With the base camo set on the ODA, I'll turn my attention to the base. The wooden round base is produced by Andrea Miniatures and is an excellent starting point for any figure or vignette base. The idea behind the simple base was that I wanted the ODA to be standing in a Wadi (dried riverbed) or beside a low wall in an Afghan compound. The references I used for the colour of Afghan mud structures were various pictures in the news and in documentaries. Often times there will be small clumps of grass on the wall which is where Citadel's middenland grass comes in.

The small section of the wall is carved from a square of solid Styrofoam. Once i had hacked enough of it away to give it an aged worn, earthy look I used white glue to set it on the base. There was a visible gap around the joint and also several gaping holes in the wall which i filled with liquid green stuff. The whole base was given a coat of Vallejo Iraqi Sand and then drybrushed with successive layers of the base colour plus a light grey. Pastels were left off until the figures were ready to be weathered to make continuity easier. Hical, James

Fenrisian Raiders Part I

I'd like to start this series by saying that I am not a diehard Tabletop gamer but halfway through my build of GW's Spacewolves Wolfpack kit I decided that I needed to do a series on how to assemble and paint a cohesive and characterful force. I wanted the force to be based around a core of shooters to form up a line and stand and deliver until all of the bits down range stopped twitching. With that in mind, I bought a Wolf Pack to be completely utilized as a Grey Hunters squad. For those not up and current on the Space Wolves roster the Grey Hunters are the battle hardened troop choice and make extensive use of Bolter battle rifles. The basic kit comes with enough parts to make far more than ten miniatures if you happen to have extra legs, torsos and backpacks from other space marine kits in your bits box!

Shown above are the basic parts involved in creating a single Grey Hunter. Note that I have added extra purity seals and a boltpistol. For this ten man unit I will be adding plenty of spare kit and ammunition to the figures as a unifying factor. Other unifying factors for could be using only helmeted or bare heads, painting pauldrons the same distinctive colour to make that unit stand out or using numerical or iconic transfers. Please stay tunned for more modelling articles to come! Hical, James

ODA Build Part II

When we left off a few weeks ago, the ODA had a single member and the weapons were primed. Two additional Operators have been procured from Legend Productions and are shown here as sub assemblies in a first draft of the vignette.

My source for in-field Multicam can be seen below. Note that I cannot take credit for this image as it had been posted on Facebook.

The points to notice when looking at this fantastic combat photo is the grime on the fatigues; the Multicam is hidden under a layer of Afghan dust. This is a detail that, with the aid of some pigments can really bring the vignette to life. When undercoating the miniatures I considered the composition of Multicam: the base colour-which I took to be a burnt umber/NATO brown. The medium islands, wich were a light olive green, a pale tan and a medium green (a touch above US gunship green). These islands are not traditionally formed or shall we say "volcanic." By this I mean that they seem to be bled together forming a jiggsaw puzzle like pattern. The upper layer is made up of "snakes" or "worms" of black and white. I suggest applying the camo in the order I introduced the colours as this will allow you to form the pattern with greater accuracy and ease. More to come on this build and others! Hical, James

Allan's progress on a 1/24 scale Airfix Mosquito

The following are a few pictures of work in progress on the Airfix 1/24 scale Mosquito VI. I like the kit a lot although storage will be a bit of an issue. However, there are a few areas that needs a bit of upgrading. The wings lack the reinforcing tape, which was applied over the wing spars and under the forward mounts for the rocket rails. There are three approaches I have seen. The first is to use parallel strips of tape as templates, put putty between, and sand back to the tape. The remaining two use plastic strip. Strip 0.005 thick would scale out to 1/8 inch thick and is probably the correct thickness. I saw this used in one build. However, I found that gluing even 0.01 strips resulted in some surface unevenness. I opted to use Evergreen 0.01 thick # 108 strip because was the proper width. This was first attached with Krazy glue and a small amount of Tenax 7 was run along the edge. I applied thick Humbrol oil paint to fill any gaps as well as to guide sanding.

