1 Month Review

Two posts in one day! Anyway, I thought that this would be a good time to review my original plans and see how I was progressing.

The original plan looked something like this:

Part 1 - Soviet Armour
Part 2 - Soviet Troops
Part 3 - Second RAF Harrier GR.3
Part 4 - RAF Ground Crew, RAF pilots, RAF Regiment
Part 5 - British Armour
Part 6 - 1980's British SAS
Part 7 - West German Armour
Part 8 - West German Troops

The aim was to have as much of this finished by August this year.

My Progress Report

Part 1 - Soviet Armour - Finished (except 1 ACE Models Kit Aaarrgghh!)
Part 2 - Soviet Troops - 80% Finished (have 12 more lined up to paint)
Part 3 - Second RAF Harrier GR.3 - Finally purchased (90% built - waiting to be painted - this weekend maybe)
Part 4 - RAF Ground Crew, RAF pilots, RAF Regiment - Finished (need to finalise bases and photograph this weekend)
Part 5 - British Armour - Built only
Part 6 - 1980's British SAS - Finished (apart from the sniper and the spotter - this weekend)
Part 7 - West German Armour - Built only
Part 8 - West German Troops - Undercoated (I broke one of the little guys, much to my horror. He has now been pinned to his base.)

So all-in-all I'm very happy with my progress to date. I have a tractor and some bomb trolleys to paint as well - I need to get my grubby little hands on some 1/72nd scale laser guided bombs.

Having fun

Richard

Some SAS Video links...

According to wikipedia:

For much of the Cold War 21 SAS's role was to provide stay-behind parties in the event of a Warsaw Pact invasion of western Europe (as part of the Corps Patrol Unit alongside 23 SAS and The Honourable Artillery Company).

I didn't add any video links in the previous SAS post - but I had seen some on Youtube. So these relate to the SAS in the Falkland's War so are not totally relevant - but the uniform's etc are all the same.

So without further ado...







Here are some links to some Weaponology episdoes on the SAS - a bit OTT but it has some interesting stuff anyway:











These ones are from the excellent SAS Heroes Show - recently shown on BBC Knowledge in Oz - this one is on the Iranian Embassy Raid in 1980:











That's probably enough for now...

Have fun

Richard

SAS Stay-Behind-Team

But wait – there’s more… (a long one sorry)

For a bit of a change the next completed Cold War hot figure project was my Liberation Falklands era British SAS figures. I totally love these guys, all equipped with CAR-15’s, M16’s, M16/M203’s, GPMG’s and Bren guns.

Duane at Syr Hobbes Wargames sent them to me at home in Oz after I stuffed him around in the States – sorry about that Duane!

Only chaps I don’t totally love are a couple of figures with balaclavas on. Probably just because I like faces, for some reason. So in my initial run, I left those ones out – also a lovely GPMG figure, just because he didn’t fit into the force I was doing.

I made up a couple of heavy weapons teams by basing a prone GPMG gunner with a kneeling chap with an M16 and a Milan team, taking a standard British Milan team and simply doing a head swap. I now have a couple of Iraqi civilians walking around headless. I was also able to take one of the spare British heads, cut away the face and glue the helmet onto one of my Warrior MCV, next to the beret wearing Commander.

I’ve written some scenario’s for Ambush Alley Games – which hopefully will be published soonish. Without giving too much away one of the forces is an SAS stay-behind-team. Years ago I read about this in a novel – I think it was called “Chieftain” and it was a Cold War fictional battle story – along the same lines as “Red Storm Rising” and “Team Yankee” – but focused on the British. One of the story lines was about an SAS stay-behind-team and I have been intrigued by this ever since.

So when I got the opportunity to write some “SpecOps” type missions for AAG – it had to include a mission for such a team.

Here’s some useful reference pictures I found of British DPM:











My aim was to have them look like this:



This image was taken from “The Falkland’s War” Magazine – I think the only magazine collection that I ever managed to get every one of.

PAINTING

My biggest concern here was painting the British DPM and I don’t think I got it down pat personally. I’ve written down the colours I used this time round, but I think I would change a couple when I do more. My colours and scheme ended up looking more like US Woodlands than British colours. Again these were painted using more of what I would call – a traditional method – no fancy ‘Dip” here!

1. Black Undercoat – Citadel Spray
2. Non DPM Uniform – On the figures with hooded jackets I used Vallejo Reflective Green. Also used this on the trousers of a random selection of troops.
3. DPM Uniform – Base colour – Vallejo Luftwaffe Cam Green. Beige colour – Vallejo German Cam Beige. Brown colour – Vallejo Cam Medium Brown. Black Colour – Citadel Chaos Black. Only the base colour was painted before the magic wash.

