Quick conversion of an Airfix 6 Pounder AT Gun into a US M1 57mm AT Gun. One needed for CD3 Rules at Regt. level.
Cut grooves from shield, removed flash hinder from barrel and replaced ''dinky'' wheels with an old spare set of tyres from an destroyed ESCI Dodge truck. Not the prettiest but I am scrambling now to prepare for a weekends wargaming with Al at 20th Century Wargaming.
Quick post on progress of Dog Coy which is the Weapons Company (or Support Company to us colonials). Progress has been slow here due to the weekend's adventures so I hope to correct this with a quick spurt tonight...however I seem to be missing some gunners for the MMG's.
I managed to squeeze in thirty minutes of painting yesterday afternoon while in the field before it bucketed down during a Comms Exercise, however I discovered I had not brought anything to wash my brushes with so I had to use some Kerosene I found lying around in an outbuilding, not the best and quite smelly actually...questions were asked why I smelt like a lantern, but I was quite evasive about the whole operation.While I only got five or six figures completed every little bit help, especially went building a complete force. Soldier on!!!
Production continues here at the Manor, with Charlie Company completed. This Unit has been waiting to be finished for a few days now, but with two Parades this week plus a Exercise for this weekend kicking off tomorrow I have been pushed for time. The real hassle about this Company was the amount of figures I have had to repaint. The majority of these figures were originally painted in white over clothes and helmets for Korea, but I decided to real paint for WW2, and just use them as is for Korea. C Company Command stand above is a Thompson armed Revell US Paratrooper, which has plenty of detail and quite a bit of flash on the seams.
First Platoon with ESCI Bazooka and Revell US Infantry with M1 Rifle. The Revell figure is one of the better lying prone figures I have seen produced, he actually looks like he is taking a bead on a target.
Second Platoon, with Revell US Infantry. The charging M1 rifleman can be altered by cutting off the bayonet, not a huge change but it can make a difference in a large amount of figure stands.
Third Platoon with two ESCI figures. The BAR Gunner's helmet reminds me of the Sgt Rock comics I had as a kid. He always used to have his chin strap dangling.
Charlie Company Weapons Platoon with ESCI M1917 Water Cooled Browning and a Revell US Para. The Para was originally opening a drop container in the set, but after cutting the package off he makes a fine loader.
As part of my Command Decision US Force I intend to field a Battalion of US Engineers. While the old ESCI US Infantry set has a couple of poses that could be used as Engineers (Flamethrower and Mine detector), it would be quite droll if I had all the bases made up of these two figures and since no one has yet to release any Allied Engineers at all I have decided to convert some of the Revell German Engineers and a few Revell US Paratroopers. Above two German figures that fit the bill.
Late war German mine detector, with this figure I simply sliced the gas canister on one face to create a pouch. The Helmet looks more like a M1 than a German pot anyway so that's all that's needed. The German blouse will be painted OD to look like a M65 Jacket, and the boots and gaiters look like the 44 Pattern boot.
Revell US Para with Mohawk...not for me thanks, but a head swap will convert it into a carbine carrying pose for the stands.
The donor figure from the ESCI set. Not the best of poses and the barrel on the Thompson always seems to break off. His legs belong to a cowboy on the range.
Head swap, looking much better, and the carbine is a good choice for the Engineers who would be more likely to carry it than a longer and heavier M1 Garand.
The shoveller from the Revell German set with ESCI US head. Again the gas canister was converted to a pouch.
And finally for tonight the guy with the pickaxe, the same changes as above. Even the German Entrenching Tools looks like the US version at this scale. PVA Glue still to be applied to fix and seal the joints, but a good nights work all the same.
Baker (Bravo for us colonials) Company completed, and again a mix of ESCI and Revell figures for the stands.
First Platoon with the generic Bazooka, I must say having so much Anti Tank weapons in each Company is a real morale booster. The ESCI figure at the rear has a M3 Grease gun...ugly weapon that it is.
Second Platoon with Revell BAR squad weapon, and another one of my 1987 ESCI Riflemen. Having a 20 round magazine for a automatic weapon to support your Section/Squad does not make much sense to me, but you work with what you got I suppose.
Third Platoon with Revell M1 and M1 Carbine. I used to own a M1 Carbine and must say it was a handy little tool for knocking off wild goats, and such...good times...
Company Command stand, with Revell Officer and M1911 .45. The size of the Handie Talkie reminds me of the first batch of brick cell phones from the late 80's. Not the most useful of figures but nicely detailed and moulded. If jerry was that close that you had your sidearm out, I doubt if I would be on the radio!
Weapons Platoon with ESCI .30 Cal M1919 Browning and Revell loader. Again these two sets mix well, but the ESCI Figures clothing is quite ''tight'' and with the legging depicts early war to late 1944. I must get some more brass paint for the ammo.
A quick post before Parade, just picked the Çombat Tanks second issue up with the Challenger I. I have to admit, it was an impulse buy...I have two other Revell kits begging to be constructed.
I have been quite busy over the last week or so with audits and exams at work, but I have been finding a little time to start basing my US Troops into an Command Decision Three set. After going over various US Units on which to base my force on. In the end I came across the 112th Infantry Regimental Combat Team which seemed to tick all the boxes, in terms of Unit mix, history, and service.
