Normandy Bocage Part 2

~ Colonel Mustard ~ Leave a comment

Following on from my blog a few weeks ago i recently finished more bocage sections using the same techniques as before. MDF bases with coconut fibre foliage flocked heavily with a bright green. Some sections include trees sticking out, which is apparently how these hedges evolved. Some sources put bocage up to 5m in height so with a scale of 10mm to 1m I made these sections up to 50mm tall. They definitely look the part and will block line of sight nicely and make my Normandy battlefields look more and more realistic.

I laid them all out with a home made ruined building and a few German armoured vehicles cruising through. Check out my photos below!

Hasegawa Sd.Kfz 251/1 Ausf. D Halftrack

~ Colonel Mustard ~ Leave a comment

Panzergrenadiers always need more half tracks to get them around the battlefield. In 1/72 scale there are plenty of options to choose from. After trying the Plastic Soldier Company fast build half track kits i wanted something that gave me a bit more of a challenge in the modelling department. The result was the purchase of a couple of these Sd/Kfz 251’s from Hasegawa at around AUD $10 each from my favourite Japanese hobby shop. In my experience Hasegawa kits are nice models, and provide a good mix of decent detail and an interesting build. This one is no exception.

You build the running gear first with all the individual wheels and rubber tracks. I have read plenty of complaints about these tracks but i think they are fine once you paint them. The running gear is then attached to the lower hull. I kept the upper hull unattached until after painting so i could paint the interior easily. No driver is supplied so i cut down a Plastic Soldier Company passenger i had spare and fitted him in. He lost most of his legs to squeeze in, but you can barely see the back of his head anyway. I also had some spare stowage and jerry cans (one of which i realise i put on backwards oops) which went on the armoured sides of the vehicle.

Paint job was the usual Tamiya Dark Yellow Dunkelb and a hand painted dark green camouflage scheme. Good decals are provided with a whole selection of numbers. You can never have enough transport vehicles and this Hasegawa kit is great value and definitely worth building the next time your grenadiers hit the roads and fields of Normandy.

Normandy Bocage with Coir Coconut Fibre

~ Colonel Mustard ~ Leave a comment

After further internet research i made some new bits of terrain for my Normandy battlefields. Passing through my local Bunnings Warehouse i stumbled upon a big bag of coir coconut fibre for about $6.00. Having read a few blogs about making bocage out of this stuff i thought i would give it a go! Normally this fibre is used for lining hanging baskets and gardening things like that, but for me it was going to become a 5 metre wild hedge on top of a bank/ditch. I think i read an excellent blog called “Little Tin Men” where the idea was illustrated so well.

I cut strips of 3mm MDF 40mm x 150mm and then glued strips of old cut up expanded rubber camping mats (about 6mm thick mats) and glued them on top of the MDF. When they were dry i would carve the sides to be sloping to represent the banks of the bocage. You could use any kind of foam or polystyrene for this too. I then coated each one in acrylic gap filler to smooth out the whole thing. When that was dry a liberal coating of PVA glue followed, which was covered in fine dirt/sand/gravel from my front yard. Regular sand would do the same job. Small twigs and sticks were then jabbed into the foam to give the hedge some structure. I put about 4 twigs into each section. You can also use bigger twigs that turn into trees sticking out of the hedge.

It was then a question of dipping sections of coir fibre into PVA glue and adding them onto the bocage sections building it up to 30-40mm high. This gets messy! Do not worry about being neat and tidy just get the fibre onto the base! I am going to try a hot glue gun next time as i have read good things about this gluing weapon. Once the PVA and coir is dry i attacked the hedges with a pair of scissors to tidy them up. Next a full spray of cheap dark brown paint covered the whole construction.

For the foliage I used a nice coarse bright green flock, but you can use whatever you have kicking around. I think multiple greens work nicely. Paint or spray on diluted PVA glue (50/50) to the hedges and then sprinkle on your flock. Don’t be stingy just chuck it all over the place. Shake off the excess and leave to dry. I did this process twice with different types of flock. Finally i mixed up a 50/50 PVA/Water mix in a spray bottle and sprayed the whole construction again for extra durability.

Final touches were to paint the base an earthy brown and then dry brush lighter brown to pick out the texture and light grey to pick out any bigger rocks. The base was then also flocked with a grassy green to finish it off! The same process i used for some trees on a base, which you can also see below.  I reckon this is the cheapest and most effective way of making big sections of bocage for all your Normandy battle fields out there!

AB Figures British Infantry in 1/72 scale

~ Colonel Mustard ~ Leave a comment

I finally got round to painting up a squad of British Infantry from my favourite metal figure manufacturer AB Figures. These are made in Australia these days and can be picked up from their web store at www.abfigures.com

They have a great range of British infantry, support and crews. Nic, who runs the show, is super helpful and delivery is decisive! Although these fellas are around ten times more expensive than some of their plastic counterparts, you just cannot match the quality of sculpting and variety of poses. They are just great to paint as all the detail sticks out like dog’s balls. I will end up replacing all my plastic infantry with these metal squaddies. You also cannot find any better tank crews, truck drivers, artillery crews than the AB creations. Go and check them out!

