Road Race - If you break an egg, you might as well make an omelette....

 So.......

Balls....

Anyway, I started bodging.

I replaced the front wheels of the wagon with Battlefront PaK-36 wheels, cut as much excess away around the dead horse and sanded that base as thin as possible. Glued into place and yes, this is ok now. Time to fix the wagon to the base as well, with a blob of Milliput and clean up all other areas.

I made a mould of one of the casualties, as soon as I have greenstuff or something like it again I can use these to change up the casualties for some variety, but this will suffice for now. 

I salvaged the original wagon and horse by giving it the same treatment, so removed a much base as possible and got a 30x60 base from my stash. Added the cast I made of the casualty after sanding that base as thin as possible too.

Once everything has set I'll round off the edges and make the base smooth with Milliput. As soon as I have a good replacement for Greenstuff I can do the horses tails as well. 

Road Race Progress - Civvies and a 232

 I did some more work and finished the 232, leaving the wheel sections unglued so I can paint them and glue them in last. I've added the 15 liter fuel canisters to the front after I took these pics (cause of course)

I received my Peter Pig order (not charged by Customs this time, jay) and washed all of the resin models and sanded the beases down to a sliver. Then washed them again, and based up the shot up Traction Avant on a Medium FoW base. Not sure if it needs any refugee items on it or leaving it as is. 

I recently grabbed a Warlord Epic ACW Ambulance on a hunch off of Vinted in a lot of other models, to use as civillian one. Still not a fan of Warlords resin casts, but with cleanup it was ok. Some pretty heavy casting sprues around the wheels, more metal in those gates than the wheels themselves. They got put into the spares bin for now as I wanted something more fitting the 1940 look. I have some spare 15mm truck wheels but those looked tiny compared to the cart (think wheels on a shopping trolley) so I grabbed my smallest size 20mm wheels off of a PSC Zis-2. Had to drill new holes for the front 2 wheels and it works...sort of. I now need to find my FoW blister of Destroyed cart so I can make a Oyumaru cast of the 2 dead horses for this cart. 

Same goes for the casualties from the Peter Pig pack, but...storytime.

I picked up 2 large rolls of Greenstuff from GSW 2 years ago. On arrival they already had partially set and the outer sections of yellow had already hardend. Complained, got a refund and got the same roll, nut in Brownstuff. marked it with the purchase date, August 2024. I grabbed this to do the sculpting for the refugees, but again, this one had almost completely set and had become useless. 

Really had it with GSW, had to ask for 2 refunds already this year and their quality is pretty much shit. 

It does leave me with the problem I have no sculpting material or filler material for the Oyumaru moulds. Milliput works as a base but I just can't work with that till it has set for a while, and with my limited time that doesn't work for me. So maybe Apoxie or something? I dunno.

Not that it matters, with surgery on Tuesday I won't be able to do anything for a bit anyway. Jay.

I picked up some ancient H0 Belgian rail markings for the abandoned truck, fingers crossed they still work. 

I think this scheme should work for it, with a nice Beige of Brown tarp on the back so the yellow decal shows up best. Might do another of these trucks but crashed and on its side? Different scheme of course, ripped tarp, spilled cargo? But that is something to do after the first ones are done. 

Tomorrow I'll grab the Milliput to fill up the underside of the cart, as the axles of the wheels are just too fragile. 

Orlick's Cockroach - Polish Forces - The kits

Right, let's carry on, shall we?

First to Fight TKS-MG and TKS-20mm cannon are meant for the scenario. While I was at it I also picked up a Heller Pzl Karas and a Mastercraft P-7a (yes, it says in Soviet hands, but I will show you why you can ignore that), these are not needed for the scenario but will come in handy if I ever decide to get a small Polish force and I'm more of a fun builder anyway.

