Another Fairey Battle 1/72

My fascination with the Fairey Battle aeroplane continues. I came across another manufacturer (Special Hobby) that did a "Battle of France" Fairey Battle in my loval hobby shop. In conversation with a friend I was informed that the Airfix Fairey Battle was a little inaccurate. Instead of technical design drawings the Airfix model designers apparently were given a Painting guide (based on a modified Hurricane diagram) rather than the true technical drawings, This was a simple admin error, but as a consequence the tail and wing areas are too small (see below, I need to make this kit and do a compare and contract):   

Watch this space!

Post Script: When I see a cheaper copy (than £40 - Kindle could be an option) I will but this book (see below). I managed to flick through a reference library copy. It is a reassessment of the potential of the Fairey Battle. It claims it was more strategically/operationally mishandled rather than being an implicitly bad design.

Note: More successful designs had "two engines" - it seems that it was being asked to perform too much with too little horse power, with too big a crew (three)!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fairey-Battle-Reassessment-its-Career/dp/1781555850

Airfix - F35B Lightning II

Something modern, the F35B Lightning II - RAF/RN flying off the Queen Elizabeth or Prince of Wales aircraft carriers (see below, the plastic has been put together, next grey paint scheme): 

It was a bit of a strange modelling experience as you can see that there is such technical complexity in the airframe, there is intricate detailing, but most of the tech stuff is hidden inside a smooth stealth anti-radar shape! 

Charity Shop Find - Airfix 1/72 Models

Obviously from somebody's loft clearout some old Airfix kits, I came across these in a "charity shop" and acquired them (see below, these have that Tunisian feel to them, ready to fight teh retreating Afrika Korp!): 

Representing those not good, but better than before Allied mid-war tanks!

Fokker D XXI Progress - Assembled

Hitting the ground running as the PM 2 model was a neat and quick assembly (see below, few parts and a plastic that takes well to ploy cement, it posed no problems going together):  

I have chosen to go for the Dutch version, but will either have to freehand or source some decals (bizarrely the kit came with Czechoslovakian instead of Dutch ones). Base coat needed first.

Late Birthday Present to Myself - 1/72 Fokker D-XXI (PM Model)

It is rude to go into a model shop and not buy something. I had to look hard but I chose this for jut under £9 (see below, an interesting early flying machine that did not survive its contact with the Luftwaffe [in Dutch and Danish service] but lasted longer in service with the Finnish Air Force fighting the Soviet Union): 

I am tempted to do it in Finnish colours but my 1/72 Dutch army will miss it! NoteL In which case I will need the Dutch Orange Triangle war markings!  

WW2 US Infantry Painting Guides from around the Internet (20mm)

The crazy "Project" a 1:1, US, WWII, ETO (Normandy/Germany), Infantry Company (minus the 60mm Mortar supports - that is a small follow on mini-project) painted in 1/72 from an assorted plastic figure collection of Revell (Ardennes), Italieri, Caesar and Plastic Soldier Company [PSC] (see below, the sunlight lit painting tray) :  

I have adopted the finish a small pilot (squad) batch then go into "death before glory" full factory production mode. It seems to be working but I have a tight deadline!

Painting Guides: 

First of all the one I ended up using (see below, designed for 15mm FoW figures but I used it for my 1/72 plastic miniatures): 

Vallejo Model Colour (majority): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-odbmMyyOeo

Gathered from my Internet searching a wealth of riches from other web-sites: 

Contrast Paints (an alternative I considered, but not for 20mm):

• https://www.wargaming3d.com/blog/speed-painting-wwii-infantry-with-citadel-contrast-paints
• https://www.reddit.com/r/flamesofwar/comments/o9eoxh/a_us_rifle_platoon_some_contrast_paint_and_an/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eai34eU6nA
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOTnNmGZY7Y

Normal Paints: 

