Sunday, November 29, 2020

Gurkhas and Sikhs for Burma

 My British 14th Army for Bolt Action continues with some late war Gurkhas and Sikhs.

28mm Gurkhas and Sikhs for Bolt Action British 14th Army

The Gurkhas are from The Assault Group's packs SKU BPC013 and SKU BPC014, along with two NCOs built from converted Warlord plastic kits (British Infantry and Commonwealth Infantry).  While the figures themselves blend in reasonably well after being painted (Warlord's are slightly chunkier and have wider hat brims), the rifles are quite different between the manufactures and I wouldn't mix them. 

28mm TAG and Warlord Gurkhas for Bolt Action British 14th Army

Next up are some Artizan Designs Sikhs (packs SWW140 and SWW142) with some supporting Warlord plastics. The bodies are of similar proportions between the manufactures, but the Warlord figures will look slightly shorter if you don't add a base the same thickness as Artizan's. The guns are similar in style, though the Warlord Sikh heads have bushier beards and flatter turbans than their Artizan counterparts.

28mm Artizan Designs and Warlord Sikhs for Bolt Action British 14th Army

That said, I think they look reasonably well together.

28mm Artizan Designs and Warlord Sikhs for Bolt Action British 14th Army

Lastly, here's a side by side size shot: Warlord plastic with no added base, TAG, Warlord plastic with added base, and Artizan. I think they will all look fine together on the table.

Size Comparison of Warlord, The Assault Group (TAG), and Artizen Designs 28mm WW2 Miniatures for Bolt Action



Thursday, November 5, 2020

More WW2 Bolt Action British Troops for CIB


I'm back with some more early war British troops for the China/India/Burma theater. As before, these were built using Warlord's plastic kits for Commonwealth and 8th Army troops.


First up are members of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 1st Battalion, from India. They were sent to Burma in early 1942.  I've added some leaves as camouflage to the helmets using green stuff, and the topees have the regimental red triangle.  The 2nd Battalion fought in Madagascar, and similar appearing troops from South Africa fought in Ethiopia, so this unit will be pressed into other theaters for gaming.


Next up are member of the Royal Norfolk Regiment, 4th Battalion, who defended Singapore in 1942.  They were unfortunately captured by the Japanese and used as slave labor on the Burma Railway. The helmets bear their yellow regimental flash as seen in the Osprey book "The British Army 19-39-45 (3)."  Similar looking troops were seen in Ethiopia, so this unit will also see double service in games. 


The last piece of of kit is Copplstone's Lanchester MkII 6x4 Armoured Car that I purchased years ago for my VBCW project. It's been painted based on the example seen at the Bovington Tank Museum. It was an old design by the time the war broke out, but equipment in Malaysia seems to have been limited at that time.

1/56 28mm Copplstone Lanchester MkII 6x4 Armoured Car for Bolt Action





Tuesday, September 29, 2020

81st (West African) Division for Burma

 To provide another opponent for my Japanese army, I've decided to expand into Burma with a British Commonwealth force. While the white Chindit and Gurkha troops get most of the attention, I wanted to feature some of the lesser well known troops that also fought there. To start with, my first units will be from the 81st (West African) Division


81st (West African) Division Insignia
Division Insignia. Source: Wikipedia

These troops originated from the Gold Coast (Ghana), Gambia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria, with some fighting the Italians in Ethiopia before arriving in India in 1943.  Troops originally arrived in Khaki Drill, but switched over to Jungle Green as supplies became available.



Nigerian Soldiers WW2
Source: Wikipedia

African Soldiers in Burma

African Soldiers in Burma

To build my troops, I used the Warlord Games Commonwealth Infantry plastic set, with some bits from the 8th Army and British Infantry plastic sets. For the heads, I primarily used the Australians, as I figured the slouch hats were close enough at this scale. A few heads in helmets were mixed in, along with some bodies in trousers, to add a bit more variety.

28mm African Troops for Burma from Warlord Games Bolt Action Plastics

The first infantry section I've assembled is meant to represent a newly arrived unit that has not had a chance to be reequipped. From my online research it seems like green helmets were more commonly seen in Asia, but as one of the above photographs shows a trooper (left side) with a light colored helmet under his netting, I felt it was feasible to throw a sand colored one into the mix.

28mm African Troops for Burma from Warlord Games Bolt Action Plastics

The second section is one that has been in country for a bit, and has either self dyed some of their clothing or been partially reequipped with jungle green gear. I've also mixed the webbing colors, with some soldiers painted using the original Vallejo 884 Stone Grey as a base, and others now having 988 Khaki as a base. 

