Sledgehammer Project; Preparation Pt XII - Gaso.Line Renault UE

I did manage to find a 1/48th scale Chenillette Renault UE from Gaso.Line. It arrived during the holidays so I have only been able to take a cursory glance at it. This is another resin version of the vehicle and I'm a bit surprised at the sheer number of parts in the bag. At this point I'm just hoping that nothing is actually broken. I grabbed the 1/56th scale version from MadBob's just for a quick size comparison. The Gaso.Line kit one is certainly bigger (as expected) and has some very nice, and much finer, detail. It may well prove to still be to small.

I have already begun a search for a 1/35th scale version and there seems to be some good chooses including one from Tamiya. My other option is going with a 1/56th scale version of the WWI French Schneider CA1. It has a suitable boxy look with some 40Kish elements on it. I'll get this Gaso.Line kit cleaned up and assembled and decide after that, at least that is the plan right now.

Another small box had me concerned right from the start.

Then a zip locked bag full of resin parts. Certainly more than I was expecting.

The instruction sheet, at least its printed front and back with some English text.

MadBob's on the left, Gaso.Line on the right. Frighteningly similar in size although the Gaso.Line kit is obviously bigger.

The Gaso.Line trailer is both bigger (as expected) and much better detailed. Can't hold that against MadBob though. His stuff is meant specifically for gaming while Gaso.Line are models meant for display.

Sledgehammer Project; Preparation Pt X - The vehicle

Part of the diorama as I envisioned it would include a resupply vehicle more to fill up what I imagine will be a blank corner. Somehow I stumbled on some pictures of a early French WWII vehicle that looked like it would fit the bill. This is the Renault Chenillette UE with a trailer, and MadBob Miniatures had one in their catalog so I placed an order. It arrived over the weekend and while I still like the look of the vehicle I think its actually to small to fulfill the role that I have envisioned for it. 

The size of the box made me think that perhaps this wasn't going to work the way I wanted it to.

The pieces on the sprue are the armored front covers for the domes where the drivers are sitting. They swing up and back when opened and its a nice feature of the kit. I tried to see if one of the separate heads from Victoria Miniatures would fit inside and unfortunately they are just a tad to big right off the sprue, but a little cutting and I could fit one in there.

And poised with a crewman from the Sledgehammer box. Based on what I have seen in pictures this is just about perfect from a scale perspective.

And a look at the top

While the vehicle still fits the bill from a looks perspective I think its really to small to fill up the corner. Plus the casting is really rough, the details are nice but its going to take a lot of cleanup to be part of a competition piece. While I'm not looking for perfection, something that isn't going to take a couple of hours to prep would be nice. Its a great piece for gaming purposes just not quite up to par for competition.

I have spent some time and found a couple of 1/48th scale kits out there, of course those are all out of production and I haven't found one yet. I'll just have to keep my eye out for them on eBay.

Sledgehammer Project; Preparation Pt IX - Thinking it Through

I often tend to dive straight into a project like this but since my goal is a competition worthy model and diorama its going to take more thoughtful planning than usual (the only other place I tend towards thoughtful planing are model railroad layouts). While the gathering of interesting components has been both interesting and frustrating its time to bear down and see what I really need in both parts and what will have to be scratch built (basically anything involving gears, cranks and wheels at this point). With that thought in mind I have scoured the web and have found quite the plethora of photos out there. A few are vintage WWII images but a good chunk of them are reasonable closeups of the actual gun as it sits in various museums from the US to the USSR. There is also a number of model build ups that I have found of the 1/35th scale Trumpeter kit. That has intrigued me and I have even contemplated building that as well, but that might be a hard sell with the wife right now.

I think the best picture is the one I acquired on eBay. As an action shot it really gives me a nice concept of how the diorama will look.

Here are some of the reference photos that I have managed to find. I tried to identify photographers but the only one I could really identify is the photographer of the series that came from Aberdeen here in the US.

Starting with the vintage WWII, a number of these are pretty close to being action shots, but some are definitely "staged" a bit.

The printed copy that I acquired on eBay. Interesting features include the cleated ramp that covers most of the area between the trails. A feature that is not seen on any of the museum pieces that I have found.

Look at how shiny the breech and inside of the breech block are. A huge contrast to the surrounding surfaces. I'm curious to find out why this area isn't discolored from use. I do know that the 203mm shell doesn't have a shell casing, the powder charge is separate and can consist of 1-6 "charges". Since everything is either fired or consumed by the blast maybe that's why its such a bright silver.

Of the other pictures the best ones are really of the piece at Aberdeen. These were taken by Matthew Flegal and I found them at: svsm.org/gallery/203mm_B-4_aberdeen

I think I'm going to need some Plastruct packs!

Sledgehammer Project; Preparation Pt VIII - Even More Materials

Everything is arriving piecemeal, which means its difficult to really build up steam on the project. I really prefer to get everything I need from one supplier but that has been difficult in this case. I did receive a small packet of parts from Wiseman Model Services with some of the key pieces though.
Some more NBW castings, this time in brass, along with two different types of brake cylinders and a couple of Johnson Bars.

