A second (Airfix) Avro Lancaster in 1/72 for Rapid Fire! rules

 

This is the last kit bought at the 2nd hand fair of Tomar to be built. Its also the second Avro Lancaster, after a Revell model. These two are intended for the bombing actions before Operation Goodwood, which is an old desire of mine after making two British Armored Divisions, a British (Churchill) Tank Brigade, the 21.PD, the 16.LFD, and the 503. Tiger Battalion. 

The build up is quite straightforward, with all interior left aside, and used the same style of painting of the Revell kit. The kit is from 1967, so older than me, and the decals and plastic were still perfect which is something more recent kits can´t say. 

Next: a Video on the Iraqi 5th Mechanized Division

RF! in 20mm - A little known armoured encounter somewhere in nowadays Pakistan, the battle of Al-Lie

 

A little known armoured battle of WW2 happened in Pakistan (some sources say it was Afghanistan) at a place called Al-Lie, between several units of armoured vehicles of Japan, Germany, Slovakia on one side and USA and USSR on the other:

- The Japanese got lost in the jungle looking for the body of Yamamoto and ended up a bit to the west;

- The Slovaks found the Eastern Front too dangerous and a task force derived a bit more to the south east looking for more peaceful areas;

-The Germans had to be in control of everything Axis;

- The Soviets, without radios on their tanks, got lost and now were too scared to return because of NKVD thinking they were deserters;

- The US simply had to be everywhere even if it was not their damn business!!

Two conclusions are known about Al-Lie battle, no one survived to tell the story and it didn´t happen. 

After this BS story what really made me making this bunch was the fact of having these models sitting for too long on the cue and all were WW2 bits for continuing a number of armies. 

The one waiting for longer, maybe 10 years, and already built (given by JF or JMM) was this Esci late KV-1 that will go the winterized Soviets. 

This Mig T-28 is one of the oldest model kits of this tank, dating from the mid 90s. I found it in one of the last model shops in Lisbon, the Casa Antunes. 

The model is a piece of hell to be built as it is made in resin and lots of photo-etched parts and thus made for standing in a shelf and not wargaming. But as I´m a shelf wargamer everything will be OK. 

Two more T-35 monster by S-Models. Only four to reach the 10 mark as ordered by Master Colin and Richard in its supplement for Russian units 41-42. In fact the 8th Mechanized Corps used them at Dubno, which is my target for Barbarossa. The last four will not have the aerials as they only existed in the command tank of the company. 

This "Long Tom" and HST is a second one to be built and is the consequence of an exchange made years ago between a full Altaya collection and some miniature racing cars. A Matchbox figure and a base was added, a quick glass paint and sand color drybrush and its ready to go. 

Some 10 days ago or so I received a nice parcel from a Spanish wargamer friend, JZ, which had plenty of very helpful bits and pieces. Among them there was this Horch 830 radio car of the early war period, probably by the extict BUM and copied from the Wespe model. The aerials were added and a few more details also. 

The aerials were added and a few more details also. Not sure about this arrangement but it looks nice to me. 

Also from JZ came all these that went for the Japanese. The Sumida Type 92 armored car is resin a copy of the Skytrex one I already have. I painted it with the same SNLF colors. The truck to the left pretends to be a Nissan 80 but it started as...

... a firemen truck. Here it already got some plastic side pannels to look more like a cargo truck...

...and here it got new wheels and a tarpaulin. 

These diecast pickups started like this but here you can already see the final arrangement with hot glue on the windshields, new wheels and cargo to disguise the strange stuff on the back.

Three more Praga trucks from FtF going to the Slovak Fast brigade. 

And three more Slovac LT-35 to conclude the armour of the same brigade.

Next: another video on the Iraqi 1991 army

RFR/Able Archer - The army of Saddam Hussein in Kuwait 91 (part 1), the 3rd Saladin Armored Division

This one is really heavy. Not only in the amount of armored vehicles but also because most of the vehicles are Skytrex metal, true shelf benders. This division was the most famous of the regular army (not counting the Iraqi Republican Guard) and fought several wars from 1973 up to 2003. Its armored and mechanized brigades fielded plenty T-72 and BMP-1 and the artillery was crammed with 2S1 and 2S3 systems, which, for those days were quite potent weapons. During Kuwait War the 3rd Saladin opened the ground war with the coalition with the attack on Khafji, together with other units of the Iraqi III corps. Most of the information for making this division was taken from the excellent article on Millitary Modelling Vol.30 No08 by Cookie Sewell.

