Hi Steve and thanks. The chain link fence is one of those string bags you get garlic in. Wife is always asking do you want this or can you use that. The answer is yes. I never throw stuff away

Cheers Pete

I did rectify the issue with the Lee Enfield slings





Pete

To One and All,
Finally, I am able to clear the bench and start on this campaign. I will be building the Tamiya 1/48 Sherman Firefly. If time allows, I may make up a base with a few figures.



Thanks,
Stephen

For those who are interested in movies that feature real tanks in them (not T-34/85's with sheet metal that make them look like Tiger I's)Check out the movie "Theirs is the Glory" it's on You Tube and it was made in 1946. It is about Market Garden and it was filmed on the actual locations with the actual British Para's who fought in the battle.
There are real Panthers, a Hertzer and Tiger I and a knocked out Tiger II shown in the film.

An update. I decided to take a break from the figures and began work on the CyberHobby boxing of the M4A4. The kit represents a vehicle from the 1st Provisional Tank Battalion, Burma 1945. There are parts included to make it in to a British vehicle. The kit's decals are limited to the one vehicle but I should be able to scrounge up some from the spares.

I started with the suspension.


Suspension.




Lower hull and rear plate.


The instructions for the rear plate were horrible. I had to dig up some photographs of an actual M4A4 to get the correct placement of some of the rear bits.


With the rear bits added and suspension mounted.


Upper hull. Added the vents and their PE grills. Rear tie-downs. Upper rear hull pieces and fuel caps.


Three-piece transmission cover. I scraped off the weld around the hull mg.


I went ahead and sprayed a base coat of darkish green and painted the rubber on the wheels black. These will be toned down later with dark gray.


More work on the rear. Added a rear stowage box and fire extinguishers. The kit includes these.


Mounted the upper and lower hulls. Added the transmission cover and front headlights, tie-downs, and guards. I plan on adding crew. The kit doesn't include them but I've got periscopes somewhere around here. Driver and radio operator's hatches were left off for the time-being.


And that's where I am at right now.

Hi gents,

just joined the Op with a wargaming unit so I hope that's ok. Don't expect any ground breaking detailing but they should paint up ok.

The vehicles are 28mm from Warlord, Blitkrieg and JTFM. I'm not doing any crews as the customer is doing is own to match the stuff he already has.

Anyway he's building a Hohenstaufen Panzer Recce Abt wargaming unit to use with the Bolt Action rule-set. There's vehicles for the HQ, Heavy Weapons, Armoured Car and Infantry unit.

ps made a start on some a couple weeks back but the rest of the vehicles arrived the morning so now it's full steam ahead.

cheers
Brent

Hi Stephen welcome aboard plenty of time left for this campaign my friend.
Alex that kit looks very nice look forward to seeing more.
Brent welcome aboard also and yes the wargame build is welcomed as a build here and I look forward to seeing it completed.


Pete

Hi all,

Well as I mentioned earlier I have finally overcome my frustration with these two Panther tanks. I finally applied the based coat of Dark Yellow and began the camouflage with red brown.











The tools are primarily done so as soon as I lay down the dark green camouflage I can move on to the minor details and finish the twins off.

Unfortunately due to an upcoming move I wont be able to complete the diorama I had originally planned for these two. Once the move is done I will though.

All comments, suggestions, or criticism are always welcome.

Everyones builds are looking great.

Thanks

Dave

Nice work Dave, love the zimmeritt. Plenty of time to do the dio.


Pete

After a bit of a break I decided to crack on with the Sdkfz 250/1 this weekend. I had a rummage about in the loft and found an Sdkfz 250/9 that I'd built years ago. The paint job was a bit crap so I decided to redo it and use it in the dio. This one will be knocked out by a mine strike so I've taken the track off one side to reattach as damaged. I need to make some Hawkins mines to scatter in the road which shouldn't be too difficult having been looking at them. It was the first time I've had my airbrush out for ages. I had intended that the stripes would be thinner but I'm still trying to balance out airflow against paint flow. Not very successfully! Next step attaching tools etc and decals then a bit of weathering.

Nice job Karl. Your airbrushing looks good enough to me. I can't wait to see the dio complete.


Pete

Hi everybody -

I decided I'd better start my build soon if I want to finish in time. Pete, if it's okay, I'd like to build a Jagdpanzer IV from SS-Panzerjäger-Abteilung 9 instead of the King Tiger I originally announced. This is partly because Jesper also said he wanted to build a KT, but mostly because I'm more into building a JgPz IV at the moment.

Here's a couple of links showing what I want to build:

http://www.defendingarnhem.com/EasternSector.html

http://www.marketgarden.com/2010/UK/gear/gear13.html

I also want to compliment everyone on the great looking builds/dioramas that are shaping up.

Jerry

Jbranca I don't have any issue at all with anyone changing their chioce of build. And a Jgpz IV would be a nice addition.
Good link too.

Thanks Pete

Nice 250's Karl!

A little progress on the gaming build front. Lots of grinding work with a Dremel on the 251/8 to get the oversized tracks and too high sit lowered and looking anywhere half decent . . .