All the plates than had the edges beveled and were sanded down to approximately 0.005 inches in thickness. This picture also shows a template of the rear plate made with 6 mm Tamiya tape. The next pictures show the template applied to the Evergreen strip and the plate in place.

The final picture shows the references used, Mosquito VI by SAM Publications being particularly helpful and still available. (insert picture 0476 here)

The 50th anniversary Abbotsford air show is happening from August 10 to 13, 2012. To get in the spirit, I am posting a photograph of 5 Operational Training Unit Mitchell III, serial KL144, taken at RCAF Abbotsford in the summer of 1945. This aircraft would survive until involved in a take off accident in Edmonton on March 3, 1956. The second photo is of the Canadian Warbird Heritage B25J pictured in Abbotsford after arriving for the 2012 air show. It is parked on the runway just in front of where KL144 was pictured 67 years ago. Hical, Allan

5 OTU final entry

This final installment will deal with three changes to Liberators markings. These were the application of yellow identification markings beginning in the fall of 1944, removal of camouflage on at least the Abbotsford Liberators beginning in February 1945 and the replacement of aircraft codes from around May 1945. These will be discussed in the reverse order in which they occurred. The change of codes was discussed in Part 2. As previously noted, around February 1945, Liberators at Abbotsford began to be stripped of camouflage paint. A picture from March 3, 1945 shows a mixture of both painted and unpainted B 24’s. This loss of camouflage predated the previously discussed change in aircraft codes. Variation between aircraft occurred, with KG880, code “Y”, maintaining painted turret and canopy framing as well as having a triangular olive drab antiglare panel while KH106, code “AP” showed only painted canopy frames. A later picture of this aircraft when coded “VG” shows it with a painted replacement left inner cowling. In addition, partially marked aircraft could be seen; such as Liberator code “AK” flying without serials or upper wing roundels while in formation with another aircraft devoid of any codes. The last change to be discussed was the application of yellow identification panels, with the earliest examples pictured in late 1944. These took the form of 45-inch bands on the rear fuselage, which partially overlapped the aft bomb bay doors, yellow rudders or yellow wing panels from the upper wing roundel to the wing tip. The wing panels might extend straight back to cover part of the aileron. Alternately, some aircraft had the entire aileron painted while others sported overall aluminum ailerons. In the article on 5 OTU by J.E.H. Fail, he stated that Boundary Bay Liberators were to remain camouflaged and to have yellow fuselage bands and rudders while Abbotsford’s aircraft were to be unpainted and to carry yellow wingtips. However, EW216, code “P” was a Boundary Bay Liberator, which had paint removed. Also, photos show yellow bands on Abbotsford aircraft as well as yellow outer wings on some but not all natural metal planes. While yellow rudders were to be used in conjunction with the fuselage band, photos show their use to be sporadic and to have also been used on aircraft with yellow wing tips. All these changes are well represented on Liberator KG931, code ”AK”. This aircraft was photographed at Abbotsford in camouflage with yellow wing tips. Of note, is that it also shows a natural metal band aft of the wing in keeping with the removal of the fuselage band. The aircraft did not carry upper wing roundels. An in flight shot shows “AK” in natural metal, codes moved to the nose, no serial numbers and dark rudders. These were probably olive drab but a side profile of “AK” shows the rudders to now be yellow. As noted, yellow rudders were not universal, with KH174, now coded “VP” showing rudders painted aluminum. I have a soft spot for the Liberator and have accumulated a few references over the years. However, I would like to mention two I find most useful. The first is the recent MMP Books publication “Consolidated Mess” , ISBN 978-83-61421-16-0, by Alan Griffith. This is an illustrated guide to nose turreted Liberators and a comprehensive reference for anyone interested in the subject. The second reference is “Canada’s Wings 2, The Liberator and Fortress”, ISBN 0-920002-01-3, by Carl Vincent. This is an indispensible reference for anyone interested in the history of these aircraft in Canada and the source of much of the information in these articles. The book also stands on its own as a general Liberator reference, the photos of the Leigh Light installation on the ASW B24s being particularly helpful. Although long out of print, it occasionally will show up on Amazon at a reasonable price. Grab it if you can. Hical, Allan