On my last blog I showed the batch of 60 artillery caissons then under construction. These are now completed and the metal parts have been primed ready for painting olive drab, my standard vehicle/equipment colour.

I  thought the reader may be interested in the details of construction, which are virtually the same for all trailer type vehicles. The basic starting point is the standard 15mm square balsa block some 5mm thick. To this is added a trail, the making of which is described elsewhere. The wheels are added before we come to the  come to the unique features of caissons.

As can be seen, the defining element of a caisson is the spare wheel fixed above the pole.












       Also noteworthy is the towing hook for the gun.

This is the underneath view. The towing hook is formed from a Bambi staple. (readily available in boxes of 1500 on the interweb.) This view shows the shortened pin part of the drawing pin wheels. These are covered in glue after fitting to ensure they stay put. I have found it unreliable to expect the glue on the pin face to be sufficient to hold it in place.There is also a blob of glue on the staple hook. For some reason I have never painted the underneath of vehicles. Looking at this shot now makes me wonder why not. I think I will put that idea on my "to be considered" list.

Over the past couple of weeks I have been painting a couple of field artillery battalions. I usually do two at a time as the total numbers are quite reasonable, only 272 in total. These are now complete as shown in the photo below. Since the photo was taken they have  been placed in the display unit. These two battalions raise my total field artillery strength to 32 battalions.

The soldiers are shown above on two of the three working shelves which are built into my work station. These shelves are about the same size as the display shelves. They enable me to work on soldiers over a period of time easily as I can just slide them away after each painting session.

In terms of current equipment construction, I have started building a batch of ammunition caissons. All my artillery uses caissons for immediate combat requirements. I realise that with the real thing guns are attached direct to limbers but in my army there is a caisson between each gun and limber. In field and heavy artillery and heavy weapons battalions, additional ammunition is hauled by specialist four wheeled ammunition wagons. (A batch is due for construction shortly so will be shown in a later blog.) However in horse artillery regiments all vehicles are two wheeled to maintain cross country mobility. Therefore additional ammunition supplies are carried in double caisson units behind a limber. The current batch under construction is 60 strong. I already have 60 and need a total of 188 so will build a further 68 at some later date.

Screws.
I thought it would be useful to give some information about the basic raw material of the army, the woodscrew.
The original magazine article that inspired me suggested the use of quarter inch screws for infantry and three eights inch screws as cavalry. I will discuss how I build cavalry in a later article. As far as foot soldiers are concerned I decided to use a larger screw and settled on half inch number 6 slotted screws. In those days    ( late 60s and early 70s)  these screws were readily available  in a self coloured finish, that is to say in raw steel. However more recently the use and therefore the availability of slotted screws has seriously declined. Slotted screws are really essential,  in my opinion, as they have a flat space between the thread and head called a shank, This area is used for applying the rank markings. Modern cross headed screws do not have this feature as the thread goes right to the head.
 In addition even when slotted screws can still be found they have a finish called BZP meaning bright zinc plated. This is to provide an element of rust proofing to the screw. Personally I have always found that the paint I use not only covers any surface rust but fully protects the screw in the long term. The BZP finish is a problem however in that it is very hard if not impossible to get the paint to adhere adequately. After a struggle with this problem I sought an answer on the inter web. I found it on an American site. In essence this site referred to treating modern metal furniture hardware to give it an antique finish. The solution is to soak the BZP screws in pickling vinegar !!!!!!! yes another crazy idea !!!! However after a bit of experimentation I made it work very satisfactorily.
 In essence the screws are soaked in pure white pickling vinegar for at least an hour, 90 minutes is better. Ordinary vinegar is not strong enough for the job. I usually soak batches of 400 or so at a time in an old ice cream  tub. The BZP coating just vanishes leaving the screws in a self coloured (raw steel) condition which is perfect for painting. I find that after two batches the vinegar needs changing. By the way, the vinegar does give off a bit of a wiff so consider where you perform this activity. I am fortunate to have a workshop but a shed would work well. After soaking,  the screws are emptied into a sieve and washed in water thoroughly. My wife refused to let me use the kitchen sink for this part of the process (cant imagine why not)  so I have to use  a hose outside over a drain. The trick then is to quickly dry the screws to minimise flash rusting. I do this by laying the washed screws on a double thickness of old towel and then spreading them out evenly and heating with a hot air gun. Don't forget , if trying this, that the screws will get real hot !!!! After cooling a bit I just box the screws up for future use. I find only a little surface rusting occurs provided they are stored indoors and anyway a little rust actually gives a better painting surface.
It is still possible to buy BZP slotted screws although you do have to search the inter web. To find self coloured screws is nowadays unlikely unless you are very very lucky indeed. I managed to buy 20,000 very old stock screws a couple of years ago via a contact in the trade but that was a fluke. These screws are still made but only in India and China and I hate to think how many you would have to buy to actually get an order accepted. If anyone reading this ever finds a source of supply please let me know !!! In the meantime if you want to try using screws as soldiers you will have to use BZP screws and get them where you can. If anyone tries out modern cross head screws, which will still need treating to get rid of the BZP,  I would very much like to know how you get on with painting.

The batch of utility trailers has now been completed.

This equipment have now been issued to units. The army I am currently building now has a full quota of these trailers with 71 field kitchens, 71 water tankers, 67 medical trailers and 54 light signals trailers.                   

An interesting statistic that I have recently calculated.  My current army, with soldiers marching three abreast and with vehicles in single file and no gaps between units, would occupy just over 1.2 kilometres of road !!!!!!! That is actual road, not scale road  !!!!!!!!!

The batch of utility trailers have now been painted in olive drab, my standard vehicle and equipment colour. Next and last job will be to paint wheels and appendages matt black.

The army command battalion has now been completed with two coats of varnish. The photo shows the soldiers set up on their shelf with the office GS house bodied wagons and heavy trailers. The remaining vehicles and equipment including quartermaster vehicles , heavy signals vehicles and some utility trailers have yet to be made and issued.

As you will have seen if you read my introduction, the idea of my army was inspired by an article in Miniature Warfare magazine back in 1969. I thought some readers might like to see that magazine, if for no other reason than to see that painting woodscrews as soldiers may be crazy but I am not the only one !!!!!

With the gracious permission of John Tunstall, editor and publisher of the magazine, here are some photos of the front cover and the actual article.

I mentioned last time that I was constructing a batch of what I call utility trailers. That includes field kitchens, medical trailers, signals trailers and water tank trailers. The batch I have just completed building are the balance of trailers I need to fully equip the army I am now creating. Every battalion has a field kitchen and water tanker. Signals trailers are supplied to all combat units. Non combat units like quartermaster, command and medical battalions are supplied with larger four wheeled signals vehicles. Medical trailers equip all battalions except medical.

These vehicles are based on my standard trailer with the addition of a unique feature. This is a chimney made of a veneer pin for field kitchens, painted red cross for medical and part of a paper clip as the aeriel on signals vehicles. The water tank is a piece of dowel mounted on a thin balsa base. The trails are the usual tooth picks cut down, sanded and provided with a towing eye. Wheels are mounted towards the rear of the body to ensure the trailer sits correctly. The photo shows the batch with metal parts primed. Next step will be painting the bodies olive drab.

All these trailers are historically referenced by the equipment of the German army of WW1.

I am also currently painting an army command battalion. The last photo published showed the troops with basic green uniforms completed. This photo shows all the troops with arm of service and rank markings. I will detail the rank and arm of service colour schemes in a later blog. The next steps will be two coats of varnish.