28mm African Troops for Burma from Warlord Games Bolt Action Plastics

Trying to pick an appropriate "jungle green" proved challenging, as it seems there was a quite a bit of lot to lot variability, and problems with the color fading.  The dark green recommended by Warlord for chindits seemed to be factory fresh and inappropriate for the field, and others have recommended either a green grey or blue green grey color instead. Using a cast photo of "It Ain't Half Hot Mum" for reference, I opted for Vallejo 886 Green Grey and 920 German Uniform as my bases.

Source: Discogs

28mm African Troops for Burma from Warlord Games Bolt Action Plastics

As mentioned before, I mixed in a couple of bodies from the British Infantry plastic set to add a bit more variety. The areas to attach the arms are different between the sets, and while I could get independent Commonwealth arms to look pretty good on the Infantry bodies, the combined arms did not work so well. The long sleeved Infantry arms are also much more slender than their Commonwealth counterparts, so you cannot use them on Commonwealth bodies without it looking odd. 

Compared to the Plastic Japanese set Warlord produces, I did not think this kit was as good.  The mold lines seemed more pronounced in the Commonwealth (and 8th Army) kit, and I felt that apart from the heads, the Commonwealth kit had less viable options for variety in it (there were a lot of strange arms that weren't so useful). Additionally, not all the arms sat flush on the bodies and some of the webbing limited the positions you could place the arms in.  This resulted in me having to do a fair amount of filling and trimming. But that said, I think you can still get a fairly decent force on the cheap by going with the plastic kits over metal.

Sunday, August 30, 2020

Customized Diecast Vehicles for 28mm China Wargaming Part 2

I'm back with some more customized Lledo Days Gone vehicle for  28mm Back of Beyond and WW2 Chinese wargaming.  Part 1, which also covers decal creation, can be found here.

Lledo Diecast Vehicles for Wargaming 1920's,1930's and WW2  China in 28mm

For this round, I used several promotional  vehicles:  Hershey's Chocolate, Standard Oil, and a local wholesale company, J J Brodsky & Sons. The last vehicle only had stickers instead of decals, so I stripped them off at the start.  Sadly some paint came off with them.

Lledo Days Gone Diecast DG20, DG16, DG18

DG20 Ford 1934 Model A Stake Truck

Lledo DG20 Ford 1934 Model A Stake Truck , Sean You Zoo Company, Hangchow, China, 28mm WW2 Bolt Action Wargaming

This truck took its inspiration the Sean You Zoo factory vehicles from Hangchow.  The included barrels can be popped out of the bed, so I too the opportunity to drybrush them and paint in a wooden floor for the truck bed. 

Sean You Zoo Company Truck , 1930's Hangchow, China. Source: Madspace.org
Source: Madspace.org

Sean You Zoo Company Truck , 1930's Hangchow, China. Source: Madspace.org
Source: Madspace.org

DG16 Dennis 1934 Parcels Van

Lledo DG16 Dennis 1934 Parcels Van , Tai Choi Company, Shanghai, China, 28mm WW2 Bolt Action Wargaming

This van was based off a van from the Tai Chong furniture company out of Shangai. As mentioned previously, the van had suffered some paint damage during preparation, so the weathering was really ramped up to hide that. I think this particular vehicle was slightly undersized when compared to the other two, but it's still not too bad looking.

Tai Chong Company Van , 1930's Shanghai, China. Source: Madspace.org
Source: Madspace.org

DG18 Packard 1936 Van

Lledo DG18 Packard 1936 Van , Kuomintang Party 國民黨, Shanghai, China, 28mm WW2 Bolt Action Wargaming

This particular customization was a completely original idea. When I saw the announcer horns, it reminded me of old election/political rally vehicles, so I though it would be perfect to roam the streets and whip up patriotic fervor for the Kuomintang and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.

Lledo DG18 Packard 1936 Van , Kuomintang Party 國民黨, Shanghai, China, 28mm WW2 Bolt Action Wargaming

The size of these vehicles were again comparable to the Warlord Games 1/56 Morris 15cwt Truck.

Lledo Vans Compared to Warlord Games Truck

As before, I am including the decal designs here for personal use, but they are not allowed to  to be sold.

Chinese Decals for 28mm Wargaming by Chris Schuetz.  Free for Personal Use Only.

