Dodge WC-63s

I had already tried out a WC-63 that I had found on Thingiverse (link), but I wasn't happy with the way it turned out as it was quite low on it's wheels. Therefore when I found a very nice WC-53 I decided to modify it into a WC-63 and these are the results.

The original was scaled to 1/56 but as I was printing it to 1/76 some details were too fragile and had to be thickened up. It also came with a nice crewman, but is typically sculted in heroic style for Bolt Action and does look somewhat oversized for this vehicle.

Here is the original WC-53 Beep on Thingiverse (link)

M8 Howitzer Motor Carriage

My existing M8 HMC's come from a variety of sources and they are all very heavy as they are mainly metal and vary in size even if all of them are nominally 1/76. So I decided to purchase a very nice STL with full interior detail and a couple of crewmen.

Using both crewmen on each tank looked rather cluttered so I only added one to each, the others will be used on my other US armour.

Panzerwerfer 42

As I plan to gradually retire my diecast vehicles I was tempted by finding and STL file for the Panzerwerfer 42 or more correctly 15 cm Panzerwerfer 42 auf Selbstfahrlafette Sd.Kfz.4/1 (based on the Opel Maultier, or "mule", half-track). A couple of very clean prints in 1/76 scale.

They can also be re-configured as the 8 cm Raketen-Vielfachwerfer version

Hin und Zurück - Opel buses

Continuing the bus theme here are a couple more, but 3D printed German Opel buses this time.
Firstly one from 1940 advancing into France

and then retreating in 1944

Just take a bus part 1

Or more appropriately for anyone from a city you wait ages and then two turn up. A couple of extemporised transports for my 1940 French arny.

It's a Renault TN-6 bus as used in Paris in the 30s and actually used for transport. The basic model was a multicomponent set of STL files which I had to assemble first before 3D printing

It never snows in September - On the workbench

Yes it is the 80th anniversary of Market Garden so there is a themed build on "The Wargamers Forum" so it is the ideal time to get something suitable done, I will be travelling a bit but hopefuly it should disrupt the main task so I will work on:

• Assembling and painted four Horsa gliders
• 28mm ECW gun crew 3D printed - still inderway
• Continue working on heap of 3D printed vehicles
• Get the 3D Resin Printer going again to produce more stuff while the weather is good
• Start rebasing the Imperial Guard and other allied Guards

Swiss in the service of Napoleonic France rebased

Last of my September output a pair of Swiss battealions have been rebased and new command teams added.

1st Swiss

2nd Swiss

Some Napoleonic French Line Infantry rebased

My first four battalions of French Line have been rebased, as before with new 3D printed command figures.

Flags are from Napflag (Warflag) just rescaled to match the figures.

I still have four more units to rebase but before I do that I have to rebase my Imperial Guard to yield a few more Grenadiers to enable me to create five battalions.

The luck of the Irish

My battalion of the Irish Legion managed to get ahead in the rework. The same changes have been made as the Legere

Napoleonic French Legere rebased

My old four battalions of French Infanterie Legere have been rebased and enhanced by adding 3D printed command figures. As a result I now have five battalions.

A close up of the command figures by Kozak, they could do with a little bulking out to better match my Springwoods, but I'm quite happy with them as they are.

The clear out has started

I spent some time deciding what to keep and what should go. The result is a big batch on ebay (link)

I had decided that I needed a major purge of my 1/300 collection, so all my WW1 and WW2 are going together with various other half started projects. I decided to keep my Ancients and Dark Ages forces for playing DBA when space is short and also my ECW. I also kept my 1/600 SYW armies.

In addition I started on a cull of half started projects, redundant figures and forces that I suspect I will never use again.

The God of War - Soviet heavy artillery

I've finished my Russian M1937 (ML-20) 152mm artillery guns and crews that I had 3D printed, these are to the left, to the right are a pair of my older M1943 (D-1) 152mm guns that I decided to use the new 3D printed crews with and replace some old plastic conversions.

The crews are a bit chunky, but it is not so noticeably in their cold weather clothes.

On the workbench - August 2024

July has been an interesting month as I have been trying and failing to get my new FDM printer working. Creality eventually sent a replacement but that had the same problem so it is now waiting to be returned. If anyone has any recommendations for an FDM printer please let me know. Everything I planned for July is completed so in August I will be working on:

• Rebasing my Napoleonic French Infantry, at least four units each of Ligne and Legere
• a pair of Soviet ML-20 152mm guns and crews all 3D printed
• 28mm ECW gun crew again 3D printed
• Get started on the heap of 3D printed vehicles
• Continue with more French Infantry rebasing

Napoleonic French skirmishers rebased

Comprising 132 figures this was a substantial task but I still have the Imperial Guard, Bavarian and Wurttemberg skirmishers to do.

