1:285 Burford-Kegresse

Here's my 3d-printed Burford-Kegresse armoured MG carrier/APC from about 1930.

It's alongside a GHQ A9 Cruiser, for comparison. The A9 is a few years later than the Burford-Kegresse.

I'm really pretty happy with the amount of detail I can get into a FUD 3d print. There are some issues with striping on vertical and flat sloped surfaces, but nothing I can't live with.

GHQ Grant

Among the unpainted bits and pieces I've been organising, I found this: the Grant medium tank, from GHQ.

This camouflage scheme is more or less the same as that painted on the example at Bovington, and it's a scheme I rather like, which is why I painted this. It's large swatches of KG#3 outlined in lines of black and white on a Dark Sand base.

I experimented with various means of getting the outlines done, but in the end I didn't find any easier or more effective way than just painting on the KG#3 blotches and then outlining them with a fine brush. Now I have four more to paint the same way.

And as usual, now that I've photographed it, I see that I've forgotten to paint the various tools and what-not. Not to worry, that's easy enough to fix.

GHQ Matilda 1

I'm in the process of organising all my unpainted microarmour, and I'm finding quite a bit of stuff I'd completely forgotten I'd ever bought.

Among them are these Matilda 1, from GHQ. They're tiny little things, and beautifully modelled, but being GHQ they're also pretty bloody expensive — $US10 for five, which (when I bought them) meant about $NZ17, or about $NZ3.40 each. Add on postage, and that brings them up to about six or seven Kiwibucks each. A lot more, if I hadn't bought a bunch of other stuff at the same time, so the postage cost was spread out a bit between them.

I have some other Matilda 1, from Scotia. Compared with the GHQ models, their sculpting is fairly... "crude" is a harsh term, but I can't think of anything more appropriate right now. On the other hand, they only cost me about one Kiwi buck apiece, and they're readily identifiable on the wargames table for what they are.

I haven't yet seen any examples of the Matilda 1 from Heroics & Ros; I might add a couple to an order one of these days out of pure curiosity; I'd expect them to be roughly equivalent to Scotia quality, but with H&R you never can tell. (Note: see below)

Is the extra money for the much better quality of GHQ justified?

I'd say that really depends. If all you want are identifiable playing tokens, then I'd say not. However, if your interest is more in the micro-diorama modelling line, then I'd say definitely yes.

Personally, while I like having exquisitely detailed models on the tabletop, I'm quite willing to settle for less as long as they do actually look like what they're meant to be. And the skyrocketing cost of postage from the USA (which often doubles, or more, the cost of an order) means that, with the high cost of their models, I won't be buying any more GHQ stuff in the foreseeable future. That's kind of a shame.

Heroics & Ros Matilda 1
Image courtesy of Les Hammond

Addendum:

These are Heroics & Ros' new sculpt of the Matilda 1. The detail level and price are comparable with Scotia, though the edges are a little sharper. The proportions are a bit exaggerated vertically, but the profile does give a good visual impression of the dumpiness of this little tank.

Guns! Guns! Guns!

These are the first models I've designed specifically for 1:285 (6mm) scale, rather than starting out with a 1:100 scale model and down-scaling it. As a consequence, they're very much simplified in terms of their geometry, and I've had to make no real changes to accommodate Shapeways' 3d-printing material limitations. So, hoorah.

They're available from my Shapeways shop at http://shpws.me/MGqB for $17 ($22 for the super-duper detailed resin).

In the early part of WWII, British medium gun batteries were huge: twelve guns each. That didn't last all that long; though able to bring down a frightening amount of firepower in a very short space of time, the twelve-gun batteries weren't flexible enough in use, and they were split up into more manageable sizes.

However, if you want to represent an early battery, you need a lot of guns, so here they are: twelve early-model 25 pounders with their limbers. The guns are represented in firing mode, and I haven't yet made a model of a quad tractor — when I do, I'll probably make another sprue with the guns and limbers in travel mode. But that may not be for a while; it's not a big priority for me.

2 pounders (1:300 scale)

Among the models I got from Heroics & Ros recently were these 40mm 2 pounder anti-tank guns. It was, in its day, the best anti-tank gun around, and the British used it to arm just about everything; though it was obsolescent by quite early in WWII, it was kept in service past its use-by date mainly because it was logistically expedient. It was eventually replaced by the 57mm 6 pounder.

I'll be using these to haul them around the battlefield. I'm not sure precisely what they are or who made them, but I think they're more H&R models, and the word "FORD" is engraved on their underside along with a product number (now unreadable, as I've glued magnets under there).

I assume it's meant to represent one of the variants of the CMP 15 cwt truck.