Sunday, August 23, 2020

Allied Air Support for China

 The Bolt Action rules do not technically allow aircraft to be used by Chinese armies, but since I've expanded into the southern Chinese theater and have American allies working with them, I thought I could make the argument to include some American air support as well. While I would have loved to use a B-25 Mitchell (my great uncle flew them over China), it would be too big for 28mm wargaming.  Since they were escorted by P-40s, I thought that would make a suitable alternative.

Hasegawa 1/48 P-40E 23rd Fighter Group, China, 1942

Hasegawa 1/48 P-40E 23rd Fighter Group, China, 1942

This particular kit was a P-40E produced by Hasegawa. It came with the options for the 23rd Fighter Group based in China and the 49th Fighter Group based in Australia. The kit did not include a pilot and was only configured for the landing gear to be down.

Hasegawa 1/48 P40-E

Since it would look odd to have a flying plane without a pilot, I had to locate a separate pilot kit. Unfortunately, it proved fairly difficult to find options in 1/48; I only found a single 1/48 American Army pilot, which was produced by PJ Productions out of Belgium.  My order was not large enough for them to sell it to me direct, so I was forced to use eBay to locate one.  The final price and shipping was more than I wanted to pay, but what are you going to do.

1/48 PJ Productions Belgium USAF Pilot WW2 #481103

The figure was displaying a thumbs up sign, which made him challenging to fit in the cockpit, as I had to make sure his arm could clear the side of the cockpit. I ended up having to glue him up off the seat bottom to get the needed clearance, and also had to cut out part of the control panel to make space  for the legs. He was well cast, with only a couple of small bubbles on the visible areas of the figure.

1/48 PJ Productions Belgium USAF Pilot WW2 #481103

Even though the plane was in the wheels down configuration, I wanted to be able to fit it to a flight stand for gaming purposes. I normally like to drill a hole for the stand somewhere under the front of the wings, but the position of the bomb rack did not allow for this. As such, I drilled out a space behind the cockpit.

Hasegawa 1/48 P-40E Flight Stand for Bolt Action

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of not checking the inside of the fuselage when drilling my hole, and ended up going through a space that was not flat underneath. A second hole was drilled, and a section of tubing was glued in to guide the rod  through the undercarriage into the upper hole.

Hasegawa 1/48 P-40E Flight Stand for Bolt Action

The final construction ended up fairly sturdy, and not too detrimental to the visual appeal of the underside.

 Hasegawa 1/48 P-40E 23rd Fighter Group, China, 1942

Hasegawa 1/48 P-40E Flight Stand for Bolt Action

Hasegawa 1/48 P-40E Flight Stand for Bolt Action

The last part that gave me some difficulty was attaching the canopy components. The front canopy was not able to clear the cockpit's control panel, so I had to try and shave the panel down in situ without breaking anything. Luckily, I was successful and I don't think it's obvious.

Hasegawa 1/48 P-40E Cockpit Details

The top canopy had to be glued on in the open position to accommodate the pilot, which really limited the contact points with the plane. It broke off shortly after the initial attachment, but seemed to do better after attempt two.

Hasegawa 1/48 P-40E Cockpit Details

Overall, I am very happy with the Hasegawa kit and give it a thumbs up.  The molding was good, assembly fairly easy, and the price and detailing level work for wargaming.

Sunday, August 9, 2020

Customized Diecast Vehicles for 28mm China Wargaming

 I wanted some more scatter terrain for my Back of Beyond and WW2 Chinese wargaming, so I though some appropriate 1920's and 1930's vehicle would fit the bill nicely. 1/56 civilian vehicles designed for 28mm wargaming are hard to come by, so your best bet is to look for diecast cars and trucks that are relatively close in scale (as I did for VBCW).  As I only knew of one truck specifically intended to represent a vehicle of that era in China, so conversions of American and British branded vehicles were called for.

Lledo and Matchbox Diecast Vehicles for Wargaming 1920's,1930's and WW2  China in 28mm
Lledo and Matchbox Diecast Vehicles for Wargaming 1920's,1930's and WW2  China in 28mm

First up was the aforementioned ready to use truck, a Matchbox Yesteryear Tsingtao Great Beers of The World 1920 AC Mack (YGB23).

Matchbox Yesteryear Tsingtao Great Beers of The World 1920 AC Mack (YGB23)
For modifications, I only weathered it and added some clear plastic for a windshield. It was nicely detailed for a toy truck and cost me around $15 US with shipping. No scale was listed on the box, but collector sites have given it a nominal scale 1/60, so fairly close to target.   When compared to a Warlord Games' 1/56 Type 97 Isuzu truck, they looked reasonable together.

