Airfix ACW Wargaming (Pt4)

Two Batches of cavalry, one for the Union and one for the CSA. With the recent new recruits (HERE) I´ll be able to make up another two Units.
Then a bit of mix and matching and onto their bases they go.

The CSA have had a couple of head swops. Ok, anyone who has an idea about CSA cav (or, like me,  has looked at PSR) knows that the cavalry on both sides prefered the Hardee type hats but I reckon the use of hardee hats for the CSA cav makes them look more CSA looking....well it does to me.

Also, anyone who has an idea about CSA cav (or, like me,  has,  looked at the write up on this set at  PSR) knows These bods and thier nags (well, not so much the nags but the Equipment on them) that they are about as historically accurate as the film Gladiator, but this Project is old school. ...hence the big flag carried by the CSA Standard bearer...I like BIG flags!! :-D

In the distant past I´d have used a  small screwdriver heated over a candle to weld the pegs on the nags hooves (and sometimes my fingers..happy days) to the holes in the  bases. In most cases it never really Held for Long.
These days, I´m allowed Access to superglue to weld the pegs (and sometimes my fingers .. nothing changes)  to the bases.

I came up with a method  using thin metal wire "welded" to one of the supporting legs to attach the nags  as shown HERE . It´s a way more solid method of attaching them  than either of the "welding" methods but to use it on all the nags would be time consuming.

Some of the nags which were lacking their bases  have the same peg arrangement which fits  exactly to the bases from the Airfix Sherrif of Nottingham set  so they didn´t Need the Addition of metal Pins.

A bit more scenery,  some "snake fences" made using cut up coffee stirrers

I´ve mabe them in interlockable sections. The 8 (so far) have a total length, when locked together, of 1.6m. I was going to add the side stakes propping up the fence at the  intersections but that would mean they wouldn´t be joinable and as the stakes would stick out, theyéd be prone to damage.

Airfix ACW - A bit of a Bargain

New recruits for the Airfix ACW Project bought at  the 42.Plastikfigurenbörse, Herne.
I haven´t counted them but it was a bit of a bargain, €15 for around about 500 bods, horses and wagons.

In the bags there´s the marching poses, 40 plus Union, 20 plus Confederacy, 20 1st issue airfix foriegn Legion which will end up as Zouaves. The bods from the first issue set compare better size wise and scupting to their ACW companions. Also a near complete set of US cavalry. The pile of Shooting, running etc will end up being used for/as conversions.

4 new artillery pieces plus two complete limbers. The limber with the broken trail I can use as a cassion and the spare wheels will come in usefull.
In the bag there´s a full set (including the accessories) of the Airfix Wagon Train set! A quick Stress test Shows None of this copy of the set is suffering from plastic rot!

Airfix ACW Wargaming (Pt3)

Taking a bit of time off from painting the rank and file..Some conversions
A Union General. This one was a bit of a more complicated conversion than I´d intended but after rooting about in the bits box I found a similar conversion (seen HERE in glorious Humbrol enamels along with a few other early conversions) I´d made some 30 plus years ago so it  Counts as "old school"
Nag and legs from the Airfix US Cavalry set, Body from the Waterloo British artillery set and a small concession to the "Nothing but Airfix", head and hat from the Revell 30yrs war Swedish Infantry

CSA Musicians. The drums are made from bits of sprue..
The Drummer made using the odd running and waving pose. He Looks like he´s trying to ease something out...Wind?

CSA Standard bearers. I´m sure a lot of People have come up with These   (and other) ideas to create Standard bearers.
Flag poles - flower arranging wire
Flags - Printed

Another building, this time loosely based on General Meade's Headquarters (The Leister Farmhouse), Gettysburg.
As it´s a gaming Piece and not an historical reconstruction, I didn´t bother adding the steps at the front or the Windows at the sides and back. And look at the size of those shingles/tiles!!!! In reality Theyéd be what, 1.5metres wide and tall ? Still, it got the Roof decked in quick time  :-D


"Don´t worry Victoria, I´m sure it will all be over by Christmas"

Well, Big John may be being  a bit presumptive or he isn´t refering to this Christmas?

Airfix American Civil War Wargaming

It´s arrived !!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

Considering the Age of the book, it was produced in 1977, this copy is in excellent condition. Slight discolouration on the spine but no dog ears or Scribbles/stains on the pages.
Compared to what some copies are going for on Evil-bay etc,   I got this copy for a song.
Having a quick look through, the memories came flooding back! This and some of the airfix mag articles (when pocket Money allowed ) inspired many a table top (and carpet Level) battle.

On a later post devoted to the "Airfix ACW Wargaming " Project I write up the basing, movement, firing rules for  anyone interested.

