PONTOON BRIDGING EQUIPMENT.

 PONTOON BRIDGING EQUIPMENT FOR THE WOODSCREW MINIATURE ARMY.

Regular readers will recall I mentioned a while ago that I had decided to investigate the provision of pontoon bridging equipment for my armies. This was provoked by Ion of Archduke Piccolo blog when he wargamed a campaign from my Imagi-Nations series early last year. One of his background questions was whether my armies had a bridge building capability. I replied in the negative but the thought stayed with me that maybe such a capability should be provided.

Ever since I have been looking, without success, for some everyday object that could be adapted for use as a pontoon boat. I did find a model in a manufacturers range but really did not like it that much. Recently I posted asking if readers had any ideas. Steve Johnson suggested I consider 3D models and Ian Dury suggested I look at ebay where a number of 3D printers were offering model railway accessories including model rowing boats. This was something I had not considered.

A quick look revealed a manufacturer supplying rowing boats in N gauge which seemed suitable. I made contact with the supplier and got the measurements of their boats which seemed perfect. I decided to order a pack of 6 boats just to be sure. While looking at the various other products available from this business I also found OO scale pallets, in packs of 30,  which looked like perfect "chesses" for the bridge decks so I ordered a pack of them too.  My original idea was to just use bits of cut up toothpick to represent the "chesses".  

(Chesses are the name used for the bridge deck timbers, apparently from the old French words chasse meaning frame and chassis meaning framework.)  

These items arrived just before Christmas and have proved to be top quality and ideal for my needs. 

Four boats and ten pallets provide a perfect 65 mm long, scale 32 foot bridge as shown below.

I quickly designed a new flat bed wagon and flat bed heavy trailer to transport both boats and "chesses". My idea is that each of my 16 Pioneer battalions will be provided with a bridging platoon comprising a wagon and trailer carrying four pontoons and another wagon and trailer carrying  ten "chesses". The four Pioneer battalions in each army would therefore have the collective ability to build a bridge some 250 mm long which is about scale 125 feet or around 40 meters.  Manpower to build the bridges would be provided by the existing Pioneer battalion soldiers. I prefer this arrangement rather than the alternative of creating dedicated bridging columns.

Below are photos of the new wagons, unpainted and without horses so far, showing the pontoons and "chesses". Just for clarification, the boats and "chesses" will be glued to the wagons and the illustration at the beginning of this article of a completed bridge was only a "proof of concept".

Close ups of the two specific loads are below. I found that two boats fitted on each vehicle and looked better too. I decided I prefer the look of having the boats the right way up however I understand from Ian Dury that most armies carried them upside down. Any views ?????

Each "chess" vehicle carries 5 "chesses". To make it look more interesting the top pallet is turned over.

It has crossed my mind to revise the arrangements to have a wagon with boats towing a trailer with "chesses".....any thought on whether this would look better ????

I am very pleased with these new models and hope readers will agree this new equipment looks good.  Many thanks to Ian Dury and Steve Johnson for pointing me in the right direction.

I have just placed an order for another 58 boats and 130 pallets with the supplier who is Cliff at "3D pluss" on ebay. Cliff makes a fascinating and very wide variety of model railway accessories in OO and N gauge, many of which, in my opinion, could have military modelling applications and he has proven to be prompt and cooperative in responding to my enquiries.

I will post photos of fully painted up vehicles as soon as possible.

CONSTRUCTION OF GS WAGONS.

HOW I MAKE AND PAINT GS WAGONS.

                                                                                                    

Having completed yet another batch of GS wagons I  photographed the whole process of construction and painting  so I can now share these with readers.

GS wagons are the most numerous vehicle in my armies. The total required for the army I am currently constructing is over 450. For the three armies already existing to date I have built almost 1400 !!!! The primary historical reference for these vehicles is the British mark X GS wagon made in large part by the Bristol Wagon Works and used in vast numbers in WW1 but I have also been influenced by the US army's Escort wagon and the products of both Studebaker and Murphy Brothers.

