Housing issues & sick leave

I catched a cold (and it became flue) about a week ago and instead of school I had to spent my week in bed. Now Im starting to "regain my powers", so I decided to post small "here n there" stuff I did just before my sick leave.

Not much done, most notably the BTR-60PB moulding is quite much done what it comes into resin parts, and first tester is complete. As it didnt come out as nicely as I would have liked, I had to do some overhauls, but Im quite sure Im not going to fix the mould as my main intention is not to sell them, Im just going to need quite shitload of those for my DDR NVA and Afrikan Republic - and later, for my cold war Finns too. So as I said, the moulding is complete - Thou I was not completely happy to the results (small fails in master, but nothing absolutely horrific - most notable problem is the another side of the lower hull where the wheels should be fixed into, its not completely straight. If I use good superglue, Zap or 3M fex - I have no problem with that as long as I pay enough attention), they will do and Im going to put the few white metal parts into mould during next week. I didnt took any photos about the tester, but heres the master basecoated, in just out of the mould condition.

So some stuff has happened, most notably the fume extractors and handrails along the vehicle. I did do some simplification to the belly of the vehicle, as my moulding techniques aint that sophisticated. As my B-project, Im having 1:100 Mi-2 "hoplite" to be casted before I graduate (hopefully) later this spring. Before that, Im still having shitloads to do, most notably architechtural model (Detailed 1:100 House - my sisters one, to be excat. Im not completely comfortable with the techniques as it should be done mostly from cardboards and prints, Im more into the plastic card and "mechanical" detailing techniques. Also, the Parolas Armoured Museums order is still waiting - 1:16 Ft-17, hull is finished but Im still lacking the track-engines and allmost half of the trackshoes are still uncasted. And of course, last but not least, my "Grand Finale" during the April)


But more:

I re-painted the Gaming Clubs 15mm houses, or at least most of them, Allmost immediatly after applying varnish, I found few more of these babies from box under the gaming tables. I was quite in hurry at that point, so I just left them.. But at least they do look better than before! I should have taken some before/after pics, as the single-toned spray-can issued "sandish" colour didnt look so good at all.

3D-prints, BTR-60PB masters and mayhem.

Been busy with the school lately (partly explained later), but Ive managed to squeeze some time (especially during the winter holidays) for painting work. Sadly my territorialheer has stolen quite a lot of time away from my Afrika projects - and coming to that: Ive been thinking, should I start including also cold war (and other) stuff in here? Ive been less-active updater for long now, and partly the reason is that I have nothing to show.

About the models:
During my 2 week holiday, I spent a week in my parents house, and I must say that its extremely inspiring district for me at some reason, so I brought my painting gear and a dozen of figs with me. After all, didnt get much done, but my VDVs got their ATGM and AGL teams in paint, and the first vehicle crew too. I also painted 3 bases of Soviet Scouts/Assault SMGs to be used in my LW soviet FoW guards heavy tank regiment-list, to be used against my FoW LW finns so its based around those operated in Karelian Isthmus in "summer of love", `44. For afrika I painted the 3-man fireteam so my first PMC-squad is in full battle strenght, gone up to the 5 man manouvering group (with NCO and LAWs) and 3 man gun group (with NCO and GPMG/M60). Sadly I didnt took any photos of them, but I try to take some snappies next week. For crew purposes (as noted in my last game) I did need more acctuall crew figures, so I managed to fully paint one 3 man crew section, and another is still in PIP-status. But yeah, pics:

My crew, based on PPs 14th army brits - so these babies are with sten-guns. Sad that no-one makes suitable "modernish" figures with SMG, solely.. If we dont take on account those QRFs pw-germans with UZI.

And again, one shot of my "avatar", specfor sniper - I used more downward light for this pic, and now you can see the camo colours from this. Thou Im still not happy with the result...

