Rapid Fire rules! Bir Hakeim 1942 (part 1)- First few trucks for the Free french

Two Made-In-China Dodge trucks, one Tanake and a 75mm Portee, roam the oasis of Ras-Al-Confinement looking for information on the big southern envelopment of the DAK in May 1942 that will lead to the Bir Hakeim Battle. 

These Dodge 3-ton transformed trucks became famous in the hands of General Koenig French Foreign Legion men specially when defending the Bir Hakeim position and later, in October, when they attacked the Nabq Rala position. But before and after they gave agood account of itselves in the Levant and even under the Vichy rule.

The model vehicles are conversions from cheap Chinese Die-cast, the same I used for various Allied 1940 units particularly the one with a naked woman painted in the canvas of a French truck. Ah ah! I knew you would remember!! 

The biggest difference between the true Dodge and these ones are the headlights which should be placed a bit up the mudguards. Other details are passable or easily added like the cross shape at the front.

                            

The Portee Dodge carries an Irregular Miniatures French 75mm gun with wheels from soft plastic Hat. All figures are FFL from Strelets R converted to hold ammo or the Bren LMG's.

The arrangement of the crew and guns of the Tanake. 

Here is its humble beginning. Each of these models is 4 euros and unfortunately the place where I bought a dozen or so is finished with them. The original wheels, the type of Hotwheels, were discarded and replaced by bigger ones. 

The EverGreen entered in the Portee version with some extra structures for the box and the steps to access the cabin. Later, the top part of the cabin was taken out and that reavealed a nice detailed original interior.

The Tanake was more complicated as a set of new structures, mostly the walled parts,  were made from scratch in EverGreen plastic card.

Other parts were made in StyroFoam. A few minutes before priming I aplied PVA glue. Too late as I should have waited for the PVA to dry. You can see the effect of the attack by the solving primer in the pictures of the painted models.

Next: more Bir Hakeim  1942or Mohacs 1526.

Rapid Fire! France 1940 in 20mm - BEF Scottish infantry in Kilt

The 79th Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders leaves their transports and prepares to entrench at the village of Zidane not far from Dunkirk. 

I was thinking about making Scottish infantry for the 1940 BEF since I stumbled on this picture of the 79th at the river Escaut in May 1940 in the last campaign where the Scots used the Kilt:

                 

Then when reading a little about the Scots in the 1940 BEF I was admired by its courage and determination specially when ordered to delay the Germans for the Dunkirk evacuation.

At first I thought about using the HAT WWI Highlanders (still in Service Dress but that is still possible in 1940)  but those figures have the apron on the kilt and the box has no support weapons. So my usual conversions started. The main idea was to use the obvious old Airfix, Esci and Italeri Napoleonic Highlanders legs and kilts in the bodies of equally old Matchbox, Airfix and Revell British WWII figures both desert and battle dress uniforms. 

The problem is to get the two parts attached. Simply by gluing them with soft plastic superglue doesn't solve the problem as the joint is never perfect with parts of the equipment cut in half by the figures waists. What I did was to drill a 2mm hole in the legs part and to cut the body in a triangular shape in the waist area. This allows for the triangular area to be melted with a lighter and stuck while its boiling in the leg's drilled hole. A good part of the melt will go into the drilled hole and you can have a firmly stucked figure. Believe me. I did it many times and works. After many burned fingers you start to master this technic. Besides all of us have these figures somewhere in a shoe box and if you destroy a number of them you still have plenty to keep on trying.

After a few hours (maybe more than a few…) you have the the full battalion ready. 

The HQ stand has a few other options: an  unchanged Bagpiper from 8th Army Matchbox set, and a Revell figure with two component paste uniting the two sides of the shorts and giving the illusion of a kilt. This figure also became a radio man with the addition of the Airfix radio. 

The painted group.To the Revell officer was added a cane and binoculars. All figures also got the usual BEF gas mask bag.  

The HQ, MG and mortar platoons are all here. The laying down figures have legs and skirts from the Esci Scottish running figure.

The Boys AT rifles were made from carefully cutting a few extra parts of the Matchbox Bren figures and adding a piece of 1mm EverGreen plastic. The Vickers MMG was the trickiest with added parts to make it higher and a new watercooler device. If you have these sets of figures you will probably recognize most of them. 

                   

No, these guys are not performing Shakespeare but manning the 3'' mortar. I used the mortar from Matchbox but dont forget to cut the top part of the ring connecting the bipod to the tube for a better miniature of the 3'' mortar. 

A company has the usual mixture of torsos and legs. The Revell 8th Army box is very useful as you can use the bereted Scottish figures and make the kilt out of the shorts. This box also has the true model of the Thompson M1928 SMG used by the BEF.

The 79th used the battle dress tucked into the Kilt and and you can simulate this with figures whose arms and Enfield rifle are covering the waist. Some of the figures like the NCO with Thompson SMG have the Service Dress from 1908 which was still used ocasionally. For that, mold quicky and carefully the melted plastic of the waist joint while you still can!

