Panthers and Ferdinands

Continuing with the die cast tanks... which gives me a Regimental HQ and a tank destroyer unit.

I had 2 Panthers and a JagdPanther left so these became the HQ Company. I didn't cover this batch with dots.

The Ferdinands have mgs and would be (in reality) some of the 45 that survived Russia and fought in Italy. I've gone for 'my' colour scheme rather than using a 'real' one - it's not meant to be the original unit anyway.

I oversprayed with matt varnish and got a few patches of the dreaded white mist. Happily, on these vehicles it actually enhanced the vehicles - just gives them a more weathered look.

All at Sea

It's easy to see why a certain US President gets upset with the Chinese over cheap goods - I've been building up stocks of cheap Chinese toys over the last few months because, even though I don't have an immediate use for them, they are so cheap that the first game virtually pays for them.

So this lot were bought for as-yet-unknown sea going games. At about 60p each inclusive of postage...

I've got enough for a game of something.

The warship is about 135mm long, the sub 155mm Which means that the sub is roughly OK for a 6mm U-Boat in length, the ship needs to be bigger but... it'll do.

So, will probably be able to fit in with some 6mm games, but apart from that I haven't the faintest idea how I could use them.

1897 - not forgotten!

I'm still working on the odd regiment even though I've got several other projects on the go!

 

Already have some Irregular French firing infantry but these are the first Spencer Smith Brits.

The standard is toy style - in other words, red diagonal cross is corner to corner! However, next time I might paint the standard before I glue it on the figure.

Timecast buildings - and sort of all change...

The last of the resin manufacturers figures have arrived from Timecast - these were ordered well after the Irregular and Leven models.

Many of these are large industrial buildings and when I started laying them out it caused a change in my view as to the layout of the system....

Some examples of the industrial buildings.

These generally have bigger doors and so perhaps not completely compatible.

I bought 2 bridges.

The bridges are a bit too wide to be used with the boards the way I wanted to use them...

Lengthways they work - though might cause issues with the ones I've already done.

Doing them this way will also affect the possible street layouts - have to see how it goes.

So, in terms of models, Empires at War provide the high rise element, Irregular mostly terrain, Leven the bulk housing element and I think Timecast will probably get more industrial orders. Meanwhile I have accepted Robbie's kind offer of some of his terrain boards which will provide the 'rural' element - though they won't be compatible with my own boards they will provide a good parallel set.

Early Hinchliffe 54mm catalogue

I'm posting this on the Pages section - it's from about 1970 and before Hinchliffe started producing wargames figures. At that time they probably produced the best comercially-available 54mm artillery.

Sukhoi Su2

Paper ships and balsa tanks are not my only efforts at scatch building - I've also made a couple of attempts at balsa  models. The Sukhoi Su2 was one of these efforts and I've just got round to repainting it.

I never got round to adding a prop - there is one lying around somewhere, it's red and came off one of those cheap Chinese things I get every now and then.

On this one you can just see the stand under the cowling.

It's just a 25mm round base with flock matting and a brass rod pushed into the underside of the fusilage. Later I glued a 2p coin under the base to make it more stable.

6mm Leven Miniatures

Order has now arrived from Leven Miniatures.

Nicely packed

Models are cleanly cast - no flash though the ends of the railway lines will need trimming.

Bought 1 of each of the 3 churches - again, nice models, cleanly cast.

Need more of these. Not exactly like the ones of my childhood but the streets will be based on the Team Valley and Askew Road Gateshead! Need lots more of these.

At the bottom end of Rose Street were a couple of green Gas Holders - quite a distinctive part of the area.

Arrived today and some already have a white undercoat. Painting will not be to a high standard!

Russian infantry

I've quite a few old plastic infantry lying around - not worth the time to do a good paint job but good enough to provide a quick/cheap force. I think the term is 'wargames standard' - though I would say that a lot of people would consider that to be kind!

No idea who the figures are by apart from a few Airfix. Likewise they don't provide everything I need - can't find any of the Airfix Maxim machine guns I should have.

Still, they'll do for now.

3 10 man rifle groups - I refuse to say companies or battalions - plus a couple of mortars and an officer.

They're a bit on the rough side paint-wise - bases certainly need tidying up.

Apart from the Airfix Russian minus his machine gun I haven't the faintest idea who made these.

Expanding the terrain boards.

Getting started on the updated boards.

One thing I looked at was extending the range of colours for the fields.
 

The 'new' colours are just too garish.

So back to 'old' colours - board before...

and board after... just needs things like walls and hedges, but a lot better even if it does result in a very restricted pallet for the terrain.

Meanwhile the Irregular order has arrived, Leven order should be here soon.

6mm Terrain Boards

Years ago I worked for a company making doors. This produced a lot of 2mm plywood offcuts that were... useful.  However, when I original started using them for 5/6mm terrain boards they were different sizes. The idea now is to start putting together standardised boards.

So I've bought a load of A3 2mm MDF boards. I have sprayed some grey and glued the original boards on top. Hopefully, the height of the old boards won't affect things too much. I've also ordered a load of extra terrain pieces as well - should start arriving next week sometime.

The original boards are OK on my games table - but their uneven sizes are still obvious.

Four boards with no additions. Using a grey base coat on the board depicts roads, etc, and means I can at least make them easily!

At some time I'll be adding more fields, buildings, etc - the grey will also act as hard standing around buildings or car parks.

I've already got a load of high rise buildings from Empires at War - see the Swarm Wars sequence. Most of my other current buildings, hedges and buildings are Irregular, fields are flock, a lot of the walls are simply matchsticks.

There's an order in  for some terrain from Leven Miniatures. I've still to put in another order from Irregular - should do that tonight. When the stuff comes the 'new' terrain boards should be finished reasonably quickly.