Rapid Fire! Desert War 1940-43 in 20mm - Fresh DAK reinforcements

At the Oasis of Ras-al-Festung (I was about to call it Ras-al-Wiederstandnest but it sounded too complicated and little Arabic) a strong Kampfgruppe from the DAK awaits the British onslaught. 

This is the 3d printed MiniGeneral Guy Lizard ACV. The model is big but very simple and complete with some parts printed separately for more detail. The usual antennae were stuck after drilling 1mm holes and a  command figure was made this time from a PSC torso from the Marder set with GreenStuff arms. 

It was obviously  painted with the original British Counter Camouflage scheme. 

Big German crosses and a Nazi printed flag were added in the end. 

The Horchs 108 with 20mm AA guns are again MiniGeneral. The car is quite nice, only a bit difficult to clean in its inside as I told you about the ones built for the 1940 7th PD.  The gun is relatively simple but captures very well the original look. Another separate part is the gun base that sits comfortably inside the car. 

 

The crew is made of figures from Airfix, Zvezda, Esci, Revell and Matchbox with a few conversions. 

The trailers are conversions from the MiniGeneral Flak 20mm gun limber. A structure of Evergreen plastic card was built on top and various bits of stowage were added.

The painted symbols are those of the 19th Flak-Division. 

The 50mm Pak guns are PSC. The crews came from different brands as I already used a number of them in other models.

                       

In this one crew is Esci, Airfix (mountain troops set) and hard  plastic Airfix.

Mostly PSC crew and one Airfix.

This one had a Zvezda crewman from the 75mm anti-tank set.

With these ones I have 12 of these 50mm Pak stands. The problem is that a total of 27 are necessary for the three main divisions of the DAK. These little greedy things  were used in the anti-tanks battalions and also in the Panzer grenadier companies when the less-men more-weapons organization came in 1942. 

Finally the last of a total of 12 PzIV necessary for the two Panzer Divisions was added. The model is an Hasegawa F2 offered by my friend JMM with a converted PSC figure.

Next: Iranians for the Iran-Irak war. 

Age Of Eagles (AoE) - Bussaco 1810 in 20mm (part 18) - Allied cavalry and artillery

This is the last post of the Bussaco series. It concerns the Allied artillery and cavalry of the Anglo-Portuguese army. The artillery is 9 batteries that represent the 60 guns present. The cavalry represents the two squadrons of the British 4th Dragons, the only Allied cavalry close to the action.

The British horse artillery is a mixture of the Esci and Airfix sets.

The British foot artillery is mostly Esci converted figures with infantry shakoes from Hat.

The Portuguese artillery is based on the Revell British artillery set. The limber is Airfix with drivers and passengers with infantry heads. 

The 4th Dragoons is based on the Italeri Prussian Cuirassiers with a few cuts and a careful paint job.

Next: more DAK. 

Age of Eagles (AoE) - Bussaco 1810 in 20mm (part 17) - The three Portuguese Independent Brigades

The three Portuguese Independent Brigades form up on the reverse western slope of the Serra of Bussaco before occupying its positions for the battle (this is of course bullshit, as they were spread in the Sula part of the Battlefield making its picture difficult to get). 

Campbell's Brigade had Infantaria 6, Infantaria 18 and Caçadores 6.

Typical of many of my Portuguese figures I used the bodies of Esci French with British heads like here in Infantaria 18. These were made before Emhar produced proper Portuguese infantry.

Coleman's Brigade (Infantaria 19, Infantaria 7 and Caçadores 2) are mostly Hat Belgians and Revell British with a proper paint job. The Caçadores here are Revell Riflemen bodies with British Waterloo infantry.

Pack's  Brigade  (Infantaria 1, Infantaria 16 e Caçadores 4) is more of the same Esci conversions and Hat and Revell figures. 

Some of the Caçadores in these three Brigades have Russian and French Esci bodies and heads from Esci Scots Grey as I intended to show the covered barretina.

Next: wether some DAK reinforcements  or Allied artillery and cavalry for Bussaco. 

Rapid Fire! France 1940 in 20mm - A few more MiniGeneral addtions to the motorised French cavalry

At Carrefour Jaune a group of French Cavalry vehicles gathers  to start a reconnaissance mission knowing the Boche is around. All vehicles are MiniGeneral 3d prints that have been rocking the world of wargaming and also upsetting a few that considers this hobby as their own cottage.

This MMG Hotchkiss team is Pegasus and Hat. The car is a converted Austin 10 that turned a requisitioned Renault Primaquatre.

The Pegasus and Hat figures had GreenStuff added to the trousers and helmet. The goggles were modelled with a toothpick.

The Renault Primaquatre bears a close resemblance to the Austin 10.  The only few changes was the elimination of the rear window and the repositioning  of the rear door lock.

All other four Austin 10 were converted to Peugeot 202. These voiturettes were used also by the Cavalry in many roles. Here they replace four of the motos with side-car of the Dragons Portés (the Simca Cinq would be the best option but these are a reasonable match). In the pictures  above the open roof top is just painted and the achievement is not my best. They had the front lights carved out, the front and rooftop rounded by sanding and the rear wheels covered to look as close as possible to the Peugeot 202 

This one has an FM29 LMG and a motorcyclist as firer. It ended  something like the Tintim cartoons...

