Tigers Marsch Part 3

The Tiger is having the zimmerit paste applied to the body of the tank. Application is tied to the set time of the Green Stuff - you could use Miliput, so a side is done per session. The covers of the exhausts were plastic tube that was split, stretched over a paint brush and heated with boiling water to set the plastic, heated again to stretch until the correct shape. Then the top was filed to the correct thickness, with the inside edges cut to go round the flanges of the exhaust pipes so they would fit over them.

The body of the tank was put together quite well, but the fit of the plastic pieces is not that great, in fact, as I was whiling the time away applying the zimmerit paste, I was thinking of where I could have got a kit with the paste already on - metal or plastic.

Work to continue with applying paste to front plate and rear, then turret, and stowage box. Mudguards have been scored to show the 4 guards per side.

Tigers Marsch Part 2

The components as received, broken down for preparation, and to follow the transformation . I have decided to start with 2 of the Tigers, and see what happens. I will be needing to sort out the exhausts, do the tracks, add the stowage box at rear of turret, add zimmerit, attach cupola mg, add track to side of turrets, weather/rough up the vehicle - side skirts/mudguards, add aerials, paint and base. I will need to decide paint scheme and numbering, and whether to add any crew figures, though they will probably be 101st SS in Normandy, and the other 2 a Heer unit from Normandy

Tigers marsch ! Part 1

4 Airfix Tigers have arrived last week from ebay, and the research has already begun into transforming them into 101st Heavy Panzer. The kits are well made, but the Tigers appear to be early models, without the rear turret storage bin, and the cylindrical exhausts on rear. No problem, as a visit to the bit box, and some plasticard will sort these things out, and from reading Then and Now, Panzers in Normandy, I will be trying to rough them up, as well as add some zimmerit paste. Photos will follow, as I work my way through the process. One of the other problems is the track sag - reading, I have found out that they weigh in at 2.5 tons each, so I will have my work cut out showing this, without damaging the track or running gear, and making the model a reasonable effort.

Kampfgruppe Normandy

OK, I know it should be Normandie, but what the heck.

Recently several month's ago I had the opportunity to try my hand at KGN. We played 25mm, but the last game I played before my opponent had to nip overseas for work, was in 1/300th. The board we would have played on was set up for a Franco-Prussian game, so the table became 2 paste tables in the garden. The game was surprisingly excellent fun, allowing a large scale game to be played quite quickly. This was only my third game, but I had gone the whole hog into KGN after the first, as it just 'felt right'. Not the reason I would have wanted to own up to, perhaps something along the lines of historical accuracy etc. After playing Flames , it just ' felt right ' .

Sweeping napoleonic swathes of miniatures , buckets of dice to hand, and national character tweaks had worn thin. Flames just didn't do it. As a consequence, my 15mm Flames US armoured recon hit ebay, and various bits and pieces of 25mm began to rain down into the shed for work on sprucing them up.

As I write, the US infantry are almost complete, and there are a selection of  US armour, jeeps and utilities just about to be finished off. Finally, courtesy of the marketing wonks at the 'evil empire', a 50% sale made the rule set within reach, and saved a visit to the photocopier. Although I suspect, with the quality of the rules - all the artwork, detail etc, I would have found it just the same as buying the rules at full price. £48 and posting - outrageous, but wow, my own dirty little secret. £48 !!!!

I shall get some pics up

Welcome to my wargaming blog

The blog has been created to further my obsession with ' littlemen', alright, I mean wargames figures ( and models ). Finally I have given in to technology. I will attempt to match some of the excellent material I read on the Web, and try to entertain as well.