Milestones, memories and silliness

Today was a milestone of sorts; I finished painting the army of Dupanen which is the last of the Soldier King armies.

There were times in the last 30 years where I despaired of ever reaching this point. That is not to say the project is complete or the campaign ready to start. Increasing the size of armies and finally settling on a recruitment basis, has meant some armies still need more units, notably Estavia and the Electoral forces.

I also have the rebels/ militia to finish as well as card houses and other terrain. More significantly, I have no table on which to play. So still some work to do, but it feels once Dupanen are varnished, flagged, based and labelled, I will have reached a significant point. I also occasionally contemplate whether LI and LC should only count as half a unit and so mean increasing the finished armies by a unit or two here and there.....

Anyway, painting the army of Dupanen has brought back a few memories. Inventing uniforms for 12 armies means eventually you start to run out of ideas and colour combinations. It's only natural to look for inspiration in either historic or Imagi-Nation armies. When I started there was little such inspiration. Then of course the "old school" fad emerged, just as the internet flourished. Everyone had a blog for their imaginary duchy with uniforms of lime green and purple or similar, which now litter the blogosphere like forgotten civilisations, few producing even a single toy soldier.

There were exceptions - Henry Hyde whose article in MW or WI was a spur to my own project was publishing more of his own armies; sadly I always found them a bit too derivative and lacking imagination - a bit too Grant like and IMHO a bit too over- detailed for my taste - each to their own.

A some stage I discovered the Society of Daisy - deriving from a wargamer with an C18th army whose king was followed about by his pet cow, Daisy. Dedicated to fun and a counter point to "serious" wargames, one of the leading lights was Otto Schmidt.

Otto was a larger than life individual. His view on wargames was that they should include ladles of Marks Brother slapstick type humour. For all that, he was extremely well read and a devotee of the C18th. He had many armies which he would roll out at US conventions. His main and favourite army, was that of Princess Trixie - imagine if you will the young Maria Theresa reimagined as a Californian Valley Girl of the C20th, with an army including Operatic companies, circus elephants and conventional C18th troops dressed in pink.....

I confess, I found it all a bit OTT and dare I say silly.......

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D3ANufwUPFm8&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwix0sXhstiPAxWeQUEAHb2QDn8QFnoECAsQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0hbN2GyeFleig4VjF0Qxyp

Sadly Otto died in 2019 long before I got far with my project. However, as I planned the armies, I hit something of a brick wall with Dupanen. Eventually, it was a coming together of various strands. I had bought a set of GW decals with various heraldic devices with the idea of using them for flags. The range was limited and Dupanen ended up with a unicorn. Being next to Hrvatska suggested the availability of red dye. The the idea of the Earl being sold some which wasn't colour fast......

Unicorns and washed out red uniforms........pink! Like Otto's girl toy army! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery - a suitable tribute to Otto. Oddly, when looking back at the family trees diced up years ago, I noted the Earl had an adult daughter. Creating some Fimo female "Grotesques" I cast about for suitable characters, dicing up personalities for the main female players. One has become the Earl's daughter, a lady of some character!

In advance of the main parade, once the army is properly finished, I wanted to show a teaser of my drawings and the painted figures, but sadly Blogger won't let me upload from the tablet - it wants me to sign in even though I already am!

Desert queens and sweethearts

The Crusader project continues with the infantry tanks; for those that do not know, British tank design of the 1930s produced "cruiser" tanks designed for speed sacrificing armour and "infantry" tanks designed for the support of the PBI, sacrificing speed for armour. This division also carried through to the armoured formations, with tank brigades and divisions being equipped with cruiser tanks (and initially light tanks due to shortages) and the Army Tank Brigades being equipped with the infantry tanks.

In the desert, the main infantry tank up to 1942 was the Matilda II/IIA; its predecessor was the machine gun armed Matilda I - the name deriving from that of a cartoon duck, the "waddling" of the small tank resembling that of the cartoon duck - these were used in France along with the replacement bigger, heavier tank armed with 2pdr or CS howitzer - than name stuck. Only the mark II and IIA were used in the desert.

In the early campaigns against the Italians, they gained another nickname "Queen of the desert" due to the impervious nature of their armour - the Italians did not possess a weapon capable of penetrating the thick frontal armour and their appearance was enough to compel mass surrenders by the Italian infantry. More Matildas were put out of action by break downs and damage than enemy action.

Sadly, this confidence was misplaced when  a repeat performance was attempted against the Germans. Here the 88mm AA gun used as an AT weapon was capable of knocking out even the heavily armoured Matilda at a distance - long before the crew could even attempt to reply - this coupled with poor tactics and lack of all arms co-operation by the British led to catastrophic losses, how ever brave the crew.

By Operation Crusader, the Matilda still soldiered on in the Army Tank Brigades, but had been joined by the new tank, the Valentine - less well armoured but faster and cheaper to produce, using components from the Cruiser A9/10. Again with a 2pdr (no CS versions were produced) and a much lower silhouette. The Valentine would go on to replace the Matilda in the desert - the Gazala battles of 1942 would see the last of the Matilda except in specialist roles. It would however soldier on in the Far East and many were supplied to the USSR under lend-lease.