This is the original photo that also convinced me to use the Peugeot 202 for the DLM motorcyclists, even if this particular vehicle belongs to a guiding company, the 821e compagnie routiére.

To the left you have some of the Peugeot 202 middle way conversions. The one to the right shows the unaltered front for the Renault Primaquatre.  

The  original trunk was desguised with stowage.

Regarding the camouflage of the Peugeot 202 I found these in the GBM magazine. 

I opted for this one but in ochre. 

These two H35 with long 37mm complete the six necessary for the full DLM (two in each of the three Battalions of Dragons Portés). One more type of vehicle complete in numbers. 

Lastly two more Panhard 178. Still two to go for a total of eight necessary for a GRD. 

One of them became a command vehicle with a little help from styrene and a converted Esci WW2 torso with arms and details in GreenStuff.

Next: probably some DAK addtions. 

Age of Eagles (AoE) - Bussaco 1810 in 20mm (part 16)- Crauford's Light Division

 While the Caçadores and the 95th rifles retreat in an organized way from Sula, the combined light regiments of the Light Division prepare the deadly trap for Simon's infantry.

Crauford  stands  close to 'Crauford's rock' and to the right you can see its famous windmill. The 43rd and 52nd LIR are Hat with the usual Esci conversions for the standard bearers. Crauford should be on foot and the LIR regiments didn't carry their flags. 

The Caçadores 1 are Revell rifle's bodies with Airfix Belgian Shakoes. In 1810 the Caçadores still didn't receive the newer Stovepipe Shako and still sported the Barretina. Funny enough this one would be the main influence for the British 'Belgian Shako' of 1812. 

The same happened to Caçadores 3 this time with Esci British heads.
The 60th rifles figures of the first photos stand for the 95th rifles that are still not painted.

Next: return to France 1940.

Rapid Fire! France 1940 in 20mm - Dr. Horch and Frankenstein in a MiniGeneral production

Master Richard and Master Colin told me I have to have 18 Horch 108 for the Shützen regiment of the 7th PD. I have still 6 more to do but I hope they forgive this big fail of mine... hmm, I think I'm watching too much Handmade's tale.

In this picture I tried to catch the environment of those famous pictures of  Rommel's 7th Panzer Division columns near Abbeville. The vehicles are MiniGeneral 3d prints but 42 of the 48 crew are my own Frankenstein type of convertions from soft plastic figures.

The vehicles are just great. A bit difficult to clean as you need to get used to this material but in the end you get a very good model, sturdy, 8 parts only (6 are the separate wheels) and with good detail. A true wargames friendly model.

Sometimes I read very unfair critics to 3d prints and even to MiniGeneral, which in my opinion ranks among the best of them. They are related to the printing lines that still exist and to the difficulties in cleaning the extra plastic. Regarding the first you can use some special primers that deal with most of the problem, even if this problem is getting solved with the advances of priting technology (which I have no idea of what it is). On the issue of extra plastic, sorry my friends but if you don't have the patience to clean it with some good pliers and a fine X-Acto you better use resin or metal that cost 2 or 3 times more and I also hope you are rich enough and live long enough if you want to build big units for our beloved RF! Finally the 3d prints from Minigeneral, or BPM models don't lie to you. They are clear on the pictures they show on their websites about what you are getting. They are pictures of samples coming fresh from the printers sometimes with only a quick cleaning and showing the actual product. If you like them go for them, if you don't there are other options.

The figures in this Horch 108 are built from Esci torsos and a Revell driver from the German artillery set. The arm and MG34 came from spare Zvezda parts of the BMW combo. Then the trick started with GreenStuff  arms and legs. In the end the original boots were glued to the GreenStuff legs while the last ones were still drying.

In the same vehicle you can see a third small part of the original figures that were put to use, the Kar98 and the MP40's you see in the back of most of the models.

In this other Horch you can see torsos from DAK Airfix, Matchbox, Atlantic and Esci all happily sharing the same Uber.

Again more Esci, Atlantic and Matchbox in a different Horch. 

Two DAK figures from Airfix and Esci entered this one and suit nicely the 1940 campaign. 

Here you have the lot ready to be primed and based. The windshields were also covered with GreenStuff to simulate canvas covers as used in the 1940 campaign by most of the vehicles closer to action. 

The painting of the Horch cars was plain Panzer Grey as most of the soft skin vehicles didn't receive the brown camouflage colour. 

Apart from the side crosses some visibility white was applied in the exposed corners of the cars and a card licence plate was added to the front. 

Another Zvezda MG34 was added to this Horch this time without the arm that holds it. On the back seat you can see one Hasegawa hard plastic figure from their Sdkfz 7. All others are my own conversions from Esci, Airfix and Atlantic. 

Here you have again the first model showned already painted. The result of the mix of these MiniGeneral 3d prints and these converted figures is quite pleasing. With far less money spent then if using resin or metal (or even plastic kits) you can have a large group of decent models enlarging your collection. 

Another view of the same.

In this one you have a Revell NCO with a MP40, an Atlantic driver and a Revell artillery seated figure. The MG34 firer had his left leg torn apart and replaced in a seated position even if he looks as just having given birth to triplets!

Another happy family from Hasegawa, Esci and Revell riding along the Somme valley in that hot spring of 1940...

The painted lot.

With 6 more to go the 7th Motor Rifle Regiment is nearing completion. 

Next: More Bussaco 1810.