Construction starts with the cutting of balsa blocks. These are 30mm long and 15mm wide and are cut from 9mm thick planks as shown on the left of the photo below. I then take toilet tissue and cut small squares/oblongs which I screw up between my fingers as shown in the middle left and middle right of the photo below. These lumps are then glued to the approximate centre of the balsa blocks as seen on the right. The process is kept rough and non exact so as to ensure the lumps are all slightly different in size and shape as you can see in the photo.These lumps depict the cargo load in the wagons. 

The next stage is to create the canvas tilt cover to the wagon. I use the brown paper that comes from the large paper sacks in which we buy sunflower hearts to feed our garden birds !!!!!!!! These sacks are two ply and I use the inner ply. However you can of course just use regular brown wrapping paper too, I am just addicted to repurposing anything and everything I can to provide raw materials for my modelling activities because I am just odd like that !!!!  The idea behind using brown paper is simply that I have found it to be just the right consistency for this purpose. The paper is best used crumpled and a bit used, it then looks and creases more realistically.  

The photo below shows the roughly cut oblong of paper which is then glued onto the wagon body using hot melt glue around the edges. The paper is quickly and carefully pressed onto the hot melt glue to ensure a good bond all around. Any surplus glue oozes out and creases are created all at the same time. Practice will make perfect but be careful as hot melt glue is very hot and sticks to the fingers, and that hurts !!!!! The final stage of this bit of the process is to trim the brown paper tilt after the glue has gone cold as shown on the right side of the photo below. This can be done easily with sharp scissors which will also cut away any oozed out glue. After making hundreds of these wagons I have never found any two with the same exact pattern of creases which I think adds a lot to the aesthetics of the models.

The next stage  is to treat the end grain of the balsa wagon blocks  with sealer. I use MDF sealer which I find does a good job. This stuff is water based and soaks in well and drys quickly. The idea is to ensure a good painting surface that does not soak up gallons of expensive enamel paint, and it looks better too. I apply sealer at this stage because it is easier to file the end grain smooth after the sealer has dried  rather than later when other elements have been added. I follow the same process with all balsa block vehicles and equipments. For filing the end grain I use emery boards which are actually more effective for this particular task than my Excel belt sander as they are wider and do not create grooves if used too energetically.

The next step in the construction process is to add the shaft. These are made from long (average length 58mm.) flat toothpicks as shown below. Unfortunately these are only available in the USA but most large supermarkets over there stock them. I have bought large quantities over the course of a number of trips over several years. They can however be purchased on the interweb but the postage is high. Of course the best solution is to  actually visit the US or know someone going there !!!!. Please bear in mind that the wastage is high. You will find only at best a third of the contents are good enough to actually use so buy plenty.

Having glued the shaft on, next steps are to glue on the wheels and a towing hook made from a Bambi staple, also readily available online. In addition you will also need to cut and fix a block of 5mm thick balsa to the shaft on which you can mount the horses in due course. These elements are all shown in the photo below.

One last step before we  move on to the painting process is to trim the horse mounting block. I find that when fitting these blocks they are never quite square, therefore , to ensure the horses are fixed straight and level they need to be carefully trimmed by eye using a craft knife or the belt sander. Please ensure you trim the balsa block only and not your thumbs !!!!!!!!! I have a leather thumb stool but rarely remember to use it. Don't be dumb like me !!!!!!!! Once that is done painting can start. The first job of that process is to prime the wheels and the towing hook as seen below.

At the same time I also cut out the horse blanks needed to supply the batch of vehicles I am building and  prime them too. I find that partially painting the horses before fixing improves the strength of the glue joint. Therefore I  paint most of the inner surface of the horses. Do not forget that you will need mirror image horses for each side. The way I cover this is to paint either head up or head down. If you look carefully at the photo below you will see exactly what I mean by this expression.

Next job is to paint the wagons, in my case, olive drab.

At the same time I paint the horses brown, still one side only, again head up or down. Although my wife complains that my horses should be in a variety of colours, I decided long ago to have a standard "issue" horse colour, Humbrol Burnt Leather.

The next stage is to glue the horses to the wagons, ensuring you glue the painted side in. As soon as the glue has dried , the rest of the horse, that is the edges, outside and inside of the head can be primed and then painted brown just as soon as the primer has dried.

