Normandy

HaT Industrie British Mortars in 1/72 scale

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 3 Comments

I finally got around to painting up some mortar teams for my British Army units for Normandy. These plastic figures are great value as you get 4 complete mortars and a whole bunch of crew, radio operators and officers with binoculars. I think for under $10 a box (i picked mine up from Hannants on line) they will make an excellent mortar battery for your infantry company.

Image result for hat british mortars

It means that you can vary your set up with each mortar and make each base a little different. The detail is not that great, but, in plastic, and for that price you cant do much better. I think other metal manufacturers will do a sharper job but you will pay lots more. The facial detail is particularly lacking and you end up almost painting features on some of them which isn’t ideal. I based my guys on MDF as usual and mixed up the poses to create four different scenes. Another blogger had given me a good tip for using gauze or crepe bandage as camo netting, so i applied some to the helmets of some of my mortar crew. A few highlights and they look pretty good. Also with my new magnifying glass i was able to paint some maps as the spotter checks his coordinates. I also added some boxes and bits and pieces. Happy the way they came out and i always prefer to have my mortars on the board. I used an officer and a radio man as the forward observer. The only thing i may change is the plastic radio aerial which is way too thick.

Below are some photos of my finished teams. Also i based my Revell Tiger tank and did some more weathering and dirt. He is in there somewhere with his buddy the Zvezda Tiger.

 

 

Esci Kubelwagens and Airfix SdKfz.222

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A while back i bought two of these Airfix German Reconnaissance sets from Hannants, mainly because they were on sale and a bargain too good to be missed. Even though they were listed as 1/76 scale i thought i could fit them in somehow. On opening up and building these little models i realised that the Kubelwagen included was just so tiny and a really bad looking model that i could not use it after it. The SdKfz.222 is a very average kit but once he is painted up he is passable. Luckily i have a couple of Dragon small armoured cars i will be building soon which will probably replace this guy.

Airfix A02312 1/76 Scale Model Kit - WW2 GERMAN RECONNAISSANCE SET

So i still needed Kubelwagens for my officers and forward observers. I soon found some Esci Kubelwagens on sale at Lucky Model in Hong Kong and picked up three boxes of them for bugger all, and you get two vehicles per box which is a bonus. Super easy to build and so much better than the Airfix version. They are only a few parts, which is not a surprise being a little car really, and can be modelled with their canvas roof fully up or totally retracted. I wanted to see my occupants so kept the roofs down in both my builds. You get a few decals too which is nice, but i ended up using my Airfix ones instead. I gave them a two colour stripey camo scheme over the usual dunkelb base coat.

One Kubelwagen is transporting a couple of very important generals while the other has a forward observer unit. The dude in the front has his radio headphones on (Bose wireless i think) and the guy in the back is at the ready with his MP40 and his feet on the seats. Figures are all from the great AB Figures and fit beautifully. Although i did have to glue the front seats back a bit in one so the long legs of the front occupants would fit. You could cut their feet off i guess but how will they drive without any feet….

 

 

 

 

 

Revell PzKpfw VI Tiger Ausf E in 1/72 scale

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My second Tiger tank build this time from Revell, after having a mixed experience with the snap together Zvezda kit a few months ago. Revell make really nice kits and this Tiger is no exception.

It’s a really easy kit to build with most of the parts being in the tracks. I managed to make a mess and misread the instructions and get the tracks on the wrong side. After completing nearly one whole side i had to take them all off again and in the process had to sling a few track links. This meant that i didn’t have enough links for the turret tracks which had to be replaced by some spare metal Panther tracks i had…. So that was the only tricky bit and mainly to do with my own lack of focus!

The whole kit goes together really nicely and easily with great detail. I think you can model the commander’s hatch open if you like. Kit comes with a few decals, only a couple of turret number options, but that will do. This Tiger is super solid, only the turret MG is delicate, so i did not see the need for a base. I just went with a plain dunkelb paint job, mainly as i was tired of painting camo schemes and needed a break! I need a couple more Tigers to make up my troop so next will try a Trumpeter version and might spend a bit more money on a Dragon kit too…….

Here is my Tiger wandering the lanes and fields of Normandy.

Normandy Bocage in 1/72 scale

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 2 Comments

I was on the verge of getting a game set up to play over Christmas while i had a few days away from work. But then i was hit with a wave of dissatisfaction like a seven year old opening a really shitty present on Christmas day. My Normandy bocage sections were just not up to scratch. I had to do something about it. I keep looking at Pat’s blog Wargaming With A Silver Whistle and having feelings of inadequacy! Anyway, armed with sections of MDF, rubber matting, poly fiber stuffing, acrylic sealant, coconut fibre, and lots of flock i set about redoing my bocage.