I don't know if they originally had separate canopies, but if so they're long gone. So, I'm adding tilt frames out of copper wire, as on the one on the front-left.

Later on....

I've finished the tilt-frames, and made a tilt for one out of Green Stuff.

I found it quite difficult to keep the putty tilt square and sharp, and I think I'll probably have to artificially enhance its geometry with paint. Nevertheless, it's a good enough result for my purposes.

And now for some paint. I'll do them in Caunter, I think.

Tiny Rommel

This is the Rommel Personality Set in 1:300 scale from Heroics & Ros, plus a SdKfz 250/1 converted into a 250/3, GREIF, one of Rommel's command vehicles.

I'm not that happy with the aerial — the connection points are pretty blobby. Maybe I would have been better soldering it rather than relying on superglue gel. Ah well, too late now. In any case, my soldering is crap.

So, now Tiny Rommel is going to get to be personally in command of every single tiny battle and skirmish forever more, no matter how trivial or insignificant it might be.

New bits from Heroics & Ros

2 pounder portee

2 pounder anti-tank gun and crew

A small package awaited me when I fought my way through the storm to the letterbox today — my most recent order from Heroics & Ros. I bought some bits and pieces to fill out my forces for the WWII .desert war.

As well as the things I've photographed here, I got some kneeling German artillery crews to man the crewless German guns I already have, and some 8th Army infantry in desert dress with their knees showing — plus some British heavy weapons teams to give them some support.

The main reason I've photographed these at all is because I recently got a cheap Chinese ring-flash for my camera, and I wanted to try it out. Its performance is not stellar, and its communication with the camera is rudimentary, but it fills a niche. I shall have to attach a Minimum Safe Distance prong to it though; the camera focuses to a closer distance than the ring-flash can illuminate evenly.

Bishop 25 pdr SPG

Rommel personality set

The Dastardly (Sun-Tanned) Hun

These PzKfw II aren't much opposition to the Crusaders, but they're a beginning. I have some PzKfw III waiting in the wings.

They're all old GHQ models, and they'd all lost their guns some time in the past. I replaced them with lengths of brass wire (from 0.55mm sequin pins). Three of them have Rommelkette, the other two do not.

Later...

And here are the first of the Panzer III.

These are Heroics & Ros miniatures. I have a whole lot more Panzer III from GHQ waiting to be painted; they're perceptibly bigger than these, and better detailed. Nevertheless, I have a fondness for the H&R models.

MicroDesert Painting

Left: Dorchester command vehicle, by Heroics & Ros
Right: Another command vehicle, Bedford maybe (?), possibly from GHQ from H&R.

Continuing with my bajillion micro-tanks and things — we've got a couple of command vehicles here, and the first troop of Crusaders are done.

The Dorchester (from Heroics & Ros) is in the Caunter camouflage scheme, though the darkest shade doesn't look right to me. I may go over it with a KG#3 mix. The other one — I don't know exactly what vehicle that is, or who made it is a Bedford command vehicle, also by Heroics & Ros..

Crusaders

I've settled on this scheme for the disruptive-camouflaged Crusaders; it's pretty quick and easy to do. I'll be doing some of them in over-all desert yellow as well, which is even easier.

Later...

Crusaders in overall desert yellow

The Crusader in the background is one that I experimented on using ArmyPainter Quickshade. It was not a success; it mostly just made the desert yellow look grimy. But I managed to salvage it a bit with some over-painting, and it will do.

While I was hunting through the lead pile, I was temporarily distracted by these A-13 Cruisers Mk.IV, which I painted up in BEF Khaki-Green #3, with the large white-red-white identification side panels that were painted on the turrets of some A-13s. I can't imagine that they were terribly popular with the crews, because they really stand out like dogs' balls.

A-13 Cruiser Mk.IV

Later still....

I re-did the Dorchester's Caunter, using Vallejo German Field Grey for the darkest Slate Grey tone, quite heavily dry-brushed with Green Grey to lighten it a bit, and lightening the sand colour with ModelAir Ivory Sand. I'm a lot happier with it now.

Crusaders by the score

A galore of Cruisers

I'm making a start on some of the multitude of 6mm micro-armour I got at the last CWC bring-&-buy. It's an eclectic mix, with a conglomeration of early and late war stuff — Jagdtigers versus A13 Cruisers versus PzIV versus Comets. I thought I'd begin with the Crusaders.

There are another three that need to have their gun barrels replaced, but since the games I play are unlikely to ever need even this many Crusaders all at once, they're not a terrifically high priority.

