Rubicon M5A1 Stuart VI

At Salute this year, I picked up a few Rubicon kits, including the M5A1.

The kit went together easily. The only issue I had with the kit was the fixing of the mantle onto the gun barrel. It still looks a bit squint.

Photographic evidence of British use of this Lend-Lease tank in British service is scarce. I might have used the wrong turret option (the turret is the early version without the shield around the anti-aircraft gun on the right hand side).

Here are a couple of pictures.

Some tidying up is required, the rear plate of the hull needs a bit of tidying.

As I used the early form of the turret, and the colour plate in British Tanks In Normandy did not show  the rear hull basket, I did not use that option.

Stowage will need to be added.

Zombie Astronaut

This was initially inspired by the mysterious figure in 4,722 Hours, which lead to the figure being based, but was additionally inspired by the film "Last Days on Mars".

Crooked Dice Albion Rocket Consortium Astronaut.

Work In Progress Rubicon Hetzer

Having just assembled the Hetzer I bought at Salute, here are some pictures.

This is a late model variant, but with the full silencer.

I do need to do some work on the track at the rear.

This is the point where some shackles would be useful.

Crooked Dice Work in Progress

Yes, I have a lot of work in progress.

Here are some figures from Crooked Dice that I have on my painting shelf...

 Twenty point "Plaston" unit:

 Twenty point United Radionics unit: Jackbooted Sadist; Minion Commander and two three man minion units.

This is the Army deal with added General Gordon (and William Killen skulking at the back).

Work in Progress

Warlord Games sdkfz 251 C half track (you might notice the metal weapon support insert as this will be a command carrier with a 37mm AT gun).

 The two crates are from the Die Waffenkammer Comet kit.

 Warlord Games Stug III with added Rubicon Stowage Set Panzer/Stug III track.

 I do need to add another two helmets on the track rack on this side.

In the Armoured Fury box set there are two Panthers and three M4 kits. Here is the first one from the set.

 Double banked the spare track on one side.

Added a track hanger on the other side and cut two links off of one of the four link sets from the Rubicon Stowage set. Two other four link sets have been added to the turret.

Warlord Games Panther A

Warlord Games Panther A Tank (with William Killen for scale).

It still needs some additional weathering. Oh and the number is from the Rubicon decal set.

Some Assembly Required - A.G.E.N.T.S. and Lawyers

Originally I used a Copplestone Castings' Corporate Babes figure for the Fearless Lawyer's assistant. However Heresy Miniatures' Emily Lake figure looked a better bet.

 And here they are ready to fight the Good Fight.

Here is Chloe, as seen in series two and three of A.G.E.N.T.S.

Hasslefree Ekaterina figure.

Salute 2016

Salute 2016 was held at the Excel centre in East London.

In previous years, the queue to get in has run the length of the Excel centre, much to the bemusement to annoyance of the Marathon Runners, Urologists and Property Buyers who also have registrations or conferences in one of the halls.

Last year the organisers had the queue in an adjacent empty hall, and this year once again the queue was in an adjacent hall.

I arrived at 1000, and there were a lot of people.

The queue was good humoured and we were into the show in good time.

So, what was there. Well, lots, and I managed to miss a number of stands that I had wanted to visit, plus I was unaware that Nexus Miniatures had a presence on one of the stands (which is a pity as I wanted some of the figures - oh well).

Normally my first stop is Hasslefree, but because of the entry point being from the side, I ended up stopping at the Wayland Games for a Terminator Spider Tank.

As I was passing Warlord Games (it was on the way), I picked up the Project Z game and a set of Project Z Special Ops, Gates Of Antares Concord and Ghar Bomber box sets plus the pre-release Concord CM3-M4 Combat Drone.

Assembled and undercoated (Citadel Mourning brown) with a squad of Concord troopers.

Finally I reached Hasslefree. Excellent range of figures, below is the Ekaterina figure painted up as Chloe from A.G.E.N.T.S. for 7TV.

 Plastic Soldier Company had the recent Rubicon models kits on a four for five deal, so, well...

I also bought a can of PSC British Tank green, only one of the above is not going to be green, guess which one?

Crooked Dice had their new figures and so I am now up to date. I also bought the Department X and Paranormal Exterminators' character cards. I also got the Camera man.

Spectre Miniatures had two SUVs, one normal, the other with off road mods including bull bars and extended air intake. This is the off road one (the air intake is not fitted).

On the Warlord Games stand, Clockwork Goblin had their 28mm Conflict '47 range on pre-release.

Here is the Spinne mech.

 Warlord Games Stug III for scale.

The crew man has a hat, I will convert the figure with the Westward SHS German head in helmet and gas mask.

Satellite Uplink

Warmill manufacture 28mm scale buildings and accessories in laser cut MDF and acrylic.

Here is a work in progress Satellite Uplink.

Agents Blue and Red for scale.

Shermwell 1 and Shermwell 2 - pictures for a discussion on turret rings

One of the limiting factors on the size and power of the gun you can fit to a tank is the turret ring.

Model manufacturers do not always use the turret ring size of the actual tank when designing their models.

The Sherman could be up gunned with the British 17 pound anti tank gun because its turret ring was larger than the Cromwell.

In model form, the sizes are reversed slightly.

As you can see, the Cromwell turret sits on the hull.

The Sherman turret sits flush in the turret ring.

Frankenengine

This is the Chrysler A57 multibank engine assembly of the Sherman V (M4A4).

It comprises five 4.1 litre six cylinder engine blocks around a common shaft.

The example above is at the IWM Duxford.

Besides Wikipedia, there is an article on it here.

Warlord Games Stug III

The Stug III was a German fire support vehicle initially attached to infantry units in World War 2. Over time, its role was expanded and its firepower increased.

The kit is simple to construct and went together without problems, except for the side skirt supports.

There are instructions to drill out holes for the spare track on the hull front, but no mention of the requirement to drill out holes in the upper hull to take the side skirt supports. Luckily I had not glued the top and bottom halves together.

This is going to be a Late War variant, so it is not going to be carrying lots of stores. So far I have added four sections of spare track from the Rubicon  German Stowage set.

I have managed to lose one of the spare wheels that should go on the rear deck, I could use the two from Rubicon, but they are a very different size.

We shall see.

British M4 number 3 - Basic paint job

So, the third British Army M4 tank has a its basic paint completed and decals for Company C, Grenadier Guards, Guards Armoured Division.

The tank was spray painted with the last of my PSC Britsh Tank Green (nearly Vallejo Russian Uniform Green). Highlighted with Russian Uniform Green lightened with Army Painter Skeleton Bone.

Tarpaulins are Vallejo German Field Grey shaded with Field Grey mixed with Old Wood. Old wood has been used on the two crates. Straps are Khaki.

Some basic weathering has been applied to the hull. The chassis just has very basic colouring - Russian Uniform Green on the bogies, idlers and sprocket plus the hull. Black Grey has been used for the bogie tyres. Tracks are painted with a mixture of Vallejo Black, Hull Red and Black Grey.

 Oil stains are Citadel Nuln Oil.

 The tarpaulins on the box on the turret and the cover over the engine deck were washed with Citadel Athos Camoshade and Agrax Earthshade. They need a bit of matt varnish.

The crates were washed with Agrax Earthshade.