Rapid Fire! France 1940 - StreletsR French artillery

These two StrelestR guns and crew are designed for the WW1 but can be easily adapted for 1940. The main aspect is a new paint job on the crew. The two rows of buttons in the capote need somehow to be desguised - I did it with a thick coat of varnish - and a belt need to be painted in each figure. The officer has the capote buttoned infantry style, so he can be an infantry officer giving a hand to his fellow artillerymen. Its an excuse as good as any other.

The 155 GPF was built straight from the box but this Schneider 105mm has new wheels from the Hat artillery box. Initially intended for the Hat 75mm gun these wheels were historically also used in the Schneider 105mm guns of the DLM's and DCR's.

Next: The rest of the vehicles of the Dragoon regiment of the DLM.

Rapid Fire! Blitzkrieg Refugees.

Refugees are another sad part of the German Blitzkrieg across Europe in 1939-40 and these figures try to show the European western civilians that fled from those invasions. While painting these guys I could not stop thinking that some of them came to Portugal or Spain, but many went to North Africa or Middle East where they were well received by the local communities, even if in those days they were still European dominated. Nowadays it's a shame what we see ın the EU with some countries denying help to refugees. If to the East those countries have no idea what is a colony in their History and have a natural fear of the refugees who comes to 'steal their job', in the West the same  attitude is particularly dangerous as Western European countries would still live in Middle Ages  if it was not for the exploitation of resources and people in the places from where the nowadays refugees come from.

But of course memory is a fragile thing. And even worse is the History knowledge.

The figures are Airfix from the old civilian sets and from Faller, Rocco and Preiser. They are different scale with Airfix around 1/76th and Preiser, Rocco and Faller in 1/87th scale. But they match well  if you want to make refugees as you may portray men and women of different size and ages. A total of 22 stands were built which makes more than 1 meter long of refugee column capable of hampering any possible Allied counter attack.

I built the carts out of EverGreen plastic card and glued piles of stuff and figures on top or hanging from them. The basis for this one are two Hat horses with extra harness, wheels from WW1 Airfix artillery and Airfix seated civilian figures. The stowage on top of the cart was made of two component paste.

This one is pulled with a pair of oxen from Preiser.

- Father, why is mom leading?
- My son, you will use in the future a new saying: size matters!



At this point spare wheels were scarce and this cart only has two and one surplus.

Even if school is closed you need to do keep on studying.

I placed grass only in one of the borders of each stand so that they can be placed on the road side. Well, this doesn't always work.

A mix of 1/76th and 1787th scale figures without no one getting offended.

Another mix.

I only had a few running figures and these try to portray wether the ones whom are late to enter the column or people running from the dreaded straffing of a Stuka. 

This stand has a RAF Airfix cyclist converted to a civilian.

As usual in war there are those who take advantage of other people. The guy in the rear is analysing the girl's ass even in this dire situation! Shame on him and on the one who made this vignette.

Even the dog came along.

Rich and poor, everybody is quite similar under the same circumstances.

Also the cow and the calf had to come as both received prizes in the last agricultural fair of the region.


Next: StreletsR new French artillery.

Rapid Fire! Poland 1939 - Junkers Ju-86 E1

 

 

This Junkers bomber was initially to be used by the Nationalist side of the SCW but was diverted to the Polish campaign of 1939. It was a quick build that lasted only a few hours of the last two days. There are some tricks you can use for a fast build of a wargame aircraft or in fact any wargame model and still having a reasonable good looking model in the end. Remember: your kids will sell your stash most probably, so be quick on your models!



 



 

Everything starts at the beach by reading on our beloved issues and inspiring yourself.  Already at home the model was put together quickly, the propeller parts and exterior figures all glued and some joints strenghtened with super glue.

The ailerons on the wings were glued with a hot glue pistol. There is some seams you can see but you avoid a painful process of using the tiny gluable parts inserted in the ailerons and designed to be glued to the under parts of the wings. Also like this the model gets extra strenght in that fragile area. 

