Modelling Toolkit, Part 2.

This article is about the larger tools I use to build my armies. Small tools were covered in a previous posting.

The above photo shows from left to right, my wire cutters, these are used  to cut the end of drawing pins to make wheels and to cut the twisted wires used as horse harness. Next is my small engineers square used to mark up planks of balsa ready to cut into vehicle bodies. Next is my home made jig for cutting the twisted wires used for horse harness. The wire comes in 300mm lengths so I clamp the jig to the work bench, hold several wires in place against the stop and cut at the edge. A cut wire is shown in the photo. Lastly are my pliers  often used to install horse harness wires. Sometimes the balsa is too hard and I need to use pliers to push the wire into the balsa. 

This photo shows my mini drill. I have had this drill for over 35 years and other than an upgrade to a tool less chuck, it still operates perfectly. I use this tool to make the holes in artillery shields for gun barrels and to drill axles for the wheels. It is also used to make holes in cavalry horses for the leg assembly and of course all towing eyes in all trailer types. See postings on Cavalry, GS wagon and trailer construction for more details.

This photo shows my box of mini drill tooling. I confess I do not use the saw blades or grinding disks much but the set of mini drills are invaluable.

This is my hot melt glue gun used to make GS wagons and cargo trailers, very useful but painful to the finger tips if used clumsily as I know only too well !!!!

This photo shows my home made sanding box. The unit is clamped to the worktop using the flange and the hose from a vacuum is pushed into the larger hole in the side. Sanding is carried out over the small hole grid. It works well and saves a lot of fine dust filling the air which is good  for the lungs and minimises the amount of cleaning up I have to do !!!!!

Lastly this picture shows my modelling lamp. Although my work station is alongside the window which can just be seen on the far right of the photo, I still find the additional light provided by the lamp very useful. When the arm is closed down that action switches the lamp off. A very useful tool bought for my birthday by my daughters some years ago.

I hope these posts on tools give a useful indication of the kit required for scratch building and although my collection has been built up over many years, anyone just starting out would not face a vast expenditure purchasing the basic essentials.

Although the weather has been unseasonably warm and dry this week resulting in a busy schedule of  walks, garden jobs and shopping trips, I have still managed to get in a few good modelling sessions. The batch of limbers has been completed and they have been issued to Horse Artillery regiments and  Field Artillery battalions which means the Army is now fully equipped with this vehicle type . The Infantry and Quartermaster battalions are progressing well and  I have also built a batch of 36 GS wagons which are now ready for priming. With regards to the 3D printing of machine guns, the CAD issue has been resolved and I have seen and approved three pre-production models which look great. Production of the full batch of 200 is in hand as I write this post and I hope to receive them by this time next week.

Organisation of Medical Battalions.


The Medical battalion comprises a Surgical company, an Ambulance company and a Headquarters company.

The Surgical company consist of 2 operating/ICU  platoons each with a House bodied wagon equipped as an operating theatre with a Heavy House trailer equipped as an ICU and 2 minor injury and laboratory platoons each with a House bodied wagon equipped as a minor injury treatment centre and a Heavy House trailer, one equipped as an X ray unit and the other as a laboratory and blood transfusion centre.

 Each Surgical platoon is commanded by a Surgeon Captain,  with a Surgeon Lieutenant,  3 Medic Sergeants and 6 Medics. Each treatment platoon is commanded by a Surgeon Captain with 2 Surgeon Lieutenants, 4 Medic Sergeants and 8 Medics. The X ray and blood transfusion/laboratory units are staffed jointly  by a Surgeon Captain and 2 Surgeon Lieutenants. The Surgical company is commanded by a Surgeon Major assisted by a Medic Sergeant Major.
The company has 16 QM drivers under the command of a QM Lieutenant assisted by a QM sergeant. The company has a total strength of 75.  The purpose of the Surgical company is to provide sufficient treatment to wounded soldiers to stabilise them so they can be evacuated to railhead and onwards to base hospitals.

The Ambulance company has 2 platoons each of 4 ambulances with 8 QM drivers under the command of a QM sergeant and 8 Medics under the command of a Medic Sergeant. The company is commanded by a QM Lieutenant supported by a Medical Lieutenant.  Total strength of the company is 38. These companies provide transport of wounded soldiers from Battalion Aid posts to Medical battalions. Transport of wounded soldiers to railhead is carried out by returning empty QM Transport companies.