First to Fight. New(ish) Polish brand, focusses purely on the Polish campaign and vehicles used by the Germans and the Polish (and maybe someday the Russians?). Clean little kits, well laid out on the sprue, slightly confusing webshop at times, in that changing it to English, it sometimes resets itself back to Polish mid browsing (and I don't read Polish) and when you do that, some things stay in Polish, but no biggie. Here is a top tip for you (you just need a little patience). I see these on Ebay being sold anywehere from 7 to 8 Pounds per box, somethimes cheaper, sometimes even more expensive. If you just want to build one to try it out, go right ahead. If you want to buy 6 or more boxes for your Polish or German army, be patient. On the website they cost 6 euros per box plus shipping (currently many vehicles are on sale at 5 euros per box) but on occasion, every couple of months or so, they have a sale in which you can select 3 kits for 14 euros. I picked up my first lot last year, and again last week. Processing the order can take some time but last time the order arrived in 2 weeks after the purchase was made. With shipping included, I ended up paying 5,60-5,75 euros per kit shipped from Poland to the Netherlands. I assume other countries will have different rates but you can see getting these straight from the source (if you are in Europe that is and you can avoid import taxes) is a much better deal then your online shop.

Anyway, why are they so nice? Let me show you.

It must feel lonely inside that huge box (it's a normal sized box, juts a tiny sprue).

It's a tiny sprue because a TKS is a bloody tiny tankette, of course. My Hyundai Atos is a tiny car, and that is bigger then this tankette.....

Anyway, it's a fastbuild kit. Left track, right track, hull, top, and a few little details like the exhaust and a shovel. A confusing bit is that my TKS-20mm kits both have a Polish sticker on it telling me it is the MG armed version. I'm guessing the only addition to a MG armed version if the even tinier sprue with a MG on it. Since I picked these 2 up at a bring and buy for 5 euros a piece I'm not totally sure so don't sue me, but I'm assuming a MG kit can also make a 20mm version, while the 20mm version of the kit does not come with a MG sprue? <confused> EDIT: TKS-20mm is only Sprue B, TKS-MG is Sprue A+B

It's just my box that has this issue....don't know why but hey, the contents check out so hey.

I will replace the plastic 20mm cannon with a brass barrel one from the 20mm quadflak set from RB models. It's not exactly the same and you need to trim it down a bit, but on the long run spending another 20-30 cents like this will make it live longer. maybe I'm just a brute, but long thin sticks of plasic never survive long here.

Building these will cost you about 1 euro per minute....so you are done in 5 minutes :) Sadly these don't come with opening hatches, but that is nothing a sharp scalpel and a few minutes of work can't fix. Other then that a great little kit and when sourced properly (for those not living in the wargaming Mekka called the UK) cheaper then resin offerings.

On to the air force.

The Blitzkrieg book lists 3 aircraft for the Polish. A Pzl P.11 Fighter, a Pzl 23 and a Pzl 23B.

The Pzl P.11 Fighter was augmented with older Pzl P.7's cause they didn't have much of a choice, they look quite a like and it was the only kit that popped up on the second hand group and it only cost me 3 euros. But Gunbird, I hear you say, that is the Soviet version?

Well spotted! Here, have a cookie :)

Mastercraft kits come in many, many versions of the same aircraft, and the same goes for this one.

9 out 0f 10 times it really doesn't matter what version of kit you buy, as they seem to all come with a full complement of decals for various versions (this is not always the case though!). In this case it comes with Polish, Russian, German (spare swastikas!) and Rumanian decals and they are nice within register. I've never had bad Mastercraft decals tbh, but I can't remember the last time I used them so I cannot give comments on that. So, if you find that the version you want isn't for sale but others are? Check the various websites for preview pics, and it too comes with a multiple of decals, go with the kit with the wrong box art. It doesn't have a pilot though, but I have plenty metal ones to use so I will insert one of them. It might never get on the table, but hey, it will be a fun build, plus I will have to be a bit ingenious with strengthening the landing gear just in case.

Next up is a oldie. I think this box is actually older then I am? Can't complain at 4 euros though.

