Pics from Zvezda - hot war figs

My first Reaction = YAY pics, let me see, let me see!
My Second Reaction = WOW awesome! these are great. gimmie, gimmie gimmie.
My Third Reaction = Why won't they do a large set :-(

anyway here are the pics... I'll let you decide what you think

the Soviets, by far the best in plastic! but a pitiful amount... but still excellent

Well first up its the Russians! and Wow. great stuff, the only Russians available for the era (1980's) in plastic is limited to Spetnaz (esci/italeri) and Airfix (small figures, and not that detailed). These guys are a great addition to that small list. My only complaint is that there is not a full set! but beggars can't be choosers, but still is this small set going to compete with so much metal?

again excellent but we already have a good set from Esci!

Next up its the USA, again great figs! However these figs have competition... Esci has a set of troops and these have recently been reissued by Italeri. once again Why not a full set?

a BTR-80 (please tell me I got that right)

Now for a kit! yet if its like the other at of tactic vehicles this will be 1/100 scale and not 1/72 and so no use to me.

Well there we go! some pics of some great figs, but the quantity is the issue even if the quality is amazing. still its on the list but knowing how prices work these figs won't be building up my armies any time soon. Also my other complaint is; Where is the NATO troops from other nations? and the same for the WARSAW pact nations. are we only going to get a few sets??? I guess keep your eyes on the news and on PSR. but from me that is all.

Building up the armies, and some works in progress

Well in the Northern Hemisphere its spring cleaning time, which means for me... buying time. I am currently going through what I need and what I would like. For the main part I am focussing on the Soviets! Oronegro is going to have loads! lots and lots of them. Why? Because I can and they look cool, US soldiers look professional and deadly as do most European ones but Russians look cool!

this is one of my favourite tanks, after the Leopard 2, the challenger 2

Well then what am I planning to get? 3 things currently

1. I am purchasing some second hand goods from an old friend Emmett, better known as Winttrix, he's downsizing his war-gaming collection after his big move so I am paying for the postage of a nice collection of models. :-D This I shall pay for shortly
2. I am saving up for this deal! A Dutch member of the Wargaming Guild is selling off lots of kits, I hope to buy some T-80BV's, because they look cool! and also some BM-21 Grands because my first kit was the BM-24 so it seems appropriate for some reason. I'll save up and get those.
3. another Friend also from the Netherlands, has offered to by me the Orion Chechens and their modern Russians. I got him some figures to its basically present giving! He has already given me some things but he said that he was more than willing to get the figures as well, despite my insistence that he didn't have to. ah well, I should not turn down such a kind offer, I am getting him some more figs for his Birthday anyway, also something to save up for.

 Also I will be nice and show you the Two kits my Dutch Friend sent me already, ones on the work bench (which is now actually my workbench and not the dinning room table) that is the LKW 7t. mil gl (6x6 Truck)

I needed some transport and now with this I have some :-D

The truck is proving to be a complex kit! But I shall soldier on just as the Truck itself would in the boggy muddy ground on jungle roads of Oronegro! I am also adding something not included in the kit... Crew, conversions of the Esci NATO ground crew they shall be designed to show either a sense of ease or at watch. so far only the driver is in place. I might even put a gunner in. Using the DShK included in the T-90A disaster kit as a mounted weapon, that is if the gun is not bent to buggery like the rest of the kit... we'll see. This tanks crew is looking pretty generic, which is good as the truck itself shall be also.

There is also another kit... a Tank... My Favourite tank :-D... its already named in this post... The Leopard 2 A6, what a beautiful tanks. sinister looks and a deadly armament this tank means business.

its mine... my own... my precious.

well I think this tank shall be used by the Germans but like some of the others I may paint it up without to many or any decals so it can be used by anyone. Why can't Oronegro use my favourite tank? it uses my second favourite. This shall be made once I get the truck done, but I think they shall be presented together.

well Oronegro is set to grow, with more baddies in the mix with all those lovely soviets, who of course will do good things, this is Oronegro both sides shall do good and bad, no innocence in war. And with the Good force almost complete except for some AFV's and APC's its going to get ugly once the soviets are ready for battle. Once again feel free to contact me at GJDitchburn@Gmail.com if you have any offers of second hand moderns, although I am going to make these purchases, they are basically going to be all the spending I shall make this year.

now onto the new follower... I have not had a new follower on one of my blogs for a while... greetings to Alfons Cànovas from miniaturas militares por alfons canovas welcome to this blog.

and once more have a great time guys.

more goodies - no more till Christmas

well I have ended my recent spending spree with a trip to the annual? town rotary book sale, fair, thing. so I roved the tables full of thousands upon thousands of books and then made a bee-line to the History/war section and there in front of me, the first things I saw, were some books anyone with an interest in the cold war would jump for, I didn't though I did grab them quick :-) then I decided to buy my sister (who came with me) 2 books on dog breeds because she loves dogs and she chose a book for my mum! Then I went off to the Sci-fi section to see if they had for some strange reason some books in Isak Asimov foundation series, I have foundation and prelude to foundation, I looked for a while and almost gave up but then! there they were foundation and empire, second foundation and foundation and earth, I decided not to get foundation and earth because I only had $2 left. So how much did all this cost? I hear you ask.... $10 that's right just 10 New Zealand dollars, not bad for... 4 cold war comics (both in terms of subject and age) + 2 dog related items (one BIG magazine? or book from 1998 and a little book) + 2 smallish Sci-fi novels + one Book for mum. I will not show you all the books, just the cold war comics.

