Another Cruiser

Not a lot of progress on the hobby front this week, except the completion of the second of my S-Models A13

Modeled as a command platoon

The pair, great models, one of my favourite early AFVs

Last one, our Rottweiler, Nyah. Her kennel name is Call Me Ma'am! She's a wee babe and definitely the brains of the operation, she leads, the Great Dane follows.

Airfix JS3

Built and painted this over the weekend. Not one of their better kits I have to say, several parts were warped

Not too many parts and fairly simple instructions 

The second of the Vellejo Russian Uniform colours 70924

Followed by a couple of coats of thinned black ink

I set the decals to the rear of the turret as I'm hoping to add some numbers when the rest of my modelling stuff eventually arrives from NZL; if I get another of these I'll try to manage a command figure for the turret

Dry-brushed and highlighted with just a touch of white

An okay model but not a great one. Probably the heaviest of my Russian armour, so far.

New additions and some progress

Picked these up the other day. It is always good to see new material from an iconic brand but for the most part these figures fall way short of expectation

They are for the later war period (how original, just what we needed) with the exception of the figure above, which with a new head and base removed should fit right in with the Zevezda figures I am collecting. Anyway... 

Finally started the Matchbox Japanese 

These are the company command platoons, decided to go with Tamiya, Dark Yellow for the flesh colours, so far so good.

Spare a thought...

Had an unfortunate encounter with a very passionate young man the other day. He concluded that modern veterans have it "too easy" and that "fighting little kids is not real soldiering anyway"

Ten year old children firing assault rifles at you are not ten year old children, they are armed combatants. Bullets do not discriminate by user!

Proud

SdKfz 234/1

Note to self: get more Hasegawa kits! This was an excellent model to make, everything lined up perfectly and there were no deformed parts, instructions were also very good

This dates from 1944, 20L55 cannon and a single machinegun, at least a couple of hundred were produced by the end of the war

The colours are the usual mix of Vellejo paints and Citadel washes

Modeled without a command figure as the hatch area is quite full already; though if I ever add another of these I'll model it 'unbuttoned'and include one

Simple decals, no particular unit chosen

My late war collection hasn't had anything added for a while so this is a nice inclusion.

This appears in several different formations between 1944-5 but mostly it is a dedicated recon component.

Engineer Platoon

Finished this little addition last week, just didn't have time to post before leaving for the big smoke

More of the excellent Zevezda BEF figures, holding suitably engineer type stuff... a shovel (apologies to my old mate Jackie Adams from 16 Air Assault, R.E) :):):)

Most British infantry formations of this era had a dedicated engineer platoon

Eventually I'd like a fully independent company of engineers but need to finish the infantry battalions first

Here they included in a typical support company from the early war era, which includes: command section, engineers, mortar platoon and a light anti aircraft machinegun platoon

Another variation, with the AALMG platoon swapped out for a medium machinegun unit, though this was far less common

Yet another variation still, this one includes a Boys anti tank rifle platoon. I now have one complete BEF infantry battalion, one down, two to go.

Progress

Off to Brisbane for another weekend with the team from Greenslopes :) but before I go, just a little progress on my latest project to share with you all...

Superbly engineered, this is the first kit by Hasegawa I have ever made

Unusual wheel assembly took some time to get right but well worth the effort, all nice and straight see? Have a great weekend all, cheers

BEF Mortar Platoon

Another addition to my BEF collection, this time the excellent Zevezda 3" mortar

This, plus the engineer platoon I'm still working on, completes the first full battalion

These are great figures. Next I would like to get a couple of 2lb anti tank guns, but will hold off on them until I have finished the infantry battalions.