The venerable Heller Karas. Nice solid box, not that flimsy stuff they have these days.

Some flash on the sprues, but it's very minor. Decals are faded, I can try and bleach them in the sun (just having a laugh here, I don't expect to see any proper sunlight till at least April-May) but I'm not having much hope they will actually will survice bathing and putting them on. Must have some in the spares box, just in case. I'll replace the plastic rear gunner with a metal one, and maybe the rear and bottom MG's with some wire just in case. It's a shame it does not come with any bombs. It would improve the kit immensly so I'm actively on the hunt for some WW1 German aircraft bombs to suit the bill (easy to find in 1/48, not at all easy to find in 1/72 or so it seems)

I did mention above that the book states a Pzl 23 and a Pzl 23B, but don't bother looking at that. The difference is purely in the engine and visually you won't see any difference, so it's good as it is.

In with the old, out with the new.....

Wait, what?

Currently it's:
1. TNT
2. 3mm Ruins
3. Rhino wreck
4. 3mm armies

Nothing wrong with TNT. Loving it. With the help of my buddy Alex I even added a new scenic piece to my collection. He was kind enough to make a detour from his trip home to pick it up from a seller who refused to ship. And he just dropped it off. Didn't want anything for the help. Love that guy :)

Flo's Diner from Cars. 12,50 euros. That's my filling station sorted in go, though I will do some dissasembling on it and rework it a bit to make it more fitting. Not now though, trailerpark first, this is for later.

3mm Ruins - going at it. Too much fun making them. But it does not have any priority so I just do a Block when I feel like it.

3mm Armies - what I need to do now is photograph all of the infantry models so I know what is in each bag, so future orders can be made accordingly. I'll be mixing the infantry you see. Also not a priority.

Rhino Wreck - intended to do just for fun, but can go back in the cabinet, as it is being replaced by something else.

Replaced by what? Well, this Blog is called 20mmandthensome for a reason. 20mm used to be my main focus, but it kinda dropped in priority as all the locals game in 28mm or in 15mm. In my relax time I've been reading up on the Battlegroup FB page, the Blitzkrieg book (as the rest is still packed up) and having small discussions with Piers. And in league with my new found enthusiasm, I realised I'm better off going back to my roots and paint what gave me so much joy, and that is 20mm. Don't worry, I'll alternate with the rest, but the time has come to dig up my 20mm stuff, do some small repairs, and start to finish units to a gameable standard.

How am I going to do that?

Back to basics. The core of each army is Infantry. The core of Battlegroup is 1 unit of Infantry, so that is what I will start painting. 1 German army for Early, Mid and Late War, tuned to the books that have been released sofar. I'll start off with Normandy (the Overlord book) as that Infantry Unit is 80% done, it is missing a 80mm mortar and a 3 man LMG team, plus some options from the Support Options.

It feels like meeting an old friend I have not seen in years, and picking up where I left off. It feels good.

Short Sunderland, early 1940

A very simple conversion this time. The Tumbling Dice model is a later war one with the top turret, so I snipped that off and sanded it smooth. I tried painting the hatches on top for the gunners, but like the side windows (just round holes) they didn't turn out very well so I painted them over. For the next one I will know that filling those holes will be the smart thing to do!

I copied the scheme off these pictures.

Decals were all I-94 for a change as I don't have these from Doms Decals yet. 2 part decals was a first for me but they came out nice. Went for the simple M as identification (2nd Sunderland, top pic) as fitting all 3 in that size is impossible with the decals that I have.

