Over the weekend I managed to finish and photograph some tanks I completed as Task 2 of the 2012 Group Build on The Guild This consisted of a few Challengers and Chieftains. As I've already shown a Britannia Chieftain of mine previously - I thought I'd start out with the Challengers When the "Combat Tank Collection" magazine first started coming out - I guess a couple of years ago - I picked up 3 of their Challenger 1 tanks. They looked like this:
Reasonable models of the Challenger 1 - but UGLY! Deciding it was time to finally crack on with these I got myself a nifty special screwdriver from Spain that was supposed to fit the ridiculous triangular screws Altaya uses on its tanks - it of course didn't and I had to file it down. But once apart I was able to remove the tracks and spray the models black so I could start them afresh. I also added cam nets to all the storage bins on the models and changed the crappy commnader's MG with a Liberation Miniatures MG. I had in the meantime completed a Revell Challenger 1 (before they kindly reissued it) and was able to paint this at the same time.
So here they are: The 3 Tank Collection/Altaya models repainted A side on shot of the Revell kit
The revell Challenger is in front Thanks for looking
This week we are back into the Cold War with a couple of MMS BRDM-2 variants.
Firstly some good news on MMS. From what I understand a long time ago (in a galaxy far away) MMS used to make a pretty impresive array of Cold War vehicles. Some time ago they stopped. It seems they must have decided to concentrate on WW2 vehicles.
Luckily for me I have a friend who has a little stock of Cold War MMS vehicles that I am slowly buying off him. Some appear every now and again on ebay as well.
Now the good news: The Hobbyden has recently announced that they are taking over the MMS modern Range. It looks like , their main emphasis will be the Cold War and in particular their first releases will be focussed on the Soviets. Unlike the original MMS (at least what I have seen of it) all the stuff done by The Hobbyden will be produced in resin and metal - which means it will weigh a lot less for postage.
So that is really good news - The Hobbyden also has a range of stuff made by them that suits the Cold War - go check them out.
Okay - so onto my MMS BRDM-2 variants. Here's a wikipedia link with more information on the BRDM-2:
I can't really say too much here as i got both of these vehicles completely made up. Recently however, I did get a MMS BTRD in its original box - still in peices so I'll give a proper review of that one later. These are very heavy models and basically all I can say is that they look pretty damn good to me!
Painting
I simply painted these as I pretty much paint every Soviet bit of kit I have - so nothing new there.
So - on with the show. First up is a BRDM-2UM Command Vehicle
Its a pretty boring model - hence just the one photo - but it does the job I think.
Next up is a 9P148 Konkurs. I really like this one:
Again - pretty standard stuff but a lovely detailed little model.
Bottom line - keep an eye out for MMS releases from the Hobbyden and watch out on ebay - well worth it.
This is not exactly (well anything like) what I had intended on posting up this week....
Over the Easter long weekend The Guild hosted a speed build with the theme being "Prisoner". There were basically no limitations but it had to have at least 2 figures in it.
I looked through all my stuff, and the only "Prisoner" related stuff I could come up with came from this Revell soft plastic infantry box:
Three figures really suited what I had in mind - which was a prisoner (obviously) being lead by an armed soldier -
- to an officer like figure for questioning
(PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE EXCELLENT PLASTIC SOLDIER REVIEW WEBSITE)
Due to the nature of the German figures I decided to title my entry as "Person of Interest" - somewhere in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
So without further stalling - this is how it turned out:
That's all for now - hope you all had a great Easter break
Well it's been yonks and last night I finally got around to taking some pictures so now I can actually update the blog. I even took photos for next week too!
So - onto the Tracked Rapier. Since I was very young I was pretty fasinated with the Rapier. I guess I had seen loads of pics of them being deployed in the Falklands and thought the look pretty mean. Later when the British Army deployed a mobile version (the Tracked Rapier - obviously) I thought it had a real sci-fi look to it, and it took mean to a hole new level.
Anyway - if you want to find out more info on the Rapier Missile and the Tracked Rapier - you can look here
A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be given a completed Cromwell Tracked Rapier. It was a little worn, and had some odd decals and so I cleaned those off and re-undercoated the vehicle. I then masked it up and sprayed it with Battlefront Warpaint British Armour Spray. A few dry-brushed coats and a little detail painting and here is the finished product.
Here's a couple of youtube clips about the Tracked Rapier:
Old school Rapier battery - like the first one I saw in real life...
Recently I painted a KGN platoons worth of PSC German figures. I'm not a real fan of plastic 20mm (1/72nd scale) figures, but for the price I thought they were probably worth getting - even if just to bulk out forces centred around metal figures.
Anyway - I was more than just pleasantly surprised. Apart from a couple of chaps with horrid poses (which I simply ignored) I was basically impressed with the figures and some of the poses are excellent.
I also loved the ability with plastic to make some basic conversions such as changing arms or heads.
Moreover they were very easy to paint and I think came up pretty nicely.
The only other thing I think is a bit questionable about the figures is for some reason the gas mask cannister on each chap is wrapped in some kind of blanket or something. I've never seen this on another figure or can remember seeing it in pictures. Well, I'm not expert but this just struck me as being a bit odd.
Part 2 starts to show all of the elements of the Battlegroup as they advance towards the FEBA.
First up a lone Gazlle scouts ahead to make sure the road is clear:
He is closely followed by a pair of Lynx TOW armed helos - hunting bear:
The first of the ground vehicles are two troops of Scimitars operating together:
After the recce troops comes the main force. They are made up of the Company Commander, the 2IC, and two platoons all in Warrior MCVs:
The third Warrior platoon has obviously be tasked off elsewhere!
Closely following the main body are the support troops to this little battlegroup. First up is 1 troop and the platoon command vehicle of the Milan platoon:
They are followed by 1 troop from the mortar section, the mortar platoon command vehicle and the Mortar Foward Control vehicle:
Finally laging behind looking for stragglers are a couple of Landies (sadly not painted by me):
The 3 Tank Collection/Altaya models repainted 
A side on shot of the Revell kit 
Thanks for looking 
