In a bout of nostalgia and inspired by my mate Jocke's blog posts about his Normandie trip, I decided to kick off my summer holiday by building the old Matchbox Churchill AVRE in 1:76 scale. This is of course the re-released version by Revell. It comes with a folding girder bridge but I decided to build it without the bridge, as I don't think I will be playing many bridge-laying scenarios.
British steel in form of the Churchill AVRE close support tank.
AVRE stands for "Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers" and was a collective name for a number of variants used by engineers for various purposes. This version carries a 290mm petard mortar for demolishing bunkers and strongholds. Just what I need for Chain of Command. (But of course I can use it in IABSM too or any other WW2 game.)
In Sweden everyone is celebrating the midsummer solstice today by dancing naked around a phallic summer idol, consuming alcohol, mushrooms and copulating in the woods. Just like in ancient Viking times.
At least I wish it was so.
In reality we do dance around something vaguely phallic-shaped, although you have to have a dirty imagination to really see it. And while it is a fertility symbol it's mostly for children and everyone have clothes on. Although it is true that a lot of people get drunk and a lot of babies are born nine months from this weekend.
Swedish midsummer according to the germans (sure it's a commercial made for IKEA, but it's made for a german target audience and panders the myths I think):
Swedish midsummer according to the british:
There are some truth in both clips but you have to come here to find out for yourself.
Instead of staying out partying me and my family went to visit my wife's parents today for a quiet dinner instead. There my father in law presented me with a bag of Revell boxes as a nice surprise!
A Stummel! I have been thinking of buying this myself. Now I don't have to!
I have been helping him a bit with his computer. He's a real die-hard computer gamer but he's not so well versed setting everything up, especially not the home network, and occasionally he gets stuck at a point in a game. It's something I gladly do since he's a real nice guy and we both like to play games. Last time I visited I showed him my blog and he was curious -- he's interested in WW2 as well, allthough he doesn't build models -- but I didn't think more of it.
And some troops! Reinforcements are always welcome.
Turns out he wanted to say thanks for all the help. Although it wasn't needed I was genuinely thankful for the gifts. Now I just have to fit these into my current projects... oh dear...
My thanks to Lennart, who tipped me off about this.
What self-respecting Viking sets out on a raid without his trusty long-ship? Or dragon-ship as the characteristic flatbottomed boats also were called, at least according to popular belief. Well, since most of the raiding was far away and the fastest way to go was by boat, the answer is no one! So I just had to get me one of these babies for my Viking Warband for Saga.
It's a plastic model. Scientists think Real Vikings probably used wooden boats instead.
There have been some bad news regarding our planned LRDG game. The convention we were supposed to be playing at will probably be cancelled. While there are other conventions in our general area they are all too early in time, so our planning is all off. We will probably be hosting a game at one of them, but it will not be the LRDG game. So there's a bit of conundrum for us: firstly we all have invested some time, and not a little amount of money buying stuff for the game. In my case I have bought a Caproni bomber model as well as some italian figures and a staff vehicle from SHQ. Secondly, we have to figure out (pardon the pun) a suitable scenario and prepare the forces needen, in a short time. Therefore we have to do something eastern front since we have a lot of suitable terrain and large german and soviet forces. However our gimmick is to play a battle from 70 years ago, so this year we have to do something that happened in 1942. Most of our stuff will still be usable so there will be a minimum of investment in new stuff. Although those long-barreled Panzer F2 do look very tempting... yes, a platoon of those will do. Just a small one though...
All this mean that my motivation for working on the LRDG project has been quite low. I still plan to finish it and we will probably playing a small game on our own, but it's more work than fun now, sadly. Since I sort of ran out of steam I haven't finished allt the vehicles, but I thought I would show what I have done so far.
The harsh contrasts of the chipping has been muted by MIG Pigments.
Finally the Coat d'Arms paintset I ordered from Maelstrom Games arrived, so I could continue painting the LRDG vehicles. I ordered the WW2 British set, along with a box of Plastic Soldier Company brits, since I will be returning to Normandy after this project. By pure chance it contained a Desert Yellow that nearly matches the Vallejo paint I needed, but couldn't find. Close enough!
So I started to paint the jeep to try out the paints and a suitable method. It is nearly finished now.
Been working some more on the LRDG project. The paint conundrum is not yet solved, but there might be some hope on the horizon. There are two possible solutions, of which the first is easiest, but might not work.
I have recently ordered Coat d'Arms' British WW2 Paint Set, along with a set of Plastic Soldier Company's british figures. I ordered it about a month ago, but my order has been delayed as some other items were out of stock. Maelstrom Games have now split the order and I'm hoping to get the figures and the paint set soon. By coincidence, the paint set contains a colour named "Desert Yellow". Coat d'Arms wasn't listed in the Vallejo conversion charts, so there is a chance that it will match, and if so your Mom's brother is called Robert.
The other solution is a bit trickier but less reliant on luck. Jocke sent me a printed colour chart for Vallejo, so I can try and mix my own Desert Yellow paint. Harder, but it should be possible to at least get a decent match.
Meanwhile I have been busy painting and building. Some WIP shots behind the break:
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:
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.
På forumet "the Wargamers' Guild" har man en s.k. speed-build, d.v.s. man ska på en kort tid bygga och måla något figurspelsrelaterat enligt ett visst tema. Den här gången ska man bygga något med vingar, och jag tog tillfället i akt att börja på min Focke Wulf 190 från Revell som jag har haft liggande ett tag.
Kroppen och vingarna monterade. Cockpit är grundmålad.
Jag skar loss höjdrodren från den ena bakvingen...
...för att få den "artikulerad", d.v.s. i annat läge än för rak flygning.
Notera skillnaden...
Landningsställen monterade, men det är något som inte stämmer...
....det lutar! Jag har faktiskt tänkt göra planet nödlandat som en bit terräng.
Alla detaljer färdigmonterade och målningsarbetet kan börja.
Det var länge sedan jag byggde ett flygplan, men det ska väl gå. Vi får se, deadline är midnatt 2:a januari...
