Armored Car Conversion

I seem to have bad luck with C-in-C's French ERC-90 Sagaie armored cars (F-10). An earlier order of Sagaies that I got had the turretless mystery tank in it that turned out to be a WWII Japanese tank. A more recent order had a Sagaie model that was missing most of its 90 mm gun. I thought about replacing the nub of a gun with a piece of wire or pin. But, then I thought, "lets get creative." The result is this:





Its is a command vehicle (as if you couldn't tell!). I left off the turret and built a superstructure out of cardboard. I then cut and shaped it to angle the sides. The angles looked a little better before I tried smoothing them down with fine sand paper. This rounded off the angles of the superstructure more than I wanted. The window covers and hatches were also made of thin cardstock. Next time I do something like this, I will use styrene plastic.

Here is a shot of an unconverted ERC-90:

The dude manning the light machinegun is from GHQ's seated WWII US armored infantry pack (US53). Please pretend that the big pipe sticking out the back is a radio antenna....please!

The New House on the Block

It took me awhile, but I finally finished this building:



It is a little more Mediterranean in style than my previous buildings. I got the inspiration from some "pretty pictures" site on the web. I am not crazy about the balcony on the third floor and I should have added a little more height to the top floor.

I have several building projects in mind, including a fuel storage facility, a market area, and something along the lines of Dr. Seuss!

A COIN For Your Thoughts

Scotia Grendel (http://www.scotiagrendel.com) makes several interesting minis of weapons systems that never got beyond prototype stage. For example, they have a 1/300 model of the Brazilian Osorio MBT (BZ3). A tank for export that no one bought. It doesn't even seem like the Brazilian Army used it. Another example is the Cavalier Mustang III from their Collectair line (CAUM10). It was to be sold to nations for COIN operations, but went nowhere. Here is one I painted up for Southern Chalupastan:



I added the spinning propeller by cutting out a piece of clear plastic. The rocket pods were made by cutting down a toothpick and rounding off the tip. I then painted on where the rocket tubes exited. There was no way I could carve them out.

Pre-Prototype of a Car in 1/300

Here is my first attempt at a scratch-built car in 1/300 scale:



Its supposed to be a Volvo C30. I make a chassis out of thin cardstock and then used a mixture of FIMO an Sculpy III polymer clay for the body and wheels. Not great, but ya gotta start somewhere, right?

Air Battle

While visiting family in Chicago, I had a jet fighter game using Wessex Games’ AirWar: C21, second edition.

It was my friend Karl vs. my nephew Kyle and me. The night before, Kyle and I had a practice game so that he could have some understanding of the rules. Karl and I had a game but about two years ago using the first edition rules.

The scenario had Karl escorting two, heavily loaded Super Etendard strike fighters with two Saab Gripens. He had to get his Super Etendards to the other side of the table. Our mission was to prevent that. One of his pilots was rated a veteran, the other regular. Kyle and I flew Kfir C7 jets. The jets were armed with the missile listed in the AW: C21 Data Annex. Kyle and I had four heat-seeking missiles apiece, whereas Karl had two heat seekers, plus four radar-guided missiles.

I didn’t take pictures of the game because many of the planes were not painted. It was a complete victory for Karl. He managed to shoot down both of our Kfirs and get his two Super Etendards off the table. A few times we lost opportunities to do some harm to Karl’s planes. For example, early in the game, I could have lined up a good shot at one of Karl’s Super Etendards, but I forgot to slow my speed and over shot the plane. Karl managed to stall one of his planes twice, but we failed to take advantage of that. Kyle managed to hit one of the Super Etendards, but scored only a single hit off of a D10 die roll! Also, I overlooked some things in the rules that might have made a difference. First, I failed to notice the a statement in the rules that says that jets that launch radar-guided missiles need to keep their target in sight once launched. Karl’s became fire-and-forget missiles. Second, we didn’t use the critical hits table, which might have made Kyle’s hit more of a success. Third, we didn’t take advantage of the tailing rule. That might have also made a difference.