The aircraft was fully primed, figures and all and the camouflage was hand painted. No security tape no nothing, just do it with a firm hand. Ten minutes later, the first darker acrylic layer dryed. Apply a bit of diluted black in the most obvious recesses. With a bit of paper try to drain all excess of diluted black and the lighter tones were applied some 15 minutes later.

No interior parts whatsoever. The transparent parts are simply painted and that avoid one of the most time consuming procedures in building an aircraft. The front MG13 was replaced by a thicker piece of plastic as the original one wouldn't last for long.

Some care was placed in the details of the two exposed MG13 firers,one seen here and the other in the under belly of the fuselage. This figure had its legs burned with a lighter until a ball of melting plastic was formed. Like this you can sit the figure in the position you want. The same happened to the arms that now are grabbing correctly the weapon instead of practicing martial arts. The decals sit in  a layer of acrylic gloss varnish. After placing the decals they were again covered with the same varnish. In the end two coats of acrylic varnish spray were applied, one gloss and another matt and its done.

In the last two days, I spent most of the day out and only used maybe some 6-7 hours of these two days in building and painting this aircraft.

You are thinking 'Sure, this guy has no wife or kids to deal with and most probably is retired'. Wrong. I drive 60 km for my working place and  have a wife and two kids. Well, one is 19 YO but the other one is 2YO! Besides, finding a wife that understands your hobby and do most of the house stuff is also important.

But most important than everything is making a compromise between an elaborate model and one that when quickly finished really helped you reducing your stash (my wife calls it 'colesterol') before the mailman rings. Again.


Next: Blitzkrieg refugees.

A few Rapid Fire! small bits

 

 

 

 

In the middle of I don't know which posts I finished some models that were walking around with no life prospects for some time, just spending father's money (me).

I used the Matchbox Humber MkIV to make the personnal mount of Hauptsturmführer Victor Graebner of the 9th SS Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion of Arnhem Bridge fame.

The figure is Valiant and I painted it as close as I could to the character in A Bridge Too Far movie.

 

 

 

This is the 10.5cm K18 Panzer Selbsfahrlafette IVa (c'mon, then the Germans don't want people to have fun with their names on YouTube) from Altaya together with the Sdkfz 253, also Altaya, that supported these big SPG's. Only some plastic crew and light wethering and they are ready for their exciting  lives in my basement shelves.


Next: The Junkers Ju 86  for the 1939 Polish campaign

 

Rapid Fire! France 1940 in 20mm - June 40 Desperate measures (part 2)

With its best material lost in Belgium and in the battles of May, France had to scrap deep into whatever weapons they had in storage to cope with the German advances of Fall Rot. Here they are using a battalion of FT31 (improved FT17 with a Reibel Mg and some changes in the suspension) and a battery of 194mm GPF SPG in support of one more counter attack. All models are MiniGeneral 3D prints. Ah, for the ones with geographical instincts the location is Champs Carrés.

Here the standard FT31 with added chains to the trench crossing tail.

The FT17 BS, the support version, with a 75mm Howitzer in a fixed turret.

The figure, the usual copy of the Skytrex tank commander and some plastic card doors were glued to the side of the turret.

The FT17 TSF, the command version.

A number of addings were made for this one like the usual commander's figure and radio equipment. 

 The radio antennae and supports were made in several plastic materials like plastic card and broom bristles.

Here the star of this post, the gorgeous tracked 194mm GPF in a picture clearly taken after shooting its powergul gun, so strong that even the photographer trembled in awe.

Here a better one to show the details of this lovely MiniGeneral model. Only the elevating wheel was added and this one was taken from the leftovers of the Airfix Mark I tank, namely its crossing tail. Also a crew was added, this time from the brand new figures that comes in the Strelets R 155mm GPF gun and Schneider 105mm gun.

The tractor and ammo carrier is another funny thing. The railing here is clearly too thick but like this  it will face better the rigours of a life of battle in the shelves.

Crew (Strelets R and EWM copy) and the towing cable were to only addings to this one.

Family photo.

Lastly the Laffly S20 TL for the Motorised Dragoon Regiment I'm building. I already have a few from SHQ and with this one and the next 14  from MiniGeneral I'll have the Regiment finished.