My troops are all based on Australian 10 cents coins, and painted in a home made British Uniform colour mix of Tamiya Khaki Drab mixed with yellow ochre (50/50 i think). Plus olive green webbing. Check them out below posing and wandering down a Normandy country lane…….

IBG Models 1/72 Chevrolet C15A No.11 Cab Personnel Lorry

~ Colonel Mustard ~ Leave a comment

IBG Models are a Polish model company that make a smallish range of 1/72 scale vehicles mainly for the Allies. Some British and American trucks and carriers. You can buy them direct from the company in Poland, which is probably the cheapest option, or if you are like me you can get them at around AUD $20 per kit from good Australian stores like BNA Model World.

What can i say, you pay a bit more for these kits, but they are worth it. This Chevy truck was a pleasure to build. There isn’t much more for me to say! IBG make three or four versions of the same truck, plus some British Bedfords and Universal carriers. They have some good looking American trucks too which i am definitely going to try. For your Allied army transport needs do not look any further than this!

In the back of mine i put some crates and stuff and a few British Tank Riders from HaT. Same with the driver who is a cut down HaT figure. When i get some more of these i will try putting some relaxed Tommies from AB Figures who have just the right poses lounging around in the back….

The paint job was a simple olive drab and some dirt. Good decals are supplied. No arguments here this was a great model to build and i would recommend it to everyone!

 

Zvezda Tiger Tank Pz VI in 1/72 scale

~ Colonel Mustard ~ Leave a comment

The legendary Pz VI Tiger Tank is another must have for any German force. I was very excited to build this offering from Zvezda and rumble it into battle against some weedy. under equipped British tanks. Advertised as an easy build, snap together model, i was expecting to get through the building phase quickly and smoothly. Unfortunately i found that the “snap together” description turned out to be more just “snap” and “snap off”.

The kit comes with minimal parts, an upper and lower hull, some simplified wheel configurations, 4 or 5 piece turret and gun, plus plenty of details for the upper hull. I painted the wheels, lower hull and tracks before construction to make it easier afterwards. The tracks snap onto a couple of lugs on the road wheels and run along the topside of the wheels first. You then attach the road wheels to the hull with the track lying flat. I had then serious trouble trying to get the front sprocket and rear drive wheel onto the model while then folding the track around the bottom set of wheels. I think you need to leave the model to dry for a good few hours and let the road wheels’ bond with the lower hull get super strong before moving on. In my impatience when i then attempted to wrap around and snap the tracks onto the corresponding lugs in the bottom road wheels, i managed to shift the whole track and wheel assembly out of position and make a big mess.

In my frustration i also managed to snap off the lugs in the road wheels so the track didn’t sit nicely. What a pain. If i had taken my time things might have worked out better. I salvaged the positioning mostly by re-gluing and fiddling but the tank’s rear still sits a little lower than its meant to. The rear drive wheel is also a little low.

You also need to be very careful when trying to snap the upper hull to the lower hull that you only apply pressure to the upper and lower hull sections, do not push from the track assembly as it’s possible you can snap off the whole track. I used a pair of tweezers to grab the hull not the tracks. Upon further research i did find another modeller who had encountered similar issues.

Apart from these frustrations i reckon he came out OK and i was happy with my paint job. Next time i am buying a Revell or Trumpeter Tiger. I don’t like the snap together thing, quite happy to stick to good old glue……..

Trumpeter M4A3 Sherman and M4 Sherman Tank Mid Production

~ Colonel Mustard ~ Leave a comment

You can never have enough Sherman Tanks. I had previously bought a pack of three Shermans from the Plastic Soldier Company, but felt they were a little on the big side, so wanted to try a different angle. I purchased these two Sherman kits from Trumpeter at around AUD $10 per kit on line. Somewhere between a fast build and normal kit, i was very pleased with what i found in the boxes.

You have the option to build the bogey wheels from individual wheels and parts or just use the one piece bogeys that are supplied. I didn’t see much difference so opted for the lazy route. I can keep the spare wheels in my spares box. The hull has plenty of moulded on detail, which may not suit everyone, and i guess doesn’t match up to the PE and other detail found on Dragon and Unimodel tanks. But hey, i reckon these are pretty good looking little tanks for your money.

The commanders hatch can be open or closed, i think you need to cut it in half to open it up. You also get a choice of 50 or 30 cal machine guns to go on the turret. There are a couple of wooden crates for stowage, but i added plenty of my own to the tanks, and also some spare track bits i had kicking around. Adding extras to these guys certainly improves their look.