And about those school projects; during my first year, I was tasked with the project to build scale model without using the acctuall blueprints, just photographs and measurements. I left it hanging, but as my graduation comes closer and closer, I had to eal with it. So instead of 1:5 bicycle (which was recommended project) I went with another approach, 1:100 BTR-60PB master to be casted in resin (and propably in pewter too, as the gun barrel is rather fragile) - I had some picture taken during my last visit on Parolas Armored Museum, thou I based the acctuall measurement process on ICMs 1:72 scale model set - thou my teachers wasnt very happy to my choice, I did work between lines set by assignment.

Ive made some progress from this allready, but didnt took new pictures - I added the exhaust, made the tire and started working with the turret, so its propably on casting stage during next week.

But again, solely speaking about the afrika, my time will be taken pretty much during oncoming weeks by the west-germans "own" army, which shall eventualy confront my VDV in behind the lines-campaign as the WPACT and soviets start massive airborne operation to enchancce their possibilites of major breakthrough. Not to speak about my FoW soviets, I propably receive the 3D-printed master of my KV-1B/C pattern turret to be used as a conversion part to modify zvezdas cheap KV-1m39 into uptodate heavy cast turret variant - so nothing to do with afrika here, but heres the 3D-model:

Again, rather oddball model - not completely accurate, but will do in 1:100. My greatest worry is about the quality of the print, as this (again) was part of my school project and some former student did offer the printing services as school, some reason or another, still doesnt own 3D-printer - well, mouth of the gift horse and so-on..

And in future?

Due to the "Christmas" sales in QRF, I decided to start manning up my territorialheer as most the vehicles I allready had, and the VDV receives "brand-new" obsolete SPG-9 - rather oddball unit, as VDV orbat still includes two of these thrue the 80s in anti-tank section. Ofc should be taken on account that every BMD-1P IFV does wield AT-4 of its own, but still. For afrika, I decided that its time to roll in the big guns - for long time, Ive been thinking the appropriate MBT-ish vehicle to be used as a ultimate support for my lads. I was between the T-62BM/M and some heavier armoured car, as the game takes place in early 90s so the fleamarket of the ex-soviet block is more than a open, but after all, the wheeled vehicles (propably more expensive when compared into colwar-era mass produced tanks which is sold via some crooked brigade general) are notably faster, cheaper to use and easier to maintain. Only acctuall options available were french AMX-10RC and Rooikat from SA - Ive allways liked AMX-10RC, but IRL its extremely expensive (thou its more like a wheeled MBT, but still), so I went with the Rooikat. After all, the SADF went down in early 90s, so at least in thory, few of these might have gone missing... Or some "under the carpet" arms deal in very late stages of border war went wrong and third party captured these. Pirates, maybe? :P

But yeah, Rooikat it is. If QRF keeps up its rather random quality (thou as far as I know, its rather new model, so it should offer better quality), I propably change the barrel into 90mm one, same as used in Sagaie - after all, at least in paper, it performs better than the orginal long 76mm used by SADF. And as the ERC-90F4 is available for the PMC, its likely that "spare" guns are too, or ones looted from lost vehicle. Ive been thinking also the possibility to add ERA into the vehicle, after all, first gen (K-1) ERA should been available thrue the "eastern express"...

Quickdate vol.2

Been busy with my FoW soviets last weeks (Argh, multibased figures, argh), but this monday I received package from irishserb so the WW2 shall move to the background, at least for a few days..

About the figs: I must admit these figs are rather high quality ones! That ERC-90 F4 is propably one of the best 15mm vehicles Ive ever laid my eyes on: with exception of few small airbubbles there was absolutely no sign of miscast or missing details - and the size is correct! Only major flaw in the vehicle itself were the bubbles in wheels (some bolts missing, not big deal) and rather shoddy gun barrel (as the resin tends to be when shaped like a thin juice straw.. :P), so I decided to rebuilt it. Did it from brass rod&piping, and I used muzzlebrake from the orginal model and tuned that for a bit. And Im quite happy to the result, I try to find some time to basecoat this tomorrow.

