This weeks update shows that with the return of better weather my modelling time has been a bit limited in favour of more gardening. However I have managed to completed the Infantry battalion. Only two more of these battalions are now left to be built. Painting of the batch of light GS trailer continues. The batch of ammunition wagons are now built and painting is about to commence. I have made good progress with painting the Heavy Weapons battalion and a very early start has been made on the last Field Police battalion. This unit has a mounted element so I have built a number of mounted soldiers which is a time consuming process as detailed in the post about Cavalry construction.
I have had to take more care than usual typing this post as the spell check seems to have gone down, amazing how easily we come to rely on such tools.
Sunday, 24 March 2019
Organisation of Horse Artillery Regiments.
The Horse artillery regiment provides direct artillery support to Cavalry regiments and consists of two batteries and a headquarters squadron.
Each battery consists of 3 guns, 3 caissons and 3 limbers together with 2 ammunition limbers each towing two ammunition caissons with 12 gunners and 3 mounted Sergeants with a mounted Captain in command supported by a mounted Lieutenant and mounted battery Sergeant Major. Each limber has two quartermaster drivers giving 10 QM men commanded by a mounted QM Lieutenant supported by a QM Sergeant. The total strength of a battery is therefore 30 of which 7 are mounted.
The headquarters squadron has a Staff troop of 2 men commanded by a Sergeant, a Medical troop of 4 medics with a Surgeon Lieutenant supported by a Medic Sergeant and a Signals troop of 6 Signallers commanded by a Sergeant. The Quartermaster troop has 10 men with a Sergeant in command. The regiment's total QM contingent is under the overall command of a mounted QM Captain. The command troop, all of whom are mounted, has a Lieutenant Colonel as Regimental commander with a Major as second in command and Adjutant supported by a regimental Sergeant Major with two standard bearers carrying the national flag and the regimental flag. In addition, and reporting direct to the regimental commander, is a Fire Control section consisting of a mounted Captain and a Lieutenant, who are responsible for coordinating and directing the fire of the regiment. The total strength of the headquarters company is 35 of whom 8 are mounted, giving a total battalion strength of 95 of whom 22 are mounted. The foot soldiers are carried on the various regimental vehicles to ensure full mobility which is supported by the exclusive use of two wheeled vehicles only.
Apart from the vehicles in each battery, the regiment also has 5 limbers each towing a light GS trailer with secondary towing of a field kitchen, water tank trailer, signals trailer, observation trailer and a medical trailer.
The photo shows the guns on the left with gun crews in front, ammunition vehicles in the centre with the command group in front and supporting vehicles on the right with the headquarters squadron in front.
The arm of service colour is pale green for Horse artillery. My armies have a total of 6 Horse artillery regiments.
The Horse artillery regiment provides direct artillery support to Cavalry regiments and consists of two batteries and a headquarters squadron.
Each battery consists of 3 guns, 3 caissons and 3 limbers together with 2 ammunition limbers each towing two ammunition caissons with 12 gunners and 3 mounted Sergeants with a mounted Captain in command supported by a mounted Lieutenant and mounted battery Sergeant Major. Each limber has two quartermaster drivers giving 10 QM men commanded by a mounted QM Lieutenant supported by a QM Sergeant. The total strength of a battery is therefore 30 of which 7 are mounted.
The headquarters squadron has a Staff troop of 2 men commanded by a Sergeant, a Medical troop of 4 medics with a Surgeon Lieutenant supported by a Medic Sergeant and a Signals troop of 6 Signallers commanded by a Sergeant. The Quartermaster troop has 10 men with a Sergeant in command. The regiment's total QM contingent is under the overall command of a mounted QM Captain. The command troop, all of whom are mounted, has a Lieutenant Colonel as Regimental commander with a Major as second in command and Adjutant supported by a regimental Sergeant Major with two standard bearers carrying the national flag and the regimental flag. In addition, and reporting direct to the regimental commander, is a Fire Control section consisting of a mounted Captain and a Lieutenant, who are responsible for coordinating and directing the fire of the regiment. The total strength of the headquarters company is 35 of whom 8 are mounted, giving a total battalion strength of 95 of whom 22 are mounted. The foot soldiers are carried on the various regimental vehicles to ensure full mobility which is supported by the exclusive use of two wheeled vehicles only.
Apart from the vehicles in each battery, the regiment also has 5 limbers each towing a light GS trailer with secondary towing of a field kitchen, water tank trailer, signals trailer, observation trailer and a medical trailer.