It is hard to critique the rules since these are the only other air warfare rules I have played with (I won’t count the old AH Richthofen’s War board game). They are pretty well written, and fairly clear. Things that I missed were more my own fault than anything else. My only criticism is with the turning, and it’s not a biggie. In the first edition, you turned your plane in 60 degree increments (or is it 30? I can’t remember). The more maneuverable your plane, the more 60 degree increments you could turn in a phase. In the second edition, there is a compass-like template with the turn radii labeled. It was a little trickier to make the turns exact. For example, when you are making a 30-degree turn, is your model really turned 30 degrees, or is it 35 degrees, or is it 27 degrees? In other words, there was a little more “slop” to our turns. But, as I said, it was not a big deal...I am not a rules lawyer.

Despite our loss, it was a fun time all around. Next time, I will make up some rules crib sheets for the players that will highlight some of the critical aspects of some of the rules.

"We are experiencing technical difficulties beyond our control..."

The various rebel groups that plague the Central Highlands region of Gambusia are always in need of some transportation and firepower. Transportation is easy...you walk. But what about some extra firepower for dealing with government troops? Answer: technicals. Here are some that I have made:


Above we have a GMC pickup truck (Navwar CM4) painted in a civilian red (BTW, it seems like a lot of my civilian vehicles are red...must be a popular color in Gambusia). With the addition of various weapons, we have our pickup truck technicals:


On the left, I added a Russian AA machine gun (C-in-C ACC-19) to the Navwar CM4. On the right, I added a German 20mm AA gun (Navwar FK-20). I deliberately left off a figure manning the AAMG. The figures with the appropriate pose have military uniforms, which I didn't want with a rebel.


GHQ is making some nice vehicles for their Third World Warriors series. Above is an unpainted GHQ TW7 Toyota technical with DsHK MG. As always, very nice sculpt.

I've also converted some various trucks into technicals:


The truck on the right is a Scotia FM29 VLRA Light Truck without any weapons on it. Its nice because its got a wide cargo area and no top on the cab. On the left is one with a 50 cal heavy machine gun mounted on it (C-in-C ACC-4).


On the left, I added a medium (106mm?) Scotia NE25 recoilless rifle from their neutral equipment range. On the right, I added a WWII German 37mm Flak 43 AA gun (Navwar G118).


On the left, WWII US 1 1/2-ton truck (C-in-C US-21) with a spare 106mm recoilless rifle leftover from a GHQ Ontos (VN25). On the right, WWII US 3/4-ton 4x4 Dodge gun portee (C-in-C US-17) with another medium recoilless rifle from Scotia. The gun portee worked really well; the 1 1/2-ton truck, not so much. It seems very low to the ground as compared to the other vehicles. Oh well, I guess its the "low-rider" version.

Finally, we have this funny duck....


I had ordered some French armored cars from C-in-C. Out of four vehicles in the box, three were the armored cars, but one was a light tank missing its turret. I am guessing its a WWII Japanese Type 95 Kyu-Go tank. After much soul searching, I glued on a MG turret from a OT64 SKOT 2A Polish APC (C-in-C P-3). The rebels probably found the tank rusting in someone's barn. They restored it to running condition and replaced the original turret with the MG turret due to a lack of proper ammunition for its 37mm gun. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Projects in the Works

Here are some things I am currently working on:

1. Cleaning up my workbench. I am not known as a neat-freak! I am in the process of doing a major cleaning.

2. My first scratch-built model. For a long time, I've wanted to make my own stuff (long time as in since the 70s). Not just modifying things, or building a house or tree, but my own from-scratch gaming pieces. I am in the process of building an Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano tuboprop trainer in 1/300.

3. Painting a 28mm warrior-fairy for my daughter. I haven't done work like this in awhile. The eyes and the hands just ain't what they used to be.