Ainsty Utility Unit

I have a very work in progress Ainsty Utility Unit.

I need to source or build suitable lights and a camera.

I have used one of the small comms dishes from Ground Zero Games as an add on to the model.

Archie

Work in progress shot of Archie.

Yes, he is holding an ice cream in his tentacle.

British M100 Comanche walker

So some additional decals have been added to the model.

A recognition marker on the shoulder identifies this as a British machine.

A W prefix number on the thigh (and the back of the hip assembly) identifies the vehicle. A green squadron mark is more a check on placement and size than a final item It should probably be a white ones, and smaller (20 or 15mm scale).

 On the cannon arm are similar set of markings.

View of the back of the walker. The exhausts are missing (I seem to have lost them). They will need to be replaced with scratch built items.

Size comparison with a British Steel Armoured Infantryman.

Konflikt '47 Spinne mech - continuing developments

So, this model gets looked at occasionally, the main problem is fitting a breech and crew in the restricted space.

So, I have used the breech assembly from a PSC 28mm gun and glued it to the back of the moulded resin breech. Now, I need to add two crew, one loader and one gunner/commander.

Both need to have respirators, but my first thought of using SOTR gas mask heads falls down because I need smaller figures to fit in the limited space.

Here are two additional pictures of the back of the mech for a discussion on the positioning of the tanks for the flame thrower version released by Warlord Games.

 There should be space beneath the two fan housings on the back of the engine block.

West Wind M100 Comanche Walker

So, I have dug a West Wind SOTR M100 Comanche Infantry Walker out of storage and I m in the process of putting some decals on it.

The M100 is a light one man walker and my assumption is that they are available to British forces in any Weird War list. This example is armed with a gatling gun, a bazooka (rotary mag) and an assault rifle (slightly over powered if you ask me). I would class it as having a twin HMG, a bazooka and an assault rifle. Single crew so only one weapon at a time. The assault rifle is probably used to scratch colleagues' backs.

Now, the question is, where do you put the decals?

I am putting recognition marks on the shoulder (left side) or the gun mount (right side).

It is where to put the tactical sign and perhaps a division insignia?

The following have been put together electronically (the tactical sign is from the Warlord Games Guards Armoured Division decal set).

First, on the plastron (chest plate).

 Next on the upper "thigh" (I did wonder about the knee cap, but it is rather small on these walkers).

Thirdly on the gun shield.

Weird War 2 British Armoured Infantry

There are currently two manufacturers making British WWW2 armoured infantry, Warlord/Clockwork Goblin and West Wind.

The Warlord/Clockwork Goblin Galahad armoured infantry man.

 The West Wind British Steel armoured infantryman.

Two comparison shots

The British Steel is armed with a Vickers medium machine gun, the Galahad with a Bren light machine gun fitted with a drum magazine (if it was a K gun I would expect a higher rate of fire).

The British Steel is also available with a Boyes anti tank rifle, a flamethrower and a grenade/mortar gun. In the rules there are options to add disposable anti tank rockets (PIAT-D).

There are no weapon options on the Galahad,

British Steel WWW2 Armoured Infantryman

Here is a nearly completed West Wind SOTR British Steel Armoured Infantryman,

Armed with the water cooled Vickers medium machine gun, He carries a spare magazine on his left hip.

 Size comparison with William Killian,

 Supported by an M5A1.

Konflikt '47 Galahad Armoured Infantryman

So here is a nearly completed Galahad Armoured Infantryman for Conflict '47 and other weird war two games.

He is armed with a Bren light machine gun fitted with the drum magazine, and carries a spare on his left hip.

Supported by a Cromwell.

Supported by an M5A1

 For scale, here he is with William Killian.

Warlord Games plastic M4A4 Sherman V

The first of the three Warlord Games Sherman V tanks has now reached the "as finished as it gets" stage.

 The hull is not too bad, the appliqué armour is not quite square and there are proportion issues relating to the transmission casing (if you check the original photographs they have the division insignia and tactical sign in the gaps between bolted rib and the bulge of the final drive cover) and the gap between the appliqué on the front hoods and the top bolts of the transmission cover are insufficient to comfortably fit Rubicon spare track (there is no way that the supplied spare track would fit - see earlier post).

The turret is rather crude, especially compared to the previous M4 kit.

The fixed gun position does seem a retrograde step and it appears to be projecting an appreciable distance forward (a similar problem plagues the Rubicon Panzer III). The commander's hatch is also very crude, the hatch parts leaving extremely noticeable gaps and appearing to be very thick. The mantlet is also a noticeably different shape to that of the M4 kit and the old Rubicon 75mm M4A3 kit.

Overall it is okay, filling the gap in available Shermans, especially for British modellers and gamers but is not really state of the art.

Here are some comparison photographs with the Warlord Sherman I.

 The difference in the turret and the mantlet is noticeable in this shot and the one below.

Warlord Plastic Cromwell Tank - as finished as it will get.

So, the Cromwell has now moved to the "finished as it will get".

 I did manage to reduce the "shininess" a bit by using more Citadel Athonian Camoshade and brushing it until it dried.

The tank is marked up as a vehicle of C Squadron, 2nd Armoured Recce Battalion, Welsh Guards which is part of the Guards Armoured Division.

The cowl at the back was a post D-Day fitting.

Overall it is a nice kit.

I have the Italeri version of the kit to build (same kit, far better instructions) as well as two more resin ones.

I do need to put together a scenic base for photography.

Warlord plastic Cromwell - decals.

The main item missing from the decal sheets is a suitably sized Squadron marking to fit on the tool box. Luckily, the Rubicon M5A1 has a very small US Invasion star, which just about fits. One of them had the star cut out, the other had the star left in but painted over afterwards.

This is the painted over one (the tow wire needs some tidying).

 And this is the one with the star cut out.

 The division insignia and tactical sign are from the Warlord British Guards Armoured Division decal sheet.

Now for some tidying up then shading and weathering.