Brent

Nice work Brent....in 1/72 scale too.



Pete

My small South Staffords scene got placed at Perth show, against some very very good compertition. I didn't think it would get anything.

Anyway onto my other build I promised, I finished it on Friday to take to the show.
Progress and I will upload a finished image later














Cheers Pete


Oh they are South Staffords again with one Para I added from a previous build.

Don't know what happened to the pictures they have misteriously disappeared from photobucket

These are the pictures of the finished item I took last night,































Keep up the good work guys and if Bronco ever get around to releasing the Horsa glider I may add that too.

Cheers Pete

Brent- Love the way the groups shaping up. Look to be nice vehicles.

Dave- Those panthers are looking really good now you're getting some paint on them. I bet you could get them done in the dio with an extension which I bet Pete will let you have

Pete- Those Wee Friends figures look nice. Wish I'd picked some up now especially the dead one. Realistic pose.

I've had an enforced break of late as I've just had 11 days in hospital which was unplanned. Having said that it was useful in the respect that I had a couple of ideas while I was in there plus I've accumulated a big stash of Oramorph syringes for measuring and thinning paint..lol. They work a lot smoother than the modelling ones due to them being a medical item. The nurses thought it was odd that I was keeping them and thought it even odder when I explained tha I build scale models...lol. There's not a huge amount left to do now. I need to paint a couple more wounded/dead Jerries, weather the halftracks, stick a bit more rubble in the street etc and then finally place the figures. I reckon about a week and a half of work left but having said that I've missed modelling so I'll probably have a good bash at it

Sorry to hear you have been in hospital Karl. Nothing too serious I hope.
Hope to see some more progress from you soon
If it comes to September and some of you guys are struggling to finish up an extension would be considered. I know some of us build quicker than others lol.
We have 5 months ish to go so will reassess closer to.

Well done to everyone, there has been some great builds so far.

Cheers
Pete

I've had a good bash at the dio the last couple of days and have made quite a bit of progress. I've added more debris to the street ( need to do a little bit more)and positioned a few corpses. I've finally finished the half tracks and am reasonably happy with them. On the Sdkfz 250/1 I've placed one figure in it to represent the dead machine gunner which took quite a bit of surgery to get him into the right position with there not being a lot of room in there. I'm actually quite pleased with him as he looks to have fallen naturally with his head to one side. You'll have to let me know what you think.

















The green of his smock is not as vivid in real life. The lighting has psychedeliced it up lol. I've gone for a mixed uniform as looking at photos from the battle they appear to be a real mix and uniformity seemed to have gone out of the window.

Great work Karl. The figure is well painted and the pose looks spot on to me.


Pete

Finally completed! I've spent today adding the figures to the street and added a few finishing touches. The scenario is fairly self explanatory. Paras are holding buildings to both sides of the road and have ambushed two Hohenstaufen recce half tracks. The Sdkfz 250/9 has hit a Hawkins mine which has caused it to lose a track thus blocking the road causing the Sdkfz 250 behind to stall. The commander of the 250/9 has dragged his driver free of the vehicle who is unconscious and is attempting to get clear. The machine gunner one the 250 has been shot by a Para sniper from the left hand building and the crew have abandoned the vehicle and become casualties themselves. Paras are moving forward as a counter attacking force and mopping up. On with the pictures.

As you can see I got a bit carried away when I was taking the photos. Sorry about that...lol. (I had taken a lot more as well). What do you think? I have to admit I've thoroughly enjoyed this campaign as Arnhem is a battle I've always been fascinated by, mainly due to the forces involved. Two SS panzer Divisions against a British Airborne Division. A real clash of the titans. I've tried (as I always do) to create interaction between the individual soldiers as you'd find in real life and also have things to look at on different levels ie the buildings. The buildings are the Miniart Cross Roads diorama which lent themselves quite well to additional work like putting floors in and building the outside wall up so that I could put a roof on which was a first for me. The figures are mainly DML conversions as there weren't any Paras in the poses that I needed to portray the scene which I had in mind. There's a couple of MB ones in there as well.In fact the only figure straight out of the box is an MB medic. All the others have had some degree of surgery, some of it very extensive. I'd not tried the amputation and pinning method before but was pleased with the end result..lol. Heads are a mixture of Hornet, Resicast, Legend and Wee Friends. Weapons are all DML. So that's it in a nutshell gents. I've noticed now I've taken photos that a few need a touch up. You never notice it until you look at a photo which shows your figure 9 inches tall...lol.Hope you like it and any critiques or comments gratefully accepted.

Wow! A great achievement to say the least! Great subject interaction and storyline as well ... one can sense the crossfire! Thanks for sharing!

—mike

Thanks Mike. Glad you like it. I always try to get the figures interacting with each other as I find it adds a different dynamic to the scene. It shows the figures as a cohesive group speaking to each other, giving orders, planning, conversation etc. To me a dio is a representation of a moment in time in miniature and as people talk in real life so they should in a dio...lol. I think my favourite is the wounded Para with the stray dog licking his face. A bit different to the norm