Finished: 15mm AVRE Fascine (PSC and S&S Models)

Hi folks,

Completing my years roundup earlier this month made me realise I had finished at least one model I hadn't posted - so for completeness sake, I'm doing that now. 

This was another PSC plastic Churchill kit with a Fascine conversion kit purchased from S&S Models. I'd previously completed one such vehicle back in November 2016 (see here). However with the large D-day game we had planned in August 2021 I decided I should have another, so that I could land two breaching groups.

Of course, the painting technique used doesn't match the older painted version. 

2016 version on the left, 2021 version on the right

Looking at the pictures of them side by side, I prefer the look of the 2016 model! But on a 17' by 6' table, the newer technique stands out a lot more and looks fine. That's the problem with looking at our hobby via a camera lens! To eye, the 2016 just looks dull and bland - a green blob!

At the same time I painted the new fascine layer, I also painted up two more standard AVREs - one shown here alongside its cousin. 

I did go a lot lighter on the stowage of the fascine carrier. Having dug these models out, I also realised that I had details to finish. The radio aerial was missing from the fascine tank, a tank commander is missing from the gun tank, etc. I'll spend a little time this week getting these minor things sorted before they get packed away again. 

Currently the collection included two armoured D7 dozers, a Churchill SBG layer, two fascine layers and 4 plain AVREs. Plus five Sherman Crabs. I may add some other bits in the future, as there are more options available via 3d printing. Perhaps a Churchill Ark or something!

Hobby admin - part 2

Hi folks,

Not much to report painting wise, unsurprisingly. I've repaired some chipped paint and replaced a couple of radio aerials which had gotten badly bent through becoming trapped in various turret rings, etc, while working through my boxes of miniatures rebasing. I've discovered a few turrets which are missing magnets, but that it is a job for later. Drilling resin needs to be done outside, and while the weather has been nice, I've had other stuff on. 

Two boxes have now been completed, which freed up enough space to allow my Cromwell Squadron to fit into a tray. I also made the decision to put my Crocodiles on a base with their trailers, rather than them being separate. In v3 of Flames of War, the Crocodiles could lose the trailer after firing the flamethrower and become a gun tank, whereas in the current edition the fuel isn't as limited (which seems more realistic). Nothing looks as cool as a tank with a trailer...

This does mean that the Croc's take up a bit more space, but the individual trailers were a nuisance to store due to their shape, so having the model all together is actually better. 

15mm Battlefront Churchill Crocodile (resin and metal)

I also updated my engineering vehicles and tanks, which were moved onto the smaller bases. I have changed the selection of tufts, which I'm not hugely keen on, but they look better in the pictures. There were a unit of M10s on the same tray, which have been moved elsewhere as space has become available:

Skytrex 15mm armoured D7 and PCS Churchill with a S&S models AVRE fascine & cradle conversion

I may try and move the SBG bridge AVRE onto a smaller base, but the weight of the resin bridge needs a large base to stop the model tipping. 

It wasn't just the allies who got some TLC. This tray went from being full of German vehicles with no room for anything else, to allowing me to fit my burgeoning Sherman DD squadron in. I'm sure they start arguing every time I close the lid. 

The process or rebasing is pretty straight forward as I'm only tacking vehicles on large bases - but it is slightly time consuming. It takes time to actually prepare the bases prior to shifting the vehicles on to them. I've also been disassembling the old bases, saving what tufts and such I can, while also re-using the ferrous sheeting on them for the new bases. 

Two 9ltr boxes with vehicles are left to tackle. One, with German big cats and a few bits of Allied bits and bobs shouldn't take much work. The other contains my 144RAC squadron, which I am going to be spending more time on. In addition to updating the basing for the Shermans I plan to get all the decals up to scratch and possibly do some more cosmetic work to bring together the whole unit visually. This was my first completed unit, and was collected and painted over a long time, so has more variance than my current units (as I now try to tackle whole units at once to avoid this issue).  

Until next update!

S&S Models 15mm Churchill SBG conversion kit - review and step by step build!