When I do it again I think I need to have a more yellow beige colour – perhaps Vallejo Beige and a brighter brown colour – perhaps Vallejo Beige Brown.

4. Woolie hats – Chaos Black, drybrush with Vallejo Black Grey and then Vallejo Neutral Grey
5. Flesh - Vallejo Flat Flesh, washed with Citadel Orgyn
6. Webbing & Pouches - Vallejo Green Grey
7. Wood - Vallejo Beige Brown
8. Weapon's metalwork - Vallejo Black Grey, highlight with Vallejo Neutral grey. Green stripes with Vallejo Russian Green.
9. The whole figure (excluding flesh) was washed with a Black magic wash
10. Highlight pretty much everything with original colours (in this case I even highlighted the faces or hands – I wanted them to look a little better than my Russian stuff)
11. At this point I painted the DPM pattern over the highlighted DPM base uniform colour.
12. Hair - I used a variety of base colours on the hair, and I've got to say I'm pretty happy with how the straw/blond guys came out. One looks particularly Saxon!

Here are some pictures of the completed figures:


Rupert - the Team CO (CAR-15)


Troopers with M16's


More Troopers with M16's


Troopers with M16/M203's



Troopers with Bren Guns



GPMG Team




Milan Team

That's all for this week probably. I have an SAS Sniper in a Ghillie Suit (a gift from Leigh) and I'll be using a Trooper in a Balaclava armed with a M16/M203 as his spotter (on two normal sized bases rather than a Weapon's team base). They are on the paint list - but I have another project that will be completed before they are.

More on that later....

Have fun

Richard

Slightly out of my timeframe...

Even though this is pretty modern - like happening right now - the interesting Cold War like East vs West connotations of this youtube clip on the Russian built Club-K Container Missile System were to good not to post here.

Have a look and see for yourself what I mean:



Whenever I stumble over something like this, I'll post it up on the blog as part of my overall goal of keeping it for reference material as well as wargaming pictures...

Have fun

Richard

VDV Goodness...

Okay – on with the show…

The next completed Cold War hot figure project was my Liberation Soviet VDV paratroopers and some Motorised Rifle troops – all in one piece KLMK camouflage uniforms. Once again I got this whilst holidaying in the States with the help of Duane at Syr Hobbes Wargames.

I borrowed this from Wikipedia:

Kamuflirovannyy Letniy Maskirovochnyy Kombinezon or KLMK (means Camouflage Summer Deceptive Coverall) was developed in the 1960s by the Union Soviet to overcome the widespread use of night vision optics and devices by NATO countries. This one piece camouflage suit was soon to become one of the most widespread used and revered devices out of the Soviet Union.

This piece of camouflage was first tested in 1968, and finally given to the Red Army in 1969. It is produced to this day.

It was issued by the Soviet Union, and currently the Russian Federation. It is also seen in some conflicts around the world, and by some Eastern Bloc countries.
Soviet forces saw the odd looking but effective new camouflage as strikingly odd. The patterns on it sometimes resembled the colossal ears of a bunny rabbit, and the look of sunlight on the forest floor. That is how many Soviet soldiers referred to its new slang name (sun bunnies).

Here’s some useful reference pictures I found:







My aim was to have them look like this:



and this:



These images were taken from Osprey’s Elite Book 5 “Soviet Bloc Elite Forces” which again I bought years ago and the previously mentioned "Inside the Soviet Army".

PAINTING

I wrote down the colours I used as I knew I would have to come back at a later date and do many, many more. They were painted using more of what I would call – a traditional method – no fancy ‘Dip” here!

1. Black Undercoat – Citadel Spray
2. Uniform – 2/3 Vallejo Reflective Green 1/3 Vallejo SS Cam Bright Green
3. Beret - Citadel Hideous Blue
4. Helmet - Vallejo Russian Uniform
5. Flesh - Vallejo Flat Flesh
6. Webbing - Vallejo Flat Earth
7. Pouches - Vallejo Green Grey
8. Wood - Vallejo Beige Brown
9. Weapon's metalwork - Vallejo Gunmetal Grey
10. Wash the whole figure (excluding flesh) with Black magic wash
11. Wash flesh with Citadel Orgyn Flesh Wash
12. Highlight pretty much everything with original colours (I didn't bother with faces or hands)
13. Cam dots and patterns - Vallejo Iraqi Sand
14. Beret badge - Vallejo Brass & Citadel Blood Red

Here are some pictures of the completed figures:


Officer (or NCO) and Signaller


Paratroopers armed with AK's


Paratroopers armed with RPK-74's


Paratroopers armed with RPG's


Paratroopers armed with PKM's


Paratrooper Sniper


Troops armed with PKM's


Troops armed with AK-74?BG-15 Grenade launcher's



An AGS-17 Automatic Grenade Launcher team

That's probably long enough for now.