Painting was simple enough; primer with Vallejo Surface Primer Black, then the brown with VMC 70921 English Uniform, the green with my old bottle of VMC 70894 Russian Uniform (and I know the new colour is a bit different) with a thinned down wash of Vallejo Model Wash 76517 Dark Grey to bring out the panel lines and shade the aircraft (dark grey works better then all black I think). Then do all of the panels again with the brown and green, paint the undersides black and get craking on the windows. Pain them with VGC 21 Magic Blue and then with VMC 70961 Sky Blue. Do the engine rims VGA 72.758 Brassy Brass. Gloss the aircraft with Vallejo Polyurethane Varnish (Gloss). After a good 30 minutes drying time you can apply the decals. For the 2 part one I applied the first layer, matted it down with solvent, let that dry, applied another coat of gloss varnish, and after 30 minutes applied the next layer. When all was done I applied another full coat of gloss varnish and let that dry for a night. Then my trusty Daler & Rowney matte varnish to cover everything but the props, engine fronts and glass.

I did find a bag of the correct Blenheims in my box so I can make a headstart of those as well, or I will do something else. With me, you never know! What I know is that I want to paint a late war Fleet Arm Sunderland in white and with radar since I like the scheme so much.

The German Heer - what will I look for paint wise

I want to keep my 28mm Germans as generic as my 20mm ones. So I've been looking for tutorials how to paint these models in generic German Grey. I'm looking at this:

FOW painting Guide

I used the 1940 example when painting my 20mm's and I think it is good enough to paint my 28mm with. Fortunately, Christy Beall made this excellent tutorial with just what I need (that and I've added Crusader Miniatures to the list of mini's to buy as I like their 5cm mortars and AT rifle teams):

2nd Joker spent, or That spiralled out of control quickly!

Ok, a second hand lot of 20 riflemen from Portugal for 20 euros, a BTD order of SMG's, officers and a HMG for 35 euros and another second hand lot from the UK of 38 troops including 2 mortars for 40 euros today. Almost 90 troops in under a week, all BTD, all Early War, for just over a 100 euros. God I love the LAF.

With the new additions this is now fully complete troop wise.

• Command Squad - 6 men
• Infantry Squad - 7 men
• Infantry squad - 7 men
• Infantry squad - 7 men
• MG team - 3 men
• MG team - 3 men
• MG team - 3 men

I can now choose to spread the SMG's one per squad (as per the real TOE) and save some for the HQ options. Also, I've now filled the third MG team slot. With the new additions I can also field 2 80mm mortars,  a always handy weapon in Battlegroup (and real life). JP has mentioned he can supply me with a Russian greatcoated AT rifleman that should be converted to a German one for free.  So that is another slot filled in.

The 40 euro, and the Joker, came from my Crisis budget (the show, not my real life Crisis budget!) so that has now dropped to 260 euros. Yes, Crisis is in November, but I have already started planning what I need. Additions to my 20mm Kursk forces will be mostly PSC vehicles as they are so damn good, but those are something I will fill out on the day. Sofar, the only bit planned is another 100 slot paintstand for my budding Vallejo AIR and AK paint collection for the airbrush, meaning I will have 3 of them and that should fill up my desk nicely (splitting the desks into a PC only and painting only was the best decision I ever made, even if the actual event hasn't happend yet :P ) A painstand that size is another 50 euros. The 2 that I have are from Miniaturicum, and they won't be at Crisis, but several other companies do so I will have a gander at them when the time is there (and see if they offer up discounts for pre orders). If this 28mm has progressed as much as I hope it will, I might be tempted to grab a few more extra support options like a PaK and a IG, or a small car suitable for the Luftwaffe officer (for which I have a very nice Foundry model in my collection). I don't think I will go for any of the tanks, for me a 28mm game feels like it should be a infantry game, tanks feel too overpowering for me. Having said that, I don't mind fighting one in Early War, when even a ATR had a chance of putting one out of action.

Anyway, some PSC tanks, a painstand, maybe some 28mm guns. That is the plan sofar, and any money left over from the Crisis fund will be allocated to the buying of a Xbox One for when Fallout 4 comes out. I'm a huge fan of the series, and with the demise of my PC not so long ago this office desktop that I have as a replacement won't cut it.

Battlegroup Aircraft

While sorting out the attic I refound my plastic kits collection, which is rather extensive (+300 kits and counting). I've put quite a few aside for sale next year, but hoarded quite a few others cause they fit in with my build plans.

