The Brit, The Yank and the Hobby episode 22 Sea lion

 

In Episode 22 we are joined by author, scientist and games designer John Lambshead, with his latest work, the Sea Lion supplement for Bolt Action. 

John talks to us about some of the history and new game mechanics he's added, as well as the historical basis for what is arguably the biggest campaign that never was.

You can listen to the show at the following links from 05/05/2017

RSS Feed

Libsyn

iTunes

Come on over to our facebook group to join in the discussion, and drop by Johns blog to see what he's up to as well! I'll have an in depth look at the new book here very soon as well... 

Warlord Games 28mm 1/56 Stuart Review

Todays review is Warlord Games new M3 Stuart, kindly supplied by them for me to take a look at. 

This kit is part of their continuing partnership with plastic kit manufacturer Italeri, and follows the norm of that range of kits by being relatively complex for a war-gaming model, but also superbly detailed. 

There are some smaller and fairly fiddly parts, so this may not be to everyone's taste. Personally I like it and prefer the fidelity this approach offers, however if you're looking for a quick bash together model for the tabletop there could be some frustration. 

Instructions are a massive leap forwards to most war-gaming kits, being clear 3D renders, with relevant parts labelled by suitable symbol, so the Soviet star for the Lend Lease variant, the Desert Rat for the Western  Desert British vehicle, and so on. 

 

Each variant possible is identified at the start of the instructions too, and the instructions suggest dry fitting before applying glue, which is nice to see. 

The kit includes parts to build a British M3, a Soviet lend lease M3, a British M3A1, an American M3A1 in Tunisia, and finally a USMC M3A1 with hull flame thrower.

 

 Also included are 3 commander figures, one British, one American and finally a Soviet one. These figures are ok, but I'll be replacing mine with a metal one at some stage. 

 

The set is rounded out with a  nice little decal sheet and quick reference cards for Bolt Action, as well as a set of smoke markers. No stowage is included, and I found quality of moulding to be excellent, with a nice slide moulded main gain.

 The  only real imperfection was a sink mark in the centre of the hatch, which I only noticed once painting was complete, hence the map... 

 

The only other addition I made to the kit was the addition of an aerial made out of jewellers wire. 

Assembly was simple, and took me around 45 minutes to put together. It pays to go through and highlight the stages relevant to you before starting building. 

Also, use a good plastic glue or solvent, such as Plastic Weld or Tamiya liquid thin, as super-glue will be an exercise in frustration. The new instructions served to make assembly relatively easy though, and fit was good.

 

I've prepared a painting guide for the model which should appear on Warlords website in the not too distant future. Overall I found the kit to be very well designed and an enjoyable project, and at £18 is pretty good value.

I look forwards to adding another 2 to my collection to make a troop.  As ever you can find more of my work at Volley Fire Painting Service, and you can get your own M3 Stuart at Warlord Games.

For more on the war in the desert, or historical gaming chat in general, come over and join us at The Brit, The Yank and the Hobby Podcast

Rubicon Models US armour reviews

In these reviews, I'm doing something slightly different, and rolling several reviews into one, as I built all the kits at the same time, and most of the comments are the same of each of them, though I'll cover each individually too. In the interests of integrity, Rubicon have been kind enough to provide me with review samples of each of the kits below, however these particular vehicles were part of a work commission.

Rubicon Models have quite an extensive line of mid to late war US armour in their catalogue now (I do keep harassing them to make an M4A1 too...), and whilst I've already looked at their M5 Stuart and M4A3 Shermans, this time I've been building the M3 halftrack, M8 Scott, M10 and M36 tank destroyers, and the  M20 armoured car. 

All of these kits come with Rubicons standard packaging of a letterbox type packaging with each sprue individually bagged to prevent loss of parts, as well as an extensive decal sheet, and well laid out instruction booklet. Each kit contains multiple variants, so it's worth taking a few minutes before cutting things to identify which variant you will build, and what parts you will be using.

All of the vehicles were painted the same way, using a black primer as a base, and then airbrushing Vallejo Brown Violet over most of the vehicle, leaving some black visible in the recesses. around the edges and raised areas I then airbrushed Vallejo Green Grey, before weathing them using some Burnt Umber oil paint used as a wash around the details and recesses. 

 

M3A1 Half Track

The M3A1 kit actually gives the option of assembling the vehicle as either an M3, or an M3A1, with a choice of winch or bumper at the front, deployed or stored stowage racks, open or closed radiator grill, and open or closed armoured wind shield, as well as pose able machine guns and a choice of interior radio fits, and also comes with 2 crew figures. 

 

Decals are also note worthy, as they contain some nice Free French markings,  as well as a good jumble of codes and stars too, so will be useful for future projects too.

I found the kit to be a fairly quick build, with some very nice detail and good fit to the parts. The only part of the kit that failed to impress me were the crew figures, although fortunately these are barely visible.

I still opted to use the driver and omit the other passenger. Some inevitable comparison will be asked with the Warlord Games plastic M3A1, and there's very little between the two, though Warlords is probably a marginally simpler to assemble kit, and comes with less decals and no choice of variants. I'll be adding Rubicons kit to my own DAK force as an M3 variant at some point in the none too distant future. 

M8 Scott

Another nice kit, the M8 Scott allows you to build either an M5A1 Stuart, or M8 Scott. 

There's little cross over here either, but with a bit of care and creativity you could build both and swap parts as each variant is required if that's your thing.

Between the Stuart and the Scott, I prefer the look of the finished M8, the spare track parts on the turret have slightly more impact and definition than on the Stuart parts, and the finished vehicle just has more impact. Turret interior is pretty good too for the M8, although it's lacking in crew and you'll have to convert some up if you want to fill their void. 

