Jim Ripley

While the Churchill kit gives you the Petard mortar , you still have to scratch build the side mounting brackets for AVRE equipment ( red ) and change the bow gunners hatch ( blue ) .  S&S models make these pieces in pewter .   Wish I’ld known that before I scratch built the pieces for mine

Still looking for info on this kit . And wasn’t there a water line version of the DD with raised screens at one time or am I imaging things ?

So just the round hatches ( gunner /commander ) can be shown open , thanks . Was hoping the large square crew hatch was also a separate piece , will have to rethink my plans ….. was going to use the newish Bad Squido winter tank riders and tank crew figures . Keep hoping Warlord / Italeri will  release  a plastic one as they have the lower h…[Read more]

Only ones I have seen are on the sprues of the new plastic figure sets ( Cowboys & Cowgirls ) for Dead Mans Hand .  IRC you get 2 per sprue , and they come “broken  ” in  2 pieces so you can model them  being reloaded .

I build my figures to fit in a specific spot on a specific tank so I tend to glue them on . That being said I do have a few generic seated figures that can be put anywhere if needed .  I have had a few ideas for removable figure groups  though . Tiny rice grain sized magnets might work  in the figures feet if the plastic engine deck is very th…[Read more]

Those look really good .  It’s a pity the early Brits and Germans aren’t compatable with the later plastics .. although  I have used some of the arms on Rubicon figures . You never know where you’re going to find bits that work .  Anybody tried cross kiting Wargames Atlantic arms with Warlord figures ?

Not done much hobby most of the summer bu…[Read more]

You could fire a Panerfaust , Shrek or Bazooka from inside a building but the back blast of pressure and extreme heat , would kill or badly injure anyone in the room behind you , besides probably setting the building on fire

That sounds very cool Allan . Do you have any pictures to share ? I think  SOLIDO metal military vehicles  would work with BA as they are close to 1/56 IRC . Of course when they were available in stores I was building  1/35 scale kits , the only one I managed to find at a swap meet  is an AMX  13 tank , nice body detail but lousy tracks IMO . Prob…[Read more]

Those guns look great .  For me the hardest part would be getting a good looking  gun barrel / breach built .  A good “cheat ” would be the extra barrels that you get in the PSC Russian 45mm AT gun kit  .  Wheels could also be a problem ,  is there any after market 1/56 wheels out there ? I’ve used Tamiya 1/48 wheels from bits I picked up at a hob…[Read more]

That MG 42 mount looks awesome . I might attempt that in 1/35 but 1/56 is too small with my bad vision and fat fingers .lol  Best I can do is kit bash the kit parts with bits and pieces from the parts box . This is the crappy flat looking  MG that comes with the Stalin II kit , with added ammo box / ammo , hand grips and balance cylinders , to g…[Read more]

He’s got some really cool stuff on his channel . Really love his dug in Panther hull .

Some very easy but well thought out kit bashes there . Your right K98 , some  can be a real PIA even if you done kit bashing for years . I’ve always liked Troop of Shewe’s conversions . Here’s a couple of his photos  I saved from the old Warlord site ( from 2014 IRC ). I’ve tried to cut / bend some Brit troops to make seated figures like these b…[Read more]

I thought the  machine gun came with the top plate as a separate piece ,but I cant find the leaflet with it shown  . I thought it was the late war Heer ( Warlords 1st German kit , skinny arms / weapons sprue )  but I only ever ordered them during the sprue sale for parts so got no instructions .  Love the sub machine guns / MGs in that set but the…[Read more]

Nice work on the SPR figures , those will look great when painted . So you build and then paint ? I paint on the sprue then assemble and touch up .Your VI MG team looks like a 3D puzzle , did you also swap legs on the gunner ? I find the flared tunic on the Germans and Russians makes it easier to swap legs , no crotch to worry about like on the US…[Read more]

I’ve tried to have them as separate groups of 3 or 4 but they just didn’t sit well on the tank so I finally broke down and glued them on . It did involve a few leg swaps to make them fit as  IRC I  mostly used only 4 body types from the sprue .  I  wanted to put as many troops as I could on the tank engine deck   , but 9 was the best I could manag…[Read more]

Sorry to hear you both had problems building  figures .  I think I’ve built 3 boxes worth and I love them . On the other hand I have a real hard time painting one piece metal figures , god I hate them . Love the sculpts but hate the painting .  And it is getting harder for me to see  the fiddley bits too when assembling kits , but  I’ve found a ma…[Read more]