I think I have enough parts that I can actually begin real construction. I have figured out that there are a number of components that I'm just going to have to scratch build. Fortunately most of those will be "one offs" and no more than two for things like platforms. I just need to start amassing actually useful photos, like the one I found on eBay a couple of weeks ago.

Model Railroad parts are definitely reducing the number of items that I will need to build up from scratch!

Similar to the Tichy Group NBWs but this time in cast in brass instead of plastic.

Sledgehammer Project; Preparation Pt VII - Collecting More Materials

A couple of more packages arrived yesterday that bring me closer to the point where I feel like I'm really getting started on this project. The first is a picture that I found on eBay, which is a fantastic reference shot and is pretty much the scene that I want to recreate. The rest was just some mundane detail items, specifically Nut/Bolt/Washer and rivet castings. These are in plastic from Tichy Train Group. I prefer the ones from Grandt Line but the sale of that company as resulted in a lot of empty pegs in hobby shops while the new owners get organized. Still a couple of steps closer than before.

This a photo taken sometime in WWII on the Eastern front of the artillery crew for a B4 Howitzer loading the gun. It has a lot of fascinating details and I find the fact that they had to load this with a ramrod I find particularly fascinating. I also learned why I wasn't see shell cases in any of the other "action" photographs of this beast. It uses separate powder charges as can be seen in the cradle used to help hoist the 203mm round into place. This is a 6"x4" BW photo that is going to get used a lot. There are a lot of little details that can be gleaned from it.

Sledgehammer Project; Preparation Pt VI - Collecting Materials

I woke up at 2:30am the other day and couldn't get back to sleep. During that time I managed to think my way through the process of creating masters for defensive fortifications that I need for the diorama. I did take a look around for some of the resin pieces that Forge World made a long time ago and I actually found some, however, I was definitely not going to pay the price that people were asking for them. Hence I decided to make my own and there are to many pieces needed to build them individually. I need to make 6, or so, masters and have those cast in resin (I'm going to lean on a friend for the molds and casting) to get the requisite number (I don't even know what that number is yet).

Since I need to have pretty sharp edges I'm electing to the really critical pieces of the masters out of brass (although probably with glue rather than solder). For the floor pieces I wanted a diamond pattern and I was just running through all kinds of time intensive ways to create those till my early morning wake up call. Instead of actually building the diamond pattern up all I needed to do was find a square grid about the right size and when just turn it 45 degrees to the edge, instant diamond! While it won't have the elongated diamond shape it will give the right look when I put it all together.

A quick run to the local hobby shop came up with these materials and combined with some sheet styrene should get me to the right place.

A square grid, a piece of brass sheet and brass angles in two different sizes. 

The grid

And a quick look at how the diamond pattern might look next to the brass angle that will form the edge.

In addition to this I have a number of brass, plastic and pewter model railroad parts to start detailing the Sledgehammer itself.

Sledgehammer Project; Preparation Pt IV - Crew Comparison

As the diorama concept comes together for the Sledgehammer, my thoughts have turned to the crew. I know that I will need to do quite a bit of modification on some of them, especially the ones from the infantry squads, to fit them in. I decided that a comparison between the Reaper Bones crew and the Victoria Miniatures Resin crew was in order. 

A couple of things really stood out here. The Bones plastic crew has nearly the same sharpness of detail as the Resin crew. I was certainly not expecting that and my original thoughts were to have the Bones crew in supporting positions. Since the level of detail is nearly the same I don't need to be nearly as concerned as I was prepared to be. That being said it is a lot easier to modify and convert the Bones crew so any modifications I need between these will definitely be worked on them. At this point I'm wishing that the old Reaper Boneyard existed for the Bones miniatures, I would likely get another whole set of them just for conversions.

The other detail that stands out is that almost all the Bones crew are taller than the Resin crew. That will help differentiate between the miniatures with a little less effort. Which is something else I was already thinking about when I made the order. A set of male and female militia heads to swap out with the squad heads to add more visual interest. Hopefully it will all come together, I can see the scene in my head, its the translation that is difficult.

The resin artillery crew from Victoria Miniatures. They are in the same poses as the Bones artillery crew from Reaper. Unfortunately it looks like I'm missing a hand for the gentleman on the far right in the photo.

The gentleman on the left is slight different with his right hand cast separately. He is a single casting in Bones.

There is quite a difference in height between these two.

These pair is much closer in height but will be on opposite sides of the gun so it won't be a problem

These two are also pretty close in height, but I'm likely to only use one of them unmodified.

I didn't line this one up quite right, the man on the right is actually significantly taller than his compatriot.

It was hard to line this pair up, I think the Bones version is still a bit taller.

And here we actually see the resin officer is taller than the Bones officer.