Guadalcanal 1942 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! rules - (Part 4) Second Japanese infantry battalion (and this one is being observed)

 

The first battalion was calmly marching while this one is in action, something I like do with my units, that is dividing the figures by situations. Sometimes this get awkward as sometimes a marching battalion is called to charge, or vice-versa, but c´est la vie.

 The MMGs are Atlantic this time. The figures had to have their legs heated and bent in order to fit the 4cm base. 

Some scratchbuilding had to be done namely on the small radio on the advancing Airfix figure and on the Esci figure using its rifle as a club who became an ammunition carrier. 

This Hasegawa Curtiss Seagull was bought on a 2nd hand fair and its a useful and colorful thing for Guadalcanal as it continued to serve as observation aircarft even after the introduction of the Kingfisher. 

Next: some days off and then Japanese artillery, probably. 

Guadalcanal 1942 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! rules - (Part 1) The aircraft for Henderson Field

 

One of the main hotspots of the Guadalcanal campaign was Henderson Field. In fact the entire campaign (August 42- February 43) is tied to this spot as it started with the construction of a Japanese airfield (Lunga point/Runga point or just "RXI"), so close to Australia and the allied lines of communication, that the US decided to take it over and rename it Henderson Field, honoring a fallen pilot at Midway. 

I´m still very short of Pacific models but the stuff I have (excluding the Tarawa island, SNLF and US LVT´s) fit reasonably to these scenarios as at the shelves there is a Japanese Betty bomber (to bomb the airfield), some Japanese landing craft and the Hoisho aircraft carrier with a number of different Japanese bombers and fighters like Vals and Zeroes used in the attacks. 

Most of the Japanese offensives at the island were destined to take back  Henderson field ( Tenaru, Edson´s Ridge,Matanikau and the October Henderson Field battles) and the airfield with some of its aircraft parked makes a visually nice corner in any of the above mentioned tabletop battles. In fact, small groups of japanese infantry managed to enter the airfield during the battle of Edson´s Ridge. 

The "airfield" was initially a simple strip but in the middle of the battles the americans managed to add a paralel smaller strip for fighter´s usage, before enlarging it at the end of the campaign and later on.

For the Cactus airforce up no now I could find the presence of SBD Dauntless, Avengers and Wildcats at the airfield but others like the P-39 and P-40 were also there at a certain time. 

I already have a Dauntless and an Avenger in parked mode but want a few more so the models at this post had to be made. 

The two Dauntless are (flight mode) Hasegawa and (parked) Testors. In fact they depict in the decals the same exact plane of John Leppla and John Liska, famous for its action at the battle of Coral Sea. Even if these two exact planes were not at Guadalcanal they are famous machines and very close in time, and so are ready for the larger strip of Henderson Field. 

This Devastator was also not at Guadalcanal, as it was put to bomber/torpedo training after the losses at Midway. Even so, one more aircraft on board of the Bogue aircraft carrier. 

Next: The Union army at Gettysburg on video. 

Able Archer/ RFR rules - Vietnam in 20mm (part 13) - Reinforcements for the 11th ACR and some more aircraft

 

Some 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR) elements advance in the middle of My Blue province when they are surprised by a low flight of some friendly aircraft, that could well have been some Migs... Well, this event was not registred in the unit´s history and its presented here first hand. 

Each squadron of the 11th ACR had three rifle squads (one per troop) transported in M-113 A1. I read that even these ones could also have the ACAV version but the regiment will end up with nine of these so three of the more plain A1 version looks OK. I´m not sure about placing a simple shield in front of the 12,5mm gun but I still couldn´t find a photo of them like this, the ACAV version being the more common. All models are quick build S-Model.

The figures are left-to-right, Skytrex and Airfix modern fighter pilots which suit the US cavalry tank helmet pretty well. 

Each troop also had a M-106 mortar carrier. I used again the S-Model for this conversion using a M-106 from Esci as a template. Bits of different types of plastic were used and even the mortar base came from a Revell 7YW Austrian artillery wheel. 

The crew is Esci and the M-16 rifles were cut until looking like a 107mm mortar shell. Later, the rifle part/shells were smoothed with a bit of  thick acrylic paint. 

As the mortar base was very brittle (old Revell style) I placed a jerrycan covering the damaged part. 

The floor of the M-106 (light sand part) was also raised so the figures and mortar could sit correctly. 

The Cadillac V-100, mostly used by the Military Police, are very old Corgi Juniors toys. The size is around 20mm as I have a number of Saudi V-150 in 1/87th scale that are smaller. 

The resin figures are surplus from the 3d printed PBR boat and the metal figure is Skytrex. 

The Huey Gunship is Revell. 

