Brown & Black Shirts In The Desert

Hello!

I've been working on this gang of state-sponsored n'er-do-wells for a while and finally, finally, finished them. Joy! So, what have we got then, Mr Tin? Well, what we have here is a group of Pulp German N*zis and one Italian F*scist. Four male figures and one female: Helga, She-Wolf of the EssEss.

Oberfuehrer Fritz von Toppgitz

The leader of the group. A tough street fighter and true believer. Nasty.

Hauptsturmfuehrer Hermann Kartofelnkopf

Assassin. Likes to point at his victims before doing them in. Brutal.

The gang's all here. 

LtoR: Kartofelnkopf, Untersturmfuehrer Helga Fuchs, von Toppgitz, 

Sturmbannfuehrer Horst Wurst (2i/c), Centurione Luigi Bartoletti of the MVSN

Somewhere in the desert searching, possibly in the wrong place, 

for powerful artefacts which may be lost or hidden.

 Can we get these crated up?

 Kartofelnkopf points; Helga & Bartoletti take aim. 

The senior officers sneer.

Aerial view. 

Note the truck and blue-fezzed chap behind the mini sphinx.

The figures are all Bob Murch Pulp figures. There was one head swap: the Italian head from the Empress Miniatures drivers set onto Bartoletti. All painted with Vallejo colours and varnished with Vallejo matt which is my new favourite thing. The Egyptian statues are resin jobs picked up in charity shops.

UATH!

Regia Aeronautica (Version)

The toys get airborne in this blogpost with the Regia Aeronautica. My difficulty was I didn't have any Italian warplanes to hand so I had to think laterally to get what I wanted. So I bought a Revell Micro-Wings P-40E Warhawk and tried to turn it into a Macchi 202.Cue much bodging and hacking. first I had to trim off the huge air-scoop thing under the Warhawk's nose. Then fill it with greenstuff and get a more bodged stream-lined shape. Then I had to cover the aft section of the huge cockpit glazing. Again with green stuff and again much bodging. What I was left with after all the surgery looked reasonably like a 202 if you did this with your eyes: -_-

Here are some pictures of the bodge-in-process:

Air-scoop off. Putty in.

Underside. New nose and putty in-fill on landing gear

Gaps in wing roots & tail plane filled with putty

Close up of putty bodging on wings & tailplane

The putty was left to harden in its own time. I then turned my attention to those unsung heroes of all air operations: The Groundcrew. For without them no aircraft would ever fly nor engage in meaningful acts of war. Now, this being a Megablitz unit some creativity is called for. Sadly I have none so this is what I came up with:

I really like this chap. He looks like he knows his stuff and could probably re-arm, re-fuel and generally do an operational turn-round on his aircraft on his own. 

So what of the aircraft itself? Well, if you'll forgive the obvious bodges and remember to look at it with your eye-lids half closed here it is:

And finally the complete Regia Aeronautica unit:

I hope you all had as splendid an Easter as I did and I'll be back with more toy-based nonsense soon!

I Marmittoni

Today's blog post is a 1940ish Italian infantry division. It has two infantry regiments, each of three battalions (Airfix). The HQ unit is a Fiat 500 (Early War Miniatures) with a couple of figures. The divisional artillery regiment (HAT) is represented by a 75mm gun and two figures. The artillery LOG vehicle is a 1/100 model Zis (Zvezda). The divisional LOG train is represented by a diecast bus with added detail. The division has no anti-tank unit but does have a fearsome AA capability: 20mm HMG. The division is also very lucky to have Recce capability in the shape of an attached Bersaglieri m/c unit. This infantry division is a small unit and is almost immobile once emplaced but it does have some firepower. Well, a little.

Pictures!

1. HQ & AA 

2. AA & HQ

3. LOG Battalion

4. Recce Battalion (r)

5. Artillery Regiment

6. Artillery Regiment

7. Infantry Battalions

8. Infantry Battalions

9. Infantry Division On Parade

 PS I Marmittoni is the Italian way of saying 'The Squaddies', 'Les Poilus', 'The GIs' or 'Las Guripas'. I believe it is a reference to the large cooking pots the infantry used to use to prepare meals. Unless someone knows different?

Updates as they happen!

1940ish Italian Armoured Division

In line with my policy of vagueness where dating of units is concerned I have finally completed the build of this Megablitz unit. Well, it is Easter time after all. As is well known Italian armoured divisions of WW2 did not have the best kit compared to their erstwhile allies the Germans. This is, however, irrelevant unless you're a Fl*mes of W*r groupie and love only heavy armour and big, bigger, biggest guns. I'll stick with the tin tanks and dodgy organisations of '39-'42. Unless someone's putting on a late war game and then I'm in. I know, I know.....

Anyways here's the pics I've kept you waiting for. To be fair some of the toys have appeared elsewhere on this blog but this is the first time the entire unit has been on parade. The division is also very well equipped compared to the historical versions. I can give and I can take away.

Division In A Box

Divisional Artillery Regiments: Field, AA & AT

Divisional LOG & POL

Divisional Recce Battalions

Divisional Bersaglieri Battalions & Transport

Division On Parade

Happy Easter!

