Finished: WW3 Team Yankee Dutch project

Hi folks,

As mentioned in my last blog entry, I've finished all the units I had in the paint queue for my Team Yankee Dutch. As I swapped my only other painted army (my 10mm ACW) for other figures, this now becomes my only completed force!

These are 15mm Battlefront models (for the most part, with a couple of resin 3d prints from Butlers Printed Models). 

Well, completed at the moment. Time will tell whether I add any of the extras from the newest NATO Forces book. 

The finished project leaves me with a full Mechanised Infantry company, a Leopard 1 company, a Leopard 2 company, all the various support assets and a Recce company (which needs tanks from one of the other companies in order to be fielded). I've also added some earlier Dutch wheeled APCs, and some anti-tank jeeps. West Germany is represented by some air support and Roland Marders. 

It was mentioned by the guys when I was taking the photos at the end of the club games day in October (I have limited space now at home for pics like this) that there is a lot more varied tone to these models when seen in person than the photos of the finished models show. A mix of the lighting and the way that the weathering product I've used shows up on camera I think. 

I've now moved onto other bits and bobs - avoiding large planned projects for now in favour of clearing some low hanging fruit collection wise, and painting some of the odds and sods I have had outstanding for a while. More on those bits soon!

Finished: 15mm Dutch Leopard 2A4 troop III

Hi folks,

A quick post - much delayed at this point - on my final finished unit from my Team Yankee project. 

These Battlefront plastic Leopard 2A4s were painted prior to the Geopards, but I'd forgotten to document them. While preparing a post showing off the finished project I realised I'd missed it and for the sake of my end of year roundup... wanted to put something up. 

These were painted to the same formula as the other troops, so nothing new to report. I do need to go back and do a little standardisation of the highlighting around the gun barrels. 

Battlefront decals applied, usual fishing line aerials. Usual command tank with a commander for ease of picking out on the table. 

The whole Leo 2 squadron lined up. 

I'm slightly tempted to pick up 3 more of these models, just to get 3 troops of four vehicles.

Full army display post will follow soon. 

Finished: 15mm Dutch M113 C&V Recon Platoons III and IV

Hi folks,

Another catch up blog for models completed in the last month or so. This time, my final two Recon platoons. 

Platoon III

And Platoon IV (including the squadron HQ vehicle)

These are resin and metal Battlefront kits, with Battlefront decals and my usual fishing line aerials. 

These final platoons give me a total of 8 of these vehicles. They can be combined with Leo 1's or 2's to make up a Recce squadron. I may need another platoon of infantry to have the Recce section... but that's a 'would like' rather than a 'must have'. 

Finished: 15mm Dutch PRTL Platoon

Hi folks,

Powering on with my Cold War Dutch project, I oddly found my motivation flagging on the last few models. However, I managed to grit my teeth and get on with it - and it's all done!

One of the last units was a PRTL Panterluchtdoel Peloton. These are 15mm resin and metal miniatures from Battlefront. 

These vehicles were a parallel development of the German Flugabwehr Panzer 'Gepard'. These used a different radar that the German version. 

Nine complete crews were assigned to each platoon, allowing the three PRTLs to operate around the clock. The crews rotated from the PRTL to the stinger group (during the day), to rest. Hence in Team Yankee the number of Stinger units is limited to the number of PRTL units. 

As usual, Battlefront decals have been used, with fishing line as aerials. I applied my standard weathering to these. I have to say adding the weapons was a bugger, as well as balancing the turrets while painting them. 

Finished: 15mm Dutch M113 C&V Recon Platoon II

Hi folks,

Another little unit, painted alongside the three Leopards again. 

Two resin and metal Battlefront recce vehicles, nothing much to add from my previous post on these. 

I used my standard bits on these, Battlefront decals, fishing line aerials and magnetic basing. I've had to vary some of the green tufts, as I've run out of one type and the company I bought them from seems to be gone. I'll try a retailer I found on Etsy, and hope that the shade and size roughly matches!

Finished: 15mm Dutch Leopard 2A4 Troop II

Hi folks,

Painting has continued, interrupted by summer holidays and some time spent building Space Marines (of all things). 

