Saturday 16 March 2013

BOOM! The Artillery is here!

You may have seen the work in progress posts for the 25pdr and Quad , well now I have finished them! They had been sitting in drawers for quite some time in a stage of partial completion, its great to  have them done at last....although I will be needing to get the same kit again later on- two 25pdrs are better than one :)
The models themselves are from Italeri, originally produced by Esci many moons ago, and it still builds up as a good kit. Next time I may leave out some of the more fiddly bits underneath the Quad as they cannot be seen once the vehicle is based for wargaming. I did find that some pieces broke as I tried to remove them from the sprue even though I tried to be careful- I guess it was never designed to be a fastbuild wargamers type kit.
I exchanged the original crew for AB miniatures, who make some great sets for British artillery, I even put an AB driver in the Quad-  though you can't see him too well, at least I know he's in there. The shell casings and boxes on the ground came with the kit- I drilled the ends of the shell cases out slightly. They are based as three separate items to aid play for wargames, the limber base with the three chaps on it constitutes a "loader team" in the Battlegroup rules.
I have used a cloudier background for these photos, probably appropriate as it was quite cloudy outside this morning when I was taking the pictures.
I hope you all enjoy them, please feel free to ask questions etc.
By the way, it's great to see 90 people following now- very cool- perhaps I'll hit 100 before the end of the year? Thanks to everyone for your encouragement and support.





















16 comments:

  1. Absolutely top notch!

    Most impressed with the outcome John. Full marks mate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Cobber, glad you likes em.
      Sorry I haven't been commenting as much on your blog, can't seem to get the comments box to come up at work or on the ipad since you changed the format- at least it still works on the home PC.

      Delete
    2. Google chrome seems to work okay, the ipad coming from a rival company...

      Delete
  2. Lovely stuff as one has come to expect from such a fine model master as yourself. Quad looks much bigger than my Airfix one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Nick, jolly generous of you to say such nice things.
      Re the Quad, that's cause the Airfix is 1/76 and this un is 1/72.

      Delete
  3. Beautiful modelling and painting, but the muzzle brake wasn't used on the WW2 gun as far as I know.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Will for your kind words.
      There is actually evidence for the muzzle brake in use in Normandy, I found a picture in the Imperial War Museum collection:
      http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205202493

      Cheers,
      John

      Delete
    2. Thanks John, a good reputable source

      Delete
  4. Wonderful looking pictures, great work on the artillery...
    Phil.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Much appreciated Phil. Would like to pick up another one, but it's time to curb the spending and build the stash :)

      Delete
  5. Vast amounts on internet re- 25pdrs but basically the 'Jock Columns' of flying anti-tank groups in the WD found the 25pdr needed a muzzle break for the 20lb AP round. It was fitted in 1942. This is a fabulous example of a) a 25pdr, Quad and crew, b) a modelling, painting and basing job and c) terrific pictures. Congratulations and very well done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sounds like you've done your research- what shall I call you? SRD(H)?-
      Mate, those are some very encouraging words there, thanks :)

      Delete
  6. A formidable force you deployed John.
    These AB figures, can complement so nicely even the oldest kits in the market, like the Airfix 25 pounder. Excellent selection and if I also may say (not wanting to lose the point, the basing is really fantastic. Unless someone is a modeller, you simply can't say if they are based, or they are fighting on their own battlegound. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks T :)
      I think you are right about the AB stuff, they really make a big improvement to any model or wargames army. If they were a bit cheaper I'd make all my wargames armies AB.
      Glad you liked the basing, the trick I find is to use layers of colours that are actually derived from natural pigments, like raw umber, raw sienna & yellow ochre.

      Delete
  7. And yes, I can also see the driver! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cool.
      What you may not be able to see is that he has shoulder flashes and cloth insignia painted on too- nerdy I know, but I like stuff like that. :)

      Delete

17th Century Characters...mostly

 Here are some 17th Century character miniatures I finished recently.  28mm metal, mostly from Wargamer Poland: https://sklep.wargamer.pl/gb...