Fezian and Rusland Armour Support....Part 2

Mad, bad and dangerous - but to whom?!

As promised (and for the benefit of the treadheads amongst us!) above is the picture of two of the newest additions to the collection being acquired for the great Fezian Rusland war of 1935 - a T28 and a T35. I have two of each of these and they are lovely models. They certainly look impressive enough and I was somewhat taken aback by the sheer size of the T35 - it is huge!

There is a minor amount of assembly to be undertaken with these - including the rail around the top of the turret - and of course they will need a paint job in due course. At the moment I am leaning towards Rusland using T35s and BT5s whilst Fezia has T28s, T26s and Vickers light tanks.

Each side will probably have around 10 tanks which will be more than sufficient but will give me a usable variety.

Shipshape or the Shape of the Ship

One of the things I have noticed with my shipbuilding efforts of late is the effect of having a shorter hull with scale sized superstructures and upper works. Basically it makes the ships appear beamier. I have no problem with this as they are hypothetical ships in any event but it has meant that the streamlined hull of the KGV class battleship has been replaced with something more akin to the vast bulk of HMS Nelson. Again, this is no big deal but it will have an impact on some other models I plan to build. In order to utilise as much of the available superstructures etc as possible I will have to reduce the amount I use. Taking the Bismarck as an example I am planning on removing the central section devoted to the float plane and, in effect, will concertina the forward and aft superstructure. It will become clearer when I have done this and posted the pictures of the end result on the blog.


I have also considered the overall dimensions of my planned models and have come up with 6" for modern battleships, 4 1/2" for cruisers and 3" for destroyers. These are obviously not cast in stone but are good enough to work around. I have also given some thought to the number of models I will build and that is a little more problematic. I am reckoning on around 6 capital sized ships per side and a similar number of cruisers. Add to that around a dozen escort types and you can see that the forces will be fairly impressive looking. As ever I always overbuild models simply so that I have the variety for use. Each side will have a carrier and submarines and of course, the air element will feature - both ship borne and land based.


I hope to finish the second Rusland ship this evening (at least the build thereof) and so will then be able to get the brushwork underway. I will be basing the models but at this stage am uncertain as to whether or not I should use painted card or transparent plastic. I will also have to think up names for the ships of both navies but that can wait for the time being and will probably be incorporated in the background story for each side.


Note the refreshing lack of self-imposed and usually unrealistic deadlines being mentioned for this project….;-)


How very liberating!

Fezian and Rusland Tank Support

I arrived home today to a box of four rather nice models recently acquired via Ebay. The models are a pair of 1/87th scale Russian T35 tanks and also a pair of T28 tanks - all of which have been earmarked for the 15mm Fezian and Rusland 1930s armies. I will post a proper review later but suffice it to say these models are little beauties! The box describes them as being made by Premo in Russia and Roco in Germany and further describes them as being from a range called 'Military Vehicles of the Red Army'.

At 1/87th they are a little on the large size for 15mm but I shan't let that bother me overmuch - the models are far too good to be hidden away because of the minor scale discrepancy!

The plan is to use these in conjunction with the Art of Tactic vehicles made by Zvezda - principally the T26 and the BT5.

A Painful Choice - But The Logical One!

'Were I to invoke logic, however, logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few'

I have been very fortunate in respect of Christmas presents this year and no mistake. An unexpected present though, was an Airfix 1/600th scale model of HMS King George V. This I received yesterday with the instruction that should it not be the kit I required I could happily exchange the same (the receipt was provided for this very purpose) with no problem. As a rule I do not like to exchange presents unless I absolutely have to - usually the wrong size or such like - because of someone has gone to the trouble of buying you a gift then the least you should do is to enjoy it as such. However, in this case, and after careful consideration, I reluctantly decided to do the deed and exchange the same for something of far more immediate use.


