Keep on trukkin'

My LRDG project continues. I managed to get a hold of the Revell LRDG/SAS set with Chevrolet 30cwt and Jeep. This kit is starting to get rare, and I had a bit of a scare when I couldn't locate a single one on eBay. So when I discovered that Bromma Hobby had one left in stock, I immediately ordered it and a Flak38 kit from Zvezda (in the heat of the moment). I have to recommend Bromma Hobby to anyone living in Sweden, their service was outstanding, my order arrived the very next day.

Unfortunately I had to restrain myself a couple of days before starting the kit. Some WIP pictures and comments on the kit behind the break:

Desert desserts.

Dang, I have been ill, some kind of flu. Not the regular influenza though, where you get to stay home from work but can still paint lots of figures and watch all those war movies that SWMBO doesn't like, but man flu. The kind that leaves you whishing you were dead, too knackered to even think straight. But as Nietsche said: That which doesn't kill you hurts like hell.

Anyway, I've recovered somewhat and was able to finish building my LRDG radio truck today.

The main parts assembled.

After I had glued the bed of the truck, the driving seat and the back of the driver's cabin to the chassis I noticed that the chassis was ever so slightly bent. It made the truck look like it had a "swank", but the glue had already hardened. That's the downside with resin kits, you have to use superglue and some things are not fixable after glueing.

The work continues. Phew, there are a gazillion parts.

The bottom of the truck. Lots parts here too.

The kit itself was very good, but the instructions were quite horrible. There were no numbers on the parts and you had to guess from the very simple drawing what some of the parts were. I made a lot of mistakes, like gluing what was probably supposed to be the radio antenna under the truck, thinking it was supposed to be the drive shaft. In the instructions the drive shaft was only a thin line, while the parts for the drive shaft had details on them which was why I thought they were for something else.

The finished truck with crew from SHQ pack DG2.

Nevertheless, the kit was fun to build and I think the result is quite good. The bent frame doesn't show up as much in the finished model with all the kit on. Overall the details were good, the only parts I found lacking were the Lewis guns, which really could have benefited from some better detailing. I ordered some crew from SHQ and they fit quite nicely.

Notice the varied gear of the crew: hats, pullovers, shorts, long trousers, berets, etc.

The only problem is the standing chap who is apparently firing a Browning. I'm not sure if I will fit a Browning or maybe a Vickers for him to use, or if I'm going to use him for another vehicle. I didn't want to put too many weapons on the truck as their positions will be decided by what crew figures I use in the end. As I mentioned earlier I plan to get the Matchbox/Revell LRDG set and maybe a jeep or another truck from SHQ and perhaps be able to switch around some of the figures and equipment between the different vehicles.

But who will manage the radio?

SHQ Pack DG1, LRDG Roadwatch

I also ordered some italians and another pack of LRDG to check out. I'm not sure how many dismounted figures we need for the game but I wanted to have a look at them anyway. I must say they look awefully nice, and I will probably order a pack of each code in the future.

Wee Friends "WWII Axis North Africa" -- really?

Earlier I ordered a pack of WWII axis north africa figures from Wee Friends. They had alternative heads so could be built as either germans or italians, wearing generic gear and clothing. However, I noticed one that looked decidedly british, so I will be using him for LRDG instead. 

All in all a successful project, now I just have to figure out how to paint the truck...  oh dear.

Pimp my ride, desert style.

Started work on some Marmon Herrington armoured cars from GHQ, for our Italian-British games set in the eastern desert in 1940, before Rommel and his DAK turns up. "South African Reconnaissance Vehicle Mk II Armored Car, Marmon-Herrington Mk II" is the official name.

The Marmon Herrington is a strange beast indeed. I had thought it was something like the Rolls Royce armoured cars that were more or less converted civilian models, but this was something more extraordinarily. Ford chassis were ordered from Canada that were then modified by Marmon Herrington in the US, before being shipped to South Africa where they fitted purpose-built armour plates and english weaponry to the cars.

This vehicle in dug-in position has aquired an extra Vickers for AA defense.

