BRITISH PILLBOX, UNIVERSAL CARRIER WITH MMG, FLARE GUN AND JAPANESE ZERO

 More items for the Far East, scratch built a British Pillbox found in Malaya, Aussie Universal carrier with a Vickers, Figure firing a flare and a Japanese zero.

AUSSIE UNIVERSAL CARRIER WITH VICKERS MACHINE GUN 

This is a Warlord games vehicle, I scratch built the Vickers and enlarged the front firing port to fit the machine gun.
This vehicle is only available to the Australians.

All the figures are Perry 8th army plastics modified to fit the carrier. The driver is glued in place, while the other troopers have mini magnets glued to the underside of their feet/legs to secure them in the vehicle.

The vehicle crew consists of a Junior Leader and 4 crew, the Leader is the one pointing his finger.

FLARE

A bit of conversion done to get this figure into a firing position, 

You may be wondering why I have this figure firing a flare. We are planning to set one of the tables at MOAB to play the night invasion by the Japanese at Kota Bharu.
As part of the scenario the Allies will have access to flares to luminated the battle field to better target the Japanese as they break through the barbed wire on the beach.

The figure will be placed with the Allies as a reminder that they have access to this asset. 

BRITISH PILLBOX

Scratched built a copy of the same British pillboxes found protecting the beach at Kota Bharu.

Here is a image of a pillbox at Kota Bharu, it was large enough to house a section of infantry. 

Working out the floor plan of the pillbox. 

Paper template used to construct the floor using MDF.

The side walls of the pillbox ready to be glued in place.

Based, painted and flocked ready for the gaming table.

Interior 

Access door.

Firing ports 

Two large firing ports for 2 Bren guns.

Troops manning their positions

JAPANESE ZERO

This is Airfix kit of a Japanese Zero.
The Japanese air support in the Far East rules can  be quite detrimental to the Allies. 

Cheers John 

TRUSS BRIDGE 28mm

Next project for the Far East was to build a bridge, I scratch built it used MDF. I cut out the desired pieces of MDF with the help of my brothers table saw and a Mitre box which speed up the process of cutting the MDF.

Normally the top of the bridge would have more reinforcement  poles however  I reduced the number to 3. This allows for easier access for placement and movement of figures/vehicles within the bridge structure.

The road area is made from a sheet of cardboard glued in place with PVA glue. I also scribed lines on the cardboard with a blunt instrument and added a bit of fine grit onto the road surface and edges.

Undercoated  with black Primer.

Applying a base coat of Vallejo Model colour Intermediate Green

I used this as the base colour for the bridge 

I added VMC Iraqi sand to the base to highlight, also added chipping with Black paint, rust with VGC Carne Marron Tan and a few stains with Agrax Earthshade.
I used VMC Biege Brown as a base for the road and highlighted by adding VMC Iraqi sand to the base.

PVA was added to a few spots on the inner corners of the bridge.

Added Woodland Scenic Blended Turf.

View I some of the detail with some bird poop to the left of the bridge.

I based the bridge colour on this one in Malaysia 

Bridge on the gaming table.

Japanese troops and vehicles crossing the bridge in the Far East.
Onto the next Far East project.

CHEERS JOHN 

LANCHESTER 6 X 4 ARMOURED CAR and BELFORD QLD 4x 4 TRUCK

With the release of the Far East Handbook I have started to work on more terrain and spent this long weekend putting together a Belford QLD truck, cleaning up sprues on Lanchester Armoured car and painted them both. 

The Belford QLD truck is a Rubicon plastic product while the Lanchester Armoured car is a OTP 3D print I purchase many years ago.  The Rubicon model is a sturdy, well detailed model, quick and easy to put together while the Lanchester is sturdy, it does lack sharp detail, however is workable on the gaming table.

I have also started painting up Australia troops in Tropical uniform for the Far East and early days of the Pacific theater. I choose 28mm 8th army Desert Rats plastics from Perry Miniatures for this task. The added benefit of their Khaki uniform does allow them to be used for the  North African theater hopefully when Chain of Command starts to cover that period.

The truck has a 2 tone camo while the Armoured car is mono toned.
I followed the painting technic and colour guide listed on my blog.

The Lanchester Armoured car was used by the 2nd Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders in the Far East.

A bit of trivia for those curious why the crew name their vehicle "Arethuse" "......Arethusa is a girls name is of Greek origin from Greek mythology, Arethusa was a nymph pursued by a river god, who was changed by Artemis into a stream to avoid a fate worse than death....".

The cargo is removable so I can also use it as scatter terrain. 

Cheers John