., using lighter browns, sand, other shades of khaki, greys, and so on.

Another option is to also try with different washes using deeper shades and / or consistencies of artists' acrylics.

If you want to certain figures to stand out, such as as officers or special units, or even whole squads, once the wash has dried you can further detail the figures by touching up certain areas, dark-line, highlight, etc., etc





Colour Guide

The illustration below is a guide based on Vallejo colours for painting 20mm British & Commonwealth WW2 8th Army figures.







One final note : Boots

The British wore black boots but if you've ever walked around, even for a very short time, in dry dusty terrain you'll already know that whatever colour your boots might have originally been, they will soon become the exact same colour of that same terrain,

For this reason I prefer to leave the boots in a dusty shade to try and match the flocked base.


There are plenty of options for painting the 8th Army and many of us have various preferences for colours and techniques so please feel free to add any comments.

04 December 2016

Matchbox British Infantry / British Commandos

Following on from the previous post, some more 1:76 scale British / Commonwealth figures, this time from Matchbox.

These are a mixture of figures from the British Infantry and British Commandos sets with a couple of conversions.

Three different figures based on the same charging pose. The original unaltered figure on the left.


The NCO figure with the beret wielding a Colt-45 pistol is from the British Infantry set. The running figure with the Thompson SMG is from the Commando set with a head-swap.


Two more figures from the British Infantry set- officer on the left wearing a leather jerkin, and on the right a figure that I’ve often used as a tank crewman.


A mix of figures below from the Commandos and Infantry sets.


Love this crazy guy – you can see he’s bawling in thick Glasgow accent “come on you f**kers, I’ll take you all on !”

In the Commando set you also get a German sentry who looks like he’s just been taken out by this guy. I must get around to paining up that sentry and get a picture of the two together….

This poor lad below is from the Anzac Infantry set.


Makes a good casualty marker for games.

And finally a picture of the whole family


The Matchbox sets have been around for a good number of years – and I remember painting figures from these sets with Humbrol enamels back when they first came out when I was a kid – but up until recently they were difficult to come by, but thankfully that changed very recently when Revell re-released the sets.

26 November 2016

Airfix British Commandos


Those over a certain age will recognise these figures – they’re from the Airfix 1st version 1-76 scale British Commandos set. In the picture above the two guys below have been given new heads with helmets. The radio operator has been given a beret made from epoxy.





Beautifully sculpted 2nd version 1:76 scale Airix British Commandos. The sculptor, Ron Cameron, was an artist who was able to capture the human form perfectly, decades before before computer assisted design ever existed.



The Bren gunner on the far right wearing a helmet is from the Airfix 2nd version 1:76 scale British infantry set.



I replaced the flimsy and bendy Bren that the figure was carrying for more sturdy one in a harder plastic taken from the Imex Korean War US Army set (yes, the set really does have Brens)



Below, from left to right, an Airfix 2nd version British infantry stretcher-bearer, 2nd from the left one of the new Airfix British infantry figures with a commando head, and the two figures in berets are old smallscale Hong Kong copies (quite bad copies I should add) of the Airfix 1/32 scale British paras, with their smocks painted to try and represent leather jerkins.

13 October 2013

HaT WWI British Artillery Crew



A quick post of some HaT WW1 British artillery crewmen that have just been finished.

Also added a comparison picture with some Emhar figures and an old Airfix 13pdr Gun from the RHA set.

14 July 2013

Arnhem campaign no.1: Recon rescue - Disposable Heroes Rules

Well, here we go again with the Arnhem campaign with Ironivan Disposable Heroes.

Set on September 27, 1944 when the British reconnaissance squadron, commanded by Major Freddie Cough, began to move towards the Arnhem bridge. His orders were to get ahead of the infantry and take the bridge in a surprise attack, but when they advanced they fell under the fire of an SS Training Battalion. The Major was killed by machine-gun fire and the soldiers who accompanied him were wounded. The British objectives are to rescue the wounded and destroy the enemy machine guns, while the German objective is to maintain their troops in good order and destroy the largest number of British units.

The battlefield :


The wounded para next to his overturned jeep in the centre of the table


British paras in jeeps roar onto the table to rescue their wounded comrade.





German troops open fire from the cover of light woods



We've got him ! Let's get out of here !


German snipers take aim


Meanwhile a British light mortar fires into the woods at the Germans to cover the retreat.


The Brits finally manage to evacuate their wounded comrade, although they have suffered various casualties in the process.