Some of these are aircraft. Now aircraft in Battlegroup are a fickle thing. You can pay for a scheduled attack by a fighter, fighter bomber and sometimes even a bomber so that it attacks a certain point at a certain time. If I understand the rules correctly they can be driven off by AA guns or even destroyed when they take too many hits. Or you can pull a aircraft chit and roll a 5+ for it to arrive, and then roll again to see what type of aircraft arrives. Again, these can be driven off by AA guns  but give you more flexibility in their attack mode. Buying a Forward Air Controller raises the chance that a aircraft arrives when you pull the chit (and grants you a extra offcier), so that's very helpful too (and another great modelling oppertunity

As I will be focussing on these rules, it would be nice to pick up my old hobby of model airplanes again, I made quite a few when I was a kid....I just never painted them. These days I do paint them and modify them with a wall plug and a magnet inside that so I can use them on my flight stands. It is the best of both worlds really, model aircraft that actually get to be used on the table.

So what do I need? Well, the focus lies with Germans (Early to Late), Russians (Early to Late) and British (Late), so I will need all of the books.

Barbarossa
Kursk
Overlord
Fall of the Reich

Barbarossa first then. The Germans get the Ju-87D Stuka, the Fiesler Storch and the Bf-110. All 3 are in my collection, ready to be built. The Russians get the I-16, the I-153, The SB-2 and the Il-2 Sturmovik. I have all of these except the SB-2, and I keep eyeing ICM kits of the model on Ebay, but this is not in any hurry.

Kursk. The Germans get the Ju-87D and G Stukas, the FW-190F, the HS-129B, the Fiesler Storch, the FW-189A Uhu, the HS-126 and the He-111.I can reuse the Early war Ju-87D. The rest I have in stock, apart from the Uhu, but I'm chasing that on our local Ebay. For some reason I feel like swapping out the He-111 with a Ju-88, but I have both kits so maybe both will get built, who knows. No rush again. I would like to use the Bf-110 strike fighter here as well, plus a Me-109E strike fighter as they would be fun to build for the Hornisse Zerstorer Gruppe. It is not too hard to make stats for the 109E. I have a Bilek Hs-129B but it doesn't feel right, like it is a underscale model, but it does come with a 50mm cannon pod. The Russians get the Il-2, now with a backseat gunner, the Pe-2, the Yak-1 and -9, the P-39 Aircobra, the Po-2 and the Il-4 (the book calls it a 4 engined aircraft while in fact it only has 2). The Pe-2 I picked up recently in the shape of the excellent Hobbyboss kit, I might have to source another Il-2. I don't have a Yak-1/-9 but the prices on Ebay don't seem very high so we'll see. A  P-39 i have several, 1 in progress, the Po-2 I'm trying to aquire but sofar no luck, and the same goes for the Il-4. I'm eyeing both on the local Ebay but sofar my bids have not been accepted or even replied to.

Overlord. The Brits get a Spitfire or a Typhoon, with an Auster as AOP. The Spitfire would be a Mark IX or Mark XII, and I have neither. Looking at Ebay, the Italeri Mark IX one seems nice and cheap too. A Academy Typhoon has been with me for years, so it is time it gets built. Austers tend to go for silly money, and I'm not sure if the Antartica one builds the same aircraft. The Germans get the Me-109G and the Fw-190 G. Neither I have in stock and unless I trip over one, won't be bought this year unless I can trade some of my kits for one.

Lastly, Fall of the Reich. The Brits get the Typhoon and Auster again and a Tempest. Since the Academy Typhoon is so cheap I'm tempted to build 2, one with and 1 without D-Day markings. I have no Tempest, but plenty of those on Ebay right now. The Germans get the Fw-190G, the Ju-87G and the Me-262. I can reuse the Fw-190G from Normandy and the Ju-87G from Kursk, so I will only have to build the Me-262 with bombs. I'm tempted to stat out the Arado Blitz and the Ju-188 just because I have the models and give the Germans the option of a 20-30 Point bomber strike, albeit one that is Unique cause by then fuel is scarce.

