Easing my storage woes

Over the past several months, I've been finishing quite a few 1/600 aircraft, both rotary and fixed wing, and they're progressively eating up my very limited hobby storage space, as well as increasingly provoking Mrs. History PhD's ire. That being the case, I resolved to address this problem during today's semi-monthly visit to Walmart. 

While Mrs. History PhD went in search of the various and sundry household items that she was in need/want of, I struck off on my own. I was looking for some sort of storage container that was at least 6" deep internally, but not too much deeper than that. After rejecting a variety of cake/cupcake transporters as being too shallow, I came to the household "storage solutions" section. Lo and behold, what should I stumble across for $6.00?

My hand is in there to give you some idea of scale. It's one of those small storage containers that stack on top of each other or slide under your bed. 

I buy 8"x10" 30mil adhesive magnetic sheets to line my GHQ Bunker Boxes, which is how I store all of my 3mm platoon stands (all of which are on steel bases). So it was an easy matter to stick a magnetic sheet to the bottom of my new container:

And this is what I now have in the way of aircraft storage:

I'm sure I needn't say that this is not so secure and sturdy that one could throw it down the stairs and expect to retrieve it unscathed at the bottom, however it is much more than adequate for the (hopefully) mild bumping and jostling around that can be expected during moves to and from gaming venues, moving house, and just general long-term storage.

And here it is, proudly perched atop the wargaming bookcase:

A job well done!! Mrs. History PhD says it's not very attractive, but as long as it frees up much-needed space, she's an ardent supporter. I'll soon need to make it a twin, as I still have a considerable number of aircraft yet to be finished. 

More from me next time!

Getting closer to having enough artillery

All WarPac armies were very artillery heavy, which is just as well, as I seem to be churning out quite a lot of it lately. My latest installment is a battery of East German 2S3 Akatsiya ("Acacia" in English) 152mm self-propelled guns: 

I find the rather pathetic attempt at camouflage in that last photo quite funny. Can't you just hear the pilots in a couple of loitering A-10's? 

"Hey Bob, look at those odd armored vehicle shaped trees down there spewing geysers of flame." 

"Wow, Ed! I'm glad you pointed them out. I'd never have noticed them. Well, let's go find some Warpac stuff to attack."

Why even bother with such pitiful camouflage?

Anyway, the battery commander and the forward observers would have been mounted in either 1V13's or 1V14's (which were visually identical externally):

And here is my battery:

A couple of more batteries of towed artillery and that will be enough for my East Germans. More from me next time!

Su-25 Frogfoot

This weekend, I've finished off a couple of Soviet Frogfoots... Frogfeet.. no... umm... wait...

I'm confused....

Anyway, the Su-25 Frogfoot was the Soviet Union's main close-support ground attack aircraft throughout the 1980s and indeed it still is for Russia today. The prototypes were tested in actual combat in Afghanistan beginning in mid-1980 and the main production models went into service in the summer of 1981. 

There was (and still is) a two-seat trainer version that is distinguishable from the standard Su-25 by it's much more "humpbacked" look. Even though it's a trainer, it is fully capable of carrying out combat missions. 

And here are mine:

I should've used a smaller star on the tail, but these little guys benefit from something larger and more easily noticed. 

Given that my LANDJUT scenario begins on March 30, 1981, I don't think it's too much of a mental stretch to think that the Soviets would've had their new ground attack aircraft in service 3-4 months earlier than was historically the case, i.e. in time for the beginning of hostilities.

That's it for this time. More next post!

East German 20th Motor Rifle Division, Part 3

After a lot of faffing about and a multitude of tangets that I've been off on since my last post on this subject, at long last I now have the final chapter. Here is my (more or less) 1:1 battalion of the East German 20th Motor Rifle Division, which was a reserve unit, along with the appropriate support platoons and an armored company of T-34/85M's (which in reality, could quite possibly have been a single platoon), in keeping with their essentially third-line status:

The armor:

Anti-tank platoon (Saggers):

The Plamya platoon:

And the towed 120mm mortars:

And finally, the battalion commander, with a UAZ-69:

I mounted the infantry in BTR-152's and ZIL-157's, but I've made up one alternate company in BTR-40's, so that I can switch them out when the mood seizes me: 

A now for a few purely gratuitous shots of the real things:

That's it for my East German reserve troops. Now, on to other matters which eagerly await my attention. More next time. 

25,000 views!!

Today, I went past 25,000 views. Wow!  It took a year and a half to get there and a significant number of those views are by web bots and website rating services, but hey, I'll take what I can get!

Yay!!!!

A bit more East German antiaircraft

I couldn't help myself. When Picoarmor received Marcin's latest releases, I just HAD to have an SA-6 Gainful battery (which would've been held at the divisional level) for my East Germans. 

Here's the reload truck, which Marcin didn't include with his Gainfuls:

But thankfully, he did include the Straight Flush radar vehicle:

Though not the Long Track radar, and Gainful is virtually useless without it against anything other than very low altitude targets:

And much as I hate to disagree with Marcin, he includes a BRDM-2U as a command vehicle for the battery:

I'm afraid that just wouldn't have been the case. There was a dedicated command vehicle for anti-aircraft batteries, the BTR-60PU-12:

The battery certainly may have had a BRDM-2U as a staff run-around vehicle or quite likely as a reconnaissance vehicle for the battery's forward emplacement officer, but never as the battery command vehicle. 

And here is my battery:

I threw a KrAZ-255B onto the radar stand, as every battery had a few medium and heavy trucks attached for transporting miscellaneous equipment and crew. 

More from me next time!