Assembly is straight forwards,  and rounded off by another well stocked transfer sheet with a good selction of markings, with options for several nationalities covered, including the USA, Britain and France. 

M10 Tank destroyer

This one comes with some fairly notable options, namely the choice of building an M10, an M10A, an M36 and finally an Achilles tank destroyer. 

Parts for these are all fairly specific,especially due to the way the turret rings are constructed, although you could potentially work out a way to make them interchangeable with a bit of work, the kits not really designed that way.

Interior detail for the M10 vehicles is good, though no interior is provided for the M36 turret apart from a gun breach.

Oddly, whilst ammunition racks are provided in for the hull, there is no floor, which is a fairly visible part of the fighting compartment. Sadly, no crew or stowage are provided, though once again the decal sheet is superb. 

M20 Scout Car

The final kit I'm looking at today, the M20 kit also includes parts to build the M8 armoured car as well. This was a bit of a surprise kit as it has some really superb detail.

 

It's not an easy kit to switch between versions however, so be mindful of that if you're intending making it as both. assembly is a breeze though and the finish model is superb to my eye. 

Of the 4 of these, I think my favourite is probably the M20/M8, although I really like the M3 kit too. the Scott is good value for money, though I have to admit to being disappointed in the M10, as I felt it a little lacking, though I'd struggle to put my finger on what precisely. 

 

Rubicon Models can be obtained through Plastic Soldier Company in the UK, and from their US distributor for those in America, and as ever you can see more examples of my work or contact me regarding commissions at Volley Fire Painting Service.

Warlord Games 1/56 Churchill

As part of the on going operation Sand Dune project with Carl Titterington, Sam Phillips and myself, and with my DAK army nearly done now, I've decided to start branching out into the British forces. Warlord Games were kind enough to supply me with some of their new plastic Churchill tanks to form the core of my Tunisian forces. Today I shall be reviewing the kit and describing the options included. 

Warlords Churchill is another collaboration with Italian model kit manufacturer Italeri, and looking at the parts break down I suspect it's lineage goes back to the Dragon 1/72 scale kits of this impressive tank. 

 

 The kit is supplied in dark grey plastic with each frame packaged in it's own bag, and a decal sheet is included (And which I forgot to photograph). Also included is an instruction sheet, and I recommend going through this first and marking all the parts you want to use for the version you are building, so as to avoid any confusion later. The instructions I felt are pretty clear, though care should be taken when following them. I didn't pay too much attention to them and managed to somehow assemble the tracks wrongly.

The decal sheet is nicely done,  with a good selection of regimental markings and flashes, and also includes a Soviet guards badge for making a lend lease vehicle. Only three things jump out at me from the sheet, it includes a number jumble for making the vehicles registration code, but doesn't come with the 'T' prefix, the squadron flashes have a black filler inside of the geometric shape, I'd have much preferred this to be open so that it can be blackened later if desired. Finally, some names would have been welcome, though that may be pushing the limits of what is possible with a small sheet. 

Assembly is actually very straight forwards (When you bother to read the instructions...), I glued some pennies into mine to give it a little more weight and heft, and also replaced the antennae with fuse wire but that was it. Building mine as the MKIII the use of slide moulding was evident, as the gun (as will all of them), is pre drilled and in scale. The only small, fiddly parts are the head lights at the front of the vehicle, the rest is made up of large panels that fit nicely. I do really recommend using a proper plastic glue or solvent, and dry fitting though as going straight in with super glue will make for a bad day.

Warlords Churchill allows you to build one of the following versions, MKIII, with welded turret and 6 pounder gun. The MKIV with a welded turret and 6 pdr. MKV with 95mm howitzer, Mk VI with 75mm gun, this has a particularly nice muzzle brake too. There is also an option to build the NA75mm version. Eavh of these looks good and is pretty accurate. If you are someone who likes swapping variants this could be a problem, however if you made judicious use of magnets it may be possible.

Also possible in this kit is the option to build the AVRE, the Petard mortar is well done, however quite a few of the hull fittings are missing so it's hard to build an accurate model of the vehicle straight from the box if that is what you require. 

 

Luckily S&S models are coming to the rescue, and will be bringing out a series of update and conversion kits for the AVRE, that will also allow you to build a few of the different options. I'll be getting myself one of the bridge layers when it comes out.

To paint my Churchill I primed black, and then airbrushed Vallejo USA Olive Drab. I then mixed some Vallejo Pale sand in, applied the transfers, then let the paint dry for 3-4 days. I then came back to the tank, painting AK4062 Light Dust Deposit over the entire vehicle, before using a broad brush lightly dipped in white spirit to work most of the Light dust off the model. I then repeated this process a few times until the dust had built up to a level I was happy with. 

After placing the Churchill to one side to dry for another day, I came back to it and did the same thing using AK4063 Brown Earth Deposit, concentrating this onto the tracks and working parts, as well as the lower hull and anywhere dirt may accumulate in thicker quantities.

 Again, the tank was left for a few days to dry, before I painted MIG 1000 wash for Dark Yellow into the darkest recesses and deepest panels. 

Finally, I used a selection of artists oils to add some streaking to the sides, and some MIG Oil and Grease to some of the drive wheels and engine deck. A quick drybrush of the tracks with a dark steel colour I mixed up and the Churchill was complete. 

The crewman is the one included with the kit, and very nice he is too. 

I'd sum this kit up by saying it was an excellent build, but one must exercise some caution to ensure you are building the correct version you want, and also to get the tracks together correctly. at £20 the kit is good value, and is quite sizeable too. Warlord also sell the Churchill in a platoon set, with 3 vehicles for £50. My thanks to Warlord Games for providing the kit, and you can see more of my work or contact me regarding commissions at Volley Fire Painting Service.