Pegasus Bridge 15mm

I've long held a wargaming dream of re fighting the coup de main attack on Pegasus Bridge on the night before D-Day 1944.

Now I'm finally close to living the dream. I've slowly but surely been beavering away on the models I require to achieve this.

Firstly I purchased a mdf model of the Bridge from the Wargame tournaments eBay shop. It cost £20 which I thought wasn't bad for the bridge and control tower. It does, however have a few issues to take note of. Firstly now it's finished I'd say it's nearer 1/144 than 1/100 so would suit either 12mm or 15mm figures. Secondly it lacks the ramp that stands on the cafe Gondre side of the canal. Finally when I checked my pictures from my visit to Normandy in 2010, I noticed it's actually a model of the current bridge - not the wartime version!

Nevertheless it looks the part and will make a fine objective. The control building is a little too big, but can accommodate based figures inside.

The other essential I now have is three Horsa gliders. These are the wonderful mdf models from Warbases. At just £2.50 they are fantastic value. They make up flawlessly and are pre-engraved with all the detail you need to give them an accurate paint job. Strictly speaking, they too are 1/144 scale but they are only there to act as markers on the table and a magnificent job they'll do.

Next I'm working on dug in Germans and some barbed wire entanglements.

Ultimately I hope to fight out the battle with Crossfire, BKC and IABSM to see how the results differ.

Zvezda 15mm Stug III

Another model I found languishing on my shelf was the little Zveda 15mm Stug III with short 75mm.

A very simple kit with only nine parts if you ignore the Art of Tactic flag.

All moulded in hard grey plastic

Nicely moulded one piece wheel and track units which reward careful cleaning up of mould marks

The track units attach to the hull bottom and then the assembled upper hull is attached. All can be just clipped together, but it's better to secure with glue.

Gotta be one of the quickest kits I've ever made. Great for building up a larger wargaming force.

Paints up well, with good engraved detail to pick up dry-brushing

Lovely little model.

Highly recommended.

Eden Camp nr. Malton, East Yorkshire

As you can probably tell from the frequent postings, I have now completed my Diploma college course and have time once again to get modelling.....

Last week on a trip oop North I was allowed three hours to visit the wonderful Eden Camp. A former British POW camp housing around 2000 Italian and German inmates until the Kate 1940's, it's now a museum telling the story of both world wars. They also have a lively collection of preserved AFVs and I thought you might like to see them.

A very nice M16 Multiple Gun Mounted half-track. The exterior was well painted and very tidy, but sadly the interior was going to rack and ruin (true of most exhibits, sadly).

155mm Long Tom

Churchill Crocodile (less trailer)

Though it still had the articulated connection

And the flame projector nozzle

Though inside it was a bit of a mess

A DUKW......with so many holes it will never float again.

A lovely example of a M50 Super Sherman (which I've seen on the web previously painted in olive green with allied stars!)

Nice to see it more authentically decorated.

A shiny recently repainted T34/85

Not sure about the red hammer and sickles, but looks the part

An ex-British Alvis Spartan that had seen better days

Missing all it's cupola vision blocks but still had the windscreen wipers in place!

A 25 pounder

With a Lloyd Carrier tow

Marked up as an Sdkfz251/Aus D, this was clearly a Czech Post war half track.

Nice though, all the same.

Finally a tidy Daimler Ferret.

A very good museum, value for money and informative. If you're up that way I can very highly recommend to pay them a visit.

Plastic Soldier Company Tiger I build-up review

I bought this single bagged kit months and months ago, put it "safe" on the shelf and forgot all about it (along with several others - so look out there's more to come).

The kit comes all on one sand coloured sprue.

The PSC website has some clear drawings detailing which parts are required to build one of three possible marks. You can see from the picture there are both rubber tyred road wheels as well as the pressed steel late war versions. There are also optional turret parts and exhausts.

I chose to model a late war Tiger with crew out of their hatches looking for allied aircraft, together with spare track links to boost the armour protection.

Part fit us very good.

The mouldings are all crisp and flash free.

Going together very well indeed.

The running gear was equally simple to assemble

Assembling the wheel sets is foolproof.

As ever with PSC AFVs, the tracks need care when choosing which piece goes where. In the Tiger's case it simply requires some careful dry fitting to sort out which fits which set of wheels.

I found the need for a spring clamp was needed whilst the glue went off.

The hull parts (top, bottom and rear plate fit together nice and you have the option to leave the hatches open or closed and add figures too. I opted to leave the driver's head out, but later regretted it as the turret can't be rotated anticlockwise!

Finally it's just a case of sticking together the four sub-assemblies.

In the flesh a very imposing model cturing the look of the Tiger really well.

Finished in standard three colour camoflague it really looks the part.

A lovely little kit. Easy to build, flexible with all the options a good value for money.

I've tried it against my Forged in Battle Tiger (sorry no picture) and the dimensions match up very well.

Recommended.

Battlefront 15mm Plastic Shermans and Stugs

I've finally finished the vehicles fron the Battlefront starter set I bought last summer! 

In all there were six  M4A2 Shermans and two Sherman Firefly's........

........three Stug III's.....

.....and finally a V1 Flying bomb on its launch ramp!

I'm very pleased with how they've all painted up. Much better than might be expected.

Each sprue (German Stug and Sherman) comes with it's own storage and spare track links etc. allowing for a bit of individuality.

They also came with a choice of three commander figures. It was suggested you might use these to differentiate different levels of command within a unit. This I thought was quite a nice idea as there's a particularly senior looking chap with a big moustache!

Altogether nice models and good value for money.