PS: Welcome to new blog follower Michael Awdry whose blog on 28mm Victorian Wargaming is utterly splendid! Don't take my word for it, go and have a look yourself.

On Radios & AA Guns

Hellooooo!
I'm back from a month long doss-about doing anything but blogging. I haven't been entirely plastic-idle though, you'll be delighted to hear!

I have completed the Radio Truck and AA Regiment of Divisione Ariete which now just leaves a couple of battalions of Bersaglieri to knock together and it's done! And so am I, with Megablitz units at least. Fear not though, Dear Reader, I've been attracted to a new 'Bright-Shiny-Thing' after reading the latest issue of WSS magazine. What is it? Well, all I'll say is it REALLY caught my interest and involved blood suckers.

So, what about these Megablitz units then.The first model is the divisional AA regiment. It comprises the Cannone 90/53 mounted upon a Lancia truck.A pretty deadly AA and AT gun which was built in insufficient numbers for the real war but which makes an imposing and a pretty deadly model.

AA Regiment Deployed For Action

As Above But From The Other Side

Regular Checks Are Vital In The Desert

"Up 20 & Left a bit!"

Ammo Supply Is Essential

 The second unit is the Divisional Radio Unit. Represented not by any old Italian radio wagon, no sir. What we have here is an early example of Italienisch-Deutsche Freundschaft in the form of an Opel ambulance being re-imagined into Un Camion di Radio. Nice.

It's been finished in the now traditional Vallego Green Ochre. The camo pattern is Sand & Cabbage. The vehicle had a watered down wash of brown Army Painter slapped on and allowed to dry. The camo net is a piece of bandage. I soaked it a water and Vallejo Desert Sand for a short while. Dried it out on a radiator and then gently pulled the weave a bit more open. The net supports are cocktail sticks which are little thick. I've now found something which would have been better and which will appear under future camo nets. I used white glue and patience to fix the net in place. Once dry I applied Cabbage with Vallejo German Uniform. Once dry i dry brushed everything with Vallejo Buff. 

Nets Out, Doors Open, Tuned In, Coffee On

Parked Up, Trees of Oasis el Khazi in the background

Close-Up Of Man Working

Close-Up of Man Sitting On A Box Reading A Newspaper

Laters Taters!

PS Welcome to new blog followers Andrew Gifford, Wargaming Pastor & The Mad Padre. Peace be with you.

Project M13/40 #3

Avanti con i carri armati!

I finished these on Friday but then real life intervened as it often does. Worry not, chumrades, a good time was had by all.

So, to match my earlier work on the Western Desert Force, the Italians have grown from a bit of infantry and couple of trucks to something like an armoured division of that period-ish. I'm still after one of those Italian AA guns on a truck, I think Italeri do it. Once that's built I'll do a post to show the assembled armoured might.

I undercoated the toys in brown rather than black and it paid off in terms of shading and being easier to cover larger areas. I then painted them up with Vallejo sand-green ochre which gave them an already worn look before any highlighting. The LOG column's windscreen is simply a dark blue/black mix and then a lighter blue worked into the corners while the paint is still wet. I really liked the Italian camo scheme of sand & cabbage so HQ and 2Bn got that treatment. High lights were done with Vallejo buff paint and a trimmed down brush as per normal. I also put a brown wash over the vehicles to get that 'the scrapyard's this way' look. The toys are all mounted on foam core with a sand and gravel mix as a ground cover.

The pictures:

HQ (M41)

1Bn (M13/40)

2Bn (M13/40)

3Bn (M11/39)

The Lee/Grant's even more rubbish little brother?

LOG & POL Columns

Armoured Fist!

PS A big hello to new blog members Mad Padre, Rebel Barracks and Irish Highlander. All their blogs are first class and well worth a look. Thanks for following, chaps!

Project M13/40 #2

When two became six and Division Ariete really started to take shape.

As predicted the pair of M13/40s went together very quickly. So I decided they should have some company in the form of:

1 x M41/Command Tank (Frontline)

1 x M11/39 (Frontline)

1 x LOG Column (Frontline)

1 x POL Column (Die-cast)

Built and undercoated.

Project M13/40 #1

Desert Air Force reconnaissance photo reveals Italian engineers assembling at least two M13/40 tanks deep inside Libya. Also in shot is the photo aircraft's escorting Hurricane.

Photo No. DAF/006/10/40

Hurri close up using rare colour film

There are two toy tanks in the box which I bought for £9.50. So that's £4.75 per toy, not bad. The kits are of the fast-build type and look like they'll got together with minimal fuss. One disappointment is that the turret hatch is moulded as part of the turret so getting it open would be very difficult. This is a shame, it would have been nice to have a leather-clad tank commander on view. 

The box art includes a couple of colour schemes, which is just as well given this B/W document:

Waste of print.

UATH!

The Results Are In.....

......and the clear winner was the box of M13/40s with a whopping 52% of the votes cast. Work begins tomorrow at the factory of Corrazate Cotgravelli di Campo Freddo di Sutton. This book, which I picked up at Salute last year, will come in handy once again for colour schemes.

Opposition knocked out!

First time for everything I suppose.

I also noticed that blog views have gone over 50,000 so thank you all for your continuing support.

Also welcome to new blog member Will Grundy; thank you for following.