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2fdVyyudwc
• https://www.warlordgames.com/step-by-step-american-gis-by-sascha-herm/
• https://www.flamesofwar.com/default.aspx?tabid=110&art_id=444
• https://cracdeschevaliers.blogspot.com/2010/03/painting-by-layers.html
• https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235148918-a-paint-colour-list-for-british-german-and-us-uniforms-and-kit-by-nation-and-theatre-and-vallejo-shadow-highlight-mixes/
• https://launch.battlefront.co.nz/1247/

German (FoW) but a good painting Flesh Description: 

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dauzu7kc2u8

1:72 Pegasus Hobbies - Pz 38(t)

Two in a box is a very appealing selling point for the wargamer. Two Pz 38(t)'s would also nicely flesh out and complete my early WWII Panzer Battalion (as per Command Decision OrBat). Small little things with a few parts (so it is not an exercise in fiddly modelling, gets the thumbs up from me - especially teh all in one track. One small 'ouch' moment though, in fitting the track to body of the tank there is a sharp "snap" from the track, as it broke cleanly in two. Something had to give as the track was warped in a concave fashion and had to be bent back to fit correctly. Thankfully the resulting small gap was easily bridged with "a small slither of plastic-card" (see below, in its "gap state", construction was therefore a little more exciting than I wanted as this happened four times, once for each side of track):  

Despite that it was a very nice quick build but with a detailed model (see below, the first one finished - commanders cover chosen to be open): 

Two tanks completed, turret hatches open awaiting "commanders" - with a small fleck of white denoting the plastic-card track repair (see below, once the first tank was done, then the second one was much faster): 

Searching around in the spares box for some German Commanders and I found two Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) ones that looked early war(ish) and they were shaved/sculpted to fit into the turret, which meant "breaking arms - the reangling then", sounds much more complicated and brutal than it actually was. It amounted taking a small triangular wedge out of one part of the arm/shoulder and then adding it to another part): 

Undercoating and painting next (tbc when though). At least the "to be assembled pile" is one box smaller.

Never be bored as there is always basing to be done ..

My collection will never be finished, I know that, particularly the WWII one. However I do get a buzz from getting various bits to different stages .. basing is one of those stages (see below, Caesar miniatures are beautiful, but the more recent Italeri certainly give them a run for their money, as do Pegasus Hobbies, Plastic Soldier Company):

These dudes are some of my WWII Soviets and they are one stage along the production line. 

Waterloo done the Airfix Way with Phil Sabin

Following on from Bob Cordery's example (in his Wargaming Miscellany blog) post, I too have to pay tribute to Phil Sabin's latest completed project (and anybody painting 450 Airfix 20mm [1/72 in old money] old school wargaming figures gets my respect). Waterloo - The Dunnigan way (which to teh man's credit, originally created as a free wargame) with a few new Sabin tweaks added: 

In Phil's own words: 

Coinciding neatly with the release of Ridley Scott’s new blockbuster movie on Napoleon, I have just posted the 450 significantly improved 2^nd edition of my own much-downloaded tweaks for Napoleon at Waterloo, together with a video illustrating and explaining my changes and showing a complete game using my new bespoke 3D playset with 450 painted Airfix figures, each representing around 400 real troops or 50 cannon.  

You may find the tweaks and video at https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/199517/simple-rules-tweaks-greater-realism and https://www.youtube.com/@philipsabin1653 respectively.  

Please share both links as widely as possible on other relevant board and miniatures gaming for a (together with the link to Charles’s book at  https://www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Marine-Corps-University-Press/Books-by-topic/MCUP-Titles-A-Z/Wargaming-Waterloo/), so that other enthusiasts are made aware.

Our discussions of Charles’s ideas in his article and book provided the main impetus for me to create the 3D playset (using figures I first painted decades ago) and to revisit my original 2020 tweaks.  Although the amendments proposed by Charles and myself coincide in several areas, our approaches are rather different, as is discussed in the thread below on ‘Tweaking Published Games’.  Charles mostly takes the existing game system as read and focuses on more literal modelling of aspects such as the size of the farm garrisons, the tractability of woods and the times at which various contingents became available.  I have used much more of a ‘design for effect’ approach, by playing the game repeatedly and introducing successive tweaks and constraints so that it comes closer to the historical course of events as regards aspects such as the differences among the three combat arms, Wellington’s reliance on  defensive terrain,  the fatal impetuosity of British horse, the long resistance of the farmhouses, the French cavalry charges, the progress of the Prussian advance and the time represented by each turn.  Charles rather surprisingly leaves the original Anglo-Allied forces mostly unchanged, whereas I have shifted and combined a number of Wellington’s units to yield a far better model of his forces.