I have no plans for American aircraft yet other then the L-4 as a placeholder for the Auster. That doesn't mean I won't build them (I have plenty of the models in stock) but starting US forces isn't on the cards yet till 2016 or 2017, if ever.

Also, refinding German wunderwaffe kits like the Flying Wing, Panther F turrets and even the first helicopter makes me dream about things 1946, though a book like that will probably be all fan based. Maybe later.

Catch of the day

...or, more precisely, of the week.

I've been spending the proceeds of my sale on items that will help me with, or are part of my projects. A great help for this Ebay and Marktplaats, a local Dutch variant on that theme. Ebay has the minor issue in that it clashes with the 2 weeks rule. Auctions tend to run for a week, so that doens't really work, hence I just made a list of items that I want, made searches for it on Ebay and saved those. If there are new items posted that fit the bill I get a signal. If after 2 weeks I no longer require the item, I delete the search, easy as that. Marktplaats is easier, people put stuff on that stays on for a month. More then enough time for me. But I have to be honest, I sometimes break that rule if there is a very good deal to be had. On Ebay, this means sellers offering low or free shipping, or a very low opening bid. On Marktplaats this means making a low bid and then just seeing if the seller responds, or not. If after 2 weeks I still want it and there is no reply, I can always raise my bid.

This week I received and won the following items:

On Marktplaats, I made a bid of 2,50 euro for a 1:72 Revell Me-262. This was accepted after a few days. As I didn't need the box or the instructions, the seller agreed to mail it to me in a brown unmarked envelop instead of a package, making the total cost a mere 4,75 euro. I'm going to combine this with a 1/72 Quickboost resin starboard engine that is partially dismantled (which I won for 6,50 Pounds incluyding shipping from Australia recently) and base it wheels down as a late war German forest plane on a wooden platform. A piece of scenery for short :) I still have plenty of aftermarket decals in my stash so that is covered too.

On Ebay, I used Buy it Now to buy a early example of the engine used in the Me-109, amongst others. This set me back 10 Pounds including shipping, plus I bookmarked the store for the future as shipping from the UK to me was a mere 60 pence. I can't even mail a average envelope inside Holland for that. They send out normal kits for 1.65 Pounds shipping, normally this is 5 Pounds minimum for most Ebay sellers from the UK to Holland. I don't know how they do it, but I like it. The engine will be used in my casting experiments, and the casts (if they succeed or not) will be used in the Me-109 wrecks I'm planning on building. A few years back I got a great deal on a stack of old Matchbox(?) Me-109E's for 1 euro a piece from Italy, and besides making Crimson Skies planes out of them, they have not been used yet. Since I like making wrecks, this one should be fun.

On Marktplaats again, I ran into a seller who was liquidating his Ho train collection, and had quite a few lots of scenery items as well. He was selling each of the items you see for 3 euro per lot, the normal store price for this lot is well over 35 euros new online. 17,50 Inlcuding shipping, and a nice addition to my forest which I refound last week in the attic. The Kohl & Salat (Cabbages and Salad) is especially welcome, as in one of my pre orders for the Crisis show I have 2 greenhouses and 2 smaller ones. These will mix very well, and so I can do back gardens for the Wikkywok houses.

Marktplaats, I picked up this for a mere 5 euros, and I only had to divert my ride from work by a little bit to pick it up. Now, wait a minute, I don't have a American army, right? That is correct, but there are 2 reasons I've picked it up. I do want to make an American army, but that probably won't be till 2016 before I start it. Secondly, the British army I want to start needs an Auster, and these are hard to find and go for high prices (usually). This will be a nice stand in. The price helped a lot too.

