Friday, 7 July 2023

WW2 Eric Knowles Style

At long last the next phase of the disposal of the collections of the late Eric Knowles is finally underway. A combination of the pandemic, lockdown and Laurel’s situation have all served to delay things by about four years or so but things are finally starting to move once again. I have been in conversation with Bill, Eric’s son, and he has started the lengthy process of sorting out all of the WW2 kit and so the first pictures are now available.

This is all new territory for me as I never gamed WW2 with Eric and indeed, much of his collection grew after he had moved to Coningsby after he had retired. Needless to say, with Eric being Eric, substantial numbers of models were involved….

There is a whole pile of stuff yet to be photographed but the selection below will give you a flavour. His entire WW2 collection was built using 20mm as the scale of choice and I believe he used Rapid Fire or a variant thereof as his rules of choice.


1st SS LAH Panzer Division command and regimental flak


Panzer Lehr division signals coy and staff officers.



4th British Infantry Division, 2nd Brigade HQ and 4th Battalion - he has five similar battalions!


US Tank Destroyer Battalion - Eric was very fond of including organisational tables with his units!


Slightly out of synch but a close up of the brigade(?) HQ


Elements of Panzer Lehr Divisional HQ (with supply and medical troops)  


One of the other British infantry battalions


And another British infantry battalion - this time of 1940 vintage (with the French, Belgians and Poles to follow!)


Panzer Grenadier Divisional Recce Battalion.

All of the above, along with the rest of Germans, British, Russians and Americans (and the aforementioned French, Belgians and Poles) will be shipped over to me for disposal and by all accounts it will be a substantial undertaking.

As soon as I have more pictures I will be posting them but in the meantime if anyone wants to discuss acquiring any of this collection or has any questions please drop me a line - roguejedi@btinternet.com

Personally I am looking forward to the ships and the library!

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10 comments:

  1. Mike Lewis7 July 2023 at 21:35

    I’d be interested in 1940s british, French and Belgians - I’ll drop you an email

    Mike

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  2. david in suffolk7 July 2023 at 22:47

    Well well, that could be interesting! I'll be in touch..

    ReplyDelete
  3. Archduke Piccolo7 July 2023 at 23:52

    The beginnings of a dam' fine collection, sir! I like the look of his HQ and staff elements. I hope you find a good home for it all!
    Cheers,
    Ion

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  4. David Crook8 July 2023 at 12:35

    Hi Mike,

    I have dropped you an email.

    All the best,

    DC

    ReplyDelete
  5. David Crook8 July 2023 at 12:37

    Hello there David in Suffolk,

    I thought you might be! Actually I needed to drop you a line in any event but just to let you know that Eric’s WW2 collection takes up around a quarter of the loft space in Bill’s double garage….!

    All the best,

    DC

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  6. David Crook8 July 2023 at 12:38

    Hi Ion,

    Eric was a great one for ALL the support stuff - you should have seen some of the 18th century collection in that respect - so ECP sect to see a whole more of it, along with conversions and items used in ways the manufacturers probabl never intended….

    All the best,

    DC

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  7. Neil Patterson8 July 2023 at 17:40

    It's worth pointing out a lot of the German kit looks like Roco 1:87 alongside Airfix and possibly Matchbox both in 1:76.
    Neil

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  8. David Crook9 July 2023 at 18:20

    Hello there Neil,

    Yup! That was Eric to a tee….. Assorted scales and manufacturers, even eras, was very much his Modus Operandi!

    All the best,

    DC

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  9. tradgardmastare11 July 2023 at 07:04

    Good morning,
    Are there any Norwegians or Danes by any chance?
    Alan Tradgardland

    ReplyDelete
  10. David Crook11 July 2023 at 08:30

    Good morning Mr Trad,

    I have been told that there are some Belgians and Poles so there may be - I will check with Bill and see if he knows.

    Knowing Eric I would not be in the least bit surprised if there were!

    All the best,

    DC

    ReplyDelete