B company. The kneeled figures are a problem but after a few "losses" you can have some nice kneeling Scots.

B company painted. 

C company attacks!! These older sets of British are also useful as most of them have the helmets without netting or camouflage as a good part of the BEF did. 

C company relentlessly presses the attack. 

D company. The NCO has another useful early Thompson SMG. 

D company painted. I felt glad in the end as I managed to lower bit a little a shoe box of maybe 10+ boxes of old British plastic infantry. Even if its time consuming making Scottish BEF infantry this way is quite challenging and i'll may do a couple more battalions in the future and complete a brigade of them. 

Maybe this was the most difficult figure of this group. Three of them were made and cutting the figure in half without cutting its right arm is not easy. Then, burning the torso without burning the Bren is again tricky.

Next: Maybe more Hungarian for Mohacs 1526 or French Foreign Legion for Bir Hakeim 1942.

Will McNally's Rules - AWI and the battle of Brandywine 1777 in 20mm (part 31) - Cavalry for both sides

A flank attack by the British 16th Light Dragoons catches off guard two regiments of American cavalry, the 3rd Continental Light Dragoons and the South Carolina State Light Dragoons. 
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All figures are Italeri from their generous cavalry set with 16 figures plus one Airfix conversion and a ACTA figure. The only addition to the Italeri figures was some short cavalry rifles that were missing.

                            

The figures are beautifully sculpted and reasonably accurate but as usual with Italeri most of them are looking sidewards which is not the better position for wargames figures.

The British 16th Light Dragoons. Some sources say that the Tarleton helmet would be more accurate for these units and that includes the 16th LD reconstitution group.

Next: Scottish for France 1940 or more Hungarians for Mohacs 1526.

Will McNally's Rules - AWI and the battle of Brandywine 1777 in 20mm (part 30) - More artillery and a few more bits

While looking for something else in my basement I found a box of primed and based stands for AWI. I made them some 2 or 3 years ago and this time of less work is an opportunity to reduce the stash. When I left Brandywine I only have to make for the British the Vaughn and Leslie's Brigades, two regiments of Hessians, the  three squadrons of cavalry and six artillery pieces (batteries). For the American side the situation was worse with  seven brigades missing and six batteries. Also a number of command stands are still missing for both sides. With this post at least the American artillery for Brandywine 1777 is finished. 

As usual the figures will be mostly Revell and Airfix with converted Airfix limbers.

                 

All the American artillery stands have pre-1179 uniforms so no blue and red for Continental Artillery but green, black and brown with various and made up facings. Figures are from three sets, two from Revell and one from Airfix. The limber is the body of the Airfix Napoleonic French gun stretched, burned and bent to look like a 3pdr AWI limber.

                 

Two more Brigade commanders for the American made from the Revell Austrian Train Drivers. 

                       

Same story for this 3lbr British stand.

                        

Finally a Horse Holder stand for the Hessian Jaegers. The figure is Revell Austrian Artillery and the horses are from the Revell British Napoleonic infantry set. 

Next: I don´t know but it won't take long.

Impetus Rules - Mohacs1526, part 6 - The Ottoman Janissaries

The Janissaries from Zvezda are one of the most detailed sets around and the figures are of high quality both due to detail and plastic quality.

Another issue is painting them.

There shouldn´t two Janissaries dressed alike and I tried to do so with the exception of jackets to keep some uniformity as these guys were one of the first standing large unit in the world. Blue was the most usual colour but many other were used. For not to drive (even more) crazy I used the same 6 or 7 colours along the stands, dividing the lot in two groups, one based on blue and another in yellow.

This command stand contain the three figures designed for that; the Sancak Bashi (standard bearer), the Çorbadji (which in fact means Chief soup-maker) and a musician. 

The entire Orta (regiment) but there is no such thing as units in Impetus. In the future I will try to make some rules for my own, with Impetus Baroque as base, but in which I can include Orders of Battle. Then one of these stands will be an Orta and all six will be the probable number of Janissaries Ortas at Mohacs 1526.

The yellow Orta looks better than it is. The Yellow colour was a nightmare to paint. I even checked some sites on how to paint this damn colour. I ended by aplying only one layer of thick yellow being careful for not to pass two times the brush on the same spot. 

From the back you can clearly see from were came the inspiration for the future Spanish and Austrian Grenadiers of 7YW and Napoleonic fame.

Next; a return to Brandywine 1777.

Rapid Fire! France 1940 in 20mm - The figures of the 2nd KRRC Motor Battalion

With all transport done for the 30th Brigade, the 2nd KRRC figures were made in the last few days. The main issue here was the obvious temptation to use the figures you already have for the 1944-45 period maybe with a few extra Boys ATR's. The problem is that the equipment of 1944, based on the 1937 Pattern Web Equipment, was the same as the one of the BEF infantry in 1940 with a big difference; the gas mask bag which makes the British soldier of 1940 quite different from the one of 1944 (besides new Helmets and new SMG`s, PIAT's and other pieces of equipment introduced after 1940).