I have a rubber mat that’s about 2cm thick and meant to be used for camping or something, but works well cut up and glued to MDF strips roughly 3cm wide by 10-15cm long, as the base for my bocage banks. I make sure the rubber is a good 0.5cm thinner on each side than its MDF base. I then blend the bank into the base using acrylic sealant or crack filler, but you could use modelling clay or anything else really. When the sealant is dry i give it a good covering in PVA glue and then chuck a heap of sandy dirty gravel on it from out the front of our house. When that’s dry its a heavy spray of dark brown paint from cans i pick up from Bunnings for a few bucks.

The actual bushes are made from a mix of coconut fibre (also from Bunnings for next to nothing) and that poly fibre people use to stuff toys and cushions and probably dead animals. Again very cheap, my wife bought me a bag from Spotlight for about $5 and i will be dead long before i finish the bag. Maybe i can be stuffed with poly fibre. I jam bits of cocktail sticks into the rubber matting top of my bank and that supports the bushes. Lots of PVA again and then get lots of bush material onto the bank. I tried to vary the height as much as possible, but by all reports bocage was anywhere from 5 – 7m tall so i reckon 5 – 7cm is good for 1/72 scale. When the bushes are dry they get another good brown spray.

The last bit is the fun bit when i am throwing lots of glue onto the bushes and then dunking them into a two colour mix of flock (a mid green and a dark green). I use coarse flock from a Vietnamese company called MP Scenery. Its probably the only part of this terrain that costs any significant dollars. I flocked the base too with some finer stuff, and did a bit of lighter brown dry brushing too just to finish things off.

It all came out a lot better than my last attempt, you can see below with the doormat wheat fields and the carpet tile crops. Inexpensive and i think just as effective as anything you can buy. Maybe i can get to play a game now…… Happy New Year!

Sandbags and Obstacles Terrain Part 2

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I finished off my sandbag defences, rubble obstacles and embankment this week. Spray paint of matt black undercoat and then a dark brown base, highlighted with a sand yellow for the sandbags, grey and brick red for the rubble, plus some silver highlights for the barrels. I added some flock and bushes to finish things off. Not much else to add, i was very pleased with how the sandbags turned out considering how easy they were to make. I think for some bits of modelling clay they will do the job quite nicely.

I took some photos of a heavily defended ruined crossroads. German AT gun, panzerfausts and a panzershreck can be seen safely dug in, with a lone Panther in the background.

Pegasus Waffen SS Set 1 Part 2

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 8 Comments

 

Well it’s nice to get back to my dining room table and finish some stuff off. These figures by Pegasus have been hanging around for weeks as i struggle with painting German camouflage schemes on tiny dudes! I painted around ten of them a few months back but needed to finish off the rest of the platoon. They really are nice figures and i think probably the best Germans you will find in plastic. Lots of great detail, and numerous different, useful and realistic poses. Quality wise they are on a par with the better metal figures out there. These are great value for money when you compare to their metal brothers. I also have Set 2 in my treasure trove out the back, so will crack on with that when i get the chance.

Mounting plastic onto 10 cent pieces gives them some weight that i like on the table. Less chance of them taking an impromptu nap while on the job. I used an olive green base with camo brown and dark green splotches, then followed up with further contrasting dots of all three colours. It’s a real pain in the ass, and takes me hours to do, but i kind of like how these guys turned out in the end. Probably worth the effort, although my eyeballs may disagree. Its not oak leaf, its not pea dot, i am not really sure what it is, but it looks good enough for me.

The lads below have just jumped out of the Opel Blitz trucks (Pegasus again) at a dodgy looking bridge, which could be primed for an ambush…. Better be safe than sorry and lob a few grenades in there first. If nothing else you may catch a few fish.

