Rapid Fire! Blitzkrieg in 20mm - Additional German bycicle fusiliers, artillery and staff cars for the 18th ID and 7th PD

The bycicles convinced me to add all other things: The bycicle Fusiliers are necessary for the OB of the 18th ID together with Staff cars and artillery limbers mentioned in the RF! Blitzkrieg battlegroups for May 1940; the 20mm Flak gun is the last piece missing for the Flak battalion of the 7th PD that wreaked havoc in the ranks of the Matildas in the Arras action.

The Cadillac 1941 from Matchbox is the closest I could find to the Opel Admiral and this photo made me buy the two toys in a local supermarket. 

The wheels were replaced by some better ones from Airfix and Matchbox as the original ones are generally what spoils these kind of models. Some 3d resin extra jerrycans were placed copying the original photo as they also help to disguise the different front of the Cadillac in relation to the Opel. 

So together with some ACE staff cars already made I´m more or less done with these kind of vehicles for the Panzer Grey period. 

The Hat box of german cyclists was once again (after the Slovaks) used to make these German fusiliers using BlueStuff as the matrix and two component resin as the filler and lost details with Milliput. The original resin heads, turned into blobs and were replaced by Esci DAK heads. 

Together with the resin contraptions a few more dismounted cyclists were made using old Atlantic, Airfix and Esci figures. 

"- Hey Hans, is it us overthere on those bikes?

- Of course not Helmut! You are on too much Pervitin!"

After another moment of fine poetry lets have a look at limbers. There were still three Revell limbers around without horses, wheels or figures that must have been used somewhere else. I coupled the limbers with Napoleonic horses, wheels of unknown origin (some are 3d printed) and figures from FtF. The horses had to have some Milliput extras as they were demoted from the fancy line cavalry to the hardships of horse artillery. 

Limbers on the wargames table or even on a shelf, like mostly my case, are always a nice sight. The card bases were strenghtened with super glue. 

In the end you have some reasonable looking limbers to pull guns from the 75mm caliber to 150mm. The harness was heavily transformed and reduced in lenght as I didn´t want the huge final model that Revell offers even if its the correct one. 

One more Zvezda 20mm Flak 38 was added and this one will be closer to the 7th PD assets as it concludes its Flak battalion. The standing figure to the right is FtF. 

Next: More Slovaks or reinforcements for the 1944 British airborne division. 

The Slovak Fast Brigade at Lipovec 1941 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! - Part 3: first trucks and artillery (105mm vz.35)

 

While at the IWM I noticed the similarities between the Soviet 122mm M38 howitzer on the second floor and the hard to find Slovak gun 105mm vz.35 from which  two models are necessary for the Lipovec scenario. The last one clearly influenced the design of the Soviet gun as the vz.35 was one of the most modern guns in the world in that category in the 30s and influenced plenty of designs even up to the Cold War period. So two Zvezda copies of the 122mm M38 were hurriedly ordered from AliExpress as they became the basis for the Slovak guns. 

Most of the parts of the vz.35 gun barrel came from the Zvezda copy but the longer tube was taken from pieces of sprue. The gun tube of the vz.35 was particularly thick and it looks like a much larger calibre. The split trails are Russian 152mm Irregular Miniatures parts from the storage boxes and the wheels are Airfix from the Scammel model. I tried to get closer as much as possible to the real thing and thus a lot of small parts from different plastics were added a bit everywhere. 

If a gun can be elegant, this one is for sure. 

Broom bristles were added as the measuring rods and the ground anchors. 

The final result is quite nice with the addition of crew which helps to obscure the small faults and attracts attention :)  

This other picture helped to make the details on the right side of the gun. In fact, even if this gun was not very common, the Germans took plenty of pictures of them that you can find in the web, particularly the ones at the Atlantic Wall. 

This picture was taken before adding the last detail to the inner part of the shield and cutting the shield a bit more on all four sides. 

Far from perfect but looks the part. 

The crew came from Hat US WW1 bodies with Japanese and Marine heads. For the Slovaks you need M1 type of helmets but as flat as possible at the base. I got plenty of inspiration from a very good blog called 

http://brushesandbayonets.blogspot.com/

were you can find everything I´m also on the way of making for the Slovaks. 

Some ammunition boxes added and all was set. A straight line of blue helps to break visually the ondulating base of the M1 type of help and makes it look like the Slovak helmet. 

Two FtF Praga RV trucks were added and they will go to the infantry or smaller artillery tows as the vz.35 was towed by the larger Skoda 6ST6-L that I have no idea were to get. 

Next: depends on the mail, but more Slovaks or a return to AWI. 

