Honsby-Armstrong Artillery Locomotives

This week the Royal Garison Artillery have taken delivery of the first of a new type of machine, the Honsby-Armstrong Artillery Locomotive! Running on endless tracks, and with the power of no less than twenty-four good horses, these fine machines have the capacity to manoeuvre even the heaviest of our guns into position.

Hey Internet,

I do present two Honsby-Armstrong Artillery Locomotives...

The eagle eyed amongst you will, of course, recognise the models to be Soviet WWII era 'Stalinets Tractors'. However, I have cunningly painted the radiator casing, headlamps and doorhandles a brassy-coloured metal colour, flawlessly transporting the machines back in time to turn-of-the-century England!

A gift from a friend who had no use for them, these models had been an unloved part of a Soviet Flames of War force for five years or so. Interestingly, this force had no artillery in need of towing, so they never got used. Not even once.

Coming across them quite by chance recently, I thought they'd be just the ticket for the late-Victorian / Great War-ish project that I am currently working on.

I've had a bit of a play around painting them. Being the first vehicles in this project, I wanted to tie down a number of painting techniques and effects that can then be rolled out across all of the British vehicles for the project.

I had to get the green just right. I wanted that particular shade of pale green used on some British equipment around the time of the Great War.

The colour had to be fairly easy to achieve so that I could paint up a dozen or so tanks and other vehicles in a uniform matter. It took three attempts, but I think that the one that I settled on looks about right.

This was the colour that I was going for.

Other than that, it was the smaller details, but in particular, I wanted to try something different with the windows and headlamps. For a long time I've been painting both in the same way, going for a sort of 'blue gem' effect, but recently I've noticed that, while pretty, the effect is totally overblown and utterly unrealistic.

Instead, the windowpanes have been painted flat black and lightly gloss varnished. I'm quite sold on this look for medium scale models like this.

Hopefully the headlamps are looking more realistic too. With them, I've just done highlighted circles of silver. Looking at the photo above, I can't help but feel that its the way to go, particularly with the big lamps of the first quarter of the century.

Some Blue Moon Mark I Tanks and a pair of Flames of War Tog IIs should be on their way before too long. I'm quite looking forward to giving them the same treatment.

Do let me know what you think, eh?

Mr. Marx.

The Lead Tally - 2014

Acquired: +59       Painted: +69          Total: +9

TOG 1 or 2 ?

Hey Internet,

Today a package finally arrived in the post - yay!

Within it was a Flames of War TOG 2 tank model that I ordered about two weeks ago, and have been looking forward to receiving with childlike excitement.

For you that don't know, this magnificent beast is a TOG.

Irritatingly, I ordered two, the other one has been placed on 'back order', whatever that means.

More to the point, as soon as the postman was gone, I of course got out my new toy for a bit of a play.

As fate would have it, I recently took delivery of some Blue Moon Mark I tanks. The Blue Moon kits come with both 'Male' and 'Female' sponsons....and I'm building them as gun tanks....and the 'spare' machine gun sponsons just so happen to perfectly fit my pretty little TOG....

....so.....why shouldn't I build the model as The Old Gang of the Royal Navy Landships Commitee originally intended?

These drawings gives a fairly good impression of the original design. 

I mean, the sponsons are not *100%* historically accurate as they are from a Mk.I, rather than a Mk.V tank, but on the other hand, the machine guns contained within would be being used to mow down Martians in revenge for the 1899 'Rape of London', so, I'm not all too fussed on that front.

I'd need to get some Matilda II turrets to complete the transformation, but that is no problem really.

Feeling really jazzed about doing this.

Let me know what you think!

MM.

Black Hat British Infantry [2]

Hey Internet,

I've finally gotten around to finishing my two platoons of Black Hat British Infantry.

All in all, its taken me two weeks to get the thirty of them painted up and based. To be honest, it was quite a chore to get them done.

The painting itself was not bad at all, but the clean-up of the flash and mold lines was really quite arduous.

I got these figures from a friend* who had them around collecting dust, so they are quite old, and given that fact, I have no idea if they are reflective of Black Hat's casting quality nowadays.

That said - and I am loathed to give a bad review - but the casting quality really was awful.

Almost every figure had prominent mold lines - sometimes two sets of mold lines per figure! Some of them also had major 'mold misalignment' issues. There was one 'pose' of figure that was so systematic in the poorness of its casting that every last one of the 'pose' had to be discarded.

