King of Clubs

The "Big Bad" in the series "Fearless Lawyer" is referred to as The King Of Clubs.

He has plans for the city, and no one is going to stand in his way.

The Criminal Mastermind from Crooked Dice, though modified by having his hair filed off.

Statuesque Pulp

Here are some comparison pictures on Statuesque Miniatures Pulp figures.

Phantom Ace and Pulp Girl.

 Mark O'Reilly and Gauge.

In addition, here is Tilly Tumbleworth, who eventually will end up as a member of A.G.E.N.T.S, or possibly working in the private sector..

More Rubicon WIP

Well, I have nearly finished the Panzer III, the hole I made on the glacis between the ventilator and the track guard still needs to be filled.

 The white crate is made from layers of Evergreen plastic strip to simulate planks, with a top surface of thin strip. Microstrip makes the reinforcements, and thin microstrip makes the straps. There are fill issues with the HO scale boxes, so I have filled them with Milliput.

Next is the Crusader III tank. Most of the body has been completed, though I have to add the front lights and bend up the guards from wire (a jig is supplied in the kit). The rear fuel tank is proving a problem as there are no fixing points (I might have shaved the locating points from the fuel tank when cleaning it up).

 I do need to add stowage, as the Desert Rats used German jerry cans, I will use the ones from the German Stowage set.

The last Rubicon kit I am assembling is a T34-85 tank. I started assembling the tank just before visiting the Imperial War Museum (IWM). The shape of the turret of the tank at the IWM is different to that of the Rubicon model, the model is not wrong, it is just a different version of the long lived tank. I have modified the profile and added the bulge to house the electric turret traverse motor.

This is going to be a Post-War Central Europe example, so it needs the reflector under the tank, I have modified the tanks to have the forward filler caps and some additional boxes. On the glacis I will add the brackets and the splash board. The mounting points for the smoke canister at the back needs to be removed.

The Persuader

The Persuader is a super villain and has faced off against The Fearless Lawyer on occasion.

He is not a particularly strong or resilient individual, but people tend to do what he asks, no matter what they ask.

And a moody shot.

Heresy Miniatures' Doctor Hugh stands in for The Persuader.

Statuesque Frostgrave

The nice Dice Bag Lady suggested on her website the combination of the plastic Frostgrave figures and the Statuesque Miniatures heads.

As I had bought a set of Heroic Scale Veteran heads (SMA014) which are quite large compared to my usual Crooked Dice figures (Statuesque do 'normal' scale as well), I thought I would give it a go.

 The heads are still quite large, and could do with being bedded deeper into the body.

Comparison with a work in progress Frostgrave archer.

I might try using some of the normal scale heads as well.

The Frostgrave Soldier sprue.

Rubicon Work In Progress

I have two Rubicon Models' tanks under construction, a T34-85 (hence all the pictures of them earlier in the blog) and a mid War Panzer III.

First here is the work in progress Panzer III. My suspicion is that this was the company's first model, as it is not as high quality as their later models, some of the surface detail is poor and the Mantlet does seem to project a long way forward.

 The Osprey book on the Panzer III has a plate (B1) showing a canvas cover over the exposed part of the barrel that recoils to protect it from dust. Though the plate is of a Ausf and the version I am building is an Ausf M, I thought it would be an interesting addition. Obviously added in Greenstuff. The track from the Rubicon German Stowage set was added to the top of the turret (again from an Osprey plate) and held in place with Slaters' Microstrip. I later added a similar bracket to the track length between the bow machine gun and the drivers hatch.

Two jerry cans were slotted in behind the rail on the right rear side and have microstrip straps. The brown box is an HO scale box obtained as part of a set of spurs from Knightwing. As it fitted so nicely in the available hole, I did not check if it fouled the turret, which it does. The turret does turn but care has to be taken.

The rear has the large wooden crate (with microstrip straps) and a hanging bucket (page 13 of the Osprey book - though that is in Russia and this will be a Desert War tank). I have added two War-games factory water bottles to the rear of the turret bin. This is something missing from the stowage set and a feature of pictures of DAK tanks (see page 19 of the Osprey Book).
Subsequently I have added a covered case (two of the HO boxes covered with Greenstuff) between the jerry cans and the crate and a long tarpaulin along the back of the crate that also hides what is holding up the bucket.

The front will have additional sand bags added behind the lights (most of the pictures I have seen of Desert War versions have the lights to the side of the ventilators at the front, but I could not fit them there, there is  a hole there that will need filling/covering from my attempt). The lights are vulnerable, and hopefully the sandbags will provide protection.

Additional Jerry cans will be added.

Compare the T34-85, part three

IWM Duxford has a Land Warfare hall. It is cramped and dark so photography is difficult. It is also worth noting that all is not as it would appear for the exhibits, more later.

There were three T34-85 tanks on show (admittedly one was at the far side of a field).

One thing I did note was that there was not much information on the exhibits, so here are pictures of the main T34-85 tank.

This is the first example with track on the glacis.

 Note the protective cage around the two front lights.

 Smooth transition between the front curve of the underside of the turret into the flat line of the rear of the turret. Some of the road wheels lack the secondary holes.

 The tank has a Polish Eagle on the turret, and according to the Internet was built in Poland.

 This tank still has its "Splash board" in place (the one at the IWM has the brackets - pictures on their site show their one with the board before it was repainted).

 Mantlet detail.

Pistol port and vision slit.

Prominent but neat weld seam.

 Fuel drums have centre filler caps. Also there is a lot more stowage boxes.

 More boxes and a tube - purpose unknown. There is also an unhitching beam, but without the prominent end caps of the IWM example.

There appears to be a fuel tank and smoke canister brackets on the rear deck. The hole for the crank handle is noticeable.

Stowage box on the rear of the turret.

The hitchhiker is obscuring the box on the rear of the turret, there is a notice saying not to climb on the tank.

Did I mention the poor lighting?

The second T34-85 was outside, it apparently is in working order.

The third one is a Furry T34-85, dressing up as a Tiger.

 This according to the Internet was used on Saving Private Ryan.

The wheels are a bit of a give away.

Compare the T34-85 - part two

The Imperial War Museum (London) is housed in the former Bethlem Royal Hospital in Southwark.

Amongst the objects on display is a post war T34-85 tank, manufactured in Czechoslovakia in the mid 1950's.

The tank was captured by the Israeli army (T34s are well travelled) and bought for the museum.

 Front view with the turret traversed. Note the difference in the lower turret profile with the downward bulge under the pistol port. The tank is missing its front mud guards.

 Waffle pattern track.

 Rear of turret and log carried as an unhitching beam.

 Road wheels. These are a different pattern to those on either the T34-76 and T34-85 manufactured by Rubicon.

 Rear idler.

 Turret rear and missing fuel drum.

 Rear right fuel drum. Note filled cap is at the front not in the centre of the can.

 Exhausts and circular transmission cover. No visible crank handle socket at top of hull rear.

 Note the reflector on the left hand rear under the left fuel drum.

 Towing hooks on the lower rear hull.

 Side view.

 The bulge on the left cheek of the turret (between the lifting hook and the pistol port) has been identified as a modification to the casting for the electric traverse.

The shallow vee shaped brackets are for the two man saw.

 Front plate showing the six mounting points for the spare track between the towing horns and the mounts for the splash guard shown on some IWM photographs of this tank.

 Driver's hatch

 Detail on the front glacis showing the various sheets welded together.

 Pistol port and view slit.

 The turret is missing the periscopes from the top plate.

 Rear deck view.

 Left fuel drum, again not the position of the filler cap.

 Detail of reflector housing.

 Front left tool box.

Detail of headlight and wiring.