T-55AMVs in 15mm Complete!

It only took a couple years from purchasing the base kit, through starting to cut my first pieces of styrene for the skirt armor and adding the first reactive armor bricks in green stuff, to painting!

But I am pleased with the results.  Not high grade sculpting, not scale model quality, but great table top gaming quality (i.e. you can touch them, and drop them, without worrying too much about damaging them much).

Details are from the third tank I did.  When I got around to this one, I had the process of sculpting the armor down to a science (or near enough), and am most happy with the level of detail I achieved.  I almost exceeded my goal of conveying these were the upgraded T-55s through a minimum of detail...  Yeah, I really wish I felt I could have spent more time to do these better.  However, I did compensate for the lack of sharp sculpted detail with some paint highlights that force the perspective, and the results are more impressive than I was looking for!

Painting included the use of Krylon Camo tan for the primer, and then my usual assortment of Delta Ceramcoat acrylics (Dark Forest Green, Trail Tan, and then highlights), and Game Color (gun metal metalic).

This platoon is ready for action in the Fulda Gap with Team Yankee, or some third world brush war in the modern era with Force on Force!

T-55 AMV in 15mm Udate! 08SEP18

So, a while back I mentioned picking up platoon of Battlefront Miniatures Arab/Israeli Wars "Fate of a Nation" T-54/55 tanks for us on the Arab side of that conflict in 15mm game form.

Well, I have an update!

You can see I printed out Takom/Mig's free paint guide, and I scaled a photocopy of George Bradford's "AFV Plans: Cold War Armored Fighting Vehicles" from Stackpole Books.  In this case, it was the older T-55AM update to the venerable system (skirt armor, additional turret armor, electronics) which was the update closet to what I was looking at.  At any rate, the scale drawing gave me a great template from which to measure.

For the skirt armor I used .042" sheet styrene (Evergreen).  I approximately scored the the seams where the skirt plates are separate with carbide tipped scribing tool (mostly used for machining where you layout your metal parts, but re-purposed for the hobby bench like most other hobby tools).  These sat around for a couple years with the rest of the kit.  Finally, a couple weeks ago they got pulled out and super glued to the resin body assembly of the Battlefront kit.  After these parts dried, I pulled out good ol' green stuff two part epoxy and went to town sculpting the ERA (explosive reactive armor bricks).  While the green stuff was curing on the hull assembly, I worked on the turret ERA and laser designator/enhanced optics over the main gun.  I had done  the main gun a while back with the skirt armor.  It was by far one of the easiest tasks for this project.

I'm not entirely happy with my lack of detail.  But then, they are 15mm game miniatures.  There must be a bit of compromise between detail and ability to pick it up and move it around on the tabletop battlefield.  That, and I just wasn't up to the task with my life in its current state of perpetual busyness.  I wouldn't compromise the parenting part of that for the world.  After all, my older sons follow along to the game shop and play games, that or pester me at home!  So, I'm 1/3rd complete on the conversion side!  Sure, it takes me more time to do so these days, but that is fine.  The point is to keep doing it because I love it.  It's a hobby, not a job.

Red Forces now include insurgents!

One would perhaps think it odd that someone like myself would be painting 15mm miniatures of enemies he faced in Iraq about 10 years ago, mostly because those same enemies still occupy parts of Iraq under a different name (but from the same root organization)...  But somehow, I'm not bothered by that as much.  I figure that gives me a slight edge in knowing how to paint and play them using various rules systems and exploiting the advantages of being an insurgent as opposed to a uniformed force.  

That, and I can paint them how I want, and justify it by personal experience...

These are the awesome Khurasan Miniatures modern middle east line (http://khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/modern-middle-eastern.html), starting with AFGHAN-WEP-COM, which are the PK and RPG armed squad.  I figure they can form the basis of what I call the CAKTs, or Chechen Armor Kill Teams (for further reading, anything by Lester A. Grau is recommend: http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/rusav/rusav.htm & http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/Rusn_leslrn.htm).  I plan on following the concept of teaming RPG/PK gunner teams across an urban landscape some day in the future on the war games tables.

What can I say, I'm a student of history, and that is the biggest draw of wargaming for me.  Simulate history, and see how you react.  

Here are more detailed miniatures in Central Asian (i.e. Afghan/Pakistani/Caucus region garb) from Khurasan Modern Combat series (Item MOD-2) containing a terror cell leader hiding in the mountains (BinLaden style) and a stereotypical hostage (screaming objective marker, because capturing hostages feels better than smashing a terror cell just for a laptop the might contain real world intel worth seizing more a stupid journalist who sympathized with sociopathic murdering 13th century religious fanatics just to get a scoop for the Times...).  Sorry, can't help with the commentary sometimes...