It is interesting to compare my own tweaks and illustrative refight with those provided by Charles on pp.137-48, 157-58 and 299-300 of his book.  Both offer better simulations than does the original game, but their significant differences show the highly personal and individualistic nature of wargame modelling, which Peter Perla rightly compared to creating a painting of the real phenomenon.  Our respective contributions give us plenty to discuss in this forum if desired.  Besides the thread I mentioned above, newcomers may like to browse the other threads below on ‘Simulation vs. “Glorified Chess”’ and on ‘Esdaile’s Analysis of Waterloo Sims’ to see the extensive discussions we have had already.  I hope that our contributions (including the inspirational sight of my figure version of the game) will encourage some of you to revisit this classic design and to tweak it in your own preferred style.  After waiting patiently in their box files for decades, my bespoke miniatures have already seen extensive action during my many playtests, and I look forward to using them in plenty of future refights, perhaps with Bondarchuk’s 1970 movie playing in the background for added atmosphere!

The final word from this Blog: 

Just those two screenshots make it mouth watering for me, what Phil has done in the rules, explained in the video makes it cool! Respect for completing a nice little project!

Platoon 20 - NVA Figures

Inspired by the recent series of "Ghosts of the Jungle" games I visited my silver pile of shame in the loft for Vietnam figures and found pretty much a whole platoon of NVA Regulars to paint up. They had been based and primed so it was just a matter of gritting your teeth and letting go with the Vallejo paints (see below, the finished product or rather formation):  

A labour of love that has took twenty years to finish. Given the old casting quality (as in poor) - I best not drop them too hard!

Apologies for no close ups!

Ghosts of the Jungle .. More Nam Figures .. (1/72, 20mm, 1/76)

When you are preparing for a game like "Ghosts of the Jungle" (allegedly a player cooperative play game, which also means you can be left at the mercy of other players "intelligent" decisions), there are always the game "odds and ends" you need to paint up .. just to oil the mechanics and make-up "special events" or have in the "background". They are typically not the sexy, sexy exciting figures that jump onto the painting table, but they have an important game function to do. For example, a VC truck (on loan to North Vietnam from the USSR, via the Plastic Soldier Company WWII Russian transport collection) to terrorise anybody trying to cross a seemingly deserted jungle track in the game, a couple of VC figures who can nicely fit in the back of said truck [of ESCI/Italeri 1/72 VC origins - waiting to be painted for some twenty years], some (as in eight) Platoon 20 Villagers [who under the game the mechanics could turn into VC], eight Platoon 20 SAS LRRP soldiers [OK they are pretty sexy, but were an upgrade from the US LRRP that I was previously using] and finally a downed helicopter pilot, in wounded and walking poses (see below, the primed and Vallejo brown washed ready for the "real" painting to start): 

It is "good for the soul" when you get figures at least to this stage ;) 

ClearFix Tip - When It Goes Yellow Get a New Bottle!

ClearFix is obviously a bit like snow - when it goes yellow beware what you can use it for! To be fair you typically use so little of it at a time, unless you are making a plane per week you may never ever use a whole bottle. In my case, years will go by before you pull it out of the storage tin (which may or may not help being away from direct sunlight). Indeed as I found out to my cost when making my Vietnam helicopters, ditch it if it goes gloopy and yellow. Clearfix (though slow in drying and bonding clear plastic to normal plastic) is however the way to do aircraft canopies .. otherwise the terrible chemical affect that I do not understand ruins the cockpit look. ClearFix is a wonder chemical when clear but buyer beware avoid the yellow (see below, RHS clear and "Good", LHS gloopy-yellow and very bad!):   

I had to resort to covering up a smeared mess on one helicopter's side windscreen [reconnaissance Gun-Ship Loach, if you really wanted to know] with Tamiya X-25 transparent Clear Green. Note, authentically it was used on top horizonal window covers of Vietnam Huey's and Loach's alike to cut down on glare from the sun above [?] I am guessing - but I don't think side windows were typically covered - but I think the "look" seems to work (see below, my Italeri 1/72 "Little Bird" festooned with decals - grinning shark mouth underneath):  

You have to be careful when handling Italeri as they are delicate, but beautifully made!