The Mohawk is the old Hasegawa model. One of these slow moving aircraft managed to put down a Mig-17 with its rockets, something that was kept as a secret up to 2007, as the army didn´t want USAF to know about this feat and force the Army to disarm its Mohawk as putting down Migs was a USAF exclusive. 

This A-4 Skyhawk F is the old Frog in Israeli colors. All these three aircraft got new star and stripes decals from the decals left-over box and all other symbols were hand painted. This one looks particularly bad as the symbold are painted on top of the grey primer as its (just by chance) the same color and painting style of another Skyhawk C from Altaya that I showed you before. 

Next: Guadalcanal models or a video on Bodrum, Gettysburg or Tarawa. 

Able Archer / RFR rules - Last haul from a 2nd hand fair

 

One of my biggest pleasures, exceptuating the ones were small people are made (or not), is to find old kits that remind me of my childhood. And I think this craze is increasing with the end of the  old style  model shops. So last month I had  news from one of my down town informers (can´t say his name), the one that sells my mother Corin Tellado books, that in Tomar, a city some 70 km from Coimbra (as a side note, Coimbra is still the capital of Portugal, as there is no document of any transfer of capital to Lisbon) a guy nicknamed Zé Manco (Joseph Lame, in english) was selling a large quantity of old plastic models at the 2nd hand fair of Tomar, on the first sunday of each month. So there I was looking for the guy on that day. Not easy as the fair is huge, but I saw a lame guy moving with some difficulty and I was sure to have found my target. 

Among plenty of others, I found these 5 old treasures in perfect conditions:

- The Lancaster will go along with the Revell one I showed a month or so ago just because two is much better than one

- The Sheridan will go to my 11th Black Horse Regiment in Vietnam

- The T-34/85 (had no idea that Polistil made 1/72nd models) with go to the NVA

- The Skyhawk will go also to the Vietnam

- The Seagull will go Guadalcanal as this campaign is starting to bite my brain.

Next month I´ll be there again at Tomar as Zé Manco still has a big box at home that he didn´t bring last time. 

Next: More Vietnam, mostly vehicles

The Japanese IJA and IJN aircraft in WW2 for Rapid Fire! rules and in 20...

The Japanese airforce of WW2 is an old pleasure of mine and, together with a Tarawa wargames table and a few Japanese tanks and US Amtracks, its the only few things I have for the Pacific. The models are Hasegawa, Fujimi (most of them from the good old days of cheap Japanese models), Airfix, Matchbox, Italeri and Altaya. If you want a detailed post on how I built the Ryujo Aircraft Carrier go to https://jpwargamingplace.blogspot.com

Able Archer/ RFR rules - Vietnam in 20mm (part 6) - Nguyen Van Bay´s mount and a new paddy field

 

Nguyen Van Bay goes on the hunt for one more US aircraft over his beloved Vietnamese rice fields. He even carries a "Kill Box" under him (eh, eh). 

The model is Hasegawa and portrays Nguyen Van Bay´s Mig-17. This Mig-17, even if outdated by US standards, was a headache for the USAF as is was quite manouverable and very dangerous in close combat due to the three cannons it had (the initial batches of F-4 Phantom didn´t have any). It had no air to air missiles and was subsonic, but somehow the Mig-17s seems to have shot down 77 US aircraft (VPAF claim, with US sources saying a bit less) in exchange for 100 Mig-17 shot down. Not bad for an aircraft from the 50s. 

Nguyen Van Bay shot seven/eight US aircraft (five, according to US sources). He seem to have been an extraordinary figures showing incredible skills while flying his Mig-17, and shooting down his enemies from a distance of only 100 meters (A-4, F-4, F-8 and F-105, at least). He was taken out of service quite quickly, the NV governament didn´t want to loose him as he was important also to teach and inspire other pilots. 

The table needs to look as Vietnamese as possible. New terrain was added as this extra paddy field made of the usual plywood and BlueBoard walls

I´m making some risky curves and angles on these paddy fields as I want to include forest patches or villages close to them. I already received plenty of bamboo sticks, the next piece of terrain to be built. 

Next: The NVA infantry and more terrain or a Luftwaffe's video. 

Able Archer/ RFR rules - Vietnam in 20mm (part 4) - US infantry, new tanks, terrain and a straffing Mig

 

A combined US/ARVN force is caught crossing the paddy fields by a low flying Mig-21. Fortunately, for the allies this Mig model has no auto-cannon, only the Atoll AA missiles, if not many mothers would have received the visit of the priest and officers all carried in a olive green car... sorry, this is the consequency of watching too many times Saving Private Ryan. 

This is a four company battalion (post 1967)  of US infantry from Esci. Still missing are the HMGs, the 107mm mortar and the recoiless rifles. 

