Back of Beyond Expedition [1]

We finally got home about four hours ago and haven't even unpacked yet. Nonetheless, I've had a rummage in the big Back of Beyond box and have dug out nearly everything I need for the Oil Prospecting expedition. This consists of a cigar chewing commander, a sniper, six tough looking roustabouts, one BAR and one Lewis gunner.

They're backed up by a sixteen strong unit of slightly tatty looking White Russians infantrymen, with an attached Maxim machine gun team. A second machine gun team will be converted from a spare Turkish Maxim gunner and loader, using a simple headswap to make them look more like the oil workers.

Finally, I've got a convoy of diecast Mack AC Bulldog trucks, one or two or which will get armour plating as improvised armoured cars. The real thing will be supplied by a resin Garford Putilov heavy armoured car that I bought from Mr Copplestone himself at Salute a few years ago. To round things off, I've recovered the almost complete 1/48th scale Smer DH2 from the spares box, complete with pre-painted Copplestone pilot.

I'm planning to clean and base up all of the figures tomorrow and perhaps have a crack at up-armouring one or two of the trucks. This will help to make up for the total failure of my Easter holiday painting plans, which have fallen by the wayside due to the kids, the weather and the wife! The dealine for completion of this project is the end of May, so I should have enough time to get them sorted and perhaps finish off the Rapid Fire! leftovers too?