Gunuary - Week 4 - Guns DONE!

Hi folks,

Week 4 and the last week of my themed month. This past week has been focused on getting the guns finished. I'm glad to say that the guns are all done and I spent some time today getting the Auster ready to finish and sorting out what bases I need to sort for spotters and command, etc.

This work today has revealed some gaps in my line up - with me being short a jeep and three trucks to fill out the staff HQ transport of my 3rd 25 pdr battery and my command and staff HQ of my 5.5" gun battery.

I ended up unpacking all my guns and sorting them into units. This resulted in a long list of things I need to do as follow up for the themed month. Including highlights on my original battery, updating basing, adding aerials, etc.

Anyway, back to this weeks work. First up the last 2 guns of my Bofors 40mm Light Anti Aircraft Platoon. These guys are part of 40th Light Anti Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery. This battery is now done other than transport being required for the guns.

Some odd bits of static grass sitting on them, but otherwise happy with them.

Next up I finished off the supply vehicle for my Battlegroup Overlord rules. Also useful as scenery in Flames of War. This is a truck of C Squadron Admin Troop, 144RAC. There is one slightly converted tank crewman on the base along with an officer from an unknown source. He came in a bag of gun crew I purchased on ebay.

Then we have 8 x 25 Pounders of 128th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery. These four are on standard bases and will form one battery. I have the transport for this unit still to finish along with some of the command and OP figures being based and updated.

Then the other 4 guns, which are on Battlefront Resin bases.

I hadn't been too keen on the resin bases, but seeing them painted up and based to the same standard as the rest of my figures they are quire smart. Again, a little bit of static grass still sitting on the models, but that should just blow or be brushed off. You can see from the more zoomed out pics that the painting style looks better at a little bit of a distance.

Then we have the two 5.5" guns from a currently unknown Medium Regiment. This will be from one of the AGRAs that supported the Totalize offensive.

I'll worry more about what unit these two are from when (if) my November order from Battlefront ever arrives as it contains the transport and command vehicles for these guys. Decals will be an issue, as no one makes 15mm AGRA decals...

Then the jeep transport for my AA Battery commander. 

Nothing special with this one, but I decided to put the roof on, just for a change.

I'll hopefully get the Auster done tonight and then on to looking at basing the various infantry teams I need for command and OP teams. After that, I'll move on to updating the painting and basing on the original battery. I managed to get one gun and crew updated and they look a lot better, so the others will get the same treatment.

So that's Gunuary done, but with some more stuff added to the shopping list and more work to be done on models I had finished (years ago now!). Thankfully the bulk of my outstanding guns are done. I'm quite pleased with my progress, although I still have a lot to do.

40mm Bofors Anti Aircraft platoon - Finished!

"Huzzah" I hear all regular readers of my rambling blog cheer.

"Thank f*ck those as done" I think to myself!

This unit has been a bit of a slog. Originally picked as I thought it would be a quick platoon to finish I rapidly found myself disliking the sculpts and struggling to make progress against my own apathy. Thankfully some support from the blogging community spurred me on to finish these off.

Now they are done, perversely, I kinda like them. Although I think the bases could be doing with more detail (spend brass, ammo crates, etc). Those may come later. 

Missing at this stage is the final 2 guns of the battery and transport. These guys are representing 40th Light AA Regiment, Royal Artillery - As usual, part of the 51st Highland Division. I am tempted to get the last two guns as the self propelled versions (BR182) - mainly because I like them and it saves me having to work on the Forged in Battle mini's again - as I wouldn't like to mix  the Battlefront ones into this platoon. But it would also give me some different models and would be nice for Battlegroup Overlord.

Guns were painted standard Russian Uniform Green (Vallejo Model Color 70.924). Wheels/tyres were just black with a Vallejo Panzer Aces Dark Rubber (306) highlight. Crew were standard Vallejo Model Color English Uniform (70.921) with Vallejo Model Color Khaki webbing  and gaiters (70.988), black boots and well... flesh coloured flesh. Helmets are Russian Uniform Green. Highlights on the crew are mainly shades of English Uniform and Khaki. Khaki was also used to highlight the guns. A coat of Dark tone Army Painter was put on before the highlights, and a matt coat of varnish after the highlights. 

One of the things I am glad I did with these models was to add my own gunsights. The Forged in Battle minis had no gunsight included and I felt the model really needed one. They are very prominent on this gun and the Battlefront model does include them. 