Hi folks,

I posted a little teaser at the end of my last blog article, showing a work in progress shot of my newest acquisition. A 15mm Churchill SBG Conversion kit from S&S Models. This kit was then added to a 15mm Plastic Soldier Company Churchill kit I have had sitting around since the model was announced by Shaun on the S&S Models Facebook page over a year ago!

The perfect kit to form part of my contribution to the Miniature Modelling Mayhem groups 'Novelty November' challenge!

I thought it might be useful to go through a bit of a step by step of the process I went through up until painting.

First up, what is a Churchill SBG? Well, they look like this:

Image used without permission for reference purposes - no ownership of the image is claimed.

And a description from http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2011/12/uk-military-bridging-equipment-assault-bridging/

"Introduced specifically for D Day and the 79^th Armoured Division it was designed to support a Class 40 load over a 30 foot (9 meter) span, or more specifically a 12 foot high sea wall. The bridge itself consisted of 4 Small Box Girder hornbeam sections connected together to form a twin trackway bridge, connected with crossbeams." "It was carried by a standard Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVRE), not a specialised bridgelayer and thus the carrying vehicle was able to be used in other engineering roles once the bridge had been detached."

A Class 40 weight would be up to and including a Churchill tank - with the Sherman coming in at class 30 (or 33 for the Firefly).  The SBG Churchill was designed by Royal Engineers Colonel (later Major-General) Millis Rowland Jefferis (KBE MC), who was the same chap who designed the PIAT and 290mm Petard Mortar in the AVsRE tanks. The bridge was designed to be deployed in as little as 30 seconds.

I love this model, and the idea of having one of these in my army just grabbed me as soon as they were announced. This, and it's sister the Fascine tank. So as soon as they were available, I grabbed one of each.

I had a couple of aims with this model - One, it should look cool! Two, that the bridge should be detachable and the tank capable of continuing to be used on it's own after the bridge had been deployed.

So, on with the detail. The kit came in a small bag, well packaged and without any damage from transit. Some clean up was required, but the flash was pretty minimal - there was a small amount of miscasting in the metal parts - but nothing serious. Mainly just 'thin' ends (as can be seen below on the rightmost central bridge connector. My main concern out the box was that the A-frame was very soft and easily bent - I think I had to bend it slightly back into shape when taking it out of the packaging. Again, to be expected on this scale of a model.

The bits!

The first step was to build the base hull. As I mentioned, I used a PSC Plastic Churchill sprue and built a Mk.IV Churchill armed with a Petard mortar. 

Once the hull was built, I set about adding the AVRE conversion bits.

This involved a small about of work on the hull side, removing some protrusions on each side so that the fittings... fitted. These were standard AVRE fittings that would allow the Churchill's to be easily converted to a number of roles.

A close up of the work done to remove the side hull details in order to allow the side fittings to be added.

I also began to attempt to build the rear winch framework. Now, at first I tried to build this separately from the tank. This didn't work, as trying to build a box made from metal parts using superglue is a bit tricky. Eventually I gave up on that and instead decided to start building the box on the hull itself. Which was the sensible thing to have done from the start.

This went a lot more smoothly and I had the frame built in no time at all.

I then built the bridge. This was a little fiddly, but mainly because I was stupidly trying to do the central sections first (the rectangular cross pieces). After applying a little brain power, I glued the end section on each side, then did the central sections once the parts were in the correct shape.

Do these bits first!

The inner frames go inside the bridge itself and attach just below the upper surface. one on each end, closest to the bar which joins the two treadways.

Here you can see the central supports are at the top of the gap between the treadways.

The A-frame then fits into the holes at one end of the bridge.

I then began work on the front of the hull. There is a element that attaches under the front hull, and another that attaches to the end of the bridge. The connection is a simple one that acts as a hinge and that allows the bridge to pivot. As I wasn't planning on gluing the bridge in place, I went with a magnetic solution.

I had purchased some 'bar' style Neodymium magnets from e-bay specifically for this build. Off the top of my head these are 1mm thick, 3mm wide and 8mm long and were very reasonably priced. I knew that they would not be strong enough to hold the bridge in place, but they should be enough to help form a hinge.

Hull connection and bridge connection, shown the correct way around!

