The Russell Collection 8

A few more pictures of David's very tidy collection.

First couple, Stugs.

Elefants.

JdpzIVs

These tank destroyers form powerful units, however in CD3 terms they only carry nine rounds of ammunition, at worst three turns worth.

Dave is adding some nice terrain items to his stuff as well, the walls you can see are resin and the buildings are plaster made with Linka moulds.

Hummels with a couple of late war infantry platoons in the foreground.

Lewis Gun AALMG

I made this over the weekend, still haven't decided if it's finished or not as I may yet add a gas bag to the spotter, folded up bipod on the Lewis, and dull-down some of the general paint work a bit more.

The gunner is part Matchbox, part Emhar and part Esci, the number two is an Airfix figure from the Bofors Gun model with added kit, rifle and sling, water bottle, and forward stow ammunition pouches.

As with my earlier attempt, based on the excellent SHQ version.

As with all two-figure-stands for CD3 this one represents a platoon of between 30 and 50 men

I'm not sure how many theatres used this arrangement but it was put together with my early war collection in mind, so this is where it will probably see most use.

Arrival

A busy and testing week at the coal-face of children's education has not left me with much time to myself. However, the weekend has arrived and with it this classic little item from Airfix, which I hope to start soon. I only have one of these, so this addition will fit in nicely with just one more needed to complete the unit.

BEF 2

Just the usual touching up to do but these two companies are now pretty much complete.

Most of the figures are standard Airfix or Matchbox WW2 British Infantry with a bit more kit added.

The rifle slings were made from plastic wire that my friend Gerard from Hokitika gave me ages ago, this stuff also makes good tank ariels.

The figure on the right has had a head swap, rifle and ammunition pannier added, but I don't know its origin, it maybe Atlantic, Almark or something else obscure.

Two companies plus an LMG platoon. For my next project I am thinking about making some mid to late war New Zealand infantry.

The BEF 1

A couple of the only metal figures I have in my collection, BEF by SHQ. These have provided a bit of a model for my latest effort.

They have had their bases removed to better match the size of the plastic figures.

First command platoon, the NCO has an old Thompson with the forward pistol-grip.

Likewise with the second NCO figure. At first, I tried to make the Thompsons drum-fed, but this proved beyond my abilities - for now. This figure was formerly a first edition Airfix commando officer; not hard to make that one look better!

Borrowing from Paul Foster's idea all figures had gas bags added to their fronts, plus back packs and bed-rolls added to their rear.

The Airfix figures were a bit taller than the Matchbox ones so I removed their bases for a better match. The proportions of the two are happily very similar. There is still much to be done with the paint work, etc, but once I complete these two companies plus the LMG platoon I'll see if I have enough figures left to make a full battalion.

RMC

Finished these the other night.

All have had extensive changes made to their basic poses, and are mostly a mixture of Matchbox British Infantry and British Commandos.

The weapons platoon includes the recently completed Bren gunner and loader, who is a reworked Airfix figure.

One of the line platoons.

The troop command platoon.

Another line platoon.

The full troop. A really big thanks to Paul Foster and Chris from Auckland for donating me the old Matchbox figures to work with. If I ever acquire enough figures I might just start a long term project of a full brigade, though getting to use a unit of that size on the table top might be stretching things a bit - still, you can never have too many Royal Marines Commandos:)

The Bren Gunner

I found enough pieces to make one figure, so far there are six parts to him but I may yet include a couple more.

The donor figure was a Matchbox ANZAC; probably one of the finest sets ever made.

Usual green-stuff to fill the odd gap, this figure will do for the first troop, and once the reinforcements arrive from abroad I'll look to finish the second.

Progress

A few more pictures of the next troop, with a bit of colour on them.

All have had an item or two added, a back-pack at least, but some more than others.

Just waiting on Bren gunners to arrive from Ireland which will then, hopefully, see each new troop with its required weapons platoon. Had hoped to keep them all 1/76 but we'll just have to wait and see what turns up.

Update

Started work recently on some more Marines. So far I've mostly used Matchbox British Infantry as the donor figures, but will use a few more from the Commando set as the units grows.

Most still have a gap or two that needs filling with green-stuff.

A couple of figures have grenades added to their webbing from an Italeri US figure.

Almost finished this troop, but the weapons platoon might call for something special because I don't have any prone Bren gun figures in this scale left in my box, stay tuned.

British MkVI Light Tank

Recently completed. This tank was originally by JB Models. I did the first one when I was working in Korea, where 1/72 scale kits are very rare - their preferred scale is 1/35. The shop I got this from had at least two thousand models to choose from, and this was one of only half a dozen in this scale they had, so I brought them all.


It has had a little more attention to its paint work, benefiting from my growing experience with this hobby.

The full company, foremost is the command platoon which has a 15mm cannon. These are excellent models now produced by Airfix. They are reasonably priced and well engineered. You get a couple of options with which variant to build, and there is also three different unit markings supplied on the decal sheet. These tanks were used until about 1942 by the Allies, and as late as 1948 in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Probably see this lot in the Calais game soon.

German light tank

Here are the results of the last few nights, the Pegasus Panzer 38t.

A total of 27 parts per tank, and I managed to use them all. These are extremely well engineered kits, zero flash and simple instructions.

Painted on the sprue, put together, then touched them up a wee bit with standard panzer grey.

Here is the command vehicle, with the last of my tank commander figures that I got at a swap-meet a few years ago; I think it is either Preiser or Roco?

Didn't have enough decals for proper German markings, so I just had to go with what I had.

The completed pair.

The whole company, I think the older one fits in okay too, although its paint work is not quite as good as the others. The Pegasus tanks are a really good fast-build kit that work out at NZD$12 (about 6 Euros) each. Now for another British light tank.