The crew poses are a bit strange - they could have really done with people with binoculars and some different ammo carrying poses. 

Still, as much as i have struggled with these guys they are decent models for the money. Scale wise they fit in well with Flames of War models to the extent I had no worries about mixing them on a command base. It's probably important to note that the Forged in Battle 40mm Bofors guns have no base included and models for command stands. There were a few spare crew mini's, but none that have any real command style.

Once they were based up I was much less focused on the individual models and my annoyance at the one part gun shield/crew sculpt. But I do think the guns are a weak part of the model and I have broken one already. They are also a bugger to keep straight. 

So that's it, another platoon down and time to move on. I'm going to try and pick something I want to paint this time... Certainly NOT the 4.2" Mortar platoon.

Forged in Battle 40mm Bofors WiP

I blogged on Friday night about the issues I was having with getting these measly 4 models painted - having hit something of a wall with regards to my painting progress.

These are just not models I am enjoying - although I have to say they are looking a lot better now than when they were bare metal. However, they did not add my my love of them when applying the army painter quickshade out in the garden, one of them fell off the stick I had it glued to, bounced on the tray and sent the head of one of the gunners into the gravel on the path...!

Having butchered a spare Bren gunner from a Universal Carrier to obtain a new head, I repaired the model and did a quick highlight to them tonight.

Not 100% done yet - still to make the faces look decent, apply soot to the guns, get them mounted on bases (I made up 4 bases, then realised they need to be large ones rather than the medium ones I had done - d'oh!) and sort out the final highlights. But getting there.

17 pounder ammo crates and the wheel sections for the Bofors guns.

The current bane of my existence. These may be on sale painted and based - Price would be two packs of Battlefront Bofors! Note the guy on the far left with the new head - needing a wash and varnish.

Still needing final highlights and matt varnish!

Everyone has baggage!

Having spent the last week hiding from the scorching sunshine, I spent some time working on the models I have got assembled so far. The next step has been putting the various stowage and extra Armour on. I've not seen a huge number of pics of Skytrex 15mm stowage on the web, so I thought I would post my progress so far.

Sherman I's (M4's) with some extra armour in the form of spare tracks and spare bogey wheels. Also, a couple of rolls of baggage.

Close up of the Shermans.

Close up of the Shermans.

Rear decks. This time I took a lot of time thinking about where the decals would be going, and tried to avoid putting anything in the same place.

De-frocked priests - I didn't do much to these two as I had done nothing to the others. I may paint up some baggage to attach so the six of them all look the same.

Humber LRC recon vehicles with some extra little bits. These guys were effectively high powered saloon cars with armour on them. However, they were so successful that they remained in service all through WW2 and even  served after the war.

Other side of the LRC. These guys are armed with a Bren light machine gun on the roof and a Boys Anti Tank rifle in the hull. Pretty light weaponry by late war standards, but still useful.

Daimler I's. Some of the baggage I bent using some needle nosed modelling pliers - this means they fitted better on the wheel rims and rear deck.

Rear decking of the Daimlers. I'm tempted to use some greenstuff as well as I think these could be detailed out a bit more. All the roof hatches are open as in true recon style, all the commanders will have their heads out.

Sherman Crab (M4A4 Sherman with a frontal flail attachment for clearing mines - I'm still waiting on the chain for the drum. The Battlefront one seemed too chunky for the model). I left the front hull clean but added a little to the rear deck.

As these tanks had the job of clearing minefields, they had several ways of marking the cleared paths. The protruding L shaped bits on the back corners are guiding lights so following vehicles can follow. The boxes on the sides of the hulls were filled with powdered chalk that would trickle out as the tank flailed the ground marking the sides of the cleared path.

Universal Carriers - these are the Forged in Battle minis that came with quite a lot of baggage already cast on them, which I really like. I have 4 of them with .50cals, 4 with extra hull mounted machine guns (.30cals and Brens) and 4 that are plain. I want to add Piats to the 4 plain ones but need a good way of showing them - and I've come up with nothing so far.

AVRE Churchills. I have to say I am surprised how much I like these models. I would seriously consider a Churchill based armored unit at some point in the future.

Rear of the Churchills.

40mm Bofors AA guns. Spot the home made sights.

Close up of the gun-sights.

Oddly dark picture of my two Loyds carriers.

Another view of the Universal Carriers.

One thing you might note it the lack of crew and hatches on the vehicles. I've still to decide on these for the units, and the crews will be painted separately.