From TimG: 20mm 'GAZ'/GMC Truck & Lysander (32 points)

From Tim:

Another 20mm Sov model.

The GMC truck is a Pegasus plastic kit, the Maxim and crewmen are Britannia metal castings.  

While I've never seen a photo of such a combination, the Russians mounted Quad Maxims on hundreds of GAZ trucks in the 1930s. I can't imagine they lasted forever...

And, finally finished! The Lysander forms part of my Winter Aircraft Project and was rebuilt from a near-wreck. The wings in particular took a lot of persuasion before they would stay on the fuselage!

I used the markings from the kit. I really wanted to finish it as a machine of 613 Squadron as this unit was based for a time at RAF Firbeck - a station only active between 1940 and 1945 - which is located only a few miles away.

Sadly the decal box was unable to rise to the occasion, so perhaps 613 Sqn will have to wait until a 1/144 Lysander is available. No, I'm not holding my breath either.

I've always liked the design of the Lysander and its great that you've managed to resurrect this one for active service again. 

The GMC gun-truck and Lysander will provide Tim with 32 points.

From TimG: 1:72 Lancaster Heavy Bomber (18 points)

Another dodgy model back from near-death as part pf my Winter Aircraft Project, this Airfix Lancaster is the largest aircraft model I've dealt with since the 1970s!  

Some minor repairs were followed by a quick paint job - it's good enough for occaisional game use.

1970s? You're dating yourself Tim (and me for that matter).Yet another great piece of recovery work- well done! How many aircraft from this project does this make now? You've certainly had a great run with them.

This Lanc will give Tim 18 points, enough for him to break the 1K mark. Great job!

From TimG: 54mm Tratvian Naval Infantry (201 points)

From Tim:

The Tratvian armed forces continue to expand. Rushing to the front with their varnish still tacky is this battalion of Naval Infantry. 

All 54mm. Figures are by Armies in Plastic.  

The standard bearer was produced with the aid of some minor surgery and a laser printed flag.  Forward to the West!  Whichever direction that is....

Schweet! I love these guys! Ever since I was a kid the whole idea of 'naval infantry' fascinated me (actually, coming from the prairies I found anything naval fascinating). I picture these poor naval ratings, in their silly caps, looking at each other thinking, 'How the fuck did we get in this mess? I'm supposed to be safe on some huge ship, with my only worry being how not to get molested by the ship's bursar.'

These Tratvians will earn Tim an enviable 201 points. 

From TimG: 1/72 scale Spitfire Mk IX (15 points)

From Tim:

The latest product of my Winter Aircraft Project is this rather disreputable looking Airfix Spitfire Mk.IX. It's original owner had fairly slapped on the paint and there was an large and unexplained hole in the engine cowling (very accurate flak perhaps?). 

After dealing with the damage I applied a basic paint scheme. Even the canopy had to be painted as there was a fair bit of glue on it. Decals were sourced from ther decal box and are (for a change) not the usual JE-J supplied with the kit.

The end result might not look great, but it'll do for gaming purposes and it is rather better than the Mk.IX which was the first kit I built (unsupervised!) as a 6 year old in the early 1970s...

Good work Tim. Its nice to see these old birds getting spruced up and put back into service.

This Spitfire will give Tim 15 points to add to his tally.

From TimG: 1/72 Avro Anson (15 points)

From Tim:

Pics of a recently painted Airfix 1/72 Avro Anson.  

This was rescued from a near write-off and treated to a quick paint job as part of my Winter Aircraft Project.

More nonsense still to come...

What a wonderfully homely aircraft! Great job on reconstituting it from your attic - I'm looking forward to seeing the remainder of these orphans.

This Anson will give Tim 15 points.

From TimG: 1/72 scale Portuguese (!?) Mk IVF Blenheim (15 points)

From Tim:

This is part of a batch of very knocked about 1/72 models that I am tidying up for possible game use.  Or to help with the gathering of dust.

Having mended this monstrosity as far as I could - it now has paint and markings. The limiting factor in terms of the choice of nationality was the fact that the kit had been built as a Mk.IVF. This ruled out jollies like Finnish and Romanian. Yugoslav and French (the original kit included Free French markings) were also out. More internet research offered a solution.

Apparently a couple of Fs were interned by Portugal - and I just happened to have a set of Portuguese markings (from an incomplete Spitfire kit) in the decal box.

Last pic:  The underside - showing the 4-gun pack. Sadly it also reveals the mangled undercarriage and missing exhausts....

