Progress II

Another Royal Marine almost finished. I've decided to stick with the shirt sleeve order for the WW2 troop. Some parts have been salvaged from the donor figure but I've also grafted a couple of minor details with green-stuff.

Nearly completed the line units now, and am beginning to think about the weapons platoon which ideally will include a prone Bren gunner and loader of some description, but I'd really like to do something quite different for this pair so it may take some more time and thought.

Progress

Here are a couple of pictures of my Royal Marines conversions. A recent visit to Coakley Manor saw me come away with the materials needed to continue this project. I have decided to complete the WW2 unit before doing another for the Korean War.


As you can see there is still a bit to be done on these. The officer figure will lose his base to keep the height consistent with the others. Eventually, I'd like to have two complete companies of RMC, for WW2, totalling sixteen figures.


The last couple of pictures show the work in progress on the French 75s which will certainly see use in several theatres of both wars.

Keep on modelling!

French 75s

Just arrived French 75s. This piece of kit has been missing from the hobby, in plastic, for a long time. I think the type of plastic being used at present doesn't quite do the miniatures justice, however, for these guns it is worth the trade-off.
Some of the gunners will end up in crews for WW2, as engineers, as cavalry, and some will lose their heads.

It is good to see the Great War range being expanded, and hopefully we will eventually see the addition of a set of BEF.

Latest Conversion

Back from holidays, here is my latest effort. This figure will be the first of a company of Royal Marines, but finding others suitable for similar conversion may be difficult, so if you have any suggestions feel free to comment.

I'd like to be able to use this unit for the Korean War as well, but as we were largely equipped with US kit for that conflict it may just mean creating two separate formations, one with their clobber, and one with our own.

This figure is from the Revell ANZAC set which was given to me by Paul from Plastic Warriors Blog. I have used green-stuff to tidy up some areas, but no other custom additions as yet.

Roads and Hills

A few items of scenery today. First a selection of the various hills I use in games. Most have rolling contours but a couple are of the old step variety. All have holes drilled in several places to accommodate the addition of trees.

The two in this picture are equal to roughly 200 metres in height at an inch to fifty yards. The venerable old Airfix pontoon bridge in the background.

Next are some of my road sections. All have bevelled edges and are of different lengths. Roads, rivers and hills are difficult things to reproduce accurately on a games table.

More from the workbench

Some pictures of Alpine Infantry. There is still some touching up to be done but these are more or less finished now. Engineer and mortar crews got head-swaps, the rest are standard. Airfix mixed with Caesar figures.

Some of the weapon slings I made turned out quite good, others not so, but I'll keep working on it because small additions like this help to create some variety among my figures.

Last couple today are of some 1950s ROK figures that I have been working on. They have a combination of several brands and styles amongst them, which should hopefully improve the look of the unit once completed.

Uniforms and equipment for the South Korean forces didn't start out too flash, and I'm trying to replicate this by changing the appearance of one in every two of the figures I have.

Another Building

This one is usually a post office but has featured as a number of different buildings over the years.Another on-line purchase, it was missing the instructions and multiple parts, and did not go together all that well. Still, it is a good building because it fits into so many eras and localities.

As with all buildings in the rules I use, it actually represents an urban area rather than just a single structure, and can therefore house an entire company of between three and five platoons, depending on the forces being used.

Last one shows a view of the interior with 2nd floor platforms added. This one and several other buildings are earmarked for repainting in the not too distant future.

Sci Fi Gaming

A recent trip to the McKenzie District produced a couple of games of Necromunda, which neither me or my mate had played in years. Anyway, something just a bit different.
My mutants were heavily out-gunned but managed to win the second game quite convincingly.
Last picture is of the sump we were fighting over.

Other German Armoured Cars

A couple of pictures of what are designated Weak AFVs, which usually just means they are either open-topped, wheeled, or both. Most armies of WW2 experimented with these sorts of vehicles, perhaps the Germans more than most, however.

234/3 with the 75L24. No idea what brand it is, this is the only one of these I have.

234/4s' equipped with the 75L46. I'm fairly certain these are Airfix kits which I've had for a very long time, and were among my earliest purchases when getting started in this hobby.

More Tank Destroyers

The Stug IIIg. Quite a successful assembly of the tracks on this one; which are the weakest link on many an Airfix kitset, unfortunately.

The full company. The paint work doesn't match up, and I may yet repaint these and many of my other vehicles, as I am considering using spray paint henceforth.

These are my only two kits of the late-war Hetzer. I got both of them in various states of disrepair from an online auction, and cleaned them up as best I could.

Work Bench

Second battalion of mountain infantry on the table. The infantry gun in the foreground is part of the battalion support company.

Gun crew and engineer platoon, with the usual mix of figures where possible. I have been experimenting with green stuff to try and make weapons slings, but their really not working out that flash.

Great War Russians

A couple of pictures of my Great War Russian cavalry regiment.

The Eastern Front tended to have less trenches and offer far greater scope for cavalry operations in general, both Russian and German armies on this front maintained fairly large cavalry forces.