As we have come to expect, Khurasan hires great sculptors and casting companies, and my photography attempts and poor paint job do no real justice the incredible detail of the miniatures.

I unified my red force irregulars with khaki trousers (you know, the old school Soviet Motorized Rifle Regiment type from the 70's/80's that were left lying around...) and either desert style or woodland style camo jackets (again, more eastern European style camo, left lying around after a withdraw from the region in the late 80's/early 90's).  So, early war stuff.  Digital camo is hard to capture in 15mm.  But even the dots of paint can be construed as that at this scale!

2017 Welcomed in the Dungeon, SEAL Direct Action Team with JTAC painted

New Years was spent playing the WotC boardgame Dungeon (the 2012 version anyway) with the boys.  Instead of playing with the cardboard pieces WotC uses, I pulled in some of my Khurasan Miniatures Tom Meier Collection Fantasy Master Pack 15mm Miniatures.  Not only are they top notch sculpts, with penny bases, they worked out great on the Dungeon board as well as adding excitement for a 6, 8, and 10 year old boy.

15mm Tom Meier Sculpts from Khurasan Miniatures taking on WotC's 2012 Dungeon

To match the cardboard pieces, I've painted the penny bases with the colors of each class based on the color of the cardboard counters.  Red for Wizard, Green for Rogue, Purple for Fighter, and Blue for Cleric.

I also finally finished my SEAL (or other SOCOM) 8 member team.  I decided to keep it simple and do desert colors.  This reflects the use of camo by the Dept. of Navy, be they SEALS or MARSOC, or even Army and Air Force from tri-color DCU days.  At any rate, this eight member team includes one sniper with M-14, an M-249 SAW gunner, a JTAC with radios (and whatever might be flying in a few hundred mile radius that can drop something...) and 5 members with M-4 carbines.  Given rules for most games (for example, Osprey/Ambush Alley Force on Force), even those 8 members, properly utilized, are a force to be reckoned with!

I was very pleased with the acrylic ink wash I used instead of wood stain this go around.  For one thing, drying time is minutes, not hours!  Once again, on both sets of miniatures, I mixed used, dried, coffee grounds into the burnt umber paint for the bases.  Perfect 15mm ground texture for a rocky arid environment!  I'll have to find the link of the guy who got me into doing that... 

09JUN15 15mm Strykers

Before getting my BMP's from Khurasan, I received my QRF Strykers from the American dealer, Scale Creep Miniatures.

 Wasn't it nice of them to send me a couple of suckers?!  As you can see, I ordered three Stryker IFV, Infantry Fighting Vehicles (or is it Variants?).  These are your 'vanilla' Stryker variants, and the basis for all other variants.  There are lots.  But only the IFV's in 15mm for now that I have found.  At least for the moment.  Though in 10mm, I've seen the others, such as the Mortar Carriers, Engineering, Scouting, and others.  Common 15mm makers, catch up!  Lets just say, they are on my bucket list...  I'm a proud Styker Brigade Combat Veteran after all.

I'm pretty happy with the level of detail QRF put into these Strykers.  All hatches are modeled closed, and the bodies are pretty solid (they are 'hollow' in that on the underside they are open to save material and reduce weight).  This is not a limitation for me, as the rigors of the wargaming table would result in damage to any open hatches in this scale!  They certainly were made to be handled on the table.  Being pewter, once assembled, they commend the weight and respect traditional pewter gaming miniatures just feel they have.  It almost makes you want to use lead fishing weights on those plastic kits...

I cannot say the quality of casting was perfect.  There was quite a bit of cleanup required.  Just look at that Ma Deuce (Browning M2A3 machine gun) on the RWS (Remote Weapon System).  This barrel is shorter than spec, and tappers horribly.  I'm going to have to either live with it or cut it off and finagle a new barrel out of a needle or pin.  The racks along the rear of the hull (they aren't the standoff slat armor, and if they aren't racks, they got used that way anyway) required some pulling into shape.  The cooling of the pewter resulted in these being slightly warped.  Really, that was a minor nuisance.  One expect that from pewter, and even resin.  Some of the mold lines required some filing.  Based on the single piece cast in pewter, it was to be expected.  I didn't need any filler, again, a result of a single piece casting.  Small scale has its advantages.

OUCH, barrel melted...

Tires required a bit of cleanup on the bottom.  Not a big deal again considering they are cast from pewter.  These shapes don't always lend themselves to good mold lines.  I had to test fit and file a few to get them pretty level.  These miniatures almost don't need a base, but for uniformity they are likely going to all get glued to a 2.00 x 3.00 inch base (metric people, 25.4mm = 1.00 inches).  

