Rapid Fire! War in the Pacific - 20mm USMC LVT-4s

 

The LVT-4 was an improvement over the LVT-2 as it had a ramp for the exit of the Marines. Its first usage was at Saipan (June 44) and the LVT-4 remained the main LVT of the Marines up to the end of the war. The  LVT-4 were painted green when they showed up but many - and in many assaults, all of them- were camouflaged by their crews. Like that no two LVT-4 were alike in terms of camouflage. The main markings were broad colorful bands on the side, front or rear according to the beach were each group would land (red/yellow/blue/green) making these vehicles some of the most colorful ever. These are the only unbased models I have as a base causes troubles in these kind of amphibious vehicles. 

The models are Airfix but the Oerlikon was discarded, the two 12,5mm Brownings in the kit were passed to the front with added plastic shields and extra 7,62mm were made and placed on the sides. 

The figures once more, as in the case of my LVT-2 fleet, were taken from the Revell figures wading ashore and with new GreenStuff arms holding the guns. 

The figures are placed on top of boxes something that didn´t happen in reality but look better this way. 

Some of the Brownings M2 are the original Airfix while others are are plastic from old tanks or, like the ones on this photo, from Atlantic. The Brownings M1919 are mostly scratchbuilt. The closest figure is made from a a Revell torso and Esci legs. 

Next: More Vercors or Cortez in Mexico

Guadalcanal 1942 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! rules - (Part 14) The 3rd US Marine battalion and one more Amtrac

 

Third USMC battalion and 1st Regiment finished together with one more LVT(A)1. Once again these figures are a compromise between the uniform, equipment and organization of the USMC battalion at Guadalcanal and the ones of the later Pacific war. The LVT(A)1 is also for later battles as it was used for the first time at Kwajalein, early 1944. The model is Altaya with added crew for the Brownings. 

The Revell US Marine is a great set. The figures are well designed with all small weapons that the USMC used: M3 SMG, Thompson, Garand, BAR and M1 rifles and even a flamethrower. The problem is heavier weapons as nothing comes inside the box. So they had to be made up once again. 

The Bazookas are Airfix and SHQ with converted Revell marines holding Hasegawa shells. 

The Brownings HMG 1917 are Revell and Matchbox, all with Evergreen sleeves and added water cooling device. The No2s are Atlantic and Matchbox. All No3s are Revell and SHQ. 

The Brownings 1919 have Hasegawa firers with SHQ guns and plastic tripods. On the left there is an Airfix firer with changed tripod. All No2s are Esci and Hasegawa. 

The 81mm mortar is scratchbuilt and has an SHQ, a converted  Revell and the old Matchbox officer, probably the most copied and used 20mm figure in the world. 

The 60mm mortars are again scratchbuilt and have Revell conversions (the one with the rifle raised above the head), another Matchbox conversion and a SHQ figure. 

This one became strange as the Airfix radio man  looks like the grandson of the officer. Even so I like to think of this officer as Chester Puller in order to balance things! The figure with Walkie Talkie is SHQ. 

Next: A return to Vercors

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 10) An odd bunch of a Japanese divisional staff car, anti-tank rifles and mules

 

The divisional stand is made from an Hotwheels car and plastic figures. The idea was to place a tank commander (Fujimi) presenting the report of the last failed tank attack on Guadalcanal (look at the map! Its Guadalcanal!). The good thing is that the officers (Chinese Airfix copies) may also be pleased as it depends on the wargame result. 

The HotWheels car was this thing I found in a supermarket as it had potential to become a Japanese Staff car if you just consider the front. 

The usual wheels were replaced with 3d printed ones, a 3d printed canvas cover was placed on top and lots of Milliput was used on the back part of the car. Some plastic parts at the rear - fortunately they were plastic-  were taken out with a X-Acto. 

A small table was added and a hand painted map of Guadalcanal was glued on top. 

This is the kind of divisional stand I like to use in my miniature divisions. This one had this Hotwheels model trying to represent the Nissan model 97 staff car something I couldn´t find anywhere. 

I found this Matchbox Dodge 1940 in a 2nd hand fair and it quickly became a captured vehicle from one of the many US enterprises spread out in the Pacific islands. In fact I have very few transports for the Japanese infantry and anything closely suitable is welcome. 

The Japanese AT rifle teams are made from plastic figures firing the Type 96 LMG with 3d printed anti tank rifles and added bipods. The number 2 operator was generally firing a rifle and is now holding an extra 20mm cartridge box. 

Here they are finished. One will go to each battalion of the division. 

Inspired by the latest videos of Wargaming China a group of pack mules pulled by (left) the Esci figures using the rifle as a club; (center) the Airfix figures of the Jungle Outpost and (right) the Airfix figure running with its rifle in the air. The mules are from the Esci Italian Alpine set. 

Next:  a batch of Japanese coming from Assymetric Wargames, both 3d prints and Simon´s Soldiers or the beginning of the US Marines. 

Guadalcanal 1942 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! rules - (Part 9) The 7th Japanese infantry battalion and the Anti-aircraft artillery

 

I´m done with Japanese infantry as I finished all models in the stash with two battalions still missing.Years ago I collected enough Japanese figures to make a full Japanese infantry division but some went to my Tarawa board as SNLF and others, specially HMGs, went to the 1914-1940 French and a few other places. 

