Soviet Anti-Tank Rifles

 I am currently attempting to finish a number of unfinished projects that are overdue for completion. This weekends effort was finishing off some WW2 Soviet Anti Tank Rifles (ATRs) of which some had been lurking around uncompleted since at least 1999 - if not even earlier!

I have started using larger bases than the standard Command Decision base for some prone figures and support weapons - particularly where the figures the protection a larger base can provide. 

Esci Russians converted using resin Leva Productions parts

The first two stands  use figures from the Esci Russian Soldiers set (PSR review here). Two prone LMG gunners had their DP-27 LMGs removed and respectively replaced with  PTRS-41 and PTRD-41 ATRs from the Leva Productions WW2 Russian Pioneer Equipment set  that also contains dogs with anti tank mines, demolition charges, flame throwers, and various other combat engineer stores. (Henk of Holland has details on Leva Productions and other Leva sets)

Spot the Clone 

One of the figures on the right hand stand is a scaled down clone of an Airfix 1/32 scale Russian. I have a number of these Hong Kong produced figures spread throughout my Soviet forces.

More ATR stands

Since I was already doing some ART stands I figured I could paint up some metal figures of unknown manufacture that I acquired in the early 2000s but had done nothing with. I had enough to make four ATR stands - each equipped with a PTRS-41. 

ATR stands or AMR stands 

I hope to be able to integrate these stands into both WW2 Soviet and postwar Soviet/Russian equipped forces as either ATR stands or as Anti-Materiel Rifle (AMR) stands. Post WW2 both the PTRS-41 and PTRD-41 ATRs have seen service, with the most recent use being in the current conflict in the Ukraine as an AMR (click here for more information). Given that, it would also seem very likely that they would be used in that way by various forces in Twilight 2000.

Keeping it Semple

It has been some time since I last updated my blog...real life has been keeping me rather busy! Recently I celebrated my birthday and amongst the various nice things I was gifted, I also received this very nice 1/72 Semple Tank from my mother in law, Elaine.

The Semple Tank has been a vehicle that has intrigued me ever since I first heard of it, so I was delighted to finally have one in 20mm!

The Semple Tank with Airfix WW1 British infantryman for scale.

To those unfamiliar with the awesomeness of the Semple Tank, I suggest a quick look at the Youtube clip below:

And of course additional information can be found at this rather harsh Wiki entry here, which at the time of making this blog entry has the final result of the project summarised as "In the end, due to their impracticality, the tanks were rejected. New Zealand has yet to create another abomination of this caliber." The Military History Now article here at least mentions the positive effect that the tanks had on public morale at a time when better alternatives were sorely lacking.

The model was designed by the very talented Fitz over at Shouting into the Void (click here for his post on designing the beast), and can be purchased at his Shapeways store here.

Now I just have to paint it, and give it some CD 3 statistics. I finally have some Allied armour that will make Japanese armour look awesome by comparison!

Offensive Support

This weekend I finished off some projects that had been on the back burner for the last couple of months. The first project was finishing off a pair of scratch-built US 4.2" mortars for Mr K. I used some mortar parts from a Battlefront M-113 sprue and some Esci sand bags to quickly bodge up something that roughly looks the part. I then neglected to paint them for around three months!

Foreground: US 4.2" Mortars. Background: 81mm Mortars.

The same as the picture above.

 The three 81mm Mortar teams are to go with the support weapons in my previous post. They are Pegasus WW2 Germans that has been crudely modified using a scalpel and liquid green stuff, and then given a rough paint conversion.

Crude but possibly effective.

Since there has been a trend towards having heavier mortars, I also converted some of the Pegasus WW2 German  120mm mortars and crew using the same methods.

120mm Mortars. A useful piece of indirect fire support.

The last piece of offensive support I finished off were four more 105mm Light Guns. Three of these are intended to replace the scratch built guns I made here. The forth gun will also replace one that had the barrel at a high angle and has been broken and repaired a couple of times this year.

105mm guns, made from the Airfix/JB Models kit.

A different view of the above.

 So all in all, a rather nice collection of offensive support elements!

A collection of mortars.

Bergstiger to Gun Tiger

Another partwork magazine I have been collecting is Military Vehicles magazine (Which is rather a plain name, but quite descriptive of the contents). Issue three of the magazine (of which I bought some additional copies) offered a model M1126 Stryker and a model Bergetiger.

And all for under NZ$15 an issue.

Now, while having multiple model Strykers is very useful, having multiple models of a vehicle that most likely only one ever existed of, is somewhat less useful.

Tank and spare parts.

Fortunately, I had spare parts from one of the many different Tiger I kits put out by Hasegawa, and thus I had a solution for one of the extra Bergetigers. (One of the others I sent over to Paul at Plastic Warriors click here to see his post on it).

Useful spares.

The first step was to remove the crane and winch, which according to some (click here for more detail) is too small to use as a recovery vehicle, but was actually designed for use as a demolition charge layer. Other theories are discussed here.

And all gunned up.

I have of course kept one for use as a demolitions tank, or workshop tractor, or even an ARV!

Naval Gunfire Support

Amphibious operations are something I have an interest in, and an often important aspect of these operations is Naval Gunfire Support (NGS). Naturally since I have acquired a number of suitable hulls for use as amphibious warfare platforms (click here for more details), I have also been on the lookout for something with a little more bang.

A little more bang......

 I have been aware of the existence of large toy battleships for some time, but I hadn't seen any for sale here in NZ, and the cost of getting one shipped here seemed excessive (around NZ$100). Then one turned up on NZ's favourite local auction site for NZ$25 plus shipping, so I had to grab it...

