The Enemy Below DE 181 - June 11, 2020

Welcome back!  As we approach Father's Day and (hopeful) Phase 4 here in Illinois (so we can get our complex pool open), I have returned to the work bench aka dining room table.  I have made some painful progress as you will see.

This shows the additional PE for the stack platform (a real bugger) and ladder.

Installation of PE railings begins on the upper deck.  I tried painting the inside of the railing before installing - my success I consider mixed.

We are now officially the movie DE -181, USS Haynes.  I used the kit supplied decals, cutting the D and the E and using the verticals for "1s", then the number 3 and touched in white paint to close the 3 into an 8.

The two piece mast is an easy install, but I did use the xacto to cut in a slot in the top to seat the PE radar (instead of using the solid kit part).

Mast is now painted after I added the PE ladder.  As with all of the additional PE I kept studying historical photos and the opening credits of the movie which provides good views of the Buckley Class USS Whitehurst aka USS Haynes.

Bow railing, Port side - again, study of the movie credits revealed the use of this type of railing forward.

Now begins the insanity that I have  been dreading.  This rigging is easy to pick out of all photos.  I tied four lengths of monofil. in a knot and glued the knot to the rear of the bridge deck.  I tied the eight individual strands to the mast arm.  While these are not supposed to be taut it is impossible (for me at least) to have the monofil. to appear to be stretching aft with the wind.  Oh well!!  Still the monofilament thread has it's own laws of physics that can lead to modeler insanity if not careful.  Plus and minus charges exhibit themselves causing it to act in ways contrary to what the modeler wishes.  rotation and entanglement abound and this is after quite a bit of experience with this material - enough about that, but be warned!

Additional rigging continues from much study of fuzzy distant historical photos which show far too much confusion and wire everywhere that I can't possible duplicate at this scale.  So I go with what I see, what seems to make sense and what can be practically be accomplished.  The plastic mast is too flexible to allow for taut looking rigging.  I wish manufactures would include brass masts in the kits.

Port side railings are painted as my research of  the movie continues both Fore...

....and aft.

Back to the work bench now to complete the starboard railing and finish up  the rigging.  When this blog continues I hope to have figured out the ocean diorama.  Good luck to ME!

Empress Miniatures Recon Marines Pt II

I knew I wanted a USMC Recon / 101 LRRPs look to these minis, and nothing is more evocative of that look than Tiger Stripe camo.

How, and what colors to use? Employing my

homemade "shade card" I found a few 

colors I thought would get me in the ballpark. 

Black or German Grey over German Camo Beige, with some streaks of Pastel Green.

Put some colors down on some white cardstock for a test.

I liked the one at right, using black, and the Pastel Green applied almost dry brush, with the brush perpendicular to the surface.

Then to see how it looks on a mini, I chose one GI and painted his fatigues and boonie hat a base of German Camo Beige.

Next, it will be randomly but heavily streaked with Pastel Green. 

Once that's dry, come the black stripes. That's make or break time. Time to decide how small a brush to use.

A 10-0 brush, partially dry. I think the result is acceptable. Will post additional pics with shading etc. once it's completed, try to blend it in a bit.

Now, flat spray and then basing.
Here's the rest of the squad. Did some preshading with old reliable armor wash before laying down the stripes. 

Now to work on shadows, highlights, faces.

Unboxing Empress Miniatures Vietnam Marine Recon

Now, for something moderately different....

The Vietnam conflict is not nearly as prevalent in wargaming as most of the wars that preceded it, and as such, finding figures, vehicles, and other materials to use requires a bit more searching, but they're out there.

One such manufacturer is Empress Miniatures in the UK, whose US stockists include Age Of Glory Historical Miniatures in Baltimore,  MD, the source for these being reviewed. I placed my order for "NAM16 Marine RECCE Team" (as pictured on AOG website)

described as follows:

"Marine RECCE Team

This pack represents a standard recce 

Marine unit....Figures contain a leader, scout, 
corpsman, radio, with a mix of weapons M16, 
Sawn off shotgun, M14 and Grenade launcher. 
M1 carbine. as well as side arms and 
personal weapons and equipment"
Huzzah! Mail delivery. Let me run out and
get....