One magnet was glued to the underside of the piece attaching to the hull of the tank, the other to the underside of the piece attacking to the bridge. Note that I did end up revisiting the hull connection and adding some small spacers - as I think one side of mine had been slightly miscast and I trimmed the longer side to match. This resulted in the bridge touching the tracks of the tank and I had to add spacers to correct this. It is possible this issue could also arise if the hull connection is too low on the Churchill's glacis plate.

Make sure the polarity of the magnets is not at odds!

Adding the magnets to these parts did involve some trimming, in order to give a smooth surface for the magnet to attach to. Not much! But each part was a I shape (in traditional iron girder fashion) and one edge of each part required shaping. this wouldn't be required if you were just gluing the bridge in place.   

This was then strong enough a magnetic connection to keep the parts together and act as a hinge, while also allowing the bridge to be disconnected. Make sure the glue on each part is dry before you check that it works! These magnets are strong!

Front hull of the tank, with front attachment. The magnet is visible under this attachment, as well as the 'spacers' onto the hull I mention later.

The underside of the bridge, closes to the tank - not the magnet under the connection point.

The next section was then to provide a method of keeping the bridge elevated when attached to the tank. For this, I used some fishing line (the same stuff as I use for my tank aerials), ran it through the hole at the top of the a-frame and made sure it was long enough to reach the winch unit at the back of the tank. I then fashioned a small hook out of a small staple, and attached this to the end of the line - I found the section of staple could be made into an S shape, and the top of the S bent down to help grip the line - along with a small knot and a dab of superglue.

One thing to look out for here is to make sure the line is long enough - you can always trim something that is too long, but make it too short and it is a wasted effort. You can get a small amount of change to the angle of the bridge by hooking onto the front, middle or rear of the winch cage. I also considered using a couple of magnets to trap the line rather than a hook. Possibly attaching the winch cage to the hull using magnets?

This is where I encountered my first major issues. The weight of the bridge meant that the tank tipped forward (as you can see by the modelling tools in the above picture keeping the rear of the tank on the deck). As I had built the tank, adding ballast was a non starter. I would have had to build one of the spare hulls I had and move the various section over. I tried:

- Cut up metal sprue sections
- Filling the hull with sand
- Lead fishing weights (several different types) where I found the weight required to balance the bridge was somewhere between 41 and 60 grams.

I realised that  trying to weight the tank down was going to been impossible. There was not enough room in the hull or under the hull for the amount of ballast I would need - so I had a think and came up with a solution involving a larger than normal base. If the tank was glued to the longer base, that should stop it tipping forward.

However, my aim was that the tank would be usable after deploying the bridge. But to put the tank on a base where it would not tip over meant using a large base that would look silly under a tank with no bridge. It just so happened a few months ago I had ordered bases to make minefields with for my Germans, so had some 2" by 8" bases lying around. By magnetising the base, and the underside of the tank, I could keep the rear of the tank on the base - and also remove the tank onto a smaller base once the bridge had deployed. This solved the issue of the tank tipping and the base size being wrong once the bridge was deployed.

The tank on the large 2" by 8" base. Magnets on the base keep the rear of the tank on the ground - rather than in the air!

The 'large Flames of War' base to be used after deployment of the bridge.

Magnets on the 2" by 8" base

Close up of the magnets - I used some smaller round magnets I use for turrets just to give a little more pulling power.

Underside of the tank hull - note the magnet on the far right, under the connection to the bridge - showing how the connection to the bridge is magnetised.

I had also been looking at pictures of the tank online and discovered that more rigging was needed on the bridge to make the tank look more accurate (aka, 'Cooler'). Most pictures showed wires leading from the far end of the bridge back to the A-frame. I spent a lot of time trying to get this to work, trying to use separate lengths of fishing line, then using thin styrene before moving back to one longer length of fishing wire.

Knots here did not work as they were too obvious. The Styrene did not work as there is a bit of play in the A-frame when attached to the tank. The single hole in the A-frame was also a tight fit for three bits of line.

In the end the solution was to drill two holes in the A-frame, to either side of the main hole. Using one long length of line, through both holes and back again, then fastened under the far end of the bridge, out of sight. This worked... for a while! See below...