Airfix 1/72 Shooting Star - Korean War

After reading a good book on a subject, I invariably get the itchy modelling fingers. So it was with the Korean War book from Max Hastings. I therefore bought an in period model kit to make. As it happened it was a "model I missed as a child", aka the Airfix Shooting Star (re-released in the Vintage Kit series for old nostalgic fogies like me to buy). As a kid I was still very much a "WWII Spitfire Propeller" aficionado. I thought jets were a bit like cheating and not as interesting as the "piston-engine" planes (see below, I did not quite understand jets, I thought they were flying vacuum cleaners):  

A bucket-list project for the winter months. This also means I will be on the lookout for Airfix re-releasing their Mig-15 [and as Bob Cordery pointed out .. The Gloster Meteor as flown by the RAAF and just as importantly, available in Airfix Vintage].

Caesar Miniatures - 1/72 Modern US Infantry

In the "box of goodies" in the loft I found two of the excellent Caesar Miniatures sets of modern US figures (see below, Iraq and Afghanistan are covered here): 

The sculpting is of an incredibly high standard (see below, certainly for one like me who was used to a variable Airfix standard as a child [of the late seventies and eighties] - the Caesar semi-rigid plastic is very forgiving, not too brittle not to soft): 

For a more European (ETO) feel a similar group of figures and poses was found in this set (see below, excellent sculpts):  

The basing process has now started, PVA and grit to follow, then prime. I think I will skip the PVA coat (as I think it would cover up too much detail) and rely on generous coat of varnish to hold the figures rigid (see below, a nice little platoon formation): 

They should mix well with the old, but still good, Italeri [as in old ESCI mould] US Modern set I have got to the partially painted status!

Airfix 1/72 Airborne and Willy's Jeeps

It goes without saying that you can never have too many jeeps in a WW2 Western US or British Allied army. Hence the unmade box of plastics spilled forth four more jeeps to be made, three of which were the new Airfix Airborne type and one a Willy's [ex-Heller] recon type (see below, the Heller kit was missing the lower chassis part so a clever bit of plastic card substitution, if I do say so myself, was introduced): 

I suppose the airborne jeeps can also double as SAS jeeps in Western Europe 44-45 as well. The impressive bit about the new Airfix kits is the range of MGs you can add to them, as well as the extremely useful 75mm pack howitzer (see below, which pretty much pads out my immediate need for any more allied utility vehicles): 

It was a nice general build.

Airfix Lee/Grant scrapped together from a Donation and bits from the Scrap Box.

The different coloured pieces of plastic tells the sorry tale in itself. This "baby" Grant Tank on the right comes from multiple parents .. at least one brown/orange, one yellow and one green Airfix Lee/Grant kit (plus some hobby store plastic-card, a curved front from what I think was a M36 Jackson, "Sherman(?)" rollers and a PSC storage box to cover a bodged hull to chassis seam). A Frankenstein of sorts or patchwork quilt, but rather than a sad model discarded to the bin, it has a new least of life. I also loved the "edge of your seat" challenge in the making of it (see below, in its front facing Grant guise):  

The rear shot shows the white plastic-card surfaces where the composite spare parts-did not quite stretch or cover enough (see below, though it has to be said working with "old brittle plastic" from the 1970's or 1980's is a curse as it had a tendency to crumble or splinter under pressure - this was a peculiar challenge for me as I had to first disassemble the previous attempt at building it [basically a carcass] and reassemble it [from a haphazard trapezoid to a more regular rectangular cross section]): 

The Lee part of the tale is just a turret swap as it shares the hull, so with a newly completed Lee turret you have the option of two types of tank (see below, the Lee turret was taken from the "original" orange/brown plastic kit - where the majority of the pieces for this kit came from - again care being taken with its brittleness as the Lee turret has some fiddly MG parts): 

Just remembered: The final note is that the "green" track came from the "spare" (as in the more detailed track option) in the new Airfix Sherman Firefly kit I have already made. There you go, I have one more tank to fight the Axis with. It also just shows you the usefulness of keeping a spares box (or two).  