And, an update on Smokey. She´s now had a slight Name Change to Ghost..but seeing as she is deaf (she can only very high tones) it makes no difference to her what her Name is.
She´s put on some weight and is more or less settled in.

Airfix ACW Wargaming (Pt2)

All available guns finished. Due to "plastic Rot", I only had enough wheels left to put 4 together and some of those are missing parts of the spokes.
A Union gun Crew. These are some of my  conversions from over 30 years ago.
Top halves from the ACW set and 3 bottom halves from the Airfix Russian infantry set and one (far left) from the Union infantry set. Bases are painted up emerald green "old School"

I´ve now gone and ordered the book American Civil War Wargaming by Terry Wise so when it arrives, basing can start.

Both Crews for the CSA finished

and another Union gun Crew added

All 4 guns with Crews.
Note the twisted and or snapped spokes. The dreaded plastic rot? In some cases yes but some of the wheels are still very pliable and  I seem to remember (way back) that  the spokes on a lot of the airfix sets were twisted.

Right, if anyone actually misses thier target they get thier pay docked!

Airfix ACW Wargaming (Pt1)

As if I haven´t got enough to do, Hobbywise, the start of Another Project, this one based on Airfix ACW using just Airfix bods.
Why Airfix ACW? Simply cos I´ve got a few bods already finished and......…

..........and a few spares and..

,,,, the Airfix bods are easy to paint and, Rivet Counters beware,  the historical innacuracy of the bods  gives me a good excuse to say, Any historical accuracy is purely accidental.
Obviously they will be painted to represent both sides but I won´t be getting hung up on wether a CSA bod is wearing a tunic of  exactly the right tone of  Butternut Brown or a Union bod is wearing a Kepi or a Hardee hat. As Noted at PSR, these were intended as toys..and toys are meant for games and games should be fun..not a chore.

I´ll also be making some Conversions. I did so way back when I first got into wargaming/collecting but they will be as simple as I don´t want to get bogged down with the Project which usually gets me distracted into doing something else.

Any half decent looking battlefield Needs some bits of scenery  so first up a couple of generic farmhouses.

As this is supposed to be a fun  Old School  Project,  reliant on being cheap, quick  and easy, so everything about it, including any battlefield "decoration",  has to cost virtually nothing, be Basic, no excessive Detail or in depth historical accuracy, if it looks the part it´ll do and lastly,  durable.

Thin Card from cereal boxes etc glued with PVA

Roofing

Ridge tiles

Chimneys made from high Density foam

and here´s a very inspirational blog.  20mm Crimean War Wargaming & Other Stuff

Bob is also doing an Airfix ACW Project called  Project Battle Cry & Airfix ACW.
The look he´s achieved is what I´m aiming for.

Elf commander

The queen is the Joan of arc from Odemars Leaders set.
I removed the axe at her belt, and replaced the flag and flagpole. The design on the  Flag is apparently called the unity flower, so works well for a leader of different tribes of elves.

The trumpeter is from the Zvezda Russian knights  which, IMHO, is a bloody awefull set of bods, the trumpeter being the only pose having any use.

 The elf wing of the "light alliance" army so far.

I might add the RedBox  elves but only the archers as   the bods don´t look that good in any of the pics I´ve seen
Also a front line of fighters Needs adding...dwarves are the most popular choice at the Moment.

And..another Addition to the household. This one has been hiding in the Woods for the last couple of weeks, daring to get closer and closer to the house, tempted by bits of Food left out and  until cold and possible Exhaustion, made being indoors more acceptable. Yesterday, she allowed herself to be brought inside.

Exhausted, Deaf , old and thin, she (it´s a female) was, after a nights rest and tick removal,  taken to the vets where we we´re given two choices:
1. She would be transfered to the local  home for strays, all vet bills covered.
2. We take her on and also the resulting bills.

Considering her Age and fraility, who would want to take her from the strays home..the Little of what future she had left looked bleak....so only one choice was available.
She has a new home with us :-)
She´s An estimated Age of around 15 (75 in human years), virtually no teeth and dehydrated, definately deaf...oh and she´s a British short hair..ironic really.
After  blood tests (the poor Thing had virtually nothing left to give ) it turns out she´s perfectly Sound internally, so a vitimin B shot, a spell on a drip to get her fluids up, Special Food, 4 hours of watching "Vets TV" (I didn´t realise there was such a Thing)  and a decent sized vets bill, she´s now  back home, eating and cleaning herself  and is looking a lot more happy.

Oh...and she´s called Smokey.