The Headquarters company comprises a Staff platoon of 12 Staff men with 2 Staff Sergeants commanded by a Staff Lieutenant, a Signals platoon of 10 Signallers with a Signals Lieutenant in command supported by a Signals Sergeant. The Quartermaster platoon has 28  drivers with a QM Lieutenant in command supported by a QM Sergeant.  All QM staff of the Battalion are under the overall command of a QM Captain  supported by a Sergeant Major. The command platoon has a Staff Lieutenant Colonel as Battalion Commander with a Staff Major as Adjutant and second in command with a battalion Staff Sergeant Major and two standard bearers, one with the national flag and one with the battalion flag. Medical battalions are the only battalions where command is not held by officers of that arm of service. Medical officers are deemed "specialist" and are therefore ranked no higher than Major. Total strength of the Headquarters company is  64 giving a total battalion strength of 177.

The other vehicles and equipments of the battalion include 6 GS wagons towing a field kitchen, water tank trailer and 4 Heavy GS trailers for medical supplies. There are 2 House headquarters wagons and a Heavy House headquarters trailer with a Heavy House Signals trailer. Medical battalion staff also maintain Graves Registration facilities for supported battalions.

This photo shows from left to right the surgical company with medical staff in front, the command vehicles, GS vehicles and ambulances with QM, Signals and Staff in front.  My armies have a total of 12 Medical battalions on the basis of one for each Infantry Brigade.. The arm of service colour for Medical is white.

Once again a busy week on the domestic front so limited progress on the building of my army. The good weather forecast for the coming week suggests lots of going out and walking with even the likelihood of some work in the garden taking priority over military modelling !!!!!
Anyway progress this week includes completion of the two Field Artillery battalions, which have been shelved. The ammunition wagons have also been finished and issued. Work continues on the batch of limbers and the Infantry battalion. I have also made a very limited start on the last Quartermaster battalion, completion of which will give me a total of 18 such battalions within the whole Army Group.
I had hoped to have received the 3D printed machine guns by now but an issue in the CAD has delayed completion of the pre-production samples. I am not in any real rush but excitement over this new innovation has made me impatient I guess.

Organisation of Field Police Battalions.

Each Army has a Field Police battalion  as part of the Army Command brigade. These battalions provide security to the Army Command battalion together with traffic control, POW management  and conventional policing functions within the Army.

Each battalion has a command company and 5 Field Police companies, one of which is mounted and structured as Cavalry.

The Field Police company consists of 3 platoons each of 12 Police led by a Lieutenant assisted by a Sergeant. The 3 platoons in a company are commanded by a Captain supported by a company Sergeant Major. The strength of a company is 44.

The mounted  squadron (company) consists of two troops (platoons) each of 8 Police with a Lieutenant in command assisted by a Sergeant. The two troops (platoons) in the squadron (company) are commanded by a Captain assisted by a Sergeant Major. The strength of the Squadron (company) is 22.

The Headquarters company comprises a Staff platoon of 4 privates and a Sergeant, a Medical platoon of 12 medics, two medic Sergeants, a surgeon Lieutenant with a surgeon Captain in command. The Quartermaster platoon has 8 privates and a  Sergeant with a Lieutenant in command. The Signals platoon has 10 signallers with a Sergeant and Lieutenant in command. The command platoon has a Lieutenant Colonel as battalion commander with a Major as Adjutant and second in command , a battalion Sergeant Major and two standard bearers, one with the national flag and one with the battalion flag. The total strength of the headquarters company is 48 giving a total battalion strength of 246.

The vehicles and equipment of the battalion comprises 4 GS wagons towing a field kitchen trailer, a water tank trailer, a signals trailer and a medical trailer.

The photo shows the Field Police companies on the left with the mounted squadron in the centre and the headquarters company on the right in front of the battalion vehicles. My armies have a total of 3 Field Police battalions. The arm of service colour for Field Police is dark green.

Once again it has been a busy week on the domestic front so I have had rather limited time to work on my army. I had expected to have more "play" time during these winter months but the weather has been mild so lots of walks and domestic activities have taken precedence.
However some progress has been made. The Infantry battalion has been completed and shelved. In fact another has just been started, this one is the 57th of a total of 60 planned. The Artillery battalions were scheduled to be Heavy artillery but I have changed them to Field artillery and they are well advanced. The ammunition wagons are almost finished and I have just completed building a batch of 32 artillery limbers. Great progress has been made on the 3D printed machine guns and I am currently waiting to view the pre production samples before printing of the full batch of 200. I will do a full post on this subject as soon as I have received them giving all the details with photos. I am very pleased so far.

I seem to have had a very busy couple of weeks on the domestic front with very little play time or even time to add to this blog. This will therefore be just a brief update as I have so little to report. The Brigade Command battalion has been completed and shelved. The ammunition wagons are still being painted and the Infantry battalion is also still in hand. I have made a very brief start on another two Heavy Artillery battalions. Other than that I have found a supplier of 3D printing services locally and he now has my prototype machine gun chassis.. He will be doing a CAD drawing of it so he can print a sample and confirm the likely costs. I am confident this will turn out well and will give a fully detailed report in due course.