Many will have built the old Airfix Matilda, but I had acquired some S-Model 1/72 versions and just before I started them, a new model was released by Tabletop Workshop (they have since released a 1/100 version as well) in the same scale. Great value at 4 tanks for £24-95 post free.

The four identical sprues produce very nice models with lots of moulded detail. There is a choice of 2pdr or CS howitzer barrels, open and closed hatches and 2 crew figures. The build was quick an straightforward; one track did seem to fit better than the other and there are some mould lines, especially around the tracks. The finished model is the later version of the Matilda II as used in Crusader and Gazala.

The model shown has the driver hatch open and one of the crew figures in the open hatch (the hatch cover rolled back into the tank). My only criticisms are that it is perhaps a little overscale, it comes with a limited number of turret accessories, but only one Besa MG ammo box (up to three were carried) and the aerial seems to have merged with the pistol port / vent on the left side of the turret - most odd. I carefully cut the rear part off and used this on the turret , drilling out the now separate aerial bracket. You can see the separated parts in the rear view photo. The long tube was where spare flags were kept apparently!

The most noticeable omission were the smoke dischargers on the right turret front. In real life they were cut down  Lee Enfield or Ross rifles with a smoke discharger cup attached. Mine were simpler affairs, although I did go back and add a sort of trigger guard later.

The S-Model Matilda is boxed as a Soviet version. Dan Taylor does a conversion kit with replacement side skirts and model parts. I had intended to use these aftermarket parts but discovered, they were intended for the early version used up to 1941. In the end, the kit was built straight from the box. It's a very nice kit that goes together smoothly, although with more components than the Tabletop Workshop model.

It is a more complete model, although one of mine had only two instead of three  Besa boxes - as most will only have one it's no big deal that these have 2 and 3 (at least I can tell them apart!) There is a choice of 2pdr barrel (I picked the later just because it matched the thickness of the others better) and the option of two different cupola. Only the main turret hatch can be modelled open and the lifting handles come as PE brass parts, unlike the other model where they are moulded on. While it does have smoke dischargers, both models come with the external fuel cannister. Some research and scouring of photos suggested that during Crusader, they were still using a frame with Petrol Oil and Water tins - sometimes called "flimsies" (inaccurate apparently - this was a different type of tin).

While I considered using the parts from the Dan Taylor kit on the S-Models, in the end I scratchbuilt frames for all of them and added some resin tins - these may be the larger flimsies rather than the correct POW tins - there should be 6, but mine have 4. The frames were made from some model railway gantry kits - the ladders being cut up and glued together with a strip of plastic rod as the locking bar.

 

As part of the 1 Army Tank Brigade were equipped with Valentines, I dug out some models. One out of three battalions had Valentines, but in numbers were nearly half. I therefore decided to add two models. 32 Tank Brigade in Tobruck had around 69 Matilda (one btn + one coy) but also 10 Valentines, around 30 Cruisers of various makes and 19 Mk VI lights. Mk VI lights also accompanied 1 TB - I have not got around to these yet. I therefore added a third Valentine model for 32 TB.

The models were a mixture - an Italeri kit, complete with hard plastic tracks including individual links (!), a PSC fast build and an old Armourfast quick build.

The Italeri kit was time consuming but went together well, even the tracks which were difficult. The turret comes with internal turret basket detail - this resulted in yet more madness as I converted the figure supplied to sit inside this basket.....on reflection, I could have simply omitted these parts, but it turned into a fun little side project - I had to research the internal colour of Valentines - apparently aluminium until shortages meant white, before changing back to aluminium....I opted for the latter as an early model. 

You can just see his head through the turret hatch but it gives a good impression of how cramped the first turret version was - I mistakenly put him in the loader's position when I should have put him on the other side - the commander acted as loader - a separate AB figure will occupy what's left of the hatch.

The PSC version was a reasonable build; the parts went together. The hull with side skirts moulded on looked too wide and they were very thick. So I opted for the version without and filled the gap with plastic card and rod. A metal Besa barrel and some added bits and it was done.

Then the Armourfast model - a bit of an after thought this and almost abandoned. Like most Armourfast kits they are basic, have a very poor fit between track and hull and when finished are too wide and sit too high! Lots of remedial work was done with bits of sprue to add detail behind the wheels and to better attach tracks to hull. Further detailing was attempted with various left-over bits and like the others, a metal flimsy rack was added to the hull. The hatch was left open and I'm hoping a crew figure plus lots of stowage help distract from the absence of detail!

 

I worked on them almost like in a real workshop with tanks in various stages of completion - it did make me think about my maternal Grandfather who worked at Vickers in Elswick during the war (he had been in the RFC as groundcrew in WW1) - I regret not asking him what he worked on. After completion, I divided them up for the two tank brigades.

