Year: 2020

OldHammer Dwarves

Here are some old Warhammer Fantasy Dwarves from my collection. These are metal Dwarf miners, which are over twenty years old now.

I enjoyed painting these at the time I remember, liking the blue uniforms, the snowy bases and the candles on the helmets. They reminded me very much of the dwarf army I had back in the 1980s and I liked the style of the sculpting from Colin Dixon.

I also had a pack of the drunken dwarves from the same era, which also included one of the miners above.

I think my plan at the time was to paint a complete Warhammer Fantasy Dwarf army using this scheme.

There were a fair few models in this range and I now wish I had managed to get more of them.

However after painting these six dwarves, I didn’t get any further with the army, and didn’t buy any more models, as I got distracted by other games and models. I have a few more part-painted dwarves, so might think about painting them to make a least a small skirmish force.

BAe Harrier GR9A – RAF Cosford

This BAe Harrier GR9A was on display at RAF Cosford.

The Harrier, informally referred to as the Jump Jet, is the famous family of British-designed military jet aircraft capable of vertical/short take-off and landing (V/STOL) operations. The Harrier family is the only truly successful design of this type from the many that arose in the 1960s.

There are four main versions of the Harrier family: Hawker Siddeley Harrier, British Aerospace Sea Harrier, Boeing/BAE Systems AV-8B Harrier II, and BAE Systems/Boeing Harrier II. The Hawker Siddeley Harrier is the first generation-version and is also known as the AV-8A Harrier. The Sea Harrier is a naval strike/air defence fighter. The AV-8B and BAE Harrier II are the US and British variants respectively of the second generation Harrier aircraft. Between 1969 and 2003, 824 Harrier variants were delivered, including remanufactured aircraft.

Historically the Harrier was developed to operate from ad-hoc facilities such as car parks or forest clearings, avoiding the need for large air bases vulnerable to tactical nuclear weapons. Later the design was adapted for use from aircraft carriers.

Following an approach by the Bristol Engine Company in 1957 that they were planning a directed thrust engine, Hawker Aircraft came up with a design for an aeroplane that could meet the NATO specification for a “Light Tactical Support Fighter”. The resultant Hawker P.1127 was ordered as a prototype and flew in 1960.

Development continued with nine evaluation aircraft, the Hawker Siddeley Kestrel; These started flying in 1964 and were assessed by the “Tri-partite Evaluation Squadron” which consisted of British, US and German pilots, and several flew and are preserved in the United States. The RAF ordered a modified P.1127/Kestrel as the Harrier GR.1 in 1966, with most converted to GR.1A and ultimately GR.3 status in the 1970s with more powerful engines. These and new-build GR3s operated with the RAF until 1994, and a number survive in museums around the world as well as frequent use as ‘gate guards’ at MoD establishments.

The British Aerospace Sea Harrier is a naval V/STOL jet fighter, reconnaissance and attack aircraft, a development of the Hawker Siddeley Harrier. The first version entered service with the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm in April 1980 as the Sea Harrier FRS.1, and was informally known as the ‘Shar’. The upgraded Sea Harrier FA2 entered service in 1993. It was withdrawn from Royal Navy service in March 2006. The Sea Harrier FRS Mk.51 remains in active service with the Indian Navy.

The Harrier was extensively redeveloped by McDonnell Douglas and British Aerospace (now parts of Boeing and BAE Systems respectively), leading to the Boeing/BAE Systems AV-8B Harrier II. This is a family of second-generation V/STOL jet multi-role aircraft, including the British Aerospace-built Harrier GR5/GR7/GR9, which entered service in the mid-1980s. The AV-8B is primarily used for light attack or multi-role tasks, typically operated from small aircraft carriers. Versions are used by several NATO countries, including the Spanish and Italian Navies, and the United States.

The BAE Systems/Boeing Harrier II is a modified version of the AV-8B Harrier II that was used by the RAF and the Royal Navy until December 2010, when they were all retired from operational service due to defence cuts in favour of maintaining the remaining Tornado fleet, and stored serviceable at RAF Cottesmore. At the end of November 2011, the UK Government announced the sale of 72 remaining Harrier Airframes to the US Marine Corps for spares to support their AV-8B fleet, with the remaining two others being allocated to museums, including the airframe now at Cosford.

There is a BAe Harrier GR9A at the Imperial War Museum in London.

Drybrushing the Kill Bursta

I have had my Kill Bursta hanging around on the workbench for a while now, so it’s nice to make some significant progress on the model.

Forge World’s big Ork tank mounts a huge gun ready to take on any Imperial BaneBlade or even Titan. The Kill Bursta mounts a huge-bore Kannon capable of destroying bunkers and siegeworks with ease.