After many hours filing and cutting, I got around to painting them. The figures are 'really big 15mm' or 18mm/HO scale, and as such they possess a pleasing level of detail and paint up rather nicely.

After a good deal of 'umm-ing' and 'ah-ing' I decided to go with turn of the century Khaki uniforms rather than the more stereotypical scarlet Redcoat. This made painting them a far speedier process, which was rather a good thing as, to be honest, the whole 'casting' issue had soured the whole modelling project for me, and enthusiasm was in short supply.

I've got some more Black Hat Commanders, Artillery and Gatling guns yet to do, but I think I need a rest before getting back into painting them.

I've got the first of the 'Tanks' on the way, so I'll probably do some of them before boomeranging back into the rest.

Mr. Marx.

* cheers Neil :)

The Lead Tally - 2014

Acquired: +59       Painted: +67          Total: +7

Tsar Wars - Robert Fett (#1)

[Edit 00:17/09-07-2014] My first ever '360 rotation' GIF. ^

* * *

Assassination?, Agitation?, Dynamiting?, Kidnapping?, Sabotage?  – if you need something questionable doing, Robert Fett is your man.

With a career spanning two decades, Robert 'Bobby' Fett has taken on employment everywhere from Peckham to Peking, rightly earning a reputation as one of the finest sells-swords that money can buy.

In that time he has worked for every manner of persons, ranging from crooks to Kings and from governments to the l'Internationale.

And, on account of having retained certain receipts, he has long evaded all repercussions from Special Branch, the Secret Service, Okhrana, Deuxième Bureau, Geheimpolizei  and a dozen more agencies, enjoying a freedom to work for whomever he chooses, and to take that work where-ever it should lead.

Little is known about Fett beyond the tales of his adventures; and even his name is thought to be a 'nom de guerre'.

No living man is known to have ever seen his face; for he is never without that armoured hat and faceplate that have become is trademark. Some speculate that he is perhaps disfigured in some way.

However the prevailing thought is that it is simply his method of concealing his identity, so that at those times that he is not working he may enjoy a normal and happy domestic life.

And, while he has never displayed any love for the Queen or the Empire, Fett's voice has a distinct cockney twang to it. That said, this too is suspect, as he has been known to be able to convincingly throw his voice in the course of his work in the past.

But, what is it that raises Robert Fett above every other blaggard with a rifle?

Firstly, he possesses a cruel and meticulous cunning that he puts to his violence. A dozen times or more he has used this gift to outwit and confound his score, lining them up and striking them down like a row of dominoes.

His physical prowess is also above a cut above the rest. A large, strong man in rude heath, Fett is a fine shot, even from the hip. He has also been seen to have great skill in fighting with that particular type of fighting knife that is at the moment so popular amongst Americans.

Finally, Fett is never without equipment that represents the state of the art of military science. Along with his signature armour, he favours dynamite, poison gas bombs, fighting knifes and a revolving-carbine whenever it comes to a fight.

Currently it is not known whether Fett is working in a freelance capacity, or is held under a retainer; but in either eventuality he has worked quite exclusively in central Asia for some months now, acting against interests of the British Empire and involving himself in deputes between the various warring tribes. At this time, his employers are unknown.

* * *

Hey Internet, 

I've wanted to paint this model, exactly like this, for ages. 

I have, as you have hopefully cottoned on to, painted him up as a Victorian version of the bounty-hunter (and all round 'bad-ass') Boba Fett from Star Wars franchise. 

All the characters in the Tsar War's project are supposed to be analogues rather than 'steampunk versions', so the model has been left nice and low-key...you know....rather than glueing random cogs to it.

I just went with a thematically appropriate colour palate: Green Armour, Red 'T-shape' visor, drab underclothes, yellow shoulder pads. 

I also gave him Moroccan Red Leather gloves, as I wanted to reference the original colours as much as I could, but red cuffs did not 'look right' on the model. I know this looks kind of goofy, but I rather like the idea that he puts on his exorbitantly expensive gloves as he steams off in SS Slave I.

Only took one evening to paint up and I really rather enjoyed doing it. First model that I've done in a little while that I've felt happy with once finished. I usually have a gnawing feeling that what I have painted 'could have been better' or that I 'could have done something differently', but for once I actually feel good about something. So, Yeah!

The Model is a Immortal Battalion PLP-159 Rifleman Eglinton by Artizan Designs. 

