Preparation for Flames of war nationals 2024 that never reached the tournament...

In 2024 I worked very hard and on top of this I also struggled 

to be a good father and this resulted in a painful herniated disc 

in the neck (6-7 vertebral column).

The accident ejected when I came home from the office and 

removed some tires to be used for the winter. This happened on 

a friday and on saturday the 30th of november.

I planned to participate in the swedish nationals in Flames of war.

This never happened because I could not use my right hand and 

my shoulder and arm were also in pain. Weeks of hobby-work was 

wasted for nothing and I started a long

period to recover. Very sad time in my life but now I am feeling 

much better and I look at my life with different eyes and feel so 

grateful that the operation gave me a second chance. On the 

pictures you can follow my hobbywork. I converted a Sdkfz 251/252

to a rare recon-vehicle with a 2cm-auto gun. I also repaired 3 models 

Sdkfz 251/252 with triple-AA-guns using the teeth of a plastic comb.

I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures but hope to inspire 

anyway.

 

Beutepanzers and recoveryvehicles

Finally we have come to my beloved "beutepanzers"(translated 

from german: looted tanks).

These gems are 3d-printed and I like them a lot. First up is the 

heavy KV-1 with a replaced german gun (PAK 40) instead of 

the soviet standard. This model made after a rare photograph 

taken on the eastern fron during world war 2 and the history 

says it was a testmodel and never used en masse. The germans 

were skilled to reuse almost anything that they came across to 

help their army to become more mobile. Next are T-34/76 soviet 

medium tanks that has been upgraded with schuerzen (extra 

armour-plates) and a cuppola. The T-34-tanks in german service

were also fitted with a radio. To make the leading tank more 

visible on the gaming-table I also added a tank-commander.

Two soviet T-70 light tanks will be used as one soviet and the 

other as a german beutepanzer, both are fitted with a tank-

commander. On the eastern front a lot of tanks broke down 

and had to be recovered and I have bougth 2 very nice 

models that I have fitted with soviet tankdrivers to show 

that they are lend lease from the USA. The recovery vehicles 

are Sherman ARV and the second is a Grant ARV.

Last but not least the very nice german Berge-panther with 

a lots of extra details added.

All models will be very nice to paint. To be continued. :)

Damaged STUGs are salvaged

 One of my favourite 15mm-models in the german collection are the STUG´s and STUH´s.

I bought some of these new and some on second hand in various condition.

If you speak about the working horse of the german tank-force you must choose the

Panzerkampfwagen IV and also the STUG. Later in the war the STUG was upgraded with a

powerful cannon (PAK 40) extra protection (sideskirts etc).

Working on my pile of shame I also fix my finnish collection with 3d-printed models(STURMIS).

I like 3d-printed models but cannons and small details can be very fragile and I have bought

a small second-hand stash containing bits to 15mm-models made of tin.

I also added a tank-commander and I will also upgrade with camo-nets and ammo-boxes etc

to add that extra feeling and diversity to the models.

To be continued.

Sdkfz 8 Bufla or PAK43 is the question!?

Looking in my "pile of shame" I found 2 models of german Sdkfz 8 Bufla and also

two bases of dug in artillery-positions but the latter mas missing a vital part...the gun.

I thought to myself why don´t make these models modular!?

In the beginning of the World war 2 the germans built 10 pieces of the 88mm mounted

on tracks and named it Sdkfz 8 Bufla. This bunkerbuster was very effective and was

used mainly in Poland and France but was retired in 1943 (Eastern front).

In a friendly game these Sdkfz 8-models could be used anywhere but if you play a 

campaign or fancy the late war they are not allowed to enter the gaming table.

In Berlin and East-prussia 1944 - 45 the gun on these models could easy become fixed

PAK 43-artillery positions and a deadly menace to any gamer. :)

The PAK 43 was a very heavy artillery-piece and difficult to both operate and move but

when at place it could knock out almost any enemy-tanks at a distance.

I also show one of the legendary 88mm-gun that is similar in strength as the PAK 43.

Next step will be to repaint all of the shown models on the pictures.

Have a nice and sunny weekend!

 

Soviet creative tank-projects

When it comes to gaming 15mm and especially Flames of war I really like the

diversity of models on the gaming-tables.

My collection of these small "gems" is ever growing and to collect is a big part

of my hobby so far. On my shelf I have German, Soviet, Finnish and Japanese

models in the 15mm-scale to play Flames or war or similar games.

During the pandemic I bought both the Soviet T-43 and SU-76i but the boxes

has been almost forgotten until today. The T-43´s are all from Battlefront but

the SU-76i are a mixture of 3D-print and Battlefront.

T-43 was built in 1942 and was intended to replace both T-34 and KV-1 as an up-

armoured medium tank but was never mass-produced when the T34/85 became

logical choice .

The SU-76i is originally a german tank with the gun/gun-turret removed and replaced

by a soviet superstructure and fitted with the 76,2mm soviet anti-tank gun.

About 300 Panzer III´s and STUG´s were a part of the loot when the germans surrendered

in Stalingrad and they were transported to soviet factories to become the SU-76i (the "i"

stands for inostrannaya and means foreign in russian).

Both models in my opinion had fragile gun-barrels so I decided to replace and scratch-

build them using leftovers from"bits-sprues".

I like both models and it will be fun to paint them in the near future.

Fixing missprints

When I 3d-printed vehicles I also got some misprints for free.

Instead of using them as wrecks I tried to save them and made some

renovation. It was mainly the wheels that got some kind of error and

I made new ones using bits-leftovers.

After some work I have revived:

3 models of Zis 5 (soviet tank truck)

2 models of Opel blitz 3,6-36 S/SSM (german cargo-truck on tracks)

3 models of T-26 (soviet ligt tank)

2 models of GMC 2,5 tonne cargotruck (US)

3 models of M3/A1 armoured scoutcar (US)

Flames of war - Halmstad game-tournament, May 2024

Early May this year I attended to one of the bigger and nicer

events in my opinion, Flames of war - game tournament!

The tournament was situated in a very nice building in the

center of Halmstad near the Nissan-river.

The house was built in 1912 and has the very best character

in my taste (architectural details, spacious and big windows

and not least parquet floors made of solid oak.

On top of all of this written above the persons that organized

the tournament were all very inviting and I felt more than 

welcome as a newbie-player from the countryside. :) 

At arrival we was briefed about the rules and also how

to play and which person to face in the game.

The tournament also handed out prices to the winners of

the game but also i the class, best painted models/figures.

Very nice tournament that will be held once again in 

august this year at same location.

For more information visit "Flames of war Sweden" on

Facebook. 

Next report will be published about my two games at this

tournament. To be continued!