KV2 build part 1

 KV2 build progress

I know I should not be building eastern front stuff at the moment but Piers has inspired me with his Stalingrad photos on the Wargamer Forum  , so I completed the KV2 build during the week in between the renovations. 

I plan to get some paint on it this week I hope.  

Cheers

Matt

Lazy Sunday........completing Kits

 Completing Kits......on a lazy Sunday

The last two weeks have been busy due to renovations, customers and Vanessas birthday party!

So being Sunday today, I actually had the whole day to fluff around so I slept in this morning done some reading and this afternoon sat down and completed some kits left over from the 30 day kit challenge, and some recent purchases. 

The most exciting recent purchase was the a bunch of Airfix kits. A old Airfix Bristol Bloodhound, a kit that brings back fond memories from my childhood, I also picked up a part built Scimitar and Scorpion, plus a JB models Saladin and a Male WW1 Mk1 tank. All were completed in about four hours, so happy days. 

The bloodhound will go on a base I think as a good site for a Spetsnaz raid, the Scorpion and Smitar both the tracks have disintegrated so I need to cast some or buy some from somewhere... The Saladin will jon my Kuwati army for the first Gulf War and the MK1 may be off to defend Berlin or become a mini WW1 Diorama, not decided yet!

Airfix Bristol Bloodhound

Airfix Land Rover

JB Models Saladin

Airfix Scorpion and Scimitar

Airfix Mk 1 Male ww1 tank

Now I am onto the original intention today, complete a PST KV2 and an ACE BTR50PK......damn individual tracks are the man pain. The KV2 may become a Beute Panzer and the BTR50pk will join my Warpac.

cheers

Matt

Modern 20mm Technicals and civilian vehicles

Technicals and civilian vehicles

On facebook last month someone posted a T55 turret mounted on a dump truck, so off to our local charity shop this weekend see if I could pick up a suitable piece, while I was there I also picked up some other pieces, some for my BGS build and some other pieces, I like lots of cars for terrain fillers for modern warfare, it makes the terrain look lived in.

While I failed in my task to find a suitable dump truck I did manage to pick up a number of civilian 80s cars, a big bonus plus some suitable ww2 cars! As with most matchbox, majorette vehicles of the 80s lots of sports cars and not many everyday cars suitable for the wargames table. All of these will be receiving a new paint job at some stage and join my box of terrain filler bits!

Porsche 924 My dream car in 1985 before I knew about V8s....

BMW 733, my uncle had one of these in about 87

Mercedes 350SL two door.....so sexy

Citroen SM I was excited to find this!

James Bond my feature in his swimming lotus esprit!

A caravan, the second one, I think it will join a lakeside camp perhaps

Mercedes Benz 2400, It will join my Bundesgrenzschutz

cheers

Matt

Israeli IDF Artillery and A/T guns 1973 Yom Kippur War

 IDF Artillery and A/T guns

IDF infantry brigades organically had a 120mm mortar and an anti-tank gun battalion, each of four batteries with three tubes. Howitzer battalions were 12 guns, were allocated by the general staff.

M50 howitzer mounted on a Sherman chassis

In 1973 they had available 

• 200 British 25 pounders
• 64 M50 French towed howitzers
• 24 105 Self propelled howitzers on AMX-13 chassis
• 36 M7 105mm howitzers
• M50 self propelled sherman chassis
• 300 120mm towed mortars or Self propelled
• 60 160mm towed heavy mortar
• 300 6 pounder AT guns
• 17 pounder AT guns

The IDF’s 6-pounder anti-tank guns were in the process of being converted to 90mm smooth bore barrels firing fin-stabilized HEAT rounds. These guns were also being mounted on modified half-tracks. Jeep mounted 106mm recoilless rifles, manufactured in Israel, which were organic to infantry battalions, had also supplemented the available inventory of anti-tank guns

In 1973, the IDF is known to have fielded three battalions of M-107A1 self-propelled 175mm guns and one battalion of self-propelled 203mm M-110A1 howitzers (converted from 175mm during the war). This was the first time the IDF fielded heavy artillery. There were 14 battalions of self-propelled medium 155mm howitzers (9 M-50, 3 L-33 and 2 M-109) and seven battalions of self-propelled M-68 160mm mortars. There were also three battalions of M-7 105mm self-propelled howitzers and12 battalions of self-propelled 120mm mortars. In addition to this selfpropelled artillery, there were three battalions of towed M-50 155mm howitzers, two battalions of captured towed M-46 130mm guns (which had been mounted on new Soltam chassis), perhaps four battalions of captured towed D-30 and M-38 122mm howitzers, and up to 12 battalions of towed 120mm mortars. One reduced battery of lightweight M-102 105mm towed howitzers was available for use by helicopter inserted special forces. There was one multiple rocket launcher battalion equipped with captured 12 tube 240mm launchers mounted on 6x6 trucks, and one newly formed, partial strength MRL battalion equipped with four rail 290mm launchers mounted on de-turreted M-50 Sherman hulls.33 