I don't know for sure which manufacturer they come from, but I suspect they're quite old GHQ models, judging by the turret pegs and hollow hulls — I thought at first they might be PFC C-inC, but those tend to be modelled with very broad turret rings and solid hulls, unlike these ones. Most of them have had their guns replaced with wire at some point, which suits me fine; I usually do that anyway.

In the top row there are also a Bishop SPG and Dorchester command vehicle from Heroics & Ros, and a Bedford (?) command truck, probably also from GHQ.

Later.....

Bishop

Crusader

I did a couple of test pieces — it's been quite a while since I've done any desert vehicles in this scale, so I'm having to work it out all over again.

I'm OK with how the Bishop turned out, but I'm not terribly happy with the Crusader. I'm going to have to refine my wash technique a bit — I probably should gloss-varnish them before adding the wash so that it doesn't over-darken the flat planes.

6mm Improbable - painted

3d-printed by Shapeways in FUD (frosted ultra detail) resin. It should have two Gatling guns on the rear balcony, but one was lost in transit. At some stage, I'll get some 6mm artillerymen (probably Franco-Prussian War Prussians, because I like the pickelhaube) to crew it.

Dimensions are 37mm long x 24mm wide x 30mm tall, to the top of the funnels.

It can be bought at http://shpws.me/M8Xl

Tiny Vickers

Now I've got some paint on to the 3d-printed 1:300 scale Vickers Medium Mk.III, and it's ready for its solitary lonesome duty on the tabletop battlefield.

Note that what looks like three tanks is actually only one, thanks to the magic of Photoshop trickery.

Now with added markings!

Leaving

It's really quite small.

Birch Gun for sale, one owner, low mileage

I don't know why the starboard running gear is bright white
while everything else is grey.

But not the port side, which was just mirrored from
the starboard.

Looking down into the fighting compartment

The view from behind.

I've built a 1:285 digital model of a Birch Gun from 1925, and put it up for sale in my brand new shop on Shapeways.

The limitations of the printing process means that things like the gun shield track guards and tracks are hugely over-thick in scale, but most of the model can just be resized upwards to form the core of a 15mm model.

On the plus side, this is the first model I've submitted to Shapeways that passed all their automated pre-acceptance tests first time, so I'm clearly getting a handle on how to design for the materials.

Vickers Medium Mk.II (1:300 scale)

This is a pretty awful model from Scotia; far below their general standard, which is normally actually not too bad. It's passable as far as profile goes, but it lacks most of the detail of the running gear (I had to paint in the drive wheel from scratch) and it has an odd grain in places that suggest the master was carved out of balsa wood or something. There is serious pitting in several places, especially on the top of the turret.

All this means that my usual painting technique of base colour, dry-brush and ink-wash wouldn't work.Everything had to be painted in from scratch, and details like hatches had to be created from thin air since they didn't exist, or had the merest suggestion, on the model itself. The edges are so soft that highlights had to be painted in to make the model look anything like as boxy as the original vehicle.

Scotia micros are cheap compared with GHQ or C-in-C, but you pay for that and more with the extra work you have to do to finish them.

Note: I thought I'd put these up here before, but couldn't find them when I went looking. So, here they are (possibly again), properly tagged so they can be found again.

More Micros

1:285 scale Hummel 150mm SPG from GHQ

This is an old model from GHQ. I first saw it featured in an advertisement in Military Modelling or the Airfix Magazine — the tagline was "Fight the Desert War in a small way", and they called attention to the shovel on the left hull rear as an example of their attention to detail.

GHQ's current Hummel model

That would have been about 1973-75 or thereabouts; I don't remember exactly.

It would appear that it has been re-mastered since then — no shovel any more, but even more detail everywhere else.

1:300 Brumbär 150mm assault gun from Heroics & Ros (I think)

These Brumbärs are from Heroics & Ros, I think. They have the H&R style. That would mean they're 1:300 scale.

Karl Gerät in teensy-tiny scale

Among the stuff I got from the 2015 CWS bring & buy, and the very first piece from that lot to be painted, is this Karl Gerät (lit. "Karl Device") 600mm self-propelled siege mortar in 1:300 scale. It's inscribed beneath with the date 1976, from Ros Miniatures before they combined with Heroics to become Heroics & Ros.

I show it here with a Panzer IV from C-in-C for scale; the tank is 1:285 scale, so there's a bit of a differential, but not too much.

Compared with fancier, more expensive brands like GHQ or C-in-C, the modelling is fairly soft and crude, and certainly showing its age, but it's perfectly acceptable for the wargames table. It could hardly be mistaken for anything else, even with eyes as decrepit as mine. The more recent modelling from H&R is very much better than this old stuff, from what I've seen.