The photo shows the guns on the left with gun crews in front, ammunition vehicles in the centre with the command group in front and supporting vehicles on the right with the headquarters squadron in front.
The arm of service colour is pale green for Horse artillery. My armies have a total of 6 Horse artillery regiments.
Saturday, 16 March 2019
For my update I can report that I enjoyed a couple of good sessions this week which saw the completion of the first batch of 3D printed heavy weapons. Full details of these models are shown in the previous post. The painting of the Infantry battalion is proceeding well and a start has been made on the last Heavy Weapons battalion. I have also constructed a batch of light GS trailers and have started the painting process. I have also just started building a batch of ammunition wagons.
Please leave a comment if you find any of my blog ramblings of interest.
Please leave a comment if you find any of my blog ramblings of interest.
3D Printing of Miniature Heavy Weapons.
As reported previously I have now used 3D printing to produce heavy machine guns for my army.
I have explained in other postings that all the artillery weapons in my army have been constructed using a readily available object as a gun shield and chassis to which I attach an axle, trail and barrel. For this platform my field guns use a cut down plastic shelf support stud, heavy guns are based on a paint tin clip while horse artillery guns use a home produced resin cast of a trail spade from an Airfix 5.5 inch gun. However I have never been able to find a platform for my heavy weapons machine guns. As a consequence I have previously had to superglue axle, trail and gun shield together carefully, avoiding the inclusion of my fingers whilst trying to produce a realistic looking model.
Recent internet surfing brought my attention to 3D printing. After a little research I concluded that it may, subject to cost, provide a way forward in respect of a platform for heavy weapons. I found a local supplier of 3D printing services and made contact. It turned out that this small local business owner had been involved in producing wargaming scenery using 3D printing so my requirements became a little easier to explain, just imagine explaining to a non wargamer or modeller just what I was seeking !!!!!! The upshot was that I built a prototype platform as carefully as possible and met up with Dave the business owner. My initial idea was that he could scan the prototype and print from that programme. However Dave told me me it would be better, and no more expensive, for him to write a CAD programme using the prototype as a guide. In addition, the original prototype included a gun barrel. Dave told me the printing process did not allow protrusions as these could droop due to the heat during printing.. I therefore removed the barrel leaving just the hole as part of the model. Dave gave me some cost indicators that were fully within my budget so I agreed for him to go ahead and write the CAD programme and print some pre production models.
The pre production models were created and I found them perfect in all respects. Dave confirmed the final costs which I agreed and he proceeded into production. About ten days later I collected the printed models and paid my bill. The following photo shows what I got.
I had four sheets like this together with a number of pre production models and some others that had come apart from the flimsy base sheets. Apart from the holes in the shields for barrels the models also had the towing eye in the trail. The next steps were to separate the models, clean off the sprue and add the gun barrels. For barrels I use small elongated plastic necklace beads from Hobby Craft. I found that the holes for the barrels had to be reamed out a little but that was good as it gave a tight fit so that dripping a little plastic glue around the joint was easier.
The picture above shows part of the initial batch of 32 with barrels installed. Next step was to drill the holes in the axles for the wheels, (cut down drawing pins) and superglue them as shown below.
With construction complete I primed the whole of each model.
As reported previously I have now used 3D printing to produce heavy machine guns for my army.
I have explained in other postings that all the artillery weapons in my army have been constructed using a readily available object as a gun shield and chassis to which I attach an axle, trail and barrel. For this platform my field guns use a cut down plastic shelf support stud, heavy guns are based on a paint tin clip while horse artillery guns use a home produced resin cast of a trail spade from an Airfix 5.5 inch gun. However I have never been able to find a platform for my heavy weapons machine guns. As a consequence I have previously had to superglue axle, trail and gun shield together carefully, avoiding the inclusion of my fingers whilst trying to produce a realistic looking model.
Recent internet surfing brought my attention to 3D printing. After a little research I concluded that it may, subject to cost, provide a way forward in respect of a platform for heavy weapons. I found a local supplier of 3D printing services and made contact. It turned out that this small local business owner had been involved in producing wargaming scenery using 3D printing so my requirements became a little easier to explain, just imagine explaining to a non wargamer or modeller just what I was seeking !!!!!! The upshot was that I built a prototype platform as carefully as possible and met up with Dave the business owner. My initial idea was that he could scan the prototype and print from that programme. However Dave told me me it would be better, and no more expensive, for him to write a CAD programme using the prototype as a guide. In addition, the original prototype included a gun barrel. Dave told me the printing process did not allow protrusions as these could droop due to the heat during printing.. I therefore removed the barrel leaving just the hole as part of the model. Dave gave me some cost indicators that were fully within my budget so I agreed for him to go ahead and write the CAD programme and print some pre production models.