The model is a great sculpt with a really nice design and concept, that is sculpted and cast to a high standard. I ordered it though North Star, who supplied it swiftly and without problem, as they always have done in the past.

What do you think?

MM.

Some photos at strange angles

The Lead Tally - 2014

Acquired: +58       Painted: +37          Total: -22

The Black Elephant [1]

The Black Elephant

***

Of all the endeavours of the Russian Empire, few can match the history of the 'Black Elephant' in their folly or queerness.

Her history began in those difficult days that were the late 1870's. With the Great Game in full swing, the Bear looked in all directions for something to overcome the Lion's advantageous position. More-so than any other departure, they turned to recent advances in the science of warfare in an effort to level the playing field.

In complete secrecy, dozens of projects were commenced, of which only a handful come to fruition. Among these was the 'Black Elephant'; a self-propelled gun carriage.

Powered by a compact double-expansion engine and running a pair of 'endless tracks' she was able to travel at up to five miles-per-hour without assistance, and without need for a railway or even a paved road.

Her armament consisted of a 6” breech-loading naval rifle with enough shells and charges stowed aboard for it to be fired a dozen times. This was housed within an ironclad shell of a thickness quite able to protect the crew from all manners of musketry, as well as the fragments of explosive shells.

Furthermore, for protection against roving cavalry and sappers the machine was armed with a Gorlov machine-gun, housed within a rotating turret of the kind seen on a warship.

By design, the 'Black Elephant' was a machine that represented the very state-of-the-art of warlike science in its time. A prototype was construed and underwent extensive clandestine trials in the autumn of 1879. And by the end of these the machine had left a greatly positive impression, winning a her designers a contract for the construction of fourteen additional armoured gun carriages, for a total of fifteen machines.

Despite substantial delays, construction was completed by early 1882. Twelve of the machines were deployed in defence of major cities and military installations in Russia's western provinces; but a far more devious plan was hatched for final three.

***

Continue to Part 2... (Coming Soon)

The Lead Tally - 2014

Acquired: +55       Painted: +23          Total: -32

First Khivians

I poped up some pre-undercoat shots the other day and have now got round to painting the things. They are only quick painted to a 'gaming standard'.

Hope you like them.

A second post tonight - VSF Russians

Just an update on a few more bits that I have got finished for my Russians

5 Line Infantry. Renegade Minitures Austrians. Really nice if a little cartoony minitures, and very reasonably priced (£15 for 24). I'll be using these as both the core of my russian force and as ww2 Norwegians, as the uniform is close enough for me to.

And, after a few months waiting to be painted (I have cleaned the dust of this thing twise before now!) a russian naval gattling gun and crew. They are all from Perry Minitures, so are perfect in every way as you'd expect them to be.



Also makeing their way off the back-burner, my two Steam Wagons. These have now been sealed up with what is supposed to be a sort of chicken-wire like grid to protect the driver and engeneer from harm. It also helps to hide that there is no driver when the things are in motion. I dident want to add people inside as I always find that it looks odd to have people sitting in lorrys when they are parked in wargames, and it would have been bloody hard to acctualy do it. I think it looks OK and im looking forward to painting them. They belong to the artillary rather than the navy, so will be green rather than black and white like all the other steam machines. The mesh is made of cross-stiching grid that I got about 2 square feet of for about a quid.



Ok, by next week I should have a fair few more Line Infantry finished along with the artillary tractors and should have at least put together my russian cavalry.

mr.marx

Second Weekly Update.

I’ve done a fair bit this week. I’ve been working more on my Russians, but, by a strange turn of fate I am simultaneously working on a Second World War Norwegian platoon. Oddly, the Norwegian uniform and equipment in 1940 was the same as the Russian uniform and equipment in the 1870’s, so by just adding a machine gun and a tank I have an entirely new force for an entirely new period.

Anyway, this is what I’ve been up to this week. 

First off, A Russian/Norwegian Officer

Another Officer

And the last of my painting efforts for the week, three artillerymen.

Next up, I dug around in my garage and found out a few toys. I ended up making this train. It’s supposed to be one of those small narrow-gauge types used in India.

My other scratch building effort for the week, a Norwegian Armoured Car.

Lastly, Whilst looking around in some dusty boxes I found a few cars and things that I'll paint up and scatter around in my ww2 games.

Hope you like it all. Tell me what you think. Next week hopefully a full weeks’ worth of painted stuff.