Have fun

Richard

Look what I picked up!!!!

Regular progress will continue after this short announcement...

The other night Leigh Neville and I played a Force-on-Force game down at EMIRS. I've written up a report on the "Ambush Alley Forum" and on "The Guild" (they're exactly the same) and will add it to this blog in due course.

While there a couple of club members were selling some goodies. From my mate Greg I picked up 2 Revell Panthers and a Panzer IV (for some other as yet not thought through project). Kevin was also selling some stuff and from him I grabbed these:



I'm pretty sure these are quite rare. I'm 100% sure that these M901's are my all time favourite Cold War vehicle. Sure, tons of stuff were heaps better, but for fugly functionality you just can't go past a Hammerhead.

One box was opened, while the other was still in its shrink wrap.

To top it off I had a little sticky beak in the opened one last night and discovered that there were parts for two M901's in there. A couple of bits are missing - pretty big bits like a hull and a chassis - but I'm hoping I can just use and Airfix or Trumpeter M113 to replace those parts.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

So I'm dead chufffed and can't wait to put these together.

Having fun

Richard

Soviet Motorised Rifle Troops

Alrighty - time for another post.

The first completed Cold War Hot figure project was my Liberation Soviet Motorised Rifle Troops. I had managed to get 2 x RMRAKH from Duane at Syr Hobbs wargames as well as 1 x MULT20RPG, which Duane helpfully pointed out would fit in nicely with the standard MTR troops. I wish I had realised it, because I would have picked up a few guys with RPKs, PKMGs, and AK-74/BG15s as well. Oh well - next time.

My aim was to have them look like this:



This image is taken from Osprey's "Inside the Soviet Army" which I bought back in my Twilight:2000 days. I love the art in these books and they were very handy when it came time to paint up my MTR troops.

PAINTING

This is from memory - so I may have to come back later and change it... I first tested a quick scheme on some old GW 40K Mordian Iron Guard. It looked OK so I went with.

1. White Undercoat - Citadel spray
2. Uniform - Vallejo Khaki
3. Boots & Guns - Citadel Black
4. Webbing - Vallejo Flat Earth
5. Pouches & Bags - Vallejo Green Grey
6. Faces and Hands - Vallejo Flat Flesh
7. Helmets - Vallejo Russian Uniform
8. Woodwork on Guns & RPG - Vallejo Beige Brown
9. Metalwork on Guns & RPG - Vallejo Gunmetal Grey
10. RPG missiles - Vallejo Russian Green
11. Shoulder Boards etc - Citadel Blood Red
12. Bases - Vallejo Flat Earth

This was all the base colours finished. Then - for the first time ever - I used the Army Painter Strong Tone Dip. having read a bit about it, I decided not to dip, and instead painted on the dip with an old (now dedicated to dip) brush. I tried, relatively successfully, to brush off the excess dip.

I left the figures to dry overnight.

Next day I drybrushed the bases with Vallejo Khaki and glued on some Silfor tufts and sprayed the whole lot with Testors Dullcote.

This is the result:





RMRAKH


MULT20RPG




The whole lot!


Sorry for a couple of dodgy photos there!

Here are a couple of useful reference links from good old wikipedia - useful for painting as well.

The AK-74

The RPK-74

The PKM

BG-15 Grenade Launcher

No youtube links here I'm afraid - if I stumble across any I'll come back and add in here.

Have fun

Richard
RPG-7

Revell T-80

Well - time for a new post.

I've been hard at work on my Cold War Hot project and am actually a little ahead of my postings here. I do have a slightly more up to date W-I-P thread on the Guild here

My Guild Post

And I'll be trying to put up my completed stuff on the Ambush Alley Forum in the Figure Gallery

Look for RichardC

So onto the T-80. Here is my standard wikipedia:

T-80

REVIEW

So far I've only managed to pick up 2 of these beauties. I need at least one more of them to a correctly sized platoon.

