1/72 Matchbox P-12E another U.S.A.A.C. fighter from the "Yellow Wings" era

 

 

 

       Having built a Boeing F4B-4 and still not having found my painting muse (or perhaps deliberately ignoring her voice) I decided to rummage around in the Heap of Embarrassment and find the "Brother from another Mother" to the F4B-4, the P-12E. Almost identical to the F4B-4 there were minor differences in the landing gear and of course no arrestor gear or life-raft. Three hundred and sixty-six  copies in several different versions served in the USAAC and it was the main strength in the mid 1930s. Of course there is a Wikipedia page that covers this pretty well. 

        The Matchbox kit is cast in two colors; and for once the colors of the plastic and the colors of the originals match well-enough that you could almost just build it and slap the decals on and be quite happy with the result. Of course, I'm not smart enough to leave well-enough alone and decided that I needed to paint the model before assembling it.

Monogram 1/72 Boeing F4B-4 a return to the "Yellow-wings" period

 

 

 

       I'm still running away from painting more Hinchliffe Indian figures, so I had to find something different to do. A quick visit to the Heap of Embarrassment surrendered this little gem, a very old kit of an iconic U.S. Navy fighter aircraft, the Boeing F4B-4. This aircraft (and its near-twin the P-12) stood as the main force of U.S. fighter strength during the mid 1930's. It was celebrated as one of the most maneuverable aircraft ever flown and served as a trainer after retiring from first line service. Small quantities served in other Air Forces around the world. Of course there is a Wikipedia article of interest

Great Big Details on really tiny figures; Wargames Atlantic 10mm Samurai and Ashigaru, WOW!!

        Anyone familiar with my reviews of Wargames Atlantic products is probably aware that I'm a big fan of their products. Their 28mm minis have gone from strength to strength. They have now taken that attention to detail, quality of sculpting and value to an entirely new dimension, literally. Barely larger than a third of the size of Wargames Atlantic's usual product these new offerings are simply superb. The proportions, vitality and detail are all first rate. Combined with the fact that thirty five bucks gets you either 328 or 244 minis makes this an incomparable value, averaging just over eight cents a figure!

       The minis are cast in a medium hardness gray styrene that exhibits no flash and only a few mold-lines. Each box has four identical sprues. All the minis are one-piece figures (aside from the optional Mons that may be attached to figures) including the cavalry. After some rather odd sculpts in the Hail Caesar 12mm set from Warlord I had my worries that the one-piece casting of the cavalry would have problems. Happily this is not the case, the mounted Samurai are simply brilliant! Energetic, dynamic and beautifully detailed, I can't emphasize enough how well executed they are. The rest of the figures are sculpted to the same standard.

 

check out that quantity, I can finally buy "too much" all in one box!

Mikro 72, LWS CZAPLA Polish Recon aircraft

        As a way to take a break from grinding though tons of old Hinchliffe Indians I decided to dig an old kit out of the Heap Of Shame and slap it together. Well, it was an old kit but it was no case of slapping it together, this little baby took some work to sort out. 

       By the time WW2 started it was obsolescent but the brave Polish aviators made good use of it and its ability to land on rough airstrips and grassy fields to stay in touch with forward command centers. Of course there is a Wikipedia article on it.

 

a simple-enough looking kit .....

 

....of an uncomplicated airplane, a small amount of flash,

 but mold technology in the 1970's was pretty primitive

Getting close to the end (at last!) Hinchliffe Mediium Cavalry

        I'm nearing exhaustion with this project. Thankfully I'm also running out of Indians to paint. This batch is a dozen medium cavalry, quite possibly the worst troop type under WRG 6th Ed. More of the same old stuff but I feel compelled to document my misery.

        I'm going to have to take a little break from these to recoup my energy. Maybe another airplane model or a piece of terrain. We will see.

Oh Look! Another batch of Hinchliffe Indian Cavalry!

       Yet another in my quest to paint all of my Hinchliffe Indian army. Twelve more heavy cavalry based for WRG 6th ed.  The Indian army in the lists that go with 6th ed is an interesting force to play. On the surface it is loaded with mega-weapons; elephants, four-horse heavy chariots with extra crew, all of the infantry having a two-handed weapon as a sidearm, on the other hand it is loaded with near useless troops like medium cavalry and lacks any troops that can handle bad terrain. To me it provides a lot of blunt force trauma which fits well with my fighting style. Also they are flashy, which makes them more lovable when they lose.

 

       Now I have only a couple of dozen cavalry left and a bunch of light infantry left, oh, and a couple of elephants and chariots..........sigh.

Successfully Seeking Solace in Styrene, the return to spats, the K-P Avia B-35

        As I grind on my next batch of Hinchliffe Indians I find myself spending too much hobby time waiting for paint to dry. To fill these periods of downtime I dug out yet another ancient kit from the Heap of Embarrassment; an unusual airplane from a tiny eastern European company, K-P's Avia B-35. First released in 1974, I bought this kit when it was relatively new back in 1977 from the Squadron Shop in Madison Heights MI. It had shunted from house to house as I got married, had kids, moved three times and retired, now it's finally getting built. 

