Back to the BAOR - Objective Complete

Here we go with another completed little side project - done really just to do something a little bit different.  Eventually I'd love to have a set of themed objective markers, and I had to start somewhere, so why not with a damaged Cromwell Models FV432.

Here it is:

And now the separate components:

The FV432 - showing the damage to the model.  I tried to make it look burnt out - not sure if it really shows up in this pic.

And the base:

And that's it!

Don't worry though - the next post will be another WIP!

Thanks

Richard

BAOR Objective - Work-in-Progress Part 3

Merry Christmas everyone and Happy 2017!  This will be my last post for 2016, another year gone by.

Today is another short W-I-P post, with the first part of this miscast Cromwell Models FV432 shown back here and the second part here.  No super progress on the vehicle as you can see here:

I tried to add tracks to the front and back of the FV432 to show how they have rolled off, but I was not happy with the look so attempted to chop them off again... (you can see some remnants on the back wheel)

So I added a base:

The base is definitely still a W-I-P.  It's nowhere near as yellow as the picture shows and hopefully I'll finish it before the new year, but we'll see.  As usual some other things have floated to the top of the pile.

So that's it for 2016.  Another year I am glad to see over - I have my fingers crossed for next year.

Take care

Richard

Cromwell Models FV433 Abbot

Sorry - I was meant to post these last week but we had an unplanned water feature in our lounge room (i.e. two leaking showers) so I've had to rearrange my life for a month or so as we get two new bathrooms.  Hence my delay in posting.  But enough of the excuses and onto the models!

So here are a couple of finished (without crew) Cromwell FV433 Abbot Self-Propelled-Guns:

Once again what you'd expect from Cromwell - beautiful models, loads of detail, little effort to put together.  Can't ask for much more than that.

Thanks

Richard

Cromwell CVR(T) Spartan

Time for another quick update from my "Back to the BAOR" mini-project.  Today I'll be showing you a Cromwell Models CVR(T) Spartan I found in the bring 'n buy at Cancon last year.  Less than a year from buy to build - almost a record for me!

As you would think from Cromwell, this is a beautiful model - all hatches with the ability to be open or closed, lovely detail, no bubbles - all-in-all, pretty much a prefect model.

I hope I can do it some justice:

So that's the model completed.  I still have to crew it - so I'll be getting some crew figures from Friendship Models I think - and it will at some stage need to be dirtied up - but that's for another day.

Thanks

Richard

Back to the BAOR - Work-in-Progress - Part 2

Quick update with a couple more photos.  Firstly a look at the FV438s with their cam netting:

And then a couple of steps later.  All vehicles have been sprayed black, then had blu-tac stripes added and sprayed with Battlefront Firefly Green spray.  The blu-tac was then removed and the vehicles black lined.

From here I'll be working on each of the vehicles somewhat individually (or at least a couple at a time).  I'll be focussing on the FV438s first to finish them in time for a game.

Thanks for looking

Richard

Back to the BAOR - Work-In-Progress - Part 1

I've got a few days off - so I thought I'd try and knock over a few different bits and peices I've had half started for a while now - or I just decided to push them to the front of the queue.
Here's a quick view of the start of this little Work-In-Progress.  First up - a miscast Cromwell FV432:

I've added the missing hatches and cleaned of some of the miscast track pieces.  This will serve as either an objective or just a bit of battlefield clutter.

Second - a couple of Cromwell FV433 Abbot Self-propelled Guns:

I did one with all hatches open and the other all closed - for the hell of it really...

Third - a Cromwell Spartan APC:

I have to admit I saw a picture a bit like this in the new Team Yankee - Iron Maiden book.  Now I have no idea whether or not You would have fired a Blowpipe/Javelin from inside a Spartan - but I thought it looked kind of cool - and it gave me a good excuse to model a Spartan with the roof hatches open.  I put the Elhiem Blowpipe/Javelin figure on a sabot - so I'll probably make another more "standard" infantry sabot as well.

Finally I have a pair of FV438 Swingfire Guided Missile Vehicle from S&S Models:

I've done a little work on these - the most difficult being removing the DD tank type screen that goes around the vehicle.  I beleive they were all removed anyway - and I didn't like the impact on the shape/vision of the standard FV432 hull the screen gives it on the S&S Model.

I think it looks heaps better removed, and anyway - I'm going to cover a fair amount of it up with a cam net.

That's it for Part 1 - Part 2 coming soon.

Thanks for looking

Richard

Post Cancon Cold War Stash Update

Cancon is Australia's largest wargaming convention held each year around this time in Canberra.  Many game systems have their National tournaments at Cancon and it attracts a pretty decent sized crowd and a fair amount of traders.

Ive been attending Cancon for many years now - firstly as a tournament player and now more of a relaxed shopper.  Its a great place to run into old friends quite randomly - which much to my delight happened again this year - and to catch some real bargains if you're lucky.

