Model Train Journal

I use a brush that has just two or three bristles left in it, and a shot of scotch to settle the nerves.

Talk about thread drift...here we go!!!

My Welsh Granddad was in the Royal Machine Gun Corp in WWI. He had been in the Merchant Marines as a steward on the SS(?) ORIANA prior to enlisting. My mom gave me his medals years ago, among them was a medal with the name, Major J.W. Flood, AIF, etched around the side/edge. Mom said granddad won the medal in a poker game, while on a ship after the war (SS VICTORIA).

I never could figure out what AIF meant until I happened upon a website "Lost Medals Australia". Turns out it stands for Australia Imperial Force". Major Flood was a doctor in the Aussie army.

I contacted the guy who ran the website and he not only found the Major's records but found a living relative in France. As a result I sent the relative the medal and in return received a book one of the other contacts (Peter Hohnen) I made was co-writing, "The WOLF" (SMS WOLF) a German raider.

Turns out the Major and his wife Rose were on the steamship MATUNGA, the WOLF captured during the war, going from Sydney to Rabaul. Here's a photo of them with the captain of the WOLF:



The Major Flood in the background, with his wife on the left side of the WOLF's CO. The book says she was "very" friendly with the ships crew

Here's a shot of Major Flood's medal:







Sorry for the diversion, but I like telling the story!

BobD

Once more...here's photos of the SS ORIANA, SS VICTORIA, and SMS WOLF:

Now to get back on topic, how does everyone paint the faces on these 1/48 figures??? Also, I can never get the sheen off the figure once they're painted, too shiny. I noticed the 52mm figure wasn't shiny at all.

BobD

Very neat. I recall reading Edwin Hoyt's book Raider Wolf, The Voyage of Captain Nerger, 1916-1918 when I was in college. The German commerce raiders were pretty interesting, and SMS Wolf was one of the more successful. There's a decent Wikipedia entry for her (SMS Wolf) that lists her record and a brief history. Even more interesting are the British Q-ships, disguised armored merchant cruisers sent out to lure/destroy the German commerce raiders.

With regard to 1/48 scale faces, I don't paint them in detail anymore. I live by the two-foot rule, i.e. if it looks good from two feet away it's good enough for me. I usually just block-paint figures, then dip them in Army Painter or give them an over-wash using diluted ink. A bit of a dry-brush with a lighter color further highlights the features.

I've been using Testors clear-matte rattle cans for years to take the sheen off paint-work. Still seems to work the best, and it adds a bit of protection if the figure gets handled routinely. It's lacquer-based, so a bit of ventilation is good when using.

I've been painting a bunch of wargame figures of late...here's a Jagdpanzer IV I finished a few days ago using the block-paint/dip/hi-lite/clear-matte process:





This is a 1/100 scale Battlefront kit, so it's roughly three inches long.

Healey

Very cool, I've always admire German armor and aircraft. I did some modeling, but in a larger scale:



That's 1/6 scale. I got so carried away with it that I have 2 dozen vehicles and over 300 1/6 troops from all the main participants of WWII, now stored underneath my RR layout.

The Marder III Ausf H is my favorite, looks kind "sporty" to my eye. The 11th Panzer Division in particular.

Also aircraft. I made a model of a FW190 cockpit and the crew compartment for a FW189A (3-man crew):



I was lucky, I searched for some documentation and found a guy that was in the middle of writing a book on the FW189, he provided me with a ton of interior photos. Here's what the real deal looked like:



My real "like" is medieval armor, my British uncle had a neighbor that had a house full of real armor and model figures back in the 50s.

BobD.

Brilliant model of the Uhu...I cannot even begin to imagine how much time you've got sunk in that.

I try to get to the IPMS Nationals every year, and there's always a vendor there selling 1/6 scale gear. Hands down, would love to get my mitts on an early-version Pzkpfw VI. Even some of the smaller R/C stuff is sharp, especially the stuff with sound and simulated recoil.

My recollection re: Marders was they were originally a stop-gap solution for the Germans' out-gunned MBT's after they started encountering large numbers of T-34's and KV-1's on the Eastern Front. They needed something packing a long 75mm, which none of their tanks did at Barbarossa. Here's a 1/100 Marder III ausf M from a few months back...I think this was the final iteration of the Marten:




Frankly, anything on a Czech 38 chassis looks neat to me.

My kid's into medieval armor and edged weapons...gives me nightmares just looking at it.

Healey

I went to the IPMS in Virginia Beach several years back, the models were amazing. Saw my 1st 3D printed items at the show...the possibilities

There's 1/6 MKVI Tigers available, but be prepared to spend the $$$, more than what a Kohs engine runs.

BobD

I've hit the IPMS Nationals every year for the last few but I think I'm going to pass this year...I think it's in Oklahoma City which is a bit of a trudge from the east coast. MFCA falls on the same weekend as York and a local model show in Alexandria, Va., so I expect I'll miss MFCA as well. MFCA is always fun, although that's another hobby (model figure and toy-soldier collecting) that's getting crushed by demographics.

I've been play-testing some miniature rule sets for a local club lately. It's pulled me back into stuff I haven't messed with for thirty-five years. Seeing the evolution of the hobby during that time makes me wonder how folks still have time for it. The complexity and tedium can be overwhelming.

The other night I found a few old Heroics & Ros castings of 1/300 scale aircraft in one of the drawers...thought I'd finish them off. Here's an Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik...wing-span about 1-1/4 inches:



Wow, brings back a lot of memories...

Healey

Didn't they call that "The Flying Tank"???

Yes, it was a purpose-built ground attack plane. It was slow and heavy, the later models packing some serious armor around the crew. Once the Germans lost air-superiority these things were used to devastating effect. A sort-of precursor to the A-10 and Su-25.

Nice work.

Only thing crazier than 1/300-1/350 scale is the 1/700 scale aircraft supplied with the waterline carrier models. The "decal" sheets for those were pretty funny. While you can make a 1/700 scale water slide decal, getting it off the backing paper and onto the model is is insane. Not as insane as trying to put 1/700 scale rotors on a 1/700 scale helicopter, but close.

One of my room-mates during college was huge into 1/700-scale...that was before they had decal sets for the aircraft. I remember painting meatballs on Jap planes for him...used a toothpick dipped in white, then red paint and plopped 'em on. Despite the fact that there are really nice decal sets now for those, the planes I painted for him forty years ago are the only ones in his collection. I was over at his place recently helping him pack for a move...dude still has over two thousand 1/700-scale kits in his basement.

Some of the 1/350-scale stuff is amazing, especially the carrier planes. People's skills blow me away:



It would be fun to try some of this stuff, but I fear the eyes are too far gone for that.

Healey

I've seen websites that will make scale models of figures that look like yourself or friends, but I can't seem to locate them now.

Maybe we could collect a database of ourselves and populate our layouts with all of our buds

When I was into 1/6 models I tried to paint a few heads, failed miserably. I've seen some headsculpts done that look exactly like the person. Most well-known celebs have been done in 1/6 scale, some have hit the mark others not so much.

Kind of surprised he put an f4 in take off position with the blast deflector up AND with the wings folded? While an F-8, A-7 and even an F-4 have launched (and flown) that way, it was always by accident and usually involved nigh operations (and a lot of people in a sh*t load of trouble afterwards).
Nice work on the model!