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Thursday, 3 August 2017

The Man of Tin and his Heroscape hexes ... and a 'thank you' to Ian Dury

In between fuming about the problems with our Internet connection and trying to work on re-writing my book about the Spanish Civil War, two things stand out as being pleasant 'interruptions' to my day yesterday. The first was the latest blog entry from Man of Tin, and the second was the arrival of a parcel of goodies from Ian Dury.

Whilst I have been thinking about how best to use my Heroscape hexes, Man of Tin has actually been putting together a permanent wargame board that has 192 hexes ... and it looks very good indeed!



Furthermore he has actually been experimenting with using his new wargame board with some of his collection of 15mm Peter Laing figures ... and they seem to work well with the Heroscape hexes.


His work is certainly encouraging me to get my act together ... and once I've finished the chapters on the Spanish Navy and its warships, I hope to stop thinking about using my Heroscape hexes and start doing something with them.

The parcel of goodies from Ian Dury was his 'thank you' to me for sending him some unpainted 15mm Peter Laing figures that I had stored away. The box contained a number of ROCO Minitanks (and similar-sized diecast vehicles) that he had repaired and spray-painted in basic colours. They included a couple of Sherman Tanks (both of which have non-standard running gear), a US Tank Destroyer, a US Armoured Car, ...


... two T-34/76 Tanks, two T-34/85 Tanks, an IS-III Heavy Tank, ...


... two Pzkpfw IVs, and a strong point armed with a Pzkpfw VI Tiger I turret (plus a spare turret).


As I hope to use ROCO Minitanks with my Heroscape hexes, the arrival of this parcel could not have come at a better time, so its a big 'thank you' from me to Ian Dury for such a great gift.

12 comments:

  1. I have a number of older painted (?) Peter Laing 15mm figures. Maily colonial/Boer war period.

    Free to good home.

    jstribl_jackson(at)yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Jay
      I just gmailed / emailed you a link / email address for a fellow Peter Laing enthusiast stateside John Patriquin who writes the Wargame Hermit blog. He might be very interested. Hope you find them a good home.
      Mark, Man of TIN blog

      Delete
    2. Jay Stibling,

      Mark (Man of Tin) managed to get in ahead of me with the suggestion I was going to make! I'm sure that John Patriquin will be very appreciative of any figures that he can add to his collection, and he will most certainly use them.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
    3. MIN ManofTin (Mark),

      Great minds think alike! I was going to make the same suggestion.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
    4. Job done, Jay Stribling tells me he is going to send the Peter Laing colonials to a new home with John Patriquin.

      Delete
    5. MIN ManofTin,

      That is excellent news! I'm sure that John Patriquin will make good use of them.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  2. Bob,
    One of those Shermans appears to be an Israeli mk 50 (never called Super Sherman or Isherman btw) although it doesn't have the correct French 75mm muzzle break. I can say this with some certainty having spent the last few months converting and scratch building Israeli vehicles, including 4x such M50s from Roco M4s! I have become acquainted with their appearance on an intimate level! I'd be interested to know that models lineage as I never knew one existed in 1/87th.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Neil Patterson,

      Having had another look at the model, it certainly looks like an Israeli Super Sherman or Isherman. Back in the early 1970s I built several of them using Airfix Sherman hulls and tracks from the ROCO Mintitanks M40. I remember making the turret counterweights and mantets from laminated Plasticard that I carved and sanded to the correct shape. The gun barrels were made from the M40's 155mm guns, suitably trimmed.

      As to the origin of this model ... well it seems to have been kit-bashed by Ian Dury from whatever suitable components he had to hand.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  3. Replies
    1. Geordie an Exiled FoG,

      Yes ... but knowing that Christmas - and more presents - is still to come!

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  4. Neil, I understand why you say, that, but as I built the model I can say with certainty that it isn't a 'Super Shermsn'. It was originally a Chinese die cast model of a 76mm armed Sherman with a soft plastic gun barrel, mantlet and accessories. I got rid of all those and either replaced them with Roco spares or scratchbuilt parts. The gun barrel and mantlet are from aluminium tube.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ian Dury,

      Thanks for the explanation of this interesting model's origins.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete

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