The French skirmishers - all from the Legere regiments.

Allied skirmishers - front left Baden Jagers, right Saxon Light Infantry. Behind left Westphalian light companies, right Italian light companies. At the back one of the oldest units in my collection French Line Voltigeurs using Airfox figures.

A few pictures from Attack at Devizes 2024

Not much in the way of eye candy at the show so only a couple of pictures of a Napoleonic game, with some lovely Charlie Foxtrot pantile buildings, which I also admired on his stall, shame they are 28mm

On the blotz stand there was this new Dark Ages modular fort, which would be good for my 28mm Saxons.

I spent much of the day catching up with friends and perusing the stands and the Bring and Buy for that elusive next project, but nothing spotted yet.

3D printing has finished for now!

So I have worked though my current wishlist for the printer and produced the following for my own use, all 20mm unless identified otherwise.

From the top left tray going clockwise and similarly within each tray
Tray 1

• Four Horsa gliders bath-tubbed in a similar way to my Wacos - there were some glitches in printing all of them but nothing that some simple modelling cannot fix.

Tray 2

• Two Renault TN6 buses for my extemporised French infantry transport
• A pair of Crusader gun tractors to provide alternative tow for my 17pdrs
• A Daimler armoured car hull to replace one that exploded and one that failed to print properly
• A failed Opel Blitz bus where I have printed replacement wheels but will pass onto a friend to enjoy repairing
• A collection of French WW2 drivers I've created for those vehicles missing one
• 28mm ECW gun crew scaled up from 15mm
• Three copies of Russian cameraman Yevgeny Khaldei and some US tank crew
• Russian heavy gun crews for a pair of 152mm Ml-20 guns that are already being painted
• A couple of Richard Winters

Tray 3

• On the left 64 French Napoleonic Command figures ready for their upgrade
• Top right - Von Lettow Vorbeck and an askari
• A 15mm Opel Blitz bus and a H39 for friends at the club

Tray4

• A pair of Dodge Tanake for my French Foreign Legion
• Four M8 Scott HMC to replace my old heavy metal versions
• A Staghound hull to replace one that exploded
• Parts for the SWS and LRCs
• Five Humber Light Reconnaissance Cars (LRC) - three of these need repaired
• Four WC62 (6x4) Beeps for US 57mm tows, one need the side screens and windscreen replace as they were too fragile
• A couple of Armoured Schwerewehrmachtschleppers (SWS) to replace some diecasts - shame I can't find an unarmoured version
• Two Opel Blitz buses for myself, one early war and one late

Mediterranean Fallschirmjager rebased

Basically a rebasing effort of my existing Fallschirmjager, which originally had plaster/tetrion basing. It did cause some damge to the lower legs so there was an amount of repainting.

I also added a couple each of anti tank rifle teams and 5cm mortars plus a few extra figures to make up numbers

French Dragoons in Egypt 1800

Although the French Dragoons fighting in Egypt in 1800 could have the same uniform as back in Europe I decided to represent their summer cotton uniform instead.

I choose to represent the 14th (dark pink facings) and the 20th (pale yellow facings)

On the Workbench - July 2024

Well, the year is half over and I'm well ahead on my objectives, but the decision is which Napoleonic army to start rebasing next? I've decided to tackle the biggest, but the most useful, the French and allied forces, over 1,500 figures. The other main task will be to sort out the 3D printing now (hopefully) I have two. During the summer I will concentrate on printing the figures and vehicles I need, while in the winter on the terrain. Specifically for July I will be working on:

• Rebasing my German Mediterranean Fallschirmjager and adding a few extra heavy weapons - underway
• French Dragoons for Egypt 1800 - currently being based
• Continue working on my 3D printed oddments as I add more
• Continue 3D printer production to produce more Horsa gliders plus some other new STL files I have bought
• Try and get my FDM printer working
• If time permits start working on the French rebasing

Finally I will be down in Wiltshire for part of the month visiting family and also attending the Attack show Devizes on 20th July.

Progress against plan 2Q24

An excellent start to the year with 1846 items completed, however about two thirds of those were reworking/rebasing.