Opening the box reveals...
and then...

a bag of 6 white metal figures. You can tell 
these are closer to true 28mm than the
common "heroically sized" WWII figures.
For comparison: Empress grunt (left) and 
Warlord Waffen SS (right)

Let's take a look at each sculpt. 

Separate arm with m-16 (damaged but 
repairable). All figures appear to be in Jungle 
Fatigues with m-56 or m-67 web gear and
Tropical rucksacks with multiple canteens.
This is a reasonable outfit to cover
US Marine or Army forces for the mid to 
late part of the conflict.

This grunt appears to be our medic, carrying
the extra bag on his left shoulder.

This m-16 equipped GI looks to be the radio
man, given the long antenna bag on the
right side of his ruck, and a hole to 
insert the antenna on top. In this rig,
the radio is inside his ruck rather than
exposed on a separate carrier.

This Marine has a separate arm holding
his m-16, and what appears to be a
shotgun with a sawed-off stock through
his ruck.

This kneeling/firing m-16 equipped grunt
is aiming downrange, his boonie hat brim
up and out of his sight.

This Marine carries an M-14 and wears a 
Marine fatigue cap rather than a boonie.

The final man in the squad carries a
slung m-16 in his left hand and (best guess)
an m-79 blooper (grenade launcher) in his
right.
The casting have little flash and should
clean up well. I'll get them on 25mm
bases, straightened and primed, and report 
back. Stay tuned!

  
    
  
Under way....

The Enemy Below - D-Day + 1

First a Toast to all those brave souls that stormed the beaches to keep us free.  

Now back to The Enemy Below.  Last time I said I would get back to the DE, but I was captured by the build of the U-Boat so I just went full tilt and finished it.  After all it is the enemy BELOW.

Back to the potential diorama.  The conning tower has been added.

Painting begins with a dark gray slate mix for the deck.  The instructions for the kit are very good in description and even mix proportions for the various shades of gray used.  I followed closely except for the black wash seen later to highlight hull detail fore and aft.

This shows the black wash and the install of the conning tower platforms and kit platform weapons.

Customization begins as PE parts are added to the guns from left overs from the DE build.

Unfortunately the kit supplied platform railings are too thick, but you can't have everything.  The single customization that I had to do was the addition of the forward deck gun - the "88".  While many of these were removed in 1943 from Atlantic U-Boats, the movie sub has this gun.  When comparing photos of U-Boat types it appears that the movie model is a type B (no lower conning platform of gun, but it has the 88 gun forward of the conning tower).  My kit is a later type C.  So I have a hybrid U-Boat - so be it

The stern gear was fiddly consisting of 8 parts applied and painted in strict order!

Not sure why I include this photo as it shows the macro crudeness of the model parts, but it does highlight the PE parts added to the guns.

The display base is not attached but it is a nice force fit on the keel that makes work on the model much easier.  Also some painting detail can be seen, as well as the snorkel in the down position to right of the deck gun.  The model display shows all parts upright, but in the diorama with the sub just coming to the surface after running on batteries it does not make sense to have the snorkel raised (used for running the diesel motors while the sub is partially submerged).

PE railings are used from the Tom's Model which helps the scale of the model in total.  It also is needed to have railing forward at the forward deck gun.

More paint detail and showing the forward dive planes installed (an easy single piece installation).  The black wash shows up well.  The forward cable is also installed (I pin drilled and glued mono filament, then tied and glued at the conning tower. 

The kit has the stern tie offs (which I broke snipping off the sprue.  I end up with two legs instead of three - Oooops!).  The kit box artwork shows the wires, so I added them.  It was a fairly easy tie and glue procedure.  Just tie, glue, wait to dry then snip off the leftover tails.

Bow shot starboard.

Over all.  Note that I do have the periscope in the up position, which conflicts with my rational for putting the snorkel in the down position.  I may alter this later in the diorama, whenever I get that figured out.  Hey, I just realized that during the building of this U-Boat, not once did I end up on my knees searching for little bits that flew off my tweezers!!  A First for me.

Potential.

Okay, now I have to get back to the USS England/Haynes.  More later.