Will McNally's Rules - AWI and the battle of Brandywine 1777 in 20mm (part 34) - Last few bits for the British

 

This another nostalgic post in which another army is finished. Can't be sure but probably my first British for the AWI were made around some 20 years ago and these were the last missing stands and figures at least for Brandywine in a collection of around 1000 figures. Still to be made are some 300 figures for the larger Washington's army at the same battle. 

 

These Ferguson rifles are converted figures from both Airfix bodies and Revell heads with some Milliput tufts on the headdress. 

Like this these little Ferguson men became quite reasonable. Very hard to make is unique fire mechanism of the Ferguson rifle and these poses were also chosen because they hide the missing details. 

The two last command stands missing were Howe's and Cornwallys themselves. The figures used were Hold the Line and Revell. 

Along a bulky General Sir William Howe rides a 16th Light Dragoon trooper both Hold the Line figures. The Revell figures to the right aren't true British with the Cornwallys figure on horse coming from the Prussian box and the foot officer from the Austrian box. 

 

More work with these ones. The last few batteries of artillery were made with some Revell Austrian and Airfix figures but most with converted infantry from Revell's box of British infantry. The limbers came from 30YW Revell horses whose harness didn't change that much along the years. 

And here they are. The guns are from Hold the Line and probably if you ever painted Revell British infantry from the AWI you probably recognize most of the figures. 

Next: a return for WWII or more Americans for Brandywine. Also a Pirrhic army is not out of the question as my Republican Romans are tired of calling names from their shelves to the Carthaginians on the other side of the basement.  

Rapid Fire! Russian Contemporary Wars in 1/72nd scale - How to make your own figures for aircraft and some other additions.

In order to produce quick WWII planes and to reduce its stash I don't place any figures on them for a long time. Like this it's much quicker to have new aircraft as you only need to paint the exterior parts.

Somehow I started to do exactly the opposite for modern aircraft. The problem here is that many of the brands don't carry the pilots and this is specially true with the Die-cast models. Besides the surplus pilots you may have don't sit well in the cockpit forcing you to brake, heat or destroy them while trying.

So I made up this way in order to have the missing pilots:

1- Model the full body in cheap and fast drying two-part paste (the one you buy at supermarkets) as it dries quickly and allows you into next step;

2- Model the helmet in GreenStuff;

3- (This is really worthy of Hannibal Lecter's talent) carve off the face of a soft plastic figure and place it deep on the front of the helmet;

4- Model the helmet again, glasses or other details you may want to add and they are ready for painting.

 

As  a proof of the crime I exhibit evidence number one on the top right side.

 

 

As confidence grew  I made others without plastic faces. Soon I regreted it as the first ones with plastic faces are much better. Some of them are even better for Planet Of The Monkeys, as faces are really tricky to do correctly. Only the pilots of the F-16 got well as they have their faces completely covered.

 

 

Having found a reasonable way to make pilots I built a few more Altaya Helicopters. This Mil Mi-24 was repainted with Georgian colours with hand painted symbols and numbers.

 

 

Two more Hinds with added missile pylons.

 

                                 

 

And a Mil Mi-8 with no additions but the crew.

 

 

 

Next: Arab houses, Iraqi helicopters or Russian T-72's. At least its what I have closer to completion.

Rapid Fire! 20mm, French aviation 1940, Aircraft up to the moment.

Before continuing the recent Russian Contemporary Wars series I was forced due to piles of dust and humidity to make new shelves and place glass on some of the cabins holding parts of my collection.  By doing so some cleaning became necessary and I took the opportunity to take pics of some planes. Let's start with  the French from 1940. 

It must have been a nightmare to supply parts to French military aviation in the late 30's and during the German invasion of may 1940 as there were an enormous amount of aircraft performing the same function. 

If you want to see the rest of my french Army for 1940 please open the label France 1940 and then lets get back to BleuVille. 

These Heller  Dewoitine D.520 were some of the most modern fighters in the world but not many reached the war zone.

The Bloch MB 152 was more numerous, but older and not as fast as the Dewoitine. To the left is a SMER model and the one to the right is an Altaya Die-cast.

Other fighters (to help the work of the maintenance crews...) were the American built Curtiss H-75A-1  and the wooden light fighter Caudron C.714. Not sure but I think both are Heller. 

The Morane-Saulnier 406 was the mainstay of the French Airforce shooting down between 190 and 270 German aircraft. Altaya Die-cast model. 

The Potez 630 was a heavy reconnaissance airplane and here once again the french produced a great number of different models with the same characteristics. Heller again.

Even some few Italian Caproni Ca.313 bomber/reconnaissance aircraft were bought. This plane is a Supermodel model (Supermodel is the brand...).

The old ANF Les Mureaux 113 was the most numerous reconnaissance aircraft of those days, again by Heller.

The  Bloch MB 174 (Heller) was one of the best and newer machines of the French air force and intended to replace the Breguet 693.

Another aircraft for observation and reconnaissance the Potez 63.11 (Heller).

I made some 30 of these stands. By using the Altaya plastic black stand you can glue a piece of acrylic and, on top of it, glue the tip of the Altaya stand. Drill a hole the same size on the under part of the plane and here you have a nice and convincing stand.

These older Breguet 693 by Heller ground attack aircraft, also used for reconnaissance.

The Potez 540 (SMER model) series was an old design that first saw service with the Spanish Republican Airforce, earning the reputation of the 'Flying Coffin'. When WWII hit the French they were only used for transport, mostly in the colonies.

I still have some 10 French aircraft models to build, some are only for numbers but others are new ones like the LEO 451 bomber. Hope to show you some of them soon.

Lebanon 1982 - 1/100th scale Syrian Mig-21 and new aircraft stands

 

Tamiya 1/100th scale Mig-21 from Tamiya. Quite old moulds but recently re-released and proving Tamiya is a hell of  a brand. But I think many of us will never forgive Tamiya for never having made small scale tanks while making dozens of them in 1/35th scale! Bahhh, what a waste of fine plastic and talent, it remembers me GW...

 

 

Now for some aircaft stands. These champagne flutes can be found nowadays in supermarkets. They are plastic and cheap. Glued to balsa or other wood  bases  that you only need to texture and paint they make aircraft stands with a nice balance and capable of holding metal models. While glueing the flute to the textured base don't use super glue as it will release some white dust from the cyanoacrilate to the inside of the flute ruining the work. Use instead wood glue or hot glue.

It's always better by the dozen!

 

Turned upside down the flute has a recessed base which is ideal for ammunition and reserve tanks to enter and better support the model.