Almost there  !!!! Next job is to fix the twisted wire "harness" around the horses as shown below. I buy this wire online, there are many suppliers, just look for twisted wire. I originally used the sealing wire used on franking machine but that is no longer available in the UK. I just make a small hole in the wagon body and then bend the wire in my fingers then push home. Usually I can do it easily but occasionally there is a hard bit of balsa so then I just use pliers to push the wire home. I find no glue is needed. Be careful not to apply too much pressure to the horses during this operation or you will be re-attaching them  again and again and again !!!!

At this point I have a confession. The sharp eyed reader may have noticed that the photos above and  below are different in that the spare wheel has magically appeared on the vehicles below !!!!!! Despite the 1000 plus GS wagons I have now made , I actually forgot to fit the spare wheels to this batch until I was just about to paint the wheels black. I had to hastily fit the wheels and prime them. In fact, the spare wheels need to be added at the same time as the other wheels. I use no glue, just push fit the pins.

The very last job is to paint all wheels black as shown in the photo below. I only paint the outside of the spare wheel black. I paint the underside olive drab like the wagon, it's just easier.

The basic principles of construction and painting described above apply to virtually all the other vehicles and equipments I build. Unlike some of my other vehicles and equipments, the construction process for GS wagons is quite lengthy and complex. Given the quantities I make it may even seem arduous I guess to some readers. However the end results do look really good. To see hundreds of vehicles lined up alongside thousands of soldiers is what, being odd I suppose, gives me a buzz.

SCALE.

WHAT SCALE IS MY ARMY?

I thought it useful to outline the size scale of my army, its soldiers and vehicles.

The basic starting point is the screw soldier. I use ½ inch number 6 screws which are 12½mm long. Assuming a living soldier is around 6 feet or 1.8m  tall that gives a scale of 2mm to the foot or 300mm. That makes a scale of 1/150th by my calculation, give or take a bit, which is the equivalent of N gauge.

I have to admit here that some of the actual sizes of vehicles/horses I use are not quite right but I also take the view that it is just as important that things  look right and are practical as well as being as close as possible to the right scale size.

With that in mind my horses are about 16-17mm high at the top of the head but only 10-11mm at the withers which gives a height of 5½ feet which is 16 hands which is a good size for Cavalry and generous for draught horses. They are  19-20mm long which gives a scale size of 10 feet long. According to the British Army Field Manual of 1914 a horse is 9 feet long so clearly I feed my horses too much !!!!!! However the point is that my horses are close enough to scale.

 As for vehicles, my  GS wagons ( and all other four wheeled vehicles ) are 15mm wide and 30mm long. That gives 15 feet in length and  and 7½ feet in width. According to the book Horse Drawn Transport of the British Army a  mark X GS wagon was 13½ feet long and 6¼ feet wide so I am a little oversized.  My various utility trailers are 15mm square which is 7½ feet each way. The British limbered wagon , on which my trailers are loosely based , was  6¼ feet by 5¼ feet so again I am a bit oversized. The drawing pins I use for wheels are 10mm across which is 5 feet and a British mark X GS wagon had wheels of 4 feet 8 inches in diameter so close there.

I guess the overall message is that some of my models are not precisely to scale but are close enough for me. Finally I apologise for the jumping around in respect of using imperial and metric sizes, it's the product of a certain age which makes me use imperial measures for large sizes and metric for small , which I also do in my woodworking hobby.

CONSTRUCTION OF ARTILLERY.

HOW I BUILD ARTILLERY.

The basic principles of construction for all artillery are the same regardless of being heavy, field or horse artillery. I start with an object that can be used to create a platform, that is an item that can be used as a chassis and gun shield. To that platform I add an axle, wheels,  barrel and trail.

In the case of field artillery the platform is a cut down plastic shelf support stud. I cut off the actual stud and the reinforcing web leaving an L shaped piece that makes a perfect shield and chassis.  The photo below shows the stud before and after being cut down.

For heavy guns the platform is a paint tin clip. Again it forms a perfect shield and chassis as shown below.