Desert Air: RAF Curtiss Tomahawk IIB

I have been listening to James Holland's War in the West, Volume II recently (not quite finished it yet, as it is a very long audible listen), but one of the things it really emphasised was the importance of the allied Desert Air Force in fighting the DAK. Alongside the Hurricane Mk II tank strafer was the ubiquitous American made Tomahawk (see below, the "shark's teeth" epitomised the gruff ground attack ability to destroy the Axis supply lines and bomb it's armour, a war winning contribution): 

So I am looking forward to making this, plus I class it as another bucket list build, one that I regret not making as a kid! Or rather small kid, as I am still a kid, just a big kid. 

German Recon 20mm Airfix Classic (Vintage) Set

Another Airfix classic, this time a muddled box of confused spares and complete sprues with had two Kubelwagans and two 222 armoured cars. Yes the early war German classic Recon Set (see below, one twist as I left teh turrets off the armoured cars as I will be converting these to a 221 machine gun armed version and a 223 radio car version - wish me luck):   

This would mean that combined with my existing force of 222 armoured cars (good for Russia 1941 onwards to 1943 in grey), or I can either go more early war, and field the machine gun armed 221 and Hortch Kf 13 armoured cars (thinking Poland 1939 and France 1940). Either way the 223 is a good radio Command Car option. 

British Army Chieftain and Berlin Camo Reference Material

Another Airfix build from the loft, this time a Cold War veteran, the BOAR Chieftain or rather a second to keep an earlier Chieftain build company (see below, it was an old kit in the hard plastic [cover picture showing a finished model as opposed to the "crossing the rugged field" artwork - so it was pretty old] and dangerously brittle tracks): 

Thinking of the Berlin garrison with its unique urban camo (see below, nothing like setting yourself a challenge): 

Well I had me some fun running around the Internet seeing various sources and takes on the Berlin Camo pattern: 

https://www.emlra.org/index.php/library/general-articles/29-elmra-articles-berlin-brigade-urban-paint-scheme

https://www.themodellingnews.com/2018/01/painting-guide-fv432-mk21-winterior-in.html

https://www.team-yankee.com/Default.aspx?tabid=909&art_id=5363&kb_cat_id=242

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMO1jirNvDc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKX2Te90IHI

https://www.migjimenez.com/en/acrylic-colors/558-british-berlin-camouflage-colors-1988-1991.html

https://hmvf.co.uk/topic/13666-british-berlin-brigade-urban-camo-paint-scheme/

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235082905-chieftain-mk10-berlin-brigade/

https://laststandonzombieisland.com/tag/berlin-brigade-urban-camouflage-scheme/

http://www.ipmsstockholm.se/home/in-berlin-camouflage/

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/gdw1988/berlin-camo/

Watch this space for the painting description (eventually), but I think it will be a slow process.

Airfix's "Boomerang Bob" Fighter - A Bucket List Build

I eagerly awaited the 2022 "Vintage" re-release of the Australian WWII "Panic Fighter" (the real thing was made from spare parts from aircraft available indigenous in Australia in 1942) as I remember "seeing it" as a kid in the Airfix Catalogue, wondering about it, but never going about getting it. There was always something more 'sexy' with crosses on it that took preference. A bit like the Fairey Battle and Brewster Buffalo, a missed childhood opportunity (see below, the CA-13 with original box art in all its glory, I bought it direct from Airfix when I picked up some resin buildings in their end of year sale):   

All things said it is not a particularly complicated build, not many parts but I took time as I was in no particular rush (see below, it came together quite nicely):  