The gun barrel rebuilt and comparision to the orginal:

 

In the event that someone does found the size comparision pics usefull, I also post this shot with Rebel Minisin VIP-fig and Peter Pigs AML-90. I was rather suprised how big the ERC-90 acctually is! The AML-90 looks like some sort of Renault Twingo when placed next to it.. :D

Long time no see, long time no ABC..

Sorry about the long silence, thou Ive been making progress with stuff, Ive not been able to take decent pictures of them :P Thou I still decided to release all of those which Ive posted into the finnish wargaming community allready, even if not so professional quality.
But yeah, just got word from irishserb that my package is leavin soon, and PPs order was dispatched yesterday - so my medium support, AFV-crews and objective markers are on their way.

But about my force:

I re-did my organisation few days back, and went more british-like organisation, thou its still more adhoc and down-scaled. lso Ive decided to add some CAS as soon as I find some suitable "old school" ground attack planes, A-1 Skyraider would be a jackpot alongside Pucara. Thou my greatest hope is Hellers 1:100 Alize ASW plane, which would be pretty much perfect; Old, but long serving tool of the trade, requires quite short TO&landing area and was less sensitive when it comes to the brushing of the airstrip..

But yeah, models:

AML-90, my main light-vehicle support alongside the AML-60. We re-made the stats for afrika, and this baby is more AT-capable, the mortar variant got upgunned AP stats so there would be some reason to even use it - alongside the indirect capabilities..
The model is from Peter Pig, and it was rather nice model for 4,5£ (around 5€ during purschase), and didnts equire a lot of cleaning. Im not so happy with the paintjob thou, I think I kinda overdid the chipping.
The transfer is from some random "we-dont-mention-that-gothic-scifi-game-over-here" sheet, and Im not so pleased on that either. The tires are weathered with tamiyas products.

The groupshot, along the old squad organisation of 2 fire teams with own GPMGs and LAWs.

And here starts the poor quality pics - the "ParaBats", airborne mercenaries which are more uniform unit than the "regulars". When fighting against irregs in COIN, these guys are the top call, alongside the "Tier 1" special forces. Those are ready too, but I think they have some kind of magical "specfor" aura as every picture I took from them was more or less blurred.. :D So sorry about the pic quality, should base these babies too,

Some PIP shots from their ride:

Im rather happy to the effect on glass, thou I took quite massive artistic freedoms from reality, didnt do much of a blending there.  Its UH-1B from Flames of War: Vietnam range - my local gamestore decided to drop them out from their quantities so they were -40% off. Couldnt resist, also picked up some M48s and M113 for my Cold War Heim-Schutzh Brigaden - must admit that M48 was "less easy" to turn up into M48A2G2..
The weapon load of this Hog was left off, I propably use those on my spare QRF OH-6 Loach to create some sort of adhoc firesupport chopper - after Ive repaired that into modelling condition. Must admit, it was propably one of the most horrific QRFs products Ive ever laid my hands on. Its quite literally covered with tamiyas putty and liquid greenstuff, and due to the small size, Im having difficulties to decide how to mount it in regular flying pole.. The FoW chopper-base/stick is way too big for it.

And for last, as a small easter egg, my "Objective" marker - the Embassador of some unidentified country, being maliciously harrashed time after time by irregulars and former army regulars in service of rebelling generals.. And time after time, being mostly saved by PMC or UN.

 

Dont mind the dust on top of that MB - didnt notice that before taking the pictures, but after I checked those out I sweeped it off and took the pictures below.

Back to School..

..and back into photographing studio :D

So summers out, and back to routines - must admit that I didnt do much of a modelling during my holidays, and even less I tried to take photos in my poorly lighted flat..

But yeah, I got something made, after all, first of the the Unimog DPVs is ready and willing to fight.