Under the end of the bridge, I wrapped the ends of the line around each other and applied some super glue and then modelling putty to keep in in place. I had tried tying a knot, but the tension was uneven on each side of the bridge. You also have to be careful of any work you do here, as the metal of the A-frame is very soft and is easily bent out of shape.

The far end of the bridge, with the connection between the 'rigging' line. Twisting together and then gluing seemed an easier solution as tying left an ugly knot and getting the tension correct on both sides was difficult. I then added some putty to keep the connection out of site and give it some more security.

The three hole modification to the A-frame worked for a while, but then failed as the 3 holes merged... I corrected this by using a small bit of staple wrapped around the top of the A-Frame to make a U shape, which then hooked over/wrapped around the top of the A-frame. The two fishing line loops (from the end of the bridge rigging and from the connection to the rear of the tank) were both closed loops, so I slid the end of the loops through the hole so they emerged on either side, then put the staple between the end of each loop and the hole - stopped them from pulling through and meaning the tension of the loops held the metal in place. I don't know the technical name for this, but it works! The picture below probably explains better!

I also added a small bit of green stuff to the fishing line running from the A-frame to the rear of the hull, in order to resemble a pulley.

I also replaced the section of fishing wire back to the rear of the tank at this time as I felt the original was too short and the angle of the bridge too tight/high.

The repaired A-frame - with small metal staple wrapped around the 'catch; the various wires. Green stuff also added as a pulley, and the wires from the ends of the bridge crossed before the A-frame as it looked a little cooler!

'the Hook' - connecting the A-frame of the bridge to the rear of the tank.

As I mentioned earlier, on mine the bridge was also touching the front tracks of the tank, so I added small metal spacers made from some old metal sprue between the hull connection point and the hull of the tank. I think this may not normally be required, but that this part may have been slightly miscast with one end of the attachment being longer than the other - and I think I trimmed the longer one back.

Front of the tank fitting with 'spacers; where the fitting joins the hull.

Primed and ready for it's 'Russian Uniform' coat!

Additional stowage has been added, in my usual style.

More pics to follow once it's all painted and properly based up!

As for reviewing the kit, I'd give it a massive thumbs up - 10 out of 10. Brilliant and simple conversion (which I have made a bit more complex, but that was my choice!) that will add a huge amount to the table top and provides something not readily available elsewhere. Fingers crossed Shaun at S&S Models has some success with this, and the other 15mm conversion kits he has. I'd love to see more of them in the future - especially for British tanks!

I hope this walk through, while a bit rambling, was useful. Hopefully it will save someone making the same mistakes or hitting the same snags as I have!

Recent purchases + honeymoon

Hi folks,

While my painting time has taken a bit of a hit in the last few weeks, I have been busy this week finishing off a load of 3mm Soviet stuff for my 3mm Team Yankee project. Pics of that to follow, once everything is based.

In the mean time, I thought I'd share some pics of my recent purchases and visits to historic sites!

Our honeymoon consisted of a week (well, 5 nights) in an apartment in Kenmore, which is beside Loch Tay in Scotland. 

Unfortunatley on our first night, after arrival, my wife took ill and we had a 1 hour journey to the nearest hospital (in Perth) at 3am. It was Wednesday afternoon before she was discharged, so the first week was mostly gone! Still, she was fine and we did get to do a little in the remaining time.

We visited the National Cranog Centre in Kenmore, just along from where we were staying:

 Where we had a lovely afternoon sitting in the Cranog in front of a wood fire hearing about the building of the structures, theories surrounding their purpose and what we know of the lives of those who lived in them. There were also some fantastic demonstrations of various ancient crafts - such as wood turning, flour making, fire starting, etc. There was also an area dedicated to weaving and dyeing. I took a picture of some of the colours that volunteers had made using locally available ingredients.

While in Kenmore we also travelled to the Enchanted Forest at Pitlochry. This is a seasonal show put on in autumn in a large section of forest, featuring light and sound displays - and a fantastic 3d holographic light show using the water from a fountain that really was spectacular. All I've got to show here is one odd photo!