The 81mm mortars came from StreletsR and the crew are all conversions from Esci. The M-60 stand has figures with new heads as the Esci set had plenty of helmetless figures maybe inspired on the movie Apocalipse Now.

This is the 2nd M48A3 converted from a M48A2c , following the Altaya one. In fact I still have another four in the stash but all need some level of conversion as they are Israeli or German versions, missing the 90mm gun and the funny little cupola. Another problem is the fact the chassis of the M48 is one of the most time consuming of the Esci range  so this group of six will be slow to build.

 The cupola came from a PzI extra turret by Minairons and luckily I have a number of them for the other missing M48s. The figure is Atlantic. 

These Hasegawa M24 Chaffee were mostly used by the ARVN as shown here. They are painted in a two-tone of green but the mud spray ruined most of it. The figures are again Atlantic and aircraft pilots. 

The Mig-21 PF is one of the main and best  models of the North Vietnamese fighter squadrons credited with many USAF aircraft, even if both sides present conflicting numbers. This model is Altaya and was minutes from being silver sprayed as many of them were but a last minute find of North Vietnamese Mig-21PF in this kind of four tone camouflage saved me from extra trouble. Like this only the markings were repainted. 

This rice field was made from a base of plywood and small walls of BlueBoard. The water part was painted with two coats of gloss varnish. The result is OK and this type of paddy field will be made in larger numbers as most of the Vietnam scenarios needs them. 

Next: The Vietnamese VC.  

The Slovak Fast Brigade at Lipovec 1941 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! - Part 7: The small cars, new unexpected airplanes and some artillery

 

Making the Slovak Fast Brigade is a funny project as you can´t find many types of vehicles or guns in one place something that forces to look everywhere from plastic, resin, scratch or 3d. In this post you can find a bit of all of them. 

These ones came from Poland (Martola Model Shop) from a 3d resin brand called EMP  which, among dozens of others, has (L to R) these Tatra T82 (instead of Tatra T27 as pointed in the RF! Blue book) with the  20mm oerlikon AA, the Tatra T-72  and the Tatra 57k. The models are true beauties with very easy to clean resin debris from the 3d printing process. The interior of the Tatra 82 is very complete but I prefer to close all windows with pieces of plastic card. I did the same on the other two vehicle´s windshields as they were very detailed but also fragile. The barrel of the 20mm Oerlikon broke  and had to be replaced by a drilled piece of plastic. 

These two, a Letov S-328 and an Avia-534 from KP were very kindly sent to me by the RF! expert Alan McCoubrey. These two are very handy, an extra Avia-534 is always good as the Fast brigade had around 36 of them (three squadrons). The Letov S-328 was also missing in my collection as the one I had was sent to Poland 1939 disguised and converted as a Polish  reconnaissance aircraft. The only change I made in these two was the markings that were hand painted and the two figures on the Letov which came from the Hasegawa Kawanishi H8K. 

The Tatra T82 was used as an AA mobile platform. Not sure it was used in this way in mid 1941 but there is visual confirmation of it around 1943 at least. The figures are Hat WW1 Ottomans with Esci British paratroopers heads which is (I realised that pretty late) the best  plastic heads for the Slovaks. 

This photo is from 1943 and it shows a 20mm AA gun on top of the Tatra T82 (caption says it)  and that is why our masters mention the 20mm AA being towed/carried on top of Tatra T27 and not T82...

The Tatra T-72 will go for the Mixed Reconnaissance Force HQ and the Tatra 57k will be carrying the observation team of the 11th Artillery Regiment.

One more FtF Praga RV was used to pull the 75mm mountain gun of the infantry battalion. This time I camouflaged the truck with the same colors used in the Slovak tanks as shown in Tank Power magazine No 471. 

The 75mm mountain gun was scratchbuilt from an Irregular Miniatures barrel and some Revell XVII century wheels.  The carriage came from an old Airfix 25pdr heated and twisted until in place. The shield and other small details were made in plastic card. 

The crew is again Hat Ottomans with Esci paratroopers heads. The netting on the helmets is no problem as its barely invisible after two coats of paint.  

Next: wether Vietnam or more Slovaks

The British 1st/6th Airborne Division in 20mm size for Rapid Fire! rules

Another big unit made along many years. The figures are mostly Esci, Revell and Airfix, the last ones particularly useful for support weapons. The gliders are scratchbuilt or Italeri. The many jeeps are Airfix, Matchbox, Fujimi or Hasegawa. Artillery is Matchbox for the 17pdr guns and SHQ for the M1 75mm howitzers. The 6pdr are all scratchbuilt. The cute little Tetrarchs are Assymetrical Wargaming in 3d printed resin. As usual there are plenty of conversions specially in the mortar and MMG crews.

Next: More Slovaks.