Thats Peter Pigs excellent Unimog truck right there, with some medium modifications - the canvas was quite horrible, I must admit, fitted poorly and required a lot of cleaning up - thou, when seen in price-quality comparision, this is is pretty much perfect for anyone who requires large umbers of medium/light trucks. But yeah, about the modifications - the orginal is "soft" version, with canvas cockpit. This one got hardened, it flattened the roof with putty and added "full" doors from plasticard. The HMG is PPs Dushka. Im not happy to the front either, I still have one of these babies WIP, I propably add rolled tarpaulin or winch in front of the vehicle so the drivelights and cooler intake would be covered..
So this is the mercs vehicle brought in when the "Guntrucks!"-fog card is drawn.

Whoooops, I slipped sum PIPs here :D

But yeah, there you can see PMCs medium support AML90 armored car, and basic "fireforce" APC, the modified Alvis Saracen. The Saracen is QRFs work, (AML from PP) and like most of the time when it comes to the QRFs products, it was decent, but required quite a lot of cleaning. Fex. the wheelcenters needed to be covered due to the large amount of miscast, and the sides of the passenger comparement were like, well, the very casual daywalk thrue hell and fire to clean.. But Im trying to get these finished ASAP, as our "mega" game is ~1 month ahead, and Im going to need my helisupport and parabat-mercs in paint too!
For those who are interested, I reworked the hatches for saracen, largened the turret and replaced the L7 GPMG with trustfull workhorse; Dushka! So this baby is going to be closer some sort of light IFV than actuall APC due to the lack of AT weapons of insurgents.

Quickdate - another merc squad. Got 3rd squad readied up for painting, but that may take some time as our campaign is in the point where mercenary "special forces" break the stalemate and free the peacekeeper POWs which were taken in one of our first matches.

Im waiting those spec-ops to arrive from postal office this week, as the order from PP was despatched @ thursday. Going to use these as a basis for them, with advanced weaponry, heavy body armor (+2D) and something special which will come up from the pics then ;)

But yeah, that and the fact Im working with cold war mega-battle (which is closing in) propably makes me to take a break from Afrika and concentrating on finishing the Berlin suburb Polizei-platoon and my VDV troops.

 

And the squad leader, in Belgian "jigsaw" camogear and with FN-FAL rifle. From PPs vietnam range, australian SAS if I remember correctly.

Back to work, got 15 VDV troopers to finish tonight :)

Finaly, pictures!

Been a while sine the last update - been busy re-organizing my VDV for Cold War Gone Hot.

Must say, that if there is some more well kept secret in former soviet bloc than the VDV organisation at the late 1980`s, Im not sure do I want to know it.. Literaly, its been thrue hell and fire to found few comparable TO&E tables, and none of them was excatly what I looked for! Anyway, got some time for Afrika project as well.

My prototype Merc squad, five men:

Quite "international" unit, I tried to give them much more multicultural feeling than the two other "homogenous" armies of the campaign are having, as the U-N peacekeepers are european, and the african tribesmen are, well, local folk alltogether.

Most of the mercs are wearing (former) uniform or service item of some sort, so theres going to be a great mix of different camos and gears together.

Oh, and one (oldish) WIP picture too:

As I mentioned earlier (or did I?) most of the merc operations include Unimog RPV (Recoinassance & Patrol Vehicle), soft skin (or up-armored soft skin) with good carrying capacity and HMG (on AA mount) on top of the cabin.
The model is conversion from Peter Pigs Unimog, shame I didnt take any more pics, as you may notice the vehicle is "hard top" variant - not totally happy to the result, but Im still having few tries left as Im going to need at least two of these babies.

For armored support, Im working with PPs Panhard AML-90 armored with minor modifications and two Quick Reaction Forces APC, (allmost) modern Alvis Saracen :P Still not sure what to do with the saracen, I propably remove the rear GPMG and upscale the frontal turret, not so keen with the hitting power and size of the "main gun" - after all, its mostly the toughest thing mercs can bring in to battle, so Im propably going to scale up the turret and equip it with HMG or AGL, OR the I remove the turret alltogether (wich makes the usage harder, thanks to the Force on Forces unbuttoned-rule, but looks kinda badass) and mount the PPs American HMMWV gunners (with headswap) on the place.