After our first week we moved to a small cottage just outside Dunblane. This turned out to be a fantastic location, not far from Perth, Stirling, Glasgow and a host of other places.

Using this as a base I got to visit Stirling Castle - which features the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Regimental Museum. I took loads of photos, but there was very little WW2 stuff on display - much more was given over to regimental silver and things like the Crimea and WW1. Here's a picture of 'the thin red line' - the Argylls deployed in line beating off a Russian cavalry charge.

As well as being a spectacular castle, it has a host of interesting displays. One I found touching was these toy soldiers, found during renovations:

The castle itself has seen a lot of change over the centuries, and as such currently has a look of an almost Napoleonic defense, rather than a medieval castle. I was particularly interested in the cannon shot damage to some of the walls, mainly from the Jacobean period.

We also visited the Battle of Bannockburn visitors centre, which was really good. Not so much a museum as an interactive experience - included a walk through of the tactics employed in a room where you stand with 3d glasses in the middle of a heavy cavalry charge and archers firing - as well as a chance to take control of part of the English or Scots army on a 3d contoured holographic battle map (akin to the Total War series of games, on a simpler basis and with you giving verbal commands).

Outside, you get to visit the Bannockburn monument:

At the shop here I picked up an Osprey book on the battle - perhaps the start of an interest that might expand to the table top!

We also visited the Wallace Monument, which was built in the 18th Century to honor William Wallace and other important Scots. From the top, you can see the site of the Battle of Stirling Bridge (Stirling Castle is spotted by the gold coloured building on top of the hill on the right - the Great Hall returned to the original colour of lime wash):

After all this, I got to visit the Black Watch Regimental Museum in Perth. This was a really really good museum, much better than the Argylls museum with a lot more display space and a lot of really interesting artifacts. Again, not a huge amount of space given over to WW2, but more than the previous museum. With this visit I had also managed to visit every Regiment in 154 Brigade over my honeymoon (and all it cost me was a days clothes shopping in Glasgow!).

We also spent a day in Glasgow, where we met Paul Alba and his wife for dinner, a visit to Falkirk to see the Kelpies and a renovated defensive tower we had free entry to (and a ice cream dairy and fudge shop):

The Kelpies - dedicated to the horses who worked the various Scottish Canals

So a very touristy honeymoon with lots of visits to historic sites. If anyone is looking to visit Scotland on a holiday, I can really recommend the Stirling area. Lots to do, really friendly locals, good places to eat and really central for a lot of historic sites.

So, purchases. I was really pleased to get a couple of badges linked to my Flames of War collection:

Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders badge

Black Watch badge

I also managed to visit a games shop in Stirling and make a start on my planned Canadian Shermans. A visit to a local show last weekend also got me some Fireflys for the same list. 

 

At the same show, I got some Osprey books - and ordered a book online which also arrived this week. This might give a clue as to a possible project I am looking at for next year (hint, the book about Sherman Crabs was just cos it was cheap and I had change to use up!). 

Not forgetting my 15mm WW2 collection, I also put an order in for some Royal Engineer vehicles (as I've been threatening for a while). A Churchill SBG conversion kit and a Churchill Fascine conversion kit for some PSC Churchill hulls I have. As well as a Cromwell ARV conversion kit and plastic hull. All from S&S Models and the Churchill kits were only released last month. I can't actually remember if I previously bought a ARV Cromwell for my Poles, but I suspect not. 

Hopefully, I will get the AVsRE built and painted during the MMM 'Novelty November' challenge. This challenge basically involved picking something unusual from your painting pile and trying to get it finished in one month. As these are 'funnies', they qualify for me! Also on the table will probably be a 'Katy' ambulance and a British Radio truck I picked up from QRF. 

Lastly, I picked up a copy of the newest Team Yankee book, Iron Maiden. Really interesting book that has made me think I should skip the 6mm GHQ Americans I was planning and go straight to Brits. Yesterday a surprise package arrived containing some 6mm US Marines - courtesy of Des in Scotland. These will be getting used to do some cold war US marines in advance of a Team Yankee book for them!

Hopefully, thats not bored everyone to tears! More updates coming soon on my 3mm Soviets, then back to my polish Shermans before the Novelty November challenge starts!