Good to see old models getting refurbished for future action (this one probably scheduled for Angola or Mozambique?). 

This Blenheim will give Tim 15 points.

From TimG: 20mm Soviet Liberated Truck and AA Gun (28 points)

Tim adds to his 20mm Soviet WWII collection with this repurposed Opel truck, AA gun and crew.

From Tim:

The 37mm AA gun is the Zvezda plastic kit built straight from the box.  

In response to a transport shortage my gunners have 'liberated' an Airfix Opel Blitz and 're-branded' it to reflect the change of ownership.

Nice work Tim. I like the thick chunky bases you use for these - it gives them an almost boardgame playing-piece feel about them.

The truck, AA gun and crew will give Tim 28 points.

From TimG: 1/100 Cold War Aircraft (18 points)

From Tim:

Just when you thought you'd seen every scale in town, here are a couple of 1/100 scale aircraft.  Both Tamiya kits, the BAC Lightning is in the markings of 5 Sqn, RAF.

For the IL-28 'Beagle' I was unable to resist Finnish markings, not least because of the bright red engine nacelles!

Very cool Tim! I really like the raw aluminium look to these old Cold War birds.

These two will give Tim 18 points. Well done!

From TimG: 54mm Tratvian Cavalry (180 points)

From Tim:

Recently emerged from the trackless Tratvian steppe is this Cossack Regiment.  These are 54mm Armies in Plastic figures painted in my usual 'toy soldier' style and topped off with two coats of floor varnish.  As the Tratvian Army will eventually include three such units, I was able to mix and match from several sets in order to have matching poses (of troopers and horses).  

This is the 2nd Regt, the 1st can be seen here.

The only light conversion work concerned the standard bearer whose sabre was replaced with a florist wire flag pole.

Very cool regiment Tim. They look like they could serve as the honour guard for Liberace!

Adjusted for basing these Tratvian horsemen will give Tim 180 points. Well done!

From TimG: 20mm WWII Trucks (24 points)

From Tim:

More 20mm Sovs now. The Katyusha on Studebaker chassis is a Russian plastic kit. It was a truly horrible thing to build. I wish I could remember the maker so I could warn you against it! The launcher rails are the best bits but even they needed a deal of straightening so they'd fit and then bracing with steel wire. The cab? Let's not go there. If the outsize red star distracts the viewer from the model's shortcomings that's no bad thing!

The ammo carrier is a good old Airfix Opel - now under new management!

It's too bad that the kit was such a bear to assemble but you did a great job and it looks very good!

These two trucks will give Tim 24 points.

From TimG: 20mm WWII Soviet T-50 Tank & Trucks (36 points)

From Tim:

Originally finished in 'winter' camo, I recently repainted this T-50 light tank in a more conventional hue. The model is an old (early 1990s) Red Star resin kit.

The T-50 was intended to replace the T-26 series and featured a number of improvements in running gear and armour layout. 

As war neared, however, some clever comrade noticed that it cost nearly as much to produce a T-50 as it did to make one of the new T-34 medium tanks. Which certainly explains why you may not have seen one before!

I did say it was a light tank - here is the T-50 next to an ArmourfastT-34

My recently completed batch of 20mm Soviet vehicles included these lorries. 

They will probably end up as part of an Army level LOG column. 

The fuel tanker is a plastic kit of East European origin while the other lorry is a die cast toy.

Very nice work Tim. It's amazing how huge that T-50 model is in comparison to the T-34, especially for a light tank. In reality, I wonder what the tonnage difference was? 

These three vehicles will give Tim 36 points.

From TimG: 20mm WWII Soviet T-34 & BA-6 (52 points)

From Tim:

20mm T34s by Armourfast.

A quick painting session got this pair of T34s finished. They are Armourfast kits and so haven't taken very long from start to completion. I managed to resist my usual urge to add markings and both have been left in an overall green finish.  The commander figure is a cut-down Britannia casting.

These 1/72 kits were bought at the Partizan show in September 2010 and built about a year later. Only a year and a bit further on here they are finally painted! I really like these 6-wheeled armoured cars and the Pegasus kit is an easy way to get a really nice model. Markings have been kept to a minimum and one car has a Britannia commander.

Nice! I really like the look of the BA-6 cars as well. They have that inter-war ungainly dorkiness about them that is oddly charming (if an armoured car can be charming).

These four vehicles will give a base of 48 points and I'll add 4 points for the commanders.