Sadly to me - my favourite trader could not make it this year - but my second favourite - Eureka Miniatures was there with the brilliant World War Two AB Figures range - so I was able to "finish" (Ha!) my miniatures purchases for my later WW2 Fallshirmjager and US Army forces.

No traders were really dealing in Cold War minis this year - so I was totally reliant on the randomness of the "Bring and Buy" 2nd hand stalls.

So here's what I managed to snag:

That's 2 Cromwell Model's Warrior MCVs and a Spartan APC and:

A Cromwell Model's PT-76 and ZSU-23-4!  Not exactly sure what I'm going to do with a 5th PT-76 but at the price I got it for I'm more than willing to spend some time thinking about it!

And finally:

S-MARS is not a brand I'd heard of - but for $5 I thought why not.  I had a bit of a look inside once I got home and it looks like a very decent, fast build T-80U.  Right up my alley.

So - well chuffed with my little adventure and its outcomes.  KPI's met for Cancon 2016!

Thanks

Richard

February is FV432 month!

True madness has struck and I am now the proud owner of 16 FV432s and 1 FV434.  Together they look a bit like this:

 and this

Now the majority of them are Britannia Miniatures, quite a few of which I recently got through Wartime Miniatures here in Oz.  Mathew very nicely ordered them in for me - at a very reasonable price.  Two of the unpainted FV432's are simply quite beautiful Cromwell Models, as is the painted FV434.  Finally 1 of the FV432s - the smaller 1 right up the back, comes from an unknown brand - I picked it up at the Cancon Bring 'n Buy. 

So I have a few to fix, stow and paint.  I also have 4 S&S Peak Engineering Turrets on order, and hopefully they will arrive before the end of February.

First task was to remove the massive chunk of resin from under the Cromwell 432's tracks.  A tedious and boring job - hence no pics.

Next task was to deal with the second of two things I don't really like about the Britannia 432's.  The first is the air bubbles, but I'll save those for later.  All Britannia 432's are meant to have the driver and his hatch look like this:

A good looking chap with a nice 1980's moustache.  I actually prefer metal hatches and half figures, that allow you to either have the hatch closed or open.

Some of my 432's came like this:

The chap's head has been broken off!  In the past I've fixed this by simply pining on another head.  But I wanted to try something different this time.  A little work later and it looked like this:

A bit more (well a lot more) and it looks like this:

Not perfect I know, but good enough for someone with my limited skills.  I jusy now need to add a new plastic card hatch and my refurbed driver's position will be complete.

That's all for now

Richard

BAOR Brigade HQ

So - here is the final pics of my BAOR Brigade HQ with a newly painted B.W. Models Land Rover parked outside a Pola Brickworks.

Variant 1

And Variant 2 - with an added Cromwell Models Sultan

So there it is.  Not 100% sure how I'll end up using it in a game - but glad it's finished and is a reasonable representation of what I was trying to achieve.

Thanks

Richard

Cromwell Models Chieftain Mk 5 ARV

Well, that week (my first back at work) has just spun by, and this is my first chance to update the blog.  This week I've got some more pics of my Cromwell Models Chieftain Mk 5 Armoured Recovery Vehicle.


According to the web, the Chieftain ARV was manufactured by Vickers at Elswick and was based on the chassis of the Mk 5 Chieftain MBT. The main double-capstan winch with electrohydraulic controls is provided with 122 m of 28 mm diameter cable. The similar auxiliary winch is hydraulically operated and provided with 260 m of 11 mm diameter cable. Power for both winches is taken from a PTO on the main engine. Mounted at the front of the ARV is a hydraulically operated earth anchor which, when lowered, allows the vehicle to exert a pull of up to 90,000 kg.

The Chieftain ARV has a crew of four and a loaded weight of 56,000 kg. Armament consists of a cupola-mounted 7.62 mm machine gun and smoke grenade dischargers. In total, 257 ARVs were built at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, of this figure Iran ordered 73 (of which 41 were delivered) with Jordan taking a further 30 vehicles.

Review

This was a pretty nice resin model by Cromwell, for which the main problem I had was the fact that there were no instructions.  I was also missing at least 1 part - but that can be the nature of picking up models second hand.  Also like many resin kits the tracks were slightly bent, nothing a lot of very hot water couldn't deal with.

Like all cromwell models, I had to remove excess resin and this caused some problems with the tracks and I lost some track teeth.  The earth anchor also has excess resin, some of which I beleive would be next to impossible to remove, that that is for the most part unseen.

I had to create a new drivers hatch from scratch so don't look to closely at that!

Once I'd found a bunch of photos of someones very nice 1/35th equivalent kit online, it was relatively straight forward to work out what went where - and so for there the build and paint job was very easy.


So here is my version of the Chieftain Mk5 ARV:

and here is a comparison shot with a Altaya Chieftain Mk 5

OK - that's it for now

Have fun

Richard