20 Minute Challenge - Day 33

Day 33 (31 Jan)

Another wreck...I am beginning to hate the sight of plastic.  This one needs the front road wheel to be placed and then based.

20 Minute Challenge - Day 32

Day 32 (30 Jan)

Second LAV completed

20 Minute Challenge - Day 31

Day 31 (29 Jan)

Present in the post this afternoon.  LAV-25s from Wayland games.  Do not like the green plastic these are moulded in.  I am not using these for TY as I do not like the game system at all, but rather I will be using a pair of these in my 15mm Middle East games.  Need to stowage and "busy" these up.  Idea that these will eventually be in NATO 3 Colour

20 Minute Challenge - Day 30

Day 30 (28 Jan)

Another T34/76 wreck.

20 Minute Challenge - Day 29

Day 29 (27 Jan)

Busy weekend so might not get too much completed.  What I thought was an SU-152 kit was another ISU-152.  So I have ended up with another ISU-122.  Means I need one more box to make 2 batteries up ;)

20 Minute Challenge - Day 28

Day 28 (26 Jan)

Lunchtime and Zvezda = Another kit completed.  This time the mighty Jagdtiger.  Need to add some made Zimmerit to this one and have another look at the fit of the side plate as it seems to have come adrift

20 Minute Challenge - Day 27

Day 27 (25 Jan)

A singleton StuG III G made up from the sprue that came with one of the PSC pre-orders was next up

20 Minute Challenge - Day 25 & 26

Day 25 & 26 (Jan 23rd & 24)

Finished off the last M4 Sherman this morning and one last night. I now have a mix of M4A4 and M4A2 variants. 

20 Minute Challenge - Day 24

Day 24 (22 Jan)

A bit of hybrid possibly. M4A2 with M34A1 Mount and Turret Applique armour. 

Essentially the third from the left

As the PSC model has the pistol port, It can't be the later variant. So is either an unmodified (read second from the left model) used from mid 1943.  So read North Africa and Italy and probably not NWE.

Took a left over M4A4 turret pressed into service on a M4A2 hull.  If I can't find a definitive reference this can become a standard M4A4 turret (I have one left over from the ARV variant so this isn't wasted)

Sherman Configuration M4A2 & M4A4

Confused as to which bit goes on which Sherman variant for your M4A2 and M4A4 Shermans in NWE? I am.

From reading this is what I have gleaned.

M4A2
M34 Gun Mount (Narrow Mantlet)
M34A1 Gun Mount (Wide Mantlet)

Choice of either

• 3 Piece Differential Housing
• 1 Piece Differential Housing

M4A4
M34 Gun Mount (Narrow Mantlet)
M34A1 Gun Mount (Wide Mantlet)
3 Piece Differential Housing - not covered in any narrative. Potential that a later reworked vehicle could have it.  But this would be very late 1944 onwards.

20 Minute Challenge - Day 23

Day 23 (21 Jan)

More airpower.  A Revell Microwings FW-190 A8.  Horrible, Nasty kit. Might paint up okay.

See if I can mate it to the Zvezda flight stand.  This needs a bit of work to stick.  Simple solution might just be a bit of Blu Tac

Mojo isn't slipping but find 20 minutes today was a bit of a chore after Rugby

20 Minute Challenge - Day 22

Day 22 (20 Jan)

No vehicles.  Airpower for Barbarossa/Kursk

Zvezda 1/144 Sturmovik IL-2

20 Minute Challenge - Day 21

Day 21 (19 Jan)

M4A4 75mm Variant for the British and Commonwealth.  Spent way more than 20 minutes browsing the IWM collections and there is a lot of confusing pictures. One piece transmissions, wide mantlets, traversed commanders cupolas. Some units had a fixed stowage layout...

Plenty of options to look at.  I will have 3 troops of 3 Shermans (Firely, M4A2s, M4A4) and an ARV variant completed when I get to the end of the current sprue pile.  I probably need a couple of sprues which I will buy individually

20 Minute Challenge - Day 20

Day 20 (18 Jan)

Second M4A2 put together.  Three piece transmission cover and narrow mantlet.

20 Minute Challenge - Day 19

Day 19 (17 Jan)

An M4A2 for my British & Commonwealth forces.  Following a discussion on the guild I have four to make up so will be doing three with rivet transmission covers and one with a cast.  The turrets will be a mix of Wide and Narrow mantlets.  So this one is Narrow and a cast transmission cover.  As with the earlier fireflies I will go back and add all the stowage once they are all made up to make sure they are all suitably individualised.

20 Minute Challenge - Day 18

Day 18 (16 Jan)

The second ISU-122 to join the FOTR Soviets

20 Minute Challenge - Day 17

Day 17 (15 Jan)

Next sprue I reached is a Zvezda BT-5.  I don't have any early war russian equipment any more so this one will just sit in the painting box waiting.

20 Minute Challenge - Day 16

Day 16 (14 Jan)

Late War Soviet time

The Zvezda ISU-152 kit also contains the barrel to make a ISU-122.  So this will be the first of a pair of ISU-122s for FOTR. My existing SU-152 can proxy in until I find some more Zvezda kits

20 Minute Challenge - Day 15

Day 15 (13 Jan 18)

Last of the Sherman Vc completed.  All three of these (plus the box of M4A2s that will appear later) still need additional stowage added

20 Minute Challenge - Day 14

Another Sherman Vc

20 Minute Challenge - Day 13

With so many sprues to get through it is easy to jump between vehicles so not to become stale.  Time to work on some Shermans for the British and Commonwealth forces.

Firefly Vc based on the M4A4

20 Minute Challenge - Day 12

M4 ARV Based on an M4A2 Chassis using the S and S Models M4 ARV Conversion kit.  Also tried out the PSC British Armour spray as an undercoat and not overly happy with the coverage so will repaint this one when I get the airbrush out

20 Minute Challenge - Day 10 & 11

Day 10 and 11 not overly productive. A Pair of M5A1 Stuarts for the British.  The one on the left will be a turretless version. Struggling with getting the skate rail. Might have to see what I can find in the jewellery box as my dexterity isn't good enough to make this out of plastic card strip

20 Minute Challenge - Day 9

Day 9

Bergpanzer III which is a bit of a frankenstein.  S and S Models white metal superstructure on a late PzIII Hull with an Early J track set and engine deck all caused by messing up the track set from the early kit.

20 Minute Challenge - Day 6, 7 & 8

Day 6, 7 and 8 combined output

Sdkfz 250/3 from the spares box and a bit of styrene rod

Cleaned out some of the components from the spare sprues and general clear out.  There are at least:
5 T-34
3 8 Rads
2 Sdkfz 250/3
5 Pz III J - N
3 Pz III F - H
5 Pz IV G - H

Went to the games shop in monmouth and bought 150 card sleeves for the BG Cards and have completed nearly all the German cards.  Duplicate cards that crop between the two sets (Early and Late War have been put in the same sleeve (Back to Back)

Some of the Russian and British Cards have also been cut out but I reckon I need about another 300 sleeves. (There are at least 25 complete sheets to cut up with 12 individual cards per sheet, plus the Indirect Fire and ROF cards).

20 Minute Challenge - Day 5

Day 3 had to to cover for Day 4 as still a bit under the weather so for Today I put two frames together.  A pair of Sdkfz 251/1 ausf Ds.

Getting through the plastic (Pt 3)

Today, I had a quick look in the frame box and found nine more T-34 sprues together with their one piece track options. As you can never have enough T-34 for a BG Kursk game I put together four together this morning as part of my "20 minute challenge".

Still five to go.  As back to work tomorrow 20 minutes will probably mean back to just the one model a day.