28mm Falklands War British

The Falklands War ended thirty years ago today with the surrender of the Argentine forces to Major General Jeremy Moore.  It seems incredulous that time has passed so quickly and when perusing the various trade stands at ‘Salute’ in April, I came across these ‘Mongrel Miniatures’ on the ‘Newline Designs’ stand.  They are diplomatically labelled as NATO forces, but are wearing suitable attire to represent the British forces at the time of the conflict.

  

I had hoped to produce a little vignette for the occasion but simply ran out of time, but I'm hopeful to complete the project over the weekend.  These are my first attempt at a camouflaged uniform and I have to admit to being a little apprehensive at the start.  In the end I had to dig out my old cadet force smock from the loft of ‘Awdry Towers’ in a bid to try and fathom out in which order the colours went down to create the  DPM look.

When I first started to clean up and prepare the miniatures I didn’t think they were particularly well sculpted - the barrels of the SLRs seemed a little stunted, that sort of thing, but I soon changed my mind when the undercoat went on!  As with so many things, they are what you make of them and these proved to be no exception to the rule.  There were some lowly little touches like the binoculars tucked into the officer's smock and the first field dressing taped to the '58 webbing of one of the riflemen. They really were tremendous little miniatures and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed what I assume will be a very brief jaunt into the modern era; but then again!

The Wood for the Trees

Just the briefest of posts to highlight the birch trees featured in the previous post, 'Bigfoot!'  It needs to be said from the offset that this wasn't my idea at all, but instead one that I came across on the marvellous 'TerraGenesis' forum.  Unfortunately I can't find a name to credit, but whoever it was deserves a medal for the sheer brilliance of this design.  It called for a couple of 'ingredients' that I hadn't heard of before but with the power of the infoweb at my fingertips they were soon tracked down.  To make the three stands I used one pack of white paper covered wire at £1.69 and half a roll of white stem tape, used for bouquets, costing the princely sum of 65p!  The rest of the bits and bobs I already had lying around so there was no other additional cost; as I said earlier the design is brilliant!  I won't repeat the whole process here but have collaged some photographs together to illustrate the method.

1. Paper covered wire rolled in stem tape then marked with a Sharpie.

2. One pack of wire and the tape produced all the trees pictured.  They were fixed to MDF bases and textured.

3. I got a bit carried away with the painting and texturing of the bases, but wanted to have them match the recent additions to the livestock here at 'Awdry Towers'!  They really were that simple to make and helped in the staging of the photographs, but of course would work perfectly for gaming  too.  A few more interspersed with fir trees and you have instant forest, perfect for all those backwoods scenarios.

Whilst on the subject of  trees I picked these up from the 'The Model Tree Shop' and based them the other day.  Perhaps a little on the pricey side, but fantastic service and the etched brass fronds do look great.  Obviously the ideal would be to make one's own and recently I saw a wonderful post by Paul of "Paul's Bod's" fame.  However this project is on hold until I find a squirrel! (click the link to see what I'm wittering on about!)

Bigfoot!

A Victorian era Sasquatch, I hear you cry?  An incredulous,"Really?" heard around the blogosphere!   There I was quietly perusing the 'Newline Designs' website, when out of the virtual pages leapt theses great big hairy beasties!  What was a boy to do?

Ever since then there have been spurious reports and sightings of these bipedal hominids in and around the lead pile at ‘Awdry Towers’, but it wasn’t until the wolves and subsequently the bears were flushed out into the open that an idea started to germinate in my confused and jumbled brain.

I have, now fading, memories of ‘Arthur C Clarke’s Mysterious World’ a television program first aired in 1980s – I was very young!   One of the episodes, entitled ‘The Missing Apeman’ investigated the evidence for the existence of both Bigfoot and the Yeti.  This was the first time that I had seen the 'Patterson-Gimlin' film and long before the average household had the technology to rewind and view again – if you blinked you missed it!  For those few fleeting seconds I was totally absorbed; I had seen Bigfoot and it was real!

Being such an impressionable lad, this sort of imagery left an indelible mark on young master Awdry and so you can imagine my delight when I came across these curious cryptids  by 'Pontoonier Miniatures'.   Perhaps a little too reminiscent of the creature from that 1987 cinematic marvel  ‘Bigfoot and the Hendersons’, they were certainly nicely weighted and proportioned.  Like the bears, relatively straightforward to paint, although a little more time was required on the chest, face and hands to bring out a sense of personality.  The bases were done to match those of the recently completed bears and to bring a sense of cohesion to the still fledging idea that is slowly gathering pace.

Private Widdle...

of the Queen's Own 3rd Foot and Mouth Regiment

Having painted up the wonderful 'Mutton Chop Miniatures' Sidney "Dirty Laugh" Cohen, I was left looking at his sidekick 'George Hartree' (again a thinly disguised alter ego for 'Carry On' star Charles Hawtrey) and wondered 'what if?'

What if, with a bit of converting, I could bring about a transformation to represent the luckless Private Widdle, infamous for losing his woollen pants to the Khasi of Kalabar whilst patrolling the Khyber pass.   The idea proved too tempting to resist and before long a set of three 'Carry On Up The Khyber' miniatures was dreamt up using a combination of 'Perry Miniatures' Sudan range and a 'Wargames Foundry' Indian Hill Tribesman. 

Before and ...

After much snipping, filing and swearing they started to take shape, but not before I had to rebuild Widdle's chin due to an unfortunate run in with a scalpel blade - the project nearly came to an abrupt end at this point!  The Indian Tribesman, now representing the ruthless 'Bunghit Din' had his shield removed and now proudly shows off his new trophy; Widdle's underpants!  Finally I couldn't resist a little fun with the Sergeant who loosely represents Terry Scott's character, 'Sergeant Major MacNutt'.  If you are wondering why he appears to have a football corner flag sticking out of his back then watch the trailer below.

after!

