Operation Aintree 1944

With my mate Phil on the Coast this weekend attending a Reunion, we took a bit of free time that he had last night to game a quick battle. Operation Aintree was a WW2 battle between Allied forces and the German army which took place in and around the village of Overloon in the south-east of Holland between September 30th and October 18th, 1944. The battle, which resulted in an Allied victory,saw some 2,500 soldiers killed, making it one of the bloodiest battles in the Netherlands during the Second World War. It was also the only major tank battle ever fought on Dutch soil. Dozens of tanks, mainly British, were destroyed. After a couple of coin tosses we saw Phil established as the Germans in Defence and myself as elements of the British 11th Armoured Division hoping to break through Overloon Village and capture a Farm that overlooked a road junction.
British ORBAT
Elements of the British 11th Armoured Division consisting of:

• 1 SQN of 3 Troops M4 Shermans (Including 3 Fireflies)-12 Tanks total.
• 1 Troop Achilles Tank Destroyers-2 Achilles
• 1 Recon Element of 2 Armoured Cars,2 Halftracks and a Jeep.

German ORBAT
Elements of Panzer Brigade 107 consisting of:

• 1 Platoon of 3 Panther tanks
• 1 Platoon of 3 Panzer Mk IV Ausf J
• 1 Platoon of 2 StuG III
• 1 Recon Element of 2 Sdkfz 251/1

So we can see that the British Forces outnumber the Germans, however the Germans were acting in the Defence role and had supieror tank weapons and defence values with its Panther Force, so we figured we were both evenly matched. Airfix rules were to be used. The Cook had send up a nice Cheese Board and we were all set for a good nights action above the Stables...

What Goes Around Comes Around...

With my birthday coming up I casually mentioned to my mate Phil that a great present for that occasion would be one of the kits I gave him about ten years ago when I had given up model making. Kit in question was a Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik from the Airfix Dogfight Doubles kit range.
I brought this kit in a modelshop clearance about 12 years ago for $4.95! and have been after one of these as of late to support my Soviet Forces and am itching at the bit to build this, however it will have to wait until the Summer Holidays in few weeks time.

Airfix Shermania: The Dream Continues

Back to Shermania, with a couple more from the Squadron. More track link attached along with mandatory tobacco foliage.
I lengthened up the rear hull deck with a couple of crates from a 1/35 Bren Carrier, and attached packs and jerricans. The 75mm Gun Barrel is bent which bothers me to no end.

Fujimi figure bases used as attached hull armour for this fairly naked M4.

You can never have enough Shermans, so more to follow...

Weekend Order

While over in Christchurch the other weekend, I spied a Pegasus 'German Truck' set on the shelves in a model shop. At the time I was tempted, but fought the urge, however after seeing a few on the net and particularly the Minaturezone Blog site I have had second thoughts.

While the ESCI/Italeri Blitz is a nice kit, it is quite expensive, and the Airfix Blitz suffers from weak axles, the last Pegasus kit I constructed was a little beauty, so I am quite happy to take a punt on this kit. When my old chum Chintz rang the other day and asked if I wanted anything brought over this weekend I jumped at the chance. I have made a promise to myself that this will be my last purchase for 2009...fingers crossed.

Airfix Shermania 2

The Squadron continues...
Another dressed Sherman with spare tracklinks, roadwheels, and a crate off a Airfix pack animal from the German Mountain Troops set.

I am not sure where the .50 Cal MG came from but it looks quite budget. The figure comes from a Fujimi Sherman, but can be found in most Fujimi US sets. Looking at it closely you can see it is a clone of one of the Airfix British Para's. Tank crews were issued with a steel helmet that resembled the Para helmet, apart from the chinstrap.

These last two are of my first Airfix Sherman that taught me how not to put on the tracks. I was far to rough with them and they tore, hence the replacement Matchbox links from a Panzer III.