For horse artillery it's a little more complex. I use the trail spade from an Airfix 5.5 inch gun kit as shown below. I had a number of these in my spares box from years ago when I made up several of the Matador trucks but not the guns. Clearly I did not have not enough for all my needs so I have made more by means of silicon casting. I made a mould using three of the originals and cast from that. I find the success rate on such a small item is only about 50% but when it works it works well.

All axles are made of square matchstick modelling wood. These are glued to the chassis and the ends drilled very carefully to accept the pins on the drawing pin wheels. A trail is made from a flat toothpick sourced from Home Bargains and cut down and drilled at the widest end to provide a towing eye for the limber. The barrels are made from round modelling wood cut to length.

All assembly is carried out using super glue and activator. I make guns in batches so assembly can be time consuming but the results are good enough for me. The use of the various platform items is just the result of having a need and searching for a day to day object that meets that need. The items I use are all relevant to the differing sizes of the guns.

The three completed guns are shown above . From left to right, heavy, field and horse. The basic historic references for my artillery are British WW1 equipment. That is to say the 13 and 18 pound horse and field guns and the 60 pound heavy gun.

FLAGS.

My army has three types of operational flag. 

The national flag is carried by all battalions and regiments and is oblong, solid blue in colour with a single white star in the first hoist area of the flag. 

Each battalion/regiment also carries a battalion/regimental  flag which is triangular, with a blue field and  the battalion/regiment number in white on the field. The staff is coloured to the arm of service for that particular type of battalion/regiment. In the case of brigade command battalions the main part of the staff is coloured red for command but the top of the staff is coloured to the type of brigade, infantry or cavalry. 

 The third flag is the general's personal flag. These are also triangular with a blue field but the staff is gold and there are small stars across the field, either one, two. three, four or five to represent the general's rank.

This photo shows from right to left, a three star lieutenant general's flag, a two star major general's flag, the battalion flag of 7th army command battalion and lastly the national flag.

The only other flag is the red cross flag which is flown by all ambulance wagons. Other medical vehicles carry a small red cross sign on each side only.

My historic reference for many of the design ideas of my flags is  based to some degree or other on the US army of the Civil war period.

ORGANISATION OF THE ARMY.

The basic tactical unit of my armies is the battalion. Each battalion is a self supporting unit capable of independent operations and includes such functions as medical, administrative, quartermaster, and signals troops and equipment. There are a number of different battalion types including, Infantry, Field Artillery, Heavy Artillery, Pioneer, Quartermaster, Medical, Field Police, Heavy Weapons, Quartermaster Transport and Command together with Cavalry and Horse Artillery regiments.

The basic structure of a battalion comprises a number of operational companies under the control of a headquarters company. Each company is composed of a number of platoons. As examples, an Infantry battalion has 6 combat companies each with three platoons, a Heavy Weapons company of two platoons and a headquarters company which includes medical, signals , quartermaster and staff platoons. A Quartermaster battalion has two transport companies, each with two platoons, a veterinary company and a workshop company, each with  three platoons and a command company again comprising medical, signals, staff and battalion quartermaster platoons. Battalions vary in size from 131 soldiers for a Horse Artillery regiment to 407 soldiers for an Infantry battalion.

These battalions are organised into what I call brigades but which are the equal of divisions in other armies. I currently have three brigade types, Infantry, Cavalry and Army Command.

An Infantry brigade comprises a Command battalion, 6 Infantry battalions, 3 Field Artillery battalions, one battalion each of Pioneers, Medical and Quartermaster. A Cavalry brigade comprises 6 Cavalry regiments, two Horse Artillery regiments,  Quartermaster and Command battalions . An Army Command brigade, under the direct control of the Army Command battalion, consists of a Field Police battalion, a Heavy Weapons battalion, four Heavy Artillery battalions, a Quartermaster battalion and a Quartermaster Transport battalion. These battalions are used to support the army generally or operations by specific brigades as needed. The exact composition of any brigade can be varied to suit particular mission requirements just by plugging in or out battalions.

Brigades are grouped into armies. Each army has an Army Command battalion, Army Command brigade, four Infantry brigades and a Cavalry brigade with a total of 72 battalions.

