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Post by hardlec on Apr 23, 2016 22:10:40 GMT
Can you make me one?
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Post by madmorgan on Apr 24, 2016 11:28:03 GMT
One what?? The 'getaway' car?? It was a 040 Loco pulling a standard caboose with lots of booze barrels in and strapped on. The thinking was to put the cheaper stuff strapped about the car outside and the really 'good' stuff inside, where there is less chance of loss.
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Post by loyalist on Apr 28, 2016 13:07:59 GMT
My first 2 sets of AD trenches with bunkers arrived yesterday. They look better in real life than photos and are superior to the trenches from Ironclad Miniatures in that their depth is realistic compared to 18mm figures. The IM trenches are nicely modeled but too shallow, with the figures being exposed from the abdomen up. Unlike the IM trenches the AD ones are wide enough for FoW infantry bases.
When the rest of the AD trench sets arrive I'll have about 8' of them so the IM trenches won't be needed. I might convert some of them into a permanently assembled square fortified position and increase the height of one side of the trenches.
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Post by madmorgan on Apr 29, 2016 10:10:33 GMT
I tend to use the IM trenches as 'hasty' and the AD ones as long-term placement. Hopefully, the Acheson 20mm will fill in some of the need for a better hasty trench (ei one sided vs two sided AD/IM).
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Post by loyalist on May 5, 2016 4:12:35 GMT
As hard as I find it to believe, Ironclad Miniatures has once again messed up an order. The first large order of 20mm trenches arrived badly damaged by UPS and 4 months later I'm still waiting for compensation (IM had insured the order in the UK). Next I was sent a completely wrong order of 20mm antitank field positions instead of heavy weapon emplacements for 40mm bases (for HMG teams), and all of the Faraday Guns were missing. Today another parcel arrived, this time with the Faraday Guns but once again the wrong field positions were sent: positions designed for 20mm bases instead of for 40mm. Quite annoying.
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Post by madmorgan on May 5, 2016 9:50:17 GMT
Wow, sounds like there a 'packer' problem over there. Its a same as they do a nice product, but if you can't get what you ordered (thru damages or mispicks), it shakes the dealings with the company. Having worked as a saleman for a distributor and seen what goes into an operation, I would thing that having just one product line (ei the IM company) vs all those companies we use to carry would help. Guess not.
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Post by loyalist on May 5, 2016 10:33:43 GMT
I don't think I'll be ordering anything else from IM. I hope they send the right HMG positions on their third attempt.
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Post by Quendil on May 5, 2016 11:08:16 GMT
I don't think I'll be ordering anything else from IM. I hope they send the right HMG positions on their third attempt. Can't say I blame you
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Post by loyalist on May 6, 2016 3:00:38 GMT
I was very impressed today to find a phone message at home from John Lowen, owner of IM, apologizing for the problems with the orders and reporting he had sent the correct items immediately after receiving my email. He also paid my Paypal account for the damaged trench items even though UPS still hasn't paid him the insurance owed.
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Post by madmorgan on May 6, 2016 11:02:21 GMT
Always good to know the owner of a company backs his promises up when his employees fail him. Good news!! Keep that number! Just in case.
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Post by loyalist on May 12, 2016 15:32:14 GMT
I've started working on some AD trench sets by filling all of the 'shell holes'. I apply a thick layer of Liquitex basing material that contains resin 'sand', which gives more texture than Liquitex with 'natural sand' and doesn't shrink as much. This is done with the trench sections supported so the shell holes are horizontal. Woodland Scenics fine grade railway ballast is sprinkled on top of the Liquitex. They've turned out nicely and look better than a series of trench sections with identical shell holes in them.
The trench bunkers are being roofed with 3mm thick styrene. Two will have large gun turrets installed on them. I'd planned to use Pz3's turrets but since he's been missing from the forum for two months and isn't responding to emails (I hope he's OK), I'm seeing if a friend with a printer can make similar turrets.
The other two bunkers will have styrene command/gun director towers similar to the AD design but without gun sponsons.
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Post by madmorgan on May 13, 2016 11:51:33 GMT
I echo your concern with Pz3.
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Post by loyalist on May 24, 2016 14:45:53 GMT
On the weekend I finished a second command tower for an AD trench bunker. The first is the same tower I made for the command tank; I thought it looked silly on the MK IV tank, even with the height much reduced. The second tower is an inch taller, though ~1/4" shorter than the AD version.
There'll be 2 short towers in the front line of AD trenches, representing company HQs. Each has a GW Imperial Guard Chimera APC searchlight on the roof. The lens diameter is 9mm, the correct size for an 18mm scale 36" diameter searchlight. Each tower has a radio aerial, a roof hatch , and a pair of HMG barrels sticking out of the steel shutters on the front face (as on the AD tower).
The taller tower will be the field commander's and will be in the second line of trenches. It'll have an HO scale ship siren on the roof and possibly a gun director, though I'm thinking of making a second tall tower for the artillery command center. I'll post some photos soon.
Making the railings for the platforms is a bit tricky. The rails are made from 1 x 2mm styrene. Each piece is cut to length and tack glued onto the edge of the scribed 1mm deck plating. Post locations are marked on the rails and 1.2mm diameter holes are drilled through into the 1mm thick deck. The rails are removed from the deck and lengths of 1.2mm diameter styrene rod are glued into the holes in the rails and then into the holes in the deck. A template is used to set rail height at 9mm before the glue sets. readjustment to keep everything square is necessary until the glue sets. After the assembly has dried for a few hours the protruding tops of the posts are trimmed off flush with the rail. The second set of rails went together more quickly and they look pretty good imo.
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Post by loyalist on May 30, 2016 23:37:56 GMT
Here are some photos of the command towers I built to go on the AD trench bunkers: Short tower for Company Commanders in front line of trenches. This one was originally built to use on a Command Tank. There will be two of these. Nearly finished: all bunkers will have air circulation vents installed in the bunker roof behind the tower. I'll use extra cast metal vents from the sides of Slave 2 Gaming 'Mk II' tanks for the exhausts and period HO scale mushroom vents for the intakes. Tall tower for Field Commander, in second line of trenches. It's about 1/4" shorter than the AD version. Rear view: the top and lower level doors appear to be different sizes but are actually identical. As on the AD towers the front and back sides slope inward from the base and the sides at the top level slope outward. No purpose for this that I can imagine other than making the towers a little more interesting to look at. Faraday Electric Gun turret on base of tall tower, but will also fit on the top of the short towers. I need to make an alternative roof for the turret version of the tower. The upper level compartment and turret mounts on these will be interchangeable.
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Post by loyalist on May 31, 2016 0:23:31 GMT
I just did a test fit of the Land Ironclad bridge to the top of the towers. It's the same length front to back as the top compartments I built, but about 3/16" wider. I was going to copy it in resin but don't like the HMG mounts being at the rear and I'd have to fill and sand several casting defects first.
It'll be easier to copy it in styrene - basically just a box with armoured windows. I'll probably add a walkway all the way around it for the Field Commander and staff. The original top of the Field Commander's tower will become the top of an artillery command tower with a gun director on top.
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