Marx

First ever 'weekly update'.

Ok. Heres the first of hopefully a long series of weekly updates. Not very much to show for the weeks work, I'll have to get more done for next week.

Here we go then -

First, A gattling gun, still waiting on the crew....and the floor.....


And a Artillary officer.


And here two men with new fangled 'Fire-Guns' and a man reaching into a bag that can be used for anything but being a front line chap...doctors help, arillery man, quatermasters pal.....


And the same but from the rear so you can see the shiny fuel tanks.


And a close up showing the fire-men's mask..


Finaly, a pair of steam lorrys that I got a while ago. I may have posted them up before, I cant remember. But im going to add stoage to them and put some black paint on them then press them into service as the tenders and engines to pull the field peices.


Hopefully more next week. There will be at least details about Norway - 1940.

El Marxo

Something a little more Orthodox….

Anyone who knows me or looks at my blogity-thing will know that I am rather a fan of Victorian Scientific Romance. I’ve ended up doing all sorts of projects, the most considerable of them my 2mm scale adventure with Land Ironclads, and to a lesser extent my ramblings in 1/24^th Victorian Naval wargaming. As much fun as these are, the project that has long held true as the most enjoyable and engaging wargames project that I have ever set to, in absolutely no small part due to the colonial games put on by my dear friend ‘42’ and his wondrous collection of Imperial forces, Land Ironclads, airships, and all sorts.

For a long time, I have tried to join in on the fun of all of this, but I don’t feel that what I came up with ever was ever really right. ‘The League of Anarchy’, my attempt at a clandestine SPECTER-from-James-Bond –style band of anarchists, revolutionary’s and outlawed scientists , never really worked, felt right – or made the slightest bit of sense.

So I am going to try something far more Orthodox, The 1882 Russian Invasion of India, with my aforementioned friend ‘42’ playing the part of The British Empire.

I am already rather waist deep in this project and have  a fair few nice pictures to show, along with a good number more to come in the following few weeks along with backgrounds, setting, and even perhaps a little story that I wrote.

So, on to some pictures…

First up is a unit of Cossacks.

…and a unit of Guard Infantry.

A little close up…

I’m really very happy with how the flags came out. They are just photos of the Romanov flag printed out and PVAed and shaped.

A battery of Russian domestically produced copies of the Krupp 15-Pounder field gun. I’m planning to add a number of steam wagons to haul them along with their ammo ect. Also, I think it would be nice to have the battery command around a table somewhere near.

… and a close up…

The First of my Land Ironclads, an Ironclad Miniatures model, The Armoured-Gun ‘Peter the Great’. I’m really, really happy with how the Black and White with Gold rivets colour shame turned out. It’s based on the colour of Russian naval ships at the time. I am yet to add removable smoke from the stack.

Now, perhaps my favourite model I currently own. The Land Cruiser ‘Catherine the Great’. It’s a Copplestone Castings model of a Vickers Independent tank, a prototype cruiser tank designed with five turrets to and a good turn of speed, intended to get behind the enemy lines and wreak havoc, whilst watching its own back, hence ‘Independent’.  I saw the one existing example of this tank in the flesh at Bovington Tank Museum when I was but a lad, and decided that I wanted a model of it. It was only after I, years later, got the model that I realised that green is a really boring colour and that in this scale I don’t play any wargames set within 50 years of its existence. It then dawned on me it would make just about the best Land Ironclad – ever!

-          Dear god that was a lot of rivets! 2 hours I’m never getting back…

Coming up the rear, the War Car ‘Mir’. It’s another Copplestone castings model, this time of an obscure American lorry armoured and armed by the Russians in the Great War, then used in their Civil War. I thought it looked suitably old worldy, so it got painted the same as the others and got a small piece of copper pipe as a smoke stack. I probably should paint the rivets gold like on the others, but after the independent I think I need a break to recharge my patience.

And finally, leaking over from my past VSF nonsense, two Russian special agents. They tend to go around stirring up local populations, killing people, that sort of thing. Codenames ‘Mr. Anarchy’, and his wife ‘Mrs. Anarchy’.

Hope you like them. Id really like to know what you all think.

Next week expect – lots more Russian infantry and perhaps cavalry, and an Ironclad Monitor, - perhaps even the introduction of Exalted – The Wargame.

Till then, thanks for looking.

Cheerio 

Mr.Marx