Final Tweaks

I grabbed half an hour or so this evening, while the other half was away from the laptop, to word process up two simple information sheets for the Lard Day Bag the Hun games. I bought a couple of acrylic L-shaped A4 display stands a few years ago for a Warfare game, so I'll use them to display the blurb for any passers by who are interested. It's a pretty basic job but at least it gives people an idea of what's going on, assuming they're not engrossed in their own games all the time.

Lard Day Luggage

I spent an hour or so yesterday checking and packing up the stuff for the Lard Day on Saturday, with everything pretty much sorted and squeezed into a big plastic box. I've even got some clipboards so that they players don't have to use the edge of the table or their collective knees to balance the record sheets and other paperwork on. I now need to do a couple of A4 signs to display next to the game in plastic holders, giving some details of the scenarios and the set up, so that passers by can get some idea of what's going on, which I thought might be useful. I'm looking forward to it, assuming I find my way down to Sarisbury Green on Saturday?

Cruel Seas Conversion Continued

 

S-38b with 40mm Bofors mounting aft

I need a break from tank modelling, so thought I'd dig out the Cruel Seas S-Boat flotilla and get it painted before the holidays in a couple of weeks time. I have a full flotilla of S-Boats to assemble and paint including five S-100 class and one converted S-38b class mid-war craft. I want to make a second one of the S-38b's so that I have the full complement for the 5th S-Boat flotilla c1944.

This means I'll need to do another cut and shut conversion and scratchbuild a 40mm bofors mounting for the stern gun position. I was going to use a 10mm bofors gun for this but instead I will probably just adapt one of the 37mm guns from the Cruel Seas S-Boat sprue using a metal pin for the barrel and a magazine from plastic card.

There's a 40mm bofors in the US weapons set but I can't justify the cost of that for just a couple of guns!

On Track

There's only a couple more AFV's to assemble before I have completed all of the various models that I wanted to build for the What a Tanker! late war US project. In fact I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, which means that I can probably start painting next weekend, real life permitting, although recent events have thrown a few unexpected spanners in the tracks. If not, I'll just bump them over to the other side of the Easter holidays.

These two are today's workbench result, a PSC late model M5A1 and an Armourfast M18 Hellcat, both with added stowage bits and some extra detailing for the tank destroyer, as it's a bit basic out of the box. I have two more M5A1's and a single M18 to glue together then I'm done. Phew! You may ask why I've built so many kits, when two or three would do the job, but I enjoy the modelling and also will be able to run a few decent club games and even a campaign, perhaps even a solo one?

Value Gear Resin Stowage

I finished assembling the Armourfast M4 Sherman this morning, before the rest of the day went completely tits up for various reasons, with some of the 1/72nd scale resin stowage pieces from Value Gear added to the rear deck for that 'on campaign' effect. They're not cheap but you get loads in the set and they look brilliant, much better than the white metal bits and spares box equivalent in my opinion.

I also added a spare road wheel and a machine gun barrel from one of the .30cals in the Armourfast M36 kit, as the stubby effort provided in the M4 kit is a bit pathetic. I have one more M4 Sherman to convert but I'm going to do the M18 Hellcats first, as they will look really cool with some of the resin stowage parts glued on the flanks and the sides of the open top turret.

Ironclad Excuses

Now what do I do?

The Easter holidays are approaching, which means we'll be off to France again and I'll be spending at least some of the time on some sort of wargaming project, with a naval theme if past efforts are anything to go by. In the summer I enjoyed a few games of Broadside and Ram using my unpainted Tumbling Dice 1/2400th scale ironclads but they have languished in a box since then, which is a real shame. I had another look at them a couple of days ago and have decided to have another go at painting them up over the Easter break. I started on some of the French ships but didn't get very far as the thought of painting all the 'fiddly bits' was off putting to say the least. I think I'll just have to dive in and do my best but any tips or tricks would be very welcome.

Late War M4 Shermans (W.I.P.)

I have done very little this week apart from assembling one Armourfast M4 Sherman, which I have modified by removing the sand skirts, adding an extra plastic card layer to the applique armour panels over the ammunition bins and armour sheets over the driver and co-driver positions. In this configuration it's good for 1944-45, as a late model up-armoured M4 rather than the earlier version.

I've also converted a turret from a spare Armourfast Sherman Firefly kit so that I can have a second M4 with an open commander cupola, simply by blocking off and filling in the loader's hatch then adding the gun mounting from the standard M4 and a commander figure from the PSC M5A1 kit. I need to add an armour panel to the turret front right hand side and convert the hull by removing the sand skirts but it's coming along nicely. 

Sherman Scale Modelling

I've been churning out a lot of Shermans recently for my What a Tanker! project and have once again been dipping into this excellent modelling website, which is dedicated to the Sherman tank in all its forms in 1/72nd scale. It really is a mine of useful information as well as inspiration, although my basic wargaming efforts are nowhere near as good as the fantastic scale models in the gallery, some of which you'd easily mistake for 1/48th or even 1/35th scale. Don't be put off by the 1/72nd scale focus either, as a lot of the technical and modelling information is relevant for smaller scales like 15mm or 1/100th scale.

Here's a link:

http://www.172shermans.com/

Sherman Stowage in 28mm

This looks like the contents of my loft!

I'm now completely bogged down by a back log of work, having had no time over the weekend to keep up to date, so much so that I had to bail out of the Iron Cross game last night to mark a Year 8 set of books for today. How rubbish is that? I did get the 1/72nd scale resin stowage for the What a Tanker! project in the post yesterday, which cheered me up a lot, as it is really nice and will be great for loading up the 1/72nd scale US Shermans for that 'late war' on campaign look. I'll add some to the models I've already built as soon as I get the time.

This way to the stowage men!

I was so impressed that I have now ordered a set of stowage in 1/56th / 1/48th to use on my 1/48th scale Corgi Sherman M4A3's, which I originally re-painted for Bolt Action a few years ago but which are now destined for Iron Cross. I've never been happy with these, as they look far too 'bare' and lack the 'pile it on with kit and sandbags' look. They also need some snow camouflage I think, to match the winter terrain that I now have assembled, albeit only in part as I have lots more laser cut 28mm stuff to glue together for the Battle of the Bulge.

Iron Cross

I missed last week's Fire & Fury ACW game at the club due to the sudden dash to Brittany for the funeral, so I'm making up lost time this week by joining in with a four player game of Iron Cross. I have the rules and have watched a couple of games from a distance before, but this will the first time I've actually had a go. 

It's a 600 point a side British vs. German late war scenario, so I'm really  looking forward to it. If I like the mechanics, I'm thinking of dusting off and reorganizing my 28mm US platoon, perhaps adding a few more extra bits that have been hanging about for far too long, so that I can use it for Iron Cross too.