January 30, 2022
The weekly workbench opened with the revising of five of my Command Decision British A9 and A10 tanks. The revision was that I used the open hatch covers on the Plastic Soldier Company A9 and A10 tanks on the Command Decision versions in order to put a tank commander in the hatch of those Command Decision tanks. The explanation for why I did this will now be explained.
This may provoke some disagreement from some of those who read this, but over the more than 40 years that I have been in this hobby, painting miniatures ranging from 15mm to 28mm, I have come to believe (not think… believe) that scale is more in the eye of the beholder or sculptor or manufacturer than in the accuracy of the label on the package. There are often huge size differences between figures labeled as 15mm, 18mm, 25mm, or 28mm. There are often noticeable size differences in figures made by the same manufacturer. A classic example of this is a police pack sold as part of the Wargames Foundry’s Street Violence range (a line of figures I own and love) in which the figures in a single blister pack range in size from about 20mm to 32mm. In doing my “15mm” WW2 North Africa collection, this scaling inconsistency has been brought home to me repeatedly. A Peter Pig Lancia truck is larger than a Flames of War Lancia truck, and a Gaming Model Lancia truck is the same size as a Flames of War Lancia truck. Peter Pig figures are kind of the true 15mm and thus often smaller than other non-classic 15mm. The pre-plastic Flames of War figures are big when compared to most 15mm yet as stated above, the Peter Pig Lancia truck is larger than the Flames of War Lancia. Gaming Models’ vehicles tend to run on the small side, but the Gaming Models’ Lancia is about the same size as the Flames of War Lancia. I hope you follow my drift. Command Decision WW2 15mm vehicles tend to run small, but that isn’t consistent either.
This is a long-winded way of saying that when I purchased some Plastic Model Company British A9 and A10 tanks to use with my Command Decision British A9 and A10 tanks I should have expected a size difference. My reason for combining the two brands is that when I purchased the Command Decision tanks 17 years ago, Plastic Model Company didn’t exist, and I now wanted some A9 and A10 tanks with commanders in open hatches. The Command Decision A9 and A10 tanks are cast with the turret hatches closed. I was hoping that the difference in size between the Plastic Soldier and Command Decision A9s and A10s would not be dramatic. The hulls of both manufacturers’ A9 and A10 tanks are about the same, but the height of the turrets on the Plastic Soldier Company’s A9 and A10 is huge when compared to those of Command Decision. I couldn’t use the Command Decision and Plastic Soldier Company A9 and A10 tanks side by side. I decided to cut the open hatch covers off the Plastic Soldier Company’s tanks and use them on the Command Decision version with the commander’s body hiding the closed hatch on the Command Decision version. It actually worked out well. But I now had these Plastic Soldier Company A9 and A10 tanks that weren’t going to be used. I decided to solve the problem by making them terrain… destroyed tanks. Since the Plastic Soldier Company tanks come with two hatch options (open and closed), I used the remaining closed hatches on the ones that I did as destroyed-tank terrain. I think it worked out pretty well. They will never be set next to the Command Decision tanks so the size difference shouldn’t be an issue.
I had one Plastic Soldier Company Pz. IVF1 remaining to do. I’d been holding it back until I finished my work on the British tanks I have. I actually have six more Command Decision British Crusader IIs on order… plan to put tank commanders in those tanks’ turret hatches. But I digress. With my on-hand British tanks done, I turned my attention to my last German tank, the Pz. IVF1 that I have been holding back to do as a damaged tank being pulled by a Flames of War Famo. I finished that Famo-Pz. IVF1 combo this week.
As the week came to a close I decided it was time to bring out Rommel and put it in the front seat area of a Styer 1500. I’ve been thinking about this for a while. I hoped that the Plastic Soldier Company Styer field car had the space in the front seat area to permit a standing Rommel figure if I cut the base off that figure. As it turned out I had the space needed. The car was given 4 passengers… a driver, two staff officers and Rommel. The Rommel figure is by Flames of War from the resin, metal and blister pack era, the driver and staff officers are Plastic Soldier Company figures. I’m happy with the way it came out. With that done I did two more of the Styer field cars and one more Kubelwagen. All the seated figures are Plastic Soldier Co. and the figure standing/pointing in the front seat area of the Styer is Flames of War.
I finished the week going back to the beach resort building I got at swap meet two weeks ago. A friend, Dennis Howey, helped me to cut about a half inch off the raised bottom of the piece so it would be at a more natural height. Dennis sawed while I held. It came off evenly and without a lot of difficulty in terms of cutting. I then put a Milliput skirt around the base and painted a sailboat that would set in the Milliput at the dock. Once the Milliput water was painted I glued the sailboat to the base, and the job was done.