This battalion is mostly Atlantic with some Chinese Airfix (1/32 downsized)  copies as they are about the same size. In fact not all Chinese copies are this nice and the more recent productions being clearly inferiors to the ones from the 80s and 90s. The Atlantic figures are not much loved by PSR but mixed with others of the same size they look good. In fact the figures are very tall, not a Japanese thing of those days, but if placed in its own units they provide extra variety. The HMGs are the Type 3, very similar to the original Hotchkiss guns and came from the FFL Strelets sets with my own conversions for the firers. 

The resin 3d printed 20mm AA guns came from Asymmetric Wargames and are very beautiful in just 3 pieces. The crews are modern Atlantic and are innacurate and small but fit nicely the small seats available. The puttees are non-existent and the helmet is missing the typical rim of the Japanese helmets. 

The Type 88 75mm AA gun is provided in two different firing positions which is a great idea. The figures are again Atlantic. 

Next: probably more Japanese artillery, Simon's Soldiers figures and staff cars, all from Asymmetric Wargames

Guadalcanal 1942 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! rules - (Part 8) 6th Japanese infantry battalion and 150mm and 70mm artillery

Asymmetric Wargames from Italy is a great place for you to get Japanese WW2 stuff both 3d resin printed and Simon´s Soldiers figures. They also have plenty other stuff for many wargaming periods and scales.  While the Simon´s (Japanese) Soldiers don´t arrive I added one more infantry battalion and six 15cm artillery pieces. 

This infantry battalion is made around the shirt order Matchbox infantry, with officers from Atlantic and a few Esci and Airfix mixed-in and my home made Juki HMGs. 

The firing Type 96 150mm Howitzer from Asymmetric wargames is a beauty that comes in two slightly different gun tube positions. The artillerymen are converted Atlantic. The dying figures got new arms and a shell and the heavy load and pain is visible in his bent neck. The snipers covered in leaves had these carefully cut out (Atlantic placed leaves only in the exterior parts of the uniform for you to cut it out if necessary) and the arms were repositioned in order to hold shells. 

A third variant of the Type 96 is this one ready to be towed. 

Some prime movers are also on order to tow these ones. With some pity I found that no horse towed artillery was used in the pacific by the Japanese. They would have made a hell of a sight. 

These Type 4 150mm howitzer were also printed by Asymmetric. 

The last group of Asymmetric artillery is the Type92 battalion gun. The figures are converted Airfix with the converted binoculars and loading figures coming from an old and not particularly beautiful hard plastic set from Fujimi. 

Next: more Japanese

Guadalcanal 1942 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! rules - (Part 7) 5th Japanese infantry battalion

 

Now well into the 2nd regiment of Japanese infantry. I will not manage to finish the division in this batch as I need four more battalions and only have figures for two more. More artillery will arrive today so next post will be about it. 

Some of my scratch built Juki HMGs are already painted for this battalions. Fortunately they will be mostly inside bunkers as they will never win a modelling contest :)

Due to the high number of knee mortars the 81mm model was relatively rare in a Japanese infantry division. This one is the first addition. The mortar is Strelets and the crew is converted Atlantic and Esci. 

The small Japanese radio was glued to the chest of this grenade throwing Matchbox figure. The legs were placed in an upright position with the help of some heat and a rifle was glued to the hand and to the base for extra resistance. Most of the figures I´ve been showing you were already painted for many years and waiting to be properly based. Thus you can see some green pieces of uniform mixed with the Japanese khaki as the green color was aparently getting more common as the war progressed. 

Next: Japanese artillery and some more infantry

Guadalcanal 1942 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! rules - (Part 6) 4th Japanese infantry battalion, an unwanted guest and HMGs

 

One more Japanese infantry battalion in order to start the 2nd infantry regiment. Nothing new here, with the usual Matchbox, Airfix and Esci hard plastic. 

The unwanted guest is obviously this Marmon Herrington with Italian 20mm Breda gun from the nice people of Asymmetric Wargames for the first desert Rapid Fire! supplement. The crew is an old Airfix with bonnet and a Xan Miniatures figure. 

I was out of 7,7mm Type 92 HMGs and I cranked up these ones from 3d printed US Brownings with cut out ammunition boxes, plastic card tripods and elevators. The result isn´t a great thing as I was lazy to make them totally from scratch. The only good thing about them is that they are big which is not the tendency of most manufactures who make the Jukis very small.  The two HMGs to the left are Hotchkiss (very close to the Type 3)  from Strelets as well as the 81mm mortar. The crews are mostly Atlantic conversions with the HMGs firing figures made from torsos with burned legs and GreenStuff arms.

Next: More Japanese  

Guadalcanal 1942 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! rules - (Part 5) Third Japanese infantry battalion and the anti-tank guns

 

This third battalion has the company of 3d resin prints from Asymmetric Wargames in the form of 37mm and 47mm anti-tank guns and a Kurogane car. 

The infantry is more of the same with the usual conversions: a small radio, a rifle both on the cornet and grenade thrower and some foliage on the helmet of the grenade thrower. 

The Kurogane car is a small beauty and a few more will go to the command of each regiment. 

The guns were printed a bit on the big side something that Asymmetric Wargames is already solving. For that I used the biggest 1/72 Japanese figures I have, the Airfix cheap copies. These two are the 47mm type 1 guns. 

There are two of these figures that can be used as artillerymen, the 50mm mortar figure (cut of its mortar) and the charging figure. 

The charging figure can be turned to a kneeling guy by an anti-tank gun as seen here. Just be careful with the blade and the flame on your fingers. 

The type 94 37mm anti-tank guns got the same type of crew. 

Next: more japanese as more artillery is arriving and more infantry is being repainted and  based.