Canadian M113 Platoon

 Today I was able to take some photos of the finished Canadian M113 Platoon - this time just the AFVs.  I'll jump straight into the photos.

Here's M113 No. 1.  Not exactly sure how the vehicle commander ended up looking quite so relaxed in the cupola - I hope I can fix that at some point in the future.  So No. 1 is an S-Model M113, with a variety of stowage including an old Airfix bicycle and an Elhiem .30 Cal.  The commander is from AB figures.

This M113 No. 2.  No. 2 is another S-Model M113, again with a variety of stowage, an Elhiem .30 Cal and an AB figures commander.

M113 No. 3 is a little bit different.  It is an old ESCI kit I made years ago and was going to be an American M113, but I needed just one more AFV to make up the platoon so the Canadians won out.  It to has a variety of stowage from different sources, AB Figures commander and driver and 2 Elhiem troopers riding in the back with the rear hatch opened.

M1113 No. 4 is a straight forward S-Model kit with no crew.  Nothing to exciting to add here...

Finally the obligatory group shots of the whole platoon.  I haven't totally decided which is the platoon commander's vehicle, but at the moment I'm gunning for M113 No. 2.  Each is unique enough that I will be able to note which squad is in which vehicle at the start of any game - which is always handy.

I tried a couple of different things on these vehicles.  I used Vallejo gloss and matt spray-can varnish on them.  Not 100% sold to be honest - but I'm willing to give them another go.

I also used 2 MiG Productions Oilbrushers on the vehicles.  I only have two colours - Dusty Earth (a light tan colour) and Starship Filth (a grey colour) and I tried to give the vehicles a dusty, grimy streaky look.  I'd be interested in any feedback - as I think I may have overdone it a little.  Who knows...

Anyway - I'm very happy to have these finished and to be able to move onto something else.  This will be it for the Canadians for a little while, as I wait for my 3D Printer to arrive.  Then I will jump back into this particular project with bells on!

Thanks for looking

Richard 

Canadian Infantry Platoon

 Before I jump back to the Canadian M113s (which are nearly done) I have managed to finish the mechanised infantry platoon that will use them as rides.  All the figures are from the Elhiem Figures website and are selected from the NATO - FN FAL, MAG section of the webstore.

It's really great to have a figure range that covers the Canadians so well.  Everything you need to complete a platoon is there and hopefully there maybe even more figures in the future that will cover a couple of things I think are missing.  Hopefully!

Anyway - on with the show.

First up, here's a front and back set of pics of my 5 man Platoon Command Section.

This is followed by a Light Mortar Team of 2 guys and a 60mm mortar I dodgily put together rather than stump up for an actual model...

The figures in these 2 shots make up the First Section.  The top pic has from left to right the NCO armed with a Sterling SMG, a soldier with a Carl Gustav, another with a FN C2 LAR (a heavy barreled SLR used as a LMG) and a soldier with a C1 Assault Rifle (more commonly know as a FN FAL or SLR).  The second photo is of 4 riflemen with C1 assault rifles.  All the sections that follow are laid out the same way.

This is the Second Section.

And here is the Third Section.  

I also have a couple of these guys from Elhiem's LAW Gunner set.  I haven't assigned them to a particular section - and would use them to signify use of a LAW in a game, before replacing them with a standard SLR armed figure.

Here's my Blowpipe Team.  I have another Blowpipe chap and may end up painting up a second team.

And finally here is the Forward Observer Team.  Nice and straight forward, although I am thinking of putting a radio on the back of the chap holding the phone receiver.

And this is everyone together.

This is the majority of the infantry side of this project complete.  I will add 1 or 2 80mm mortar teams, and I will attempt to undertake a conversion of a figure to get rid of his SLR and exchange it for a Browning MMG.  I'd love Elhiem to do proper Canadian MMG and .50cal HMG teams - that would really top off my infantry project.  I may also do a Recon Patrol - basically another section.  Not sure...

So that's it for now.  Back to the M113s shortly

Thanks

Richard

Canadian M113 Platoon (AFV's Only) Progress

 So onto the second post covering the Canadian M113's.  Things have progressed quite nicely and I'm pretty happy with how they are looking right now.  Obviously I should have thought of things like decals before I started this project, but alas, that's not really me - so I've just ordered Canadian 1:87 decals from Germany - from TL Modellbau  Here's the set I ordered:

I also ordered some Danish decals so I can finalise some of their vehicles as well.  I went with 1:87 mainly because I couldn't really find anything else.  Battlefront do 1:100 Canadian decals which look OK - but I don't think you can order them without buying their kits - so I didn't bother there.  I've read these fit perfectly well on 1/72 kits - so we'll see how they go.

At the same time I ordered some vehicle mounted FN MAGs for another Canadian project...  I have started work on the crew for these M113's but I don't want to mount them until after I have properly weathered the vehicles - and I can't really weather them until I've added the decals.  So they will probably remain looking like this for another 6 weeks or so - depending on how long mail from Germany to Australia takes.  Then I can also paint the lights.

So here are the pics:

The M113 is from S-Model, with a Elhiem (slightly modified) .30 Cal added and various different bits of stowage.  ESCI track links on the front.

Another S-Model M113, again with a modified Elhiem .30 Cal, various stowage and an Airfix bicycle.