Back to Ebay, I was browsing the shop were I bought the 109 engine, and found this Pe-2 for 9.20 Pounds including shipping. I already have a Pe-2 kit from a obscure Russian company which is a dramatically bad piece of engineering. I've read stellar reviews about the Hobbyboss one, and the price was very good so hey, another kit for my Mid to Late War Russians. On opening the kit I was pleasantly suprised at the low parts count, which is perfect for me. It will be easy to modify to take a flight stand.

I've been watching the old Matchbox Churchill AVRE ever since I picked up 4 boxes of PSC Churchills, as I think these will make a great add-on piece for one of them. Problem was that whenever I was watching, these went for 10-15 Pounds plus 5 Pounds shipping minimum. I made some bids here and there and was always outbid. Till last week. My opening bid of 4.99 turned out to be the winner, and for 10 Pounds including shipping this one is mine. Now I just want the bridge, and the add on parts, so I have no idea yet what to do with the complete tank. Maybe sell it, or build it as a wreck, who knows. A great find, this one. The decals are still crisp too, very nice.

I also picked up some Oyumaru plastic clay from Ebay, from Hong Kong, for casting purposes. I'm a bit late to the party, I believe this hit the scene 1-2 years ago, so I won't bore you with details on who and what. This has been explained in better detail by many Blogs, like this one. I want to use it for the engine block, and wheel rims that I will use for burnt out wrecks, and other engines that I can find, as these tend to be pricey online. If I can make my own casts for private use, the better. I'll probably will do even more things with it, who knows. Anyway, 30 sticks put me back 20 Pounds including shipping, but those should be enough to last me quite some time. I'll grab a few boxes of Milliput when I'm at the Crisis show.

I have a commission running with Wikkywok at the moment, and he shown me some lovely photos of the first testhouse he made for me. Aside from 1 or 2 minor points, I was quite happy with it already so I'm looking forward to having all 4 right here with me. More on that at a later date.

Lastly, a purchase arrived from mid August :) For some reason, mail from Canada is incredibly slow at best and glacial at its worst. Dunno why. But I received 2 Blue Steel books today, namely Civil Wars: The Gun Trucks and Blue Steel IV: M-50 Sherman tanks and APC's in South Lebanon. These were, with shipping included, quite pricey, but that is normal for such a specialist publication. The Gun Truck book gives descriptions of photographs of various gun trucks used, also explaining to which faction they belonged, very handy! The M-50 book gives details about the M-50 and the APC variants, and lots of detail shots of rusting hulks. Both books will come in very handy for my Lebanon project as these were used by the SLA, one of the militias I will focus on.

Of course, this has been quite the expense, so it is back to selling again, as I still have a lot of micro armour to sort for sale. Back to that right after posting this :)

Focus Points

For the rest of the year, besides selling stuff, I wil focus on 20mm.

For my own sanity, I have a checklist.

W1. WW2 Germans (Early-Mid-Late)
W2. WW2 Russians (Early-Mid-Late)
W3. WW2 British (Late)

M1. Cold War Dutch Mechanised (1980-85)
M2. Cold War British Special Forces (1980-85)
M3. Cold War Soviets Recce (1980-85)
M4, Lebanese Civil War, various Militias
M5. Mogadishu, African Militia
M6. Yugoslavia Civil War, Serbians and Croats
M7. Taliban

SF1. Stalker Project
SF2. Modern Mercenaries

I've sold off Vietnam and I will not be doing Sci-Fi for a while.

Of my Projects, only W1 Mid-Late and M1 are in a gameable state and have opposition in this country to game with/against. W1 should be updated with another German Infantry platoon and more vehicles (loads in stock thanks to PSC). M1 has a fully painted vehicle fleet but the infantry is unpainted. I will not be working on these this year.