Don't misunderstand me as I would absolutely love to make a model warship in this scale (Fletcher Pratt anyone?) but such an undertaking assumes the halcyon state of affairs whereby I have nothing else to do in the meantime which of course is usually extremely unlikely!


So I made my way to Model Zone at Holborn at lunchtime and exchanged the larger kit for a 1/1200th Duke of York and another Airfix Sink the Bismarck set (coughing up the cost shortfall) which will be a whole lot more useful in the short term. Gaming with 1/600th scale models is a very attractive idea but is a little off the wall even by my admittedly esoteric standards!


With the acquisition of extra Revell Duke of York kit the second Rusland battleship can now be completed sooner rather than later and the planned extra models using the Bismarck set are just that little bit closer to being realised.


1/600th? One day perhaps….;-)

The Four Pillars of (Wargaming) Wisdom

"So then Lawrence, why is Zorba wearing fancy dress?"

A couple of comments I have read (one as a response to one of my posts and the other as the subject of a post on another blog) have given me much food for thought about my gaming and enjoyment of our hobby. The first was courtesy of Tim Gow and featured on his blog megablitzandmore whilst the second was comment around my Happy New Year post from Conrad Kinch - author of the blog joyandforgetfulness.

Tim made mention of how 'Blogging' is now an integral part of the enjoyment of his hobby and I must confess that I had never thought about it in that way. Sometimes the most blindingly obvious things can somehow creep under the radar and of course, Tim is absolutely right - and in my case as well. I have often said to SWMBO that my hobby is in fact a bargain as it is three hobbies for the price of one - reading, modelling and gaming being three pillars the war games whole if you like. The use of a blog is really a fourth aspect to add to the other three and so I would like to thank Tim for reminding me of this most obvious of truths! The blog is for me a valuable tool for collecting opinions, exchanging ideas and, to be honest, showing off the toys as and when I am able to - and long may it continue!

The second part concerns the New Year resolution that Mr Kinch wanted to make for me concerning getting more games in. Alas this is very true and I have been truly abysmal in this regard over the course of last year. I spent a lot of time testing rules and managed to get the odd game in at the club but that is about it. With this in mind then, I have decided that this year I will take part in at least one game a month - be it a solo game or something at the club - I really have no excuse not to and so I will not attempt to offer up any!

Now that the new man cave is up and running I shall be able to get more games in for sure and I have a lot of ideas and plans for this over the next few months.

My humble thanks to both Tim and Conrad for the observations - the points have been duly noted and the appropriate remedial action is in hand!

Rusland Battleships - The building continues but with an aerial twist

Supermarine Walrus carried aboard numerous RN ships during WW2 and exported to Rusland in small quantities

Hopefully in the spirit of starting as I mean to go on (which will probably last until February if previous years are anything to go by!) I spent some time today on the second Rusland battleship - the sister ship to the Krasnyi Dekabrya. I have managed to complete the hull and I will be able to finish the superstructure over the next few days. I need to get another Revell Duke of York for some of the bits and pieces which I should be able to do on Tuesday with a visit to Model Zone at Holborn.

The two hulls have been sealed with PVA prior to being painted and my plan is to paint all the ship's boats and the two float planes prior to fixing to the models. I have yet to decide on the colour scheme for the float planes and whilst it seems a little strange to be worried about such a small detail there is of course a very good   reason for this.

I fully intend tackling the aerial element of the 1935 Fezian - Rusland war in some fashion so I need to make sure that the aircraft camouflage is consistent. I am not overly familiar with 1930's aircraft other than how they evolved into the more usual WW2 types but I do have a very good reference on the aircraft of the Spanish Civil War which will be a good place to start.

The New Year is here....

....and so I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my regular readers and occasional passers-by a very happy, peaceful, prosperous and above all healthy new year!

Many thanks for all your continued support and comments and here's hoping that 2012 will see all of us undertaking many new and exciting gaming related ideas and projects and more importantly (especially in my case!) actually seeing them through to completion!