Alpha Coy Command stand, is a figure from the Revell US Infantry set.
1st Platoon is a mix of Revell Infantry and a US Para.
2nd Platoon, a classic ESCI ''Big Red One'' figure, which I painted around 1987 and Revell Infantry Bazooka.
3rd Platoon, another ESCI rifleman and Revell Para.
Weapons Platoon, a mix of an ESCI Browning water cooled MMG and Revell Para loading. While I have quite a good number of US figures to mix in I have just opened a box of Hasegawa US Infantry Combat Team in order to find more Bazooka's and poses.
I have been crammed back up into the loft above the stable for six months now, and I must confess to leaving it in a tad of a mess. Boxes and projects overflow from every available surface...there is no order...there is no logic...I know that I could clean it up in the course of a day to make it look neat and shiny, but this would just be a facade. So I have over the past week or so decided to have a detailed look at what I am doing and where am I going. One of the things I have decided is to finish a few past projects as quickly as possible in order to secure their place in the finished and ready to fight category. High on the list is some very old projects that have been kicking around for five or so years. The first one to complete will be my WW2 US Forces.
I have quite a few of these old ESCI and Revell figures, and they are at various stages of construction and painting however none are based. In conversations with Al from 20th Century Wargames we have talked about the need for both of us to try each others rulesets, make a mutual Army (possibly a mid to late war Free French Army and or a mid 1950's French force) and get some more actual games under our belts. I have played Al's Command Decision Three rulesets (CD3) with him before and found it quite well thought out so I have decided to base a few Armies using this ruleset. So hopefully this week we see a US Force born. Hence my long hours this week doing research and few hours doing much else. 
I have been having a few days off the model and figure front and concentrating on a bit of research. Last night we rented a few DVD's for a change of pace, and my pick was Inglorious Bastards, of which I thoughly enjoyed. Nice to see an Opel Blitz as one of the stars as well.
Still tinkering around with my Matchbox British Infantry and Commando's. The head swap above fixes and I believe improves one figure in the Infantry set that I have never been a fan of. The SD Cap may have been alright in the rear of the Forward Area, but a real no-no one the line. Snipers and Artillery meant that the MkI or II Helmet was a must. I must say I like the angle of the head for this conversion as well.
A simple change of heads for this Commando makes him more realistic, however I would think that if you were going to throw a grapple hook you would remove all headdress rather than risk knocking yourself out with your battle bowler!
This pose has also got on my goat for a while, with the original pose looking like he was sticking a pig. With an arm swap from the unarmed grenade thrower we now have a figure that looks like he is about to lob a Mills bomb.
On Saturday the Manor was treated to a visit from Al (http://20thcenturywargames.blogspot.com/). I like visitors who come bearing gifts, so it's always a pleasure to see Al in the driveway with a few beers in hand. After a general catchup and review on the latest projects he pulled out an Airfix Boulton Paul Defiant and offered it to me...what a lovely chap! 
Getting some supplies at my local Dairy yesterday I came across the new Military Magazine to hit the shelves here in New Zealand. I see from a bit of research on the net that it has been available in other Countries such as the UK for quite some time.The first Magazines in this type of series always offer a enticement to get the punter's to step up to the counter, in this case with the mag costing a small fortune each the first two issues are cheap, at $3.95 NZ. Each Magazine comes with a Die-cast Tank and the first one being a Tiger I.For a look at the magazine go to http://tanks.deagostini.co.nz/default.aspx
Being a tight bugger I grabbed the last two on the shelf...Two Tiger's for $8.00 NZ is a bargain! My thoughts on the purchase were thus; I have nine Tiger I's, eight are the Airfix make and one is a Hasegawa offering. For quite some time I have realised that this is too many for my needs, however rather than just choose a couple to keep and offload the rest I had planned to purchase two more new ones and make them up with more attention to detail than my normal constructions. I had thought of the Italeri Fastbuilds to fill the niche (and at $17.95 NZ these are quite reasonable) , but I had never got round to picking a box up.
With these two Tiger's however I have found a way to replace my older kit's at half the cost. Detail on the tanks is reasonable but not in the same league as say Dragon. They are very sturdy and nicely painted. The 1943 Panzergrey scheme will fit in well with my mid war German Forces. I will however add a bit of weathering and some extra parts, and might do some more individual decaling to the numbering.
With the next issue being the Challenger I with a 1986 scheme I would have to think long and hard about the purchase, after all I have two Revell Challenger I's sitting in boxes waiting to be built...
Painting completed and based on 5 Cent NZ piece.
I quite like the gait of this gentleman's pose.
This one looks very similar to Airfix's US Marines Officer eh?
So after a good coating of black paint as a sealer and basecoat it was left to dry for a night.
Khaki for the uniform...
And a sand for the 37 pattern webbing...
After ignoring my Airfix newsletter for a couple of days and acting from a tip off from Tony ah la Wargames Recon about some interesting new kits coming from the venerable Airfix Stable, I had a look see too check out whats coming up: Cheers Tony!
Figures & Dioramas 1:76 Scale 