W1 will be updated when I have a game planned and need new kit. Most likely Late.
W2 will keep the focus on Late due to the number of T-34/85's based and built and converted and ready for paint.
W3, being 2 British Infantry platoons plus support was my project for the last half year, which sadly tanked due to my increased dosage. I've pushed these on towards 2015

M1 will be picked up in 2015, and I have to do test samples to get the vehicle paint right again. Hopefully, in 2015 SandS will release the YP-408 so I can motorise my infantry towards 1975-1980. A F-16 has been aquired for airsupport.
M2 my Special Forces haven't been toutched since 2011, but I have 2 more special Land Rovers ready to be painted, I just need crew. Also need to make debussed crew. For small Skirmish games.
M3 is a new project, I want to get a small Recce force done, nothing major, as 2 of my mates already have sizeable Soviet forces, and I want a few of my own. I'll probably start his year.
M4 Already did some work on these, I want to do generic stuff first that can cross over to Mogadishu before comitting to one or two militias. As there is no opposition here locally this is a skillz and fun project. (my opposition being in Ireland and Portugal)
M5 I will focus purely on the Africans so I can eventually do AK-74 with them as well. No local opposition so again Skillz and Fun.
M6 Several vehicles converted, I need to test out JNS green before I will commit. There are long term interested parties that probably won't commit till I have a decent force (and they paint much quicker then me) Skillz and Fun cause the opposition is in the USA!
M7 Taliban. 2 people I know have Modern Dutch I can fight against. I want to focus purely on Infantry, I have a bag of Liberation, when those are done I will order Elhiem. 2015

SF1. Really long term ans I don't even have rules for it, more a labour of love and excuse to expand The Junkyard.
SF2. Modern Mercenaries. Also meant for AK-74 but modelled after Blackwater. No opposition, Skillz and Fun.

The list looks rather extensive, but I will try and focus on one project plus 1 back up project a month. Everything has their own box or drawer, so after that period they are easily stored untill taken out again. Each month I will see what tickles my fancy and do that, that way I dont have to worry about getting bored.

I really don't want to be running 12 different projects on my table at once, so this is a better way. A bit OCD, I admit, but quite maneagable.

A extra plus is that I have most projects in stock, so I don't have to spend extra money on figures, instead saving money for future scenery expansion.

German AT Rifle Team

As painted for my Barbarossa till Kursk army for Battlegroup (in which case 2 figs are the team and the third is an extra)

Britannia Miniatures, my favourite no matter what. Colourcoded to match my army.

 

FAI Armoured Car

Just finished the FAI Artmoured Car for my Early War Russians. The model is sold by RH Models/Liberation Miniatures and comes as a resin hull and a metal turret and 4 metal wheels. In my example, the turret still had a bit of the plug attatched and next to it was a sizable hole. Easily filled, but still. Also, the front fenders seem too small to fit the wheels properly, but other then that it is easy to build and a nice representation of the FAI. My army only needs 1 anyway. The model retails for 4,99 UK Pounds, code MSR10.

Pics:

German Early War force for Barbarossa, part 11

First of the infantry for this lot are done.

Officers

Guards

Colour Code

In this case this army has the blue tab, and the chaps, fltr, are 2nd, 1st, 1st and 3rd platoon. HQ troops have no marker, support has a red marker

And the Sanni

 

Beauty shot:

Static T-26 turret

For Rapid Fire, there is a scenario in which the Germans have to cross the river Bug (aptly named "Crossing the Bug" with Tauchpanzers etc) and the Russian defenders get a emplaced T-26 turret.

Much googling later I have this:

....which isn't much to go on. So I decided to keep it simple. 40x40mm base, 2 layers of plasticcard to raise it, brass barrel, drill a hole for the turret ( Pegasus BT-7 kit) so the turret can turn and a quick paintjob with some tufts. Nothing grandiose but it gets the job done.

SdKfz 252 and SdKfz 253 finished

Took me a while to get these off the painting table. The pictures make them more blueish then they really are, it has been very cloudy all day, sorry for that. They really are just as grey as the rest.

SdKfz 253

SdKfz 252



Vehicles are from Minimi, cast to order without a base, decals are from Skytrex, Doms Decals and from from a scrapped plastic kit. Range binoculars on the 253 is a custom job with some plasticcard and brass wire.