It has to be said that this was hugely entertaining distraction and already the thought has crossed my mind to to create a Sir Sidney Rough-Diamond.  Mind you if Mr Hicks would oblige in creating a Kenneth Williams look-a-like then what would be more apt than the the Khasi of Kalabar himself?  'Carry on up the Khyber' remains one of my favourite of the 'Carry On' films to this day, not just because of the subject matter, but of the childhood memories it evokes; memories of a seemingly much more innocent time.

I was having so much fun setting up the photographs that it seemed churlish not to give 'Nellie' a run out.  More on her can be found here.

Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond on hearing news that the Native revolt has reached the gates of the British Embassy: 

Do? Do? We're British. We won't do anything... 

Sidney "Dirty Laugh" Cohen

This splending creation is 'Mutton Chop Miniatures' thinly disguised alternate identity for the 'Carry On' stalwart, Sid James.  For those that may not be aware, 'Mutton Chop Miniatures' is the on line outlet of Mr. Paul Hicks of, amongst numerable others, ‘Empress Miniatures’ fame.  The site contains his modest, but oh so tasty collections designed with the ecenricities of a 'Very British Civil War' in mind.  In Paul's own words,

It is a collection inspired by the spirit of the 1930s and Heath Robinson styled contraptions. You wont find any large ranges of historical themed armies here!. You will find figures that are full of character and great for skirmishing or adding flavour to a themed army.

 I have often viewed many superbly painted examples of his work over at the 'Gentlemen’s Wargames Parlour' and have often had to fight the temptation to get hold of them; well I'm fighting no more.  The will power finally gave way at 'Salute' and Sid represents the first of several packs that found their way into my swag bag.

As with so much of Mr. Hick’s work this unmistakeable character really was a joy to work on.  Try as I might it was almost impossible not to hear Sid’s ‘Dirty Laugh’ reverberating around my head when painting him.  Having seen Pete Barfield's wonderful example of the same miniature on his excellent blog, 'PanzerKaput's Painted Review' it was clear that I had to use the same inspiration, that of Sid's Safari suit from 'Carry on up the Jungle'.  This at least opens up the possibility that he might be included in some form gaming action, perhaps,  

‘Carry on CAMARASAURUS!’

Sid James, 8 May 1913 – 26 April 1976

Perry American Civil War Rioters

"Why?"  I hear you ask.  Well they just seemed to have the perfect look for the huge expanse of wilderness, in or around the Pacific Northwest at the turn of the 20th Century.   It is all to do with that with that thoroughly distracting 'secret project' again! 

There is of course nothing secret about about this, nor can it really claim to be a project more a collection of disjointed thoughts that are slowly knitting together. In essence the idea evolves from the Dinosaur hunting in Lost Lands that I was playing about with earlier in the year.  It occurred to me that just as much fun could be had in a more realistic setting and informed using the natural fauna or perhaps incorporate the native mythology.

Now I know I put some spare cartridges in this pocket somewhere!

If I am honest then it is really just an excuse to  go and paint what I want around a very loose theme, but with these additions all manner of possible scenarios could start to be penned.  Certainly a cursory glance at the painting queue would suggest that I haven't grown weary of the idea yet, so stay tuned for more '28mm Tales of Adventure!" 

Whoosh! Whiz! Bang!

28mm Empress Miniatures Naval Rocket Unit

More from the wonderful ‘Empress Miniatures’, New Zealand Wars range; this time a Royal Navy rocket unit. Once again the supremely talented Mr. Paul Hicks does another excellent job on the crew, which were a delight to bring to life with a lick of paint. It was, however, the actual rocket launcher left me a little stumped.

From what I understand Congreve rockets, named after the man tasked with their development, were employed by Royal Navy crews during the wars. Unfortunately, such was the structural integrity of the Maori fortifications that were rendered practically useless, but still retained some worth as a psychological weapon – just imagine a firework display aimed straight at you! (Some might also remember the wonderful scene with the experimental Royal Horse Artillery Rocket Troop in ‘Sharpe’s Enemy’ that brought a much needed dose of humour to the episode.)

Anyway back to the rocket tube, it occurred to me that even at close range it probably ought to be elevated in some way so I decided to do a touch of ‘terra-forming’ and built up a slightly raised area using slate and some pumice gel. Having decided to work up the base a little more than normal, I reached for the etched brass bracken that I had used on my Maori warriors, it being deeply symbolic to the nation and the sharp eyed amongst you will have spotted a strange looking shrub at the back of the base. This was actually a palm tree that I had bought and a shining example of how one should carefully check the measurements of a proposed purchase before clicking the ‘add to basket’ button!

Those of you that have visited the sensational ‘Captain Richard’s Miniature Civil War’ will know that apart from been a hugely talented model maker he also has a propensity to ‘light things up’ with LEDs. I’d had some success at trying this with the ‘Wilderness Camp’ so thought I’d give it another go here. Not as successful or as obvious as I had hoped, so I may need to try again at another time.

Not that you would notice, but there is a light bulb in there!

Finally my apologies for the rather picture heavy post, but having invested such a considerable amount of time on the stand I just wanted to showcase it fully – well what is the point of having your own blog if you can’t do what you want with it? Just for those who haven’t seen the episode of Sharpe that I was referring to earlier, here you go… 

all together now, “over the hills and faraway”

If you really can't stomach another foppish British officer asking, "Aren't you the Johnny that Wellington raised from the ranks?" then the action starts about two and a half minutes in; enjoy!