The pre production models were created and I found them perfect in all respects. Dave confirmed the final costs which I agreed and he proceeded into production. About ten days later I collected the printed models and paid my bill. The following photo shows what I got.
I had four sheets like this together with a number of pre production models and some others that had come apart from the flimsy base sheets. Apart from the holes in the shields for barrels the models also had the towing eye in the trail. The next steps were to separate the models, clean off the sprue and add the gun barrels. For barrels I use small elongated plastic necklace beads from Hobby Craft. I found that the holes for the barrels had to be reamed out a little but that was good as it gave a tight fit so that dripping a little plastic glue around the joint was easier.
The picture above shows part of the initial batch of 32 with barrels installed. Next step was to drill the holes in the axles for the wheels, (cut down drawing pins) and superglue them as shown below.
With construction complete I primed the whole of each model.
The models were then painted my standard olive drab and then the wheels were painted black. The final result is shown in the photo below.
The picture below gives a good idea of the level of detail in these models which are only 22mm long and 10mm high and the same in width.
There were some leaning points during the process. Firstly the printing material was ABS which is similar in consistency to Airfix plastic soldier figures. It proved time consuming to remove the base sprue which may have been easier if a harder substance had been used, maybe more like Airfix plastic kit material. Secondly the drilling of the axles for wheels was difficult as the plastic, being so soft, melted a bit. On reflection, it would have been easier if I had had the holes printed or again, a harder material had been used. Finally the material was gray, virtually the same colour as my primer, so it was a little difficult to see exactly what I had actually painted than if a different but still pale colour had been used.. All that said I am delighted with the models and these leaning points are simply the result of experience and in no way detract from Dave's excellent work.
Finally the technical details. I ordered 200 models. The total cost, including the CAD creation, was £50 which I thought very reasonable indeed. The print resolution was 150 microns, about twice the size of a human hair.
My supplier was david.banks@telford3dprinting.com. whom I strongly recommend and thank for his assistance and very helpful attitude.
Sunday, 10 March 2019
THE ORIGINS OF THE WOODSCREW MINIATURE ARMY.
WHERE DID MY ARMY COME FROM ????
"Many wargamers will know the everyday frustrations of the hobby which invariably would be solved "if only we could scale down". In the mystical world of smaller scale, lack of space and time disappear before the tramping feet of quarter inch high figures. But, seemingly such figures do not exist. Well relax, because such figures do exist, they are readily available, cheap, and easily adaptable to any period and theatre of war imaginable."
" The miraculous figures to which I am referring are SCREWS. To be more precise, quarter inch number 3 countersunk woodscrews. "
With these words the original article in the Miniature Warfare magazine dated August 1969 introduced me to the extraordinary idea of using woodscrews as model soldiers. As outlined in the introduction to my blog, I made some changes to the concept such as using half inch number 6 screws rather than those suggested. In addition I never liked the idea in the article of using three eights inch screws as cavalry. That said the basic concept was a revelation to me and has resulted in an engrossing hobby that over the subsequent 50 years has resulted in me possessing over 65,000 screw soldiers, at the time of writing, together with thousands of guns and assorted vehicles.
Of course since 1969 the availability of wargaming figures has mushroomed and nowadays figures are available in all sorts of scales and in a huge variety of nationalities and historic periods. Indeed 6mm soldiers are even available in MDF of all things, and they look great. In fact, if I were starting out now I might well be tempted to go down the 6mm MDF route or something very similar.
"Many wargamers will know the everyday frustrations of the hobby which invariably would be solved "if only we could scale down". In the mystical world of smaller scale, lack of space and time disappear before the tramping feet of quarter inch high figures. But, seemingly such figures do not exist. Well relax, because such figures do exist, they are readily available, cheap, and easily adaptable to any period and theatre of war imaginable."
" The miraculous figures to which I am referring are SCREWS. To be more precise, quarter inch number 3 countersunk woodscrews. "
With these words the original article in the Miniature Warfare magazine dated August 1969 introduced me to the extraordinary idea of using woodscrews as model soldiers. As outlined in the introduction to my blog, I made some changes to the concept such as using half inch number 6 screws rather than those suggested. In addition I never liked the idea in the article of using three eights inch screws as cavalry. That said the basic concept was a revelation to me and has resulted in an engrossing hobby that over the subsequent 50 years has resulted in me possessing over 65,000 screw soldiers, at the time of writing, together with thousands of guns and assorted vehicles.