I have four display units and each houses one army. Three armies are complete and the fourth is now in course of construction. The strength of each army is a little over 20,000 which with the addition of  Army Group troops gives a total Army Group target strength of just over 82,000.

My references for the organisation of my armies  include the US army of both the Civil war and Vietnam eras both of which were generally battalion based and grouped into brigades. I have also been influenced to some degree by the organisation of the original BEF of 1914.

ARTILLERY OBSERVATION WAGON.

Sometime ago I was reading a book where a German artillery officer of early 1914 described using the "observation wagon " to locate British troops. I know the practice of British artillery officers was to use an up turned limber to see further but had not seen reference to a specialised  observation wagon. Such a vehicle sounded very suitable for my army. 

After some research I  found photos of such a vehicle in German service in WW2 but the photo showed the vehicle in the travelling mode. After more digging I at last found a photo of a vehicle from WW1 actually in use showing clearly a telescopic ladder mounted on top of a box like two wheeled trailer. 

I decided to provide my artillery battalions with this equipment. As a basis my standard box trailer was clearly  perfect.  I also use this vehicle as a base for field kitchens, signals and medical trailers and ammunition caissons. Each is distinguished by means of an addition such as a smoke stack, aerial , red cross or spare wheel. The obvious requirement for an observation wagon would be a ladder mounted horizontally in a travelling position. Next question, where to source ladders ?? especially over 40, that being the number of artillery battalions I have in service. I knew I could get ladders from a model railway shop but at what cost ??

I concluded I needed some sort of mesh which could be cut up into suitable scale ladders. Nothing obvious came to mind so I just started looking. A few days later during a visit to Poundland I spotted a pack of two fly swotters for a pound. This looked like my raw material. On getting home I attacked the swots with my modelling knife and soon enough had produced some 118 perfect ladders. After attaching  to a wagon body and painting this is the result.

Since then I have built many of these vehicles which now equip all 42 of my field and horse artillery battalions and regiments.

UPDATE.

This week I have again been able to avoid the dreaded decorating. Apart from some gardening chores  and a little sunbathing !!!!!!  I have managed a reasonable amount of modelling time, perhaps not as much as I would like but better than I expected.

I have made good progress with painting the latest Infantry battalion and have also built a batch of 36 limbers. These I have just started painting today. I have also just begun painting a batch of heavy weapons companies, 6 in number, comprising 228 figures, to upgrade more of my existing Infantry battalions.

Following earlier reviews of the establishments of Field Police and Pioneer battalions, I have now completed reviews of Horse Artillery regiments and Field Artillery battalions. These latter reviews have been prompted by me finally getting round to  equipping artillery formations with observation trailers. The origin of these vehicles and construction details were posted some time ago and can be found under the label of Artillery.

I have always been pleased with myself ( ego !!!! ) on the construction of these vehicles so please look at that post if you have not already. I might mention here, more ego, that the  renowned John Tunstill  (Miniature Warfare, Tradition etc. ) sent me a very complimentary email on that particular post. The photo below shows the historic reference, a German WW1 vehicle.

The actual organisational changes I have made are that each artillery formation has been given an additional limber, light GS trailer and an observation trailer. Each limber comes with two QM men as drivers. Additionally, in order to improve the structure, each Horse Artillery regiment has also been with provided two extra Medics, two extra Signalers and one extra mounted QM Lieutenant. 

 I decided the Heavy Artillery battalions would not need an observation trailer given their long range usage. That said If you have a different view please do let me know. Overall these changes will add an extra 114 soldiers to the army group. 

It also crossed my mind that Heavy Weapons battalions could have the observation trailer, I cannot decide, any opinions out there ????????

The next book review and installment of my IMAGI-NATIONS saga will follow in the coming few days.

FORGE WAGONS.

Forge wagons in my Army are allocated to the Veterinary/Farrier companies of Quartermaster battalions. Each company has four of these wagons which tow a light GS trailer carrying fuel supplies. The principles of operation are that Veterinary/Farrier platoons travel to all the Battalions supported by that particular Quartermaster battalion to "service" the horses of those units.

The historic reference for these vehicles is the German Vorratswagon 96 n/A of World War One as shown in the pictures below.