Matchbox Mack Compared to Warlord Games Truck
Matchbox Mack Compared to Warlord Games Truck
Next up were some Lledo Days Gone vehicles that seemed suitable for conversion.  The Lledo cars were not as detailed as their Matchbox rival, but at $7-10 US with shipping, they were a good deal (with lots of color variants to choose from).

Lledo Days Gone Diecast DG51, DG56, DG13
In addition to weathering and added windshields, I decided to update these with customs decals based on period photos from Shanghai. I had never made custom decals before, so did a lot of online research in hopes of not completely screwing it up.  For what I wanted to do, it appeared white decal paper was going to be more useful than the clear version. I tried locating the Testors paper in the US, but could find nowhere selling it (and it's proprietary sealant) for a reasonable price. In the end, I went with Sunnyscopia inkjet decal paper from Korea (available on Amazon).  It's a general crafting decal sheet rather than one specially designed for model makers, but the price was right for experimenting.
Some of the reviews cited problems with the images bleeding when submerged in water, or decals not releasing easily from the backing.  I experienced none of these issues after following the directions.  I printed my decals at 300dpi photo quality on an HP Deskjet 1510 and gave them one hour to dry before spaying them with Rust-Oleum Universal Clear Topcoat Satin. I chose satin over gloss, as it was easier to see where the spray had landed on the glossy paper.  The Rust-Oleum wasn't designed for model makers either, so the spray mist wasn't as fine as I would have liked.  This made me nervous about good coverage, so I ended up applying 4 coats (5 minutes in between), rotating the paper for each application. The decal paper was allowed to sit for one hour, then dried with a hair dryer on low for 5 minutes.

The application was rather straightforward, with the decals releasing easily from the backing (though they did have a tenancy to curl in the water), and able to stick to the glossy paint (I didn't pretreat the vehicles with anything). The one major thing to be aware of with these decals is that the film was much thicker than professionally made decals. As such, you could see and feel the decal edges after application.  It may be less obvious with the clear version, but the edges of the white backed decals required touching up when printing darker colors. The white of the decals was also not completely opaque, so if you had large areas of white on your decal, it's best if you had a uniform color underneath it.
Decal edges before finishing touch ups
DG51 Chevrolet 1928 Box Van 
Lledo DG51 Chevrolet 1928 Box Van , Western Branch Market, Shanghai, China, 28mm WW2 Bolt Action Wargaming
For this van, I didn't find an image of a particular vehicle, but used a reference photo of a sandbag emplacement being built in front of a Shanghai market in 1937.
DG56 Ford 1930 Model A Raised-Roof Van
Lledo DG56 Ford 1930 Model A Raised-Roof Van, Socony Motor Gasoline, Shanghai, China, 28mm WW2 Bolt Action Wargaming
Though the Lledo van was already marked with Standard Oil livery, I opted to convert it over to the Chinese branding seen in this image from 1931. Standard started the Atlas tire brand in the 1930's, and though I don't know if they were sold in China, I decided to keep the sign.

Socony Motor Gasoline Truck, Shanghai, China, 1931. Source: Madspace.org
Source: Madspace.org

DG13 1934 Model A Ford Van
Lledo DG13 Ford 1934 Model A Van, Sin Wan Pao Newspaper, Shanghai, China, 28mm WW2 Bolt Action Wargaming
Sin Wan Pao (新聞報) was a Chinese newspaper firm in operation from the 1890's to the 1940's.

I have not be able to find a scale guide for the various Lledo vehicles, But I think these models looked reasonable with a Copplestone Chinese figure and against a Warlord Games 1/56 Morris 15cwt Truck.

Lledo Vans Compared to Warlord Games Truck
Lledo Vans Compared to Warlord Games Truck

One additional Lledo vehicle I purchased that did not look good for 28mm wargaming was the DG42 1934 Mack Tank Truck. It should have been similar in size to my Matchbox Mack, but was woefully undersized.


As I think the 1934 Mack variants share parts, I would avoid all of these.

Overall, these came out much better than I thought they would.  I've placed some eBay orders for additional Lledo vehicles, so fingers crossed they will look good as well.  If you would like to do any conversions yourself, here's the decal designs I made.  They are free for personal use, but I don not give permission for them to be sold.

Added 30Aug20: Part 2 of my conversions can be found here.

Chinese Decals for 28mm Wargaming by Chris Schuetz.  Free for Personal Use Only.