Rapid Fire! NW Europe 44/45 - 101st US Airborne - 3rd battalion done and 501st PIR finished

These ones were black primed for some months and were quickly finished upon the arrival of the latest RFR The Road to Carentan booklet from Masters Colin and Richard. In this batch I added some cute resin prints offered by Pedro Pato of MiniGeneral 3d. The rank and file are the usual Revell and Esci figures as I´m out of SHQ minis. 

Three resin printed Cushman scooters are a beauty with all being different. One will go to each battalion for liaison purposes or, if not necessary, to look good on the table. 

The 3d resin Pack 75mm gun comes with three beautiful figures. 

The 3d resin 57mm AT gun comes with three other lovely  crew, again all different. Only one gun is missing to complete the Para AT battalion as this one is the fifth 57mm of this group. 

The Bazookas are Hasegawa and Revell (the closest one). The No2 are Revell with repositioned M1 carbines and Hasegawa Bazooka rounds. 

Again the Revell tripods of the 30. cals. were turned into bipods with added plastic stocks. 

Together with the OP stand the radio was added to the back of the Thompson armed figure. 

The 81mm mortar and main operator comes from Esci US infantry. With some extra GreenStuff on the uniform and equipment he could join the airborne. The 60mm mortar is made of pieces of plastic. 

Next: more aircraft for the US airborne. 

The German 'Specials' at Market Garden for Rapid Fire! rules in 20mm

These German relatively rare vehicles and with different markings makes a funny addition to a late German force and were also a pleasure to collect. They came from a number of origins namely (better writing them due to my Portoenglish even if the video is an highly professional job with lots of hand movement): - Char B1 Flamethrower - Matchbox conversions - R35 w/ 47mm gun - ShellHole Scenics - Fire Truck - Hasegawa conversion - Dodge w/ trailer - Esci and Airfix - Jeep - Airfix - Panhard 178 - MiniGeneral - Humber MkIV - Matchbox - Renault AHN - S&S - Umbaus - Converted 1/64 die-casts - French 75/36 AA guns and IG37 - scratchbuilts - Pz III F and M - Armorfast and PSC - StuH 42 and Stug III C - Esci - Colorful trucks - Alle-Hop (But you can have them from Aliexpress and such) - Soviet 152mm guns - Irregular Miniatures - Sdkfz 251/21 - Hasegawa conversions - PzV Panthers - Esci and Matchbox - PzVI KingTigers - Esci and Altaya - Command car - 1/64 die-cast

Rapid Fire in 20mm! Filling gaps in WW2 - part 4

One more episode of this series that already became your favorite for sure. This time a few details and numbers for the allies, both British and Soviet. Also a few more German dead markers for my next game that will have plenty of infantry.

Super Mário offered me this Gaz AAA. It has the rear part with a big miss print so something else had to be done. 

In Shann´s Seelow Heights book the command version of the Gaz AAA shows up from several perspectives. Command vehicles are the typical vehicles for this series that is concentrating on small details, sometimes unnecessary ones. 

The only change is the big box at the rear made from plastic card and Milliput. 

The usual stowage and boxes were also added, specially on the roof top which also helped to disguise some flaws. 

In the end you get a reasonable Soviet command vehicle which would´t be difficult as the base resin print is a beauty. 

While looking to the stash I remembered mating the chassis of an early surplus MiniGeneral PLA print Polish 7tp with a Minairons leftover  T-26 turret in order to get one more complete T-26 for Barbarossa. The holes of the twin turrets were filed with hot glue and one of them was drilled for the turret to swirl around.

A few boxes and stowage were added and the model was built. 

This is an easy conversion as the Vickers 6 ton tank is the base for both the 7tp and the T-26 tanks

Another conversion of the week was this pair of M7 priests in British service. They have the wading system used on D-day and will be used in Don McHugh's latest RF scenario, Breakthrough to Lion-sur-Mer. The models are Matchbox and Fujimi but many parts were interchanged. The white superstructure was made from plastic card and the crew are the original figures with Valiant British heads. 

Both are 1/76th scale and even if slightly different ( the Fujimi model is the B1 version) the added superstructure helps to unify them. 

Can't say this picture is an original, right, Don? 

Two more fighters were added to the Barbarossa VVS, namely these die-cast Mig-3 from Luppa. I still didn´t have any of this important model which was one of the more numerous in the 1941 summer. 

Finally, a few more German casualty markers were added. The figure are hard plastic Hasegawa with added arms in GreenStuff. 

The poses themselves are initially Mg-42 and Mauser firers but as many have the face down they became reasonable casualty markers. 

The blood stains are pretty convincing as they come from a GW reference called 'Blood for the Blood God'... what else can you ask?...

Next: Carentan in 20mm. One of the best pieces of modelling I've seen in my life made by Super Mário and offered to me a few days ago.