AK47 Winter Warmer [2]

I finished the four QRF Saracen APC's yesterday and they were a pain in the bum. There was lots of flash around the hull, especially on the rear doors, the wheels had casting lines across the middle and the hubs were all mashed. I also had to replace the flimsy machine gun barrels on the turrets with cut down barrels from the Peter Pig pintle mounted machine gun set. They ended up fine in the end if you look at them from a distance!

Ebay Clear Out [2]

I've decided to shift my part completed scratchbuilt 28mm armoured train for the Back of Beyond and/or Russian Civil War on Ebay, as I'll never get round to completing it and it's taking up useful space. If you're interested, pop on over to the link in the previous post and have a look. It's a labour of love but I'll never get it finished, so it really needs to go. It's even got sound effects!

PS This Picasa Web Albums thing is really, really *&^%$$£ me off now.

Ebay Clear Out

I have several things up for sale on Ebay this week, as part of my attempt to clear the decks for new projects, so you may find something of interest.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/jimandlo/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

The current list includes my 12mm ARVN, 20mm Rapid Fire British, 1/600 CWC Canadians, 1/1200 Victorian French ironclads and some unpainted 28mm Renegade WW1 Germans.

I may bung some more stuff on later.

AK47 Winter Warmer [1]

I've decided to make the AK47 project the first effort for 2013, so have been finishing off the last few units for the superpower backed army that I started to assemble over the Summer holidays. I've managed to base up the last few S/A and heavy weapons bases for the militia unit, and have based up the armoured cars that I prepared previously, with an additional Ferret to add a bit of much needed firepower.

I've also assembled the QRF Vickers MBT's, one of which needed to have the barrel drilled, pinned and glued together after it arrived in two seperate pieces. I have the QRF Saracen APC's to build, some casualty markers to do and the plastic helicopter kits to construct over the weekend, by which time I'll be ready to start painting things up. In theory at least?

PS For some inexplicable reason, I can no longer upload pictures directly from my hard-drive but have to use the clunky Picasa web albums thing instead...a right pain in the backside!!

The Runaway Train went down the track and she blew..

A bit of an unexpected bargain today from the local branch of the Robert Dyas hardware chain, in the form of two battery operated train sets for £8 each. The set consists of a locomotive and tender, two tank wagons and an oval of track, together with a couple of trees and some signals. 

The gauge is 1'' or 25mm, so not far off S gauge or 1:64th scale and actually pretty close to 1/56th, which makes it ideal for 28mm figures. The four straight lengths add up to 36'' worth of track, which is why I bought two sets, giving me a standard table length of straight railway line.

The locomotive and tender are probably too modern for the Old West but ideal for the Back of Beyond or similar. The tank wagons are also far too modern but can be dismantled to provide the basis of scratchbuilt flat wagons or box cars. There's even a set of spare bogies in the box, so I could put together a train of five wagons if I wanted to.

I've also tried out the other rolling stock that I have in the spares box, most of which is from the Teamster toy sets. These have no flanges on the wheels but actually sit very squarely on top of the tracks and look compatible. This means that I could mix and match the Teamster coaches with the Robert Dyas track and locomotives, making it easy to get a train up an running.

A bit of a find methinks! If you want your own, you'll probably have to get down to your local shop pretty quick before they get removed from the shelves. They were in the sale section with loads of Xmas stuff, so I don't think they'll be around very much longer.

D Day to Victory

I finished a couple of really good books over the Xmas holidays and am now reading this, which I bought on the ferry for the journey back a few days ago. It's a quick read but very good, nonetheless, as it is based on the diary of Sgt Trevor Greenwood which he wrote on a day by day basis from Normandy all the way through to the conclusion of the campaign in NW Europe. There are some very telling entries in the diary which reflect the traumatic nature of the war for allied tank crews, especially when faced with superior enemy tanks and AT guns.

AK47 Scrapyard

While clearing out the shelves under the workbench this morning, I came across a lonely box of AK47 stuff that I had abandoned years ago, having screwed up the painting to such a degree that the only option was to stash it away and forget about the whole sorry episode.

However, a splash of cheapo Homebase paint stripper and a bit of a brush up later, resulted in a small but handy collection of Peter Pig armour and artillery for the current AK47 Superpower project. I'm feeling not a little virtuous as a result, although I have yet to re-assemble let alone paint anything.

A positive start to 2013 nonetheless!

Projects 2013

I'm being fairly realistic, I think, this year with a lot of existing projects rather than new stuff being on the list for 2013. So, in scale order, here are the not so Top Secret projects for the next twelve months or so:

28mm

I will aim to finish the SAGA Vikings then either tackle the Darkest Africa native villagers or possibly a French Indian War party of some sort. As it takes me ages to paint 28mm stuff, I will be keeping things small and simple.

15mm

I will complete the AK47 Superpower Backed army for a game at the club in February. If I get that done, I may tackle a second 15mm painting project, possibly for IABSM, PITS or even Impetus.

10mm

I'm having a break from 10mm this year, although I may have to finish off some Italians for the BKC  Aegean campaign.

1/285th

I will get the late war German aircraft painted up for BTH2 along with some USAAF planes. I may also have to do some extra odds and sods for Malta, which I may turn into a club mini-campaign at some point.

1/450th

I really fancy doing a mini-project based on the Peter Pig pirate ships that I recently bought. This will be  squeezed in as and when I get the time and when I've found or written a good set of rules.

1/600th

This is a big focus this year, with the MiG Alley / Bag the MiG project as a priority. I also want to get some WW2 coastal forces started, as I've wanted to do this for ages and have plenty of models to paint up. This will be a potential mulitplayer game, despending on interest at the club.

That's it really. A bit of a mixed bag but plenty of variety and lots to choose from when I get bored with the thing I'm working on, which is my recurrent problem and explains why I rarely seem to get anything finished! A few other things may also slip through the net, like the Full Thrust fleets, but I'll resist the temptation to lose the plot entirely...?

New Year Resolutions

I have only one New Year Resolution for 2013...

I will get rid of my never to be finished but permanently stalled projects.

It'll be tough but I have to do it!

...so it'll be goodbye to the Rapid Fire British, the CWC Canadians and the ARVN, along with some of the other stuff I have stashed away under the workbench gathering dust.

2012 Retrospective

A rather mixed year as far as wargaming projects go, with some small successes and a lot of unfinished stuff now languishing in the really useful boxes. I did get my Gladiatiors project completed but the games turned out to be a bit of a let down due to the wonky Warhammer rules. I also completed my spray and dip Iron Cow ONESS English battlegroup, with only a few extras needed to round it off.

The Italians for the BKC Aegean campaign have been completed up to a uesable point, although the bulk of the army is still in the half way stage, so not a great result. A far more successful outcome has been the Bag the Hun 2 North Africa RAF planes, which have even been used for a game at the club and will get much more use next year over Malta, perhaps even as a core unit in a mini-campaign.

I have had some really good games at the club this year and have managed to get along on a more regular basis of late. I've run a few games too which I've really enjoyed including the Bag the Hun games, the Saurian Safari pirates v. dinosaurs game, the AK47 multiplayer and, last but not least, the third Back of Beyond campaign. I've also really enjoyed trying out new rules thanks to other club players, especially the Maurice game which I thought was great fun.

I'll definately try to get some more new rules experience in 2013 and also to umpire some more multiplayer games for the club, assuming I can find the time and can shift the figures I need. The Bag The Hun 2 project seems to have been an intial success and there's also some interest in more AK47, so I have plenty of things to be getting on with in 2013. And then there's the new stuff!