When I constructed and undercoated the model, I had given the model a double undercoat of white and black and then using a thinned Chaos Black I touched up the black basecoat. I also black undercoated certain parts of the engine.

The first thing I did when I revisited the model was something different and sprayed the upper surfaces of the model with Citadel Spray Zandri Dust. Using a brush I painted the tracks with Gorthor Brown. I did the engine with Leadbelcher, rather than drybrushing with Tin Bitz over a black undercoat.

I started painting some of the panels with other colours and I shaded the model notably Balor Brown and Ushabti Bone. This is really to break up the predominant colour of the model.

The next stage was a bit of a challenge, using various Citadel shades, though mainly Seraphim Sepia, to add shadow to the model.

Once this was done and dry I started to rust and dust up the model.

What I wanted was to get both a dusty and rusty look to the model.

I drybrushed the model with a mix of XV-88 and Ushabti Bone, before finally using some Ushabti Bone.

I then took some Citadel Dry paint, Golgfag Brown and using a smaller drybrush added patches here and then across the model to represent rusty or rusting patches on the Kill Bursta and used some on the tracks and wheels.

I also used Golgfag Brown and Leadbelcher on the engine.

There is still a fair bit of work to do on the model, but I am pleased with my progress so far.

See the workbench feature on the Ork Kill Bursta.

 

Assault on Zybos

The industrial world of Zybos has fallen to the Black Legion. Now it’s massive foundries produce countless foul Daemon Engines.

The Imperial Fists have declared that they will purge this corrupted world and destroy all traces of these hideous creations.

This diorama was originally built for the Warhammer 40000 Apocalypse Book and featured Ultramarines.

When it was moved to Warhammer World, it was extended by the team and the Ultramarines replaced by the Imperial Fists.

Drybrushing the Ork Battlewagon

This plastic battlewagon kit was released by Games Workshop on the 3rd January 2009 and I picked mine up on the 4th January. I had hoped to paint the model quite quickly, well nearly ten years later, maybe not.

The last stage I left the model was back in 2010 when I had drybrushed the black parts of the model. It then got left for a while, well it got left for quite a few years! So I recently unearthed it from storage with the intention of finishing it off.  Having constructed the model, shading it with washes and some light drybrushing, I wanted to add some more weathering.

What I wanted was to get both a dusty and rusty look to the model.

I drybrushed the model with more XV-88 then doing a lighter drybrush with a mix of XV-88 and Ushabti Bone, before finally using some Ushabti Bone.

I then took some Citadel Dry paint, Golgfag Brown and using a smaller drybrush added patches here and then across the model to represent rusty or rusting patches on the wagon.

With this model, less is more, so I think I might go back to the model and use some weathering powders.

I still think I need to rust up the tracks more, as well as the death roller.

See the workbench feature on the Ork Battlewagon.

See photographs of completed Ork Battlewagons from various shows.

Folland Gnat

This Folland Gnat F1 was at RAF Cosford.

Folland Gnat F1 - RAF Cosford

The Folland Gnat is a British compact swept-wing subsonic fighter aircraft that was developed and produced by Folland Aircraft. Envisioned as an affordable light fighter in contrast to the rising cost and size of typical combat aircraft, it was procured as a trainer aircraft for the Royal Air Force as well as by export customers, who used the Gnat in both combat and training capacities.

The single-seat Gnat F1 fighter was the forerunner of the two-seat Gnat T1 trainer which achieved fame with the ‘Red Arrows’ aerobatic team.

Its aerobatic qualities led to the formation of the Yellowjacks aerobatic team in 1964, leading to the foundation of the world famous Red Arrows the following year. The team flew their red Gnats for fourteen years until they were replaced by the British Aerospace Hawk at the end of the 1979 season.

Designed by Folland’s chief engineer, Mr W Petter, the Gnat represented an attempt to move away from the increasing size and cost of modern fighter aircraft.

The prototype Gnat was built as a private venture by Folland and first flew in July 1955. In test flights the Gnat proved itself to be a highly manoeuvrable aircraft, with a good turn of speed. However, although the aircraft was favourably received by the pilots at the Aircraft and Armament Experimental Establishment, pressure to cut defence spending meant the Gnat F1 was not ordered for the RAF.

Several other Air Forces were attracted to the idea of a low-cost fighter. Finland purchased thirteen Gnat F1s, some of these being converted for reconnaissance work, whilst India bought forty.

Dusting up the Beast

Probably my favourite Indiana Jones film is Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The combination of archaeology, mythology, nazi soldiers and lots of wonderful pulp action. Though we know it wasn’t real, and though we know that there was no actual historical version of it; I am sure most of us who have thought about recreating the Indiana Jones films on the table have wanted to use that tank. It appears at first glance to be a Mark VIII with a turret, the reality was that it was built specially for the film and was built up from an excavator.

