Copplestone WW1 Turks

I didn't manage to finish the armoured train tender last night as I had to babysit the sprog. However, it's only going to need a few bits and pieces to round it off, so I may get a chance to do some more to it this evening. I did start on a flat wagon, however, by dis-assembling a carriage, gluing up the wheels and screwing a piece of wood onto the chassis to act as a central support for the flatbed.

On a different but related thing, I also added a couple of packs of Copplestone WW1 Turkish infantry from ebay to some existing figures that I bought at a show a couple of years ago in a discount bin. I now have enough to kit out a small but quite powerful expeditionary force to the Back of Beyond. This would consist of a two or three infantry units, a machine gun and a field gun plus a commander.

Think about this tilted in a vertical direction and you'll get the general idea.

I could add a AA gun if I used the spare Maxim from the machine gun pack and mounted it on one leg from the tripod rather than three. I have a few spare Chinese crew from my other Back of Beyond army that could be headswapped to create the AA gunners, which would be an easy way to add some much needed ani-aircraft firepower.

I'll also need to do some headswaps and converting to make the field gun crew. I already have a 1/48th scale Smer Albatros DIII kit or an Aurora Albatros CIII two seater kit to use as air support. I'm also thinking of scratchbuilding a Bussing or Ehrhardt armoured car out of lego blocks, plastic card and washers for the wheels. I have a card model plan as a template, so it can't be that hard compared to the armoured train!

Red Armoured Train [13]

Last night I stayed up late to work on the tender for the armoured train, as I wanted to get it finished by the end of today. I started by cladding the tender in strip wood after extending it at the back to make it more like the real thing. I then started to plate up the sides using Peter Pig plastic bases and also added a footplate from plastic card.

I'm hoping to have the whole thing finished this evening, ready for a black undercoat and painting. I've also decided not to build another armoured artillery wagon for the moment, as I'm running short of time. Instead, I'm going to make a simple flat wagon to run in front of the locomotive. This can be loaded up with old rails and other stuff to act as protection against derailing or I can add some machine guns or a field gun to it at a later date.

Red Armoured Train [12]

I pretty much finished the locomotive this afternoon, although I did a little re-designing along the way by cutting down the cab and changing the smoke stack from an icing funnel to a cut down ball point pen.

I need to sort out the connecting bit to the tender which is the next bit of the train that I have to complete, once the command / machine gun wagon has been finished off.

It looks a bit like a diesel at the moment but I think the tender will make it look more like a steam locomotive once it's been fixed to the footplate end. I'll also do something to sort ou the smokestack and make it a little less hefty.

Red Armoured Train [11]

I continued worked on the locomotive yesterday, using various bits of plastic card, some Peter Pig bases and the ubiquitous lego to get it to point where I can start to add some details. I was a bit worried that it was getting a bit out of scale but, looking at the pictures of the real thing, it's not too bad. I guess when the tender is added, the length will even out the height so that it looks less imposing.

Red Armoured Train [10]

I took a break from the command wagon this morning and decided to crack on with the locomotive. This involved cladding the toy engine in strip wood panels which will get an outer layer of plastic card armour plating later on. This wood is great to use as it cuts like cardboard and doesn't crush or splinter like balsa. It costs a bit for a mixed bag of strips and planks but is well worth it. I got mine from Hobbycraft ages ago for about a tenner.

Spring Cleaning

I've been thinking of having a bit of a clear out of some of the stuff I'm probably never going to get round to finishing or even starting. There are a handful of things that I've got about half way with which, for one reason or another aren't going to get finished off, primarily due to the fact that I no longer have anyone interested in gaming against them.

This includes my 12mm ARVN and my 1/600th scale Modern Canadian battlegroup, both for Cold War Commander. It also includes a few boxes of 15 and 28mm unpainted figures which have been languishing under the workbench for far too long. I also have a selection of rulebooks that I picked up when the club started out in new periods but which have now fallen by the wayside including, for example, some of the Field of Glory series.

I'll probably whack this lot onto ebay but I'd prefer to sell them direct as it avoids all the hassle. If you're interested drop me a line and I'll let you know what I have on offer.

Red Armoured Train [9]

My two sons have been packed off to the French Mother in Law for a week, so we only have my daughter to look after at the moment. This means I have a lot more time for modelling and gaming for a change. As a result, I've been able to push ahead with the command / machine gun wagon this evening, although I have to add some further bits before it's ready for an undercoat.

I added some semi-circular bits to the tops of the machine gun ball mountings made out of a sliced up ball point pen. The machine gun barrels were sliced from bits of  lego and then plastic rod muzzles were glued into pre-drilled holes in the ends. I also added vision slots along the sides of the wagon with plastic card.

I then added a door to the centre section and a couple of protective armour plates to the connecting corridor thing on the end of the carriage. After that, I added a roof and the various bits and bobs on top. I decided to keep it simple so only glued on one wedge shaped cupola plus a couple of lego pieces to act as some sort of fume extractor or ventilation thingy.

I need to detail the ends and the other side of the carriage tomorrow, then add the rungs and grabhandles in order to finish it off. I can then start on the daunting task of armoured locomotive construction.

Red Armoured Train [8]

I've been playing around with various options for the command / machine gun wagon over the last couple of days. I've plated up one side and added machine gun ball mountings from a plastic bead cut in half with a razor saw. It's a bit crude but I'll see if I can add some details to make it look more effective.

The other thing I've tried out are the different options for the roof mounted cupolas, all of which have been scrounged from the lego toy box. I'm not sure which arrangement looks the best so will try out a few more combinations before I decide what to do.

I'll also add a door and vision slits to the sides of the wagon so that the machine gunners have something to look through when they fire their broadsides at whatever happens to trundle into range. I'm hoping to finish off this wagon by the end of the weekend, so that I can tackle the engine and tender.

DH10A Bomber

I' ve been trying to find one of these old Aurora / K&B kits at a reasonable price for a long time but they always seem to go for a small fortune on ebay. However, the other day I put in a bid on a boxed, unbuilt kit and won it for twelve quid, postage included.

http://wwiaviation.blogspot.co.uk/

What I'll do with it is another question?

I plan to use it as heavy air support for my long planned British Expeditoinary Column to the Back of Beyond. In the army list for the British Indian force you are allowed to have up to two aircraft so, rather than use the ubiquitous SE5a or Camel, I thought I'd intimidate the natives and/or Bolsheviks with a suitably enormous flying machine.

They were actually used over the North West Frontier in the Third Afghan War and subsequent colonial police actions of the early 1920's, so I reckon I can use one without any questions being asked by the purists. It is, however, absolutely massive, so I'll have to work out how to make a stand for it and how I can transport it without the sound of crunching or snapping plastic!

Red Armoured Train [7]

You're probably fed up with this already but I have finished off the artillery wagon this evening, with a bit of light weathering and a few subliminal rust streaks. I also painted the buffers and couplings with three drybrush coats of Foundry Charcoal Black, followed by an overbrush of GW Mithril Silver. To round thiings off, I spayed the whole thing in Army Painter matt varnish to seal in the decals and tone down the shiny effect of the wash.

Now it's done I'll crack on with the command wagon, which I'm hoping to finish by this time next week. I have some ideas for the machine gun mountings but these are a bit sketchy at the moment, so we'll see what happens when I get around to the actual scatchbuilding. I'm off to France for the Easter holidays, so the engine and tender will have to wait until I get back.