they are very similar to the Soviet war power book I can get out from school

they are old - for books 1976 they were published! at the time they cost $3.15 for all except the weapons and Uniforms book which cost $2.35 I got them for $1 each :-D take that inflation

the soviet war power book at school is from 1980 so these are slightly older

this one might be of use then it comes to doing more in depth structuring for my Oronegrean forces

this is a very useful book, its funny to see the prototype Apache though and the Hind A-B instead of the Hind F (totally different cockpits).

well there you go. these are just another useful source of information and if any of you cold war gamers are interested I can give you some facts from these books. OK spending over now to save as much as possible for the future, well until Christmas and birthday and then I can stock up on some more stuff if necessary.

Last war Chronicles

now I am an active member on a few forums around on the web... and one of them is that all famous one the Wargamers Guild... now recently I asked a questions there. the ones I normally ask here, but of coarse the greater audience there got immediate response... I asked what AFV's I should get, what would be recommended, etc, etc. and yet one of the things that came up was another members made up near future scenario... last war chronicles now the last war Chronicles is a really quite apocalyptic scenario, not what I want for Oronegro but still cool and inspirational. just look at these pictures from the site it is some pretty cool stuff.

this is the robotic army not my cup of tea but I do like a handful of droids running around causing caos

more dangerous russians than you can wave a M16 at

they look dangerous and appear to have the equipment I want for my oronegrians

and of coarse the USA love it or leave it... basicaly part of his story as well

I must say I am rather fond of this scenario as it draws allot of parrallels to my own story. the idea of a south american country erupting into civil war a new nation which then is tawn appart is quite nice. that and I love the idea of a few zombies and aliens... the robots only a handful in the sewers and rebel secret bunkers perhaps.

I've added a poll

well look up in the top right corner of this blog and you'll see a little poll. you can select all you want, please note that the first vote by me was on "more sleep" I have had a busy weekend but more on that later :-D

just a qick post what I will say is that I am thinking of allowing others to post on this site to really open up the thinking atmosphere

ah it is good to have connections...

hi all well I have two things to announce today first my number of followers matches my age, then my new haul of scratch building goodies and Finlay some other connections that equal going to the movies... so first up the followers.

on this blog I always knew right from the start followers would be important. I needed them to help with these crazy ideas I keep having (less of late due to head cold). so the number of followers reaching my age is quite a special moment. Captain Richard's miniature Civil War is my new follower, from captain Richards miniature civil war. though I assume many of you passed this milestone without batting an eyelid.


now onto more important issues... my latest gifts.


thanks to Pete a family friend I get the occasional delivery of foam core. though I only got a bit the first time and did not expect to get more yesterday I got a knock on the door and low and behold Pete with an armful of foam core and card. all different thicknesses as well. one piece was the same as the stuff I got before but the rest is thicker or thinner... so lets take a look at this pile of greatness...

by bed may not be the home of this stuff but with the table being used  to make ginger bread men it'll do

thicker on the left thinner on the right. the paper at the back is some very fine sand paper.

this is the thick foam core... great for bunker walls or as you will see one day soon, boat hulls.

so there is the surprise gift now onto the movies, last week I had that terrible cold which made me miss school. but it also made me miss going to the movies with my friends family for his birthday. But they knew that I wanted to go and reshuffled the trip up to Auckland. it was a good time even before we went in. we went into toy world which despite the name has a great little selection of models, then we went into the cinema to see.... The Avengers. I really enjoyed it, still have to decide who was my favourite, we watched it in 2D and for once I felt that watching it in 2D was the right thing to do, unlike other recent movies where there are shots just to make the 3D audiance go WOW. so thanks guys.


P.S they are fans of the other blog and started one of their own... but that is for another post. but let me tell you they were excited to see my works first hand and really enjoyed it. so maybe if I go to a wargame any time soon I'll bring those boards along.

Helo one and all to my other blog!!

right let's get donwn to buisneuss. Namely why have I started this blog...

Well I realised that my other blog Gowan's 1/72 scale models was getting filled up with posts on my major projects. I therefore decided that I wanted to show the world how I was progressing in my projects but not to fill up my models blog with them... the solution

This blog

here I will not only post my projects for you to look at but also I'll post my ideas for new projects and other plans that you the viewer can discuss with me. I would love for everyone to do that even if you don't have a blog just post as annonymous. I want this to be a more interactive blog. With me the blogger posting ideas and progress and you the public commenting and recomending on them...

so come and say hi I really don't mind if all you say is just hi just say something ;-D