Airfix Elves

The Airfix Robinhood set is, IMHO, one of the best sets as a base for conversions followed by Accurate´s  Hundred Years War English Men-At-Arms and Italeri´s Roman Infantry (I got 40 different poses out of the 3 Basic legionary poses).
This lot have had headswops using the heads from the Revell Anglo-Saxons set.

"Loose!!"

The flag? Looking at it now, it Looks like it´s upside down(?)

The quivers also came from the revel Anglo-saxons set.

Teutonic order 1329 - More pics

Some more piccies of the dio.
Prisoners  (possibly Lithuanians) in the main square

 

More of the Market place

A new winter guest.  The local hedgehog protection Group phoned up asking if we could take in a small (in the photo he weighed only  200 gramms) and feed him up.
He now weighs nearly 500 gramms :-D

Teutonic order 1329 - Progress so far

Wolfgang has started putting the dio together, testing Placement of the bods etc.

Wood collecting

Market place

The guards (in red/White)on the Bridge and hiding in doorways at the market I haven´t had time to Show the pics. They and  other pics of the dio in Progress will follow.

Airfix - Tarzan Figures

The quest to paint every bod pose set Airfix ever made continues.* This set has only 8 bods so I went for painting up the 8 animal poses as well.

Took about 4 hours the lot..(some of the paintjobs on the animals being proof of that)

The set came out at the time of the 1966-1968 Tarzan series.
All the poses in the set

The Humans

The female??? In the series there were a lot of female characters but Jane  Porter was left out of the series ..so who is she supposed to represent ? Airfix´s idea to add a Jane character  or is she supposed to be a generic representative  of the many women who acted in the 1966 -1968 series like Julie Harris or Ethel Merman ?
Or, is she meant to  represent Ruana  played by Nichelle Nichols (yep,  Lieutenant Uhura) They way she´s dressed isn´t too far off how she looked in the Show (HERE)
 

The Great White hunter. Perhaps it´s Jason Flood  played by  Alan Samuel Lyle-Smythe
From the waist down it appears as if he isn´t wearing anything at all or at best a pair of tights so his shorts, socks and shoes are painted "as if"
 

The Tarzan bod is  tall compared to the other bods  (as noted over at PSR)  Seeing as the bod is based on Ron Ely who is 6' 4",   his stature  seems vagely appropiate,,,and anyway, Tarzan IS BIG so no normal puny human here thankyou.

I´ve found out that Ron Ely didn´t really have black hair but  hey, I watched the series on a B/W TV and as part of the Mission to paint all the sets is to try and copy (as far as possible) the boxart, he ended up with black hair.
 

Jai. I found his character  annoyingly sickly sweet .  Played in the series by Manuel Padilla, Jr. 



The Africans could considered to be one of the many American Africans who acted in the series like   Rao played by  Rockne Booth Tarkington, Kesho played by Yaphet Kotto, Sorda played by Clarence Williams III and  M'Kone, played by Brock Peters (to Name but a few) 
I didn´t copy the boxart for the shields..the engraved pattern put a stop to that

After a bit of reflection whilst writing this post, I decided to paint up a female as Ruana, though my painting nor the sculpt come anywhere near the stunning Looks of   Nichelle Nichols

The animals
TBH, they could have ditched most of the animals in favour of a few more  humans.
The Nellie, Panther, one of the lions and the Zebra turn up in one or other of the 2 Airfix Zoo sets which could have been used to provide Tarzan´s world with a Menagerie.

Mind you, did Tarzan ever have anything to do with  Llamas or  penguins? Still, it would have been fun as a nipper Pairing him up   in a boxing match against one of the Kangaroos.
Actually, although it´s a Long time ago but thinking about it, I probably did :-D
(Zoo Animals No. 1 & Zoo Animals No. 2)

The croc I painted up in a bit of a PeterPan/Tarzan Comic book look.

The most mule like Zebra ever.
A new species!!  A Mubra? A Zeble?

Fun to paint and researching the characters taught me a lot about how some of the actors developed thier careers but what could they be used for now? (the bods that is, not the actors)
The native playing the drum? After he´d  had a head swop,  he  found a home as a khandibarian
I might give the native in the canoe a head swop and use him elsewhere, the others could become Khandibarians.
The croc will be put aside for possible use in Bodstonia
I quite like the female pose , It´s got some conversion possibility.
Jason could end up alongside his mates in a desert/Jungle type setting, that´s if I had any similar desert/Jungle type bods to be his mates.
Tarzan ? I actually have an idea for him.
The Teeny weeny Jai ? A Hobbit on bathday?

The rest? Back in the bag I reckon

*33 with this lot..27 to go!! That should, at this rate, take Another 6 years .............

.............and on a different note....A slow worm !

 After a quick photo, It got released exactly where it was found