Rapid Fire!/ Able Archer, The Gulf War in 20mm - The French made AMX -30 AuF1 of the Iraqi Republican Guard

 

These models come from the excellent Altaya range. I ended up with a total of 12 of them, with 6 going to the IRGC (Iraqi Republican Guard Corps) and the other 6 going to one of the Gulf War enemies, the Saudis. At the beggining the RF system was giving two pices of artillery per battery but recently I´ve noticed a decrease with just one model representing the whole battery. So like this you can have one or two battalions of artillery. 

The IRGC apparently got all of the 85 (some sources say around 70) of these artillery systems and they seemed to have mostly survived the Iran-Iraq war, 1991 and 2003 wars as rows of them were present at Camp Taji, Baghdad, after 2003. Probably they were at rear echelons in the 1991 ground battles (even if some show up abandoned/destroyed) and around 2003 they were missing spare parts and became immobilized. I painted the red triangle of the IRGC on both sides of the turret without being sure it was there. I saw modellers painting these but with the top white part painted grey. 

The good thing of having these together with BMP-1s and T-72s of the Saladin AD is to quickly put together an armored or mechanized RG divisions like the Hammurabi, Nebuchadnezzar, Medinah or the Tawakalma . 

Another possible type of markings is this one as seen on a Hammurabi AD vehicle, a photo I´ve found after finishing this lot.

The models were repainted Vallejo Iraqi sand as usual and changed with the addition of EverGreen plastic side skirts, stowage at the turret rack, antenna and a Soviet AA machine gun. 

Next: a big brawl of WW2 tanks between the Slovaks, Soviets, Japanese and even the Americans. 

Little Bighorn 1876 in 20mm (part 14) - A few more Indians stands and some scenic figures with a big Thank You to Stuart Jarman

 

This is a very nice and useful group of Atlantic, Imex, Lucky Toys and Airfix figures that a fellow wargamer, Stuart Jarman,  sent me for free from the USA. There are still another group of them not shown as they were used to replace a number of broken Atlantic figures after a plastic drawer decided to learn how to fly. As the figures were quite brittle some 17 of them broke in some 10 stands and were replaced by very nice Imex figures offered by Stuart Jarman. I also kept aside the Apache Atlantic figures for the future.

The idea is to use as much as possible these figures to beef up whether my fighting stands of Sioux and Cheyenne for Little Big Horn or start some vignettes to give more color to the Indian camp. 

These became very handy as they are necessary for the Little big Horn squaw trail from were children and women escaped from the 7th US cavalry.  

Six more fighting stands were added. The Imex figures are particularly welcome as they have a very nice archer shooting its arrows. 

These two represent the  suicide boys (more or less some 24 sioux and Cheyenne that vowed to die in the battle if necessary) that were apparently vital in opening holes in the lines of the 5 companies of Custer. If the same had happened at Reno´s position maybe the outcome of that particular fight could have been different. 

Now a few vignettes. The idea is to give some life to the Little Big Horn big camp. These are Imex figures.

These canoes will be inside the river even if more probably in another scenario. 

These Atlantic horses can be used for the herds inside the camp or to go along with dismounted warriors. 

A peaceful meeting just because we need them. 

Next: more Iraqi artillery

The Japanese Infantry Division in 20mm for Rapid Fire! rules

Most of these models were inside the cabinets with figures hidden in card boxes and glued to thin card for many years by now. Recently the Pacific bug bit me and this one had to come out, particularly after reading books and seeing films and videos about Guadalcanal. So I painted the last few boxes of Japanese infantry on the stash and mixed them with the old ones already made. For artillery I found Assymetric Wargames in Italy, which makes in 3d printed resin everything you may need for Japanese guns (including prime movers), together with the possibility of getting quickly the great Simon´s Soldiers figures. Regarding tanks and SPs I simply cleaned some dust out of them as they were made for a long time.

Guadalcanal 1942 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! rules - (Part 13) The 2nd US Marine battalion

 

One more Marine battalion made mostly of Revell figures but with plenty SHQ in the support weapons.

These battalions are organized for late war with this structure heavy on support weapons. If you place just a part of these support weapons on the battalion command they can be used also for Guadalcanal. 

The mortar tube is Esci and the bipod is a 60mm one from Valiant 1st edition. The pair matches quite well as the tube is "normal" 1/72 and the small bipod is a big 1/72nd part. 

The Bazzoka No1 figures are Airfix and hard plastic Esci and all No2 are conversions from a flamethrower (L) and riflemen from Revell.

All figures are SHQ with the exception of the lying down one that is Matchbox. The 60mm tubes are Valiant but instead I used the MMG tripod of the sprue and converted it into a mortar bipod. The mortar like this looks smaller and closer to 1/72nd scale. 

The MMGs are hard and soft plastic Esci with Airfix Marines as No2s. These got a bent arm with fire as they are originally throwing a grenade. 