The Slovak Fast Brigade at Lipovec 1941 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! - Part 1: Infantry, A/C and aircraft

 

I read the Blue book so many times that recently I had to place tape on many pages. Recently Masters Colin and Richard released the Blue book in digital format, so the tape problem is solved for newcomers! One of the many atractions of the book is the battle of Lipovec, 22nd July 1941 (never heard about it before the book) were I noticed the beautiful camouflage of the Slovak tanks and the blue stripe on the helmets. Probably if these two characteristics were absent I would turn the page to look for a different scenario. Another interesting fact is the Slovak organization of this Fast Brigade with a well balanced force of infantry, tanks and artillery (maybe a little scarce on infantry), including a small airforce and even bykes. 

Finding the vehicles was not a hard task as many of the trucks and cars are not easy to find, and many years ago only Raventhorpe, Fujimi and Esci had some of them. Then one day Esci was gone and the funniest tank of them all, the LT-35, became too hard to get and this brigade was forgotten. Recently the excellent First to Fight came into play and this project came to life again and this brand will be my main source of Slovak vehicles. The artillery is more problematic and I will scratchbuild most of them. If you look for 3D prints you can find also many of these. 

The sole infantry battalion of the brigade is made mainly of Esci Italian Alpini figures, with the carved out feather, of course. 

The Slovak helmet is distinctive with a straight rim. The Italian helmet has a slight ondulation at the rim and this was disguised with several coats of blue color. The SMG was converted to the captured Soviet PPSH as the Slokaks had no SMG at this time. 

The Slovak color was a Greenish Khaki that I tried to reply. 

The reenactement groups are great sources of information as these guys tend to take it very seriously. 

The Italian Breda 30 have a side charger and this was moved to the top for it to look like the ZB vz.26.

The MMGs were mostly the old Schwarzlose vz.24 together with the more modern vz.37. The Revell WWI 08s are good enough to look as vz.24s. The crew is also Revell with a few Hat. The heads of the crew are Revell US marines. 

The mortar is Matchbox with Hat crew and Revell Marines heads. 

The command stand is a mix of StreletsR Italian officer, a Japanese Airfix marching figure and an Esci Alpini with radio and a carved out helmet in order to look like a soft cap. 

The Tatra OA vz.30 is First to fight and its a little beauty. I placed an FJ Airfix torso as a commander as the helmet looks a lot with the one from the Slovak tankers. 

This Avia 534 is KP, a very old and a bit rustic model with a difficult build. But, as usual, in the end gives a good model for your Slovak Fast Brigade. 

Next: Slovak artillery or some vehicles, depending on GLS.

Bir Hakeim in 20mm for Rapid Fire! rules

Another old project of mine got concluded or at least its presentable. Still missing are some vehicle hidings, a pair of 75mm guns, and Koenig's staff car together with Miss Susan Travers. This was another project with plenty of scratch building and some guessing as the Bir Hakeim compound is not easy to understand in all its details.

Rapid Fire! rules - Bir Hakeim 1942 (part 10) - The French anti-tank guns

 

The Free French at Bir hakeim had 30x 75mm guns (6x in RF! terms) in the anti-tank role with cut-out shields and truck tyres in order to make a lower and smaller silhouette. Together with those the French also had 7x 47mm and 18x 25mm anti tank guns. As I already placed 3x 25mm guns in SP mode on top of Morris trucks I just added one more. 

The  FtF 75mm guns had its shields cut like the one present at Les Invalides Army Museum. The 47mm and 25mm are 3d prints in resin by BPM. This brand evolved greatly from the days of the PLA plastic used initially. Unfortunately I just ordered these two hoping that its small weight and size would escape customs. To no avail. BPM dispatched the parcel in a couple of days but it took a month to reach Portugal and then customs made me pay more for it than for the original models. Brexit oblige...

The guns were crewed with old plastic figures from Airfix and Matchbox and some newer ones from StreletsR. Many of the figures had rifles and SMGs taken out and replaced with shells. 

A Chad-Ubangi crewed 75mm gun. I´m not sure about this but I´ve seen a greater number of gun crews with helmets in the period pictures maybe because the artillery spots attracted plenty of artillery fire. 

The extras from the FFL Strelets box of support weapons makes good artillerymen. 

The usage of shells in the old Airfix and figures can be seen in several figures with the 8th Army Vickers No1 (far right making a very good anti-tank crewman). 

The main problem with this batch is the usage of the original FtF wheels as I couldn´t find twelve equal truck tyres. 

This is the Matchbox 1941 Cadillac I found in a supermarket used for scale in a previous post on pine tree woods. It will become the command car of an Umbau column for Holland 1944. Most surely no Cadillac reached Holland after 1940 but even so this one must not be far away from other european classy cars of the period. This one belonged to my youngest and had to be painted and based in the night shift while he was sleeping. 

Next: an Angolan Brigade for Cuito Canavale or the last few walls of Bir Hakeim.

Rapid Fire! Poland 1939 in 20mm - Long awaited reinforcements for an endangered front

 

This post complements the last video were these latest Polish reinforcements can be seen. The Polish army of 1939 is a big temptation thanks to FirstToFight (FtF) models who is always teasing you with very beautiful and unexpected models almost on a monthly basis. 

The second battalion is done. Figures are the usual Hat. 

