Dockside Crane ...

 For harbour set ups I didn't have a suitable crane; on a visit to a local Toy&Train fair last weekend I got an already built unpainted OO/HO Dapol crane. I gave it a wash over with some light grey paint and it works quite nicely on the dockside.

Citreon car ...

 A citreon for the use of the germans...

a 1/56 item from Anyscale Models, replacing an overs cale die-cast one I had.

Airfield - hard standing area...

 Things are going slowly on the french resistance game plans, however I've been looking at improving the concrete hard standing areas for airfields.  I found a nice image online with some texture, one of the images from the following https://spaces.hightail.com/space/7UNLYEEs21.  I printed out a few pages and stuck them onto my existing my existing hard-standing board (small MDF sheet)

and also made some smaller sections than can double as a taxi way

if I need more for a game scenario, I can easily make some up

Commandos in Kayaks -- Operation Hancock - Port Dimette - Normandy

The harbour at Port Dimette in Normandy .... the german harbour patrol prepare for nights work...

Approaching under the cover of darkness are four commando kayaks under the command of Major Jeremy Fellowes - objectives to mine as many ships and key parts of facilities as possible. 

---oXo---

! the game runs under cover of darkness with suitable spotting rules etc 

- have left photos in normal lighting for simplicity

just imagine it is dark !

Two of the kayaks move up one side of the harbour....

as the other two head towards the main dock area... the patrol boat is on the move towards an alarm lamp waved and shot fired over by the fuel terminal.

The patrol boat moves onwards while a second patrol boat (a tug) moves out following an alarm lamp waved and shot fired in the vicinity of the ship moored in the centre of the harbour

The patrol boat spots a kayak by one of the ships with it search light and opens fire with its LMGs, 

both commandos are killed and the kayak sinks low in the water...

The patrol boat then moves on towards the fuel terminal, but notices another kayak by a large fishing boat...in the light of the searchlight the LMGs fire ...

again both commandos are killed ... the other patrol boat had found nothing and has reached the fuel terminal

Meanwhile the other two kayaks have reached the dockside un-detected and start fixing mines ...

The other patrol boat moves to search the corner of the dock - sees something shots are fired (one hits one of the commandos), as this patrol boat manouvres it loses sight of the kayak ...

The two remaining kayaks move slowly out of the harbour, the harbour patrol boat sees a kayak and opens fire (one commando is wounded) ...

and then loses sight of the kayak in the darkness going past it ....

the patrol boats sweep around towards the fuel terminal as the kayaks make their way slowly to safety...

---oXo---

Before the germans could organise a check for mines on the ships .... they go off ! Boom !...  damage:

The oil terminal jetty (with two mines attached, 8 damage points) is severely damaged,  a nearby worker rushes quickly to isolate and secure the system.

The three smaller freight ships 

• the two by the dock - no damage (1 mine, 0 damage points), minor damage slight leak, fixable (2 mines, 6 damage points), 
• the ship moored in the middle of the harbour (2mines, 8 damage points) severely damaged and taking water, will probably sink

The large freight ship docked by the warehouses , kerboom !! blows up and sinks (4 mines attached, 20 damage points) - the explosion causing some blast damage to the warehouses. 

Rules used

a copy of the quickly written flimsy rules here

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wTmd7_oZrilxEu_X7Qk8aqowyH0Fr8-x/view?usp=sharing

ethos of rules is simple mechanisms and minimal dice use.

British Landing Craft ....[LCAs + LCM(s)]

For use to pick up off a beach or part of a small coastal raid on France, have put together enough for a small landing ...I bought 3 resin LCAs from Grubby Tanks (Britannia Miniatures range), 

while looking at historical pics of LCAs came across the small LCM(S),  armed with mortar and dual machine guns. I thought it would be a nice addition, so made one up from cardboard, foam board and oddment bits of plastic....

Finished it off in the same paint scheme as the LCAs

 For troops in the landing craft I have painted up some Airfix commandos...

Oil Storage Terminal ...

For a possible target for a raid,  a small oil storage area and docking point for a tanker....

I struggled initially to find something for the fuel tanks, I had a spare tall'ish one - for a couple more I used large reels of sticky tape and cut some tops for them from cardboard.  

all items painted up....

Work in the shipyard ....(3) Launches & ships finished

A number of items finished this week...

Two small cargo ships...

a small tug....

Harbour Defence Motor Launch,  added side machine guns and depth charges before painting. Crew are on Sally 4th 15mm clear bases..

A harbour patrol boat ...

A basic launch ... 

The quay surface spruced up from green to cobbles using Metcalfe O/HO Cobblestone sheets...

I have most of what I need for harbour based games - a few more things to add - a couple standalone warehouses perhaps; then best to add items for specific scenarios.

Coastal Tanker - finished

The tanker completed, a quick simple paint job on the new deck...

Coastal Tanker (WIP) ....

I've been sorting through my reminder post-its by the modelling desk, one of which was ship with tanker deck.  I'd watched the film Above us the Waves the day before (which includes a sub taking on oil from a tanker) so I decided to make an alternate deck for my small coastal ship...

I cut a new deck base out of cardboard and put in a central walkway with a handrail from thin wire, then added some detail using oddments from the plastic bits-box...

I got out my home-made submarine to put alongside asking for a refill....

the sub also needs some work to give it a better look,  its a bit narrow  (showing a bit more of the hull would be nice)

Scenics: Station Buildings ...

Have done up a couple of old plastic buildings I picked up at a Toy&Train fair.

An old Triang station building to be used for a french station ...

 this just had a quick paint job and a couple of french 1930s poster adverts added...

For a british station building I found an old Airfix item, I added extra height of about 1cm and made a few repairs ...

then a simple paint scheme with the odd advert poster,

these buildings will make a good addition to my gaming and story line scenic items.

British Road Transport - Tanker

A nice little road tanker from Oxford Military 1/76 diecast range, just given this one a bit of light weathering

Building a small railway station - WIP

One thing missing form my scenic railway items is a small station. I have enough OO/HO rolling stock for a small continental or british train.

I went to a model railway exhibition last weekend and got some cheap bits to make the station with,
- Ratio platform fencing
- Peco platform edging

- Hornby platform station building extension.

Pieces cut to size as needed and a trial layout done

Bases for the station made, on MDF base with cardboard riser - a thin piece of cardboard overlaps the railway line section base ...

 Platform edging stuck to section boards and thin card used to make a platform surface, on top of which will be stuck some Metcalfe paving sheet ...

 Need to pick up a few item:
- station building, if possible a french style one as well as a british one
- line side fencing
- a couple of signals
- some telegraph poles
A nice little shopping list for the next local Toy & Train fair.

Small Coastal Ship - completed...

Finally got this little ship through the 'paint shop'...

first configuration two hatches and a derrick at the bow...

 second configuration (alternate deck) with central derrick and large crate

 the big crate replaced with its Q-ship style deck gun...

Some 'very light' armoured support for the British

First up a small armoured car (die-cast model of a Russian armoured car, but suitable), for the use by the Home Guard...

A Bren carrier for the regulars ( picked up at Bovington Wargames show, a slight repaint to match my scheme)..