world war two Archives - Page 30 of 36

Flames of War Shermans

These Sherman tank miniatures come in the Open Fire Flames of War starter set. and are from Simon’s collection.

The buildings are Hornby 9mm Lyddle End railway buildings sold for N gauge railways.

British Shermans (well the resin American ones from the Open Fire boxed set painted as British Shermans). Buildings are Hornby N Gauge Lyddle End pre-painted resin castings. — British Shermans

See more Flames of War miniatures in our gallery.

The Price is Wrong!

Last month I blogged about the price of the new Flames of War Polish Armoured Train.

Back then when I thought the price was going to be £52 I initially said.

It’s a little more, well a lot more, than I thought it was going to be. To be honest I didn’t know or guess what it was going to be.

Upon reflection, I came to the conclusion that £52 wasn’t that bad.

I have come to the realisation that £52 is what I should have expected and prepared myself for.

The German Panther A boxed set with five Panthers has a list price of £41.

So to get four large resin models complete with extra turrets, £52 isn’t actually as bad as I made out it to be.

Well my source for the price of the Armoured Train, as it happens, was completely wrong and the actual list price is £90.

Yes, £90!

That is a lot more than I am willing to pay. Don’t get me wrong these are large resin models, probably with a fair bit of metal parts too. £90 is probably what I should be expecting to pay.

However for an army I don’t collect, it’s a luxury that I can’t afford. Pity really, maybe I should start a Polish army…

No, no, I need to finish the others first.

I have always had a fondness for this little tank, probably as a result of making that Matchbox plastickit of the Renault and the Char B1 when I was young. So I am very pleased to see that it is going to be available for Flames of War.

France still had several thousand First World War Renault FT tanks in 1940. Over 500 of them were still in service in independent bataillons de chars de combat (BCC) tank battalions in the front lines. Although adequate for infantry support, they were totally outclassed by German tanks in a mobile battle.

As I am creating an Early War French army I going to have to just get some of these little tanks for Flames of War. The tanks were small in real life and were quite small in the 1:76th scale kit, so I am expecting quite a small tank for 15mm. Actually I was surprised by how small the Char B1 is compared to Late War tanks, I don’t know for some reason I thought the Char B1 was a “big” tank, well it might be “big” for Early War, but otherwise it is quite a thin small tank compared to the Cromwells and Panthers you find in 1944. It’s quite incredible the pace of technological change in tank design during the war in just a few years.

Actually talking about “big” tanks, I do hope that Battlefront will take the plunge and make some Early War Monsters, I would love to see a Flames of War Char 2C French tank, something that the FT-17s could run around…

Flames of War – German StuG G Assault Guns

These German Stug G miniatures come in the Open Fire Flames of War starter set.

Having given them a white undercoat I sprayed them with Humbrol Dark Brown. In an attempt to paint the camouflage I added some green patterns.

Having reflected on this and feedback, I think they are too dark and I think they will need repainting.

See the full workbench feature on these StuG G Assault Guns.

15mm British Light Tank Mk VI

The Tank, Light, Mk VI was a British light tank, produced by Vickers-Armstrongs in the late 1930s, which saw service during World War II.
Don’t remember the manufacturer.

I have painted this model. I gave the model a black undercoat, I drybrushed it with some brown paint. It is in need of a re-paint!

I may use it for scenery…

15mm Aircraft for Flames of War

One of the decisions that Battlefront did that I didn’t understand was going with 1:144 scale for their aircraft. Well not that I didn’t understand because it actually does make a bit of sense in some ways. Firstly from a scale perspective smaller aircraft will “look” higher up than if they were true 15mm. Secondly there are lots of plastic kits in the 1:144 scale making it very easy to find aircraft models that aren’t in the Flames of War range.

However one of the downsides of this is if you want to model an actual airfield for Flames of War or use a downed plane as a piece of scenery or an objective. In the forthcoming Vietnam range the helicopters are 15mm scale as they do sit on the battlefield. Ah well.

One range I have found online is Armaments in Miniature that make a wide range of 1:100 aircraft including gliders. They also make a nice range of landing craft too. However as they are US based and I can’t find a UK reseller, it would mean ordering from the US. Not that I mind doing that, and I do do it, however, adding on duty and VAT will double the prices so what are nice models, become very expensive models. It doesn’t help that there are very few photographs on the Armaments in Miniature website.
The traditional scale for model airplanes is 1:72 and this is great if you play 20mm games, however there are very few models in 1:100 the scale for 15mm and used by FoW for their tanks and vehicles.

Since I got into FoW I have been looking for aircraft models to use. The first I found were some Airfix pre-painted models for £5.99, not a huge choice, but you can get the Me109 for example.