In 1973, available Israeli artillery support for its brigades and divisions proved wholly inadequate. There simply were too few tubes, and the daily consumption of rounds per tube was far higher than the IDF had anticipated. Consequently, its ammunition war reserves, based on a planned inventory of 800 rounds per medium caliber tube, proved far too low. During the war, the IDF employed all of the available 175mm and most available 155mm and 130mm rounds. One quickly learned lesson was the need to increase both the number of available tubes for each division, while also significantly increasing the number of war reserve rounds available for each tube.34

In 1973, the artillery brigades of each of the six tank divisions generally deployed two or three battalions of 155mm self-propelled howitzers, a battalion of self-propelled 160 mm mortars and two battalions of selfpropelled 120mm mortars. By 1977, there were nine divisional artillery brigades, most with four battalions of 33 or 39 caliber self-propelled 155mm howitzers and one battalion of self-propelled 160mm mortars. This significantly increased the weight of shells that could be fired in a salvo, as well as the range of its 155mm howitzers. Moreover, many maneuver brigades now likely, again, had an organic battalion of 120mm self-propelled mortars for direct support and every tank battalion was, again, supported by organic self-propelled 81mm mortars.36

Sticking my neck out on colours, next up a painting guide!

cheers

Matt

 

British Heavy Artillery Normandy 1944

 British Heavy Artillery units Normandy 1944

This month I have been completing some British artillery crews and decided to do some heavy pieces, so a little research had to be commenced, so I thought I would share my documents.

59th RA 7.2 inch howitzer in action 2nd September 1944.

The British artillery units who landed after DDay made up 18% of the total 21st army British and Canadian troops on the ground, more than the actual fighting infantry percentage. the heavy regiments were general reserve assigned to army corps.

The heavy artillery regiments in Normandy were:-

1st Royal Artillery Heavy Regiment 

Batteries 

3rd Battery 4 x 7.2 inch Howitzer Scammel Pioneer trucks or Albion CX22s
5th Battery 4 x 155mm Howitzers Scammel Pioneer trucks or Albion CX22s
16 Battery  4 x 155mm Howitzers Scammel Pioneer trucks or Albion CX22s
28 Battery  4 x 7.2 inch Howitzers Scammel Pioneer trucks or Albion CX22s

Location

Assigned to the 2nd Canadian group in July in support of operations including Tractable and Totalize 
tactical plate 1 white, on corps artillery tactical plate. In March 1945 the 16th battery used Russian 12.2 cm guns. 

51st Royal Artillery Regiment, Lowland (city of Edinburgh)

1st Battery   4 x 7.2 inch Howitzers Scammel Pioneer trucks or Albion CX22s

2nd Battery 4 x 7.2 inch Howitzers Scammel Pioneer trucks or Albion CX22s

4th Battery  4 x 7.2 inch Howitzers Scammel Pioneer trucks or Albion CX22s

6th Battery  4 x 6 inch Howitzer rubber tyres Scammel Pioneer trucks or Albion CX22s

Location

4th Army Group Royal Artillery in June 1944, supported 1st corps assault on Caen in operation Charnwood, then assigned to support the 1st corps in operation Estonia and the assault on Le Havre. Most commonly used in the counter battery role.

tactical plate 187 white, on corps artillery tactical plate

52nd Royal Artillery Regiment Bedfordshire Yeomanry 

417th Battery (Bedford) 4 x 7.2 howitzer. mk4 Scammel Pioneer trucks or Albion CX22s

418th Battery (Bedford) 4 x 7.2 howitzer. mk4 Scammel Pioneer trucks or Albion CX22s

419th Battery (Bedford) 4 x 155mm M1 long tom Scammel Pioneer trucks or Albion CX22s

420th Battery (Bedford) 4 x 155mm M1 long tom Scammel Pioneer trucks or Albion CX22s

