Ruhrstahl X-4 Guided Missile

There is a Ruhrstahl X-4 German WW2 guided missile on display in the Rocket Tower at the National Space Centre.

More details here.

Empress 28mm BMD-2 IFV - part 3

This has been sitting on the side since January 2018.

I added a Rubicon wooden crate from one of their stowage sets and a rucksack from the Crooked Dice small stowage set. The white posts are 0.7mm plastic rod and will be the fixing points for additional soft stowage.

I cut off part of the nose to add the bow mounted machine gun. The barrel is 0.7mm brass rod.

The ATGM attachment point on the turret top is made of a piece of 0.7mm rode passed through a piece of 3mm Evergreen tube.

The white posts on the bow will be the fixing points for camouflage netting.

The two large pieces of stowage are again from the Crooked Dice small stowage set. The aerial is 0.7mm brass rod with a piece of 3mm Evergreen tube for the base.

 The jerry can is from the Empress 28mm scale WW2 Jeep. The backpack on the right is from the Under Fire Miniatures Rhodesian SAS.

The two tanks are made from 4mm square section Evergreen tube with Evergreen 4mm strip end caps and details. Two pieces of 0.7mm Evergreen rod make the two handles. The box is from the TTCombat Back Alley Accessories 2.

The periscope on the rear hatch is made from a disc of thin plasticard cut with a hole punch and a length of Slaters plastic strip.

Now for the Greenstuff.

Dinky Daimler Armoured Car

A very long time ago I was given a Dinky Armoured Car . It had sat in a box with many other childhood toys for many years.

I think it was at Warfare 2013 I picked up a Warlord Games Daimler MkI armoured car. In 2014 I actually got round to assembling it and posted about it. At the time, I mentioned that somewhere I had the Dink toy one.

Now the Warlord one has accumulated a bit of dust (and I still have not added any decals - even though I have some from the Warlord Guards Armoured Division set).

Here are some photographs of the two vehicles.

I had always assumed that Dinky models were 1/43 scale (O-Gauge, 7mm to the foot), but as you can see they are slightly smaller than what is supposed to be 1/56 scale.

The "tactical sign" on the Dinky model may well be a post war version.

The spare wheel is not glued to the Warlord model, and had fallen off (and I had not noticed it when taking the photographs).

William Killian again for scale.

The underside of the armoured car.

Frostgrave Cultist Wizard

On the Lead Adventure forum there was a discussion on plastic Frostgrave Wizards (and making them from the existing plastic kits).

This one is built using the Cultist sprue for the body and heads and the arms (and boat hook/two handed weapon) from the Ghost Archipelago Sailors. The Cultists sprue also provided the accessories. The boat hook has two pieces from the knife and fetish component, the knife is attached to the figures front behind the staff. There will be a bit of Greenstuff work to secure it.

Empress Early War British Infantry

As I was assembling the Empress Miniatures Inter-war/Early War miniatures, I wondered what colour the distinctive mugs attached to their kit.

So I have posted the question on the Lead Adventure Forum.

Labours of Hercules - A Sherman VC part three

The crew of the Sherman VC "Hercules" gained fame after their epic battle against a Tiger Tank in the Normandy village of Nemea. Most of A Squadron were either beaten back or casualties, but Hercules made it into the village. There are two versions of what happened next.

In one version, even the fabled 17 pounder could not penetrate the Tiger's impregnable hide. Eventually, the crew scored a direct hit down the muzzle of the 88mm gun, blowing out the breech and detonating the Tiger's ammunition.

In the second version, Hercules out-manoeuvred the Tiger. first jamming the turret and then immobilising it. They then moved in to beat the Tiger to death at close range.

To commemorate their victory, the track from the Tiger and other tanks that met their end from their 17 pounder were draped upon the tank.

The Warlord Games Sherman VC has been fitted with the spare tracks from the Rubicon Tiger tank, plus track from the Rubicon German Stowage set.

A gun travel lock from the Rubicon Sherman I Hybrid replaces the moulded on travel lock. A cross brace was added so it looked more like the real thing.

As this is a fictional vehicle, I decided that the Division Insignia had been painted out by the censor.

Sherman VC at Bovington

A while back I visited the Tank Museum at Bovington.

There was such a lot to see, that I neglected photographing a lot of things I really should have, and that have become important on projects.

One of them was the Sherman VC Firefly.

This is displayed as a tank of A Company/Squadron, 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards.

Of note is the presence of the spot light on the turret. Sherman V (M4A4) had the three part transmission cover,

Tools on the right rear of the deck.  Note the fixed metal scabbard for the blade. The rest of the tools are missing, as is the fire extinguisher.

Rear storage box and first aid kit.

There are some differences in appearance compared to the Sherman V at the IWM.

Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago Snake Men - First one painted

A while back I bought a box set of the Ghost Archipelago Snake Men. I did assemble two (well three but one is not finished) but I had not got round to doing anything more than undercoat the figures.

It is possible that they may have sat in the painting queue for a while, but there was a question on the Lead Adventure Forum asking for photographs of their Snake Men.

So I dug out one of the figures and started painting.

The figure had been undercoated with Citadel Chaos Black spray, followed by Citadel Zandri Dust spray.

The armour and weapon points were painted with Citadel Abaddon Black. Edges were highlighted with Citadel Mechanicus Standard Grey.

The skirts, collar and various straps were painted Citadel Mournfang Brown, as was the spear shaft.

The boots and lacing on the spear was painted with Citadel XV88. The eyes were painted with Vallejo Flat Yellow. The Snake Man's mouth was painted with Citadel Mephiston Red, the tooth (teeth?) was painted with Army Painter Skeleton Bone.

The scaled parts and the eyebrows were highlighted with Citadel Zamesi Desert.

The figure was lightly dry brushed with Citadel Terminatus Stone.

The scaled areas were washed with Citadel Seraphim Sepia, The black areas were washed with Citadel Nuln Oil. Everything else was washed with Citadel Agrax Earthshade.

Survivor Stories Cast Paul

Paul does not talk about his life before the Dead began to walk.

There is currently no official build your own TWD figures, so I had a look through my lead collection.

Paul comprises a Crooked Dice Minion Dog Handler body with the dog lead removed. The head is from the original Minion Head sprue. I drilled through the left hand so I could fit a weapon.

Crooked Dice also do a Melee Weapons sprue. I chose the Machete for Paul.

I also added a rucksack from the Rubicon Allied Stowage set, the straps are made from Greenstuff.

Paul faces off against the Walking Dead armed with his Machete and his trusty torch.

Caught in the spotlight.