January 23, 2022
Not the most productive workbench week. It began on Sunday tinkering with a couple of swap meet finds I had made that day… two plastic playset watch towers and a 15mm resin beach resort souvenir that had some chips that were easily hidden with paint. The rest of Sunday and Monday, I built and painted the last five Plastic Soldier Company Pz. IIIs. On Tuesday I injured my knee and I spent the rest of the week away from the workbench nursing my knee. By the end of the week, my knee was on the mend, but not much had been done in terms of hobby play.
January 16, 2022
The time that I had this week to devote to the workbench was focused on my 15mm WW2 North Africa collection. Most of that work was centered on building and painting German tanks (Pz. IVF1s) and British tanks (Matilda IIs and Honeys). I also did one Kubelwagen vignette. When I was gathering the majority of figures and equipment for this collection seventeen years ago, I bought three packs of Command Decision Kubelwagens. That’s 18 Kubelwagens; that’s a lot of Kubelwagens. About a month or so ago I painted two of those packs of Kubelwagens, and I really wasn’t sure what I was going to do with the third pack, but I have gradually been painting the remaining pack. This week I did a vignette of a conference in the field. In the Kubelwagen were two Plastic Soldier Company German figures from their German Stowage and Tank Crew set. One of those figures was the driver and the other sitting on the back of the Kubelwagen holding binoculars was a field grade officer talking with another officer standing outside the Kubelwagen. There is a fourth figure at the rear of the Kubelwagen with an automatic at his side. Both of the figures outside of the Kubelwagen are by Flames of War.
January 9, 2022
I’ve been working on my 15mm WW2 North Africa collection since June, and I’m making good progress. But when I say “working on” I mean that I have been painting and building since June. I collected most of the figures and equipment about 17 years ago. The upside to collecting the pieces for a project years in advance is that, in this hobby, companies too often go out of business or figures lines are discontinued and things you would like to include are no longer available or have become so rare that they are extremely expensive when you get around to doing the project if you wait too long to gather the pieces you will need. A great example is Flames of War… the blister packs are gone, and I’m glad I got what I needed back when FoW was doing resin. One of the downsides to buying in advance is that you pack things away and something gets misplaced. I’m pretty good about storing things where I can find them when the time comes to do a project… even after 17 years. But recently I found myself three Command Decision SdKfz 251/Cs short of what I thought I had, and so I placed an order with Old Glory that included a three-pack of the SdKfz 251/Cs I needed. Shortly after they arrived, I found the three I thought I had but couldn’t find. Anyway, I now have three SdKfz 251/Cs more than needed so I decided to modify three into the SdKfz 251 ambulance version (SdKfz 251/8). I filled the open rear space with Milliput shaped as the canopy common to the ambulance version, added water barrels to a couple of them, painted them up and added red cross decals. The interesting thing about these decals is that I have had them for more than 45 years and a 45-year-old decal does not slide on like a new decal. In fact, they often broke into pieces, but I had enough of them that I got the three ambulances decaled, and I think they look pretty good.
With the three SdKfz 251/8s done, I turned my attention to five Plastic Soldier Company Pz. III Js. I’m adding these because I want some British and German tanks with tank commanders showing and these are a better option than using the Command Decision tanks for that purpose although I will have to use a few British CD tanks for that because Plastic Soldier doesn’t make the Matilda II or Crusader II tanks.
I took a moment to do another CD kubelwagen, but this time the passengers are from the Plastic Soldier Company German Stowage and Tank Crew box… nice stuff in that box. Wish they made that set for the British, too, but apparently, they don’t.
I finished the week doing the last three Command Decision SdKfz 251/Cs and two more kubelwagens.
January 2, 2022
This is the first time I have written “2022.” Hoping for a good year.
Last week’s workbench was completely focused on 15mm German equipment. I began by painting two Gaming Models Krupp 4x6 trucks with no rear cover, so I included troops by Command Decision. I decided to return to some Krupp 4x6s that I had done earlier with PAK 36 AT mounts. I removed the GM PAK 36s and replaced them with some extra PAK 36s I had from Flames of War… nicer guns. I then added a Plastic Soldier Company figure to each. Overall a good decision I think.
The rest of the week was focused on German APCs: SdKfz 250/1s and SdKfz 251/Cs. I began with the last of my Command Decsion 250/1s. I’ll be grouping them and the CD 251/C together as an independent motorized infantry. They are smaller than the FoW and Plastic Soldier Company pieces which I will be using directly with my tanks. I finished my vehicle painting for the week doing Plastic Soldier Company SdKfz 250/1s and SdKfz 251/Cs.
About a week ago I bought three baggies full of HO scale oil drums (approximately 75 in a baggy for $3.99 a baggy). They were on the bargain table at Arnie’s Trains. I closed out the workbench week and the year doing a few fuel and water supply dumps using those HO scale drums. The tarp on the oil drums is facial tissue hardened with Krazy Glue. I did a little research and it appears that the Germans marked the top of water drums with white crosses in the same way they marked jerry cans that contained water.