1 Army Tank Brigade (needs a MkVIc adding)

32 Army Tank Brigade in Tobruck (needs a Cruiser - probably A10 and |MkVIB light)

I may add the missing tanks (a couple of MkVI lights and an A13 to swap out one of the A10s done earlier) but I also want to splash some paint on the Indians and also there's another Soldier King army to do.....

Problem children - Indians & Honeys-modelling madness part 2

The title refers firstly to the discovery that the Indians I had primed needed some remedial Greenstuff work and unfortunately, the primer on the bases had started to peel...

After the Greenstuff, they received some PVA with white acrylic watered down - fingers crossed it seems to have taken.

 

While I was at it, I carved about and swapped some heads with the Atlantic Indians - they will probably become 3rd Indian Motor Brigade...

I also did some more from the Strelets box but have not yet primed them.

While the peeling paint tested the patience, it was nothing compared to what followed....

I first tackled the IBG / World at War A10 Close Support cruiser - a relatively smooth build only handicapped by a small part pinging off and an inability to find the razor foil I had used on the other A10 - after a frustrating and fruitless search, I ordered some brass mesh.

The only problem was having to rely on a PDF set of instructions for the A10 cruiser 2 pdr version - there were some differences, but nothing too challenging; I even found a replacement box....

Putting the A10 to one side, I started  the Mirage Honey.....

It is said that the name "Honey" was given to the M3 by a British driver testing one of the first vehicles...."It's a honey sir"

All I can say is that I cannot say the same about any of the 1:72 M3 Honeys I have built!😠

It would be fair to say, this was a "challenging" build.....while a plastic kit, it comes with not only photo-etched brass parts but also 3d printed resin....

The first problem was that many of the parts were so thin and tiny, despite care, they broke an removing from the sprue. The instructions were....well interesting and not always very helpful, but I followed as best as I could. The wheel assemblies while detailed were unnecessarily complicated and again, when removing I broke one of the "arms" connecting the wheels.

I progressed to the tracks - two options were provided; rubber band type and 3D printed. After the Hasegawa model, I opted for the 3D printed tracks. They had to be removed from the supports - what I didn't realise was they also had support material between the teeth across the tracks....

This led to some problems getting them around the wheels and needed a lot of work to get them to fit.....disaster! One of the flimsy wheel assemblies broke and it and a road wheel disappeared never to be seen again.....(I did however find the part from the A10 that had been lost!)

I also discovered, that all the fine parts (MG , light brackets) fitted as per instructions had broken in my struggle to fit the tracks and the tension had detached one of the rear wheels.....

At this stage, it all went back in the box and I packed in for the weekend.....😠

The following week, I dug out a 1/87 Sherman wheel of roughly the correct size and repaired the missing  wheel. Again, back in the box to await this weekend when I finished the repairs and built the rest of the model. The turret was a nightmare; a long scored piece of plastic to fold for the side, separate top and turret parts, none of which, it has to be said fitted very well......

I also found it simply sat on the hull. No key or peg to hold it in place. As I had not fitted the front visor and driver hatch plate, much of the inside was visible. It was at this point that the insanity took over....😕

I decided to fit a driver and somehow replicate the internal turret basket which would be just visible through the driver hatch......😛

Repaired wheel (front|)

Turret fettling a steel washer and some cut about plastic tube...

Driver - the 3D printed figure supplied cut about into a sitting driver in the early US crash helmet...

Can you see me?

Not finished with me, you can see one of the brass straps which pinged off and had to be replaced...

The A10 was finished once the mesh arrived - early cruisers had an exhaust guard

The missing box was replaced

And in all it's clunky goodness....in two minds whether to fit the auxiliary fuel tank on front fender

I then moved on to the IBG Crusader 1 CS version - some PE parts...

All in all a reasonable quick build, with some (IMHO) unnecessary complex separate parts. Only problem was on fitting the PE brass part side skirts, I discovered that the instructions were wrong....you are provided with 3x sets of fenders - presumably for the different versions made - and there are spare redundant parts such as the 2pdr barrel. It was only when I fitted the side skirts, I realised the suggested part was in fact wrong - it was another of the supplied fenders as it lacked the detail on the front corner. I resorted to removing the corner from another set and thinning it down - I couldn't face removing and replacing.....

Here they all are with some AB crew figures  to see how they will look...

Troublesome Crusader 

I then dug out the other models t see how they matched.

7th Armoured Brigade with its mixture of Cruisers and Crusaders....

22nd Armoured Brigade County of London and Gloucestershire Yeomanry in Crusaders

4th Armoured Brigade - Honeys

Spot the drivers!

You will note the disparity between the Hasegawa and Mirage models although both they and the PSC are all supposed to be 1/72 scale......

Comparisons

Honeys front top Hasegawa, front bottom Mirage, rear Plastic Soldier Company

It may be a case of "that one is far away".....😂

Crusaders  L to R Armourfast, IBG, Airfix, S-Model

Side

May take a rest from modelling for a bit!