Both of these kits went together relatively simply. They are much less finicky (if that's a word) than the T-72 kit. Pretty much everything is chunkier and simpler. The 12.7mm AA MG is much heavier looking, much less likely to break and can only be placed in one, forward firing, position.

The tracks look much simpler as well. Because I'm a bit of a gumbie when it comes to putting together kits, I stuffed up the tracks a bit, but that is nicely covered by the track guards!

I built both kits at the same time - which seemed to make the whole job much easier. Unlike the T-72's, which I left in about 3 peices for painting, I glued the hull to the tracks on these ones and painted it all in one go.

PAINTING

Not much to say here as these guys were painted at the same time as the T-72's in exactly the same. So it's probably best to jump straight to the pictures:







Here are my manditory youtube links...









Here's a video review and how-to for the Revell T-80 Kit...



Have fun

Richard

Revell T-72

Okay - on with the Soviet Armour show. The first Revell kit I picked up for this project - probably about a year ago - was a Russian T-72. It also became the first kit I had put together since I was about 12 or 13 years old. After years of fiddling around with 40K kits or Flames of war vehicles - where you complain if it has more than 10 parts - opening a Revell kit was a bit of a mind boggling experience.

Anyway - here is a link to the wikipedia page on T-72 tanks

T-72

REVIEW

I have to say I was very impressed - once I got the nerve to give it a go. It all fitted together very nicely, even the tracks - which as much as I hate them - look really, and arn't that hard to do - unless, like me, you get a bit cocky and don't do it properly. Thank goodness for track fenders (or whatever they are called) that can cover up my mistakes!

I'm not sure how "Wargamer Friendly" these kits will turn out to be. The turrets are crammed with boxes, smoke launchers etc, and some of them are only minimally attached to the turret. During the painting process a number of boxes were knocked off, and I had to paint them seperately and then glue them back onto the tank. Only careful handling (and transport - which I kind of dread) will keep them safe.

I found the 12.7mm dushkas quite hard to get off the sprue and then even more hard to clean, so some look a bit bent. Just need to be patient.

With my complete lack of modelling knowledge - and rating it strictly on fun and ease of build - I'd give the Revell T-72 a solid 8/10.

PAINTING

The T-72's were painted using the same colours and techniques as other Soviet kit. FoW Warpaint "Soviet Armour" spray, Citadel "Babab black" wash, then Vallejo Russian Green, faded up. Finally I again used Tamiya pastels to weather the tanks a little.

Tracks are German Grey, with a black wash and a rust wash mixed with Citadel "Orygn Flesh" wash and then hihlighted a little.

Mantlet covers as per the Forces of Valor tanks below.

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I guess I do need to go back and paint the tow cables though. One day...







Well some of my links work and some don't - I'll endeavour to discover why.

Here are some useful Youtube clips:













Have fun

Richard

Cold War British - Work-in-Progress

This is my other main Cold War Hot force. I do have Americans as well - but they will never pass muster with the rivet counting crowd and I won't be showing them on this blog - unless I really really like the way they eventually turn out!

I must admit I'm a bit of an anglophile (I guess) and have always loved some of the coolest kit in the British Army or the era. So when "The Tank Collection Magazine" started up in Oz, and the second issue was the Challenger Mk I, I decided that I these would be the perfect start to my Cold War Hot British force. I only needed a couple (or 3 actually). A month or so later and a Chieftan came out and I had to get a couple of those as well.



I always knew that I would need to repaint the Challengers as they can only be described as garish - but I was resisting painting the Chieftans - however, after a bit of a chat with the guys on the Guild and the AAG forum, I decided that they will all need repainting. Thanks guys!

The remainder of my Cold War Hot British armour is a couple of Revell Warrior MCV and 3 Britannia FV432 APCs. I was lucky enough to stumble across a Warrior at a Hobbytown USA store in Seattle and then got another from a chap on the Guild. I can't remember seeing a Warrior MCV in a shop in Sydney for years. I think they are out of production.

Each Britannia FV432 comes with a driver poking his head out of the driver's hatch and an open Commander's position, a metal commander and a hatch. One of the APCs has the rear hatch open, and comes with 2 squaddies - 1 with an SLR, and the other with a GPMG. Both very nice figures. I closed the hatch on 1 432, and used the commander of that vehicle as the commander of a Warrior.



Finally - here is a selection of Airfix airfield guards, ground crews and pilots - from their NATO Ground Crew box.



These are for a special (currently secret) little project of mine.

I also have some Liberation SAS Falklands era figures (for another secret project) - but these have not been based - so not photographed.

Have fun

Richard