I wrote back in 2012 about finding a 28mm model of the tank, since then I found it was available from Empress Miniatures, I was able to order it and go through the resin pieces and constructing the Mark IX Beast. Following the application of the white undercoat, I started the base coat of Vallejo 70912 Tan Yellow on the Mark IX Beast tank. Having thought about the result and I didn’t like the Tan Yellow, I went ahead and made the decision to repaint the tank with Citadel Layer colour, Ushabti Bone. I then shaded the tank with various washes.

The next stage was to start to tone down the shading with some drybrushing with Ushabti Bone.

The effect was to give the tank a dusty feel as though it had been driving for some time in the deserts.

I was quite pleased with how this turned out.

The next stage will be  further weathering.

See the full workbench feature on the Mark IX Beast tank.

The Evil Sunz

This impressive Evil Sunz army was in the display cabinets at Warhammer World.

There was a lot of ork stuff, including this Deff Dread.

Deff Dreads epitomise three main ideal of Ork warfare: big, shooty and stompy. They thunder and clank towards the foe, limbs waving as heavy weapons spit death into the enemy ranks and powered shears snip excitedly in anticipation of the bloodletting to come.

There was this Battlewagon. A Battlewagon is a catch-all term used for any type of Ork assault tank and heavy armoured troop transport.

The term Battlewagon seems to refer overall to a category of large Ork armoured vehicles. A Battlewagon can be wheeled, tracked or a combination of the two and is used in many battlefield roles. It always carries a large complement of weapons.

Also a Big Trakk was in there. Big Trakks are essentially an enlarged and modified version of the Trukk

The Big Trakk is a Turbine powered Ork tracked vehicle with twin Big Shootas, designed to move across sinkholes, rubble, or ash wastes without getting bogged down. They are also designed to be bigger, louder, and carry much more armament over the standard Trukk and are frequently used as gun carriers instead of troop transports. In addition, for many Mekboyz without the resources or know-how to build full Battlewagons, Big Trakk’s are the next best thing. There are a profusion of Big Trakk designs favored by different Mekboyz and Clans, from the Blood Axes who often mimic Imperial patterns to the ‘kustom’-built Bad Moon gun platforms. And while some Ork Speed Freaks decry them for their lack of speed, both the Goffs and Deathskulls make extensive use of Big Trakks. The Goffs because they keep the big gunz mobile and can get to the frontline quickly and the Deathskulls because they’re capable of hauling large amounts of loot.

See the Ork Miniatures Gallery.

Type 95 Ha-Go light tank

The Type 95 Ha-Gō was a light tank used by the Empire of Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War, at Nomonhan against the Soviet Union, and in the Second World War. It proved sufficient against infantry but, like the American M3 Stuart light tank, was not designed to combat other tanks.

This one was on display at Bovington.

Type 95 Ha-Go light tank

The French Fourth Republic used leftover Japanese military equipment from the Japanese invasion of French Indochina. An ad-hoc unit of French and Japanese armour including the Type 95 Ha-Go light tank called the ‘Commando Blindé du Cambodge’ was created and this unit participated in the early stages of the First Indochina War.

Undercoating the workshop

I had been thinking about getting this kit for a while now. So on a shopping trip to my local games shop I decided to make an impulse purchase and buy the box. As well as the named workshop you also get three barricades and three piles of scrap.

All Mekboyz can perform battlefield repairs using no more than a weighty wrench-hammer, a sack of nails and a healthy dose of gumption, but most do their best work in the comfortably anarchic surrounds of their own workshop. Meks are more than capable of cobbling together a workspace from whatever is lying about, with rudimentary workshops springing up from battlefield wreckage even while the bullets are still flying. Greenskin vehicles roar toward such teetering structures, their crews throwing sacks of teef at the resident Mek – he and his crew get to work immediately, sending the Ork customers on their way with snazzier guns, souped-up engines and extra armour plates.

This workshop is the main model from the Ork Mekboy Workshop boxed set. It is the only part of the kit that actually needs to be constructed, the barricades and scrap piles are single piece models.

I really should read my own workbench feature as I didn’t undercoat the model in the way that I was planning to do. So the crane was going to have a white undercoat, whilst the workshop wall was going to have a Leadebelcher undercoat. In the end I did this the other way around.

So I gave the model an undercoat, some parts were done with Corax White and other parts with Leadbelcher.

My reasoning behind the undercoating was that the metal parts I would use Leadbelcher and then shade and wash the parts to give a dirty metal look to them. With the white undercoated pieces I will probably use a contrast paint as a basecoat, before then washing and highlighting.