The HMGs are all SHQ less one that has an Esci gun and firer (bottom right). This one got a new tripod made of plastic replacing the original which is a one piece figure+ HMG. 

The radioman is the wading Revell figure with changed arms, new Thompson SMG and Hasegawa radio on the back. The antenna can clearly be used also as a telegraph pole! The Marines didn´t use the camouflaged helmet at Guadalcanal with this only showing up at Tarawa but I prefered to paint it as it can be used in plenty of actions and its a famous characteristic of WW2 Marines. 

Next: the last few Japanese prime movers and staff cars. 

Guadalcanal 1942 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! rules - (Part 12) More Asymmetric Wargames artillery and Simon´s Soldiers figures

 This post completes the regimental artillery (75mm guns), 81mm mortars and regimental command stands for a Japanese Infantry Division.

The Asymmetric Wargames guns are Tiger Ace 1945 resin prints and Simon´s Soldiers Japanese artillerymen go very well together. 

The guns are the Type 38 model and the figures are a mix of both field artillery and anti-tank figures. 

I didn´t have around any bigger bases so instead of six figures in a base, each regimental command was divided in two bases, one with officers and flag and the other with telephone and radio operators. 

According to witnesses (me, so don´t bet any money on it) this dialogue was real: 

- Don´t worry Major Toyota, this will be our last Banzai charge.

- I know Major Suzuki, and our first...

The 81mm mortars will go to the second and third regiments. The Japanese tended to have few medium mortars as they had plenty of knee mortars of 50mm distributed at company level.

Next: the last post on build up of the Japanese Infantry Division with Asymmetric Wargames prime movers and staff cars. 

Guadalcanal 1942 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! rules - (Part 11) The first US Marine battalion

 

This first Marine battalion is set for late war Pacific, from Tarawa up to Iwo Jima. There is more heavy infantry weapons support is this battalion than in the ones at Guadalcanal. Up to May 1944 a RF! Marine battalion should have only one of these three 60mm mortars, two MMGs (no HMGs) and the 81mm mortar, everything allocated to the support company, while in late war these heavy weapons were integral of the rifle companies and thus in larger numbers. Also the Marines at Guadalcanal still didn´t receive the bazooka, even if this one was already used at Operation Torch, in Tunisia. 

A problem while doing the WW2 Marines is, at least in our 1/72nd scale, to use or not the camouflaged helmet, something that changes the appearence of the soldier and miniature. In fact the Marine´s camouflaged helmet was first introduced after Guadalcanal, at Tarawa, but was used on all other Island hoppings up to the end of the war. So I cheated Guadalcanal by a few months and painted the helmets in three color camouflage as it can be used for several years, from November 1943 up to march 1945, while the plain helmet is only useful for Guadalcanal Marines.

The figures in the rifle companies are mostly Revell with some Esci and hard plastic Hasegawa for variety. The intention of Revell with its Marines look to have been a bit like the 1st edition of Airfix Marines with most of the figures arriving at a beach, looking for cover or wading ashore.The Revell figures are quite well sculpted but the Revell plastic is very bad with figures breaking quite easily after some time of light and air exposure something that doesnt happen with Atlantic or Matchbox, for instance, which are much older. 

These are the extras that the three rifle companies have from may 1944 on. 

The three HMGs are late Brownings M2 turned into the 1917A1 model by inserting an Evergreen tube. The figures are Matchbox, Revell, Hasegawa and Airfix. 

The MMGs (M1919 Brownings) are Hasegawa (previous copies of the hard plastic Esci) and, to the rear, a sole Airfix that originally had the bipod, mostly used by the US paratroopers, here turned into a tripod. Two of the number 2 are Matchbox. 

The Battalion HQ company has two bazookas, a 81mm mortar and two flamethrowers. The last ones were used by the first time at Guadalcanal by the 2nd engineer batallion in January 1943.

The Bazookas No 2s were converted from Revell and Hasegawa while the firers are Airfix and hard plastic Esci. 

The 60mm mortars are from the 1st edition Valiant and are my first models from a set of over 200 sprues offered last month to me by master Colin. See? This is what you get for being loyal serf of your master and never escaping its dominium (or other sets of WW2 rules..).

The figures are a bit small as most are SHQ and Matchbox. 

The 81mm mortar is SHQ with a converted figure from Revell, the one wading ashore with its rifle above the head, an Esci and Matchbox figures. 

The Co group is Revell with a figure with the Hasegawa radio/telephone on its back. In fact the radioman should have a lighter rifle than the BAR but this Revell BAR is quite flimsy and looks like a small calibre rifle. 

Next: Asymmetric Wargames and Simon´s Soldiers Japanese artillery and crews.