I noticed that Revell did some similar kits, but these were of modern planes so not much use for FoW unless you were playing a Final Countdown style scenario. This is now even easier with the new Vietnam range if you wanted to use helicopters and tanks…

I didn’t get any of those, but continued to search and look at model shops to see what I could find.

So I was pleasantly surprised to find in Antics some Italeri die-cast planes from World War Two in 1:100 scale. I haven’t been able to find a list online of the entire range, but I did manage to pick up a Me109, an FW190 and what really pleased me was a couple of Early War French Dewoitine D.520 planes.

The Dewoitine D.520 was a French fighter aircraft that entered service in early 1940, shortly after the opening of World War II. Unlike the Morane-Saulnier M.S.406, which was at that time the Armée de l’Air’s most numerous fighter, the Dewoitine D.520 came close to being a match for the latest German types, such as the Messerschmitt Bf 109. It was slower than the Bf 109E but superior in manoeuvrability.

Now these are die-cast models so the detail is “lacking” and the finish is very glossy, but I think with some work these will look fine.

15mm “Austin 7” Cars

I have a few of these cars, I initially thought they were Austins but not so sure.

As with some of my other metal models I can’t remember the manufacturer of these. After a bit of internet research I believe it is an old SDD miniature. Not convinced totally, but other miniatures in the box it was in carry SDD codes.

I have given these models a not very good white undercoat.

My intention is to use them as transports for the Home Guard or for scenic purposes. I wonder if any manufacturer out there makes 15mm (1/100th) scale 1930s French cars?

15mm Universal Carrier

The Universal Carrier, also known as the Bren Gun Carrier is a common name describing a family of light armoured tracked vehicles built by Vickers-Armstrong.

Produced between 1934 and 1960, the vehicle was used widely by Allied forces during the Second World War. Universal Carriers were usually used for transporting personnel and equipment, mostly support weapons, or as machine gun platforms. With some 113,000 built in the United Kingdom and abroad, it was the most numerous armoured fighting vehicle in history.

As with some of my other metal models I can’t remember the manufacturer of these.

They come with separate tracks.

I have thought about converting them into Panzerjäger Bren 731(e), these were carriers captured by the Germans and fitted with a triple Panzerschreck mount, probably the first armoured vehicle to be fitted with anti-tank rockets.

These metal models are not as well defined as the Flames of War resin models, so in the end I might use them for scenery or objectives.

15mm German SdKfz 251 Armoured Half Track

The SdKfz 251 (Sonderkraftfahrzeug 251) half-track was an armored fighting vehicle designed and first built by Nazi Germany’s Hanomag company during World War II. The largest, most common, and best armored of the wartime half-tracks, the SdKfz 251 was designed to transport the panzergrenadiers of the German mechanized infantry corps into battle. Widely known simply as “Hanomags” by both German and Allied forces, they were widely produced throughout the war, with over 15,252 vehicles and variants produced in total by various manufacturers.

Like some of my other models I am unsure of the manufacturer of this one. However it is a completely metal model.

I want to use this one to test out my German armour paint scheme.

I might then use it to create a Flames of War objective.

Flames of War – Battle of the Bulge

One other line in the news from Flames of War caught my eye and that was a reference to the Battle for the Bulge.

Following on from Italy we will be heading into the Bulge at the end of the year as well as creating another set of compilations for the Christmas season as we did last year with D-Day.

It would appear that as they did with the D-Day compilations, late in 2011 we will see a similar compilation for the late war. I don’t know what new releases we will see, but we did get a few new releases for D-Day so we may see some new ones for the late war.

I would like to see two tanks in particular, the M24 Chaffee and the British Comet. These tanks are currently not in the FoW range.

The Light Tank M24 was an American light tank used during World War II and in postwar conflicts including the Korean War and with the French in the First Indochina War and war in Algeria. In British service it was given the service name Chaffee, after the United States Army General Adna R. Chaffee, Jr., who helped develop the use of tanks in the United States armed forces.

The Tank, Cruiser, Comet I (A34) was a British cruiser tank that first saw use near the end of World War II. It was designed to provide greater anti-tank capability to Cromwell tank squadrons.

It was armed with a 77mm HV, a derivative of the 17 pounder, with the result it was one of the few British tanks with the firepower to challenge late war German designs.

I would also like to see some Late War Monsters in a similar vein to the Mid War Monsters that we have seen before. As well as the German Maus, King Tiger II and E series, we could on the allied side see the Centurion and M26 Pershing. There are also the T29 and T30 US Heavy Tanks that could also be fielded.