Spring Projects

 Since the end of the challenge I’ve really gotten behind on posting on the blog. That doesn’t mean my painting has been idle. In fact, I’be been painting quite a bit. Much of it were odds and ends left over from various other projects. The most prominent one has been a return to the Executioners Space Marine chapter. I painted a test squad before the painting challenge, but hadn’t been able to work on them again until recently. I’ve painted up the command squad, terminator squad and a second tactical squad. 

Apothecary and veteran 

Champion and veteran

Standard Bearer and Captain

The chapter decals all came from Fallout Hobbies. They have a big range of space marine chapter decals for all the various Badab War factions. The quality of the decals is quite high and shipping is pretty fast (and expensive to Canada). He also has flash sales on a fairly regular basis with 15% off.

In between each squad I would also paint a vehicle for Gaslands. I’ve added three so far using this strategy!

The first one drops oil slick and glue. The second one drops mines and caltrops and the third is a ramming specialist.

Hopefully I can stay motivated to keep posting in a more timely manner.

Thanks for visiting!

SDV 1:87 A-2 Dvina/Guideline SAM for the Egyptians in the Yom Kippur War!

For some time I'd wanted a model surface-to-air missile for my YKW Egyptians. I found an STL file for 3D printing and Conscript Byron printed it, but it came out about 1:55 scale and clearly couldn't be scaled down, as even at that scale the missile fins were really thin and some even had to be replaced with card.

Nobody seems to make a 1:100 plastic kit either, except a company called "DIY" that I found on Scalemates... but there is no source for the kit that I could find. I corresponded with a Chinese toy wholesaler who might have had some but they went silent. Too bad because it was a cool looking kit, literally 8 parts so easy assembly, and cheap enough that everyone can afford a battery. I was prepared to buy lots of them and sell them to other hobbyists. But after a few emails exchanged, I never heard back.  

So I went with a 1:87 scale kit from SDV, a Czech model company established back in 1989. And while 1:87 is a little overscale for 15mm (nominally 1:100), it's close enough, and I wanted one, so I went for it.

The kit was reasonably easy to assemble but was not cheap, I think it came out to a bit over $30 CAD. There really wasn't an alternative though. "Mrs. Carina please get back to me!" :-)

Although the model is a bit overscale I think it's pretty cool. The actual missile is nearly 35 feet long I think, so it's not small. And really I probably only need one - I am thinking of a scenario set later in the YKW, where the Israelis hunted SAM batteries with their tanks. That would be pretty cool as a game.

The paint scheme for this model was inspired by an article in a recent Tamiya model magazine I happened to see at a local bookseller. The modeller had built a Guideline missile and ZIL truck and painted them as Egyptian equipment in 1973, sand colour with some splotchy light and darker green camo. Perfect! So that's what I modelled my work on.

More Israelis coming next. Youm Sa'id! 

M51 Ishermans and F4-E Phantom for the Yom Kippur War!

More escalation for the YKW! First we have a platoon of upgraded M51 Shermans from Khurasan. Love that massive 105mm gun right?!?!

I really like these models. They aren't supplied with crew, but I swapped in a tank commander from Battlefront's range. If he looks a little on the larger side, more on that later...

The models are really straightforward to build. I painted them in the usual style - AK Grey-Green, light Agrax Earthshade wash, sponge chipping.

Chevrons pointing forward indicate the second company (pointing down, first company; pointing up, third company).

OK so this marking I completely messed up. The Hebrew letter (aleph) indicates the individual vehicle within the platoon (here, the first vehicle) - the numeral indicates the platoon number (second platoon, in this case). I assumed the opposite when I put on the decals. Ugh. I might fix this, or maybe not.

EDIT: I couldn't not fix the tactical markings so I did that today. First I put second battalion markings on the gun barrels, then replaced the markings on the turrets.

Now we have call signs "Aleph", "Bet", and "Gimel" of the 1st Platoon.

Unfortunately, for some reason the Battlefront decal sheet only had decals for Aleph and Gimel, so I painted Bet's marking by hand. I also put vehicle ID plates on the tanks, they're Battlefront decals too.

So these vehicles are now officially done!

Anyway onto the next thing. This is an Academy F4-E Phantom in 1/144 scale, marked for the 107th Squadron of the Israeli air force, 1973.

Pretty easy to paint, I used the same colours as on my Skyhawks.

The roundels are from the same sheet as used for the Skyhawks, too. The tail numbers are hand-done with a fine-tipped technical pen. The red vertical stabilizer and emblem are distinctions of the 107th squadron based at Hatzerim. This aircraft is based on an illustration in the Osprey "Israeli F-4 Phantom II Aces" book by Shlomo Aloni.

So the only thing about the Khurasan models is that they're a bit smaller than other 15mm models. It's OK when they're by themselves but don't put 'em too close to the plastic Battlefront Shermans. This one is an old metal Sherman, maybe from Command Decision? But still bigger than the Khurasan model.

Stay tuned for more from the YKW. I have a few Israeli jeeps and something for the Egyptians to use to defend themselves from Israeli air attack. Shalom!

Israeli Skyhawks for the Yom Kippur War!

Further escalation in the October War project! Undeterred by the apparent anachronisms running rampant in my Israeli armour, I'm continuing the project with a pair of A-4E Skyhawks for their air force.

I found these USAF models from Battlefront's 'Nam range for an unbelievable deal, so picked them up for my Israeli force. I stand to be corrected in the comment section but I think the aircraft are reasonably accurate representations of the planes that served in the October War.

The Israelis used a couple different variants of the Skyhawk in a ground-attack role during the conflict. These are early A-4Es. Later on we'd see the modified A-4H and -N versions with the hump on the dorsal surface of the fuselage, that contained an upgraded avionics package. Even the -Es got upgraded with this package but these are the earlier sleeker version of the aircraft. I didn't add the extended anti-SAM tailpipe as that upgrade came later too. I think I might bend out the refueling probe a bit though.

Of course since these planes were sold for the 'Nam range, they didn't come with suitable decals... but no worries, Israeli roundels were sourced from a Canadian eBay seller and came very quickly indeed! The "tail numbers" are from the original Battlefront USAF decal set as I'm not that fussed with trying to replicate specific aircraft. Shalom!