       The Avia B-35 was the Czechoslovakian  Air Force's first modern monoplane fighter. It was built with fixed landing gear to speed the test-flights and gain experience in advanced fighter design and construction. It had excellent performance, being a near-equal to the BF-109. Only three were ever built with the third model having retracting landing gear. Of course there is a Wikipedia article on this aircraft as well as it's successor the Avia B-135.

        At first glance it seems a fairly crude model, closer examination proves that to be an entirely accurate estimation of the situation. Plenty of flash and parts deformation combined with some sloppy mold-marking (panels lines, which are inscribed, but don't match up as they cross joint lines) gave me some serious reservations as I started assembly.

 

not a complex kit, check out those helpful instructions!

More 25mm Hinchliffe Indians, Heavy cavalry

 

 

 

not the most effective troops on the WRG Indian list

       Having finished the Lindberg Arado AR-234 I once more turned my attention to the pile of unpainted Hinchliffe Indians. There are a few infantry left and a couple of chariots but the largest body of work that remains is the forty or so cavalry. Picking through that pile I selected a dozen heavy cavalry and got to work. The simplicity of the minis and the very basic uniforms made this an easy paint job, taking only about six hours in all.

 

heavy cavalry with javelin and shield aren't world-beaters under WRG 6th

 

these minis hark back to the days when even irregular cavalry marched in step

        Next up will be a bunch of medium cavalry, which are required under the list and are pretty much useless under WRG 6th, making the painting even more of a chore.

Unsuccessfully Seeking Solace in Styrene, Updated Lindberg Arado AR-234

 

I do so love the old school box art and would pay handsomely for the original painting

         Having painted the Indian elephants and a bunch of odds and ends that had attempted to go AWOL from their packages I again dug around in The Vault seeking the remaining elephants that I just KNOW are hiding somewhere. After a half-hour of searching I was left unrewarded and vexed. I decided to let the matter go for the time being and seek solace in some styrene. The first kit that came to hand was a garage-sale find that had set me back the princely sum of fifty cents; an ancient Lindberg Arado AR-234 that had been manufactured in the late sixties/early seventies and had been started by it's previous owner.

 

the previous owner's heavy coating of paint didn't help assembly

 and an unusually poor fit made this a unsatisfying build 

the amount of putty needed to close the gaps gave me a reason the sand away the huge rivets

Pachyderms and Potpourri

 

 

I got the elephants that I have in hand finished and an odd assortment of others too

        I my rummaging around looking for my errant elephants I ended up digging through a box of minis that have been in storage "for a while" (think that warehouse at the end of Indiana Jones). In the process of this I came across some minis whose packages were so old that the plastic bubble had broken down and shattered, leaving the minis loose on the bottom of the box. I took this as a sign that I should paint them. So I added them to the pile on the workbench and started plugging away. This reminded me of just how much progress has been made in the last forty years in the field of miniature design and casting. Most of these minis were simply horrid. But I had taken the step so there was no going back.

 

 some "interesting-looking" figures right to left;

an English longbowman and Spanish sword and buckler from Campaign Figures

 a Cossack axeman and a Polish infantryman from Hinchliffe

 

 

some rather nicer (and newer) Roman Command from the old RAFM range

 

       Now I must decide whether I am going to confront the Indian cavalry or seek solace in styrene....

25% off all printed books from Helion this weekend!!!

🍂 AUTUMN EQUINOX SALE 🍂 STARTS TODAY!

As the days grow shorter, so do our prices! Celebrate the Autumn Equinox with Helion’s exclusive sale from Friday 20th to Monday 23rd September. Enjoy 25% off on a wide range of titles, including military history, aviation, and more. Whether you’re building your collection or looking for the perfect gift, now’s the time to grab those must-have reads! Don’t miss out – this offer is only available for 4 days. Shop now at Helion.co.uk and fall into great savings!

                         Get 25% off All Printed Books!

 

       The fine folks at Helion & Co. (who have caused me to part with an absurd amount of money over the years) have placed ALL of their printed books on sale at 25% off through this weekend. Helion bravely goes where few other publishers go and has printed dozens, no hundreds, of specialist titles over the last few years. I have almost all of the Century of the Soldier series and I can attest to the quality of the research, the brilliant illustrations and willingness to publish arcane subjects. Take a look, you may be pleasantly surprised.

 

quite possibly the most valuable two cubic feet in my house

although the Osprey Men-at-Arms might be pretty stiff competition

Mining the Mountain of Shame, or The Elephant in the Room

        In my quest to paint every single figure in my Indian army collection I put on my miner's helmet and grabbed a powerful torch and entered The Vault with the intention to gather together all of my elephants so that I could begin painting them. As in all things in Life, it wasn't as easy to do as it was to say. The sea of (often mislabeled) brown cardboard cartons cast up flotsam and jetsam that distracted me from my mission (how did I end up with four 1/72 Airfix HS-129s that aren't in my records?) but eventually I located the box marked "25mm Ancients". This forty-plus pound box was carefully maneuvered out of The Vault and deposited on the small gaming table. Opening one of these boxes is always an adventure as they belong to the Pre-Record-Keeping era so I'm never really sure what's inside. Internal organization consists of how many cards of minis I could cram in rather than any sort of organizing by period or nation, see below:

 

some of these date back to the mid 1970s,

 I felt like Indiana Jones entering an ancient tomb