Monday 7 December 2015

Iraq 1941 - Iraqi 1st Infantry Division

Yesterday we had what could be described as the army's elite, remembering everything is relative. Today the noble footsloggers. They very much are leg infantry because despite being trained by the British the equipping only went so far. Thus they have no integral transport for the infantry, unlike their erstwhile trainers.

The typical Iraqi infantry division was modelled upon the British infantry of that period. So it has 3 brigades of infantry each of 3 battalions. 3 regiments of artillery with horse-drawn limbers. 1 squadron or regiment of cavalry which also fulfills a recce function. 1 horse-drawn LOG column and a motorised combined HQ, staff & signals unit.

The sources mentioned yesterday proved valuable again. Especially the Morval Earth site. The artillery is a ix of HAT WW1 German and Airfix RHA. HQ & LOG are diecasts. The cavalry is Zvezda Soviet cavalry with new heads. The infantry is HAT WW1 Turks straight from the box.

 Arty, HQ, LOG, Cav, Inf

 Aerial shot

PS The matt varnish I used was Humbrol Acrylic. I followed the directions given on the can and I got the super-dusty-been-in-the-desert-forever look you can see in the photos. Any help, tips or advice to avoid this is welcome! 

All the best!

8 comments:

  1. Good to see you posting again. With regards to the 'dusty' varnish look, I have heard similar stories before. There is also a length post on the TMP, which might help:
    http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=137518

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  2. These look great James, well done!

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  3. Varnish is a particularly problematic area. If you are getting white "dusty" residue its air bubbles. It's sometimes due to humidity or often just the varnish & medium separating. Exact causes are as varied as the opinions of how to fix them! Personally I tend to use gloss varnish of a household variety brushed on. Wilco even do a water based gloss diamond strength version. I have heard that a Matt varnish is best applied on top of a coat of gloss....

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    1. That's some food for thought there, Neil. Thank you!

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  4. What a splendid collection!

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