The vinyl tracks can be tricky to put on, and i had read some horror stories about Trumpeter track problems. I made sure i stretched mine very carefully to fit around all the wheels before attempting anything. Then i glued them starting over the top wheels first before letting that dry for a long time. Then putting glue on the sprocket wheels and folding the tracks around and under the tank. Once this was dry i would add glue on the bottom wheels and add some weight on top of the tank (turret off) so the glue would stick. I didn’t worry about connecting the ends of the tracks together until all the glue was dry. As long as you have stretched your tracks enough to touch, connection at the end should not be a problem.

The highlight of these kits are the decals! I wanted to make them British Shermans but could not resist the awesome decals that came with them. “To Hell With It” and “Classy Peg” just look great on the olive drab tanks.

 

Unimodel Sherman Dozer

~ Colonel Mustard ~ Leave a comment

Unimodel make a large range of World War 2 plastic kits in 1/72 scale covering many nations and many different vehicles. Getting through Normandy bocage can be tricky and this Sherman Bulldozer is just the right tank for helping cut handy holes through the dense brush.

The kit is more complicated than other Sherman models, coming in over 150 parts including some tiny photo etched guards and lights. The tracks come in individual links around the sprocket wheels which take a little patience too. So its a challenging little tank but I think well worth the effort. Once the tank is built the dozer blade is constructed and just attaches to the bogey wheels. I did have to fiddle around with this bit and clamp it to get it in the right spot.

The hatch can be modelled open, which I did, and put in an AB commander from their British range. Although its an American tank, and all the decals confirm this, I didn’t think it would matter. The Brits may borrow him anyway. The kit comes with a 50 cal machine gun, but I used a 30 cal from a different kit that fitted better with my commander.

It was painted the usual olive drab, the fun bit was adding steel scratches to the front blade. Check him out in action below!

 

Airfix Bedford Trucks QLD & QLT in 1/72 scale

~ Colonel Mustard ~ Leave a comment

The real shame for me these days about building Airfix kits is that they are mostly 1/76 scale and do not fit with all the other great new stuff out there. For old times sake i really want to buy some and relive those early days…… its a sign of getting old all this nostalgia. Fortunately Airfix do make a 1/72 scale kit of Bedford Trucks, the QLT and QLD, and i was very happy to build a couple of these a while back.

My British Army in Normandy definitely needed some transport to get them around the country side, and a few Bedfords are just the ticket. These are fantastic models from Airfix and fill a big hole in the 1/72 scale plastic choice for British trucks. The only other option i could find were from the Polish company IBG Models, which were more expensive for only one truck in a box. Airfix give you two trucks in one kit. Bonus.

Building these little fellas is a breeze, clear instructions, all round a great little model. I only struggled a little with the drive shafts in the chassis. I made sure i had them all fitting on a dry run before gluing. No drivers included, so i chopped down some HaT British Tank Riders who do a good job. Just make sure you paint the seats and inside of the cab and put in your painted driver before constructing the cab….. I also used more HaT British Tank Riders in the back of the troop carrying QLT. These HaT figures are great value and you get 44 men in a box, but if i do more i cant help wanting to buy more AB Figures instead.

I followed the suggested paint scheme with an olive drab and black camo scheme plus khaki drab and black for the tarpaulins. I actually used a permanent black marker to mark out the black camo scheme and then filled it in with black paint after that. Supplied decals are excellent and give you plenty of choice! There is no debate about these kits if you need British trucks go out and buy some! Some pictures below!!!

 

 

The Plastic Soldier Company Panther Tank

~ Colonel Mustard ~ Leave a comment

One of my first purchases a while back was a couple of boxes of these Pz V Panther tanks from The Plastic Soldier Company. If you have a German force you just have to have some Panthers. The previous ones i built would have been that old Airfix kit from the 1970’s. So 40 years later and what a difference!

You get two tanks in a box, but value wise they still come out to around $10-12 each once i shipped them to Australia. So on a par with other more complicated Panther kits out there. What you get is two easy to build tanks, with minimal parts. The track sections come in one piece, so no tricky wheel alignment or rubber track catastrophes to avoid. Hatches can be modelled open or closed, plus you get some extra bits of track to add onto the hull. I added some more metal track i had to the turret on one of these just for some variety. These are really solid models and perfect for wargaming, although i think a little big and chunky compared to other 1/72 scale manufacturers.

Although they supply some crew figures for the turret and hull hatches, i didn’t really like them, so I switched to a Battle Field Miniatures German commander who you can see in the pictures below. That’s not to say the crew are poor, its just i am keen on my metal manufacturers for crewmen. You can build your Panther with or without side schurzen, so you have options to vary your tanks out of the box.

I primed my tanks in flat black, gave them a covering from my Tamiya spray can of dark yellow, then hand painted a random camouflage pattern in red and green. I would highly recommend these Panthers for any wargamers out there, but next time i will try something that is a bit more of a challenge from a modelling perspective. Maybe a Dragon or Revell offering………..

Some Panthers in action in the following photos!