Location

5th Army Group Royal Artillery

tactical plate 187, on corps artillery tactical plate

53rd Royal artillery Regiment 

8th Battery   4 x 7.2 howitzer. mk4 Scammel Pioneer trucks or Albion CX22s

9th Battery   4 x 7.2 inch howitzer. mk4 Scammel Pioneer trucks or Albion CX22s

24th Battery 4 x 155mm M1 long tom Scammel Pioneer trucks or Albion CX22s

25th Battery 4 x 155mm M1 long tom Scammel Pioneer trucks or Albion CX22s

Location

8th Army Group Royal Artillery

tactical plate 194 white on corps artillery tactical plate

59th regiment Newfoundland 

20th Battery 4 x 7.2 inch howitzer. mk4 Scammel Pioneer trucks or Albion CX22s

21st Battery 4 x 7.2 inch howitzer. mk4 Scammel Pioneer trucks or Albion CX22s

22nd Battery 4 x155mm M1 long tom Scammel Pioneer trucks or Albion CX22s

23rd Battery 4 x 155mm M1 long tom Scammel Pioneer trucks or Albion CX22s

Location 

3rd Army Group Royal Artillery

Tactical plate 179 white, on corps artillery tactical plate 

Available models in 20mm- 1/72- 1/76th

I am happy to use what I can get but do prefer 1/72 and 20mm to 1/76th scale, budget is always a consideration too.

7.2 inch howitzer

Early War Miniatures 7.2 inch Howitzer resin simple kit

Milicast 7.2 howitzer resin mixed media kit

SHQ 7.2 Howitzer  metal model

Thunder model plastic model (coming this year)

155mm M1 long tom

A number of plastic, metal, diecast and resin available

SHQ 155mm M1 metal

Wespe models 155mm M1 resin

Hasegawa 1/72 155mm long tom howitzer any model shop

Atalya diecast towed model only hard to get

Alby models 155mm resin 1/72 (closest to actual measurments)

Marusan 155mm a rare plastic kit from Japan

AHM 155mm a rare plastic kit model 

6 inch Howitzer

SHQ miniatures 6 inch Howitzer

Milicast QF6 rubber tyres 

Scammel Pioneer

a few models available

SHQ scammel artillery tractor metal model

wespe models scammel resin model

IBG models plastic Scammel Pioneer plastic

Thunder Models Scammel Pioneer (not seen this kit yet)

Albion CX22s

One model that I am aware of 

Fankit models Albion CX22s resin mixed media kit

Albion CX25 

only one model I am aware of

SHQ Albion CX 25

Arab-Israeli War project

As the 50th Anniversary is coming up in a bit over a year and a half,  I thought I had get my finger out and complete my Arab-Israeli war project over the next twelve months. I currently use Able Archer for my rules and have played a few games back in Australia with my collection, but Fred and I mostly played with armour rather than much infantry and air cover. Now I have decided to complete my Israelis over the next two months or so. I then basically need to build all of my Egyptians and Syrians, I predominantly have all of the figures purchased and all of the vehicles, plus most of the aircraft,  I just need to crack on and paint it all.

The Plan

I want to build decent sized battlegroups for both the north Golan heights and the south that can be used for the 67 war and the Yom Kippur war in 73. The Egyptian and Syrian infantry and armour could also be used for other middle eastern nations as subs. I will probably use Able Archer modern rules based loosely of Rapid fire.

Israeli Army

M60 A1 btn of 6 tanks

M48 a3 Btn 6 tanks 

AMX 13 recon coy 2 tanks 

M50 and M51 Sherman two coys of 4 tanks

M5 battalion 

M113 half battalion

AT coy jeeps armed 105mm recoilless

1 motorised battalion inf

1 armoured battalion inf

1 parachute battalion 

188th brigade Golan Heights

M48A3 battalion 4 tanks

Centurion Sho't Kal 105mm x 4

2 paratroop battalions

1 SF coy

artillery battery armoured 

jeeps and trucks

Air support

1 A4 Skyhawk

1 F4 phantom

1 Iai Kfir

2 huey choppers 

Egyptian Army

T-55 battalion 7 tanks

T-62 battalion 7 tanks

armoured recon battalion PT76

2 battalions armoured infantry BTR 152

1 battalion motorised inf trucks

1 commando battalion

Air Support 

MIG 21

MIG 17

Syrian Army

7th Inf division elements

T55 tank batn 9 tanks 

2 inf battalions in BTR 152

artillery battery

Republican Guard independent 70th Armored Brigade

T62 battalion 9 tanks

BMP 1 armoured Inf Regiment

Artillery battery

Anti Tank battery

Air Support

Mig 15

SU 22

so quite a build. I hope to get the Israelis completed this year I hope

cheers

Matt