JohnB: Tuesday Terrors: Convoy protection - Morris tractor and 40mm Bofors anti aircraft gun by Airfix (30 points)

Funny how AHPC pops up in a pro cycle race!

Well Mr Tadaj Pogacar won Strada Bianche (three times in a row and four times overall - setting records).

The route is in Tuscany and the finish line is the famous city of Siena.

You could almost imagine a fifteenth century army marching through a wintry scene like the one above. The finish is in the Piazza del Campo home of the famous Palio di Siena horse race.

The race itself crisscrosses the tuscan hills on dusty white roads

It even runs near the battlesite of Montaperti which we all learnt about in AHPC15 - concerning Dantes Inferno...

Nothing like an Italian Medieval City to inspire some painting although in my case its more modern, yet possibly something like this may have been in the allied armies struggling up the spine of Italy in 1944. This week then its slightly less "sinews of war" and more "sharp end" equipment in the form of an anti aircraft gun.

The model is a kit from Airfix now sold under their "vintage" label. I bought it last year on a trip to the Monkbar Model Shop in York, UK. An Aladdins cave for modellers and brick built into the bargain.

I really like the Morris tractor which has an early war look about it.

The bofors 40mm anti aircraft gun was a very successful design. Swedish firm Bofors was according to the internet part owned by Krupp of Germany but the gun development was kept secret and became an international best seller certainly for allied armies as well as the axis forces.

I have modelled the gun in transport mode. The kit allows the gun to traverse and elevate easily.

Painting wise it was vallejo black prime then Vallejo Game Colour Extra Opaque heavy grey in two coats and then two coats of vallejo matt varnish. vallejo black model colour took care of the tyres. vallejo dark sand overcoated with citadel seraphim sepia wash dealt with the canvas elements. The driver got the sepia wash over his green uniform, black boots and hair and VJ flat flesh skintone for that campaign look!

2 vehicles - a tractor plus a gun in 1/76 = 2 x 15 points = 30 points. Not sure if this qualifies for another squirrel but I will give it a go.

Breaker, breaker one nine, we got a convoy here.  What a great bit of kit for convoy protection John, though I don't envy putting together all the fiddly bits that these kits must have included.  It looks really impressive on your table top - I've really been enjoying the buildings and backdrop that you use BTW.  I also really like the details and weathering on that fabric cowling.  I will leave squirrel adjudication to the Squirrelmaster, but can confirm the 30 points.

Tuesday Terrors: Sinews of War yet again - "Days Gone" Tank Transporters in 1/76 (30 points)

The challenge is heading for the final bend is we leave February and it turns out this years affair has seen alot of "sinew" work.

First though.......

Its spring in Yorkshire and that means seasonal cyclists come out of hibernation and indeed the professional circuit gets going. So if anyone was wondering about my "chapeau sir" comments on their posts, its a kind of slang for well done that cyclist. You can practice this by watching the first really big race of the year - the "strada bianche" in Italy. It is literally the white roads race especially if its dry. So remember when wargames campaigning in Tuscany the enemy on the road coming towards you can easily be seen! don't let that umpire so NO.

Mind you you get other odd start up races like this Giro D'Italia start up in Hungary complete with Hussars!

Back to the challenge and this week we are talking about tank transporters.

Given the huge range of AFV's that inhabit our hobby you would imagine that there would be a fair amount of supporting kit for sale not least for the diorama fans. But no - its a bit of a desert in 1/72 or 20-25mm range.

There is the ageing airfix scammell and of course their aircraft support vehicle range has been plundered for decades by convertor fans.

Two things came together to solve my unknown problem, as I did not realise I needed transporters anyway :). First was the more I looked at early war images the more I kept getting examples of relatively small articulated lorries abandoned in northern France often with a tank on them to give an idea of scale.

Ok so far, the next thing was a Toy Fair rummage in the "under table" boxes (typically £2-3 a pop for the more railway model types). I happened upon a heap of artics. I came away with 3 and painted two up for the challenge. These are by Lledo in the Days Gone range scaled for model railways at 1/76.

I also acquired some card buildings - again railway related at the toy fair but just right for my more modern battle fields. So you can see on the right a SUPERQUICK card market hall of sorts. On the left is a Bellona (injection mouldings) row of houses heading for 50 years old but only painted last year! So I offer you my latest Fauxterre "sinews of war" - two tank transporters just the right size for early war light tanks. I have imagined they were requisitioned by the authorities given a repaint and sent to the front. And in my case I have chosen a neutral green so they can operate on any side of the conflict. The vehicles got a black vallejo prime and then two coats of vallejo game colour extra opaque heavy grey. These opaque paints have some nice shades - this grey being actually a green! Vallejo black and citadel leadbelcher dealt with tyres and winding gear. Then it was two coats of vallejo matt varnish. The Renault tanks are actually a gift from fellow blogger John@Justneedsvarnish. His eye and resulting work are a joy to behold. 2 x transporter vehicles = 2 x 15 points = TOTAL POINTS = 30 next up some column protection.....

Well first of all, John, I'm jealous that you're able to think about cycling yet.  Streets in Regina were getting clear of snow and ice and then we had another dump of snow.  While Sylvain will cycle all year through anything (except oddly not the rain), I wait to reasonable conditions and I think I'm a month off from my first ride to work of 2026.

Secondly I love these old Airfix Scammells, they take me way back to the hobby stores of my youth.  Chapeau to you sir for those.  They look great on table too.