This one needed some extra parts: rear step, side tools, folded canvas and LMG. The wheels are also different from the ones sent with the model. Pedro Pato, the boss of MiniGeneral, was very kind in supplying some extra wheels  from his Schneider P28 AMR. This model is under revision and these little problems will be solved shortly.

 The standing figure is a cross between some Esci Alpini legs (with puttees) and a copy of the torso of the Hat mounted artilleryman.

Next: wether the new French Strelets R artillery, an old Italeri Junkers Ju-86 for Poland 1939 or a lot of Polish vehicles from MiniGeneral.

Rapid Fire! France 1940 in 20mm - June 40 Desperate measures (part 1)

With the German Fall Gelb operation victorious, the French prepare for Fall Rot and for the defence of France. For that they use everything that can move or shoot against the invaders including much outdated equipment.

A good example are these AMR Citröen Kegresse P28. Apparently the ones still running were collected by the COMAM (a centre for cavalry vehicles) and used in battle. There are several photos of Germans around these vehicles some of them abandoned or destroyed.

The models are very nice MiniGeneral miniatures with the usual copies of the Skytrex tank commander. In reality only one of them has an interphone, all others are eating apples in order to reflect the French lack of radios.

                           

This Potez 452 in navy colours  is an Azur model and was built simply because I had it for years in the stash. It can also be used for the Franco-Thai war of 1940-41.

The figures are Matchbox.  

The last model of this post is another Azur kit, the Hanriot H-232. In reality it was a training aircraft but I'm imagining  its usage as a reconnaissance plane.

Next: More desperate measures with a new FT31 BCC and SPG artillery. 

Rapid Fire! the Pacific War in 20mm - Japanese Landing Craft

Before getting back to France 1940 you can see here a group of freshly built and painted Japanese landing craft arriving at a lost small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in search of boots... oh,no, sorry that is Gettysburg... in search of water. Just in case, they land a reconnaissance vehicle to see if there are any hostiles.

The landing craft are Hovels. The armed one is an Armored Boat AB-Tei / Type C Landing Craft and the other one is the more common Daihatsu Type A landing craft. The reconnaissance vehicle is a Sekigahara 1941 model from BUM with many changes.

I painted the landing craft driver in navy colours even if he has puttees and probably should have been painted in army colours.

The flags are internet prints.

Both ship's decks were painted wood colour. Not sure about the extent of the wood (if any) on the armoured boat but it becomes more lively like this.

My idea for the future is to build several of my own Type A landing craft in wood and card board and I needed this one for measurements.

The vehicle is a Sekigahara 1941 model and an experimental vehicle built in very small numbers. Well, in fact its numbers were so small that only one was built and in 20mm thanks to my devious mind. So, sorry, this thing never existed.

 This resin model came along a box of SCW figures in an old BUM box. Probably BUM was trying to pass the model as a Tiznao or a home-made armoured car of any sort. So I had to find a way for this model to survive. In fact this is a pity as BUM is a Spanish brand with very nice SCW figures but with these kind of very lousy vehicle models, specially their older ones. They should be more careful about presenting stuff from their own history. Besides this, the wheels that came with the model were more of the bycicle size and there was a nail offered for the gun!  

I used some decent wheels and a DSKH Soviet Mg from the Matchbox T-34 instead, painted the inevitable yellow disruptive camouflage stripes and the navy flags and managed to have another Japanese vehicle... sort of.

 

Next: a return to France 1940, particularly the terrible month of June.

 

Rapid Fire! France 1940 in 20mm - Mini Panzers from MiniGeneral

The German armour gathers around the village of Maisons Folles and prepares itself for another push against the allies.

All models are MiniGeneral 3D prints.

 

These two PzBefehlswagen I A only had the figures as extras. They are Fujimi torsos with GreenStuff arms.

 

Two more PzIA to join its brothers from Minairons.

 

And two more PzII C to end this lot.

Next: Desperate measures by the French, or maybe some Japanese landing craft.