A 3rd S-Model M113 - essentially straight from the box, with various bits of stowage and an ESCI road wheel mounted on the splash board.  The S-Model .50 Cal is a bit long to my eye, but is nicely detailed.

Finally this is an ESCI M113.  While I think the S-Model M113 is a great little kit, the old ESCI one is outstanding.  You can have the driver's hatch open - so why not!  Again this has various bits of stowage and the rear hatch opened.  I'm planning on putting 2 Elhiem Canadians in the rear hatch.

Here they are all together:

So that's it for now.

Thanks

Richard

Guess the project!

 Quick post today....

I've spent some time this week spraying and masking 4 M113s for the next new project.  This one is actually more progressed than what I'll be showing today, but this is where this part of the project is at.

First one to correctly identify the correct nationality of these vehicles sadly wins nothing but brief fame on this blog.  Hopefully correct identification also means I got the colours correct.

Please bear in mind these are work-in-progress shots - just the first base coats have been finished.

Here we go:

Good Luck!

Richard

Progressing my Norwegian project

Over the last couple of years, and especially in the last few months, I've been purchasing the final pieces for my Norwegian project that has been discussed previously here. 

One of the primary reasons I had not pushed my Norwegian project was the lack of a NM135 model.  Recently I've discovered a couple.  One a 3D print file and the other from Hobbyden.  Brian Walsh there has recently produced a NM135, which is a primary component of a 1986 Norwegian  mechanised infantry force.  Hopefully I'll have 4 NM135s coming in the next little while. 

As a result of some commission work I did recently for a friend, I have also been able to get enough troops for a Norwegian platoon, plus a few others. I won't be showing them until they are painted though.

I have a bunch of diecast Leopard 1s and M48A5s so that's the tanks taken care of, with a bit of tinkering.

So what I was missing for my Norwegian's was primarily aircraft.  This has now been resolved:

Obviously the first thing you need is a F-16.  What better than this specific Norwegian F-16A+ by Fujimi.

Next I needed a F-5A Freedom Fighter.  These are relatively hard to find - everywhere you look you can find F-5E which are just not right.  Although this is Hasegawa kit comes with Dutch and Canadian decals, I'll sort out something to make it Norwegian.

The final aircraft I needed was one of these.  Talk about rare as hen's teeth.  Just had to have one of these for my Aerial Forward Observer.  No choppers here pal.  This is an original 1970's Airfix kit.  Only problem is now I feel like I'm being barbaric if I open it up and make it... 

Anyway - that's it for today.  Next update will be another project, where I've actually made some real progress, not just bought stuff.

Thanks

Richard

Scenes of the Cold War - Harburn Hamlet Edition

Earlier this year, literally just before the COVID-19 lockdowns came into effect, when life was still relatively normal, my wife, her brother and I visited her recently discovered (by us anyway) half-brother and his family in Scotland.  It was an all-round excellent trip, made all the more so for me when it turned out not only were they all wonderful people, but he is a very talented sculptor -

- but also a Roman History fanatic and armour maker:

One day we visited the shop in Edinburgh (Harburn Hobbies) that sells his range of Railway/Village/Dockside terrain accessories called Harburn Hamlet.  If you click on the link you'll get an idea of the ranges that are available.  My brother-in-law designs, sculpts and casts all these models and his wife paints them all.  They are not made out of plaster, but a very durable resin-like substance which of course I have forgotten the name of ...

It was great to visit Harburn Hobbies and get a look around a Scottish Hobby shop.  If you are ever in Edinburgh I recommend you drop by.  I happened to also be my birthday so I made sure to treat myself to a few things.  Not tons - as I had to stick it all on a plane to cart home.  I bought from the OO scale stuff and took some photos yesterday to show you what it looks like and how I plan on using some of it.  If you are getting into BG:NORTHAG on any other 1/144 or 10/12mm scale gaming, the N Gauge stuff is right for you.

Here's some shots of Harburn Hamlet stuff - very quickly set up - with some figures for scale.  The shots were also a test with my new panoramic background.  I'm quite chuffed with the look.

These are CG 219 - Corn stooks traditional (5).  I love these and think they look great - especially in a WW2 setting.

These two images show the rows of vegies I bought home!  The top pic shows from left to right CG 282 Vegetable rows (2) - cauliflower - 1 row of CG 254 Rows of greens (pack of 2) - the other row is a couple over - CG280 Vegetable rows (2) green cabbage and then CG 281 Vegetable rows (2) red cabbage.  To the side in the first and up the back in the second is CG 250 Vegetable Plot with timber edging.  The second pic has some Elhiem figures in the front and a couple of M113s in the laneway behind.  All the small buildings and telephone box are from NOCH.

That's all the individual components.  I've been after stuff to make the backyards of my houses a bit more interesting and these are a great first step in that direction.

Finally I got these two raised flower beds.  I'm mainly thinking of using them on roads like this - but I guess they could be used around fancy houses etc.  Their codes are SS 320 Platform flower bed with 3 tress and SS 324 Formal raised flower bed.

What I've shown is only a very small selection of what Harburn Hamlet has available.  If you are in the UK especially, but anywhere actually - have a look at the website and scroll through the catalogue.  I'm sure you'll find something there that will suit your wargame table.

Heartily recommended.

Thanks

Richard