Of note is the tarp on the rear engine deck made from PVA soaked First Field Dressing, 1/35 scale Ammo box on the rear of the turret and a bench seat from the Airfix Heller GMC Truck being used as a rack or anti hollowcharge projectile shield on the hull sides. Figure from the Matchbox Humber Armoured Car. Still more to come...

Airfix Shermania

Since I am still in a state of flux concerning any actual construction and painting until man central is finished, I think I will take a bit of time in showing my Airfix Sherman kits over the next few posts. Bad points, not that accurate in terms of an actual Sherman, tricky thick vinyl tracks...Good points, they look ok on the table, quite robust, cheap, available everywhere, simple construction.
I always try to add a few touches to dress up the basic kit. I do this in order to individualize vehicles. On these two photos you will see the following spares added and options, Ammo box on rear deck, Bin from 1/35 scale kit added to rear of turret, hatches on turret open, sandbags on front of armour, spare roadwheel.

Minimal use of decals means more spares for the box.

These last two photo's show a Sherman with a .50 cal MG from the Airfix/Heller GMC truck, spare track links from an ESCI M12 SPG, spare roadwheel from the same kit, and attached welded sheet armour cut from plastic card on the hull side.

A couple of great links if you want to dress up your Airfix Shermans are: http://matadormodels.co.uk/tank_museum/zairfix_sherman_1.htm

http://www.lloydianaspects.co.uk/models/sherman.html

More to follow...

Italeri ISU-152 Fastbuild

With things at the Manor slowly coming back to normal, I will take a bit of time tonight to have a look at my two Italeri ISU-152 Fastbuild vehicles.
The ISU-152 was one of the first Soviet heavy Self Propelled Artillery carriages, or Self Propelled Guns (SPG) in today's language.

Entered service in 1943 in time for the battle of Kursk. Served both as an anti-tank gun and a heavy assault gun. Fired a 2-piece cartridge at a rate of only 2 shots/min. Ammunition storage was sparse, requiring supplies by ammunition carriers. Called "Zveroby" (animal killer) by Soviet tank crews because of the devastating effect of its 95 Ib. projectile on Panthers, Tigers and Elephants. The ISU 152 proved very effective during the Battle of Berlin. Served after the war as late as 1956 where it was used in crushing the Hungarian uprising. Over 700 were produced.

Again the fixed Gun Mantle prevents any angle of the gun being displayed. Of course the tracks are a little disappointing, but overall it is a nice piece of kit to add to a mid to late war Soviet force.

Lost In Time

While cleaning out a wardrobe I came across a sports bag that had been at the bottom of a box of junk, not having any idea what was in it, I opened it up to inspect. I was surprised to find a old 1/144 Minicraft KI-61 'Tony' Japanese fighter. I think I brought this about 1997 and lost track of it soon after. Not really sure why I brought this, as 1/144th does not really interest me, although the young master of the Manor has shown interest in it.

Lazy Sunday

Had a few last night, and was quite hangover, but managed to help the boy with a Matchbox Panzer Jaeger IV L70. He has been quite keen of late into building kits and being 7 it's never too early. I think I know what he wants for Christmas.

Italeri JS-2 Stalin Fast Build

About a year ago I picked up a set of Italeri Fast Build JS-2 tanks from an auction. Just like the box says these are simple kits aimed at the wargaming crowd. While shifting items around in the loft I noticed them looking quite lonely in a box...poor tanks, due to the late war period of there service I have yet to use them in action.
During the painting I was tempted to paint in the white 'Berlin' recognition cross on the turret, but saw common sense in regard to where I was actually going to deploy this beastie.

One packet of two is probably enough for any wargame I suspect.

Man Central

A rather lackluster update of blog postings lately due to some changes happening around the Manor. The loft above the stables, long a refugee of storage and spiders is undertaken a transformation into 'Man Central'.
Seen here is the start of the update, with gaming table central, hopefully this will not be a major tasking, but I have my doubts...

Be Rude Not To !

While over in the big smoke last weekend, I took the opportunity to pop into Acorn Models to have a look at what was on offer; Be rude not to eh? Well the answer to that was not much, lately it seems that they seem more intent on raising the prices than bringing in any new releases. The only items to catch my eye were a couple of aircraft and some decalfix and clearfix.