So, what figures to use for these conversions? 

- I have stocks of  classic Airfix and Matchbox, detailed figures, plain helmets but a bit too small (around 1/76th ) to go with the HAT figures I used for its transport Carriers and CS8's. 

- Also a stock of big Valiant boxes could be used but by far not enough plain helmets as these figures were made with  Normandy in mind.

-I ended up by using the Esci British infantry with a few Airfix figures; WW1 Emhar British; Australian Revell and a few Matchbox for certain positions. All of them got a two component paste gas mask bag and a back pack were they didn't exist. Some of the Revell's Australians have the old Service Dress instead of the newer Battle Dress, which is correct as there was resistance to this change in the British army, one Guards officer saying it looked like a "third rate chauffeur" dress.

The HQ of the battalion has two Emhar officer figures (the service dress of WW1 is virtually the same in both wars and specially in this scale) and an Airfix radio man Commando with a new Brodie helmet; Esci PIAT firer and Matchbox figures in the ATR stand and Esci and and Matchbox figures in the 2"mortar stand (this one converted from the Matchbox mortar). 

The HQ figures painted and ready to fight the Jerry's. The Boys ATR are extras sent to me by 3d Minigeneral boss, Pedro Pato.

All 2nd KRRC figures got the green and red shoulder title they used in WWII. The SMG's are a later Thompson model but I left it as it was as any change in such a small  weapon would be too complicated.

The company's Boys ATR got an inverted T as support, and an Airfix lying figure next to it. They are ready to defend Calais up to the last man! Or better, to go along the Southern counter-attack of the tank brigades even if not historical...

Next: wether more Brandywine 1777 or Mohacs 1526.

Rapid Fire! France 1940 in 20mm - Additions to the BEF motor park (part 2)

The Morris CS8 15cwt trucks of the 2nd King´s Royal Rifle Corps Motor Battalion and the 1st Rifles Motor Battalion, 30th Brigade, pass on the crossroads of the French village of Platini (from now on all my villages in France will have famous French footballers names- Belgian villages will have Cyclist's names, of course) in order to join 1st Armoured Division (and not Calais, as I will not deprive my tanks of infantry!!) 

All models are MiniGeneral 3d prints. The models have only 5 quite detailed parts. These were a bit hard to clean but Pedro Pato told me that he is cleaning and improving the files and that this problem will be solved in many of its models.

I placed the white square without being sure of its usage by these two battalions. These two units were the organic Motor battalions of the 1st AD and not part of original BEF so I`m not sure if the white squares were painted as they were also not used by its parent tank brigades.

Each CS8 has four figures and, like the figures in the Carriers from the same units I showed you a few post ago, they are conversions from the Hat box of US WWI artillery. I used these figures because of its plain helmets and gas mask bags to which I only needed to add a two component paste backpack. Some figures in the box are seated while others are standing. The seated figures went to the back of the truck with new legs of two component paste or bent with fire and the ones standing were melted by the legs and stuck in the cabin. 

Soft plastic rifles, Bren LMG of Boys AT rifles were glued to the figure's hands. 

The printing lines on the front of the vehicle are quite visible. I mixed an almost  drying green acrylic paint with PVA glue and covered those parts. This tick apparently works in hiding those lines.

Here are they after the Paint+PVA trick. As you can see here many of the figures were just bent with fire. Even if you apply some heat in the legs they become softer and you can model it with some clamps or even using your fingers. 

The yellow paint blobs are the gas detector device used by the British. It would change colour and was applied by hand in different shapes. Some roundels of plastic card were also cut and used for Bridge Rating symbols at the front of the vehicles. 

All these six seated figures had their legs changed into a seated position by the usage of fire from a lighter and the putees were turned into short webbing ankles.

One of the CS8  was transformed into one of the many wireless versions. There are some doubts about the year in which the metal doors were used on these radio versions so I made a late MK2 body with metal doors. They can be painted as canvas doors if one day I find more information. The black arm of service with the number 11 is from the Divisional Signals of an infantry division. Maybe a red square with the number 12 or green with 16 would be better for the HQ of the Infantry brigades? I got stuck here as these battalions had brown squares for Motor battalions and were no foot infantry units...

The main task here is to build a wooden body, stairs at the back, the aerials and its protection and supports at the roof top. 

The body was built in Rooftop Styrofoam and card. 

The windows are also card as well as the folded table, later changed to the other side as you can see in the finished vehicle. 

The aerials are made of burned sprue. In the end a few more details were added before painting and this one here, together with a staff car are ready to be the 30th Brigade HQ as Masters Colin and Richard ordered. 

Next: the figures for the 2KRRC Motor Battalion.