Once cleanup was complete, assembly proceeded without any hitches other than assembler error with gluing the RWS onto the top of the first Stryker before priming and painting.  Don't do that.  You need to leave the RWS off so that you can rest the model on its top to prime and paint it fully.  

What the RWS and Ma Deuce should look like...

While there are some quirks to QRF's product, it is indeed solid and serviceable for the wargame table.  In fact, I'd say I'm very happy with the level of detail they put into these models and I won't hesitate to buy more when the time comes to expand my vehicle collection.  I just hope they make some more of the other variants.

07JUL2015 "BIMP" spotted...

Soviet designed, and very first, Mechanized Infantry Fighting Vehicle (MICV) BMP-1 that is.  This one is a Khurasan Miniatures  15mm/1:100 scale version.  I ordered these back in May, and they were worth the wait.  Khurasan is a small miniature company based out of New York (the state, not  the city).  While small in corporate footprint, their work is nothing less than spectacular in the world of 15mm wargaming on this side of the pond (as the majority of the hobby is produced in merry ol' England).

Being a fan of Osprey's publication of Ambush Alley Games "Force on Force" and "Tomorrows War" I jumped at the chance to spend my tax return money (thankfully I got one this year...) on a good force.  Having spent some time in service in the USAF TACP training to hunt Soviet trained and equipped forces (no matter how long the Cold War ended, American and Soviet methods and equipment are still the two most proliferated in the world, even with local modifications and upgrades), I decided to dig up some TO&E from an old manual (FM-100-2-3) and make a Mechanized Rifle Regiment (MRR) rifle company.  Another good reference is the suggested force list in the back of "Force on Force".  I like the FM reference a bit more, with some added information from sources that have come forward since the end of the Cold War.  I've read about extra machine gunners attached to platoons, and in the Warsaw Pact Forward Area MRRs facing NATO, a couple of extra BMPs at the company level carrying laser/optic jamming gear.   Such variations are to be expected, as any good military organization can be that flexible.

Good cast parts on the BMP, with some 15mm QRF Strykers
in the background...

I ordered three BMP-1s from Khurasan along with their Motorized Rifle Platoon set of miniatures.  I look forward to getting the miniatures done next.  Today I'm going to discuss my building of the first BMP.  Upon opening the plastic bag and pouring out the parts, I must say I'm very impressed by the quality of the resin casting from this small company.  Very little cleanup was needed compared to other resin parts I've worked with from bigger manufacturers.  Just some slight mold lines here and there to tidy up, and the mold sprue lines were sized just right to make them easy to remove with just a No. 11 hobby blade and not have to grind with a rotary tool.  Mold lines were so well chosen on all the parts, including the pewter, that I hardly spent any time scraping or filing.  I did have to clean a bit of the sprue from the rear of the vehicle to make room for the doors.  If you look closely enough, you will see that Khurasan made the master with a very good 3D print.  This does not effect the detail in any way, as being familiar with armored vehicles, slight imperfections are only going to add to the realism when they are painted.

A close inspection of the deck shows the 3D printed pattern of the master, dwarfed by many fine details
including the drivers periscopes and screws holding the vents and other panels in place.

Only a little cleanup needed here.

Assembly was pretty easy.  I did have to reference some photos of BMPs to ensure I got the right door in the right spot.  I thought about making the doors open and getting some crew figures, but the rigors of handling during a game would make that a bit labor intensive on the constant repair side.  Last thing I want to do in a game is fix a miniature or lose a part.  I am only worried about the the AT-3 on the turret over the barrel.  In 15mm, these are TINY and don't have a lot of surface area for glue to form a bead and hold it in place.  Caution will need to be exercised when handling this piece!  Keep the super glue solvent handy along with tweezers, this is a part you will likely glue to Mr. Hand during assembly.  For once, luck was with me and I did not glue myself to the project leaving 1:1 scale finger prints.

Assembly went well with the tracks fitting the body of the BMP with a tighter tolerance than some more expensive plastic kits I've built in the past.  The only gaps were the along seams that exist on the real vehicle.  No filler putty was required.  Each of the road wheels could be glued into place along the bottom of the body, however I like the way the tracks were flexed slightly on the bottom.  This can add to the model when based on the appropriate terrain, as few armored vehicles I've ever seen have perfectly level tracks in contact with the earth.

Pewter parts attached to resin with good points of contact along hatch edges and hinge points.  Troop commanders door was a bit rough though, being a half moon shape, it fell into the hatch a few times.  Good candidate for gluing open for those who choose to do so.

I look forward to priming and painting this kit.  Khurasan Miniatures are well worth every penny and any wait to receive.

BMP-1 from Khurasan completed

BMP-1 from Khurasan, rear troop doors.