Of course since 1969 the availability of wargaming figures has mushroomed and nowadays figures are available in all sorts of scales and in a huge variety of nationalities and historic periods. Indeed 6mm soldiers are even available in MDF of all things, and they look great. In fact, if I were starting out now I might well be tempted to go down the 6mm MDF route or something very similar.
That said I can well understand that many of today's wargamers may see the idea of using screws as wargame figures even more ludicrous than many of their fore-bearers did back in 1969. It has long been clear to me that no one else ever took up this idea in the way I did. Indeed over the years there have been lots of comments on various blogs from older wargamers who, remembering the Miniature Wargame magazine from their youth, almost always include scornful remarks about the "infamous screw soldiers article". Of course anyone can adopt a "holier than thou" attitude but that does not detract from the essence of the original idea that use of woodscrews as soldiers was cheap and endlessly adaptable to period and nationality.
That said I guess there really is no longer a place for using screws as wargames figures, they were of a time when commercial offerings were very limited after all. However who does not want to field a wargame army numbered in the thousands rather than in a few dozen ???? In addition there is the fun of building your own vehicles, equipment and guns in what ever numbers you like and all at a very low cost. I admit I have never wargamed in the conventional sense. However I have carried out, in my Imagi-Nations, many battles and campaigns with my armies in all sorts of scenarios using the capabilities of my model armies in terms of numbers and equipment. This has often resulted in me deciding to make changes to the organisational structure of my armies and even suggested new equipment or vehicle types. That, and the construction and painting process, is where I personally get my fun and the use of woodscrews has given me the perfect way of building my army.
I know that many wargamers see the painting of figures to extraordinary degrees of realism as a fundamental requirement of "proper" wargaming. Like everyone else in the modelling/wargaming world I too spent many hours in my youth painting early metal figures to the highest standard I could manage. I especially recall painting a 12 strong regiment of French Napoleonic Cavalry (which I still have now). They looked great but there were still only 12. Now I have 20 regiments of Cavalry totaling well over 2000 and they look great too. I think the use of very small soldiers, like 6mm, is the modern equivalent of woodscrew soldiers and enables the fielding of large and very impressive armies. In addition of course there is nothing to stop anyone having a small or large collection of highly painted model soldiers whilst also maintaining an economic plethora of more simply painted very small armies to fight wargames.
I know that many wargamers see the painting of figures to extraordinary degrees of realism as a fundamental requirement of "proper" wargaming. Like everyone else in the modelling/wargaming world I too spent many hours in my youth painting early metal figures to the highest standard I could manage. I especially recall painting a 12 strong regiment of French Napoleonic Cavalry (which I still have now). They looked great but there were still only 12. Now I have 20 regiments of Cavalry totaling well over 2000 and they look great too. I think the use of very small soldiers, like 6mm, is the modern equivalent of woodscrew soldiers and enables the fielding of large and very impressive armies. In addition of course there is nothing to stop anyone having a small or large collection of highly painted model soldiers whilst also maintaining an economic plethora of more simply painted very small armies to fight wargames.
My message is that if it is to continue to thrive there must be space for all ideas and concepts in our hobby no matter how "different" they may be to current norms, we denigrate new ideas at our peril.
I am pleased to report I have enjoyed more modelling sessions this past week than in the last couple of weeks. As a result the Quartermaster Battalion has been completed, the last such battalion to be built, making a total of 18 in the whole Army.. The batch of GS wagons has also been completed and the vehicles issued to various battalions. Painting is well advanced on the latest Infantry battalion and the first batch of 3D printed Heavy Weapons (machine guns) are almost complete. The article on the whole 3D subject will be posted next week. I have also made a start on painting the soldiers for the last of the Heavy Weapons battalions. I also hope to make a start this coming week on construction of a batch of light GS trailers.
Monday, 4 March 2019
Last week saw more warm dry weather with the consequence that I ended up going for lots of walks with a good dose of fence painting thrown in for good measure, therefore modelling took a bit of a back seat. However I did manage to get the Infantry battalion completed. The Quartermaster battalion is also close to completion as are the GS wagons. I have also counted out the screws for yet another Infantry battalion ready for the painting process to start, this will be number 58 of 60. I am pleased to report that I now have the 3D printed machine guns, which are excellent. I have made a good start on construction of a batch of 32 and just as soon as they are complete I will publish a post giving full details of my experience of the 3D process and construction of these weapons in general.
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