Compared to my much looser plan than usual I have done the following:

1. Rework/Rebase as many figures as possible - underway
2. Enhance/Add some new forces to the collection - underway, but I've still not seen anything to tempt me into a new period.
3. Maintain or ideally reduce the stash - ongoing
4. Exploit the 3D Printer - Now in the middle of my second print run, with a higher success rate than earlier in the year when it was colder. I have also bought an FDM printer for terrain, although it is not working yet due to a disc drive malfunction
5. Enjoy Games & Shows - underway with trips to Vapnartak, Hammerhead,the Easter big game and Phalanx.

Amplifying the above:

1. Rework/Rebase as many figures as possible.

• Start on the Napoleonics (this may take a couple of years to do) - I made a start on the British last year - I've completed the British, Portuguese, Brunswick and Spanish plus my figures for skirmish games
• WW2 Winter Russians - Completed
• Early War German Fallschirmjager - Removed the bases, but not quite started on the basing

2. Enhance/Add some new forces to the collection in no particular order

• 15mm DBA Italian wars army (for the forthcoming inter-club tournament) - bought a Hungarian army but it didn't have all the necessary options, so I sucessfully used some borrowed "Florentines" for the games - This project is now shelved and the Hungarians sold off
• 28mm Female Gunfighters - not started yet
• Add a unit of WW2 Japanese SNLF - completed
• Extra units for the Crusades - completed
• French Dragoons for Egypt 1800 - underway
• Modify the SYW Austrian Grenz to use for Prussian Frei Korps - not started yet
• Some extra Aztecs for skirmish games - not started yet, but I have trialed a couple of 3D printed figures
• Various figures and terrain need for Montgisard 1177 - completed and sucessfully ran the game at both Vapnartak and Phalanx
• WW2 BEF infantry (I plan to 3D print the extra needed figures, etc.) - I decided that the pint files were not good enough so the project has been shelved.

3. Continue to clear out all unwanted items, including painted figures

• Re-assess each existing period, army, and units to consider if I am really going to use them - not started yet
• Reduce the stash (figure and plastic bits box) from 4 crates to 3 - underway
• review my 1/300 collection and decide its fate - not started yet

4. 3D Printing - the bulk of my immediate needs have been printed so I will work on

• gradually replace existing diecast and other poor quality AFVs in my collection - not started yet
• components for houses and other terrain - not started yet - I am planning to use the FDM printer for this
• work on how to make/modify files to meet my specific needs - underway, I've enhanced my 1/80 Waco and I've created a similar bath-tubbed Horsa glider that has printed OK

5. Gaming

• Continue supporting the Beacon Club and attending as many weekend events as possible - underway only one weekend missed so far due to other commitments
• Attend at least as many shows as last year - The list of shows are Vapnartak, Hammerhead, an Easter big game and Phalanx.

More progress with the 3D printer

I've been investing in quite a few new STL files and working on a number of others and now it's time for the printer. The most major effort was a bathtubbed Horsa glider, which pleasingly printed perfectly.

Others were a bit mixed as expected for a first run. The Opel Blitz bus failed to print its left wheels, ditto the Light Reconnaissance Car and the Daimler hull losing one wheel. The M8 Scott, SWS, ML20 and Crusader Gun Tractor were all fine, together with the French drivers I created.

Renault TN-6 Bus

I bought an STL of a Renault TN-6 the claasic Parisian bus of the 30s and 40s that was also used by the military. it was cheap, but I discovered in was for an FDM printer and needed to be printed in pieces and then assembled. Luckily I have learned enough to be able to build it virtually and this is the final version straight off the printer.

Just a little fettling to do like increasing the diameter of the support poles in the cabin.

Poles & Muscovites v's Ottomans big game

As is traditional on the day after Phalanx he Gentlemen pensioners mustered at Steve's in Salford for a big game. This year we were reduced in numbers with only five of us, but we had a great days gaming.

Poles/Muscovites to the left Ottomans to the right.

I took command of the Muscovite right wing up against hordes of Ottoman cavalry

At the height of the action

Phalanx 2024

Not to early a start for the show as it was just over the Mersey at St Helens, thanks to the Spartans for being such great hosts. We (Lance and Longbow ran through Montgisard 1177 twice with both the Franks winning both, but in one it looked like the Ayyubids might just mange a non-historical win. Thanks to all those who participated.

Just to keep Martin happy, here's a Macro shot

First game in full flow

Our club game of DAK Attack in 28mm generated a lot of interest in the game and also our club

Other games of interest

Omaha beach

MAWS western desert WW2

North West Frontier - tempted to make the Chitral style fort

Big boys toys 54mm Napoleonics in bulk