There wasn't a Munitionschlepper in the lot with it, so if I want one I'll either have to buy one or modify a Pz.IV, of which I have a plenitude. I guess it will depend on how enthusiastic I get about it.

A Tin Full Of Tanks

Top left — KV85, Top-middle — ISU-152, top right — T34-76D

Bottom left — SU-85 (or SU-100), bottom right — T34-76A.

I glue little rare-earth magnets to the bottom of all my micro-armour so that I can store and transport them like this, in little shallow tins. This particular tin is one that a set of 10 Caran D'Ache crayons came in, and it's an ideal depth. Old tobacco tins are good too, though they're getting to be a bit expensive.

It's a little crowded at the moment, and I should probably transfer some of these to another one.

MicroSoviets

I've got a whole bunch of 1:285 scale late-WWII Soviet armour that I got ultra-cheap as a job-lot a while ago, and it all needs painting. It's not actually an army I have all that much interest in fielding, but what the hell. There are a couple of manufacturers present; one is definitely C-in-C, but the other I'm unsure about — possibly Scotia.

I've been flailing about trying to find the ideal paint shade and processes to make my life as easy as possible. Fortunately the Soviets didn't go as much for markings as other combatants, so that at least will help.

T34-76

These are some of a bunch of early T-34s I bought quite a few years ago when C-in-C were doing a cut-price deal — 10 tanks from each of Russia, Japan, Germany and America. They're painted in a dark Tamiya green of some sort — NATO Green, I think — and dry-brushed with Tamiya Buff. The colour would be roughly equivalent to Vallejo Russian Green I suppose, and it's pretty much the dark colour I used to think all Russian armour was painted. These days I prefer something more in the olive green line.

ISU-152

This (and the SU-85 or -100 below) was painted in a base of Vallejo's Parched Grass surface primer, and washed with Citadel Athonian Camoshade, which is a sort of olive khaki. Dry-brushed with Vallejo Buff. It's not too bad, but it's just a little bit too bright for what I want.

SU-85 (or SU-100)

One good thing about Soviet armour of this era is that the guns are simple tubes, without much in the way of sleeves or muzzle-brakes. That makes them a breeze to replace with stiff steel pins, which are much less susceptible to damage than the cast-on soft white-metal barrels. It's a little bit of a drag drilling and pinning hundreds of models, but doing them just a few at a time as I paint, it doesn't take long at all.

I'm not sure whether these are SU-85s or SU-100s — I'm not au fait enough with Soviet armour to be able to tell the difference at a glance. the SU-100 would have a much longer barrel of course, but otherwise they're near enough in basic shape that I'll happily use the models for either, as I require.

KV-85

These KV-85s have been painted in Vallejo Russian Uniform and washed with Citadel Agrax Earthshade, dry-brushed with Vallejo Buff. They're a shade or two down from the ISU-152 and SU-85, (though the camera doesn't really show that very well) and I think that this will be my basic colour for all the rest.

I replaced the barrels with lengths of 0.7mm steel wire.

---

These are the T-34 Model 1942/43 from the Mystery Manufacturer. Having looked at them a bit more closely, I begin to doubt my theory that they came from Scotia — the other models I've had from them have been considerably less detailed, more like stuff from Heroics & Ros (of whom I'm quite fond, incidentally). The standard of detail is almost like some older GHQ stuff, but the quality of casting isn't as good as I've had from them. It remains a mystery.

I've replaced the barrel on the one on the left with a .55mm brass rod. It's slightly over-scale, but it looks right on the table. I'd have preferred to do it with steel, being stiffer, but even brass is a substantial improvement on white metal.

Bring-and-Buy Booty

A few months ago, the Christchurch Wargaming Society held its annual bring & buy sale, at which I didn't sell much, but I did find some stuff to buy. My best score of the day was a shoe-box full of C-in-C micro-armour and resin buildings for $50.

That works out to just a few cents per vehicle or building or whatever. Score!

It's all stuff intended for a late-WWII Soviet army. I don't really have much interest in that particular genre, but I just couldn't resist. I mean, fifty bucks! How could I not?

GHQ Microarmour — SiG-33

I just received another order of early WWII German 1:285 scale microarmour from GHQ, amongst which are these — the SiG-33 self-propelled 150mm howitzer.

It's about as simple as self-propelled artillery gets, being nothing more than a gun plonked on top of a Panzer I tank chassis and a welded steel box shoved around it. They got more sophisticated as the war progressed, but even this initial stop-gap design was very successful.

I may have to buy some decals for the markings; my hands aren't as steady as they once were, and painting them in this tiny scale is becoming something of an ordeal.