My vehicles are based on 5mm balsa slabs to my standard size of 30 x 15 mm. I cut two such slabs for each wagon. The second slab is cut into three parts, one of  15 x 15 and two of 15 x 10 all as shown on the left side of the photo below. These parts are then glued together to create a forward storage locker for raw materials with two side lockers for tools etc as shown in the centre of the photo below. I then file the ends of the side lockers to give a rounded profile, add a chimney made from a piece of plastic straw (or environmentally friendly paper straw!!!!) , a shaft with horse mounting block, wheels and towing hook. These operations are clearly shown from top to bottom on the right side of the photo below.

The photo below shows the whole batch of 24 vehicles with all plastic and metal parts primed. If there are any gaps between the lockers, I fill them with Milliput,  file smooth when dry and prime these areas too.

This next photo shows the batch of vehicles painted olive drab.

Here is the whole batch fully painted with horses and harness wire fitted. In case it is not clear in the photo below, I paint the chimneys black both inside and out. For the methods of manufacturing and painting of horses and the fitting of harness wire see my posts on horses and GS wagon construction..

Finally a close up of a single vehicle which hopefully will clarify any lingering construction questions.

When I first started building my Army my standard supply vehicle was a covered wagon. These were made using bits of wire to create the hoops over which was glued tissue paper to give the covered wagon look. Over the years my army was in storage, most of these fragile tissue tilts got damaged. In addition I realised that covered wagons were just too awkward to build in any quantity hence the GS wagon that I now use. However I was left with a number of covered wagons. These became my first Forge wagons as shown below.

 The rear part of the tilt was removed and a chimney added. The remainder of the tilt was repaired with more tissue and lots of super glue, its amazing how strong tissue becomes when soaked in super glue!!!!!!! These old converted vehicles bear a striking resemblance to the Vorratswagon.

Within the whole army group I have a total of 72  forge wagons of both old and new versions.

Construction of Ammunition Caissons.

Caissons are used in all Artillery and Heavy Weapons battalions. Caissons are the link between limbers and the actual guns and provide a substantial supply of ammunition for immediate use. Additional ammunition is carried in the standard Ammunition wagon except in Horse Artillery regiments where reserve ammunition is carried in double caissons towed by limbers. This is in keeping with the philosophy that only two wheeled vehicles have the mobility needed in the Cavalry environment.. I am aware that the use of a caisson between the limber and the gun is not historically accurate as caissons are usually also towed by a limber however I just like the look of the three equipments together.
Construction is based on my standard box trailer described in posts on light GS wagons and utility trailers. The unique feature of caissons is the provision of a spare wheel and a towing hook. The towing hook is not fitted to second caissons in Horse Artillery regiments.

The above photo clearly shows the unique features of the caisson.

Construction of Ammunition Wagons.

Ammunition wagons are issued to Field and Heavy Artillery and Heavy Weapons battalions at the rate of 4 per battalion. The distinctive shape of these vehicles is loosely based on the Napoleonic Gribeauval ammunition wagon. I believe the use of a fixed roof shape helps reduce overloading of the vehicles with heavy ammunition boxes, a historically common problem with GS wagons using a canvas load cover.
The wagons are made using the 12mm thick balsa plank normally used for House bodied wagons. I then carve the A line roof before sanding to final shape. The rest of the wagon construction follows normal procedures as outlined in the post on construction of GS wagons with the sole exception that my ammunition wagons do not have towing hooks.

The photo above shows an ammunition wagon fully built but quite unpainted.                                                     

                                                    

This photo shows a fully painted ammunition wagon complete with horses. The sharp eyed reader will note that it does not have a spare wheel. This is because I only recently started fitting spare wheels to this type of vehicle and therefore there are a large number already in service without spares.. These will be retro fitted when the army currently under construction is completed.
There are will be some  240 of these vehicles in service when the army group is complete.

With my wife on poppy selling duty again this past week, once again I have enjoyed a lot of "play" time. Therefore much has been done this week including completion of the previously mentioned Pioneer battalion, 60% completion of yet another Infantry battalion and a good start made on two Field Artillery battalions. As mentioned before, I tend to build Artillery battalions in pairs because the low number of troops in each battalion makes it more productive to do two at once. In addition the batch of 32 limbers has now been completed. They have been issued to units and the article on the construction and painting process was published earlier. The batch of 24 heavy GS trailers mentioned previously are now complete except for having the spare wheels painted black as shown below.

