Tales of the City: Sentry Duty

Being in the army is not just about the comfort of ceremonial duties in the capital, or the bright lights and temptations of The City. Sometimes it is sentry duty. In the rain. In the jungle.

Besides being the last line defending the rest of the country from the less salubrious denizens of the City, the army is responsible for guarding the borders, and (for suitable considerations) protecting operations and installations around the country.

Units are assigned to border regions for three months rotation, depending on the size and the level of the perceived threat there can be between three and five platoons at any one base. At any one time there is one platoon coming to the end of their assignment and one just beginning.

When protecting commercial installations, normally a single platoon is assigned. There is normally a two week overlap between the current and the next platoon so the new platoon can be shown the ropes.

Three months is viewed by High Command as being long enough to gain useful knowledge of the locality and locals but short enough that the opportunities for corruption are limited. As previously mentioned the army has a very low tolerance for corruption, and the penalties are strict.

The figure is from the Gringo's 40 Early Vietnam GI in poncho range and is the GI defending figure.

The trousers are Citadel Snot Womble Green, the poncho Citadel Death World Forest. Boots are Citadel Steel Legion Drab. The helmet is Citadel Death Korps Drab. Camo is Steel Legion Drab, Snot Womble Green and Death Korps Drab.

The furniture on the M14 is the latest Citadel Mournfang Brown. Metal work is Vallejo Black highlighted with Citadel Mechanicus Standard Grey.

Hummer - 3D print

At Colours 2025 there was a stand selling 3D prints. According to the floor plan it was Modular Worlds, but there is only an Etsy link, so I cannot confirm that.

It has very similar proportions to the Empress HMMWV model.

It is likely to end up as State operated vehicle.

They also had an XR3i model.

This does look as though it has been flattened a bit.

Western Forces HMMWV Weapons Carrier

 Civil War was a 2024 Action Adventure film written and directed by Alex Garland set in a dystopian future.

The film follows four journalists travelling across a country riven by civil war.

One of the secessionist movements is called Western Forces. 

This is a Western Forces HMMWV weapons carrier fitted with a protected turret and M2 HMG.

The model is from Empress (bought at Salute 2025).

The spare wheel carrier is made from Evergreen square and rectangular section plastic rod. The aerial is brass rod with an Evergreen plastic tube as the base.

Have you spotted the mistake yet?

The stars are five inch ones from Rubico 1/56 scale transfer sets.

This is where I went wrong.

I checked that the turret did not intersect with the smoke dischargers (from Spectre) before gluing them in place. The problem was I had missed that the gun shield is a lot further forward and will sweep through the dischargers.

M48A3 continued

 So here is the story so far.

The M48A3 has gained a mascot, a TTCombat teddy bear. It has also had some additional armour in the form of track attached to the turret.

It has also gained a bandoleer of water bottles hung on one of the aerial posts (and the three aerials). Note also the deflector for the cupola machine gun to prevent it hitting the searchlight (the teddy bear has no such protection).

Note where I have badly replaced the left rear mudguard, this will be tidied with some Milliput.

Now to add some additional stowage on the engine deck and tidy up the jerry cans.

More on the M48A3

 This is a better shot of the heating exhaust (and the second hole that needs filling.

Test placement of a set of track links on the right hand turret size.

And on the left hand side of the turret.

As you can see, the left hand side should take the supplied track links without fouling the hull.

Some additional stowage.

Empress M48A3 Patton MBT

 Some more WIP shots of the Empress M48A3

Empress M48A3 Patton MBT - further Work In (glacial) Progress

 Continuing the work on the Empress M48A3.

One thing that has been pointed out is the main gun travel lock projects over the back of the hull, for moulding reasons the model has the lock slightly shorter.

So to make a new gun cradle, I took a length of 1mm brass rod and using a specialist set of pliers (business end shown below) bent the end into a loop.

The end after the loop will be given a 90 degree bend and a suitable hole drilled into the travel lock.

The power cable for the searchlight has been shaped and inserted into the hole in the turret roof and the back of the searchlight.

Holes for the three aerials have also been drilled into the roof.

The aerials will be cut from 1mm brass rod and bases made of 2mm plastic tube.

Empress M48A3 Patton MBT - Work In (glacial) Progress

 So it has been a while, but "what with one thing and the other", the effect of gravity on resin structures, and other things getting in the way, not much much progress.

There is a good photograph of a Vietnam era M48A3 in the Osprey New Vanguard book showing rows of machine gun ammo boxes on the mud guards.

I found some of Crooked Dice's small ammo boxes - they are a bit big, but they are all I had to hand.

They are tucked in behind the Empress small crate (ration packs?). Some additional jerry cans are to be added to the rear mud guard. One of the ACAV jerry cans will be borrowed to fit a jerry can in a holder to the turret side.

This is one of those really embarrassing shots (not that type). I spent all of yesterday trying to work out what that hole in the roof was for. The structure to the right is one of the aerial bases, so it is not the hole to fit an aerial.

And then I re-read a post about detailing the Empress M48, and it mentions the searchlight power cable.

The hole in the top of the searchlight a) should have been a hit, and b) is in the wrong place... The power cable goes into the back of the searchlight (I suspect the drawing of the M48A5 in Cold War Armoured Fighting Vehicles by George Bradford confused me - there is a rib that runs along the top of the searchlight that is in line with the power cable).

A couple of shots of the railing on the turret sides.

The railing is brass rod, bent to fit. The supports are plastic rod inserted into quite long holes in the turret side. The railing is glued in place, and the the plastic rods are teased back out until they contact the main railing then liquid poly is flooded over them, bonding them to the holes in the turret and the rail.

Three quarters view.