I'm getting towards the end of the Dutch collection, just in time for Battlefront to announce the new NATO Nations book due out in October. This will add some new units to the Dutch, potentially Leopard 2A6s, Apaches and 120mm Mortar teams. I may add some more bits, and will definitely pick up the book. 

Another three Battlefront plastic Leopard 2A4s, forming my second troop. 

As before, Battlefront decals on these, and my usual fishing line aerials. Commander in the hatch of the lead vehicle. 

 

Finished: 15mm PAH Anti-tank Helicopter Flight

Hi folks,

Chipping away at my 'Modern' Dutch force. Thankfully the end is now in sight... until the new 'NATO Forces' comes up in the next month or two and adds more options. Unfortunately, as I look upon the dwindling number of models still to finish, my motivation is also dwindling. 

Still, one of the outstanding units had been some West German helicopter support for my Dutch. I'd been helped out again by Dave, who'd used his airbrush to lay on the camo pattern on these. I was really unsure about painting these, but had fun doing the Tornados so thought I would bump them up them up the queue. 

Armed with up to six Euromissile HOT missiles, these Helicopters entered West German service in the late 1970s and only retired in 2016. They were also widely exported and served in the armed forces of a huge number of nations in a huge number of roles. 

These particular models are Battlefront 15mm plastic kits. From memory, they went together pretty easily. The main rotor assembly has been magnetised to allow easier transport, and the flight bases have also been magnetised. Decals came from the box. I may revisit the glass on the cockpit at some point, and add some more detail. 

I've not done any weathering on the decals of either these or the Tornados, but I may revisit that in the future. I like the aircraft looking a little more pristine, I'll have to see how it looks on the table. 

I also accidentally discovered a way of easily pin washing these models (without mucking about with enamels, etc), something I'm keep to experiment with going forward. Basically, painting some water onto an area would then give the qualities needed to have the wash flow as required. I think this might work even better with acrylic thinner. 

And just for the record, here's my tracking sheet as it stands. Peach represents built models, with shades of yellow, orange and green used to track progress. The light green entries are models that are currently WiP. 

 

Finished: 15mm Dutch M113 C&V Recon Platoon

Hi folks,

Another 'catch up' blog post. This time a pair of Dutch M113 C&V Recon vehicles. These are 15mm resin and metal Battlefront models. And dinky little things they are too. 

To quote from the Battlefront website:

"The M113 C&V (Commando & Verkenning) used by the Dutch reconnaissance troops has the same origins as the Canadian Lynx. However, in the 1970s M113 C&V had its machine-gun cupola replaced with a Oerlikon-Bührle GBD-ADA turret fitted with a 25mm KBA cannon. The 25mm cannon allows them to suppress an enemy position before making their escape."

This vehicle was made by the manufacturers of the M113 APC, and was designed as a private venture but took part in the US Army competion to select a new recce and command vehicle. It lost out to the M114, but went on to be exported to both Canada and the Netherlands. Interestingly the M114's selected by the US military were considered to be failures, and were withdrawn from front line service around 1979 (according to Wiki). Whereas these vehicles carried on in service with the Netherlands and Canada into the 1990's. 

I have another 6 of these vehicles to paint, and will be doing them in pairs alongside small troops of Leopard 2s and PTRL AAA tanks. This should then give me enough to field a Dutch Recce force, when combined with Leo 1s or 2s. 

Basing and aerials to my usual standard, BF decals added (but like most Dutch vehicles of the period, there were very few markings). I have continued to pick out lights and indicators, as they provide some small splashed of colour, alongside painting the vision blocks in periscope blue. As usual, these models were weathered using Tamiya weathering powders, which come up oddly on the photos but look much more natural in person. 

Finished: 1/144 Panavia Tornado IDS aircraft

Hi folks,

Another rush job for the large game I attended at the end of July. These two strike aircraft are Battlefront repackaged Revell kits - something that Battlefront moved to due to the cost, fragility and complexity of their older resin aircraft. 

The models came with Battlefront decals for the Luftwaffe, as currently the Dutch in Team Yankee have no organic air support. I do have a distant notion to get a couple of 1/144 F-16s for my collection in the future, but for now these jets will do. 

As a child of the 80's, these bits of kit were always iconic. The area I was born in was regularly buzzed by a variety of RAF and other NATO aircraft, and these things at that time were top of the line. Futuristic, with their swing wings, speed and payload they were perhaps my favourite aircraft of the period. I definitely felt old when these started being retired from service by the RAF. 