The first mark had a Vickers water-cooled HMG and a LMG (presumably a Bren), but the Mark II recieved a Boys AT-rifle instead of the Vickers, so it could put up a fight against other armoured cars. It was also stretched a little bit compared to mark I. Some thousand units were built of the first two marks. Mark III had a completely different shape to the armour and over two thousand where built, but for 1940 we want to use the Mark II.

Late versions of the Mark II had welded armour instead of riveted. Note the extra Vickers again!

The cars where heavily modified in the field, even to the extent of removing the turret and dropping in whatever gun you had lying about, welding a couple of steel plates to it as a gun shield!

A late Mark II with an italian Breda 20mm gun instead of the turret, outside Tobruk in 1941.

On to the models!

Drive the italians into the mediterranean!

I started with a basecoat of Vallejo Dark Sand. I then picked out the tires with dark grey (just anyone will do) and the caunter camo scheme with Vallejo Khaki and Vallejo German Fieldgrey lightened a little bit with Dark Sand.

One of the cars has a 47mm gun which the crew "found".

The entire models were then drybrushed with Vallejo Light sand, and finally given a light wash with GW Gryphonne Sepia.

Notice the tiny rivets!

I don't really know if the colours for the Caunter scheme are correct. It's hard to judge from B&W photographs, and I have seen pictures of models and illustrations in books that vary from light blue and dark grey stripes to dark green and light grey! But I think the models look good in it!

The crew of the center vehicle was quickly blockpainted with Vallejo Khaki and Flesh.

The models were mounted on square 20mm bases from Renedra. I nearly botched the basing, using Vallejo Basing gel and Mig Powder. At first the gel almost didn't take any colour from the pigments, so I added a little vallejo paint. Then it got too dark. So I dolloped the gel onto the bases and sprinkled pigments on them while they were still wet, hoping that the pigments would seep in and settle on top, but the powder just clumped together. Luckily, after drying the clumps could be brushed out with a soft brush, and then fixed with a pigment fixer.

Next up for painting are the Rolls Royce armoured cars, and I was clever enough to fix bases for them too while I was doing the bases for the Marmon Herringtons.

Shot down in a blaze of glory

So ok, new year, new posts, new projects. Hey, what's up with the language, BTW? Well, when I started this blog it was mainly for my own sake, to give myself a bit more incentive to finish stuff. Also it was for my Swedish gaming mates that live in another town so they could see what I was up to. But recently I have realized that I have readers from all over the globe, and that the non-swedes outnumber the swedes. I'm flattered. At first I thought that heck, online translations are quite good, and anyway most of you come here for the pictures. But why not write in English? The errors I make are hopefully fewer than the online translation programs make. At least I hope so. Any thoughts from you, my esteemed readers?

But enough of that, on to the pictures! I just completed the Revell Focke Wulf I started for the wings speed-build over at  the Wargamer's Guild forum and I thought you'd like to see it. I wanted to model the plane as emergency landed to be able to use it as a terrain piece for gaming. Either to break up lines of sight across an empty field, or just to bring some variation to the gameing table.

Poor little downed wolf, all shot up full with holes.

Well the pilot was able to walk from the wreckage, so the landing has to be classed as successful.

I wanted to give it an earthy, dusty look, as if it had plowed into the ground.

One of the landing gears failed to deploy, hence the rough landing.

A Games Workshop large blast template was used for the base.

Notice how the propeller has churned up a lot of dirt.

The kit was full of tiny decals like the red cross symbol for the first aid kit. I only used a handful of them.

The paint scheme and markings was more inspired by the two variants suggested in the kit.

Until next time. Take care.

2011 review

Jag noterar att en massa andra bloggare lägger upp summeringar av 2011, något jag egentligen hade tänkt undvika. Det är lite som att gå till tandläkaren, man vill inte veta hur mycket hål man har och vad det kommer att kosta att laga, men man måste gå. Alltså gör jag en årskrönika för 2011, och listar vilka projekt jag gjort klart, vilka som havererade och vilka som inte ens kom igång...