These vehicles are made exactly like GS wagons except there is no shaft for horses nor towing hook. Instead there is a towing eye. These are made of 30 swg hobby wire which I source from the local garden centre. The wire is cut into lengths of about 50mm and wrapped round a small round file and twisted to give an eye with a tail. A small hole is made in the front of the wagon and the hook pushed in. A drop of glue secures the eye. I hope this arrangement can be clearly seen in the photo below.

I have also built a batch of 32 ambulance wagons to equip Medical battalions. The photo below shows them with metal parts and flags primed and bodies painted olive drab. The next step will be to add horses, which are being painted at the same time as usual, and then complete painting. Construction is the usual for house bodied wagons being a block of balsa 15mm wide and 30mm long  cut from a 12mm thick plank. There is no towing hook but ambulances each fly a red cross flag, which idea is based on US Civil War practice. Other medical vehicles have a small red cross painted on the vehicle side as they are not usually in the front line like ambulances. In all other respects the painting follows my normal practices.

I am still working on the Cavalry regiment previously mentioned. I intend to publish a post covering the whole painting process just as soon as its complete. In the meantime, after finishing the Heavy Weapons battalion, I started a Quartermaster battalion. This is now complete and has been laid out on the display shelves. QM battalions are one of only two battalion types ( the other being QM Transport battalions ) that take two shelves. The first photo shows the command company on the right, the usual utility trailers, ( still awaiting GS wagons )  then there's a gap for the remount ramuda. Next on  the left are the light GS trailers of the yet to be made forge vehicles belonging to the Veterinary and Farrier company. On the far left are the vehicles and light GS trailers of the Workshop company.

This photo below shows the two QM Transport companies that complete the QM battalion. As can be seen each company comprises 8 GS wagons each with a heavy GS trailer.  These transport companies are used to move supplies from railhead to battalion supply vehicles and are historically based on the German army heavy transport companies of WW1. The construction and painting of GS wagons will be covered in a post in the near future.
In the meantime the reader may wonder what historical precedence exists for the  heavy GS trailer.  I have two such references. I have got photos of German WW2 horsed transport columns where two wagons are hitched together to maximise carrying capacity. However my main reference is from the USA where tandem wagons were a common feature of the Old West. They were regularly used by commercial wagon train masters moving supplies from the East to the new western townships before the advent of the railways. Even after the railways they were still used to supply isolated military posts.  In fact one company, Peter Schuttler of Chicago, specialised in building such vehicles. If the reader wants to see such a wagon watch the film  "Dances With Wolves " starring Kevin Costner. Fairly early in the film the hero is delivered to his new fort by just such a vehicle.

Another type of vehicle I have in service in my army is the house bodied wagon , that is to say a solid walled, rather than canvas sided vehicle. These wagons are used as ambulances and workshop vehicles. I have also taken that concept a little further by use of house bodied tandem wagons for office, medical and signals use. Shown below are a few examples. Front to back on the left is a mobile hospital unit, a headquarters unit and at the rear a command wagon towing a heavy signals trailer. On the right is the GS tandem unit. My tactical view on these tandem vehicles is that they are only used for rear service units which would normally use main roads only.

The historical references for house bodied wagons are fairly broad and a bit tenuous. Certainly there were motorised office/workshop vehicles in most WW2 armies. I have seen a single photo of a WW2 German horse drawn house bodied wagon although without any identification of the vehicle and there is of course the rather small British office wagon of WW1 . There is also  the US Army  late Civil war era Rucker ambulance wagon which was heavily used as an office/ headquarters vehicle. However the main inspirations come from the German WW2 C/87 ambulance wagon which seems to have a solid box body and pictures in my Bristol Wagon Works catalogue of removal type vans. I guess taking all these references together tells me that if there was not actually such a vehicle , there should have been !!!!!!! I will continue to search for a vehicle type that fully supports my models, I am sure it existed somewhere.

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.