They did see the table at the gaming day - but not my table. So the above shot is a propaganda pic after the fact. When they did make an appearance, one was downed by soviet AAA, while the other was taken out by tank self defence AA fire... the fate of most newly painted aircraft models!

Kit wise, these were easy enough to build, though not of great quality. I decided to include the plastic missiles, as well as the BF resin cluster munitions dispenser. the model also comes with a BF resin solid cockpit. Dave helped me out by kindly airbrushing the camo, which I put a wash over and attempted to highlight. Decals were then added, and I decided not to weather these as they look cooler nice and fresh on aircraft. 

Air support wise, I've only a couple of German Helicopters to finish - which hopefully will be just as quick as these pair turned out to be. 

Finished: 15mm Dutch Leopard 2A4s

Hi folks,

I've been working on my Dutch WW3 force for a while now, with a few diversions into Necromunda and other bits. However, I'm not on the end stretch!

At the end of July, I attended a Team Yankee gaming day with Prince Bishop wargames Club. This was the first outing for my army, and gave me some impetus to get more bits finished. Having been threatened by the possibility of copious T-80s I decided to try and get some 120mm armed tanks finished. 

I was certainly glad of having them, as my Leopard 1 squadron got wiped out far too easily!

This batch represents the squadron HQ tank, and the first platoon/troop of three tanks. 

I've used BF decals on these, and my usual dust weathering. Two aerials per tank, with the two command tanks having commanders poking out the turrets. The usual basing process, to match these in with the rest of the collection. 

I've now got 6 more of these to do, for my whole squadron. Of course, I'll probably get the unit finished just in time for the new 'Free Nations' book, which will apparently give the Dutch access to Leopard 2A6s. 

Anyway, these bad boys did well in their first game, although I ended up fighting a horde of T-55s and no T-80s. 

Finished: 15mm 'Dutch' TOW and 106mm RR Jeeps

Hi folks,

Another couple of units for my Team Yankee/Cold War Dutch project. This time in the form of some '2nd line' anti-tank units. I wanted some options to go along with my YPR-408s, and figured that the Battlefront sets of Israeli/Iranian TOW and 106mm Recoilless Rife jeeps would fit. 

These jeeps each have a crew of two. The crew wear similar helmets to the Dutch, and have similar webbing. So with the same paint job they look fine. 

I based these as per my other TY bits. Thankfully not a lot of room on these for decals, so I skipped this as well. 

Finished!: 15mm Team Yankee Dutch Infantry and Stinger platoons

Hi folks,

Another few weeks of hobby work where I've neglected my blogging. Thankfully, I've been pretty busy on the painting side of things. 

I'm planning to attend a large Team Yankee scenario game locally at the end of July. I was asked what I would be bringing along, and listed some stuff I hope to have painted by then. This included all my infantry and IFVs. Nothing like a deadline to get some motivation!

My first delve back in to painting 15mm infantry for a while was a Dutch Mechanised Infantry platoon, and a Dutch Stinger MANPAD platoon. These are both Battlefront sets of metal figures. 

As usual with Battlefront metal minis, these were really nice to paint. I was back and forth a lot on how to base the Stingers, but decided to go with the Battlefront basing. I may pick up another pack of these and base them in pairs on small bases, to fit better with other systems (7DttRR and Battlegroup). The mechanised infantry have a radio man added to the 'command team'. 

I decided while I was on a roll, I'd better sort the last platoon out and get that done too. Nothing special to show here - same figures, same number of bases, etc. 

Having built and painted three platoons, I had six spare figures left over (each platoon pack has 3 extra figures, for a company command base). I decided to use these to make a dismounted Artillery OP team (something not used in TY, where all the OP teams are vehicles), and a spare base which will be the command group for my recently painted M557. 

And here it all is, a full company of Dutch infantry for Team Yankee (along with some other bits I've not yet blogged about!). 

I've five more YPR-765s to paint, which I'm about 60% done with now. Once these are done, I'll have transport for all the platoons - and two spare IFVs. I may pick up another infantry platoon to have figures for the Recce infantry platoon, which would let me field the Mech Inf company and the Recce company at the same time.