Ok getting pissed off because every time I insert pictures it removes all my typing.. I typed a grand explanation as to how I built my electric fly swat static grass applicator.
It works fine.. except.
I want to put a DC supply into it but this might not be so good as it restricts movement.
Use good batteries.
Make the ground link wire light and flexible and reasonably long. I used wire to stiff and it occasionally tips over the base your working on.
Well I completed the job that was started well over a year ago.
On Saturday last I handed over the army to its rightful owner.
He was very happy with it and I must say I was pretty chuffed with what I achieved with it too.
The whole project is a bit of a prototype for what I want to do with my other armies.
As I’m running out of storage space I want to crate my armies too in way I can use them straight out of the box.
So the army was developed in the army builder tool on the FOW website and I made it up into the crate.
The crate is based on real dimensions of real ammo crates from WWII. Obviously I cannot get real hinges and clasps.. although I tried.
The only people making reproduction hinges and clasps won’t sell any because there A holes.
The crate was made from real cheap fencing grade pine and hand planed and routed into shape. The nailing was left neat.. I didn’t clinch the nails but I did nail from opposite sides to keep it in shape.
The hand hold ropes are sash window cord. A bit softer on the hands than real hemp rope. I should have pig tailed one of the handles and I forgot.. so it flips into the crate instead of out… but hey?
So the crate is quite long … any longer and it wouldn’t have fit into the boot of the car… that was luck.
The crate has cleats on the top and bottom surfaces. i stuffed up the top cleat and they are not symmetrical. But otherwise the bottom ones are slightly offset so if you had two crates they would stack
I hand cut a stencil and labelled the crate on the three sides. It really makes it.. otherwise it’s just a box.
The interior is split into rows for the bases. each row is fenced with a stick of MDF which is set into a groove which was routed onto the base before fixing to the box carcass. The colour coded felts are PVA glued to the box.
The bases of all the units have a coding so you can keep them together. The colour coding and the base code is printed on reverse on a photocopy paper then laid on the box lid interior and Acetone applied and stiff rubbing applied. This transfers the image mostly to the wood. Then a polyurethane varnish is painted over to set it. n aerosol varnish would probably be less noticeable.
A window sash cord was attached inside as a lid stay. The cavity is there to allow the cord to fold into the box when closing the lid.
The air support aircraft.. here is a P47 Thunderbolt was set in a piece of timber routed out to house the felt to sit it in. The stand is a new new one that is tall. The attachment is magnetized. The bailed out markers have there own well too.
There is also plenty of space for the other vehicles the owner has.
Besides the label tabs you can see two of the three objective markers. There are two bronze star objectives and one purple heart marker. The PH marker is the third one… obviously.. if you’ve ever played fighting withdrawal you know why. Each was made with a medal from the BF blister packs, glued onto a MDF piece and sealed with multiple coats of PVA and polyurethane. each is numbered o the reverse.
I was going to make an interior book shelf over the infantry but never got around to it.
Here is a close up of the interior. Showing the spare two command teams here.. this allows the air stick platoons to be deployed. The army list this is based on is a late war set where they didn’t have two command teams.
The guns arn’t glued to the base… my bad.
The staff teams have ammo boxes around them.
The observers have radio aerials of wire… which can stab! The Sherman’s use brush wire which is so much better.
So there you have it… army in a crate…
My next project… super big orc army.
Well the M4A3E tanks are finished.
I weathered them with Tamiya powders and varnished with dull spray varnish. The decals went on very well using Vallajo Decal softner and decal setter.
The decals from Doms Decals were very good. I wish however the recognition stars were bigger. The battle front decals were a bigger size and look better.
The crew were painted up and the Bailed out markers made. I made 4 markers and used the fifth crew chopped down to make the commander in the hatch of tank number one.
Each tank has a number in the turret well as well as on the underside of the turret itself.
The tank platoon comprises solely of M4A3e (e stands for early war) Sherman tanks with improvised armor. They are a stunningly good model. I do wonder however if the turrets are a bit squat compared to the standard vanilla Shermans?
The bailed out markers are glued on to 10c coins as they are very close to the same diameter as a BF plastic bailed out marker. Early game tradition was to use a small game stand. But I have decided to undertake a hybrid between the easy to use markers and the nice to look at bailed out tank figures. The US figures suit being based individually.
The bases shown are not finished. They need to be sanded lightly around the putty to take off the rough edges. Then painted green in the middle and red around the outside. Then the letters will be flooded with white paint. Finally polyurethane varnished.
Considering making some destroyed markers… but unsure what would be the best way to do that.
Anyhow .. pictures as always..
The two standard tanks are so obviously different that they make ideal Command tanks (If you chose to field an armored company with them). Mighty Adam is the CHQ tank and the M4A4e is the 2iC. The M4A1 (cast rounded hull) moves 12″ and the 2iC is a M4A3 which moves 14″ with it’s Detroit engine.
These tanks are useless in the airbourne list as you can only take one platoon of tank support. The other platoon is either tank hunters or stuart tanks.
The full M4A3e platoon – with improvised armor of sandbags. Probably a must have with late war Germans with Panzerfausts and Panzershrecks. All the tanks have radio aerials in the right place. I was astounded to see in alot of posts on the web that people were putting the .50 cal machine cannons in the hole were the radio aerial goes. But hey they all have .50 cal guns.
The commander is a bailed out figure cut at the waist. Luckily hte pose looks well as he has his arms at the waist.
The bailed out markers.
If you ever need four of these at once.. you know your in trouble or that you shouldn’t have assaulted that infantry position without pinning them first
I chose deliberately not to have a smear of blood on the helmet figures arm… I figured a bashed arm doesn’t have to bleed to be seriously painful.
Well that’s about it… I have to add some artillery ammo crates to the howitzer bases, wire fix the guns down and that’s about it. I think this entire project has taken me a year to do.