If there was a scary part about building the Boomerang it was the canopy as it comes in three parts, the main bubble and two 'sliding' side parts (see below, I took time to make sure things fit well, the inside needed painting before the messy "Clearfix" came into use later):   

The decals were very sexy, the Australian RAAF Pacific version of the RAF roundel, with the red bit missing as "anything with a bit of red in it, got a lot of Allied AA fire" regardless of what it actually was. All the Allied countries discovered the universal itchy AA trigger finger of their AA gunners to their own cost (see below, something satisfyingly distinctive with the missing red that says Pacific War we are fighting the Japanese):  

Primed Airfix Acrylic Grey (see below, you may need to do a double take to spot any difference, but trust me there is a layer of grey paint there): 

Because it is the way I do things now, the whole model got a Vallejo Dipping Sepia Brown wash coat (see below, the brown and green colour scheme seemed to lend itself to brown rather than black for leaving the detail "lined in" after putting on the base colour, I guess it is all about "painting less" rather than more):  

Bottoms up, underside first. I wanted to use as close as I could to the original Airfix/Humbrol paint scheme and as luck had it I had Humbrol 65 (Matt Aircraft Blue) in a little penny packet paint pot from another "starter kit" which saved me a trip to the model shop (see below, the brown wash seems to be working nicely for the dark detail):  

Starting the topside camouflage, first the brown (see below, note this is where I had to use the paint matcher site which said Tamiya XF-52 Matt Earth [4.5 stars match] equates to Humbrol Acrylic 98 Matt Chocolate): 

https://www.modelshade.com/paint-conversion-chart/humbrol/241

Next the camo green part to complement the brown (see below, Humbrol Acrylic 149 Matt Dark Green gets matched to Vallejo Model 70.894 [4.0 stars but also a bit of confusion here, as the site matcher calls this Camo Olive Green - but my bottle says Russian Green, so I went with my 894 bottle anyway]): 

Next: The white tail (Humbrol Acrylic 34) and black (Humbrol Acrylic 33) propeller - note the tips of the propeller were not painted black, but were left lighter to help the yellow paint stand out better, Alos the flight jacket was given a Vallejo Leather Brown base coat (see below, the little bits count as much as the big bits - I think I have also given the pilot some flat flesh on his face and hands too): 

Next a highlight to the brown by mixing in a little yellow, plus the tips of the propeller are painted yellow (see below, I just wanted it to look a little blocky and weather worn over the panelling): 

Similar yellow mixed with the green for another blocky highlight, I also give the pilot a highlight on his leather flying suit (see below, at this point I think the paint job is starting to come together nicely): 

The tail gets a final white highlight which is just another coat of paint giving it depth to the prominent places, and neglecting the recesses, touching up with a brown wash. The cockpit glass is put into place using ClearFix - my least favourite Humbrol product as I find it very messy and stringy and I am odds to get it in the right places, even carefully dabbing it on with a cocktail stick (see below, fixed in place I leave it to set overnight): 

Fixed in place the plexiglass gets blacklined (see below, by this point I am almost exhausted painting, so I go slow and carefully, absolutely no rushing):  

From black to camo green and then a subtle highlight (see below, begging for the Australian decals to bring it to life):

The decals really make it look the part. However there is a sorry tale to tell here. As the Humbrol product I used, DecalFix reacted badly with the Tamiya and Vallejo paints, as in it stripped them away beautifully .. sadness gripped my heart. Now to worry I carried on and let the decals fix, then when all "well and truly dry" I painted round decals as best I could (see below, I think I got away with it; interestingly the subject of DecalFix melting Tamiya paints is well covered on the forums - I subsequently found out):  

The underside, the only thing to add is the fact that I highlighted the Humbrol Aircraft Blue 65, with a Revel Aqua Colour, Sky Blue, then adding a touch of white for a subtle highlight of a highlight in places that just caught the eye (see below, tickle that tummy, which has a bulbous camera housing in it, dead centre): 

The final act is a matte varnish (see below, Humbrol Matt Cote): 

Bucket list item .. "Done" and I am very proud of it.