Perry Miniatures Eighth Army Sprue

The main sprue of the Perry Miniatures Eighth Army set.

Canadian Ram Kangaroo

The Canadian Ram tank was a development of the American M3 Medium tank, but with a much more modern design hull. Like the M4A1, the hull was cast but sat on an M3 style riveted under frame.

Unfortunately it was designed with a 60 inch turret ring, adequate for the six pounder gun but which would have made adding larger guns more difficult. The Sherman had a sixty nine inch turret ring which allowed the fitting of more powerful guns (unto and including the 17 pounder and as an M36 a 90mm gun). Theoretically the Ram could have been fitted with the ROF 75mm gun (based on a bored out six pounder) but the Sherman were going to be available in bulk.

The Canadians built a large number of them before Shermans became available and they were used extensively for training. They were also used as observation posts, which meant that they had their main gun removed and replaced with a dummy to allow more room,

After the successful conversion of M7 Priest self propelled guns into armoured personnel carries, eyes were turned upon the Ram tanks sitting in Britain.

The turrets were removed and the space used to carry a troop section.

There are two types of Ram hull, one, like the one below, was fitted with a hull sub turret fitted with a machine gun. The second had a more conventional ball mount. The British units were issued with the ones with the hull turret, the Canadians the one with the ball mount.

This is the Ram Kangaroo at Bovington. They have a Ram tank, but for some reason I did not photograph it.

Warlord Tiger II - part four

So currently working on the camouflage.

As previously mentioned, the base colour is Citadel Zandri Dust.

The green pattern was painted with Vallejo Russian Uniform Green. The brown pattern is Citadel Mournfang Brown,

Zandri Dust is a lot more yellow by eye.

Here is the Tank Museum Tiger II with the production turret (the one with the prototype turret has no Zimmerit and no camouflage).

Tet Offensive 1968

Way back in 1990 I bought this from the Beatties in Holborn.

With the current new ranges from Empress and Gringos40, I have dug it out and will read it again.

Warlord Tiger II - part three

The Tiger 2 has been undercoated, first with Citadel Chaos Black spray, then the body has been base coated with Citadel Zandri Dust. The tracks need to be tidied up with some track colour (Vallejo Black, Black Grey and either Burnt Cadmium or Hull Red mixed on a wet palette).

Rubicon M4 Hybrid - part three

The Rubicon M4 Hybrid Firefly assembled. The darker grey patch is where the pistol port has been filled in (and checked for smoothness by painting it grey.

It is noticeable that the coax machine gun is a bit bent, I will fix that.

I am not going to add a great deal of stowage to this example.

Rubicon M4 Hybrid - part two

I have added lifting rings on the turret, blanked off the pistol port, and rotated the engine cover handles through 90 degrees.

A Question of Scale

Knight Models Doctor Harrison Wells (Team Flash) with a Mantic Games TWD pickup and a Chinese made 1/43 scale Volkswagen Beetle.

Mr Graves and Mr Tannen

Mr Graves and Mr Tannen work well together, one passing the other anyone that they cannot deal with themselves.

Mr Tannen - Neverborn Enforcer

Mr Tannen does not look like much, an elderly man wandering the casino. But Woe betide anyone who attracts his attention.

He does have a nasty little pocket knife for those moments when bad luck is not enough.

Mr Graves - Neverborn Enforcer

Mr Graves and Mr Tannen both appear to be human, but are actually Neverborn Mimics.

Mr Graves is not the brightest of creatures, but is rarely found without a proverbial blunt instrument.

He is quite often found in the company of Mr Tannen, who chats enough for both of them.

The pair remind me of Mr Croup and Mr Vandemar, two assassins for hire who haunt the passages of "London Below" in "Neverwhere".

Tiger IIs at The Tank Museum

The Tank Museum two Tiger II tanks, one with the original turret and one with the production turret.

This is the production turret, with the flat front plate to the turret. Interestingly, this one has Zimmerit covering on the sides of the hull and the turret.

Detail on the skirt.

This is a Tiger II with the original turret design.

It was designed to fit both the Porsche design of the Tiger II and the successful Henschel design. The design had both production and ballistic issues.

This was a prototype, hence the lack of Zimmerit.

Warlord Tiger II - part two

This kit was a bit of a bind to assemble.

There are no real assistance in the assembly of the turret (well the one that was originally intended for the "Porsche" version). You have to balance the four sides and the top and the bottom.

The alignment wedges used to align the running gear with the hull do not slot together properly, the holes are slightly too small and require opening out. On the other hand the D shaped pegs on the periscopes allow 360 degree rotation and the gun barrels can rotate by about 10 degrees.

The exhaust options are limited, lacking the surrounds found on examples in use in Normandy.

The  zimmerit covering on the hull and turret sides sets the production date to pre-September 1944, when it was discontinued.

Now the weather just needs to improve enough for it to be undercoated.