BOOK REVIEW: THE GREAT BLUE ARMY WAGON.

 To discover this book recently on Amazon was, for me, like finding the Holy Grail.

This book covers the development and construction of the US Army's standardised 6 mule heavy wagon and 4 mule Escort light wagon from their origins before and after the Civil War respectively to the final versions constructed during the First World War.

The 6 mule wagon was the first to be developed during the 1840-50's. It was a heavy wagon perfectly suited for use  supplying army outposts over very long distances. The specification for this wagon was finalised by the start of the Civil war and most of the wagons seen in Civil war photographs are of this vehicle. It remained in production throughout the second half of the 19th century with few modifications.

The Escort light wagon came about after the war due to the need for a lighter vehicle for use on post and for local short range duties such as escorting troops moving from post to post or going on campaign in more rugged country. This vehicle had became the standard army wagon by the end of the century. On the entry of the USA into the First World War some 30,000 Escort wagons were immediately ordered with about 10,000 being delivered by the end of the war.

The title of the book reflects that throughout the wagon era, until the First World War,  all military vehicles had bright colour schemes. Interiors and running gear was painted Venetian red while the outside was Prussian blue with boldly stenciled US letters on sideboards and white canvas covers. There was never any doubt as to the ownership of US army wagons.

The book provides good detail on the development history of the vehicles, construction methods and materials including full dimensions and improvements made over the years. There are many excellent photos too. There are even paint colour samples and details of standard sized packing boxes designed specifically to maximise  the use of space in wagons. Finally there is some brief information on non standard or locally used specialist vehicles used on some army posts including buggies, forge carts, water tankers and fire engines.

Clearly not a book for everyone by any means but for someone like me who is fascinated by horse drawn logistics, an absolute gold mine of information and a new star in my library destined to become a constant source of reference.

UPDATE.

 Just a brief note to wish all my followers and everyone in blogger land a Happy Christmas with lots of new soldiers and a very prosperous New Year with a huge increase in painting productivity.

BOOK REVIEW: STORMING EAGLES.

 GERMAN AIRBORNE FORCE IN WORLD WAR 11.

Another book I picked up in a seaside book shop on my birthday  in October.

I have no special interest in airborne troops including the German forces however the book was very cheap and seemed well written on a thumb through.

The book gives a highly detailed history of the creation of the German airborne forces including the glider troops and air landing troops, a brief review of all the major actions involving airborne units and details of all the various formations raised during the war, all in a chronological order.

There is a strong recurring theme through out the book about the spectacular fighting spirit of German paratroopers and the fearsome reputation they enjoyed on all fronts right to the last days of the war. All were volunteers and trained to a very high standard which was reflected in regular successes although at a high cost in casualties.

There are a number of short appendix covering weapons, planes and uniforms to complete what has to be the definitive book on German airborne troops  and which I strongly recommended if you are interested in the Fallschirmjaegar.

UPDATE.

 Yes another update and very soon after the last one !!!!

 I have news to share about Humbrol paints.

One of my blog followers, Joe at FISH TALES blog, mentioned in passing that he had heard that Humbrol may be stopping production of enamel paints. Interesting as Joe is American and had heard about this but I had not here in the UK, home to Humbrol !!!!  Now I have been using these paints for over 50 years and although I have often considered moving to acrylics, being over three quarters of the way through building my armies, now is probably not the time to change.

Although I keep a good stock of paints at all times I knew I would not have sufficient to finish my fourth army so I decided to investigate.

It seems that due to a new government regulation, one of the components in all enamel paints has been banned. For reasons difficult to establish this resulted in Humbrol suddenly taking a lot of paint off the market. Again for reasons difficult to determine, Humbrol chose not to make this matter public resulting in a lot of rumours and a shortage of paints in shops.

In the YOUTUBE video I saw it was clear the audience thought  this change has been poorly managed by Humbrol.  The fact remains that their enamel paints will however remain on sale for the foreseeable future.  That said they have taken this opportunity to seriously reduce the range from about 200 to only 80 colours again with little public notice.

Typically over half the colours going out of production are colours I use a lot. I have already placed a large order with an on line supplier for sufficient paints to hopefully see me out !!!! I will also be visiting my local model shop to hoover up what ever he has left too.

Overall I am left with the impression that Humbrol have mismanaged this situation and are now making it worse by dramatically reducing the range.  If you use Humbrol I suggest you check out the new range and buy up quickly any of the soon to be discontinued colours you may need while you still can.

Sometimes I think these smaller specialist British companies almost want to go out of business by the way they operate !!!!

On a happier note I have this week started to build a batch of 25 field kitchen trailers and have prepared the screws to paint up a new infantry battalion. Hopefully I will find the time and inclination to work on these diligently over the coming few weeks.

BOOK REVIEW: 1983.

THE WORLD AT THE BRINK.

 I bought this book on a visit to the seaside on my birthday. Not the usual subject matter I look for but a quick canter through the pages looked interesting.

The book basically relates world events leading up to the NATO war-games of late 1983 during which the Russians started to believe that NATO was about to launch a full scale nuclear first strike against them. The book gives a clear indication of just how close we came to nuclear war mainly due to the West not realising how paranoid Russia had become at the time.

The book gives a good history of Ronald Reagan coming to power and his strong anti Russian stance, the poor and geriatric leadership in Russia and the increasing weakness of the Russian economy which led to the fall of the USSR a few years later. In effect it gives the history of the final few years of the USSR as it collapsed under the weight of the Cold War which resulted in serious instability in the Russian leadership and a nuclear crisis made worse by the failure of US intelligence services to clearly recognise what was happening in Russia.

This is an exciting read much like a Tom Clancy novel....but real !!!! which of course makes it very scary.

Highly recommended for anyone interested in recent world history and the fall of the USSR.

UPDATE.

It has been over six weeks since I last updated on my activities. However the simple fact is that I have not done a great deal...again !!!!! Ordinary life seems to have continued to get in the way of modelling. I had hoped that with the miserable autumn weather I would get more modelling time but that has not happened, at least not yet anyway.

Having just said that, on reflection I have to admit I have not really tried that hard to get modelling time. If I am being totally honest, I have not actually had that much enthusiasm for modelling recently. I am sure this is a passing phase as I have really enjoyed finally getting the cavalry and heavy artillery battalions finished after so many months of them sitting on the work bench gathering dust. I think it is just a case of getting going again after so many months of modelling inactivity.

Above are the cavalry just finished on the work bases.

And here set up, with the foot elements of the regiment and most of the vehicles, on the display shelf before insertion into the display cabinet.

Here are the soldiers of the heavy artillery battalion on their display shelf. No vehicles or equipment has been built yet for this battalion.

The next vehicle construction project will be a batch of field kitchens. The next battalion to be painted will probably be another infantry unit.

Readers may have noticed that I have started updating and republishing the organisation tables of my armies. These now reflect the several upgrades I have introduced over the past couple of years.

A considerable time ago I realised that my armies lacked a bridge building capability. My initial thought was to create a couple of bridging battalions at army group level but then I decided the best way forward would be to provide the capability within each Pioneer battalion. Ever since I have been searching for some object to represent a pontoon boat. 

Scratch building one or two would be easy but I need 32. I have found a model within the Pendraken range that is the right size but it is a slab sided square shaped pontoon that does not look good in the scale I use. I want an actual rowing boat shape that can be placed upside down on a flat bed wagon. I am coming to the conclusion that I will have to make a master and mould my own. However if any reader has another suggestion please let me know. Size needed is 30 mm long, 13 mm wide and 5 mm high.