The OH-6 will be used for my Vietnam Force, I have always liked the Loach, and I see one four or five times a week from home. The Buffalo will be part of the NZ collection and I plan to scheme it as a 488 (NZ) Squadron aircraft from the defence of Singapore 1942. I really have been trying to get a Matchbox Buffalo but these have been rare of late.

Production Line Painting:Pt5

I have had a couple of really busy days this weekend, with work, a trip to Christchurch, a night in the Senior Rates Mess at HMNZS Pegasus for a going away function (It was a really great night, which involved plenty of catching up and quite a few bevies), and a visit to the Air Force Museum at RNZAF Wigram where I stayed the night. Still I managed to squeeze in a bit more painting for my 1980-90's British Army. On Friday night I added some Humbrol Brick Red to the DPM Uniform parts.
Seen here on my washing machine, which provided the best light this evening are a few examples from the batch. I applied the paint over both the Pale Yellow and Olive Drab as in the cloth pattern.

I can really start to see the pattern appearing now, and am pretty keen to finish this batch off this week.

The Toothpick Brush

As requested by Geordie, a photo of my 'Toothpick' Brush. Shown in the centre it is a Humbrol OO size brush that I cleaned none too well and it dried solid. While this has made it quite useless in general painting, it has proved very good for the likes of pattern and webbing straps on figures. The stiffness lends itself well to this and it still manages to hold some paint within its core.

Production Line Painting:Pt4

Tonight I added the second colour to the British DPM scheme, which is a light Olive Drab. I choose Humbrol 66 OD, although I usually use Humbrol 102 Army Green as this has a more faded look. I apply this with a small toothpick like brush and basically brush 'Y' and 'r' shapes. I also painted the LAW-80 Launcher OD as well, next will be the red brown component.

Production Line Painting:Pt3

Okay next up we start on the Uniform items namely British Disruptive Pattern Material or DPM. It has been used by Her Majesties Forces in the UK for almost forty years now, and bar a few minor colour changes is still the same as when first issues. Above we have a sample of my DPM Smock, our Air Force in the late 1980's and early 1990's brought British DPM Windproofs straight off the shelf instead of using NZ Pattern DPM which has more green than the Brit issue.(I managed to hold on to mine when we were forced with reissue to NZ Smocks 10 years ago, as I believe it is a better piece of kit.)
Another sample from NZ DPM this time showing the Lighter Green which was issued in the late 1980's and printed on our woollen "Swandri's", which probably at the time made us and the USSR the only Countries wearing Greatcoats in the field! Great for static duties, but overly heavy when wet and quite restrictive. With both items note the light sand base colour, this is important.

Last DPM photo shows mid 1980's NZ DPM which was a licenced copy of British DPM from the same period, note the base colour is almost yellow. So from these pictures we can see that the colours from different batches and manufacturers changed, but the base pattern remains the same. For British Uniforms it was not until 'Soldier 95' Pattern in the mid 1990's that the colours became rather more standard. As my figures are to represent British Forces from the late 1980's I can see I have some room for maneuver. Four colours are to be used, Base Sand, Light Green, Red/Brown and Black.

So we can now move onto the painting. Base colour for the uniform DPM is a light sand or light green. I used of al colours Humbrol 81 'Pale Yellow". At this scale it is important to use colours that will stand out, and we will be painting over most of the base coat anyway.

Again a quick rough coat was used and I avoided the webbing items, British webbing was not DPM at this period of time to the best of my recollection. I painted about 40 figures in an hour or so, and was quite happy about that.

Weekend Update

I have had a nice relaxing weekend with a few drinks and some good food, however no progress on modeling or wargaming fronts. I did however pick up a Italeri 25 Pounder and Quad set on a auction. This is a copy of the old ESCI set from the 1970's and is a long overdue addition to my forces. I now have the movie Valkyrie to look forward to, so I doubt if anything new will be added to the table tonight.