“The Dawn Of D-Day, These Men Were There, 6th June 1944”, by David Howarth

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Another treat for me arrived in the post from my friends at Pen And Sword Books, a history of the D-Day landings written by David Howarth. First published in 1959, this gives first hand accounts of all aspects of the Normandy invasion from start to finish. Beginning with the training in England, we read many different tales from all ranks of men, all with different stories of bravery and sacrifice. Rather than a very dry, factual account of events from the most important day of World War Two, every man’s and woman’s story is a personal one. Mr Howarth goes into great detail and effort to give each individual a history and a personality, from the British, Canadian and American soldiers, to the German defenders and the French civilians caught in the middle of it all. This makes it a very personal account of the landings, and one anyone with an interest in this huge moment in history should read. We read about paratroopers landing into flooded swamps in the wrong place, British specialized tanks sinking into mud and becoming accidental bridges, and all sorts of other amazing stories of bravery. The first hand accounts cover all the lead up to the invasion, all the different units that had special jobs particular to such a beach landing, and every parachute drop behind enemy lines. There is a at least one account for every beach landing at Omaha, Utah, Sword, Gold and Juno. If you have seen The Longest Day or Saving Private Ryan, no doubt the two greatest movies depicting the D-Day landings, you will soon make connections between the stories in this book and how events were illustrated in those two awesome films.

For any wargamers out there this book will also provide much inspiration for planning any scenarios based on any aspect of the D-Day landings. Definitely worth a read on many levels!!

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Zvezda Pak 36 Anti Tank Gun in 1/72 scale

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 3 Comments

Zvezda make some cool kits aimed at wargamers under the “Art Of Tactic” banner. Their Pak 36 Anti Tank Gun is great value and easily the cheapest option in plastic. It is such a tiny little gun there is not much point in spending big on any metal versions when you can pick one up with a couple of crew for less than $5. This kit from Zvezda comes in their usual grey plastic and takes literally seconds to put together. Detail is good, and at this scale i am not sure you could get any more detail onto the model anyway. The two man crew does the job, but i added a third crew man with binoculars. I think he came from another Zvezda kit so he fitted in nicely to make up the trio. It would be good to have a limbered version of this gun so when moving around behind his transport so i don’t have the crew all sitting there on the same base. It looks a bit weird. I might have to buy another kit for this purpose. So here is my “door knocker”, as the Pak 36 was called, covering a wheat field from among the bocage, with his Horch car ready to get him out of there in a rush if things get too hot…….

In The Greenwood Laser Buildings Part 2

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 1 Comment

I finished the second building i had bought from In The Greenwood and was very happy how it turned out. This was was the Victorian Terrace with some nice looking bay windows. Flat packed brilliantly into a small cardboard box these kits are really cool. They scale out quite nicely to my 1/72 scale stuff, i think being around 110 – 115mm high. Only costing around $20 on line, probably less now since Brexit, they are really good value compared to other MDF and resin model buildings.

Quite easy to build, i only struggled a bit with the bay windows, and didn’t get them totally square or straight….. next time i will do better. Although the designs are not necessarily for Normandy they fit in really well with all my other buildings, most of which are home made. The addition of some French looking adverts and signs will help the houses blend into the Normandy countryside. I have a corner shop left to build which i will get to next.

The backyards are particularly nice, with some sheds and outbuildings. I added a path and some grass out back to the rear gates. Just ready for some troops to hide out there ready for action…… Its turning into a smart looking MDF street.

 

 

 

Dragon Models Sherman M4A3 (105mm) 1/72 scale

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You can never have enough Sherman tanks. Ever. There is always room for another Sherman in the far corners of your tank units. This one is the up gunned M4A3 with a 105mm howitzer from Dragon Models. This tank was mainly used by US forces and from what i have read sometimes showed up with Canadian tank units. Mine was going to join my British forces, probably on loan or stolen or something like that.

My experience with Dragon Models has always been great. It’s been a love love relationship. However, this little Sherman changed all that. Dragon kits are always more expensive than others but you get a better standard of detail and their kits are usually great to put together. This Sherman kit had a couple of nagging problems that made it hard work. First up the lower hull section is too long for the top half of the hull and the two do not fit together. I had to shave off at least 3mm off its rear lower hull to get the top half of the hull to fit. After sanding off the back the rear vent section did not have enough room to fit over the exhausts and so had to be cut in half. Annoying. My other gripe was that the tracks were too short, even after i stretched them by hand. The Dragon track do not stretch much, and they ended up around 1 track link too short. I added in bits of a Unimodel M10 kit which filled in the track link gaps i was left with. Please Dragon make your tracks a little bit on the long side, then at least you can cut them down.

My whining aside the kit turned out really well, great detail and everything else you would expect from Dragon’s usual offerings. I added a British tank commander from Battlefield miniatures but kept the decals from the kit with US markings. Confusing i know but i really liked the decals and the big yellow “15”. Painted in the usual olive drab with some muddy weathering and MDF base i was pretty happy with the final result. You can never have enough Shermans whoever you are……