The bicycle platoon uses slightly converted Hat figures with Hat German bycicles. 

The 40mm AA Bofors is Airfix with FtF crew. 

A Tatra T-18 from MiniGeneral 3D is a now a close company to my made up Smialy armored train. 

These are the FtF cavalry limbers for the 37mm Bofors AT guns. 

These are the FtF Biedkas to carry the WZ30 machine guns. Whatever FTF produces they are always great kits filled with details (and sometimes some irritating small parts many of them photo-etched). 

The FtF 155mm 1917 gun was coupled with Hat figures and also with a scratch-built Bolinder -Munktell AK tractor 1939. Most of these guns were horse towed but some of them had these experimental tractors pulling them. At least you get something not as ecological but different for sure. 

Next: re-starting the Bir-Hakeim project. 

The 1939 Polish army in 20mm and for Rapid Fire! rules

Still on the Hastings battlefield, it´s time to show you my Polish army for the 1939 campaign. This one was possible when Hat industries released its infantry and artillery and FirstToFight started the job of producing in a very comprehensive way the vehicles and artillery of the Blitzkrieg period. There is also the help of 3D prints and the usual scratchbuilding, particularly the Smialy armored train. Lastly, the Polish air force is also covered as you can find in plastic virtually everything Poland had in 1939.

The Herman Göring LPD, Sicily, 1943, in 20mm size and for RF! rules

One more big unit with most of the vehicles taken from the shelves of other Divisions. Even so the Pz III M, the infantry figures, the Marder IIs, the IG75s and the 150mm howitzers were all built on purpose for this Division.

Rapid Fire! Sicily 1943 in 20mm - The last parts of the LPD Herman Göring

 

On the heights of Gela, right on top of the twin mountains of Monica Belluchi, the II and III artillery battalions of the LFD Herman Göring artillery regiment prepare to support the attack of the mobile forces. Also close by some IG75mm lend some hitting power to the attack.  

 

What was still missing in this division were a pair of Marder II, one to each of the infantry regiments; four IG75, one to each of the three infantry battalions and one to the reconnaissance battalion; one infantry battalions and two battalions of 15cm sFH18  (maybe still needing a pair of them in the future). 

The Marder II (PzII chassis) were part of the AT assets of both PzGrenadier regiments. These models are MiniGeneral 3d PLA prints. 

The crew came from PSC, Simon Soldiers and Esci.

Plenty of stowage had to be added as these MiniGeneral prints are already a bit old and the printing lines are visible even after spraying several coats of varnish. But dimensions are very good and a nice result can be achieved with some patience. 

Now for the First To Fight 15cm sFH 18. They are the horse towed version (the only ones FtF released up to now) and some work had to be dedicated to turn it into the Hanomag towed version. That passed into filling with Milliput the holes of the wheels with that were drilled after drying.

Then some cut out pieces of Evergreen plastic card were rolled around each wheel for it to look like a rubber tire. 

In the end the result is ok (ok if you discount the fact that the vehicle towed wheels only had 8 holes instead of 9, but that is a secret between you and me). 

The artillery crews are also FtF with a few converted Esci in the middle. All of them had baggier trousers added with GreenStuff. 

The IG18s are MiniGeneral with FtF, PSC and Hasegawa crews. 

Both crews of the 15cm sFH and 75mm IG18 have painting schemes (no SS camouflaged smocks) that allows them to blend with the Afrika Korps as all these models were still absent in the mighty DAK. They have some particular insignia of the HG division as the cuff titles but they are too small to be seen from 1 meter distance. 

The infantry is coming from all sorts of plastic brands as usual - Airfix, Esci, Atlantic, Revell, Matchbox, FtF -  and all of them got baggier trousers with the help of GreenStuff. 

The Esci MG34 firers got a bipod for them to rest their tired arms. They were in this position for 30 years or so which must have not been easy!

An HG infantry company with many brands mixed in. 

The heavy weapons company is a full FtF company with a few Revell and Esci figures in the MG34 stands. 

The radio man is a conversion from the tripod MG34 firer of the DAK Revell. 

Also the officer is the famous Airfix DAK officer with legs from Revell. 

A few more stands for the engineers of the HG. Airfix and Esci figures. 

Like this I can consider the Luftwaffe Panzer Division Herman Göring for Sicily complete. In the last few months I added the PzIII M, infantry, some missing Stug, Marder II and artillery to a list of vehicles that were not collected thinking of this big unit particularly, like Pz IV Gs, 251Cs, 105 lFH, etc that will have to fit in order not to make another long list of models just because of minor details. 

What I think is essential to portray the LFD HG is the PzGrenadier infantry, due to their SS smocks mixed with other desert pieces of uniform and equipment and the battalion of PzIII M, due to the absent chassis skirts. All the rest can be and will be recruited from other fronts, namely the Western Desert and even Normandy, which is the place from where my PzIVs, Hanomags, Opel Blitz and Bisons will come just to name a few.  

Next: probably more Italians for the desert.