A view from the rear.

Rear turret and helipad....

Side view.

 The battleship seems to be based on the US Iowa class, but with the length and lines becoming less sleek, and rather more caricatured. Given that this is idea for letting big items appear on a tabletop, I certainly won't complain.

And complete with storage drawer....

 This battlewagon came with some metal planes and two HO scale tanks (a Churchill and a Sherman  - I have another Sherman for you Ion, if you are interested), but I have seen it offered with a variety of different toy army items, some more useful than others.

The tape gives an idea of the length of this beast.

Ideally, I would like to obtain at least another one of these, or a similar type of ship, but even having one is very useful.

Parcels, Pikes, and Planes

Life has been somewhat eventful of late, but I have managed to get a few gaming related things done. recently I was generously sent a parcel of goodies by Paul (from Plastic Warriors) that contained some more Esci gabions, some more pieces from the Esci Battlefield Accessory set, and a Matchbox Saracen armoured car.

The parcel from Paul. Cheers Paul!

 I have been continuing to try and improve my BUAs by varying the size of the gables and walls, but also by trying to create a brick effect. The next step will be trying to get windows and doors cut. With the aid of someone else's very clever work I may have a solution to show in the next post.

Bigger walls and gables.

Brickwork walls and gables!

 I also attended Conquest last weekend. While there Rodger (from Rebel Barracks) kindly gave me some more gabions, some more bits of the Esci accessory set, and two sets of the Imex AWI artillery in 1/72.

More stuff for AWI V&B kindly provided by Rodger.

I also took part in a demonstration game of "Pike and Shotte" that I thoroughly enjoyed, and managed to make a few small purchases. A number of 1/144 scale jets that I plan to use for Harad games.

Four  J-35s awaiting construction.

A rather nice Sabre kit.

A pretty smart looking Saudi Lightning.

 Afterwards I went and saw Glenn and acquired a vast haul of vehicles and figures. The vehicles were in various states of disarray, but will prove a source of fun through refurbishment and use on the tabletop. Some of what I acquired I have passed on to Archduke Piccolo (click here for link), but I have greedily kept a great deal for myself! I was also meant to see Glenn on Wednesday, but events conspired against me - with luck I might be able to catch up this weekend with him?

Lots of nice bits!

Some very useful vehicles.

Figures for the WW1 project.

Some Tigers for the Archduke.

Glenn also gave me a B-17 kit to pass on to Mr K. - who is quite delighted with the addition to his air fleet!

Classic Airfix box art!

Complete with bonus 57mm gun!

Of Scouring pads and a good (brown) wash!

Mr K.  is working on getting a CD game up and going.  He came around on Saturday to do some terrain building and get some of his troops washed. Like myself, Mr K.likes making terrain on the cheap.

Mr K arrived with a great deal of green scouring pads.

And cut into strips.

Each strip is three pads thick.

A US infantry stand of Revell figures for scale.

Strips are packed up to await the next step in construction.

 No prizes for guessing where Mr K.'s game will be set! Mr K. also brought over about a regiments worth of   command, infantry, and support stands to start giving a wash and some repairs to.

The figures are a mix of US Army and Marines from Matchbox, Airfix, Esci, and Revell.

Before the wash - these guys are some of Steve's former troopers and have seen quite a bit of hard play.

Group shot post wash.

And again....

and once more for luck!

Some progress was made on these while i worked on some 1/144 scale Aircraft with the Dremel. Mr K. will no doubt be part of this week doing more work on his CD Americans, while I am continuing to flit from project to project!

Airfix British Infantry

The great refurbishment project continues, with a small selection of the Airfix British Infantry (click here for PSR review). I only have a small selection of painted figures from the set - fortunately I do have a much larger selection of the unpainted figures - but since they still retained their paint jobs, I figured I would touch them up, wash them, base them, varnish them, and then post them!

Almost a Battalion's worth!

I have based them up as a 1943 CD3 British infantry battalion - sans the supporting stands and vehicles and a missing infantry stand in D company. Since there wasn't a suitable painted figure to act as the battalion command stand - and the officer figure from the set is more a figure to put on a command infantry stand - I decided to paint up one of the figures from the Matchbox British Infantry set. I also painted up a hard plastic Airfix gunner to put onto a stand with the orphan painted Airfix gunner that I acquired at the same time as the infantry. I painted these two additional figures using Vallejo English Uniform as I didn't want to try and match the original painters uniform colour with a complete figure as I didn't think I could get a close enough match to make it look right.

A patrol stand and two stands suitable for use as FOs or Staff Radio stands.

Each Rifle Company is meant to consist of one command infantry stand, and two infantry stands.I decided to use the same figure combinations (out of a very limited pool of painted figures) to create the stands for each company.

A Company. The command infantry stand is the stand on the right. The two stands with Bren guns are infantry stands.

B Company. same poses, different figures, different angle. 

The figures had been painted - much like the other sets by this painter - with enamel paint, that after a number of years of poor storage had begun to crack and flake, but after a few touch ups and a brown wash come up quite nicely.

C an D Companies. D is lacking an important element.

I didn't have enough painted figures available to make up a command infantry stand for D company, so when I start painting up the support elements for this battalion, I will paint up an additional command infantry stand.

The replacement Battalion command stand, and the gun crew stand for the Six Pdr.

I did paint up a battalion command stand, as having one makes the unit a great deal more playable, plus it gives me an excuse to paint up an officer from the Matchbox British Infantry set. I have always liked the figure, and should I paint up some RAF types I might just add one of these painted in blue into the mix.